Let's Talk About Superheroes! (Part 2)

It's time for the Marvel heroes from the big screen now. Here we go.

Source: www.tumblr.com

CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR

Civil War opened the season of blockbuster movies this year. Technically it is the third Captain America movie, but it's more like the third Avengers movie because it features multiple Avengers team members. Similar to Batman vs Superman, Civil War is about a war between two beloved superheroes. Due to severe damages that are created by the superheroes when they try to save the world, the governments of most countries in the world demand the Avengers to work under their supervision. Tony Stark thinks it's logical for the team to accept that, but Steve Rogers thinks the opposite. The situation gets worse when Bucky aka the Winter Soldier gets involved. A conference which includes the signing of the agreement between the Avengers and the governments is ended by an explosion and Bucky gets blamed for that. Having a strong emotional connection with him, Steve decides to help Bucky, which makes him labeled as a criminal too. As the story goes, the war between Tony and Steve gets even more personal and emotional.

As you probably know, I'm not a big fan of the films that are made by Marvel Studios. But I have to admit that Civil War is a remarkable movie. The way it portrays the feud between the two heroes is really good. If you ask me which side I'm on, Team Cap or Team Iron Man, I wouldn't be able to choose. I can understand why Steve refuses to sign the agreement with the governments, but I think Tony's argument about why they should sign it has a point. I think it's very human for Tony to be angry when (SPOILER ALERT) he finds out that Bucky kills his parents, but I can't say that Steve is wrong for defending his best friend until the end. This is the kind of war between two heroes that I want to see. It really is good vs good here, even though there is still an evil third person who manipulates things. It's very interesting to watch.

The best scene-stealers in this movie for me are the new characters: Spider-Man and Black Panther. Yeah, I, surprisingly, love the new Spider-Man. I didn't expect to like him this much because I really, really love Andrew Garfield's version of Spidey in The Amazing Spider-Man movies. When I first heard that they were replacing Andrew with young Tom Holland, my heart broke. But Tom's portrayal of the hero in this movie just made me fall in love with Spider-Man all over again. I was just so happy to see our young, smart, excited, funny and pure-hearted hero again. Maybe it's not just Andrew that I love; it's the character itself too. And then there's Black Panther. I know nothing about this character's comic book history, but he is just so cool in this movie. The costume and the way he fights are so neat, elegant. And I find his accent quite sexy too hahaha. The female characters, Black Widow, Scarlet Witch and Sharon Carter, are pretty badass too. They should include more female characters in the Avengers movies. They even deserve to have their own movies!

Oh, hey, Spidey! (Source: www.dailysuperhero.com)

Rating: 4/5

X-MEN: APOCALYPSE

Apocalypse is the third film in the prequel trilogy of X-Men movies. This time, the X-Men must face a mutant who claims himself as the first and the most powerful mutant in the world: En Sabah Nur aka Apocalypse. He recruits four other mutants (Magneto, Storm, Psylocke and Angel) and plans to destroy the human race so that he can build a new world in which he is the leader, the God. Apocalypse's threats somehow bring back the disunited squad together and help them deal with their issues.



Source: phimhayso.com

I think the premise of the story has been overused in Hollywood. As for the villain, I find Apocalypse aka Mr En Sabah Nur a little too... magical. Maybe I'm so used to seeing superhero films being as realistic as possible because it seems to be a trend these days. His physical appearance, the way he talks, the way he gets resurrected (which involves a hidden cave and ruins that light up when the sunlight touches them), and his dialogues about ruling the world made me cringe. I'm so sorry but the premise and the villain are a bit cheesy for me.

However, I still find this movie quite entertaining. The iconic characters and the way the actors portray them are the ones that save this movie. Each character here has their own style and characteristics which make them all unique and so unforgettable. Professor X on his wheelchair with his calm and caring attitudes, Magneto with his burning anger and dark past, Mystique with her blue skin and mysterious personality, Quicksilver with his slow-motion scenes, Cyclops with his special glasses... They have great arcs and the actors played their characters very well too. This movie is really a treat for the characters' fans.

Rating: 3,5/5

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!

