Chinese cinema classics : Tai Chi Master

 

Tripping down memory lane with Jet Li's finest movies is a very rewarding experience. There are so many excellent ones to choose from. I must confess that I became a huge fan after watching Jet in Shaolin Temple. He would go on to star in a myriad of movies, playing folk heroes Wong Fei Hong, Fong Sai Yuk, Chan Zhan and Fok Yun Kup. The ones I've highlight so far have been my favorites from the 'the golden era' of Jet Li's career. He will always be numero uno in my book, no small feat considering how he has to contend with my childhood hero Jackie Chan.

The reason I chose this movie was for the sheer exhilaration in seeing Jet flex his comedic chops after he loses his mind midway through the flick. Seeing him play off Oscar winner Michelle Yeoh is another highlight. It's also such a joy to see Jet take on a new martial art style, this time taking on the fluid style of Tai Chi. It's funny how Michelle would later star in MCU's Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, playing the aunt of Liu Simu's Shang Chi who so happens to be a Tai Chi Master. This movie, much like it's predecessors Fong Sai Yuk and Once Upon a time in China features great martial art choreography. In terms of comedy, this one straddles the middle ground between over the top Fong Sai Yuk and more serious Once.

The story centers around two good friends who are disciples in the Shaolin Temple. The elder of the two, the more ambitious Tian Bo goads the younger one, Jet Li's Jun bao to secretly learn martial arts. We see the two progress with their training while washing (and wrecking) laundry and fending off bullies. One day Tian Bo sees a master practice an unorthodox move and practices it. As a result they are both expelled from the temple when he employs the move while sparring. Both of them try to seek alms but are rejected by the towns folks. They resort to performing roadside shows to make a living, and attract the attention of the eunuch and his Imperial troops. He attempt to recruit both of them for their prowess in martial arts. Tian Bo sees the opportunity and enlist, while Jun bao declines and end up meeting the rebels.

Time passes and we see Tian Bo rise through the ranks, thanks to his ruthlessness and thirst for power. He soon finds himself in conflict with the rebels, and with his old friend Jun bao. In an encounter he is unable to see his friends point of view and literally destroys Jun bao's martial arts and renders him comatose. It's here where Jun bao loses his mind after recovering from his injuries. With help he rediscovers martial arts and creates an entirely new art form based on studying the mechanics of water, the push and pull. This is Tai Chi. He is even given a a new name  Zhang San Feng for his crazy mannerisms. He is ultimately forced to face a power hungry Tian Bo who even kills the eunuch, and some of his troops. He doesn't just want to be a general, he wants to take over! San Feng has no choice but to kill his friend. Seeing how merciless Tian Bo was, the troops allow  San Feng and the surviving rebels to kill Tian Bo and to leave. A highly enjoyable flick and one of Jet Li's better ones. Go watch it now!

Chinese cinema classics : Once Upon a time in China

 

Today I want to cover another classic movie from the early 90's, from the height of Jet Li's popularity. It was this very series of movies that launched Li's career into the stratosphere! Li was in virtually every movie going forward and everyone was humming George Lam's tune about becoming a hero. I remember going to the cinema in Chinatown with a group of friends to watch the first movie on the silver screen. Everything from the cinematography to the fight choreography was new and fresh. This felt like the start of a new era in martial art cinema. The highly stylized action sequences were to become the standard of which modern Hong Kong gong fu flicks would have to adhere to. I actually prefer this style of fight choreography over the fancier wire fu used in movies like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, where pugilists would fly through the air while clashing! The more grounded style of fighting would be used for other productions such as Fong Sai Yuk, Tai Chi Master, and the Donnie Yen vehicles Ip Man, adding to the realism.

The story follows the exploits of pugilist and physician, Wong Fei Hong of Foshan who runs a medicinal hall, Po Chi Lam. The story opens with Wong attending a lion dance event aboard a ship. As the firecrackers go off, the French navy fires on them, thinking they have been attacked. Wong has to save the day. This event sets the tone for the rest of the movie with the exploitation of the Chinese people by the gwai lou (foreign devils). This trope has been done to death by Hong Kong cinema, and by Hollywood. The American company, working in tandem with a local militia group recruit locals with the promise of 'jing shan'(gold mountain). These workers are instead sold as slaves to build infrastructure in America. They also abduct women folk to serve as comfort women. Racial stereotypes abound. The only saving grace of this movie is the the Catholic priest who sacrifices himself to save Wong for his beliefs. I cringe every time I see these being used to further the narratives. My hope is that one day we can move away from using this as a plot device!

Anyway back to the story at hand. Enter Iron Vest Yim, a struggling pugilist trying to eke out a living. A chance encounter allows Yuen Biao's Leung Fu to meet him as they challenge Wong to a sparring match. They travel to Po Chi Lam, and Leung Fu is ashamed to show his face as he tried to become a pupil earlier. He is defeated, and falls into bad company with the militia group. He is recruited as muscle for the group. They attack the governor's ball and Wong once again thwarts their plan. The foreign dignitaries present are disgusted by the barbaric display and blame the francas on Wong and his followers. The militia also decide to hit Wong where it hurts and burn Po Chi Lam to the ground. Wong and his followers are arrested and imprisoned. Things come to a head when they capture  the 13th  aunt and Wong finds out about their nefarious plans. He is released by a sympathetic official who sees the light. He goes up against Master Yim one last time and defeats him again. He saves 13th  aunt and tries to rescue Yim. He is however shot by the Americans and dies in Wong's arms. The troops arrives and saves all the locals who are about to be sent over.

I highly recommend watching this movie for its significance in the reinvigoration and it's stylistic influence on the martial arts genre. It really helps that the first movie also had a star studded cast with Rosamund Kwan as the 13th  aunt, Jacky Cheung as Bucktooth, and Yuen Biao as Leung Fu, something that was severely lacking in the next few.

Doc I'm back, back from the future. Part 2

The second act of the trilogy remains my favorite to this day. Like both the Star Wars and Terminator franchises,  the sequel improved on the first movie, while building on the previous story arc. My favorite part of the movie involves the futuristic Hill Valley city, Jaws in 3D, self lacing NIKE shoes, and hover boards. 

The story starts off right where we left with Marty arriving home and meeting his childhood sweetheart Jennifer, and discovering that everything is good with his family. Just as he is about to head out, the DeLorean comes screeching into the driveway. Doc falls out hurriedly and starts blabbering about the future and how Marty has to time travel once again to save his kid. Turns out that Marty Jr agrees to help Griff, Biff's grandchild with a heist and goes to jail. Marty has no choice but to agree and they take Jennifer with them. We end up in the the same diner and town square and Marty dresses up as his son, tells Griff no, and the same scene replays where Marty evades Griff and his goons on a hover board (instead of Biff and the skate board as in the previous movie). Griff tries to take Marty down on his powered hover board, but Marty ducks in the nick of time and Griff smashes into town hall and is apprehended. Things go pear shaped when the cops pick passed out Jennifer up and send her home, her future home that is. She gets to see future Marty get fired, and meets her future self. Just when you think things couldn't get any worse, Marty makes a blunder and buys an old sports almanac, which falls into grandpa Biff's hands. Whilst Marty and doc are busy saving Jennifer , Biff steals the DeLorean, travels back to the past, and gives the almanac to himself.

When Marty and doc travel back to the present day, they are horrified to learn that Hill Valley has changed and is now under the the thumb of multi millionaire Biff Tannen. Biff now owns the town and the police force. To make matters worse, Marty's mom Lorraine is now married to Biff, and his dad George was murdered by Biff. Marty discovers that it was the sports almanac he purchased in the future that caused this alternate time line. He has to travel back to the past to steal the almanac from young Biff to undo all the damage caused by the almanac. He gets to relive all the events he had to go through in the previous movie. Just when he is about to travel back to the present after successfully completing what he set out to do, lightning strikes and doc disappears! It's up to Marty once again to save the day.

