Movie Review: Avenger's Endgame

Hard to think that it's been 11 years since Iron Man (2008). After 21 movies in the Marvel cinematic universe franchise, we are at the Endgame now. Don't worry, the film is such an epic masterpiece that it's hard to spoil it for you. It's a culmination of more than a decade's worth of storytelling work from various directors and actors combined. What an ambitious, emotional, thrilling, incredible roller-coaster ride!

As truth to be told, Endgame becomes more complex as it goes along. The pacing feels tighter compared with Infinity War. The film rightly focus and delves deep into previous film's feeling of emotional loss and helplessness, exploring it in finer details through our original 6's (Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, Black Widow, Hawkeye (now Ronin)) emotional arcs and deep insecurities since the start of The Avengers Initiative, how each character comes to terms with their losses and achieves closure. In revisit some of the familiar scenes of this spectacular franchise, this created a huge emotional resonance in the hearts of audience.

Despite the somberness of the situation presented in Endgame, it still managed to imbue suitable amount of comedy elements at the right moment. It does feel lighter and more joyous as expected from a Marvel film despite the aftermath of The Decimation by Thanos' snap. Endgame's greatest accomplishment is that it manages to confidently ties up 11 years of storytelling buildup, by giving specific payoffs that many Marvel fans craved for such a long time.

Moreover, Endgame features several impressive climactic set pieces that will ultimately applauded by fans of the franchise (of which I dare not spoil), providing a unique momentum and gravitas that further propels it to greater heights after the emotional, character driven moments in the first act. Throughout Infinity War and Endgame, the tears that came out of our eyes (even a little) showed how deeply you've connected with the characters all these years. This is a film that rewards your knowledge of the franchise.

Most certainly, Endgame will be judged by many due to its rather familiar and arguable plot device and concepts to carry its narrative forward. But I believe it's a minor common issue for all the science fantasy films that come before it. It will gradually work much better after repeated viewings that the narrative is well thought and deserved.

With so much anticipation and worldwide excitement from all fans and casual moviegoers alike, it's a remarkable feat that the Russo brothers managed to pull it off successfully and exceeded all expectations. This is truly a climactic conclusion to the franchise, which marks the end of The Infinity Saga. It's everything you've ever dreamed of...and more. A satisfying, well-deserved ending indeed. It's a wonderful gift to those invested 11 years of their life in this remarkable franchise. GO WATCH IT ASAP!


Rating: 10/10

Note: There are no mid or after-credit scenes, so you may leave as the credit roll.

Rating comparisons with other Marvel Cinematic Universe films:

Iron Man	2008	8/10
The Incredible Hulk	2008	7/10
Iron Man 2	2010	7/10
Thor	2011	7/10
Captain America: The First Avenger	2011	8/10
The Avengers	2012	9/10
Iron Man 3	2013	8.5/10
Thor: The Dark World	2013	8/10
Captain America: The Winter Soldier	2014	8.5/10
Guardians of the Galaxy	2014	7.5/10
Avengers: Age of Ultron	2015	8/10
Ant-Man	2015	7.5/10
Captain America: Civil War	2016	7.5/10
Doctor Strange	2016	8/10
Guardians of the Galaxy 2	2017	7/10
Spider-Man: Homecoming	2017	7/10
Thor: Ragnarok	2017	7/10
Black Panther	2018	7.5/10
Avengers: Infinity War	2018	9.5/10
Ant-Man and the Wasp	2018	7/10
Captain Marvel	2019	8/10
Avengers: Endgame	2019	10/10

Avengers: Infinity War review

10 years in the making. The most ambitious crossover event in film history. Incredibly bold and audacious, the studio has finally overcome its overarching issues prevailing in all its previous 18 films: lack of stakes and remarkable, compelling villain with clear and understandable motives. They succeeded with the long-teased arrival of Thanos, the Mad Titan in Avengers: Infinity War.

More than just a power-hungry, egotistical megalomaniac who devoted himself to Death (cosmic entity) in the comics, his portrayal in the film is far more singularly focused and allow us to empathize his reasoning for wanting to wipe out half of all living entities in existence. His intention is to bring peace, harmony and restore balance to the universe, even at a huge sacrificial cost. As he puts it, the universe is finite, resources are finite, when life flourished to the point beyond control, you need to reset it to restore the balance. The Mad Titan is in every way the overpowering villain for which audience have been waiting for nearly a decade. His very presence is dominating, bringing dread and terror to the hearts of many heroes whom we know and loved.

