The Witcher - 獵魔士 - Season 1 & 2

The Witcher (獵魔士) is a television series from Netflix. Season one was released December 2019 and the most recent second season was released last week. The series stars Henry Cavill as Geralt of Rivia, Freya Allan as Ciri, and Anya Chalotra as Yennefer of Vengerberg. The series is based on a book series of the same name. The book serious has able been adapted into video games. I has watched season one back in 2019 and 2020. I finished season two in about 4 days.

The Continent as the land is known as is made up of the south and north. This land has humans, elves, mutants, and monsters. Geralt, the main character is a human mutant that has enhanced abilities and works as a freelance monster killer to survive. Ciri is a princess and is on the run after her kingdom is overthrown. Yennefer a quarter elf that has magic powers that they call "chaos". Together they must figure out how to save Ciri from the forces trying to pocess her.

Since GoT, this is best "american" fantasy series that I am watching. I am guessing there a few others that would lay claim to this or say GoT didn't finish great. The fandom has complained that season 2 has move further away from the source material. Season 2 does seem like it had a little more funds to produce it. Looking forward to season 3.

Spider-Man: No Way Home - 蜘蛛人:無家日

Spider-Man: No Way Home (蜘蛛人:無家日) is an 2021 film. This movie stars Tom Holland, Zendaya, and Jacob Batalon. The supporting cast include Benedict Cumberbatch, Jon Favreau, Jamie Foxx, Willem Dafoe,Alfred Molina,Benedict Wong, Marisa Tomei, Andrew Garfield, and Tobey Maguire. This movie is part of the MCU, but also brings back the Spider-men of yester-year and has a cameo from Venom. This is the third film of the MCU version of Spider-man.

At the end of last movie, Peter Parker is exposed as the friendly neighborhood Spider-man. Peter then becomes the most famous person in the world. Unable to live a normal life, but also broke, Peter tries to keep a low profile and get into his dream school, MIT. However, due to his notoriety, Peter is not admitted which also affects MJ and Ned. They do not get in either. In a act of desperation, Peter seeks out Dr. Strange to cast a spell for everyone to forget that he is Spider-man. As Strange is casting the spell, Peter starts to regret his request and ask for changes. This then causes Strange's spell to go haywire. Instead of people forgetting Peter, Strange's spell brings people that know that Peter Parker is Spider-man from other universes. The villains and Spider-men of the two previous series show up in this movie. How will the three Peter Pakers get everyone home?

As much as I wanted to avoid this movie, I decided to watch it in IMAX format. Glad I did, this is the best of the three Spider-man movies from Marvel. There was no need for character development and the story was an interesting one. I for one will be watching this again for sure. Not sure which platform will get this first since Sony does not have its own streaming service yet.

The movie did not have anything grand to do and the simplicity of it was what kept me at the edge of my reclined seat at AMC. I wanted to see what was next to solve this thing that was done due to insecurity and wanting a do-over. In a sense, Marvel was pulling a Superman spinning the world backwards for this movie. Making things go back to the way before. However, the consequences had to be felt still. I look forward the fourth installment now. And Dr. Strange taking on the multi-verse.

2021 December Blockbuster Movie Guide

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

Spider-Man: No Way Home (蜘蛛人:無家日)



The Matrix: Resurrections (駭客任務:復活)



The King's Man



Sing 2 (歡樂好聲音2)



American Underdog

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

My Top Ten Favorite Movies of 2012

What is this post doing in 2021. Well, I attemped to do this list back in 2015, but only got to 9. Maybe I could only rank them up to 9. And I have most likely watched more films from 2012 now. However, I do not want this post to go to waste so I am posting it now. I even listed the movies I watched from 2012 up to 2015 at the end. I decided not to add to it by continue to keep it at 9.

=======================
2012? Clearly we are in 2015 already? Yes, I know, I watch them there movies at a very slow pace. I spell it out in my 2013 top ten list. Here's the 2012 US Box Office Top 9.

Here are my top films of 2012 of which I've seen at least 46 of!