Back to the old west

I found the final installment to be the weakest of the trilogy. With that said, all three movies were of the highest standards compared to what we get today. In this concluding story , Marty gets a very old letter delivered to him from the time of the old west. As it turns out, doc didn't die the night lightning struck the DeLorean. Doc was flung back into the past, to the old west. Marty has to time travel once again in an attempt to save his friend. He fires up the DeLorean engine and drives towards a billboard. Before he knows it, he is hurtling towards a tribe of native Americans. He quickly puts the car in reverse and into a cave. He then sets off on foot for Hill Valley.

Marty arrives in town, goes to a tavern and encounters Beaufort 'Maddog' Tannen, the great grandfather of Biff. He inadvertently pisses (literally as he moonwalks and kicks a spitoon full of piss) on Beaufort. The latter challenges him to a showdown. This changes the fate of a certain blacksmith who is supposed to die at the hands of this bandit. This is none other than his good friend Dr Emmett Brown. Doc meets a teacher, Clara and they fall in love. 

The day of reckoning is fast approaching and doc and Marty device a plan to get the DeLorean up to the required speed using a mix of chemicals and a locomotive to push the vehicle. Marty, who now goes by the name of of Clint Eastwood confronts and defeats Beaufort using a trick he learned from his name sake. He dons a poncho over a metal breastplate. He has to immediately head to the railroad track to carry out their plan. A complication arises when Clara shows up, boards the train and professes her love for doc. Doc has to save Clara as the critical temperature is reached and the train stack blow. Marty slips doc the hover board in a last ditch effort. Doc and Clara get clear just as the train goes into overdrive and propelles Marty back to the future.

Marty arrives in the present and before he can move the DeLorean from the track, an oncoming train smashes into the car. Marty is crushed. How is he going to save doc now? Just when he thinks all is lost, a time traveling locomotive appears with a few bangs. It's Dr Emmett Brown and his family. He now has two kids Jules and Verne!
 

Great Scott it's Back to the Future time! Part 1

No self respecting child of the 80's would not have experienced the brilliance of Robert Zemekiss time traveling duo of Michael J Fox's Marty McFly, or Christopher Lloyd's Dr Emmett Brown in the Back to the Future! Between flux capacitors and garbage guzzling Mr Fusions, this trilogy remains as the best time traveling tales by far, and this includes MCU's Infinity War saga. In fact that said saga references this very trilogy! The main charm of the movies is the chemistry between the two main characters, the incredible VFX, the visual imagery of the past and future and the rocking soundtrack, featuring the likes of Chuck Berry and Huey Lewis and the News. Michael J Fox brings a down to earth earnestness to his role as Marty. This is juxtaposed with the wildly eccentric and other worldliness of Dr Brown, who always has some hairbrain scheme up his unconventional sleeve. Heck he creates a time machine out of a DMC DeLorean! Thrown into all this madness is his childhood sweetheart, his mom and pops, and even the high school bully. Through the time travel lens, we get to see the evolution and devolution of Hill Valley as we shuttle back and forth between the old West, to the 50s, 80's and 2000s. The story always seems to center around a certain clock tower, the site of the first successful manned time travel.

The first entry sees Marty McFly visit his old friend, cantankerous scientist Dr Emmett Brown and his trusty side kick Einstein. Doc enlist Marty's help in documenting his latest hairbrain scheme, to test out his time machine, made out of a gull wing DeLorean. He successfully sends Einstein to the future and back. He is, however gunned down by thugs,who want payment for the illegal plutonium they obtained for him to power the flux capacitor required for time travel. Marty pilots the DeLorean and saves doc.  He inadvertently travels back in time and has to seek out a much younger doc who hasn't built the time machine yet. He also encounters his parents, who are still in high school. Marty soon realizes that his dad, George is a loser that has no luck with the girls. To make matters worse, he is constantly getting pushed around by school bully Biff Tannen. A chance encounter with Biff and his goons see him stand up to Biff, causing Biff to crash his car into the back of a truck carrying manure, another running theme in their encounters through the ages. He inadvertently impressed his future mum Lorraine, who is so smitten with Marty, she wants him to be her date to the Enchantment under the Sea event. It's now up to Marty to convince George to stand up to Biff and win Lorraine over. If he fails, he will cease to exist. We see Marty on stage, standing in for the singer, while George finally stands up to Biff and knocks him out cold when he tries to get fresh with Lorraine. With disaster averted, he rushes back to the town square where doc has jerry rigged the DeLorean to be super charged by lightning from a once in a lifetime storm. This works with some hiccups and the clock tower is rendered inoperable. Marty successfully makes it back to 1985!

Stay tuned for part 2. 

Flashback Friday : E.T. The Extra Terrestrial

 

Another Friday, another classic gem to uncover. This time I want to highlight yet another Steven Spielberg production and I swear I am not lining up my reviews by actors or directors, it's just the way my mind works. This sci-fi flick is very much a family movie, perfect for a Sunday afternoon! There are so many heart felt moments that make it such a memorable watch. I remember watching this as a kid with my family. The movie also has references to Spielberg's good friend and collaborator George Lucas's films. In one of the scenes we see the main protagonist Elliott introduce ET to his Kenner Star Wars action figures, and in yet another scene, we see a kid dressed as Yoda from Lucas's The Empire Strikes Back.

The story follows a very simple arc. ET arrives in a space craft and sets off to explore the forest. He gets so engrossed that he doesn't get back to his craft and is left behind. He seeks out shelter in a shed that so happens to be at Elliott's home. On hearing some sounds from the shed, Elliott checks out the source ,and encounters ET for the first time. He bonds with ET  and he tries to keep him hidden in his bedroom. Soon he is forced to disclose ET to his elder brother and little sister. They instantly take to him and his sister even disguises ET by dressing him up. They also discover that ET has the power to heal wilted plants and levitate bicycles.

Elliott assist ET in his quest to obtain items to create a communication device so he can phone home. The authorities that have been investigating the forest incident soon track ET to Elliott's home. ET falls mysteriously ill and Elliott somehow falls ill too. Just as the authorities start studying ET, he starts to fade away. Just when everything seems lost, the wilted potted flowers is restored. Elliott and his brother bust ET out and ET helps them evade the cops by levitating the bike convoy over the road block. Elliott gets ET back to the site in the forest where he successfully contacts his brethren. After an emotional farewell, ET departs for his home! Although not one of Spielberg's VFX laden productions, I highly recommend watching this movie for its emotional core!

VFX Spotlight : Jurassic Park

 

When it comes to groundbreaking cinematic releases you can always count on the Lucas's and the Spielberg's to deliver. And deliver Spielberg did, in spades I might add with Jurassic Park! The visual imagery achieved with this release is nothing short of remarkable. Through the marriage of stop motion animation by master model maker Phil Tippett, life sized animatronics and CGI, Spielberg and crew achieved the impossible, resurrecting dinosaurs from fossils. This movie still remains as one of the standards which all other VFX productions are judged against. How many of you watched this on the big screen and was blown away by our first look at the brachiosaurus, towering over our main cast? This scene is forever seared into my brain. There are no words to describe seeing a live dinosaur on the screen. As Dr Ian Malcolm, Jeff Goldblum character exclaims to Sam Neill's Dr Alan Grant and Laura Dern's Dr Ellie Sattler 'the son of a bitch did it, referring to Richard Attenborough's John Hammond.