Finally, we get to see how powerful it can be when someone managed to assemble all the 6 infinity stones, with each stone grants the wielder unimaginable power that represents a different aspect of the universe (Power, Space, Reality, Soul, Time and Mind). It establishes real, high stakes and sends a very clear message that no one is safe in this film. The Russo brothers successfully deliver a heart-pounding, jaw-dropping film experience that never before seen on a big screen, with fantastic character interactions and devastating surprises. The film handles various characters diligently and honorably. The juxtaposition of both humour and dark moments were handled well this time, effectively delivering a somber yet entertaining piece of work.

Most critics heavily criticizes the overabundance of characters, lamenting that this essentially causing many characters lack depth and development. Well, what needed to be said is that it's been a decade with 18 films released throughout the years, the audience should know almost all of these characters by now. Granted, there's a minor misstep: The Children of Thanos – his four henchman - Ebony Maw, Cull Obsidian, Corvus Glaive, Proxima Midnight, a.k.a the Black Order in the comics..due to a
lack of time to develop them into anything worthwhile. They're basically portrayed as mere CGI aliens who are effective side-villains for the Avengers to fight against, but it's forgivable considering that the main focus is actually the big boss himself.

Despite a runtime of 2 hours and 40 minutes, Infinity War has actually raises the bar for ensemble film storytelling in terms of pacing. Everything happens accordingly and how it should be, even it might feel a little too fast at times. Overall, it's Marvel's best film to date. It has the best villain character development in the franchise, with high punishing stakes and making us believing in it. This exceptional achievement will definitely leaves fans and general audience fully satisfied and
desperate for more, questioning how the studio going to end the chapter in Part 2 next year.

Rating comparisons with other Marvel Cinematic Universe films:

Iron Man	2008	8/10
The Incredible Hulk	2008	7/10
Iron Man 2	2010	7/10
Thor	2011	7/10
Captain America: The First Avenger	2011	8/10
The Avengers	2012	9/10
Iron Man 3	2013	8.5/10
Thor: The Dark World	2013	8/10
Captain America: The Winter Soldier	2014	8.5/10
Guardians of the Galaxy	2014	7.5/10
Avengers: Age of Ultron	2015	8/10
Ant-Man	2015	7.5/10
Captain America: Civil War	2016	7.5/10
Doctor Strange	2016	8/10
Guardians of the Galaxy 2	2017	7/10
Spider-Man: Homecoming	2017	7/10
Thor: Ragnarok	2017	7/10
Black Panther	2018	7.5/10
Avengers: Infinity War	2018	9.5/10

Note: There's an after-credit scene, so please wait until the end.

Movie Review: Bad Genius

Bad Genius is an intense thrill ride. Exams have never been this entertaining, hilarious and nerve-racking before. Based on recent reporting about real-life scandals of Scholastic Assessment Tests (SAT, portrayed as STIC in the film), Bad Genius deserves its high praise for its highly engaging storytelling and deliciously clever editing for their heist scenes.

The titular heroine here is prodigy student Lynn (played by Chutimon Chuengcharoensukying in her first onscreen role), who has just enrolled in an elite school according to her father’s wishes. She comes from a lower middle-class group and her father is a recently divorced schoolteacher. The film shows her journey of discovery and personal growth as a person as she comes to peace for who she is and decides who she wants to be as she navigates through various teen social issues in this corrupt, crooked world of ours.

In order to help and support her working class dad who tries to find more money for her tuition, Lynn decided to use her genius intellect to devise a system to cheat in exams for a group of wealthy classmates in exchange for cash payments. This eventually balloons into a daring venture with an elaborate plan to cheat in an international exam. Believe it or not, it’s rather exciting to see how the students find their ways to cheat onscreen.

The film showed some insights on class inequalities and corrupt system that plagues the education system. It highlights a social system that benefits the rich. The class differences of each character draws out their inherent personalities as well, such as Grace’s (Lynn’s friend who she met when enrol at school) emotional blackmail of Lynn to get good results to join the acting club (which leaves one to question whether her friendship with Lynn is genuine or not), or even Pat’s (who’s also Grace’s boyfriend) enterprising thinking and tendency to use people to get what he wants.