一 - Marvel's The Avengers (復仇者聯盟)


二 - The Dark Knight Rises (黑暗騎士:黎明昇起)


三 - The Hunger Games (飢餓遊戲)


四 - Skyfall (007 空降危機)


五 - The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (哈比人：意外旅程)


六 - The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 (暮光之城:破曉2)


七 - The Amazing Spider-Man (蜘蛛人:驚奇再起)


八 - Brave (勇敢傳說)


九 - Ted (熊麻吉)


Retrieved from Box Office Mojo on March 18, 2015


List of movies that could make the top 10:
Marvel's The Avengers
Argo
The Amazing Spider-Man
Here Comes the Boom
Skyfall
Flight
Pitch Perfect
Jack Reacher
Zero Dark Thirty
The Dark Knight Rises
Looper
The Bourne Legacy
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2
The Hunger Games
Premium Rush
Lincoln
Snow White and the Huntsman
Django Unchained
Taken 2
End of Watch
Dredd
Contraband
Lawless
21 Jump Street
Safe House
The Vow
Magic Mike
The Expendables 2
Wrath of the Titans
Silver Linings Playbook
John Carter
This Is 40
Chronicle (2012)
Total Recall (2012)
Battleship
American Reunion
Project X
Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance
The Grey
Resident Evil: Retribution
The Cabin in the Woods
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter
That's My Boy
The Watch
Alex Cross
Brave
Ted
Wreck-It Ralph
Haywire
Safe (2012)
The Man with the Iron Fists
Killing Them Softly
People Like Us

Updated Marvel Cinematic Universe Releases - November 2021

The Marvel Cinematic Universe released more information about their upcoming plans on Disney+ during DisneyPlusDay back on November 11. Because they tweeted all their plans, I've embedded the tweets here.

Marvel Studios' She-Hulk, an Original Series, coming soon to @DisneyPlus. #DisneyPlusDay pic.twitter.com/RNWzKH0sQf

— Marvel Studios (@MarvelStudios) November 12, 2021

Marvel Studios' X-Men '97, an animated Original Series, coming in 2023 to @DisneyPlus. #DisneyPlusDay pic.twitter.com/9LbEWSrWQc

— Marvel Studios (@MarvelStudios) November 12, 2021

Marvel Studios' Moon Knight, an Original Series, coming soon to @DisneyPlus. #DisneyPlusDay pic.twitter.com/PO3TzFRfzl

— Marvel Studios (@MarvelStudios) November 12, 2021

Ms. Marvel, an Original Series from Marvel Studios, coming Summer 2022 on @DisneyPlus. #DisneyPlusDay pic.twitter.com/GZzAqoeIn0

— Marvel Studios (@MarvelStudios) November 12, 2021

The second season of Marvel Studios' What If...?, an animated Original Series, is coming soon to @DisneyPlus. #DisneyPlusDay pic.twitter.com/TAt7oPIDjx

— Marvel Studios (@MarvelStudios) November 12, 2021

Marvel Studios' Echo, an Original Series, coming soon to @DisneyPlus. #DisneyPlusDay pic.twitter.com/NGQ8RNwYWn

— Marvel Studios (@MarvelStudios) November 12, 2021

Marvel Studios' Spider-Man: Freshman Year, an animated Original Series, coming soon to @DisneyPlus. #DisneyPlusDay pic.twitter.com/EgdSomykPG

— Marvel Studios (@MarvelStudios) November 12, 2021

Marvel Studios' I Am Groot, an animated Original Series, coming soon to @DisneyPlus. #DisneyPlusDay pic.twitter.com/4hpCsxzLkG

— Marvel Studios (@MarvelStudios) November 12, 2021

Marvel Studios' Ironheart, an Original Series, coming soon to @DisneyPlus. #DisneyPlusDay pic.twitter.com/aM2l6pW0Jo

— Marvel Studios (@MarvelStudios) November 12, 2021

Marvel Studios' Agatha: House of Harkness, an Original Series, coming soon to @DisneyPlus. #DisneyPlusDay pic.twitter.com/VgdooGmvLM