Based on the novel by Michael Crichton, who penned a second tome, The Lost World, which was also adapted into a major motion picture, this is a cautionary tale of what can go wrong when man decides to play god. John Hammond has a vision, to bring back extinct creatures using advances in cloning and genetic engineering. The science behind it is surprisingly believable, although obtaining genetic material from mosquitoes trapped in amber is far fetched. But the premise of obtaining genetic material from fossils does have its merits. Scientists have found evidence of the preservation of such material in the marrow and soft tissues in well preserved specimens. We are still a while away from cloning dinosaurs.

Anyways John successfully brings dinosaurs back to life with the help of BD Wong's Dr Henry Wu. Dr Wu splices amphibian DNA to fill in the gaps in the DNA, and engineers them to be all female, and leucine deficient so they won't be able to survive without the supplement. John invites Dr Alan Grant, a paleontologist, Dr Ellie Sattler, a paleobotanist, Dr Ian Malcolm, a chaos theory mathematician and a lawyer to review the park. Among the guests are John's grandchildren. While touring the park things go very wrong when IT support Dennis Nedry, played by Seinfeld's Wayne Knight brings the whole grid down during a typhoon. Dennis turns out to be working for another entity who wants viable embryos of the cloned dinosaurs. He tries to escape with his bounty,but takes a wrong turn and is ambushed by a pack of dilophosaurus.

The electrified fences go down and the dinosaurs escape from their enclosures to wreck havoc on the visitors, who happened to be in the tyrannosaurus paddock. The Rex attacks the two vehicles. The survivors make their way back to the compound only to find the deadly velociraptor pack hunting them. So begins the race to restore the power to the grid. Along the way, Alan and the kids have some close scrapes with the Rex. When they get back at the compound, the kids have a run in with the raptors, while Alan and the rest attempt to restore power manually. Alan saves the kids and they reboot the system. Just as they are fleeing, they are cornered by the raptors. The Rex appears and makes short work of the raptors. They leave the island as it is. The next two sequels will take place on Site B, Isla Sorna. We won't see Isla Nublar again until Jurassic World.

If there was any criticism of this movie, it would be the lack of more species of dinosaurs, and the absence of feathers on some of the smaller critters. Being a huge dinosaur buff since young, I was hoping for more, but I guess the ones that made it into the movie where amazing. The full sized animatronic T Rex, for all the issues with the material soaking up the rain water and sagging and quivering added to the realism of the paddock break out and attack scene. A solid 10/10 for me. We do get to see many other species in the next two sequels, but this is by far the best!

VFX Spotlight : The Matrix

 

There are movies that just exist to be, and then there are those that push the envelope of what is  possible within their respective genres. Most of the movies I have reviewed here fall under this cutting edge of VFX category. One such movie is the Wachowski sister's The Matrix. And it so happens that this flick also stars Keanu Reeves as hacker Thomas Anderson, or Neo. We are also introduced to Carrie Anne Moss as Trinity, Lawrence Fishburn as Morpheus and finally Australian Hugo Weaving as Agent Smith. While the success of the first movie would go on to spawn three more movies, Matrix Reloaded, Matrix Revolutions, and the 2021 Matrix Resurrections, I personally feel that the first was still the best in terms of originality, storytelling, visual effects, and wire fu, the perfect blend of East meets West action and stunt choreography. While the other movies did expand on the story, everything else felt like a retread of the first installment.

This movie introduced the world to slow motion bullet time technology, where scenes involving agents of the matrix  would defy the rules of gravity by dodging bullets. We also get the ripples in the wake of the bullets. We get another first, the extensive use of wire fu in a Hollywood production thanks to the Wachowskis enlisting the help of legendary stunt and gong fu choreographer Yuen Wo Ping. Wire fu has been a staple of Hong Kong cinema for many years. The trick here was to make it look grounded , but fantastical at the same time, which Yuen accomplished easily. The movie was also stylistically very slick and perfectly juxtaposed the grim muted palette of the real world with the impeccable stylistics of the leather clad and trenchcoat matrix world. Even the premise of the whole story was intriguing, one that is still pertinent till today. It questions the very fundamentals of life. What if our entire existence was in reality a simulation? Could you tell the difference between dreams and reality? These are deep philosophical questions that the story brings up, elevating the movie over others.

The story follows Thomas Anderson, who faces the same question, is there more to life than this. He is always questioning the fine line between dreams and reality. Then one day he is contacted by another hacker, known only by her handle, Trinity. He is intrigued when she offers to show him that there is more to his mundane existence. Once he starts to believe, he is targeted by the agents who serve as gatekeepers for the system. They zero in on rouge elements. Morpheus leads a team to extract Thomas or Neo's actual body from a human battery farm the machines have built to enslave the human race after Neo chooses to learn the truth from Morpheus. He discovers that his whole life is a lie. He also learns something else about himself. Morpheus believes that Neo is the chosen one who can destroy the matrix. He trains Neo and imparts what he knows about the agents and how Neo can overcome them. Neo is skeptical and seeks out the oracle. She tells him otherwise.

On a mission in the matrix, they are betrayed by Cipher, who rats them out and gets out of the matrix and kills his crew on the Nebuccanazzer, Morpheus's ship. This causes Morpheus to be captured by the leader of the agents, Smith. He is tortured, forcing Neo's hand. Neo starts believing in himself and is able to move as fast as the agents and dodge bullets. He and Trinity storm the building and rescue Morpheus. Both Trinity and Morpheus escape. Neo, who has been buying time for Trinity and Morpheus is pursued by Agent Smith. He fights valiantly and even gains the upper hand. Just as he is about to be extracted, Agent Smith shoots him. Thinking he has finally killed Mr Anderson, he starts to walk away. Neo seemingly rising from the dead sees everything in code. He truly is the one. All he needed was self believe. With this knowledge he is now able to manipulate the code from within. He destroys the agents easily and gets back to his crew.

Flashback Friday : Speed

 

If there was ever a award for the best quotable one liners from one movie, this Keanu Reeves vehicle (pun intended) would win hands down. I remember all the fun times I shared with my daily travel mates CKS and MY as we took the bus into Singapore for work and would quote this very movie. Part of the charm of the movie was the chemistry between the main cast members and how they play off each other. Keanu plays no nonsense LAPD Cop Jack Travers. His partner is a jaded old timer Harry Temple, played by Jeff Daniels. We also get a very young Sandra Bullock as Annie Potter, the heroine of the movie who unwittingly boards the doomed bus. Finally we get the brilliant Dennis Hopper as Howard Payne, the mad bomber, the thorn in Jack and Harry's side. This movie also made megastars out of Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock who would go on to become Hollywood A listers.

The premise of the story itself is straightforward. Ex disgruntled LAPD Cop is unhappy that he is not rewarded for all the hard work he has put into the job. He wants what's due to him, so he rigs an elevator full of people with explosives. In walk LAPD Cop's Jack and Harry. Through sheer ingenuity, and some dumb luck, they managed to thwart the bombers plan, who is seemingly killed in the blast. Both Jack and Harry are awarded medals for bravery. Of course this is witnessed by the mad bomber who is very much alive. He then makes it his quest to beat Jack to the punch. He blows up a bus to get Jack's attention. He also rigs another bus with explosives and calls and taunts Jack on a payphone. The catch is the bomb goes off if the speed falls under 50 mph. So begins the cat and mouse game between the two.

What follows are some pretty harrowing but amazing stunt scenes. Jack gets on the moving bus by hijacking a car. And when he does get on the bus, an ex con mistakenly assumes that Jack is after him. He whips out a gun and accidentally shoots the bus driver. annie, who ironically taking the bus as her drivers license got suspended for speeding has to step up. We then get the scene where they unload the bus driver. Then comes the crazy 'floor it' scene where the bus comes to an incomplete section of the freeway and has to bridge the gap. With Jack's encouragement they clear the gap.

