Reviews

The arrival of these bad-asses have boosted a transformation effort of DC universe in term of a bit lighter tone at the very beginning but the entire film still leaves an impression of being darker compared to other Marvels production, which is a bit let down from what it is marketed. Trying to expand just like Guardians of the Galaxy, uneven plot and character development are the main issues of Ayer's screenplay. The movie sets up after the death of Superman and rushes towards the event hosted by the main antagonist, affecting the overall fluidity of the story. Assuming that audiences are already familiar with the comics, all the characters are briefly introduced and it works less effectively especially when the Squad itself is not well known like Batman or Superman. Will Smith and Margot Robbie perform decently as Deadshot and Quinn, emotional engagement does exist among all but lack in depth for featuring too many characters at one shot especially Joker. Despite these main problems, action sequences are packed enough and fun to follow while the visual effects are more colorful compared to the other DC films; Retaining the rhythm of Zimmer's BvS theme, Steven Price has composed the scores in a different tunes, combining some rock musics that suit well the film and a sense of DC universe's continuity. While it misfires at plot and those super villains are not shown to be doing anything too evil, it does not aim to be like other superheroes films, it is still amusing and it gives a new life to DC's big-screen universe.

Part I: Film The latest presentation from Illumination brings audiences a whole new bunch of adorable animals mimicking Pixar's Toy Story but in an overly familiar blended Zootopia/ Finding Dory story line. While lacks of originality and inspiring emotional engagement, it is still a simple, straight forward story lifted by its fast pacing adventure, bloated with ridiculous fantasy and constant charms that are whole-heartedly fun for animal lovers. Characters development is slightly thin due to variety of pets introduced but the film works well in its smaller moments by capturing the sweet companionship bonding between the pets and their owner as well as how do pets behave behind the doors. Music choice and scores by Alexandre Desplats are decent but comparing with Disney; the bright, colorful, state-to-the-art visual effects especially the city skyline is stunningly impressive. This new attempt after the craze on minions continues the mindless entertainment in a repetitive predictability but its flurry fun is overall enjoyable, ends touchingly and definitely amuse the young audiences.

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Part II: Short Film Mower minions, being short but rebound from empty silliness of the spin off movie last year, offering laughs and at the same time delivering the importance of bringing and sharing happiness with the old folks.

It is the same repetitive event from that in 1996 but comes in a larger scale and spectacular improvement in visual effects. This is definitely a sequel to Independence Day as the effort to remain the ridiculous science, cheesy but hilarious dialogues, patriotism and unity to defense the world against aliens invasion; of all its many flaws, that's the type of fun that triggers part but not entirely, the classic entertainment values of its predecessor. Although the absence of Will Smith and introduction of new young characters seems a bit less convincing due to the formulaic plot and thin character development, the film reunites a number of casts from 20 years ago, including Jeff Goldblum, Bill Pullman and Brent Spiner who still deliver to further enhance the enjoyment of this popcorn flick. The scores, composed by both Harald Kloser/ Thomas Wander seems to be better than their previous works and follows Zimmer's style to be loud while the stunning visual effects are nothing less than those in "The Day After Tomorrow" and "2012" which would definitely attract audiences who enjoy to catch the moments of blowing stuffs up. Emmerich might not be a great writer but once again he is still able to prove that he is the only king of making wild disaster porn that destruct the whole Earth beautifully.

Pixar has once again strengthened its brand on delivering quality animation, though lack of highly original featured in Inside Out but definitely not repeating the sequel misfire just as the Cars franchise. The plot itself seems a bit generic, familiar and sort of predictable but the combination of both positive and negative core values about determination, love, family, friendship, memories, sadness, lost and regret have contributed to several thought provoking moments. It is a bright, clever and simple thanks to the adorable main character, Dory and introduction of new characters full with heart; audiences might have mix feelings of sweetness, inspiring and sadness throughout the adventure of this little blue creature under the sea with spectacular and colorful visual treats. It might not match the classiness of Nemo and full of kids imagination especially at the final act, it still works well for family goers and delivers the messages which the film intends to. Just like what Dory says "The best things happen by chance, because that's life"; the best animation happens by teamwork, because that's real effort.