On the other hand, Lynn and Bank (Lynn’s rival and interest) are exceptionally intelligent but not socially groomed or conniving compared with their wealthy classmates. Their feelings for one another and conflict of interest on ethical grounds are fresh and wonderful takes on the frenemy formula. It is especially saddening to see their loss of innocence and their internal anguish at the end. Bad Genius showed the consequences, showing that bad things always happen in this crooked world of ours.

One of the commendable aspects of the film is that no high-tech fantastical flashy gadgets were used (unlike many Hollywood blockbusters) to enact the heist, which gives a strong sense of realism to it. I won’t spoil the technicalities of doing the heist here; you need to see it for yourself.

Bad Genius is a huge surprise, a film that surpasses expectations. All of it works. None of the scenes are wasted. It’s an exceptional one-of-a-kind movie! One of the best films of the year. Highly recommended. A must watch!

"If you don't cheat, life cheats you."

Rating: 9/10

Movie Review: War for the Planet of the Apes

In an unexpected fashion, the reinvention of the classic Planet of the Apes franchise has shown that Hollywood can make better remakes and sequels. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes had raised the stakes in terms of quality even better than its original source materials. I personally love Rise (the first film) and I adore Dawn (the second film) very much. So expectations are quite high for this final sequel of Caesar's story.

War for the Planet of the Apes picks up 2 years after the events of Dawn (the second film), where Caesar and his fellow apes desperately tries to find a new place and escape an impending doom of a war that claimed many lives of apes. Consumed by anger and grief for his loss, the once noble and empathetic Caesar decides to leave his fellow apes and his role as a leader in search for revenge. Over the course of the film, Caesar needs to face his own demons with flashes of Koba haunts his very soul. The movie is about mercy and forgiveness, let go of hatred, showing us that ultimately it’s our choices that define who we are.

The CGI rendered and performance-captured apes are superb and top-notch like its predecessors. The various expressions of the apes are beautifully captured and shown on screen. The inclusion of a new ape character, Bad Ape serves as comic relief, by providing a few laughable moments here and there. The new human character, a mute orphan girl, Nova (despite origins unknown and no further character developments provided, based on the character of the same name in the source material) provides some emotional scenes for this sombre, tense and heavy film.

However, hard pressed to say, the final sequel proved to be rather disappointing. Although the same director (Matt Reeves) is at helm for this final sequel and he’s the co-writer with one of the screenwriters for the two previous films (Mark Bomback), it seems that the current script lacks the compelling emotional elements that made its predecessors great, which might be contributed by Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver (co-producers, but not co-writers for this final sequel this time). The second act, which is the constant chasing, imprisonment and subsequent prison break is rather slow and draggy, which might bore some audiences.

The trailers, posters and movie title is rather misleading…We don’t get to see a full blown-out epic, climactic ‘war’ battle between the apes and humans. It’s not really considered as a war if one side doesn’t stand a chance to fight against the other. The off-screen death of two characters that is very important to our main hero, Caesar, which triggers the path of revenge for him, is rather abrupt and sudden.

The new villain, Colonel is not as compelling or impactful as Koba, Caesar’s mutinous second in command. The film tries to portray him as the evil big boss, but the story doesn’t show like so. The colonel does explain how he becomes who he is now, but the film supposed to show us the horror, not telling us.

All in all, despite its numerous shortcomings, the trilogy successfully develops Caesar as one of the most compelling, fascinating heroes of recent cinema history. His moral leadership, honorable values and wisdom represents the best of humanity. The kindness that the orangutan, Maurice and the other apes show Nova stands in stark contrast to the Colonel's behavior. Not the best film in the series but it’s enough to warrant a screening for those who wanted a conclusion of Caesar’s story.

Movie	Rating
Rise of the Planet of the Apes	8.0/10
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes	9.5/10
War for the Planet of the Apes	7.0/10

My review for Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

Question for the movie

***Spoiler Alert***

 Who is Nova?

 Nova (played by Amiah Miller), shares her name with Linda Harrison’s character from the 1968 original. Nova, like Harrison’s character and the other humans in the original 1968 movie, can’t speak, which is why Astronaut George Taylor (Charlton Heston), who can talk, is so remarkable to the ruling apes. While the original Planet of the Apes never explains why humans lost the ability to speak, War for the Planet of the Apes shows that it’s a further mutation of the original virus, the Simian Flu, which killed off a large portion of humanity following the events of Rise of the Planet of the Apes, now becoming a virus that strips off humanity's ability to speak and intelligence, becoming a primitive mind state. Take note that the original movie is a separate film, not to be mixed with this new trilogy.