Meanwhile back at LAPD HQ Harry discovers the identity of our antagonist and travels to the location. The bomber identity is determined to be excop Howard Payne and he is always one step ahead. Harry is killed in the blast. How is the bomber staying ahead of them? While casually chatting with Jack, Howard  slips up and mentions the Arizona Wildcats. Turns out that he has a hidden camera on the bus and can see Annie, who has a Wildcats jacket slung over the driver's seat! Jack has an idea and diverts the bus to the airport so that the bus can go in circles and maintain the speed. He also gets a local news crew to tap into the Howards feed, record the feed and loop it so they can buy time to unload all the hostages. He is successful in his endeavor. Howard soon realizes this, but plays along to collect his bounty. He fortuitously runs into Annie, and takes her hostage. Jack is once again placed in a position where he has to try an outsmart the Howard. This time they end up on the mass rapid transit. The bomber chains Annie to a bar and goes nuts when he discovers he has been duped. In the final confrontation atop the speeding train, Jack emerges victorious, and gets his girl by 'speeding up the train' to make it jump the tracks!

Overall I really enjoyed this action flick. As stated there is great chemistry between the main cast of characters, great action set pieces, a rousing theme song from Billy Idol, and heaps of quotable one liners such as 'what would keep the elevator from falling? The basement ', ' Thanks for pushing that Bob. The lights are on but you never know what might really be broken. Geeze Bob what button did you push', 'Pop quiz, airport, gunmen with one hostage. He is using her as cover and is almost at the plane, and you are a hundred feet away. What do you do? Shoot the hostage. Take her out of the equation. Go for the good wound, and he can't get to the plane ' 'tell me again Harry why did I take this job? 30 more years of this and you get a tiny pension and a cheap gold watch', 'what do we do with the hostages? We take them out of the equation',' I drop this stick, they pick your friend up with a sponge', and,he is so persistent, he always gets his man'. Classic!

Throwback Thursday : Transformers the movie ; The controversies that rocked the fandom!

 

If you grew up in the 80's and was a fan of the robots in disguise, then you probably remember this animated movie from the same folk who gave us the G1 cartoon. Sunbow Productions, in collaboration with Hasbro released this classic in selected cinemas across continental US. I did not get to watch it on the silver screen until many years later in 2018, when it was released for its 30 th anniversary. The beauty of this special screening is that I got to share this experience with my daughter. She had seen the movie several times on DVD but loved the movie nevertheless. We had a blast 'Daring to be stupid', her favorite part of the movie. She thought the Junkions were a hoot and a half, speaking in TV talk! I did get to watch it back in the day, on VHS that is. I remember how blown away I was by the animation, which was of much higher quality than what we were used to from the usual cartoon on TV. And the movie also came with a thumping soundtrack by Vince De Cola. This same soundtrack featured original tracks from Stan Bush like the now iconic 'The Touch', Optimus Prime's theme. Other memorable tracks from Stan include Dare, the song featured right at the start of the movie, and 'Dare to be Stupid' by the incredible Weird Al Yankovic. White Lion redid the main theme from the cartoon.

So what about the main story arc? Well this was the main bone of contention that broke the fandom, and almost the franchise. The powers that be thought that it would be a great idea to wipe the slate clean by killing off all the fan favorites in the first act and introduce a new roster of characters, with the idea that kids would eat it up and buy the new toys. Big mistake. They didn't expect the fanbase to be so invested in the old players from the original cartoon. We all knew how much abuse our characters could take from our weekly viewings of the cartoon. There was absolutely no way that these characters could be killed by one or two shots from the enemy. In this movie, they literally fell like flies. While flying to Earth Megatron and the Decepticons ambush the Ark and literally massacres Prime's main crew! Ironhide, Ratchet, Wheeljack, Windcharger, Prowl, Brawn all fall. And to make matters worse they kill off the boss bot himself, Optimus Prime! The outrage was swift! Hasbro and Sunbow Productions realized their folly and brought Optimus Prime back to life in the cartoon. Fans paid to see their heroes on the big screen but got all new characters for a good part of the movie. Blasphemous! 

The movie did get some things right though, namely Unicron, the planet sized devourer of worlds. This big bad reminds me so much of another ginormous being of almost omnipotent power, Marvel's Galactus! Their modus operandi are very similar.  Unicron's legacy is explored in much more detail in the comics, and also in animated series Transformers Prime and HBO's Earthrise. I really like the idea of yin and yang, the balance between the light and the dark where Unicron is the yang to Primus yin. This also explain why he is so hell bent on destroying Cybertron and the matrix of leadership, both representations of Primus.

We are also introduced to a new race of half organic, half metallic beings with five faces, the Quintessons. I personally didn't enjoy these characters. I did love the sequence where Optimus Prime and the Dinobots arrive on Earth to defend Autobot city against Devastator and the Decepticons. Prime then singlehandedly takes down a swath of Deceptions and Megatron before succumbing to his injuries and passing on the matrix of leadership to Ultra Magnus. The controversial death of the greatest Autobot leader hit hard. It's only knowing what I know now, I can better appreciate the movie. I actually like some of the new characters like Ultra Magnus, Perceptor, Blaster, Arcee and Springer, Wr eck Gar and really enjoyed the banter between  grizzled veteran Kup and future leader Hot Rod. After barely surviving the attack, our heroes prepare to travel back to a beleaguered Cybertron. Unicron has gobbled up both moon bases, with Bumblebee, Spike, Jazz and Cliffjumper. Thankfully they are later rescued by Daniel, Spikes son.

Meanwhile a equally decimated Decepticon ranks make their way back to Cybertron. Running low on fuel, they jettison their fallen comrades. Starscream takes the opportunity to get rid of Megatron and crown himself as the new leader. Megatron lifeless body floats towards Unicron, and he saves Megatron and transforms him into Galvatron. He enslaves Galvatron and task him with destroying the matrix. He first travels back to Cybertron and eliminates Starscream before going after Ultra Magnus and crew. Magnus crash lands on the planet of Junk after narrowly avoiding being blown up, while Kup, Hod Rod and the Dinobots end up encountering the Quintessons. Galvatron confronts Magnus and defeats him and claims the matrix, and tries to wrestle control from Unicron, but is instead punished severely and swallowed by Unicron.. The Autobots encounter Wreck Gar and his seemingly indestructible Junkions and they help repair Magnus. They are then reunited with Kup and Hot Rod, after they escape from the Quintessons and their army of Sharkticons, thanks to Grimlock, Wheelie and the Dinobots.

The final act sees Unicron transforming into a giant robot and tearing through Cybertron with his bare hands. The Autobots, Deceptions and Junkions attack Unicron in a last ditch effort to save their home. The Autobots crash their ship through Unicron's eye and set on foot to locate Bumblebee and crew, and the matrix of leadership.. Hot Rod gets separated from the others and runs into Galvatron and the matrix of leadership. Galvatron offers a truce to work together to destroy their common enemy,but is instantly punished by Unicron. Unable to break Unicron's hold on him, Galvatron is forced to fight Hot Rod. Hot Rod tries his best and tussles with Galvatron, but is quickly overpowered. Just as Galvatron is about to crush the life out of Hot Rod, the matrix illuminates and starts to open. Hot Rod pulls the matrix away from Galvatron as he hears Optimus Prime's voice saying 'Arise Rodimus Prime'. Grasping the handles on the matrix and pulling it fully open, he is transformed into Rodimus Prime. Galvatron tries to blast the matrix out of Rodimus Prime's hands,but instead gets subdued and thrown out into deep space. Rodimus then allows the full power of the matrix to flood the innards of Unicron. Unicron starts imploding. The Transformers have defeated the enemy and ushering a new golden age in Cybertron history.

For all its faults, this movie still remains the best of the big screen outings. From the story arcs, the intensity of the action scenes, the perfect unison of the soundtrack and the set pieces, and the incredible voice talents featured, this movie was and still is unrivaled by any of the Bayverse movies. Five out of five!