Forget about the formulaic spies plot and its flaws, the film does not look silly for the wise decision of making it into a comedy and it sparks thanks to the strong rapport between Johnson and Hart. The thriller may seems to be dumb and lack of inventiveness in all the right ways but it is also a bit smarter than what audiences could have expected. The hilarious but not nonsense actions, sweet high- school buddies friendships, comedy about bullies and inspiration to transform a better oneself however are all blended well into this lack-of-originality thriller; though insufficient to generate big humors, it is still able to keep your smile till the end. The film centralises on the delightful chemistry between the two actors, both Hart and Johnson deliver a cheerful bromantic, especially the latter who takes his character and silliness seriously other than just knowing to flex muscles. It might lack in depth to explain about the quest of the mission but it is overall entertaining due to the commitment of the cast to bring us laughter.

Sequels of horror genre have always been cursed to turn out poor yet director James Wan manages to set his bar as compelling as the first one; though not critically-acclaimed but overall a satisfying scare without blood and gore. Slightly longer than its predecessor, the 134 minutes running time enhances smooth pacing of the plot, allows further debate over the controversy of supernatural phenomenons and scientific psychology, human tricks and role play of the religion organisations; even if parts of its horror elements may feel routine, it is still able to trigger chills and unsettling moods. Characters development and emotional engagement especially the love life of Warren have made this follow up more to like a family crisis drama interrupted by a demonic figure, thanks to the strong performance of the young casts, eerie but not over loud thematic scores as well as the confident cinematography and visual effects. Overall, the efforts of remaining the styles from the first one, the decision to twist the final act and the addition of dramatic aspects are mixing so well which eventually it just feels so real that leaves the desire to follow up with the next documented case.

The film is thought to be an inspiring love story revolving around a caretaker trying to motivate a disabled to begin a brand whole new chapter of life but sadly it turns out to be the other way round. Focusing more than half of the running time in glib romance, there are some funny moments between the main characters that are enjoyable but the development of the plot has wasted several important thought provoking themes - controversy of the suffering between the disabled and the people around, struggle to live and find courage to regain confidence with physical impairment, sensitive subject on committing suicide and self willingness to survive as well as care, support and inspiration from a true love. Both Emilia Clarke and Sam Claflin deliver their performance well while the choices of songs are pretty beautiful including the powerful scores composed by Craig Armstrong yet all these are unable to compensate the poor character and relationship developments. Perhaps the story should have reorganized by adding on more depth into the sufferings of the handicap, further converting into some positive inspirations rather than just steamrolling the value of life.

Acts as a direct sequel from the ending of Days of Future Past, Singer continues the main themes of family, struggling to accept oneself and the challenge of letting go of the past in expanding this ambitious mutants universe, though slightly mess up but it is still a competent film. It starts off at a fine pacing with several pieces of subplots to reintroduce the old members, decently surface the villain but due to overloading of stories to tell, there's a lot of flaws especially at the final act as well as some underdeveloped new characters. The story still focuses on the three main characters - Xavier (Professor X), Erik (Magneto) and Raven (Mystique), all deliver promisingly just as previous installments that leads to a very engaging chemistry together with powerful scores by John Ottman, visually stunning effects and a number of fun moments delivered by both Professor X and Quicksilver (although the latter seems to steal the attention much better in two major scenes). The theme of hope might not be quite resonant this time and it might not be the best entry in the trilogy but overall it's more humanly emotional engaging and certainly one of the quite successful superhero trilogy reboot.

From the first introductory to the second dark political thriller, the Russo brothers has surprised the audiences by transforming the entire tone of the series into a psychology based superhero film. It's a mini Avengers reunion but more centralise on the conflicts between Captain America, Winter Soldier as well as Iron Man and with more grounds to cover, both Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely who have written the first two installments managed to ensure the well-pacing of the story without losing its sense of intentions. Continuing the epic traditional fighting sequences from previous episode, the 13th outing of this MCU adventure offers a wide variety range of action scenes and it is evenly distributed among all the superheroes through efficient cinematography of switching without focusing much on gunshots, smashing and explosions. All characters are engaging thanks to the compelling character developments; Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr. and Sebastian Stan deliver well as their roles respectively in term of resolving the challenge of their friendship test, the other Avengers perform outstanding too especially the brought in of Spider-Man, Back Panther and Ant-Man have added more fun and joy which is entirely absent in DC's Dawn of Justice. It is emotional, inspiring and perfectly crafted, implying that the actions chosen between the two main characters are not anything about right or wrong, but more on perceptions and the outcomes. While the Captain America trilogy is not up to The Dark Knight trilogy masterpiece, the decision to explore thought- provoking themes have made it one of the most impressive series in MCU.