— Marvel Studios (@MarvelStudios) November 12, 2021

Marvel Zombies, an animated Original Series from Marvel Studios, coming soon to @DisneyPlus. #DisneyPlusDay pic.twitter.com/YetfOYpDPj

— Marvel Studios (@MarvelStudios) November 12, 2021

Marvel Studios' Secret Invasion, an Original Series, coming soon to @DisneyPlus. #DisneyPlusDay pic.twitter.com/2Jjzw8Uz29

— Marvel Studios (@MarvelStudios) November 12, 2021

披荆斩棘的哥哥 - Call Me By Fire

披荆斩棘的哥哥 (Call Me By Fire) is a 2021 variety show out of Zhong Guo. The premise of the show is 33 "brothers" whom come from different walks of the entertainment industry come together to form a 17 member final group. In essence, it is a survival show format.

The show is a spin-off of the "sisters" show, Sisters Who Make Waves (乘风破浪的姐姐). But the format is vastly different. Instead of eliminations every week, elimations came more sporatic. The groups also had repeating "Captains" through the entire show.

The chatter online were that these folks were beyond their prime and trying to get attention. I love it. Get attention, get work again! I love some of these 33 folks and watched them for years. My favorite is Jerry Yan, whom they focused on a lot in week 1, but went more low key later on. Terry Lin started out as annoying to me, but ended up being one of my favorites at the end. The Canto group was so funny.

There were folks I was not as familiar with so I fast forwarded through their segments. That's the beauty of watching via Youtube. The ads sucked doe.

Youku did a similar show called Shine! Super Brothers (追光吧哥哥) with 21 brothers that was in a more dance and sing kind of way. I also liked that show. It's all about getting away from the real world for a brief moment every week and Call Me By Fire did it in spades.

Battle Creek Brawl - The Big Brawl - 殺手壕

Battle Creek Brawl (The Big Brawl/殺手壕) is a 1980 film. The movie stars Jackie Chan in his first attempt to break into Hollywood. The supporting cast include Mako, Rosalind Chao, Chao-Li Chi,and Jocelyn Lew. The film was set in the 1930s Chicago era.



Jerry is a disappointment to his family as his father wants him to stop being lazy and take over the family resturant. However, Jerry would rather do other things. While defending his father's turf, he catches the eye of a local gangster we has fighters in the underground, but is not able to beat his nemisis. The gangster is able to blackmail Jerry into fighting for him. Will Jerry be able to win the fight and get these gangsters out of his hair?

I caught this on Amazon Prime recently. Took me about 3 weeks watching it on and off while I was washing dishes. The movie as based in Chicago and completely in English. The movie was made circa 1980 and it reflects that time period. There were a couple of sequences that specifically tried to show off Jackie Chan's phyisical traits, specifically his acrobatic skills. There were than a couple of other sequences include the finale fight that highlighted his physical comedy skills. You see the acrobatic skills display in some other Shaw Bros movies of that era as well. In today's era where the actors have not Peking opera trained as their foundation, you no longer see these displays. So it was refreshing to see that Jackie Chan is both an actor and athlete with skillz.

If you're Jackie Chan fan, this film may not live up to his other films of that era as the storyline was on the weaker side. The brawl itself was comedical in nature and it played out that way as you never felt that he was in real danger. However, I am glad I was able to watch this once.

Once Upon a Time in China IV - 黃飛鴻之四王者之風

Once Upon a Time in China IV (黃飛鴻之四王者之風) is an 1993 film out of Hong Kong. The movie stars Vincent Zhao as Wong Fei-hung. The supporting case include Jean Wang, Max Mok, Hung Yan-yan, Lau Shun, and Wang Jing Hua. This is the 4th installment of Tsui Hark's Wong Fei-hung movie series. And the first of two without Jet Li.

