侠探简不知 - Ancient Detective

侠探简不知 (Ancient Detective) is an 2020 drama out of Zhong Guo. The series stars Tim Yu, Wang Yan Yang, and Rachel Wang. The supporting cast include Miranda Ma, Huang Ri Ying, Du Ya Fei, and Wang Xing Wei. The series was originally broadcast on Youku. I saw this series via Viki, but it is also available on Youtube. The series is a very short 24 episodes.

The main protagonist, Jian Bu Zhi played by Tim Yu, is heading to a mountain competition. However, he's not there to compete but to get answers to a mystery from 8 years ago. 8 years ago, he woke up with no memory and a sword through his fathers chest. Since then, Jian has been on a quest to solve the mystery. As a expert detective, he has no kung fu and relies on his problem solving skills. Along the way, he searches for answers from the 4 remaining survivors of that battle. As he goes to each survivor, he has a solve a mystery and picks up some excellent friends.

The series runs for 24 episodes, which is way too short. The story ends just when things start to get interesting.

One thing I really like about this series is that it seems to be a departure from the recent wuxia series. It focuses on new characters in a world that has very realistic elements. The characters all seem to be able to exist in the world. However, it's not completely perfect as you think about it more, but from a superficial look, it feels very real.

Another excellent part about the series is the camera work and colors. Whoever did the camera work takes a departure from the ordinary wuxia series and goes a lot of interesting angles. Lots of peek a boo or found footage type angles. Which made it feel like you were overhearing something vs watching it.

Overall, this has been one of my favorites series of recent memory. Flaws and all, I loved it. I love detective style dramas and this fit the bill for wuxia and detective work. Go watch it when you get a chance.

My Expectations For The Disney Live Action Mulan - 花木蘭

Mulan (花木蘭) is set to be released on September 4th on Disney+. I do not know how it will be released in the rest of the world. The movie is based on an folklore character from Zhong Guo.

The movie was originally set for release in March, but the Covid-19 pandemic set it back to July. But US recovery has been slower than the rest of the world and it was push back to August. Eventually, it was taken off the release cycle completely. About a week or so ago, Disney decided to release it through its Disney+ platform for a fee.

If you've had any time to go through my blog post through the years, I watch a lot of stuff from Taiwan and Zhong Guo. Recently, the stuff out of Zhong Guo has had some stand outs. In any given year, I am watching 10-20 movies and/or dramas out of Taiwan or Zhong Guo. I particularly love watching all the Jin Yong (Louis Cha) remakes through the years. I get to keep in touch with my heritage along with trying to keep my Mandarin language skills sharper.

When I watch the Mulan trailers, I am particularly disappointed. Because it feels like it did not come out of Zhong Guo. Just goto your Netflix and bring up trailers for God of War (movie), Eternal Love (drama), or Double World (movie). All three "ancient" series have a distinct feel. Mulan does not have that feel. If anything, it makes me feel like it is an offshoot of The Forbidden Kingdom (功夫之王). A movie made with an Asian cast, but does not feel like it would have come out of Asia.

I will be watching this movie to support it, because it does have an Asian cast. I do not think it helps with diversity much in Hollywood because the setting is not in the US. And it uses all the "Asian" stereotypes in the trailer. I don't know about you, I haven't seen "honor" show up in any of the stuff I watch from Taiwan and Zhong Guo recently. And I spend 75% or more of time watching Mandarin language stuff since quarantine started.

I will support Mulan, but I don't expect it to be very good. Maybe it will surprise me. I hope so because I watch movies to to entertain me, not to depress me.

且听凤鸣 - Dance of the Phoenix - On Air

且听凤鸣 (Dance of the Phoenix) is an 2020 drama out of Zhong Guo. The drama stars Yang Chaoyue, Xu Kaicheng, and Fu Jing. Yang Chaoyue and Fu Jing were former teammates on Rocket Girls 101. The drama is part of the Xian Xia ( fantasy) genre where they have magical powers that they cultivate. As the Wu Xia genre has decreased in recent years, Xian Xia has taken over this past decade or more.

