Populasian: 2025

Friday, July 11, 2025

肥龍過江 - Enter the Fat Dragon

肥龍過江 (Enter the Fat Dragon) is an 2020 film out of Hong Kong. The movie stars Donnie Yen, the strongest in the universe. The supporting cast include Niki Chow, Wong Jing, Teresa Mo, Naoto Takenaka, Joey Iwanaga, and Jessica Jann. This movie hit the market right as the pandemic got into full swing in Asia for CNY.

Ah Long is a over zealous Hong Kong police officer that has gotten a reputation for being never giving up on a arrest. This has him in bad standing with his colleagues and causes him to miss his pre-wedding photos. His fiancée breaks up with him and Ah Long is demoted to the evidence cellar. Ah Long finally gets his break to get back into action, but has since gotten fat sitting around doing nothing. Enter the fat dragon. Ah long is to bring a suspect back to Japan and hand him over to the Japanese police. But when they get to Japan, the suspect gets away. Will Ah Long get the suspect back and his career back?

I watched this on Prime Video recently, but it took me over three weeks of a few minutes here and there to finish. The version on Prime Video was also in Cantonese. The reason I haven't watched this earlier is that I haven't been able to find a mandarin dubbed version. But I gave in and watched the Canto version. I do not like reading subs if I don't have to. Having to watch this with subs was one of the reasons I didn't enjoy it.

If you're ok with the canto, the movie was a comedy action film. Ah Long is in a obvious fat suit. But it worked out due to the comedic elements of the film set up from the very beginning. If you like action and a ridiculous story, this movie is for you.

Friday, July 4, 2025

F1

F1 is an 2025 film. The movie stars Brad Pitt and Damson Idris. The supporting cast include Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem, Kim Bodnia, Sarah Niles, Will Merrick, Joseph Balderrama, Abdul Salis, Callie Cooke, Samson Kayo, and Tobias Menzies. The movie was directed by Joseph Kosinski. The movie had a good opening weekend.

Sonny Hayes has just won the 24 hour Daytona race and is heading to another race. Ruben Cervantes has a F1 team and needs a driver, recruting Sonny as they drove against each other in the 1990s. Sonny has been out of F1 for 3 decades. The remaining driver Joshua Pearce (JP) is a up and coming driver. Sonny and JP butt heads right away. The team needs at least 1 win to continue as a F1 into the next year. If not, they will be sold and debanded with Ruben losing over 350 million dollars. Can Sonny help the team get 1 win and survive to the next season?

I was able to goto the movie via T-Mobile Tuesday deal of $5 a ticket. I eneded up getting a couple of more codes via eBay for $1.95 each. The total for 4 tickets was $23.84. Popcorn and a drink was $28.74. If we had gotton a regular IMAX ticket, it would have been $24.99 each. It harder to justify going to the theatre. This was the first movie as a family in a couple of years. Recently, I have only gone out to the theatre on the T-Mobile $5 tickets.

How was the movie? It was good. I was entertained the whole time. I am a passing F1 guy and do not generally keep track anymore. I was kinda into F1 during the Michael Schumacher's dominance during the 1990s. But lost interst as it was hard to get F1 news in the US back in the day. Recently, due to many clips online, I have gotten back in. The movie was not hard to understand due to my passing interest. My other family members whom did not know what F1 was, got the movie as well.

The story itself is pretty easy to follow. Win one race. However, the journey to get there via Brad Pitt was pretty fun. Pitt does a good job as the old man.

Thursday, July 3, 2025

2025 July Amazon Prime Video Releases

Sun's out, so are these. The new July line-up just dropped. pic.twitter.com/IA1ztImFnb
— Prime Video (@PrimeVideo) July 1, 2025

Wednesday, July 2, 2025

2025 July Netflix Releases

Netflix has lots of things that come and go every month. And its a bit of a struggle to keep up. Here are some highlights.