Wong Fei-hung Beijing for a tournment after the third film. Before they can go, they are convinced by a General to particpate in another tournament. They pass by a parade of Red Lantern Sect who end up attacking foreigners. Wong Fei-hung steps in to stop them and is captured and accused of being in cahots with the Red Lantern Sect. While waiting for his excustion, they make an escape but are too late to the tournament where the General dies. They are given another chance and go one to win, but the nation is lost. They set out to head back to Foshan.

I caught this in Cantonese on Amazon Prime Video. Took me a couple of weeks to finish this on and off. I was inspired after seeing it pop up on my recommendations and Vincent Zhao showing up as a GeGe in Call Me By Fire. Although the movie series has the same feel, the story in this one was all over the place. If you are a fan of these series, you can't miss it.

Love Hard

Love Hard is an 2021 film. The movie stars Nina Dobrev and Jimmy O. Yang. The supporting cast include Darren Barnet, James Saito, Harry Shum Jr., Mikaela Hoover, Matty Finochio, Heather McMahan, Rebecca Staab, and Althea Kaye. The movie was released via Netflix.

Nina Dobrev plays Natalie, a serial online dater out of Los Angeles who writes about her disaster of a dating life for job. Natalie finds a cute guy out of Lake Placid New York and they hit it off. Natalie decides to take it to the extreme and travel out to meat this cute guy for Christmas. When she gets there, Natalie finds out that she has been cat fished. The cute guy, Josh Lin, is not the person in the photos. While at a bar trying to figure things out, Natalie sees the cute guy from Josh's profile, Tag. Natalie wants to impress Tag, but fails and is semi-saved by Josh. While at the vet, Josh and Natalie decide to deal. Natalie plays along as Josh's girlfriend for the holidays and Josh helps Natalie get together with Tag. Will this deals work?

Having just finished The Opening Act the day of, I went striahgt into another Jimmy O. Yang movie. And to be honest, the characters were not that much different. However, Josh Lin was his own unique being too. As for the story, its not crazy different from all the other rom-coms out there. There's a love, a misunderstanding, a reconcilation plot, and the realization you were meant to be together all along. Love Hard is pretty much along those lines. And it was great. I had a blast watching it with my family. And like all Rom-coms, some raunchy items were inserted to get some laughes to get you out of thinking its a serious movie.

Spoiler alert! Don't read this if you have not seen the movie. I like the movie as it is a play on words of the two movies that the protagonist talk about. Die Hard is Natalie's favorite Christmas movie along with her justifcations and Tag's favorite movie is Love Actually. Take one work from each movie to get Love Hard.

The Opening Act

The Opening Act is an 2020 film. The movie stars Jimmy O. Yang. The main supporting cast are Alex Moffat, Cedric the Entertainer, Jermaine Fowler, and Neal Brennan. The rest of the cast show up in more of a cameo sense and include Debby Ryan, Ken Jeong, Roy Wood Jr., Bill Burr, Russell Peters, Iliza Shlesinger, and Whitney Cummings. The movie is the directing debut of Steve Byrne.

Jimmy O. Yang plays Will Chu, a insurance claims worker who does stand up at a local club. Will's dream is to be a stand up comedian, but is scared to go all in. When a local friend presents him with an opportunity, Will has to decide to take it or not. Will goes all in and even quits his job. Will is "the opening act" and emcee of a weekend at a Improv with a famous established comedian, Billy G. Will Will be able to impress the right people and get his chance at a life of stand up?

This was a coming of age story movie. You can kinda see it from the trailer and you knew it was going to be an happy ending. However, with any coming of age story, the middle portions will be ripe with failure and self doubt, before they get it together to succeed.

I really enjoyed this movie. I had had my eye on this for many months and finally pulled the trigger a weekend ago and got it off Amazon Prime Video. I spent 3 sessions to finish this over the week right before I started on Jimmy's Love Hard. Which made my family confused as they walked by to see me watching Yang for over a week. Jimmy O. Yang is great and I hope him much success in the future. I highly recommend this movie.

Part of the movie does dive into the protaginst as an Asian American. It does not ask for pitty, but it is one of the roadblocks that was faced. I thought it was dealt with well.