My whole family is currently obsessed with this series. We rush to the viki app everyday to see if new episodes are available. We fell in love with Yang Chaoyue during 炙热的我们 (We Are Blazing) and this series has put her as one my daughters favorites. I hope she makes a good transition into show biz and has a long career.

The drama itself isn't overly complicated and kinda reminds of another series that I got obessed over a decade ago, 仙劍奇俠傳三 (Chinese Paladin 3). Both take a video game approach to the story. The main star of Yang Chaoyu as Feng Wu is the star of the series. Yang is immediately likable and has the beauty to carry the show. I don't know how ratings go on Tencent, but our family loves the show and can't wait for it to continue.

Can it go 60-80 episodes?

Ford v Ferrari - 賽道狂人

Ford v Ferrari (賽道狂人) is an 2019 film. The movie stars Matt Damon and Christian Bale. The supporting cast include Jon Bernthal, Caitriona Balfe, and Josh Lucas. The movie is based on a real life events of the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans.



Christian Bale plays Ken Miles, a British professional race car driver trying to make a living in SoCal. Matt Damon plays Carroll Shelby, a retired race car driver part of the team that won the 1959 24 Hours of Le Mans. Ford Motor company's Henry Ford II wants Ford to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Enter Carroll Shelby. Shelby convinces Miles to be his driver for the event. The two spend the first half of the movie trying to build a car that could be enough to run and win the race. The second half the film is focused on the actual race.



This was a really good movie. I was sad that I couldn't have supported this film while it was in the theaters. I got this via digital copy from iTunes when quarantine started.

The movie presents a compelling storyline, paired with excellent acting. You got a killer combo. The movie was almost 2.5 hours long and I didn't even notice. It went by so quick because I was completely into the story.

If you're looking for a great movie from 2019, give this a try.

炙热的我们 - We Are Blazing

炙热的我们 (We Are Blazing) is an 2020 variety show out of Zhong Guo. The format is that of a survival show where voters vote for their contestants to move on. There are multiple experienced groups that will complete head to head. After 2 loses, they are eliminated. The first groups to complete against each other are SNH48, R1SE, SIS, Penicillin, Black ACE, and S.I.N.G. After a couple of eliminations, Rocket Girls 101 and Shanghai Choir filled in the empty slots.

Unlike survival shows that focus on forming a group to end the show, this format were established groups PKing each other to determine the Super Group. I really liked this format. A LOT. Because the performances were against each other. Each group wanted to show up the other. In a sense, each group and their company wanted to win each round. This lead to some of my favorite performances of 2020. I have many of the songs from the show on my YouTube playlist playing away in the background. My personal favorite group and performance was from SNH48. It was their cover of New Pants, "Do You Want To Dance". I have that song on all the time. I also liked R1SE a lot too. They really showed up with some really good performances.

All in all, I appreciated the talent level of We Are Blazing much more than other survival shows. Its too bad that recent survival show winners THE9, Bon Bon Girls 303, and UNINE was not able to participate. Or even the temporary group 172 Girls. THE9 and Bon Bon Girls 303 would have had a hard time given that they formed after the start of the show and would've been shown how fresh they were. Rocket Girls 101 was an unknown to me before this show and a few minutes of google, it seems that they stepped up their game for the show too. Yang Chaoyue ended up as the "funny girl" for my kids and we've since started watching her most recent drama.

If you're looking for good songs, good performances, and some fun, this is the show for you. If there was anything I disliked was the ending. The first three quarters of the episodes were the best. If you wanted to, you can skip the last couple and focus on the first 8.

Go watch We Are Blazing on YouTube.

创造营2020 - Chuang 2020 - Produce Camp 2020

创造营2020 (Chuang 2020/Produce Camp 2020) is an 2020 variety show out of Zhong Guo. The format is that of a survival show where voters vote for their contestants to move on. 101 female trainees from different entertainment companies are competing for one of seven spots to form a female idol group.

