Kung Fu Panda 3

I was told by a couple of colleagues this sequel was not as enjoyable as the previous one. A colleague mentioned that she preferred Zootopia cos it was more meaningful. So I was a little apprehensive about the movie prior. But I was glad after watching it that I enjoyed it almost as much as the previous ones. As much as I prefer to watch 'brainless' movies, I think this stuck with me from the movie. The truth about being yourself. For those who have not caught it yet, part of Po's task was to teach his people Kung Fu to protect themselves. Finally, instead of trying to teach them a set of Kung Fu skills, he ended up having them learn and adopt Kung Fu according to their natural strengths, being themselves.

That stuck with me. For most of life, I feel like I've been trying to be like someone, to act like and to feel like them. I wanna look like this person. If only I could have that kind of physique. If only I could sound like that. If only I had that kind of features. If only I had that range of voice. And the list goes on and on. Someone once said," when you try to be like someone, you'll only end up second best." How true. Unfortunately I really struggle with this. I sometimes envy how a friend can be so secure in his skinny frame and still exude such confidence. Guess it's a journey for me although it's taking awfully long to get through this one. 😆

Lessons from Movies: Wreck-It Ralph

I decided to watch a less violent movie since my intake of movies of late have been pretty violent. Thought I'd fast a little from such movies and go for something more "clean". Also, I was accompanied by a 15 year old so all the more I figured I should catch something less polluting to the 15 year old mind. And thus, I ended up with 'Wreck-It Ralph'. No regrets cos it was one of the better movies I have caught of late. I love watching cartoons, especially Disney ones since the good guys will always win and the bad guys always die. Guess that philosophy fits my ideal view of life, which of course ain't practical or real at all. But I am hopeful......

The story is about a 'bad' guy (Ralph) in a computer game who is sick of being the bad guy who destroys things (thus came about the movie title) and decides to become good. As a result of that, he ends up ruining another game world because he decides to leave his in order to get a medal so he could get the recognition he wanted. He meets a girl who was condemned because she was a glitch in another game and helps her to win in her game which finally restored her to her original position, a princess. So he ends up being a hero and in the midst of it learns to be content in being the 'bad' guy in his game in order to keep the game going.

I really enjoyed the humor of the cartoon  a lot. It also reminded me of what the apostle Paul spoke about in the book of Corinthians in which every part of the body of Christ has something to contribute, no matter how big or small it may seem.

Think I'll probably get the DVD when it comes out. It's definitely worth collecting......

Rapunzal Rapunzal Let Down Your Hair

As I was making my way to Cineleisure last night to catch the movie, I was wondering to myself if I was too old to watch this genre of movies. I came to the conclusion the answer was an emphatic no. I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. It's really nice to get to watch something so funny and entertaining.

I suppose the story line is familiar to most people so I need not elaborate. The jokes were really funny. So this movie is a must catch for the young, old and in-betweens.......

Going The Distance

Had the chance to catch this movie today with my colleagues. The plot was okay. Surprisingly, Drew Barrymore still looks quite good. The acting was good. My only gripe was that the movie was full of vulgarities. Other than that, I think this comedy's quite a good catch.

The Sorcerer's Apprentice

I always enjoy watching Disney movies for this simple reason: The good guys will always live and win while the bad guys will always lose and die. This fits well into my paradigm of life. Watched this movie yesterday and I must say that I enjoyed it thoroughly. Loads of magic and the special effects were good. Do catch it if you can and especially if you are like me: The good guys must always win and the bad guys lose....... ;)

Ip Man 2

I was reminded of my philosophy after I finished the movie on Thursday evening. I usually try not to get my expectations too high for any movie so that should it turn out bad, I would not be too disappointed. I think I let it slip for this one. After all, most were implying  that it beat Iron man 2 hands down and since I enjoyed Iron Man 2, this should be at least a little better. Right? Wrong! Turned out I enjoyed Iron Man 2 more than Ip Man 2.

Maybe I really am weird or something. Don't get me wrong. It was not lousy. You can tell a lot of effort were put into the production. Maybe its the predictability of the movie that caused the downfall of the movie for me. After all, you know Ip Man cannot die, if not there will not be the movie anymore, not to mention Bruce Lee. The fighting scenes were okay. Some were quite comical unintentionally I believe. To be fair, the fighting scenes with Sammo Hong and Donnie Yen were decent. Other than that, there was not much kick to the fighting.