My Visit to Big Bad Wolf Books Indonesia

My first blog post as a 24-year-old woman! I suddenly feel old because 24 means you are not in the early 20s anymore; you have entered the mid 20s! You are an adult! It is still weird, you know, to see myself as the adult one, especially when I am at work. I spent years being a student but now I am not a student anymore; I am the teacher now, the adult one who leads, makes decisions, gives examples, etc. It is certainly not easy to adapt with the new situation but I am working on it. I still have much to learn.

Anyways, my birthday happens to be the last working day of last week because the following four days were public holidays. So, I had dinner with my family after work that day and went out with my friends on the next day. My friends and I went to the Big Bad Wolf Books Indonesia. It is a massive book exhibition that is held at ICE (Indonesia Convention Exhibition) in BSD City, Tangerang. There, books from various genres are sold with insanely low prices. To illustrate, imported novels normally cost Rp. 150.000,00 - Rp. 250.000,00, but during the exhibition, you can get 3-5 novels with that amount of money because one novel only costs Rp. 45.000,00 - Rp. 60.000,00. Yeah, that is a great offer. The exhibition has been going on since April 30th and was originally scheduled to close on May 8th. However, due to people's' high enthusiasm in visiting the event, the committee decided to extend it until today. You do not need to buy tickets to come to the exhibition.

Books everywhere

I went there with my friends on May the 5th, the first day of the long weekend. One of my friends and I arrived there at lunch time and we were shocked by the super long queue that awaited outside the venue. It took around 30-40 minutes, I guess, before we finally got inside Hall 10, the venue. Inside the hall, all that I could see were people and books. The books were set on huge tables and were grouped into some genres (romance, fiction, cookery, music, biography, etc). It was pretty hard to find the books that you want because they do not separate them based on their authors. It was hard to move around the hall too because there were just so many people there. There were people lining up in front of the cashier, people looking for books, people looking for their friends... And then we had to wait for about an hour before we could finally pay for the books and leave the hall. So, it was pretty crazy and tiring, but, hey, we got great books with cheap prices!

Lia, Nofi and me. After queueing, book hunting and queueing again, we could finally bring our books home!

I did not plan to go crazy and spend all of my money there, so I politely bought three books. And I got one bonus book from my friends! Here are the books that I got from Big Bad Wolf Books Indonesia.

1. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Well, you all know what this book is about, right? So I think I do not have to say anything about the story haha. I have always wanted to read this book and the rest of the series, but since I started watching the movie adaptations first, I decided to finish the movies before I start reading the books. Now that I have seen all of the movies, I think it is time for me to read the books. I found a copy of The Hunger Games, the first one in the series, as soon as I entered the exhibition hall. According to my friend Lia, the one that I bought has the UK cover. I really like the cover because it is so bright (the background is electric pink while the writings and the mockingjay logo are electric green). The price for this book is Rp. 60.000,00. I was tempted to buy the second and the third books as well, but decided to try one first haha.

2. One Day by David Nicholls

I first heard about this book when the movie adaptation came out. I have not seen the full movie, but I heard it received mixed reviews. Despite the mixed reviews, I find the premise of the story interesting. The story tells what happens to two friends, Emma and Dex, on every July 15 for the twenty years that follow their first meeting. It must be interesting to check on these two characters every year and see how much things change. And they have a complicated relationship that is in between love and friendship, which I find TOTALLY relatable hahaha. So, yeah, I am excited to read this book. Like The Hunger Games, One Day costs Rp. 60.000,00.

3. Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin

Once in a while I like to read light, fun stories just to ease my brain. That is why I bought Something Borrowed. It seems like a nice rom-com story. It is about a woman who has always held herself back, which makes her miss so many opportunities in her life (ehm so relatable ehm). But everything changes when she decides to confess her feelings to the man she loves, who is her best friend's fiance. I got a copy of the book that has the movie cover (Yeah, it has been adapted into a movie. I think every book has a movie adaptation now, eh?). This one is a little cheaper than the other two books; it only costs Rp. 45.000,00.

4. Bonus: Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Well, I did not buy this book at the exhibition. My friends who went there with me, Nofi and Lia, gave the book to me as a birthday present. It is a perfect present because I am a huge Star Wars fan and my birthday is on Star Wars Day (May the fourth be with you!). It is a novelization of the sevent movie. Well, I have seen the movie and have known the story, but I am intrigued to find out how the movie scenes are turned into words in this book.