This blog post is dedicated to the memory of Leonard Nimoy, the voice of Galvatron and Sentinel Prime, and Orson Wells, the voice of Unicron.

Transformers Robots in Disguise : A retrospective look at the franchise

 

Transformers in the 80's  and  90's 

I have been a huge fan of the original G1 Transformers since it's inception in the mid 80's. For those of you who are not old enough to remember the genesis of our Robots in Disguise, The Transformers started as a toyline from Japan, Takara Tomy's Diaclones and Micro Change. These were toys that could transform from robots into vehicles and other inanimate objects like cameras and cassette tapedecks. As far as the Japanese were concerned, these were just kids toys. The stories behind these incredible figures only began when the decision was made to bring these transforming robots into USA. The task of fleshing out the main players and their back stories fell on the shoulders of Bob Budiansky. Thus began the war between the heroic Autobots and the villainous Deceptions, on the pages of Marvel Comics The Transformers. The now iconic TV series from Sunbow Production would soon follow, introducing the whole world to amazing voice actors such as Peter Cullen, the voice of Optimus Prime and Ironhide, Frank Welker as the maniacal Megatron and Chris Latta as whiney Starscream. This series ran for four glorious seasons , with some outstanding episode like the first seasons  five parter A Certain Doom, of which Dark of the Moon was loosely based on. In this story arc, Megatron works with a evil genius, Dr Arkavil to enslave the human race through a mind control chip to build a space bridge. The master plan was to bring Cybertron to earth. Other memorable episodes include SOS Dinobots, where Wheeljack creates the Dinobots after Spike Witwicky discovers dinosaur fossils in a cave adjacent to Autobot headquarters. And how about War Dawn when the cocky Aerialbots learn to respect Optimus Prime and not idolize  Megatron after they accidentally travel back in time and witness the events that transformed Orion Pax into Optimus Prime. The cartoon was so popular, it spawned a full length animated film, Transformers the movie. I will be reviewing that movie in a Flashback Friday segment so stay tuned! 

Transformers in the 2000

Transformers continued to reinvent itself over time. The late 90's saw the introduction of Beast Wars. I must confess that by the time this came around, I was no longer into the Transformers, so I won't pretend to know about the primals. For me, G1 will always be  my era. Then the first of Michael Bay's Transformers hit the silver screen screen in 2007! The movie featured stunning visual effects and radical and modernized designs, and an incredible soundtrack by my friend Steve Jablonski. His work on Transformers spans the five movies, Transformers, Revenge of the Fallen, Dark of the Moon, The Age of Extinction and The Last Knight. It's a shame Steve didn't score the later non Bay movies. While not exactly memorable movies by any means, these summer blockbusters did provide some highlights. I personally only liked the first two, the ones with Shia LaBeouf as Sam Witwicky and Megan Fox as Mikaela Barnes. These two movies felt the most connected and had the least contradictions. 

The first movie, sees the Allspark hurtling towards earth. The Decepticons track it to earth but are not able to pinpoint it's exact location. It is Sam's great grandfather Archibald Witwicky that accidentally discovers the location of the artifact when he stumbles across Megatron, who is frozen in ice. Bumblebee, the first Autobot to arrive on earth befriends Sam and summons Autobot leader Optimus Prime, who arrives on earth with first lieutenant Jazz, weapons specialist Ironhide and medical officer Ratchet. The Autobots quickly move to secure the Allspark, but the Decepticons free Megatron. Optimus and Megatron duke it out while Sam tries to protect the Allspark. The movie ends with Sam destroying Megatron by putting the Allspark in Megatron's chest. Only a shard of the Allspark is left and the Autobots allow the army to safeguard the shard.

The second movie introduces us to the Primes. Despite the negative press, rotten tomato meter scores and the writers strike, this entry into the franchise remains my favorite of the Bayverse. Based loosely on the graphic novel The War Within, we explore the legend of the Fallen Prime. In this iteration, he betrays his brothers and seeks to harness the energy of the sun, and destroy the earth in the process. He enlist the Decepticons help and resurrects Megatron to eliminate the last of the Primes. We get the best live action battle sequences in the whole franchise with the face off in the factory and then the forest where Prime takes on the might of Megatron, Starscream and Grindor. He best all of them, but falls prey to Megatron's cowardly backstab. It's up to Sam, who has cybertronian symbols running through his mind ever since being exposed to the Allspark energy to locate the tomb of the Primes. He has to retrieve the artifact that can reactivate Prime, the matrix of leadership. Sam gets help from a former Decepticon Jetfire. The elderly robot tells them the history of the original thirteen Primes and how the Fallen betrayed and murdered his brethren. Jetfire later sacrifices himself so Optimus can stop the Fallen and the Decepticons.

I will not get into the details of the final Sam Witwicky installment as I didn't think that it meshed with the first two. It also murdered one of my favorite Autobots from the Bayverse, Ironhide. And as if that wasn't bad enough, Bay also finally completed the character assassination of Optimus Prime when he turned Prime into a homicidal maniac that executes his former mentor and primary antagonist, Sentinel Prime and Megatron in cold blood. And don't even get me started on the next two cash grabs. Shia LaBeouf gets replaced with Mark Wahlberg. The only bright point are the introduction of the Dinobots.

The best of the bunch : Bumblebee 

After the debacle of The Last Knight, Paramount decided to give the stale franchise a soft reboot. No more bombastic earth shattering end of the world shenanigans. In its place a much smaller scale and back to basics story about a girl and her car. Hailee Steinfeld plays Charlie, a teen living her 'loser' life in the 80's. Her life turns around when she is gifted a junker VW Beetle by her boss at a bodyshop she works at. This is none other than Bumblebee. Of course Bumblebee comes with his baggage, in the form of John Cena's Special OP's Agent Burns, who has a run in with Bee when he first crashlands on earth, and Decepticons Shatterstar and Dropkick, who wants to question Bee about the location of the Autobots. We get great flashback scenes of the final days of the war for Cybertron, where we see Decepticons Shockwave, Soundwave, Ravage, Starscream and the Sweeps, and Autobots  Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Cliffjumper, Wheeljack, Ironhide, Ratchet, Arcee and Brawn in their G1 glory. This showed that the boxy designs from the 80's cartoons did translate well to the silver screen. This low brow production actually revitalized the franchise and we now have Rise of the Beast to look forward to in June this year. Let's see if this is any good.

Flashback Friday : Brandon Lee's The Crow

 This Flashback Friday I want to spotlight another movie that is one of my favorites and has attained cult classic status largely due to its very dark, violent and tragic backstory. I am referring to Brandon Lee's last outing on the silver screen, The Crow. While shooting the motion picture, Lee was fatally shot in the chest with a prop gun. Seeing how much press Alec Baldwin is getting for accidentally fatally shooting a producer on the set of the western Rust, I feel Hollywood has to have greater safeguards and rules for the use of prop firearms. In any case this unfortunate turn of events made the whole story arc of Erik Draven even more poignant, and supernatural. Even though there were subsequent sequels to the original, this would remain the best one.

Based on the graphic novel by James O Barr, and adapted and produced by MTV music video maestro Alex Proyas comes the dark tale of The Crow. The movie opens with Erik Draven and his fiancee  celebrating new years eve. Their merriment is short lived however when they are robbed and murdered by a group of thugs. Erik is thrown through the circular window to his death. He is buried next to his fiancee Shelly. One year later, we see a little girl Sherri, who was a close friend of the couple visiting the gravesites of Erik and Shelly. But she is being watched. We then discover that she is being spied on by a crow. We then see a crows point of view as it lands on Erik's tombstone. Erik Draven is then resurrected and goes on to seek vengeance on the people that desecrated his fiancee before killing them both in cold blood. Even though the leader of the crime crew discovers that Erik draws his unearthly powers from the crow and wounds it, Erik ultimately comes up tops.