Source: Netflix Tudum

Tuesday, July 1, 2025

2025 July Blockbuster Movie Guide

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

Jurassic World Rebirth (侏羅紀世界:重生)

Superman (超人)

Eddington

I Know What You Did Last Summer (是誰搞的鬼)

The Fantastic Four: First Steps (驚奇4超人:第一步)

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

Thursday, June 19, 2025

Fountain Of Youth - 尋秘不老泉

Fountain Of Youth is an 2025 film. The movie stars John Krasinski and Natalie Portman. The supporting cast include Eiza González, Domhnall Gleeson, Arian Moayed, Laz Alonso, Carmen Ejogo, and Stanley Tucci. The film was released on Apple TV+ in May 2025.

John Krasinski and Natalie Portman play siblings, Luke and Charlotte Purdue, respectively. Luke takes after their deceased archeologist father. Charlotte decides to forsake those ways when she got married and had Thomas, her son. Basically settling down. Charlotte is now a museum curator. When they meet again recently, Luke is stealing a painting from the museum Charlotte curates at, leading to her firing. Luke explains that he's putting together a puzzle that will lead them to the Fountain Of Youth. Will Luke and Charlotte make up to be loving siblings and find this Fountain Of Youth?

I recently had a 30 day trial of Apple TV+ when I paid via Apple Pay. And just on my last few days before it expired, Fountain Of Youth came out. I watched with my wife and it was a fun watch. Would we watch it again or recommend it our children? Most likely not.

I got the feeling of a mystery to solve type of movie ala Raiders of the Ark and National Treasure. But it was neither by the end of the film. And the end of the film nicely sets up for sequels.

Thursday, June 12, 2025

The Accountant 2 - 會計師2

The Accountant 2 (會計師2) is an 2025 film. The movie stars Ben Affleck and Jon Bernthal. The supporting cast include Cynthia Addai-Robinson, J. K. Simmons, Daniella Pineda, Grant Harvey, and Andrew Howard. This is a sequel to The Accountant (會計師).

Ben and Jon reprise their roles as The Accountant and Braxton, respectively. Cynthia Addai-Robinson and J. K. Simmons as Marybeth and Raymond King, respectively. However, this time around, Raymond King is retired and working as an PI, whereas Marybeth has taken over King’s old position as head of FinCen. King is hot on the trail of something before he is killed off, prompting Marybeth to seek out The Accountant. As The Accountant and Marybeth start their investigation, they butt heads and need extra support. Enter Braxton. The three amigos make headway in the search for King’s killer and keep butting heads. Follow the law or do their own thing? Will the three amigos find King’s killer?

I loved this movie because when Braxton entered the picture with The Accountant, they revisit their estranged family dynamics and work through them as the film goes about its investigation. Which ended up being a “buddy” movie. What made Rush Hour and Shanghai Knights so popular in the past was the buddy movie aspect. In the same vein, Ben and Jon play off each other so well.

I hope they start on a sequel and maybe play off the final installment of the brothers getting revenge or something other, or make 8 more of these buddy films. Let’s keep ‘em coming. Give the masses what they want. My favorite film of 2025 so far.

UPDATE JUNE 19, 2025. The Accountant 2 (會計師2) recently released on Amazon Prime Video. I just re-watched it last night. It was even better the second time around. Wow! Please get a sequel on the road.

Tuesday, June 3, 2025

2025 June Amazon Prime Video Releases

Summer showtime. pic.twitter.com/5KJrYDz7ht
— Prime Video (@PrimeVideo) June 1, 2025

Monday, June 2, 2025

2025 June Netflix Releases

Netflix has lots of things that come and go every month. And its a bit of a struggle to keep up. Here are some highlights.