Not sure whether Universal Pictures is desperate to repeat their box office dominating success as in 2015, this prequel/ sequel to 2012's Snow White and the Huntsman feels to be pointless, uneven and unnecessary. The film does not learn from the mistakes of its predecessor especially in term of pacing that is two times much slower for the entire first hour, fills with relentless cheesy and humorless dialogues, irrelevant romantic scenes, then immediately rushes into short and unimpressive climax. It gathers a great cast, Charlize Theron as the Evil Queen looks tremendous with her outstanding performance but unexpectedly limited by screen time; Emily Blunt is cool as the Ice Queen while the chemistry between Chris Hemsworth and Jessica Chastain is dull due to the main theme about love and betrayal is poorly crafted into this clumsily-penned fantasy tale. Overall, it is an easily forgotten sequel that has totally wasted the talents of its cast, lacks of moral satisfaction and seems to be an empty lackluster concept of Frozen - Lord of the Rings combination that clearly should have "let it go" at the first place.

The most anticipated sequel of Man of Steel has once again attempted to differentiate its own DC brand from those in Marvels through the return of the Dark Knight which continues to amplify a darker, grittier and sombre adventure of clashing heroes. Slightly overlong in term of running time, the film opens surprisingly beautiful with flashback of Wayne's disastrous childhood and further progresses into the reckless fight between Superman and Zod at the end of previous installment. The ambitious and potential major acts in the film - conflict between Batman and Superman, Lex Luthor's motives and the fight against villain at the climax; all seems to be underdeveloped and not well executed, leaving several questions of all the intentions behind. Ben Affleck as Batman is on par with Bale's version but a bit more brutal and stubborn, Cavill's Superman is fine but a bit depressed, Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman is definitely the gorgeous one and she manages to capture the attentions even with a limited screening time, Jeremy Iron's Alfred owns a great chemistry with Wayne but Eisenberg portrayal of Lex Luthor is over exaggerated. Although heavily CGIs, Snyder has delivered spectacular visual effects and intense actions among the superheroes while the collaboration between Zimmer and Junkie XL are just outstanding to produce different adrenaline driven theme scores for all the superheroes. While it might not be the best superheroes flick, lacks of humors and emotional depth compared to The Dark Knight trilogy, it is an overall improvement from Man of Steel and the Nolan style ending is still impressive enough to further expands into the universe of Justice League.

Our beloved and adorable Po is most welcomed to return in this ridiculous, playful yet beautiful third installment. The entire animation has exactly the same formulaic plot as the previous two episodes - a villain comes out of no where, the journey in preparing to fight and at the end only the main character can take down the big bad fella; adding on a whole bunch of cheesy moments but it is hilarious and entertaining thanks to Jack Black's well commitment. The Kung Fu adventure is absolutely beautiful and impressive, thanks to the stunning visual effects which heavily covers the Chinese cultures, settings and backgrounds; also the scores by Hans Zimmer who perfectly composes by mixing every single Western tracks with Chinese musical instruments. This family-friendly adventure might be fun without any great moral values as in Disney and Pixar animations but the reunion of this chubby panda with his biological father and the conflict with the adapted parent does generate some important messages that is worth to learn.

Coming to the third installment, the trilogy is mimicking the tones of the Twilight series except the fact that the Divergent has a much better story telling. The film rebounds from Insurgent's monotonous narrative, kicks in a lot of action sequences and further expands into a broader external universe. In this 120-minutes of adventure, it just has too much to tell compared to the first two episodes - the civil war within the city and the tactical games outside the world; the fast- pacing plot reduces a lot of usual unnecessary romantics but it does not sufficiently compensate to explain properly the politics, causing it to be slightly confusing of all the hidden intentions. The visual effects improve by a margin while the scores composed by Joseph Trapanese are strong and entertaining. The bio-science theory might be underwhelming due to diversion from its original novel, however it's still overall a solid final part one young teen adaptation compared to the successful Hunger Games series.

