Let's Talk About Superheroes! (Part 1)

So many superhero movies these days, eh? The heroes don't only dominate the big screen, actually; they have started taking over the small screen as well. As films like Captain America: Civil War and X-Men: Apocalypse are played in cinemas, TV shows like Arrow, The Flash and Supergirl are aired on TV every week. All of them are based on popular comic books and have so many devoted fans. No wonder they receive huge success and become more and more popular.

I saw Civil War and X-Men earlier this month. I've been watching The Flash and Supergirl too (I'm a bit slow at catching up with these shows, though). Here are some things that I've got to say about them.

 

I love these photos so much. They're the cutest superheroes ever. (The left picture is from fangirlish.com and the right one is from www.flickr.com)

THE FLASH SEASON 2

I really enjoyed the first season of The Flash, so I was really excited for the second season. The season finale of the second season has been aired but I haven't reached that episode yet. I'm on episode 18 now and so far the season has been entertaining. 

The Flash's main enemy this time is Zoom, an evil speedster who comes from Earth-2. Earth-2 is an alternate universe that gets connected to Barry's universe due to the black hole that was created at the end of season 1. Zoom wants to steal The Flash's speed, so he sends a bunch of metahumans from his Earth to Barry's to hunt and kill the guy. Zoom is not the only person from the other universe who comes to Barry's universe. We are introduced to Earth-2's Flash and Harrison Wells as well. While we get the evil Dr. Wells's doppelganger who looks exactly like the Dr. Wells that we know (and hate), we get a different Flash from Earth-2. It's not Barry Allen; his name is Jay Garrick. When the two first arrive in his universe, Barry finds it difficult to trust them even though his friends, Cisco, Caitlin, Joe and Iris, want to give them a chance. Apparently, after Wells's painful betrayal, Barry now has trust issues. We also get to see some familiar faces again this season, such as Eddie Thawne, Firestorm aka Ronnie Raymond, Linda Park, The Arrow aka Oliver Queen and his Team Arrow, The Trickster, Hartley Rathaway, etc. There are some new villains besides Zoom as well. The most memorable one is probably Killer Frost, Caitlin's evil doppelganger from Earth-2 whose superpower reminds me of Elsa from Frozen hahaha.

Killer Frost from Earth-2 (Source: thenerdsofcolor.org)

The story runs very smoothly this season. There are some shocking twists that I didn't see coming at all. It's a bit similar to season 1's storyline as it also involves an evil speedster and a betrayal from someone who is close to Barry, but somehow the repetition makes the story great. Even superheroes make the same mistake twice sometimes, eh? My favorite thing from the first season is how deep and emotional the story is, so I'm glad that they keep that in the second season. This makes me feel totally connected to the characters and love them even more. I cry a lot watching this show. It's kind of surprising because it's a superhero show, but I love it.

I'm also happy to see how the characters in the show, especially Barry and Iris, develop. In the era where every film-maker tries to turn supeheroes into dark characters, the show's creators make Barry different. Barry is a ray of sunshine who is warm, kind, pure-hearted and naive. He makes me believe in humanity hahaha. I also like how we can see Barry's struggles in becoming a superhero. As a young hero who doesn't have much experience, sometimes Barry makes mistakes, rushes things, makes the wrong decisions, loses control, fails, gets angry, gets betrayed in a way that has happened before, etc. I find this realistic and relatable. Young people like us still have so much to learn, right?

I once said that I really don't like Iris in season 1, but, you know what, she is one of my favorite characters in season 2. In season 1, she was just Barry's love interest to me. But now that she knows that Barry is The Flash and is in Team Flash, she is able to give more contributions and be a hero too. Besides that, I love her own arcs too, you know, the ones with her mom, Francine, and her brother, Wally (Yup, Wally West!). And also the way she deals with losing her fiance, Eddie. Those arcs show how strong and wise she is as a woman. I love it.

SUPERGIRL SEASON 1

I'm even slower when it comes to watching this one. The first season of this new series has been aired as well, but I'm only on episode 10 now. I really want to reach the crossover episode where The Flash visits Supergirl but it's so hard to find the time to watch. After work, all I want to do is just lay on my bed hahaha.