Eternals - 永恆族

Eternals (永恆族) is an 2021 film. The movie is an ensemble cast starring Gemma Chan, Richard Madden, Lia McHugh, Brian Tyree Henry, Lauren Ridloff, Barry Keoghan, Don Lee, Salma Hayek, Angelina Jolie, Kit Harington, and Kumail Nanjiani. The movie is based the Eternals from Jack Kirby and their bad counterparts, the Deviants. The movie version has been adapted for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The movie is directed by Chloé Zhao.



The Eternals were brought to earth to fight monsters that are against the Celestrals, Deviants. Over the years, the Eternals have only been given permission to fight conflicts that include the Deviants. Sersi is in modern day London and a teacher in a relationship with Dane Whitman. But Sersi was in a relationship with Ikaris for thousands of years. Sersi and Sprite are roommates and go out on the town with Dane. While haeding back home, a Deviant attackes them. Ikaris comes to the rescue but the Deviant gets away. This sets into events that there may be a bigger event happening. Sersi, Sprite, and Ikaris set out to form the gang again. Will they be able to get everyone together and fight off the deviants?

I did not follow the Eternals that closely when I was reading comics more regularly. I only remember Sersi as part of the Avengers back in the 1980s. Beyond that, I only read about them in the Marval Universe guides. This was also the same with Gaurdians when it became a movie. I think these are good concepts for Marvel as they can really go in any direction in the films as the characters were not as impactful as say a Spider-man or Iron Man.

This movie was very well made. From the locales to the special effects. Seems earth has lots of hidden mysteries and evil monsters that have not been attacking the Avengers recently. I thought the locales were one of the highlights of the movie. Instead of spending time in front of a green screen, they were actually there to feel it for real. I thought the acting was suberb. How can it not be with so many veterans?

I would recommend you watch it for the locals and acting. And of course, its part of the MCU so you'll need the context going forward. Normally, I judge my euthasiasm for films based on if I want to pick up the Blu-ray to watch again. In this case, I thought one watch was good enough. Onto the next MCU movie!

2021 November Blockbuster Movie Guide

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

Eternals (永恆族)

Ghostbusters: Afterlife (魔鬼剋星:未來世)



Top Gun: Maverick (捍衛戰士:獨行俠)



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

Updated Marvel Cinematic Universe Releases - October 2021

Shang-Chi (尚氣與十環傳奇) continued its strong run through September and is the current domestic box office leader of 2021. I also posted about the updated MCU Phase Four movie releases last month. Since that post, there have been more updates and some Disney+ updates. Let's take a look.

Lets take another look at upcoming movies for the MCU:

• Eternals (永恆族) (November 5, 2021)
• Spider-Man: No Way Home (蜘蛛人:無家日) (December 17, 2021)
• Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness (奇異博士2:失控多重宇宙) (March 25, 2022)
• Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness (奇異博士2:失控多重宇宙) (May 06, 2022)
• Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (黑豹2:瓦干達萬歲) (July 08, 2022)
• The Marvels (驚奇女士) (November 11, 2022)
• Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (蟻人與黃蜂女:量子狂熱) (February 17, 2023)
• Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (星際異攻隊3) (May 05, 2023)
• Untitled Marvel film #1 - July 28, 2023
• Untitled Marvel film #2 - October 6, 2023
• Untitled Marvel film #3 - November 10, 2023
• Untitled Marvel film #4 - February 16, 2024
• Untitled Marvel film #5 - May 3, 2024
• Untitled Marvel film #6 - July 26, 2024
• Untitled Marvel film #7 - November 8, 2024

That's seven (7) untitled movies! Four of these movies have already been annouced, but do not have a release date. The moves are:

1. Fantastic Four
2. Blade
3. Deadpool 3
4. Captain America 4

The X-men were also hinted at, but nothing offfical yet. The official term the MCU is using are mutants at the moment.