Source: Netflix Tudum

Sunday, June 1, 2025

2025 June Blockbuster Movie Guide

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

From the World of John Wick: Ballerina (捍衛任務:復仇芭蕾/復仇芭蕾)

How to Train Your Dragon (馴龍高手)

Materialists (天作之合)

28 Years Later (28年毀滅倒數)

Bride Hard (超硬伴娘)

M3GAN 2.0 (窒友梅根 2.0)

The Phoenician Scheme (腓尼基計劃)

The Ritual (儀弒)

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

Thursday, May 15, 2025

Thunderbolts* - 雷霆特攻隊*

Thunderbolts* (雷霆特攻隊*) is an 2025 film. The movie stars an ensemble cast of Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan, Wyatt Russell, Olga Kurylenko, Lewis Pullman, Geraldine Viswanathan, Chris Bauer, Wendell Pierce, David Harbour, Hannah John-Kamen, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus. This movie is part of the MCU and is the 36th installment.

Florence Pugh plays Yelena Belova, a black widow assassin trained in the red room. Yelena is a merc for hire and works for Julia Louis-Dreyfus's character of Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, the director of the CIA. Yelena is sent on missions to assassinate targets for Valentina. When Valentina sends her other 3 operatives to the same spot to take out a target. Things don't work out and they assemble to get out of the situation. Bucky and the Red Gaurdian find out through his sources and goes to target location as well. Bucky and the assembled than have to assemble to take down Valentina who has been playing them all along. Will they be able to right the wrongs of Valentina?

I have not been consistent with Marvel lately and missed a couple of movies and all of the recent TV stuff on D+. As the internet chatter as been, I would agree that this Thunderbolts movie is a bit of a return to form. Will Fantastic Four and Doomsday rectify everything? It's hard to say as there was so much crap for so long.

I was not bored watching and the charater development was quite quick but satisfying. We have seen all these characters in the past and this movie gives us just a little more of what and who they are now. When they assembled, it made sense.

And you may have already found out that this movie is about depression and how to handle it. The story of the void and its shame rooms is evidence of that. And the film goes about dealing with this subject.

Not even a week in, the current cast is running around calling themselves "The New Avengers". Yikes! Cannot wait for the drama to unfold.

Thursday, May 8, 2025

Sinners - 罪人

Sinners (罪人) is an 2025 film. The movie stars Michael B. Jordan. The supporting cast include Hailee Steinfeld, Miles Caton, Jack O'Connell, Wunmi Mosaku, Jayme Lawson, Omar Miller, Delroy Lindo, Yao, and Li Jun Li. The movie was based in 1932 in the delta. Michael B. Jordan plays a dual role as twins.

Michael B. Jordan plays both Smoke and Stack, war veterans whom were away in Chicago for the past 7 years. They have returned to their roots in the Mississippi delta. They want to start their own juke joint business. They assemble their team of people from their roots to work the juke joint. The juke joint starts and the party begins. However, things turn for the worst when vampires join the party. Can the party goers survive these super natural creatures of the night?

I caught this at a local matinee showing. Eye test would suggest that the theatre was about half filled and in one of the bigger screen rooms. Which is pretty good for its third weekend out.

The first third of this movie was a bit of like assembling the avengers to run the juke joint. The twins went about their separate ways to round up the major players. From cooks, bartenders, and the door man. Unfortunately, this part of the movie was quite boring for me. The second third of the movie was about running the juke joint and the business aspect, including the shift to the musical performances. This part was also a bit boring for me. Up to this point, the character development did not make me care for the players in play. But then the vampires show up and the action starts. This last third of the movie caught my attention and the payoff of sitting through the boring stuff is fulfilled. And the extended mid credit scene harkens to a sequel.

Yao and Li Jun Li play an Chinese couple with a daughter whom run the local department store in town, Bo and Grace. Grace's character is slightly more significant than Bo's and plays a pivotal role during the climatic battle. Just a bit of an inconsistency for me is that Li is from Shanghai and if she were to retain any of her heritage, she would not have understood the Cantonese that the Vampire was speaking. Cantonese, Mandarin, and Shanghainese are all their own families of dialect. But I know, its a movie, and in the 1930s, its a very high likelihood that the Chinese were from the Guangdong delta (Pearl River Delta).