Movie Review: Wonder Woman

76 years in the making. The first female-led, female directed comic book superheroine film. The most iconic superheroine in comic book history. The 4th instalment in the DC extended universe films that set to challenge the widely known Marvel cinematic universe films. It's about Diana's origin story, Princess of Themyscira, daughter of Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons, the golden child of an all-female paradise island protected by the Olympian Greek God Zeus from the outside world. The story remains faithful to her comics origins (mixture of elements from Golden and Silver Age, The New 52) and establishes Wonder Woman as an inspiring, engaging character to women (and men) all around the world.

The film starts by showing her growing up on the island of Themyscira, trained to be a warrior until an American pilot Steve Trevor crashes there. His revelation that World War I is happening subsequently forces Diana to leave her home to help fight the cause. Although the Paradise Island scenes are beautiful to look at, the film only begins when Diana leaves with Steve to begin the adventure. Wonder Woman takes its time to focus on its characters and various themes about human nature and war. The film successfully captures the heart and soul of its titular character. She's funny, curious, compassionate, sexually aware, naive, kind, resilient, courageous...all wonderfully portrayed by Gal Gadot.

The film willing to take time to flesh out its protagonist. Traditionally, the character has been the symbol of female empowerment, inspired old generation of women to stand up for themselves, to learn to fight, be strong, firm, don't have to be scared and most importantly, not to demand for respect or equality, but to earn it, to show them (men) that they (women) deserve it. Diana is sincere and genuine about everything. She encourages peacefulness and esteem for human life. Someone who cannot sit back and do nothing, who wants to help others because she can. In a time when death, selfishness and hatred is a norm, watching her stand firm on her ideals and believing so earnestly in love is a profound experience. She carries the ideals of feminism, a woman who knows what she wants, stands for what she believes is right.

To those fans who have been waiting for this film their entire lives, who have yearned to see Wonder Woman on the big screen with big action moments, you can take a breath and relax. The film's action is engaging, especially the scene where Diana steps into no man's land in the battlefield is stunning to behold. Director Patty Jenkins wisely chooses to focus the key action scenes in slow motion, on Wonder Woman, with her signature theme song as she takes out the baddies, proved to be exhilarating and visceral than what is expected.

Other than that, it's also a Steve's movie, as much as it's a Diana's movie. Steve Trevor is not your typical male version of 'damsel in distress'. The film takes time to show how important he is to her, and she is to him. The world-weary Steve is a terrific contrast to the optimistic, naive Diana. The film shows how these two people are changing each other for the better. Her faith in the goodness of men is at times heartbreaking when she witnesses the horrors of the world for the first time (it is to say that we, unlike Diana, know how evil the world truly is) but it is also inspiring. How he guides her to remain that faith, what she chooses to believe carry a strong inspirational message for a comic book adaptation.

However, disappointingly, the film is weak on the villainy department, which is not supposed to be, considering that traditionally DC have more compelling villains than Marvel. None of the villains in the film have any proper development, or even lasting memorable impression on them. However, this is understandable considering the fact that the film puts more focus on the titular character, her origins and her supporting character. Wonder Woman is an action film, a romantic comedy, a coming-of-age story, a period piece and a war movie. It's a hopeful, inspiring story about humanity...Despite the darkness that lies deep within us, there's still something worth protecting for those who still believes the good within. It's hard not to feel wonderful. Wonder Woman is great. It's about time for her to shine.


Rating: 8.5/10

List of Fantastic Beasts in the film

The following magical beasts and creatures are featured in the film, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them:

Niffler

Rodent-like creatures that were attracted to shiny things, which made them wonderful for locating treasure. Nifflers were gentle by nature and could be affectionate towards their owners but they could wreak havoc if set loose outside.

 Swooping Evil

Large, blue-and-green winged magical creature that looks like a cross between a reptile and an extremely large butterfly. When it is not spreading its spiked wings in mid-flight, the Swooping Evil lives in a green spiny cocoon. It can be quite dangerous, as it can feed on people's brains (which it "sucks out"). It also secretes venom that, when properly diluted, can be used to erase bad memories.