Lets take a look at upcoming Disney+ for the MCU:

• Hawkeye (November 24, 2021)
• Ms. Marvel (Expected in 2022)
• Moon Knight (Expected in 2022)
• She-Hulk (Expected in 2022)
• Secret Invasion (Expected in 2022)
• The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special (Expected in 2022)

These are upcoming Disney+ series for the MCU that do not release dates:

• Ironheart
• Armor Wars
• Untitled Wakanda series
• Untitled Halloween special
• Loki - Season 2
• What If...? - Season 2
• Untitled Echo series - Spinoff from Hawkeye

Sources:
Wikipedia.org

2021 October Blockbuster Movie Guide

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

Venom: Let There Be Carnage (猛毒2:血蜘蛛)



No Time To Die(007生死交戰)



The Last Duel



Dune (2021/Dune: Part One/沙丘)



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

Updated Marvel Phase Four Movie Schedule - 2021

The MCU is back with a bang with Shang-Chi (尚氣與十環傳奇). Breaking records left and right. With no real competition at the box office for the rest of September, I hope Shang-Chi can break the coveted 300 million domestic total.

Back in December 2019, I wrote a post about the MCU's phase four schedule. After the pandemic hit, I had a update on all of Disney movies in May 2020. I than couldn't keep up anymore after that with so many moves from all studios. It looks like things have finally slowed down and the MCU's upcoming schedule looks as much set in stone as it can be.

Here are the upcoming movies for the MCU:

• Eternals (永恆族) (November 5, 2021)
• Spider-Man: No Way Home (蜘蛛人:無家日) (December 17, 2021)
• Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness (奇異博士2:失控多重宇宙) (March 25, 2022)
• Thor: Love And Thunder (雷神索爾:愛與雷霆) (May 06, 2022)
• Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (黑豹2:瓦干達萬歲) (July 08, 2022)
• The Marvels (驚奇女士) (November 11, 2022)
• Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (蟻人與黃蜂女:量子狂熱) (February 17, 2023)
• Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (星際異攻隊3) (May 05, 2023)

Sources:
Wikipedia.org

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings - 尚氣與十環傳奇

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings(尚氣與十環傳奇) is an 2021 film. The movie stars Simu Liu, Awkwafina, and Tony Leung. The supporting cast include Meng'er Zhang, Fala Chen, Florian Munteanu, Benedict Wong, Michelle Yeoh, and Ben Kingsley. This is the 25th and the first Asian led movie within the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The film was originally set for release in February of 2021, but due to the pandemic, things got shifted around many times. During the shuffling, summer dates came and went.



Simu Liu is Shang-Chi and Awkwafina is Katy, whom are valet parking attendants at a high end hotel. On the way to work on the bus, they are attacked by a brute with a sword attached to his arm. Shang-chi comes clean with Katy about his past and that they were sent by the Ten Rings organization. Shang-Chi also tells Katy that his father is the leader and he must stop him. How will Shang-chi do that?



I went in with very low expectations and was pleasantly surprised. It is hard to put into words exactly how I feel as there is a sense of pride. Because Asian led products in the "west" have generally been very high on playing to stereotypes. This movie however played very little to it. It was also the first one that I felt was able to mix the world I grew up into a movie a little. I mean this in terms of the mix of English and Mandarin. The use and mix of the two was the best that I've seen in "western" films.



The story itself was fundamentally simple. But the items of each piece was complex in nature. In all, the movie was 4 acts. Each act built up to the next. The pace was really good as I didn't really want it to end. Tony Leung was his amazing self. Because I haven't seen his recent films, it was good to see him onscreen again. The rest of the cast met up with an amazing script so it was hard to mess up.



Some other parts of the MCU made their appearance to welcome their Asian buddy in. Very happy about that. I highly recommend this film. Go watch it!

1917

1917 (1917) is an 2019 film. The movie stars George MacKay and Dean-Charles Chapman. The supporting cast include Mark Strong, Andrew Scott, Richard Madden, Claire Duburcq, Colin Firth, and Benedict Cumberbatch. I caught this movie in January of 2020 at a local movie theatre.

