X-Men: Apocalypse

Ratings: 7.9/10

Film Class: B+

Genre: Superhero Action

Stinger: Yes (post credit) 

To stay "alive", Apocalypse, the supposed first ever mutant transfers his consciousness from time to time, only to be betrayed before his last awakening. However, a chance encounter awakens this granddaddy of mutants, who has the ability to unleash the full potential of any mutants' powers. He usually has four "horsemen" by his side, powerful mutants whom he would recruit to fight for his cause (actually I believe their sole purpose is to protect him during the transfer as he's already so badass)... Only this time round, he intends to annihilate the whole (weak) world, to build a "better one". It's up to a newbie team of X-Men to save the world... 

As can be seen from the trailers, Mystique/Raven (Jennifer Lawrence) and Magneto (Michael Fassbender) are the two main leads among the starstudded cast. I didn't know Mystique was that influential, at least not from the original cartoon series, perhaps the director milked it to be so cos of Jennifer Lawrence, kinda felt like she was reprising her saviour role as Katniss from Hunger Games.

The pacing was slower, compared to its prequel, Days of Future Past, because of all the recruitment work by Apocalypse, but there was a good amount of screen time for each character's development. The plot was predictable (betrayal), and convenient linkages and subtle references to the future outcomes of the dynamics of the X-Men were prevalent - *major spoilers ahead* such as Storm and Magneto working together; the love triangle between Wolverine, Cyclops and Jean Grey and why Professor-X's bald. 

I've wondered how Apocalypse, the all-time favourite greatest villain of the X-Men franchise, the immortal who is able to transcend through time (not shown in movie) and able to grow to huge proportions would be defeated in this movie, and I have to say I was rather disappointed in the ending. It wasn't intelligent, it was pure FIREpower. I guess for such a supervillian, it would either take a dragon or a Phoenix to scorch his existence into obliteration. 

Despite the cool action scenes, the CG was lacking, better than our Singapore's most expensive CGI-made movie (Ah Boys to Men), but pale in comparison compared to Transformers or even Captain America: Civil War. 

The characters were not very likable, there was a flair of arrogance resonating amongst the X-Men, and a super duper cheesy scene stole the limelight - it was equivalent to the dancing scene in Guardians of the Galaxy, only this was way better. Let's just say there was a "Superman", faster than a speeding bullet to save the day...

Expect the usual Stan Lee cameo and the post-credit stinger at the end. Not sure if I got it right, but the stinger was probably leading on to the other mutants created by Col. William Stryker, such as Sabretooth and Omega X? Or perhaps something more sinister is to come...

One of the most confusing part for me was figuring out the chronological order of this movie, after such a long hiatus I kinda forgot which movie came first, similar to the Star Wars Saga. Enjoyable nonetheless, it does do justice to its fans. An absolute cheap thrill, for the apocalyptic zombie-like working adults in this modern time.

(After note: My friend told me that this movie supposedly runs on a different timeline, an alternate reality after the previous installment, days of future past. Now that puts things into better perspective...)

Captain America: Civil War

Ratings: 8.0/10

Film class: A

Genre: Superhero Action Thriller

Stinger: Yes (2 scenes, mid after-credits and post credits)

This movie was actually way better than all the other Avengers movies, 2 teams of superheroes fighting with each other, it couldn't be cooler. Captain America's team fight as vigilantes, while Iron Man's team fight for law and order. The line between what is right or wrong is greyed and yeah, there's the usual Stan Lee cameo, delivered pretty comically. 

State-of-the-art CG and fight scenes, and nope, you haven't seen the best scenes in the trailers yet. There's more to come. The ending fight scene, more like a duel, falls short of expectations, while the clash between the two teams was the highlight. Despite the diversity of characters, we get to feel for each and everyone of them. 

Black panther was the black horse for this one, I found myself rooting for him most of the time, and his costume was slick-ishly cool. Spider-Man was the comic relief, though played by an unknown actor, he stays true to his cheeky character. He sure makes a worthy ally, as well as a well-liked superhero. 

None of the superheroes were dislikable, which makes this movie rather... Conflicting. Perhaps they portrayed Iron Man a little too extreme, but you can't blame the man for choosing the side he was on. 

Though there were kick-ass action, some suspense and a parade of superheroes to root for, there was something lacking... A fearsome villain. But was an overall fun superheroes eye-candy movie, one of the best so far.

Crimson Peak

Ratings: 7.7/10

Film class: B+

Genre: Fantasy thriller

Scare factor: 1/5

Gore factor: 3.5/5

Young Edith (Mia Wasikowska) was revisited by her deceased mum with a message she couldn't decipher... Not until years later where a family tragedy and a love temptation would bring light to what the main plot of Crimson Peak is all about. 

Knowing the director Guillermo del Toro, that his style of movies were more fantasy horror than spine-thrilling ones like Pans Labyrinth and Hellboy, I figured I wouldn't be freaked out that much. True enough, Crimson Peak was more like a Period Drama Fantasy Thriller. And as Edith, who also happens to be an aspiring author puts it aptly in the movie, it's not a ghost story but merely a story with a ghost in it. Though she was referring to the draft of her novel, there was parallel reference to the actual movie itself. Think Sixth Sense in a fantasy era. The ghosts were more monster-like than ghostly.

