Superhero Worlds Collide in Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice (SPOILER ALERT)

Everyone is talking about Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice. 

It is one of this year's most anticipated films which features more than one iconic superhero character, so no wonder people are really excited to see it. In the film's promotional materials, they ask us to "witness the battle between the Bat of Gotham and the Son of Krypton". Besides Batman and Superman, this movie also features other popular heroes from DC Comics: Wonder Woman, The Flash, Aquaman and Cyborg. Zack Snyder, who also directed the previous Superman movie, directs this ambitious movie. Henry Cavill and Amy Adams reprise their roles as Clark Kent aka Superman and Lois Lane and are joined by Ben Affleck, Gal Gadot and Jesse Eisenberg who play Bruce Wayne aka Batman, Diana Prince aka Wonder Woman and Lex Luthor, respectively.

 

When it was first announced that they were going to make this movie, I read an article that said that the feud was caused by Batman's and Superman's different views and their disagreements on certain things. I thought that would be really interesting because it would not be "good vs evil" like what we normally see in superhero films; it would be "good vs good". I was intrigued to see two different versions of "good" that are represented by Batman and Superman. I expected it to be a bit like Magneto and Professor X's feud in X-Men: First Class. But it turns out that the feud that is presented in the movie is not really like that. This movie is not really about the battle between the Bat of Gotham and the Son of Krypton. I can see that the two do not like each other, but the reasons behind the dislike, the root of the rivalry, are just not strong enough. In the end, it is still a "good vs evil" story because Lex Luthor comes in and manipulates them and causes problems which force the heroes to work together and stop him. So I think the title is misleading. It should be entitled Batman, Superman & Wonder Woman vs Lex Luthor or maybe, as my sister suggests, Justice League: the Beginning? Or just cut the Batman vs Superman part and leave it as Dawn of Justice? This movie does mark the beginning of the superhero team, right?

As I stated before, BvS also features other Justice League members like Wonder Woman, The Flash, Aquaman and Cyborg. My favorite is definitely the wonderful Wonder Woman. Gal Gadot makes her look so cool, fierce, powerful and beautiful at the same time. It is so satisfying to see Wonder Woman kicking Doomsday's ass and enjoying it. The music that is played during her fight scene makes it even cooler. I am just so thrilled to see another awesome heroine. We need to see more of her. I can't wait to see her own movie.

And then there is The Flash.... Ezra Miller's The Flash, not Grant Gustin's...

 

Ezra Miller and Grant Gustin, our Flashes.

The Flash's alter ego (I am not sure whether it is Barry Allen or Wally West or someone else) appears in a footage that Diana Prince watches on her laptop. It is not clearly stated that it is him, but the speedster also appears in between Bruce's visions and talks to him. It is exciting to see The Flash in the movie, especially because he does his time travelling thing there which is so... him hahaha. But it is still hard for me to accept that the character is not played by Grant Gustin, the star of The CW's The Flash. I am a huge fan of Grant's version of The Flash and the TV show itself. I have no problem with Ezra Miller, though. I know he is a great actor (he is amazing in The Perks of Being a Wallflower) and I am sure he is capable of being a great Flash. But the TV show is quite new and Grant has just established himself as The Flash of our generation, so it is a bit hard to see another actor portraying the character...

Speaking of the many DC characters who appear in the film, I think it can be quite hard for people who are not familiar with the characters' backstories to spot some Easter Eggs in the film. I have seen many Superman and Batman movies but that does not mean I know everything about them. I know a little bit about The Flash from the TV show. I know nothing about Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Doomsday, Cyborg... There are some parts, which involve details from the comic books, in the movie that I do not understand. I saw the movie with my friend who does not watch The CW's The Flash and she told me that she would not know that the mysterious figure who appeared in front of Batman was The Flash if I did not tell her. And the same thing happens to my little sister. I happen to be able to figure out that it was The Flash because I have seen him doing his time travelling thing in the TV show. So I think this movie is really made for DC Comics fans. It takes a fan to completely enjoy this movie.

So, I have a mixed feeling about the movie. It is not as great as I expected, but it is not all bad. It is still worth to watch and pretty entertaining.

Rating: 3/5

Hopelessly Devoted to Grease: Live

I can't sing, I can't dance, I can't even read notes, but I LOVE watching musicals. Musicals are always fun to watch and they never fail to make me smile and feel happier. However, we don't find musical films and TV shows everyday because the number of them is quite limited. So, when I heard that they're making a live, televised show of the super popular musical film Grease, I became really, really excited.

I have never seen the original movie which features John Travolta and Olivia Newton John because I am too young. I wasn't even born when the movie came out. But I know that it is legendary. I know that it is one of the most beloved musical film of all time. So, yeah, I was really excited to finally see it. 

I saw it a few days ago and I was not disappointed because it is awesome!

Grease: Live was aired on Fox on January 31st 2016. It is a 3-hour live show starring Broadway star Aaron Tveit as Danny Zuko, Dancing with the Stars's Julianne Hough as Sandy Young, High School Musical's leading lady Vanessa Hudgens as Rizzo, etc. As you may have known, the story centers on two teenagers, Danny and Sandy, who meet at the beach during the summer break. After their short, summer romance ends, they surprisingly meet again at school. But instead of rekindling their summer love, things get hard because there are many obstacles and differences that get in the way.