The show has performances that lead to eliminations. These performances normally include both dancing and singing. There are a total of 4 main votings that lead to the formation of the top 7 for the debut group. Along the way, the show follows how the trainees form different teams to perform the songs. There are filler type episodes that include activities that bring the teammates closer together. I think it also lets you get to know the contestants better too.

Wow, the following two paragraphs were almost directly copy and pasted from my post on Youth With You 2 (YWY2). Because the shows were essentially the same in its format. Public voting through 4 rounds to form an female idol group. This was the third season of this show from Tencent Video. The first season produced 火箭少女101 (Rocket Girls 101).

At first, when this show started broadcasting, Youth With You 2 was 2/3 through broadcasting. My kids didn't want to start on another show. So we started watching 炙热的我们 (We Are Blazing) after YWY2 ended. Which eventually still left a lot of time to fill, so Chuang started to make it onto the family playlist. I only have 1 television in the house so we all have to want to watch something for it to get shown. My kids ended up watching clips on the family tablet.

[START COPY AND PASTE FROM YWY2]
My family ended up getting a little over obsessed with the show and now regularly play the performances via Youtube. Often times, we can create hours long playlist from the clips. Within our family, we each had our favorites that we cheered on. We also have our favorite songs.

We also cried in sadness whenever someone we really liked didn't move on to the next stages. Luckily, all of our favorites made it to final show. Which made the motivation to watch to the end easier.
[End COPY AND PASTE FROM YWY2]

We're just glad that we were able to be exposed to the world of Mandarin language Survival Shows. We are loving them. They don't stop and we are now going back into 2018 and 2019 shows via YouTube and Viki.

青春有你2 - Youth With You 2

青春有你2 (Youth With You 2) (YWY) is an 2020 variety show out of Zhong Guo. The format is that of a survival show where voters vote for their contestants to move on. 109 female trainees from different entertainment companies are competing for one of nine spots to form a female idol group.

The show has performances that lead to eliminations. These performances normally include both dancing and singing. There are a total of 4 main votings that lead to the formation of the top 9 for the debut group. Along the way, the show follows how the trainees form different teams to perform the songs. There are filler type episodes that include activities that bring the teammates closer together. I think it also lets you get to know the contestants better too.



I have seen other survival shows in the past, but this was the first in a few years for something from Asia. YWY's concepts were borrowed from Korean shows. But the shows themselves have been transformed according to what I've read. Since I have not seen any Korean survival shows to compare, I'll take the internet at its word.

My family ended up getting a little over obsessed with the show and now regularly play the performances via Youtube. Often times, we can create hours long playlist from the clips. Within our family, we each had our favorites that we cheered on. We also have our favorite songs.

We also cried in sadness whenever someone we really liked didn't move on to the next stages. Luckily, all of our favorites made it to final show. Which made the motivation to watch to the end easier.

The editing and presented storylines of YWY, in hindsight, were excellent. Which makes rewatching episodes so enjoyable. Yes, we still regularly rewatch the episodes. Each time, we remember a person more and whom they were teamed up with. There are nuggets of freshness each time we rewatch.

As in my previous post, this was also the show that solidified to my family that we like these survival type shows. It has opened up a Pandora's box of survival shows to me and my family.

Watching Survival Shows

Well, we are living in some unprecedented times. Covid-19 hit the world and the entertainment industry has taken a massive hit. From the US side of things, things have really dried up in terms of content. The regular movie schedule that I have grown accustomed to had slowly faded to black. At the moment, it looks like the movie theather industry will have a hard time gettin back to where they were. Disney, the leader at the box office these last few years has had to re-adjust their movie release schedule. So much so that they had taken Artimis Fowl to Disney+ and the latest to follow is the live action Mulan movie.

In March and early April, I actually purchased many early release digital copies such as Call Of The Wild and Bloodspot. I thought I'd help contribute the industry in my own way. Digital deals from third party venders started to hit the market. Deals like buy 3 Vudu Instawatch titles, get a 4th free. I have purchase many $1.99 digital copies of China Lion releases these past few months.