I am so excited to read all the books above, but I want to finish reading The Book Thief first. I think I would not need to go to the bookstore for the next few months because I still have four books waiting for me haha. Thank you, Big Bad Wolf Books Indonesia! I hope the event will be a annual one so I can come and buy cheap books every year haha. 

When You Break Your Own Heart Loving Someone: My Review of The Danish Girl

I am in the mood for something tragic and heartbreaking. Oh yes, sometimes I can be a masochist haha.

So I decided to search for a book and a movie that suit my mood and found Markus Zusak's The Book Thief, a book, and Tom Hooper's The Danish Girl, a movie. I just started reading the book but I have finished watching the movie, so this post is going to be about the movie.

The Danish Girl is a 2015-released film that is directed by Tom Hooper. My favorite actors, Academy Award winners Eddie Redmayne and Alicia Vikander, star in this film. This movie received so many nominations and even won some during this year's awards season. It is based on the true story of Lili Elbe, the person who became the first ever patient of a gender transformation surgery. Before the surgery, Lili was a man named Einar Wegener who was married to a female painter named Gerda. This film follows Einar's and Gerda's struggles as Einar realized that he was a woman trapped in a man's body.

Oh yes, that beautiful lady in the mirror is Eddie Redmayne as Lili in The Danish Girl. The one who is painting is Alicia Vikander as Gerda.

I find this movie hard to watch. The way it depicts Einar's identity crisis is just so... explicit. There are scenes in this film that almost made my eyes pop out, like the scenes where Einar kisses a man (played by Ben Whishaw) as Lili for the first time, the scene where Einar is having a therapy, and the scene where Einar stares at his body in the mirror and tries to make himself look like a woman. It is not disturbing; it is just... eye-opening, I guess. I had never known how it felt like to be like Einar, you know, to feel like you are trapped in a wrong body. This movie makes me understand how complex and difficult the situation is. It makes me think a lot about transgender people. A lot of people, especially in my country, criticize and even try to punish them for what they do. It is not that I agree with their decision, but I do not think criticizing and punishing can help them.

As Einar slowly transforms himself into Lili, we can see that he is not the only one who struggles. Gerda, Einar's wife, has a hard time dealing with the situation too. Gerda loves her husband, and all she wants is for him to be happy. But what makes him happy is being a woman, which means that he cannot be Gerda's husband anymore. I can see how that crushes Gerda's heart, but she still loves him and does everything that can make Einar happy. Even when Einar is gone and replaced by Lili, Gerda still stays with her and help her. The way Gerda loves Einar/Lili is just unbelievable. She is willing to break her own heart to make the one that she loves happy. I think that is what you call true love.

The strongest part of the movie is definitely the acting. I thought Eddie Redmayne could never top his award-winning performance in The Theory of Everything, but his performance here as Einar/Lili proves me wrong. His performance is superb. At the beginning of the movie, he manages to make Einar look like someone who is not himself, someone who is holding himself back. As Einar realizes that his true self is Lili, we can see how Lili slowly emerges and explores the world like an innocent little girl. It is just astonishing. If Leonardo DiCaprio was not nominated in this year's Oscars, I think Eddie would have won his second Oscar.

While Eddie did not manage to get his second Oscar this year, his acting partner in The Danish Girl, Swedish actress Alicia Vikander, won her first trophy. I think she totally deserves it. Her performance as Gerda is so powerful. I feel so related to her character and, without realizing it, I followed the story from her point of view. I like how she shows the playful, free-spirited and idealistic side of Gerda at the beginning of the movie. It shows that she is not a flat character, not just the wife of the main character. I like how Alicia shows how Gerda can be fragile too. I can really feel how hurt her heart is as she slowly loses her husband. Whenever I saw her trembling as she struggles to stay strong in front of Einar/Lili, I could not hold back my tears. The most heartbreaking Gerda scene for me is when she comes home crying and begs Lili to hold her as Einar because she needs to hold her husband, but Lili tells her that she cannot do that. This does not mean that Gerda is weak; it shows that, sometimes, even the strongest women can break and need their men to just hold them. Gerda has proven that she will always be there for Einar/Lili, but Einar/Lili cannot do the same for her. It must really hurt. Duh.

So, this movie is a heartbreakingly beautiful one with great acting and deep messages. Some people might find it a little disturbing, but when you try to understand what is behind the shocking scenes, you will realize how inspiring the story is.

Rating : 4/5

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.