I really enjoyed the camera angles and the stylized ways the scenes were framed. Proyas definitely had a fresh unique filming style, carried over from his music video shoot days. The movie also comes with a now iconic soundtrack. From The Cure's adrenaline thumping Burn to Jane Siberries hauntingly melodic It can't rain all the time, the music expertly captures the emotions felt by the protagonist. This movie is a must watch in my books.

This blog is dedicated to the memory of Brandon Lee.

My favorite movie of all time! The Empire Strikes Back

 

I had an idea about reviewing the recent Disney + series Obi-Wan Kenobi, but just couldn't muster up enough enthusiasm to write a positive post. I must admit that the mentioned series is probably the worst of any Star Wars series I have had the privilege of watching.. Needless to say that I won't be covering this. I decided to instead talk about my number one movie of all time, Star Wars Episode V, The Empire Strikes Back. This motion picture is to me the closest thing to cinematic perfection. It hits all the right notes from the pacing of the movie to the emotional heart and the heroes arc as we see Luke grow in wisdom, and the ways of the force. I still remember that fateful day when dad and mum drove me across the causeway to the cinema in Woodlands to watch the show on the silver screen. Reminiscing, I still get goosebumps from the revelations that Darth Vader was Luke Skywalker's father. This being the middle installment meant that the story was left hanging and George Lucas decision to end the movie with our heroes being defeated left the fans wanting more. For me, the most profound moment came when Yoda achieved what Luke could not and lifted Luke's submerged X Wing fighter with the force. His teachings here would become my life's mantra. Do or do not, there is no try, and any obstacle no matter how big are only unsurmountable if your mind gives up. I was so taken in by this that I wrote about this scene in a school assignment, complete with a colored drawing of Yoda levitating the X Wing high above Luke and R2!

The first act of the movie sees the empire dispatching probe droids, and detecting a rebel base on the icy planet of Hoth. The rebels are alerted of the impending attack due to vigilant surveillance by Han and Luke. The rebels began their evacuations as the Imperial forces start their ground assault with huge AT AT and the smaller AT ST chicken walkers. The rebels try to buy time by sending out a squadron of Armored Snowspeeders. The blasters on the Snowspeeders prove to be ineffective against the AT AT  armor and the rebels had to resort to more creative ways to bring down these behemoths. Using tow cables, they topple the mighty AT AT by wrapping the legs up with the cables. With several shots of the ion cannon to disable the approaching Imperial fleet. Han, Leia, Chewbacca and C3PO flee in the Millennium Falcon, while Luke departs with R2D2 for Dagobah. 

The second act opens with Han's Falcon being pursued by the Imperial fleet with Lord Vader at the helm. Unfortunately for Han, the hyperspace motivator was damaged and they have trouble escaping. They run into an asteroid field and Han lands inside one of the larger asteroids in an attempt to repair the damaged motivator. Meanwhile Luke crash lands on the swamp planet of Dagobah. While escaping from the wampa on Hoth, Ben's force ghost appears to Luke, telling him to seek out Master Yoda to continue his Jedi training. After some shenanigans with swamp creatures and R2, Luke is finally able to set up camp. A wizened green creature shows up and offers to help Luke find his 'friend'. This cantankerous creature eventually reveals himself to be the Jedi Master Ben was talking about. Yoda is initially hesitant to take Luke as a padawan,but with Ben's prodding, Yoda relents. So Luke's training begins in earnest. Luke undergoes a trial where he enters a cave that is strong with the dark side of the force. In a premonition of things to come, he is confronted by Lord Vader. When he decapitates Vader he is horrified to see his own visage in the helmet.

Meanwhile Han and crew exit the asteroid as they realize that they have landed in the belly of a space slug! The Empire is once again hot on their trail. But this time there is a twist. Vader enlist the help of the deadliest bounty hunters in the galaxy. Among them is the mysterious Boba Fett. Han pulls off a daring maneuver and manages to 'float away with the garbage'. Han scans the database for a suitable port for them to dock the Falcon for repairs. They decide on a city in the clouds, Bespin. Unfortunately Boba Fett is tracking them.

The third and final act sees the Falcon making it's way to the mining colony of Bespin. Han's old smuggling buddy, Lando Calrissian is the current administrator of the facility. We learn that Lando was the original owner of the Falcon and that he lost the ship to Han in a game of sabacc. Lando seems genuinely happy to see Han and Chewbacca, and even makes a pass at Leia. Everything seems preachy until 3PO discovers stormtroopers and is blown up before he can warn the others. Han, Leia and Chewbacca are captured and Vader reveals his plans to them. He wants to use them as bait to capture Luke. He also decides to test the carbon freezing process on Han. Lando tells Han and Leia that the Imperial forces arrived with Boba Fett right before they did and forced his hand . Lando is powerless to stop the carbon freezing of Han, but hatches a plan to save Han from Boba Fett.

Meanwhile on Dagobah, Luke growing powers in the force allows him to see a city in the clouds, and his friends suffering. He immediately rushes to their aid despite warnings from Master Yoda and Ben. Both Luke's masters are worried that Luke's incomplete training would be exploited by the dark side. He is lured into Vaders trap. Luke, however successfully controls his fear and escapes carbon freezing. Battling valiantly Luke is totally outclassed by the more experienced Vader. At the apex of the fight, Vader bombards Luke with projectiles, and chops off Luke's hand . He finally reveals the truth that he is Luke's father. He asks Luke to join him. This shocking revelation has to be one of the most memorable moments in cinematic history! Luke of course declines and tumbles helplessly into the chute. He is only rescued when he reaches out with the force to Leia. Turns out that they were unable to save Han from Boba Fett. The story ends with Luke and Leia saying goodbye to Lando and Chewbacca who are flying off to Tatooine to try and save Han.

End of transmission.

New Series Spotlight : The Last of Us

You all know how much I love the post apocalyptic genre so it should come as no surprise for me to feature and push this Pedro Pascal helmed HBO Max series. Based on the Naughty Dog 2013  game of the same name, the series follows the journey of Joel and Ellie as they make their way through the wilderness and civilizations to seek out a group called the 'Fireflies'. The story begins at the start of the pandemic where humans have been infected and colonized by cordyceps, turning them into mindless zombie like creatures. The premise of the infection gives it a different spin to the whole zombie genre. They explore the possible site of the first infection and spread in one of the episodes. The pandemic also differs from the current zombie virus trend in  the fact that the infected are connected through the fungal hypae and this allows the infected to communicate with one another. This definitely ups the danger factor for our survivors. There is also a potential cure with Ellie, played by Bella Ramsey, being resistant to the fungal infection. Ellie's condition is what drives Joel and Tess to brave the hordes to get Ellie out.

I don't want to give too much away and spoil the series for you. As of the publication of this blog post, dated the 7th of March there are 8 episodes available for streaming. I totally enjoy the pacing of the series, granted that the story is a little slow at points, but I also understand that this is essential to flesh out the characters. I did find one of the story arcs superfluous and unnecessary, but that was just one episode. Pedro Pascal is once again TV's favorite daddy, now playing surrogate to Ellie, as opposed to Grogu in the concurrently running The Mandalorian. The vibe I get with Joel and Ellie is very reminiscent of Logan and Laura in Logan. Overall a very highly watchable series in the same vein as The Walking Dead. I heartily recommend this!

 

Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings Part 2

 

Today is the day. I'm concluding my reviews of Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy. By now you would know that the first movie was my favorite of the three. That's not to say that the other two were lesser movies. On the contrary, both these movies were brilliant. They were so good, they released extended versions of all three. This is the definitive versions of the trilogy and I highly recommend watching these over the theatrical release.