Okay, I suppose I should just keep to my philosophy for the rest of the movies and I suppose I'll probably enjoy them more......

Iron Man 2

This is probably the first time I have ever caught a movie twice while it is still screening in the cinemas. Well, not that it was so superb a show but because I promised a colleague to watch it with her. Surprisingly, I enjoyed the movie more the second time than the first. I guess it could be that I understood more of it than the first time round.

I heard from a fair number of people that they felt the movie was disappointing. Though I could not say that it was a wow movie, I felt that it was somewhat underrated. The effects were good. The humor was good. Of course, how could we forget Scarlett Johansson as well as Gwyneth Paltrow? There were certain parts that could have been elaborated on more and the fighting scenes could have been lengthened as well. But overall, I felt the show was pretty okay. I guess for any movie, expectations is the key......

Clash Of The Titans

After hearing much about the movie (mostly bad reviews), I have finally seen the show for myself. Mixed feelings about the show. In a sense I really enjoyed the special effects and the fighting. Yet somehow the movie did not give me the 'shiok' feeling that really good movies do. I watched it in the 2D version. My friend commented that the show was too fast paced which I agree with. Then again aren't we hard to please? Too slow, we get bored. Too fast we also have something to say. :)

But overall, considering the fact that it was only $7.50, I guess I can't complain much. But I need to emphasize again that the special effects were really good. Somehow, the movie reminds me a lot about the gospel. Zeus (God) made man. Man rebelled. Zeus' son came. Saved the world so to speak. Anyway, I think the show's worth a watch but I did hear a fair bit of complaints from the ones who watched it in 3D though. So maybe the 2D version might be better in this one, not to mention saving some $$$$$.

 

Monga

Caught this movie with Peiyuan last night. I was a little concerned cos the movie was gonna be close to two and a half hours long. If it was a boring show, that would have been the pits.

But the movie turned out to be decently good and watching it on a Monday evening certainly made it more worth it. I liked the way certain parts of the movie carried a fair bit of humour. That made it more light and entertaining.

I suppose from the pic above you sort of know what the show is pretty much about. For those of you who still don't get it, it's about gangsterism in a place in Taiwan called 'Monga'.

Guess the director of the movie was trying to convey the message that gangsterism is bad. But as my subconscious habit of deriving life lessons from what I watch kicked in, I realised a number of things......

1) As one of the lead actors in the show concluded as he was dying, he never quite understood what the fighting (which they, as gangsters did a lot of) was all about. I think I am like that as well. Many things I do in life, I never quite understood why I did them. Peer pressure, trying to look impressive, etc...... Whatever the reason, I never really sat down to consider my intentions of doing certain things. I suppose there are things we just need to do for practical reasons, but I believe that if I spent a little more time on why I do what I do, I would not have wasted so much time and money on things which don't really matter at all. Food for thought.

2) The same actor also gave the reason of being treated and taken care of like a brother (which the gangsters then were known for) that he joined the group. I guess we all want to belong and be loved. And that craving can lead us to do things we know ain't right. I can well relate to that. Guess we need to search for love in the right places.

Okie. These are my thoughts so far for this movie. Think it's definitely worth a watch if you do not mind the vulgarities and occasional 'bloody' scenes. Would give it a 4 star rating out of five.

How To Train Your Dragon

Managed to catch the show yesterday with my colleagues. Definitely worth it. I enjoyed it a  lot. Highly recommend it to everyone. Do try to watch it during school time so that there would be minimal kids. They spoil everything. :)

Confucius

Just caught the movie last evening. Was pleasantly surprised that the show was quite okay. They really made the man out to be this super duper guy full of love and compassion. Quite enjoyed the show till the ending. There was a line which implied that Confucius' teachings have pretty much impacted China and has made it what it is today. Not too sure if I read too much into it but if China is really China because of this man, I think Confucius has failed miserably. Looking at China today, ewww, I guess I do not need to elaborate more......

14 Blades 錦衣衛

Went to watch this movie today. The highlight of this movie was not the movie but the fact that I sat just 2 seats from my idol. :) Anyway, the movie was pretty good. The fighting scenes were great as usual (with Donnie Yen in it, there must be a certain standard!). The plot was so so but who's going for the plot right?