In 1917, during World War I, two soliders are assigned a mission to carry a message to the frontlines to call off an attack before 1,600 men are sent in, which would be a slaughter. They have to get there fast. Along the way, they face many changes and obsecles.

Like many movies of late set during wartime, it has become more and more realistic. The stories have also dived more into the emotional state of the soliders. In some cases, it is no longer about who's the enemy. In this case, that was this movie. You were watching two men go through trials and tribulations that meant life and death to them to accomplish a mission.

Since it has been awhile, going purely off memory, I was at the edge of my seat waiting for the next thing to happen and hoping that they would survive. With that in mind, if you like wartime movies with a more modern spin, you should watch 1917.

I think there were some Asian actors as soliders, but I did not notice any prominent Asian faces in this movie.

Knives Out - 鋒迴路轉

Knives Out (鋒迴路轉) is an 2019 film. The movie stars Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, Ana de Armas, Jamie Lee Curtis, Michael Shannon, Don Johnson, Toni Collette, Lakeith Stanfield, Katherine Langford, Jaeden Martell, and Christopher Plummer. Since this movie was really an ensemble cast, top billing is hard to promote. I picked this up from redbox right before the pandemic hit Los Angeles in March of 2020. It is currently my last Redbox rental via my T-Mobile Tuesday deals.

The movie is the investigation of a death in a wealthy family. Because of the wealth, the family members are all very interested in how it will be divided. When an unexpected person gets it, but family springs into action to get the will changed. A famous investigator is brought in to solve the mystery.

In looking back on this movie and watching it again in parts on Amazon Prime a few months ago, the movie was not as interesting the second time around. How could it be if you know how the mystery is solved? On the first watch, I was trying to follow along, but gave up. Like most mystery movies, they leave out key details that they only show you when the investigators is telling everyone how they solved the mystery. I was not too disappointed by this and converted myself to just enjoying how the mystery unfolds. As things went on, you saw all the different family members do their thing. In the end, it was quite enjoyable on first watch. If you like mysteries, this one is a dandy.

I did not notice any prominent Asian faces in this movie.

2021 September Blockbuster Movie Guide

I am finally getting back to these post. My last one was back in April of 2020. I normally do this to remind myself of things to watch. Here are the movies to look out for this month, US Edition.

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (尚氣與十環傳奇)



Cry Macho



Blue Bayou



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

理想之城 - The Ideal City

理想之城 (The Ideal City) is an 2021 drama out of Zhong Guo. The series leads are Betty Sun and Mark Chao. The supporting cast include Chen Ming Hao, Yu He Wei, Gao Ye, and Yang Chao Yue. The series is 40 episodes long and I am currently watching it through my IQIYI subscription. At the moment, I am up to episode 39.



Betty Sun plays Su Xiao and Mark Chao plays Xia Ming. Su Xiao is a cost engineer with a construction company, ZJ. Xia Ming is 2nd in charge at Tian Ke (TK), a construction company subcontracted by ZJ. When things go wrong, Su Xiao is the scapegoat and fired just as she is getting her license. With the license, she is able to get job interview. Without it, she's starting back at square one. With that struggle in place, Su Xiao takes on the corporate world that is not just and not very friendly to females. Will Su Xiao make in Shanghai or go back home to her village.



I am up to episode 39 at the moment and started a little late when it was released. I eventually caught up at episode 19 and have been waiting patiently everyday for new episodes to come out. Even though I am not a huge Betty Sun fan, I think she does a very good job in this drama. The story is so good that I am not stuck on who is playing a character, but how the characters will develop. I will say that Mark Chao is magically cast for this role. Mark was also very good in The Ordinary Glory, but the story there was not as strong as The Ideal City. Together, they do a really good job of moving the story from one arc to the next. I wake up itching to watch but have to wait until after I eat dinner.

Given that I have not seen the last episode, I expect all plot points to be resolved and to be a little let down. It is hard to end a series strong sometimes. And as good as the previous 39 episodes have been, can the 40th episode wrap it up to satisfy everyone?