Bowtruckle

Hand-sized, insect eating, tree dweller with long sharp fingers (two on each hand), brown eyes, and a general appearance of a flat-faced little stickman made of bark and twigs, which serves well as camouflage in its natural habitat. Serves as a tree guardian for its home tree, which is usually a tree whose wood is of wand quality. Useful for picking locks.

Billywig

Insect native to Australia that's around half an inch long with the colouring of a vivid sapphire blue. The speed of the Billywig means that it is rarely noticed by Muggles. Billywig's wings are attached to the top of its head, and the wings rotate extremely fast, spinning the Billywig so that it can fly.  Anyone stung by a Billywig will suffer giddiness, followed by levitation.

Occamy

Plumed, two-legged serpentine-bodied creature with wings that may reach up to fifteen feet in height. It's extremely aggressive to anyone who approaches it. Its eggs are made of pure and soft silver. Occamies can grow or shrink in order to fit available space.

Demiguise

Peaceful, herbivorous creature that can make itself invisible and tell the future, which makes it very hard to catch. It resembles an ape with large, black eyes and long, silky hair. Demiguise are highly sought after as the hair can be woven into Invisibility cloaks. Demiguises have precognitive sight, so that the only way to catch them is to do something completely unpredictable.

Thunderbird 

Large, avian creature native to Arizona. It can create storms as it flies, and can sense danger nearby. Thunderbirds possess multiple and powerful wings, with Frank the Thunderbird shown having six wings in total. Thunderbird feathers shimmer with cloud-like patterns, and the birds' flapping can create storms as they fly.

Murtlap

A marine beast resembling a rat with a growth on its back resembling a sea anemone.

Erumpent

Huge African magical beast resembling a rhinoceros. A powerful creature with a thick hide capable of repelling most curses and charms, a single long horn, and a thick tail. The Erumpent will not attack unless provoked, but the results are usually fatal. The horn can pierce skin and metal, and the horn contains a deadly fluid which causes whatever is injected with it to explode.

Nundu

Giant mammal similar to a leopard that is native to East Africa. It moves silently, despite its size, and is considered by some to be the most dangerous creature alive. The breath of the Nundu is toxic and filled with disease. Nundu is extremely hard to subdue, and has never been defeated by less than around one hundred wizards working together.

Doxy (Biting Fairy)

Small Fairy-like creature, sometimes mistaken for a Fairy. Doxies have shiny beetle-like wings, and a double row of sharp venomous teeth. If bitten, a wizard or witch should take an antidote immediately. Doxies bury their eggs underground, and Doxy Queens can lay up to five-hundred at once. The eggs generally hatch in two to three weeks.

Mooncalf

Shy creatures that only comes out of its burrow during a full moon. Mooncalves has smooth, pale grey skin, and four spindly legs that end in large flat feet. They also has bulging eyes (like an owl) that sit on the top of its head.

Diricawl

Plump, fluffy-feathered and flightless bird that has the ability to disappear and reappear elsewhere as a means of escaping danger. Muggles are aware of the existence of the Diricawl as a dodo (a large, extinct, flightless bird). However, since Muggles are not aware of its ability to vanish at will, they believe that they have hunted the dodo to extinction.

Graphorn

Dangerous and aggressive magical creature,  large and hump-backed, with greyish-purple skin tougher than that of dragons. It can repel most spells, has two golden horns, and walks on large four-thumbed feet. Newton Scamander had the last pair of breeding graphorns, along with a young graphorn.

Obscurus

Note: Obscurus is not a beast or creature

An unstable, uncontrollable dark force that takes the form of a flying, storm-like, violent torrent of darkness. It was created by young wizards to suppress their magic due to constant physical and psychological abuses in their childhood because of their powers. An Obscurial is the host of an Obscurus. When an Obscurial reaches their emotional and mental breaking point, the Obscurus appears and attacks whatever is the source of their distress. If they lose control of the Obscurus completely, the Obscurial can physically transform into it and destroy everything in their path. Usually, a child possessed by the Obscurus dies around their 10th birthday, but there are exceptional cases where a wizard with tremendous powers can survive longer. When the child dies, the Obscurus vanishes along with them, though Newt Scamander successfully kept one alive when its host died by encasing it in a magical bubble.