So, all the above is to say that its been harder to find new and interesting movies or shows. At the time, I was searching around for trailers from China Lion and some recommendations for a Survival Show called Youth With You 2 (YWY2) started to show up in late April. So, I decided to give Episode 1 a try. It was interesting and I thought it would be a good way to improve my kids Mandarin. I encourage them to watch episode 1 with me. From there, we started to watch them from the iQiyi website.

We ended up being about a mouth behind and spent our free time catching up through the 9th or 10th week of the show. We than had to wait patiently as they released 2 shows a week on Thursday and Saturday. By this point, my kids are fully invested in the show and we starting to improve our Mandarin as a whole family. It was getting easier for us to say some names regularly in Mandarin. We are not in the habit remembering zhong wen names so it was hard at first. We started to say, the long hair gal from this and that song. Recently as we have gone back to watch some episodes, we are much better at remembering their names.

When Youth With You 2 ended, we started to watch Chuang 2020. Chuang 2020 was fully available on Youtube with english subtitles. And the episodes were sometimes twice the length YWY2. But only 2 shows were released weekly on the weekends, so we than had to fill in the time.

We started on We Are Blazing, than Super Novea Games S3, and recently, it was Street Dance Of China S3. All these shows have really given me a new perspective of the variety shows in general from Zhong Gao. I kinda like them.

What is your favorite show?

Last Christmas - 去年聖誕節

Last Christmas (去年聖誕節) is an 2019 film. The movie stars Emilia Clarke and Henry Golding. The supporting cast include Michelle Yeoh and Emma Thompson. The movie was based on the famous song of the same name originally performed by Wham. Andrew Ridgeley of Wham also makes a cameo appearance.



Kate is a choir signer in her native Yugoslavia, the Croatia part. The family immigrated London and Kate works as an elf in a year round Christmas store while auditioning for parts. However, Kate seems to have a self destructive bend and fails all of her auditions. Estranged from her parents, she moves around from friend to friend to spend her nights. Kate than meets Tom Webster one night and they keep bumping into each other. Eventually they strike up a friendship and that leads to a little more. Eventually, there's a love connection. But there are always complications to the connection. Kate in the meantime runs out of places to stay and goes home at Tom's urging. At home, she has to mend relationships with her Mom and Sister. Can Kate get her act together to find purpose in life and love?

This movie was really sweat. I watched it with my teenage daughter whom loved it. I thought the story moved well and I wasn't bored at any point. The movie is not very long and gets through the story quite well. I felt warm and fuzzy as I watched with my daughter. It was also the first week of the California Quarantine and made the time go by fast. I also loved the Wham and George Michael inspired music throughout the film. It was a bit of the time machine.

I loved the extras and their Central London locations. Makes me want to visit London as it reminded me of some the alleyways of old Taipei. I highly recommend this film and have now put it down as one of my favorite 2019 films.

Rambo: Last Blood - 第一滴血5

Rambo: Last Blood (第一滴血5) is an 2019 film. The movie stars Sylvester Stallone in his fifth outing as John Rambo. Rumor is that this will be the last movie of this current franchise. The notable supporting cast include Paz Vega and Yvette Monreal.

John Rambo is now stateside and relocated as a horse trainer in Arizona. He's taken on the mantle as Uncle John to Gabrielle, the grand daughter to one of the workers. Rambo has helped to raise Gabrielle for the past 11 years. Gabrielle has just graduated from High School and set to start college. Gabrielle learns the location of her father whom abandoned her in your childhood and heads to Mexico to find him and get closure. However, the friend that found him for Gabrielle has bad intentions for her. After Gabrielle's father tells her that he does not want her in his life, distraught, she gets hammered at a local club and is sold into slavery. Rambo is worried and make his way to Mexico to find her. But he himself is badly beaten, but manages to free Gabrielle with the help of a local journalist. Gabrielle dies on her way back home and Rambo is dead set on getting revenge. Will this be John Rambo's last stand?