UPDATE after watching Episode 40: INCLUDES SPOILERS. As I mentioned above, it is hard to end series well. The set up, the character development, the industry were excellent in presentation. How can you just end it in one episode? Well, they did, but it was really abrupt. In the end, I was left unsatisfied, but I expected that. Su Xiao and Xia Ming win at the end, was there any doubt? But the way it got there and the "message" was quite disappointing. Hongmei's story was also left unfinished or you can make a bunch of assumptions. However, as a whole, the disappointing ending does not make this drama disappointing. This is one of the better made dramas and you should watch The Ideal City.

Black Widow - 黑寡婦

Black Widow (黑寡婦) is an 2021 film. The movie stars Scarlett Johansson, Florence Pugh, David Harbour, and Rachel Weisz. The supporting cast include Olga Kurylenko, William Hurt, and Ray Winstone. This movie was set for release in May of 2020, but was push back more than a year because of the Covid-19 pandemic. The movie is based on the events after Captain America: Civil War (美國隊長3:英雄內戰/美国队长3:英雄内战).



Scarlett Johansson plays Natasha Romanoff, a Black Widow, Florence Pugh plays Yelena Belova, a Black Widow, David Harbour plays Alexei Shostakov, the Red Guardian of the USSR, and Rachel Weisz plays Melina Vostokoff, a Black Widow. After the events of Captain America: Civil War (美國隊長3:英雄內戰/美国队长3:英雄内战), Natasha is now on the run and makes her way to Europe. Things get interesting when Natasha bumps into her "sister" Yelena. They get attacked there and talk about the old times. Eventually, they decide to go on a mission to free the other gals in the Black Widow program. However, they need some help to pull something this big off, so they go searching for the Mom and Dad, Alexie and Melina. Together, they must find the Black Widow's home base and free them. So much fun!

There was much hype for Black Widow in 2020 and than it was not released. After over a year on the shelf, when it made its debut, I think there was too much hype for this movie to live up to. Generally, after the release, this movie quickly lost steam and wasn't talk about much. There are also more Marvel items out at the same time now that they could be taking hype from each other. As Loki's TV series was on at the same time. I did enjoy it for the action and to get the back story on the Black Widows that had been reference many times before. I think this movie would have been better served in the 2018 or 2019 era. Go watch it, it is still a Marvel film and was well made.

I think there were some Asian actors as part of the Black Widows, but I did not notice any prominent Asian faces in this movie.

My Expectations for Shang-Chi

In a few weeks, Marvel will be debuting their first Asian lead movie with Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. I am excited and cautious at the same time. Currently, my opinion of Asian lead activities in the "west" are that they play too much into the stereotypes. Mind you that I do not watch all of the Asian lead stuff, but watch some of the more mainstream ones.

I will admit that since the pandemic started, 75% or more of what I watch are directly out of Asia from Zhong Guo, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea, and Japan.

My opinion is based on a couple of trailers and some recent Facebook clips. And I have high hopes! Seems that Simi Liu is going to bring a regular guy role who turns out to be awesome. Kinda like Ant-man.



Tony Leung, Tony Leung. My favorite actor from the 1980s through 1990s. I first saw him in Duke of Mount Deer, then in Heaven Sword, to the first TVB of Handsome Siblings. I grew up on his TVB series. Then his transition to movies with John Woo's Bullet In the Head and Hard Boiled. I have been a life long fan of his. I am hoping Kevin Feige lives up to his word that they will not play to Asian stereotypes, especially with Tony's role.

I have purchased tickets to watch the movie during its first weekend out. Although I am no longer brave enough to make the open nights, I still want to watch them in the theatre.

As much as I love seeing Asian representation in the West. I am sad that some of my favorite Asia based actors cannot join the fun. My favorites right now are a pair of Darrens in Darren Wang and Darren Chen. I also think Xiao Zhan and Yang Yang can play both gritty and slick roles. But Hollywood is not likely to tap the Asia market for their leads. We'll continue to see the same faces over and over again, because the pool is so small. It's a numbers thing in my opinion. Not likely to change in my lifetime.