DEADPOOL 2 (Malaysia, 17 May 2018)

Genre: Action / Comedy
Running Length: 2:00
Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Josh Brolin, Julian Dennison, Zazie Beetz, Morena Baccarin, T.J. Miller,  Stefan Kapicic, Karan Soni, Leslie Uggams
Director: David Leitch
Screenplay: Rhett Reese & Paul Wernick & Ryan Reynolds

What's this movie about?

Mercenary Wade Wilson aka Deadpool, recruits a team of folks with supernatural abilities to protect a young mutant boy from a time-traveling cyborg, Cable. Sounds like Terminator, isn't it? 

Highlights!

• Not serious/serious approach. It doesn't take itself seriously, even when serious things happen especially the first and last 15 minutes of the movie. It delivers the seriousness and even tenderness of certain moments but in a funny Deadpool way. 
• The side characters. The middle act where Deadpool recruits a bunch of misfits and thereafter followed by parachute drop scene = highlight of the entire movie!
• The soundtrack. The intentionally mismatched use of songs for some scenes (eg. using a hopeful song during a bleak moment) really makes those moments memorable especially a super slo-mo scene.  

Lowlights

• Overly produced action scenes. Too long = boring
• Uneven comedy. Like most comedy movies, some will land and some won't. But there are some one-joke concept that keeps going it overstays its welcome. However, the movie redeems itself with its end-credit scenes (that's a particular one which had me in stitches!) 

In summary

I enjoyed DEADPOOL 2 much more than the first outing . I felt this one has got a more complete story, whereas the first one was just a series of gags and one-liners.

RATING: 7/10

READY PLAYER ONE (Malaysia, 29 Mar 2018)

Genre: Science Fiction / Adventure 

Running Length: 2:20

Cast: Tye Sheridan, Olivia Cooke, Ben Mendelsohn, Lena Waithe, T.J. Miller, Simon Pegg, Mark Rylance, Philip Zhao, Win Morisaki

Director: Steven Spielberg 

Screenplay: Zak Penn and Ernest Cline, based on the novel by Ernest Cline 

READY PLAYER ONE brings back a little of the "Spielberg magic" missing in his recent movies; the sense of adventure, special effects, sweeping music score, awestruck faces of the actors to show a sense of wonder and of course, the neat ending.

What's the movie about?

The year is 2045, where there's widespread poverty and overpopulation. People are more interested in escaping reality into this massive online universe called The Oasis via their VR equipment. When the founder of this game died, he offered his fortune and ownership of the entire game to whoever who can find the prized Easter Egg. Our hero Wade Watts (Sheridan) and his group of new found friends in the game has to face off against an evil corporation who wants The Oasis too.   

What I like about it?

• The Oasis. It's a visual fest, immersive and packed with details! This movie needs to be watched on the big screen with the best possible sound system.  
• Pop references. Because a player can be anybody in the game, this movie is packed full with recognizable characters; King Kong, Iron Giant, the DeLorean, the Akira motorbike, Streetfighter characters, Alien etc. One YouTube video says there are at least 128 of these references. Geeks will love this movie!
• The sweeping music score by Alan Silvestri.
• The sense of adventure and wonder in Act 1. The car race is WOW!
• The good old Spielberg kan-cheong moments in Act 3, involving scenes going back and forth between the game world and the real world. Only Spielberg can get the audience to scream  "Quick, quick hurry up!" at the screen. 

What I didn't?

• The bloated middle Act. After being introduced to the Oasis, I felt that was no need to keep going deeper into that world. I caught myself checking my watch. 
• The missed opportunity of exploring the growing phenomenon of young people living a reclusive life. The filmmakers did shed some light on it but kinda addressed it lightly at the end. 
• The performances from the actors are ok but not particularly memorable. 

RATING: 7.5/10 

DEADPOOL (2016)

Genre: Action / Comedy
Running Length: 1:48
Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Morena Baccarin, Ed Skrein, T.J. Miller, Stefan Kapicic, Brianna Hildebrand, Leslie Uggams, Gina Carano
Director: Tim Miller
Screenplay: Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, based on characters created by Rob Liefeld & Fabian Nicieza

Firstly, let me get a few things out of the way. The DEADPOOL shown in Malaysian cinemas is an inferior version; it's censored artistically and as a result, it's distracting. Secondly, I'm not a fan of this anti-hero because from what I understand, this movie was made for the fans. What this means is that if you like the first 10 mins of the film, you will have a blast with the remaining time. If you don't like what you see in the beginning, Deadpool our main guy would not grow on you overtime. You'll just get more of the same.

Deadpool is definitely a different kind of superhero (or anti-hero) movie from the Marvel studio. Right from the start in the opening credit sequence, you know the movie is going to poke fun at itself and everything else; Liam Neeson, Hugh Jackman, IKEA, other superhero movies, Ryan Reynolds himself etc. To a certain extent, it works in small segments but not as an entire feature length. It can get pretty tiresome watching Reynolds spewing away smart-ass one-liners laced with F-bombs and dispatching (killing, maiming, torturing) baddies with absolutely no compunctions (Perhaps that's why the short short promo videos on YouTube leading to the release is so much more fun to watch). Sorry guys, I'm a non-fan.

In terms of story wise, it's actually a love story. Reynolds plays a mercenary named Wade Wilson and when he found out he has terminal cancer, he signs his life over to a shadowy organization with the promise of a cure + superhero abilities, so that he can reconnect with his lover. Unfortunately, in the process, he was horribly scarred and he swears revenge over the evil doctor who made him ugly.

Overall, this movie feels small because it was clearly shot on a tight budget (there's even a joke about this in the film) with only two real action sequences bookending the movie. In summary, the highlights of the movie are Ryan Reynolds and the 80s/90s music selection. The hype is true. Reynolds was born to play this role. As for the song selection, you just can't go wrong with Chicago, Salt-N-Pepa and "Wham!"

Rating: 6/10

BIG HERO 6 (2014)

Genre: Animated
Running Length: 1:38
Cast (Voices): Ryan Potter, Scott Adsit, Daniel Henney, Jamie Chung, T.J. Miller, Genesis Rodriguez, Damon Wayans Jr., Maya Rudolph, James Cromwell, Alan Tudyk
Director: Don Hall, Chris Williams

As kids today are growing up faster due to their exposure to the Internet, producing an animated movie in Hollywood these days is definitely much more challenging than the yesteryears. The content needs to be edgy, globally appealing and politically correct. If The Little Mermaid was released in this day and age, it will be crushed to instant death at the box office by the likes of Frozen and Maleficent. Disney's BIG HERO 6 will unlikely generate the same mass following like Frozen, but nevertheless, it's a decent follow-up. In fact, I enjoyed Big Hero 6 more because it's geared more towards boys, it has no singing and the main theme of this animated film appealed to me; confronting death of a loved one (woah). Despite its sombre theme, the filmmakers managed to successfully balance the light-hearted elements with the serious stuff and presented it in a seamless entertaining experience. Two highlights for me; the cultural, architectural and geographical fusion of East meet West fictional city of San Fransokyo and of course, the lovable robot Baymax - which looks like a fluffy Michelin Man with the soul of Wall-E. Baymax is lovingly awkward, caring and full of heart; “On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate your pain?" :)

p/s: Since Big Hero 6 is a collaboration between Disney and Marvel Comics, stay right to the end for the post credit scene.

Rating: 7/10