*major spoilers ahead* Not everything links smoothly. Like how her childhood sweetheart has a hobby for collecting ghostly photos (so what if he did? There wasn't any follow-up after), or how even Edith was an aspiring author (perhaps just to hint the true genre of the movie as what I mentioned above) or how did a pivotal dog survive the harshness of the winter cold (did some ghost feed the dog?) and most importantly how did Edith's mum know about Crimson Peak? If she was indeed able to "see" the future, then wouldn't she have "seen" the death of the villains as well? 

Also, the in-your-face head smashing and cheek piercing gore was grossly unexpected, unwelcomed to say the least, but perhaps that was what was needed to erupt the horror adrenaline some members of the audience were hoping for. 

Despite it all, I liked it. The costumes were a feast for the eyes, vibrantly and extravagantly designed to captivate even the most cynical of audiences. The plot was twisted and the twist did make the movie more "intelligent" in a sense. It was creepy, not spooky, sweet, not romantic. 

Tom Hiddleston steals the limelight as usual, and to see Jessica Chastain in such a dark movie was also rather refreshing. 

Crimson Peak may have peaked if not for the unconnected subplots and the seeming sex-cut-scene between Mia Wasikowska and Tom Hiddleston but it did reach a climax that only a horror version of Pirates of the Carribean or The Lord of the Rings were capable of. Crimson Peak was indeed a true visual spectacle, mysteriously intriguing...

The Martian

Ratings: 7.0/10

Film class: A

Genre: Sci Fi Drama

Filmed like a narrative documentary about how to live on Mars, The Martian wasn't so much a space odessey as I had imagined. It was more like a movie which lets its audience understand the science behind space exploration. 

The graphics weren't that great, some starting scenes looked superimposed, and the landscape felt like a typical desert than an out of this world terrain. I believe the director would have done his homework to ensure that it's representative of how it would actually look like on Mars, but some inconsistencies were too conveniently unaddressed.

*major spoilers ahead* If a bad storm had initially caused Matt Damon to be stranded alone on Mars, why weren't there similar storms throughout the many solar days (referred to as Sol 1, 2, 3 etc.) whilst he was clinging on to survival? Also one particular scene was the most puzzling... He had taped up a damaged bunker-like base from the outside and the next scene showed him teleporting inside even though there wasn't another entrance into the base (where the potatoes were cultivated). 

The action scenes were limited, and the soundtrack was out of place... "Disco" music, upbeat oldies music set in a Sci Fi planetary disaster movie. Off, totally off. I know the director meant it to be fun, and funny, but it took out the classines of it. The humor was also excessively overdone (redundancy words intentional), falling flat on several occasions. 

The cast reminded me of Interstellar, with 2 familiar faces, Matt Damon and Jessica Chastain. Even the orange space suit looks familiar. But it doesn't have the flair of Interstellar. I can't help but compare yet another recent classic space movie, Gravity. If I were to sum them up in a few-words comparison, it would be that The Martian was down to earth, Gravity was out of this world, and Interstellar was... simply stellar.

Still, it was definitely an eye-opening movie about space exploration, or more aptly put, planetary exploration. Though technical at times, it was more cool than boring. The Martian test one's mental focus cos once you drift off, you might find it tough to keep up. Since mankind is sending a group of humans up soon to Mars to try to colonize it, this makes for an excellent "textbook" movie.

Everest

Ratings: 7.2/10

Film class: B+

Genre: Action drama

Everest's all about the mountain, the climbers merely act as supporting roles in portraying how dangerously beautiful this natural Goliath is. Throughout the movie, I myself was wondering (also addressed in the movie)... Why do people actually wanna risk their lives climbing it? Does satisfaction of conquering it precedes the importance of life? Of living? I don't want to comment too much on this, because i believe those who have climbed it or are thinking of doing it must have their own personal reasons. 

What I love about the movie is that it gives you the experience of what it would be like if you were to actually attempt climbing the highest mountain in the world. It's immersive, almost felt as if I was there myself. I get to see the different camps, the logistics and operations involved, get to understand the theories and symptoms behind possible health side effects, witnessed the blanket of scenic snowcapped terrains, gasps at the treachery of the volatile weather and of course what it would be like to reach the summit - it's view of the surroundings and the tattered flags laid by the many who have "conquered" it. 

What I like about it was how unpredictable the story was... It felt like a game of thrones moment, no one was safe... Every character had an equal chance of survival despite how experienced a climber he/she was. 

What I didn't like about Everest was that there weren't much "human spirit" portrayed. It wasn't like the movies "Unbroken" or "Men of Honour". It was more of glorying Everest, and about the giant claiming lives. I had hoped for a death defying seat gripping moment, but all I got were deeply depressing ones. Also, the accent was hard to catch. Most of the time, I found myself falling back to reading the Chinese subtitles so that I could keep up with the conversations, but eventually gave up because my Chinese is as poor as the weather conditions on May 10 1996.