The Two Towers 

The second installment focuses on expanding the Middle Earth canvas. Here we are introduced to Smeagol/gollum the Rohirrim, Fangorn Forest and the Ents. We also see two huge battles, the defeat at Isengard and the Battle for Helms Deep. Interwoven into this is Frodo and Sam's journey through the dead marshes, aided by Smeagol, the owner of the one ring before Bilbo. Sam catches Smeagol tailing them and while suspicious of him, allows him to tag along after Frodo convinces him. Merry and Pippin's escape from the Uruk Hai army and their meeting with Treebeard and the Ents are also one of the main arcs of the story. They play a pivotal role in the the destruction of Isengard and Saruman's army when they show the Ents what Saruman's army had done to Fangorn Forest.

 The movie opens with Gandalf fighting off the Balrog at Khazad Dum. We discover that he defeats the demon but is left for dead. He is rescued by the Eagles and is resurrected as Gandalf the white. Cut to the trio of Legolas, Gimly and Aragorn. They find evidence of Merry and Pippin's survival, but not before they are picked up by Eomer and the Rohirrim. They are taken to the kingdom of Rohan. It is here that they meet King Theoden who has been bewitched by Saruman. It's only with the help of Gandalf that they are able to free the king. The king drives out his advisor, Grima Wormtongue who has been poisoning the king's mind out. We also meet the king's niece Eowyn, who takes an immediate liking to Aragon. 

Defeated, Saruman turns his sights and Uruk Hai army towards Rohan. Edoras is attacked and the people of Rohan are forced to escape and seek refuge at Helms Deep. Saruman uses this to his advantage and attacks Helms Deep. A battalion of elves answer the call to arms and join the people of Rohan. They are unfortunately overwhelmed and only emerge victorious when Gandalf finds Eomer and the Rohirrim and join the fray at dawn. They drive Saruman's army into Fangorn Forest and the Ents make short work of the Uruk Hai.

The Return of the King 

The final installment in Professor Tolkien's epic saga. In a nutshell the story follows several mini arcs. Frodo, Samwise and Smeagol press forward but are captured by Faramir, younger brother of Boromir. He attempts to take the one ring to Gondor, but ultimately does what his brother could not do, let go of the ring. Frodo's journey gets more difficult the closer they get to Baradur. As they scale up the steep cliff face, Smeagol reverts to his evil alter ego Gollum uses Frodo's deteriorating condition to sew the seeds of discord and successfully separates the Hobbits. Frodo, now on his own with Smeagol is led into Shelob's lair. It's only with Sam's faith in his friendship with Frodo that he goes back and saves Frodo, who is rendered unconscious by Shelob's sting.

Aragorn, Legolas and Gimly travel to the kingdom of the dead to recruit the fallen human army as Gandalf travels with Pippin to inform the kingdom of Gondor of the impending war that is coming to Gondor now that Sauron has his sights set on Gondor. They encounter a grieving and recalcitrant Steward of Gondor who is unwilling to do anything. Pippin stays behind to try to coax the Steward out of his stupor. The armies of Gondor make a stand at Osgilith, and are massacred when the Witchking and his Ringwraiths arrive at the scene on their dragons. Faramir is severely wounded and is saved by Gandalf. The Steward finally looses his mind and tries to cremate Faramir who is still alive. Pippin and Gandalf step in and save the day. It is then that the Battle for Pelenor Fields begins.

The initial wave of Sauron's army makes small inroads until King Theoden leads the Rohirrim into the fray and turn the tide. Merry, who stayed behind with the Rohirrim now rides with Eowyn, niece of the king and sister of Eomer. The reprieve is short lived, however when the Mumakil show up with their ginormous elephants. The Witchking targets king Theoden and takes him down. Eowen steps up to the plate, and with Merry's help vanquish the leader of the Ringwraiths. When all seemed lost, Aragon shows up with the army of the dead. Aragorn then marshals the surviving forces and march towards the doors of Baradur. aragorn delivers a rousing speech, but when the doors open, they realize that they are hopelessly out numbered. All they can do now is hope Frodo succeeds in his quest.

Meanwhile Sam manages to free and revive a comatose Frodo from Shelob's web. They avoid detection by dressing up in goblin armor and finally make it up Mount Doom. Sam literally carries Frodo up the mountain as Frodo struggles under the weight of the ring. When they finally make it to the top, Frodo finds it impossible to release the one ring. Smeagol shows up and tries to wrestles the ring from Frodo. With a final desperate act, he bites off Frodo's finger and the ring. He gleefully dances with his precious and looses his balance and falls into the lava. Sauron's spirit explodes as the one ring finally dissolves.

With the essence of Sauron's power destroyed, his spirit explodes. His hold on the armies dissipates and the war is over. Frodo and Sam are rescued by the Eagles from an erupting Mount Doom. Back and reunited with the surviving fellowship, Frodo and friends celebrate Aragorn's coronation as the king of Gondor. Arwen chooses to remain with Aragorn as his queen. Due to the injuries he sustained, Frodo decides to join his uncle Bilbo and sail to the Grey Havens. Sam, Merry and Pippin head back to the Shire.

Chinese Cinema Classics; Fong Sai Yuk

I consider this one of Jet Li's finest period action flicks to date. I know that a lot of Asian cinema aficionados would probably disagree with my assessment and say that his best role was Wong Fei Hong in the Once Upon A Time in China . Just hold on to your horses and hear me out. I'm sure all of you are familiar with Jackie Chan and his brand of Kung Fu humor. Jet Li pulls this off with ease in this flick. He is of course helped tremendously by the presence of veteran actress Siu Fong Fong, who gets to flex her comedic chops. Their chemistry sparklers on the silver screen as mother and son as they get into all sorts of scrapes. Who can forget the hair on fire scene where she gets Sai Yuk to twirl her hair with red hot tongs, or when she poses as Sai Yuk's elder brother Tai Yuk to win back the honor of the Fong family name? This very fight causes Ting Ting's mum Siu Wan to fall in love with Tai Yuk, believing that he really is the elder brother of Sai Yuk!

The first half of the movie is a fun light hearted romp with Sai Yuk and his mum clowning around, and Sai Yuk winning the heart of the girl Ting Ting, played by Michelle Reis. There are so many amazing fight sequences, like the wooden pyramid fight, organized by Tiger Liu for the Ting Ting's hand in marriage, or the fight on the bamboo poles suspended over an estuary? The fight choreography is amazing. As the rules of battle states that the winner is the one that touches the ground, both fighter's use the heads and shoulders of the crowd of onlookers to stay afloat.

The  second half of the movie takes a darker turn when Sai Yuk discovers that his father is a rebel working for Chan Kar Lok. They then become fugitives of the law, being pursued by Chiu Mun Cheok's character. They also implicate Ting Ting's family as they try to hide in plain sight. The dinner scene with the in laws and the imperials has to be one of the funniest scenes with the Fong's pulling faces, hiding behind food and ducking under tables to avoid being seen. Dad is ultimately captured and put on the execution block as he refuses to disclose the names of the rebels. In the final showdown, Sai Yuk battles against Chiu and time to save his father. Dad is ultimately saved and Sai Yuk is taken in by Chan as he follows in his father's footsteps.

 

Flashback Friday reviews : Xanadu

 

I must confess that I am in love with Olivia Newton John. I fell in love with her and her music as a kid after watching Xanadu! The late 70's and early 80's seemed to be the golden age of musical movies. They just don't make em like they used to anymore. There is something about this movie that tugs at the heart strings. Maybe I was at a very impressionable age, seeing how Star Wars, which was released in the same era and had such an influence on my life. Maybe it was the fantastical premise of the story. Maybe it was the unforgettable music. Either way I still get goosebumps listening to the soundtrack. I feel like Gene Kelly's Danny Mcguire in the movie!