After the success of Frozen and Big Heroes 6, Disney continues to improve by upgrading its animation quality not only in terms of story and effects, but surprisingly on originality, delivering messages and a sense of maturity. Setting up in a city occupied by all types of animals, it manipulates the relationship of predators and preys as a metaphor to emphasis the current society's biases phenomenon rather than the usual family relationship issues audiences usually seen in previous animated films. Being a funny and adventurous simple tale, the structural progression of the story is not the usual straightforward style that is kid friendly but mostly due to its thrilling elements that lead to twisted plots which is quite rare in animations. Scores composed by Michael Giacchino and theme song "Try Everything" by Shakira perfectly fit while the ingenious landscapes of metropolitan city and mother nature definitely serve as splendid visual treats. It is undeniable smart and classic, strong like a bull to stress on the existence of prejudice and peace, only if we learn to respect each others from different races, backgrounds and cultures.

The X-men universe expands a step wider thanks to the unusual mutated tones of storytelling compared to other Marvel's superheroes that surprisingly turns out very effective and brilliant. Despite a formulaic yet expected superhero plot, the non-linear narrative by slipping the several action sequences together with flashbacks added with the heavy adult-related hilarious jokes throughout the film are wildly entertaining. The film stays faithfully to the characteristics of Deadpool - both humors and violence, which are perfectly portrayed by Ryan Reynolds, who is definitely the right actor to suit the character. The romantic chemistry between Wilson and Vanessa is emotionally engaging and convincing compared to Wolverine, making it a great option for Valentine outing. Changing his suit from green to red, Reynolds certainly has a lot of fun time in this non-family-friendly superhero adventure and the overall outcome has made the classic Deadpool shines among the other superheroes from the same studio.

Unlikely the complexity in his previous masterpiece Birdman, Iñárritu has approached a straightforward story without much dialogues but enriched with metaphors about vengeance and redemption. It is an unresistant hypnotic drama that combines revenge, survival, violence and desperation intensely that would certainly chill audiences both physically and mentally. Each and every single detail of the film is taken care perfectly, death and evilness of the characters are well captured with beauty and horror thanks to the cinematography by Emmanuel Lubezki, the setting of the stranded nature background and the powerful orchestral scores add on the sombre effects which all contribute to the impressive technical aspects of the cinematic experience. Leonardo DiCaprio amazes again with his brutal and anchoring performance struggling to survive while the commitment between him and Tom Hardy into their respective roles have successfully turned the director's artistic visions into an immersive life of death journey. Although it seems to be a strange film with striking images of blood soaking ground, animals and humans, it is an inspiring wild expedition about humanity and inhumanity that is elegant in its own simplicity.

Financial and economy facts related drama will always trigger sleeping mode of the audiences but exceptionally, this turns out to be surprisingly fast-paced, entertaining and funny. Adapted from Michael Lewis' book about 2008 global financial crisis, the screenplay from director Adam McKay co-writing with Charles Randolph does not broadcast the audiences directly to understand tonnes of financial theories, but to engage and enlighten through another creative way by mixing this dry lessons with parody and satire. Without a significant hero, the choice of the cast is definitely perfect - Bale, Carell, Gosling and Pitt perform extremely well, together with the supporting casts to play around with mortgage, subprime rates and credit debts. Despite illustrating this subject in a triumphant way, it has also successfully delivered self- awareness regarding desperation, political corruptions and collateral damages in economy slowdown; leaving an impression of skepticism on Wall Street while restoring some faith in Hollywood's capability in making great films.

Based on the true event in 2010, this claustrophobic film about miners who are trapped underground surprisingly starts off straight to the disastrous incident but buried by its own formulaic plot. It offers the same horrific experience just like in "127 hours"; the underpaying jobs and risks faced by the miners, the setting and cultures in Chile, the fear and trapped in the mines, the rally, political plays, media propaganda and the rescue attempts are all included well throughout the story. However, screenwriters squeeze too much in the film, the background and life events of each characters seems to lose engagement, causing imperfect character developments and less inspiring. Scores from James Horner are trying to remain the tone of the film but it starts to deviate into lighthearted due to unnecessary scenes, making audiences wonder the existence of real tragedy. However, the film still offers a thrilling climax and satisfyingly ends in a beautiful note even though it should have just focused on the disaster, survival skills and rescue operations.