I caught this movie via Amazon Prime Video recently. Am I glad I kinda got it for free. This movie was all sorts of bad. The bad acting and highly stereotyped characters. And I am Asian! Asians are also not in this movie to my recollection. I was not paying attention as I just trying to get through this movie. Luckily this movie was only around 85 or so minutes of actual movie. The first half is character development of the bound that John Rambo has with Gabrielle. You have to build that father daughter bound for him to go risk his life later. Which wasn't bad. But things turned really bad and stereotypical once Gabrielle finds out about her long lost father. The storyline from there to Rambo's revenge was all sorts of bad and hard to watch. I think I managed to make it through this as I washed some dishes and got a snack.

The revenge factor of the second half is really the only reason most of us even considered watching this movie. Rambo 4 was actually good in my recollection. So I was excited to watch this even though I had never seen the trailer. But the Gabrielle storyline was very weak and hard to watch. What I did like was the revenge story of the second half of the movie. That's why I watched this movie.

If you can get through the first half, you'll enjoy the Rambo revenge storyline very much.

2020 May Blockbuster Movie Guide

Here are the movies to look out for this month, US Edition.

In these unprecedented times, the US movie system is currently closed. So have the movie releases. All of the major releases have move to other months.



Sources:
IMDB Coming Soon
Box Office Mojo
Wikipedia.org
Taiwan Yahoo! Movies
WMoov Hong Kong

Gemini Man - 雙子殺手

Gemini Man (雙子殺手) is an 2019 film. The movie stars Will Smith, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Clive Owen and Benedict Wong. The film is directed by Ang Lee. Was glad to see Ang directing again.



Henry Brogan is a DIA sniper that retires from government service. When he does, he notices that he is being monitored. When a friend of his gives him some information, the DIA decide that Henry is an lose end. Henry is now on the run. A clone of him is sent to eliminate him. Can Henry stay alive and clear his name?

This was an interesting film. I am on the fence of if I like it or not. There were parts of the movie that are awesome and other parts that had me scratching my head. The highlight of the film was the partnership of Will Smith, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, and Benedict Wong. I would watch a movie with just those 3 running around doing missions. They were that interesting. But the other parts of the film seemed like a weakness in the story. Cloning, but for weaponization? If something that awesome were to exist, it would be a ethical worldwide dilemma. In the end, I would recommend this movie for the action and the partnership storyline.

I got this via T-Mobile Redbox promo.

Updated Disney movie schedule - 2020 through 2021

Last May, I had posted an Disney movie schedule based on its finalized merger with Fox. The Covid-19 pandemic of 2020 has caused the movie theaters to shut down. And with it, the release schedule of many movies were put in jeopardy. Including those of the current biggest movie house, Disney. Disney announced a bunch of things recently on a handful of movies.

2020 Films
"Mulan" (Disney) - July 24
"New Mutants" (Fox) - Unknown
"Black Widow" (Marvel) - November 6
"Artemis Fowl" (Disney) - Going to Disney+ now with no release date
"Soul" (Pixar) - Unknown
"Free Guy" (Fox) - December 11
"Jungle Cruise" (Disney) - July 30, 2021
"The Eternals" (Marvel) - February 12, 2021
"The French Dispatch" (Fox) - October 6

2021 Films
"Shang-Chi" (Marvel) - May 7
"Dr. Strange 2" (Marvel) - November 5
"Thor: Love And Thunder" (Marvel) - February 18, 2022

The New Mutants no longer have a release date as well. This much maligned film's release is once again in limbo. There are a host of other films that have also fallen into limbo as well.

I am also happy to see "Shang-Chi" moved to the opening weekend of the Summer! Traditionally the May date for Marvel has been their big gun of the year. Moving Shang-Chi there means that they really believe in the film. And with all the current Asian xenophobia sweeping the world, this is a bit of welcomed news.