My favorite thing about this production is probably the cast. The cast members are all so talented. I truly love Aaron Tveit's Broadway voice; his voice is the kind that makes me wish that I could sing well too haha. Vanessa Hudgens's acting amazes me. She really transforms herself into the character! When you see her as Rizzo here, you wouldn't even remember that she is also Gabriella Montez, the Sandy of High School Musical. Her voice has become different as well. Back in her days as Gabriella, she still had her teenager voice haha. But when she sings Rizzo's solo song, There are Worse Things I Could Do, she sounds like a Broadway star. I am very impressed.

Two performances that I surprisingly love come from singer Carly Rae Jepsen and teen star Jordan Fisher. I really love Carly's character Frenchy. Frenchy is really cute and sweet but she also shows feminism in her personality. As for Jordan, who wouldn't fall in love with that young man after seeing him sing Those Magic Changes with his guitar?

Even though Julianne Hough's performance is not my favorite one, I feel really related to her character, Sandy. Like Sandy, people around me like to describe me as "the good girl". Well, I don't know whether it's true or not because I can't judge myself, but I actually never try to be a good girl. The way I behave is just the way I like to do things; that's just how I am. I can see that Sandy is like that too. So, yeah, I am definitely Sandy.

Before I saw Grease: Live, I didn't know any Grease songs. But now I just can't stop singing Hopelessly Devoted to You, Summer Nights, Greased Lightning, There are Worse Things I Could Do, and Those Magic Changes in my head. I even downloaded and saved the songs on my phone. The songs are really fun and catchy and relatable. I love them. The costumes look really fun too. 

Sooo Grease: Live is totally recommended. It is awesome in a really fun way. Life has been hard for me these days but, after seeing this musical, things seem a little brighter for me hahaha. So go and see Grease: Live!

Rating : 4,5/5

New Blog Post with New Short Reviews!

Hello!

I haven't been writing for a pretty long time, eh? Actually, I've always wanted to write but I hadn't been watching films and reading books a lot over the past few weeks, so I had nothing to write about. I had to save my money for other important things and had limited internet access at home, so I couldn't go to the cinema or buy books or stream my favorite TV shows at home. This made me a little crazy... and lonely.

Life does feel a little lonely these days. Well, for me.

So I have just moved out from my parents' house and started living alone in a rented room again. This is not my first experience of living on my own, but it feels surprisingly different from the previous experience. When I was a student, I didn't feel lonely at all. I saw my friends every day and did everything together. We used to walk to the campus together, eat together, work on our assignments together, stay up all night together, etc. I used to have a double life as a student/teacher at that time, so I was super busy. At that time, life was so lively. I didn't have time to feel lonely.

But now everything is different.

I don't have my friends here. The other people who rent the rooms in my building don't seem like they are interested in making friends with me. Most of my co-workers at my current office are married with children, so they're all busy with their family lives. There are others who are still single like me, but they are super busy as well. I think I should make myself super busy too. Maybe I should get a side job...

But at least I get good internet connection here. So I can watch movies online again. I can finally catch up on The Flash, Teen Wolf, How to Get Away with Murder and Supergirl! And update my blog too, of course.

So I'm going to share my thoughts about several films and TV shows that I've recently seen. Here we go.

1. The 5th Wave

This movie is adapted from a series of novels which I heard is quite popular. It's about a teenage girl who tries her best to survive an alien invasion that happens on Earth. The aliens perform several waves of brutal actions in order to wipe out the humans and own the Earth. The fourth wave begins when the aliens start inhabiting human bodies, making it difficult to differentiate between the aliens and the humans. The surviving teenagers must fight for their planet before the final wave, which is the fifth one, starts.

For me, there is nothing special about this movie. The story is not new; it's quite similar to Stephenie Meyers's The Host. I expected great acting from the leading lady, Chloe Moretz, but her performance is just mediocre. There are no impressive special effects or cool action sequences either. My date even fell asleep during the movie. Sooo I'm not satisfied with this movie. The teen actors are good looking, though haha.

2. Supergirl

Supergirl was one of my most anticipated new TV shows last year and I have finally seen the pilot episode. I'm a little late though; the pilot was first aired in November last year. As I expected, it is very similar to the other superhero show, The Flash. I think the first episode is quite rushed. Like The Flash, Supergirl decides to wear her superhero suit and fight bad guys on the first episode. I've always thought it would be better if they give some time to these heroes to deal with their powers before they put on the suits, but they probably want to get everyhting settled quickly so that they can develop the story. However, I like the actors who are involved in this series. They're so lovable, especially Melissa Benoist (Kara/Supergirl) and Jeremy Jordan (Winn). I just hope they will slow down on the next episode and let the story and the characters grow. The Flash did it and I like it very much.

3. Kung Fu Panda 3

This movie is the third installment of the popular Panda saga haha. This time, Po the Panda has to come back to his home and learn how to be a real panda in order to get the ability to fight his latest enemy. I think the story is independent and not directly related to the previous films. I haven't even seen the second movie (I don't even remember that there is a second movie, actually), but I had no problem in following the story of the third movie.

I didn't expect it to be good, but it suprisingly is. The story is quite simple, but the message is very powerful. It reminds us that, in order to reach greatness, all that we have to do is be ourselves. We have to figure out what we can do best and develop it. We shouldn't try to be someone else. Just be... ourselves, the awesome version of us. I think this message is very heartwarming.

It is also surprsing to know that all the voice actors from the original film come back for this one. Those are well-known, busy actors like Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, Jackie Chan, Dustin Hoffman, Seth Rogen, etc. It's really cool to know that they all come back for the third time. Maybe they just love the animal characters as much as we all do.