Supergirl follows the journey of Kara, Clark Kent's cousin from Krypton. When she was a teenager, Kara was sent to Earth to protect Clark, who was still a baby at that time. However, Kara arrived a few years late on Earth. When she arrived, Clark had grown up and become Superman and no longer needed her protection. So, Kara was adopted by the Danvers family and tried to live a normal life. However, as she grows older, she realizes that she has to embrace her true self and use her powers to help people.

I'm not very familiar with Supergirl or Superman history, but I think this series features some famous characters from the comic book like Maxwell Lord, James "Jimmy" Olsen and the Martian Manhunter aka J'onn J'onzz (I have no idea how to say that name correctly). It features some interesting villains like Livewire, a former radio presenter who accidentally gets the power of controlling electricity when Supergirl tries to save her. I haven't reached the episode where she first appears but there is Siobhan Smythe aka Silver Banshee in the first season, a supervillain who seems to be pretty famous among the comic book fans.

The most admirable thing from this show to me is how it depicts its female characters. All the women in this show have complex, interesting stories and characteristics. There is Kara/Supergirl, the lead of the show. I really love how she is portrayed in this show. She doesn't immediately become a great superhero like her cousin; she really starts from scratch. In this first season, we can see how Kara learns how to be great superhero, which involves making stupid mistakes, getting criticized, being underestimated, having anger management problems, etc. I especially love what they do with Kara's anger. It is rare to find a female character with this complexity. She is such a sweet and loving girl but she also contains this burning anger inside her. Yes, women are complex like that.

Don't mess with angry Kara (Source: ww.ign.com)

And then there are other female characters: Cat Grant, Kara's boss who is mean, wise, annoying and smart at the same time; Alex Danvers, Kara's sister (not her biological sister) who works for an institution that deals with aliens and helps Kara do her superhero works; Lucy Lane, James Olsen's girlfriend and Lois Lane's sister who works in the military; and Astra, Kara's aunt who used to be very close to Kara but has to become her enemy due to her violent ways in fighting for what she believes in. So the hero, the villain, the mentor... they all are women here. I think it is very cool. My favorite is Cat Grant; she is just awesome and delivers some great quotes!

I originally wanted to write short pieces for all the four films/tv shows that I mentioned above, but they got longer than I intended hahaha. So I think I'll split this post into two parts. Part 2 is coming soon!

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.

It's Not a Bird. It's Not a Plane. It's Not a Man. It's Supergirl!

A few months ago, it was announced that there would be a new tv series about Superman's cousin, Supegirl. They released some promotional pictures featuring its leading lady, Melissa Benoist, in the Supergirl costume as well. When I saw the pictures and the costume, I wasn't really sure about it. But then they dropped the extended trailer this morning, which got me really excited and jumpy.

I love what I see in the trailer very much! 

The way this series looks reminds me of The Flash a bit. Melissa Benoist who plays Supergirl does a monologue throughout the trailer, just like Grant Gustin, the actor who plays The Flash. She even starts the monologue with "My name is...", exactly like Grant's monologue for The Flash. Supergirl aka Kara Zor-El also looks as nerdy as Barry Allen when she's not doing the superhero thingy. I like nerdy superheroes, so I approve this (haha). And both series have former Glee stars as the leads! As you may know, Grant and Melissa used to play Sebastian and Marley in the musical series. We've seen Grant sing in one of the episodes of The Flash, so maybe we'll get to see Supergirl sing as well hahaha. Oh, Jeremy Jordan is in this series too! He is a Broadway actor (who also stars in the movie adaptation of The Last Five Years with Anna Kendrick) whose amazing singing voice never fails to make me melt. They should make a musical episode for this series hahaha.

In the trailer, we get to see Kara fight identity crisis, work in an office, face an intimidating boss, get underestimated, and go on the fangirl mode when she sees herself on television. I like this because it makes her look human. I think it would be easy for me to feel related to her. It's also really cool to see a girl stop a plane from falling with her superpower! Most of superhero films and tv shows today are centered on male heroes so I am happy to finally see a female superhero as the lead.

Our Supergirl, Melissa Benoist.

Supergirl is going to have its premiere in November 2015. The wait is going to kill me haha, but yeah, I'm definitely going to watch this series. Hopefully it would be as awesome as The Flash.