Zombieland: Double Tap - 屍樂園:髒比雙拼

Zombieland: Double Tap (屍樂園:髒比雙拼) is an 2019 movie. This movie takes place 10 years after the events of the first movie. The film returns Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Abigail Breslin, and Emma Stone in their originals roles. The supporting cast additions are Rosario Dawson, Zoey Deutch, Avan Jogia, Luke Wilson, and Thomas Middleditch.



Ten years after the events of the first movie, Tallahassee, Columbus, Wichita, and Little Rock are shown to have traveled the country and eventually settling down in the white house. From there, we fast forward ten years. Little Rock grows up and wants her independence. Pair that up with Wichita's commitment issues, the sister pair bolt. On their way out, Little Rock ditches Wichita when a she meets Berkeley and heads for their commune. Of course, Tallahassee and Columbus give chase to find Wichita along. The three fear for the safety of Little Rock and travel to find her. Will they be able to get back to their happy family?

This film does not have the surprise factor of the first. The first Zombieland came out years before The Walking Dead became a juggernaut. The Zombie-scape was still in its infancy vs. 2020. Zombieland took a counter culture spin on it and it made it big. There have always been smaller scale zombie movies over the years, but Zombieland launched its into contention with Vampires.

I thought it was a good episode 2 to a storyline that many people can identify with. Although there wasn't as much of a awe and shock factor to this movie, it was rather enjoyable and a fun watch before all these covid-19 madness.

I picked this up via T-Mobile Redbox promo.

Alita: Battle Angel - 艾莉塔:戰鬥天使

Alita: Battle Angel (艾莉塔:戰鬥天使) is an 2019 film. The movie stars Rosa Salazar, Christoph Waltz, Jennifer Connelly, Mahershala Ali, Ed Skrein, and Keean Johnson. The movie is based in an 1990s manga called Battle Angel. Battle Angel has also been made into various anime films in the past. This one was produced by James Cameron who couldn't make it due his commitment to do a bazillion more Avatar films.



In 2563, 300 years after Earth was in a massive war, human civilization has merged technology with life forms. You basically have cyborg type beings. Dr. Dyson Ido discovers the remains of an cyborg with its human brain still functional. Ido proceeds to put her together and names her Alita. Alita is immediately curious of the outside world and tries to discover herself. But she gets into danger and finds out that she knows a ancient form of fighting. Which puts a target on her head. Can she navigate the dangers of life and continue to discover herself?



Alita is a classic coming of age story. Even though she's older than all the other characters, she's has the least experience. But she has a naturally "good" heart and is fiercely loyal to those she considers close. The action starts slow but the second half of the film is pretty much all action. Once she has to solve the problem, its non-stop from there.



I don't remember the anime as I watched it back in the 1990s. So I went into this film with only the impression from the trailer. Which showed a compelling story. But the movie itself was a letdown versus what I thought I was getting from the trailer. But the movie itself was still very good due to the CGI, the acting, and the action. There isn't anything particularly unique in their world that would make me clamor back for more. But if they made more, I would surely watch.

2020 Apirl Blockbuster Movie Guide

Here are the movies to look out for this month, US Edition.

In these unprecedented times, the US movie system is currently closed. So have the movie releases. The only big blockbuster release is a move to April from March. Many other films have been put on indefinite suspension until the world figures out what normal is again.

My Spy (間諜速成班)



Sources:
IMDB Coming Soon
Box Office Mojo
Wikipedia.org
Taiwan Yahoo! Movies
WMoov Hong Kong

2020 US Census - Taiwanese

Sorry, was lazy and didn't get an updated image for 2020. But the census came knocking at my snail mailbox recently. And just like I did in 2010, I answered that my family and I were "Taiwanese" for "Other Asian".

You can read my post from 2010 for the reasons I wrote in "Taiwanese".

2020 March Blockbuster Movie Guide

Here are the movies to look out for this month, US Edition.