Perhaps just like the unpredictability of the turn of the weathers high up in the mountains, this movie also promises that for its audience - at first everything was "bright" and hopeful, but at the end, all that remained were tons of frozen despair and an avalanche of bleak survivals. The ending was rather random, detailing the survival of one unlikable character. 

More imax-experience-documentary styled than action drama, still, Everest will not fail to impress. Get ready to be swept away by the highest mountain in the world...

Inside Out

Ratings: 9.2/10

Film Class: A

Genre: Family Animation, Comedy

"I have a dream, I hope will come true

That you're here with me, and I'm here with you

I wish the earth, sea, the sky up above

Will send me someone to lava..."

Just can't get this lava song outttaaa my heaaddd!!! The short film "Lava" just before the movie was exceptionally catchy and "awww"sifying, making it an apt prelude to the actual film. It has a great blend of joy (cheery ukulele music), sadness (several scenes) and some concept of abstract loneliness in it. But ultimately, it's all about lav-a. 

Inside Out follows the emotions of young Riley from birth till the age of 11 years. 5 emotions in particular, Joy, Sadness, Disgust, Fear and Anger. When Riley has to move to a new city with her parents, her whole life, and emotions turn inside out, and it's up to Joy to find the "happiness" she thinks Riley deserves. 

Pixar has did it again. This time, its off the charts deep. My mind was blown, wow, wow, wow. On the surface, it was 70% comedy, 30% touching. It wasn't laugh out loud funny, and most of the funny scenes were forgettable. But what really hits the home run were the two teary scenes that broke me. 

I think the reason I felt so strongly towards the film was cos of the very first scene, when baby Riley was born. It reminded me of my newborn baby. I just thought to myself, "Nothing could go wrong. It's perfect already."

*spoilers ahead* 

It sure did meet my expectations, but the introduction of her imaginary friend Bing Bong kinda dipped my interest. He was simply too weird looking, and wasn't even cute in the first place. But before I could mentally criticize him further, I found myself tearing for him. Tsk* So I guess if even the "boring-est" part could buy me over, nothing else could go wrong, and sure enough nothing else did. 

It was uphill from there on. 

*major spoilers ahead* What really impressed me was the abstract concept of "emotion re-modelling" (if such a word even exist) portrayed in a seemingly kiddish movie. Of how basic our emotions were when we were younger, and how it matured over the years. We are now more capable of complicated emotions as adults, and perhaps the movie was trying to go as far as saying that joy and sadness has to co-exist for either's existence, just like ying and yang. How could joy be characterized as happiness if one doesn't even know what sadness is? It's that bittersweet feeling we find it hard to explain at times, how could something so right, feel so wrong? Something so wrong, feel so right? 

At the last few scenes, the mixture of colors in the core memories being made though breezed past in a brief scene, it nailed the adult-hood maturity of emotions we are experiencing in our everyday lives. 

Inside Out didn't just turn Riley's emotions topsy turvy, it also promises to turn its audiences' topsy turvy minds inside out as well. Perhaps the strongest emotion which brings together Joy was Sadness afterall. So don't beat yourself about feeling sad over unfortunate events in your life, find the joy which surrounds you thereafter, because negative attracts positive afterall, because it is only then will you find true happiness, only then will you be able to understand what true lava is...

Ted 2

Ratings: 7.0/10

Film Class: B

Genre: Comedy

Stinger: Yes (after-credits)

The obnoxious live teddy bear is back with his buddy John (Mark Wahlberg). Ted married a human wife, and when their marriage spirals down in time to come, he comes up with a plan to salvage it... by having a baby with his wife. However, since he's a teddy bear, there's no way he could have a child with her, and thus begins his mission with John to find a suitable sperm donor. However, when all else fails, he resorts to adopting a child. Things start to spiral for the worst when the "system" discovers that Ted is not recognised as a human being and starts forfeiting all his civil rights. Essentially, Ted 2 is about what makes someone, or something, "human". 

If you don't already know, Ted's like Europe's Bad Taste Bear, vulgar, blunt, obnoxious who is always indulging in all the vices (drugs, alcohol, prostitution, smoking etc.) He's a total bad influence, but a comical one to say the least. 

*major spoilers ahead* An unexpected cameo was featured, Liam Neeson, who returned during the after-credits stinger. It probably lasted less than 5 seconds, and I was left rather clueless as to what that last scene meant. References to different movies were made (Jurassic Park, Paddington Bear), audibly and visually. The jokes were generally M18, and there were a couple of laughter puking scenes (especially loved the one where they buried John's computer harddisk underwater). 

The first half of the movie was more jammed pack with laughter, though most of the scenes were already "leaked" in the trailers. The "high" level dropped during the 2nd half, focusing a little more on story - civil rights and what makes a human "human". It was rather unexpected, coming from a movie franchise which had previously pre-defined the shallow expectations its fans would have. 

It wasn't fantastic, and was definitely a "guy movie". The last scene at comic-con was a total disaster, fattening the lameness a bit too much for me to bear. But overall, it was... a rather enjoyable film.