Think it's also neat since one of our very own local actor stars in it. There's also a comical side to it so it lightens the movie somewhat. Overall, I pretty much enjoyed the movie. Just wished that my idol would sit right beside me. That would have been GREAT!

Movietherapy

Not too sure if I am the first to coin this term but it does sound pretty cool. And I suppose watching movies does help to alleviate symptoms so it can be termed 'Movietherapy'.

Just watched the above movie a while ago and I must say that I enjoyed it. The effects were good and the plot was okay. Kept me at the edge of my seat from time to time. 

风云2

Finally caught the movie on Thursday with Ryan. I must admit it was a little disappointing to me. Maybe I expected too much out of it. Let's see. The graphics were superb. The plot was so-so. The acting was mediocre at best. I think the directors focussed too much on the fighting and the effects and the acting was somewhat neglected. What was amusing was that there were certain scenes in the movie which were supposed to be really grand which ended up tickling most of us. The audience ended up laughing at certain highlights during the show.

I guess that if someone were to go with only the graphics and effects in mind, it would turn out pretty okay. Just don't focus too much on the plot and the acting......

Day 1 of Reservist

The day went pretty fine except for the ending of it. Had a good time catching up on reading and sleeping. It's been a long while since I last had the luxury of doing so much reading. Thought that the rest of the day would be fine too till about 3 plus when I was assigned to do some tasks. Doing the tasks were fine but the fact that it came near the end of the day was irritating to say the least. Thus I was delayed in my departure and I still had not completed my tasks. Had it come earlier in the day, it would have been completed and well. Anyway, after so many years of army, I am far from surprised that such a thing could happen. Maybe the technology has improved, but the way of doing things more efficiently has been improving at a snail's pace at all. Okay, better not complain anymore least I get into trouble for telling the truth.

The evening went fine. Caught 'New Moon' with my colleagues. Quite enjoyed it. Heard some bad reviews about it though. Anyway, to each his own. Felt for Bella when she lost Edward. Could relate to her feelings. Sympathize with Jake though. Despite his heart for Bella and good looks (after he had a hair cut, that is), he still lost out to a joker who could not think straight and does not have any figure to show (my apologies to the fans of Robert Pattinson, it's true none the less). Okie, gotta go now......

Surrogates

Just returned from watching Surrogates with Ivan. Quite enjoyed it. In short, it is about humans living their lives through their robots (aka surrogates) controlled by their minds while they are connected to a device in the comforts of their own home. They can even choose how their surrogates look like. So the streets, offices and practically everywhere else other than homes are basically just filled with robots. And the surrogate can look worlds apart from the controller. In most cases it was actually so. In fact most of the people have never seen each other's "real person".
For the rest of the story I will leave you to watch it on your own. The reason I gave the short intro was because of its relation to real life, or at least to my life. I can see why people in the movie would rather live their lives through robots. The robots can look as good as they want to and others will never have to or get to see their "true" self. I think I am somewhat like that as well. When coming in contact with people, I sometimes protray a personality or character that is not really me but what I would like people to see me as. Even with all the face treatments and soon to come laser treatments, I am trying to become what I would like people to see me as and not what I am really. In the event that surrogates become a reality I know that I would definitely choose one which is better looking and hunkier. Haha, it certainly beats having to go to the gym to get that kind of body. :)

17 again

Went to watch the movie with some colleagues recently. Must say that I enjoyed it quite a lot. One of my colleagues did not join us cos she was not interested in a 'chick-flick' movie. She was right. It was to a certain extent that kind of a movie. In fact I was joking with a colleague when she commented that the rest of the actors and actresses were not well-known at all. I commented that the main bulk of the money had to go Zac that's why they could not afford to hire any other more popular ones.

As much as the show was focussing a lot of attention on Zac, it was one of those shows that set me thinking a little after watching it. If I could live my life again from 17, would I have lived it differently? Unfortunately the answer was 'yes'.......

1) May have taken a course on finance rather than optometry.

2) Would have spent more time with my poly course mates than working.

3) Would have changed my investment stratedgies.

4) Would not have ancouraged my mum to buy a much bigger than necessary unit when she left my dad.

Well, I suppose that there are always things to regret in life but I still have a life to continue living so its time to look forward instead of backwards. :)