Foreseeing the franchise's potential in the future, Disney has invested brilliantly by taking over Lucas Film and nominating Abrams as the director of Episode VII, who has done everything just right in reviving the fantasy saga. Having himself written the script with Lawrence Kasdan and Michael Arndt, the film finds itself recycling the basic formula - An adventure beyond the galaxy, loaded with ton of action sequences, sense of humors and emotions, but the most important is the overall improvements from the last prequel 10 years ago. While the story is much predictable, the lightsaber fight might not as epic as the original trilogy and the ending seems a bit unpleasant, the return of the original cast mixing with fresh bloods creates a great chemistry in developing the climax, the visual effects are undeniable marvelous thanks to its wide angle cinematography and breathtaking CGIs, even the scores from John Williams, powerful as always to hold audiences at their seats until the end of credits roll. Although being formulaic, less darker antagonists and certain characters are underused, Abrams is still successful in awakening the nostalgic force of this galactic sci-fi adventure.

Written by the younger generation of Schulz, the classic animation sticks nearly to its original source materials and remains traditional style of telling a simple yet unambitious story that is friendly for kids. Diverting from the main genre usually seen in Disney's style, Blue Sky Studio approaches by representing the entire story in a group of kiddos without any significant adults characters and relationship between the parents and children. The story is mainly separated into two parts - the first part on the main protagonist, Charlie Brown is very educable and absolutely suitable for the maturer young audiences while the fantasy part of Snoopy that is full of actions and adventure would definitely serve as great enjoyment for the kids. The combination of colorful CGIs and the unique visual effects are spectacular, charming, adorable and it looks as an upgrade from the comic version. Overall, this remake is definitely a delightful, sweet, warmhearted and nostalgic family fare that stresses on the importance of looking and cherishing at the positive values that each person owns.

The film presents a number of impressive extreme sport actions set pieces with glorious parachutes or rock-climbing gear that will certainly excite the audiences but sadly the plot with poor pacing has turned this remake slightly pointless. It manages to break the action point based on the Ozaki Eight's fictional sets of highly dangerous attempts of worshiping the nature but fail in achieving several other points, most obviously when it lacks of engagement in between the characters while the existence of political subtext and the crime concept seems to be meaningless. Performance from the casts are overall fine but the decision to focus on the extreme adventures have totally neglected the potential of some supporting characters and the emotional development that cause the romance and friendship seems to be superficial. Visual effects are environmental breathtaking and stunning, the scores by Junkie XL are strong and inspiring yet all of these are insufficient to provide additional thrills to make the film superior than the original cult in 1991.

Simple, straightforward and predictable, the second Pixar's production of the year might not be creative as usual, appear to be familiar and formulaic plot but overall still has no problem to become a holiday enjoyment of the young and the old one. The main part of the story sets between human and the dinosaur based on a reversed formula which the dinosaur talks; it is a smooth A to Z educational animation which is filled with a lot of positive values that intends to influence the young adults. Presented in colorful photorealistic sets, it is visually stunning and there are certainly some beautiful scenes without any single dialogue, which effectively works well just like Wall-E, together with satisfying scores from academy awards winner Mychael Danna (Life of Pi). The adventure of grow and learn, cherishing family bonding and appreciating the value of friendship are the three major elements of usual Pixar's trademark, not only adorable, charming and family-friendly, but also emotionally engaging at certain times that might challenge audiences tear holding power.

Short Film: Sanjay's Super Team Similar to the film, strong family bonding element in between the father and son, effectively presented without dialogue (except final scene), strong culture element and creatively featuring Gods as superheroes warriors.

Unlike fantasy stories like LOTR, Hobbits and Harry Potter, second part which claims to be the epic conclusion to the Hunger Games series starts right immediately at the scene it stops at Part I, which is a little bit brutal when the title displayed. The entire film is expected to be rushing and full of actions between the rebels and the Capitol but it still ends up at a slow pacing and lacks of glorious actions, most likely due to the attempt to stick to the original story in the novel. The plot focuses a lot on Katniss, Gale and Peeta which allow them to perform well while the attention on the political acts and propaganda-making have wiped most of the screen time, leading the weaker character developments of the supporting cast, less emotional impacts and poor progression of romance. Musics by James Newton Howard is beautiful as he utilises the same theme from Part I and manage to lift up some impressive moments of the draggy ending while the visuals are spectacularly shot especially during the climax. In short, Mockingjay is the weakest entry among the series due to the greedy mistake to split but the effort in its political twist has brought this finale a lot more outstanding compared to other young adult genre which waste a lot of time solely on romance.