Onward (1/2的魔法)



The Way Back



I Still Believe (依然相信)



My Spy (間諜速成班)



Bloodshot (血衛)



A Quiet Place Part II (噤界II)



Mulan (花木蘭)



Sources:
IMDB Coming Soon
Box Office Mojo
Wikipedia.org
Taiwan Yahoo! Movies
WMoov Hong Kong

2020 February Blockbuster Movie Guide

Here are the movies to look out for this month, US Edition.

Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) (猛禽小隊:小丑女大解放)



Sonic The Hedgehog (音速小子)



Emma. (艾瑪.)



The Call of the Wild (極地守護犬)



Sources:
IMDB Coming Soon
Box Office Mojo
Wikipedia.org
Taiwan Yahoo! Movies
WMoov Hong Kong

It Chapter Two - 牠 第二章

It Chapter Two (牠 第二章) is an 2019 film. The movie stars Jessica Chastain, James McAvoy, Bill Hader, Isaiah Mustafa, Jay Ryan, James Ransone, and Andy Bean as the older set. The younger set star Sophia Lillis, Jaeden Martell, Finn Wolfhard, Chosen Jacobs, Jeremy Ray Taylor, Jack Dylan Grazer, and Wyatt Oleff. Bill Skarsgård returns as It, Pennywise the Dancing Clown. This was a sequel to It (牠) from 2017.



Set 27 years after the events of 1989, it is 2016 and they have all grown up. When they find out the Pennywise may not be dead, they must go back to Derry and kill It. Mike Hanlon calls his childhood friends, Bill Denbrough, Eddie Kaspbrak, Richie Tozier, Ben Hanscom, Stanley Uris, and Beverly Marsh to return. When they return back to Derry, they immediately start getting messed with by It. When Mike finds out a way to kill It, they must go about getting things to run a ritual to kill it. All of them must go back to their childhood stomping grounds, oftentimes reliving those horrible events in today's reality. Can they all retrieve their items and get the ritual performed?

This movie was super creepy. I have been watching horror movies since I was a wee lad and very little freaks me out. But Pennywise freaks me out. However, like I did for the first film, I got over It and continued on. In all, it felt totally different from the first film as this moved in more of a detective drama slant. The flashbacks were a good addition to bring things back to before.

Bad Boys For Life - 絕地戰警 For Life

Bad Boys For Life (絕地戰警 For Life) is an 2020 film. The movie stars Will Smith and Martin Lawrence. The supporting cast include Vanessa Hudgens, Alexander Ludwig, Charles Melton, Paola Núñez, Kate del Castillo, Theresa Randle, Jacob Scipio, and Joe Pantoliano. This is the third film in the Bad Boys franchise. Due to the successful first week, there will be a fourth installment.




Set 25 or so years after the first Bad Boys movie, Marcus is revealed to have a granddaughter. Mike Lowry is still not interested in retiring when Marcus has a change of heart. In Mexico, the Aretas family matriarch breaks out and finds their millions in stashed money. For revenge, they start to take out everyone that was involved in putting them behind bars. Some of the folks on Mike and Marcus's team are hit and they have to find out who. Unfortunately, when they looking into who it is, there are too many people that they've taken down over the years, so the cat and mouse chase starts.



This was a pretty fun movie. I will be honest, I have not watched either of the previous two Bad Boys in probably 15 years. So I was having a hard time remembering the repeat characters such as those in Marcus' family. However, outside of that, I was pretty much into the movie, the action and the story.

I really like the expansion of the team to AMMO members. The addition of this team made things fresh and melded the tech with the old school police work. If you're looking for a 2+ hours of fun action, this movie will do it in spades.

2020 January Blockbuster Movie Guide

Here are the movies to look out for this month, US Edition.

Dolittle (杜立德)



Like a Boss



Underwater (深海終劫站)



Bad Boys For Life (絕地戰警 For Life)



紧急救援 (The Rescue)





Sources:
IMDB Coming Soon
Box Office Mojo
Wikipedia.org
Taiwan Yahoo! Movies
WMoov Hong Kong