But we are getting ahead of ourselves. The movie has a very simple premise. Olivia plays a muse who is sent down to earth to inspire artist Sunny Malone, played by Michael Beck. Sonny is a struggling album cover painter who is trying to find his purpose in life. After encountering Kira, and finding her on a cover , he becomes obsessed with finding her. Kira appears to Sonny a few times and even at the studio he works in. They spend a lot of time together and eventually fall in love. Kira even introduces Sonny to her favorite place, which would later become Xanadu. While at the beach, he bumps into a former musician Danny Mcguire. The both of them share something in common, they were both touched by the same muse. Kira brings them together as big band meets rock and Xanadu is born. Interwoven into this is a forbidden love story between a mortal and a muse.

Olivia's haunting pipes gives an almost supernatural feel to songs like Magic, Suspended in Time and Suddenly, a duet with Cliff Richards. Olivia also gets to showcase her versatility when she does rock and country number at the end of the movie. ELO further contributes to the musical palette of the movie with such memorable tunes like I'm Alive, All Over the World and Don't Walk Away. And who can forget the main theme Xanadu. Grease may have been the word back then, but mine would always be Xanadu.

This blog post is dedicated to the memory of Olivia Newton John.

You shall not pass : Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings Part1

 JRR Tolkien's sweeping epic was considered by many to be the pinnacle of literature. Tolkien described amazing locales, different cultures and even created languages that are being poured over by scholars today. Deeper studies also suggested that Tolkien's tomes was a narrative about the rape and spoilage of the natural world by industralisation, as illustrated by Saruman ordering the goblins to chop down Fangorn forest to manufacture weapons of war and destruction. Many also said that this would be very hard to adapt into a major motion picture, seeing how detailed the fictitious world would be, as intricately described by Tolkien. That was before kiwi horror director Peter Jackson decided to throw down the gauntlet and make this fantastical tale of furry foot Hobbits, greying wizards, mysterious Rangers, stocky Dwarven folk and elegant and athletic elven folk. The sheer scale of the whole production was just awe inspiring. Some of the outdoor sets that they built just for the movie still stand today. The home of the Hobbits, the Shire is open to tourists. This is located at the southern part of the North island. You can also visit other shooting locations, as I have done  in the south island. I got to experience Edoras, the sites for the Battle at Helms Deep, the battle at Pelenor Fields and the Misty Mountains. But enough of fanboying. Let's talk about the movies.

The Fellowship of the Rings 

This chapter opens in the sunny and cheerful home of the Hobbits. There is a big celebration being planned. It's Bilbo Baggins 111th birthday! His nephew, Frodo Baggins is eagerly waiting for the arrival of Bilbo's old friend Gandalf the Grey. At the party, Bilbo  feels slighted by some Brandybucks and pulls out the One Ring, an artifact of intense power. The ring gives the wearer the ability to be invisible to mortal eyes, but also makes the person visible to the original owner of the ring Sauron. Sauron forged nine rings of power and gave them to mortal men, Dwarven folk and elves of Middle Earth. He also created the One Ring to rule over the other rings. It took the alliance of men, led by Isilduir, and elves, led by Lord Elrond to vanquish Sauron. Only his spirit lived on as an all seeing eye at the top of tower of Baradur.

Back to the present, Bilbo tries to run for it but is stopped by Gandalf, who forces Bilbo to leave the ring behind. Bilbo then reluctantly parts with his 'precious' and departs for the elven Kingdom of Rivendell. Unfortunately the burden of carrying the One Ring to Mount Doom falls on the shoulders of Frodo. While discussing the ring with Gandalf, Samwise, Frodo's gardener overhears their discussions and he gets sworn to secrecy by Gandalf. They depart from the Shire to start their quest. Little do they know that Sauron is now aware and has despatched his Ringwraiths to track down the ring bearer.

Gandalf goes off to Isengard to seek counsel from Saruman the white, while Frodo and Sam run into Merry and Pippin who are also curious of Frodo and Sam's exit from the Shire. They encounter the terrifying Ringwraiths on the road and narrowly escape via the river, ending up at The Prancing Pony Tavern. Here they meet a mysterious Ranger of the North, Strider. He warns them of the dangers of the Ringwraiths. He even saves and defends the four Hobbits from the Ringwraiths at Weathertop. Frodo however sustains a mortal wound and has to receive elven medicine to save his life. Arwen, daughter of the elven leader of Rivendell offers to help and speeds away, hotly pursued by the Ringwraiths. She only manages to lose them when they get to a river crossing and she calls upon the powers of the river to wash her pursuers away. Strider leads the other Hobbits to the elven Kingdom.

At Rivendell, Frodo is healed and reunited with his Hobbit brethren. He is also reunited with his uncle Bilbo, who has greatly aged without the influence of the one ring. Bilbo presents his nephew with a chainmail vest made out of impenetrable mitril. He also presents Frodo with Sting, a blade that glows blue when orcs are near. Lord Elrond calls for a meeting to decide who should bear the burden of destroying the ring. Frodo volunteers and is joined by Gandalf, the three Hobbits, Strider, who is revealed to be Aragon, son of Arathorn, heir to the throne of Gondor, a Mirkwood elf Legolas Greenleaf, a dwarf Gimly Son of Gloin, and lastly a warrior from Gondor, Boromir. Gandalf informs the council Saruman is now working with the very enemy they are seeking to destroy. Thus the fellowship of the ring is born. Each individual receives a unique gift from Lady Galadriel to aid them in their quest. Among the elven cloaks and lambas bread, Frodo receives the light of Elindier.

So the journey to Mount Doom begins in earnest. With the knowledge of Saruman's treachery, Gandalf leads the fellowship around Isengard, Saruman's fortress and up the Misty Mountains. Saruman has other plans for them however and creates an avalanche on the mountain top. This forces our intrepid group to take the treacherous route through the Mines of Moria. Gimly is excited at the thought of meeting his fellow Dwarven folks, but Gandalf knows all too well that the once great Balin and the great Dwarven halls have fallen to the goblins as they delved deeper and deeper into the mines. On entering the mines, they are immediately greeted by death and decay. 

Gimly, eager to determine what happened to Balin hurries ahead. They find Balin's tomb and itchy fingers Pippin accidentally sends a skeleton down a well, alerting the goblins. They quickly mobilize and attack, with a cave troll. Our heroes make a stand in the crypt and Frodo is once again almost killed when he is cornered and skewed by the troll. Were it not for the mitril vest Bilbo gave him, he would have died. The fellowship survive the initial attack and make a run for it. They are soon overwhelmed and surrounded. Suddenly a low guttural growl reverberates off the walls and the hall is bathed in red. Gandalf instinctively tells them to run. They are being hunted by a Balrog! They make it to the Bridge of Khazad Dum. They make a  stand at a bridge and Gandalf successfully stops the Balrog, but is pulled off into the chasm with the dweller of the deep. The broken fellowship has no choice but to press on with their quest.

They get as far as Amon Hen before they are set upon by a new breed of human orc hybrid created by Saruman. They desperately fight against the impossible odds and although Frodo manages to sneak away with Sam in tow, their escape comes with a heavy toll. Merry and Pippin distracted the Uruk Hai, and despite fighting valiantly, with son of Gondor  Boromir defending the Hobbits, they are taken hostage. Boromir dies from his wounds. The movie ends with Frodo and Sam making their way ahead, and Legolas, Gimly and Aragon tailing Saruman's army, hoping to save Merry and Pippin.

And there you have it, the first part of my review of one of the greatest trilogies ever made . The Fellowship of the Ring remains my favorite LOTR movie  simply due to the emphasis on character development. A big part of this is probably due to the smaller scale of the battles, be it Weathertop, the bridge of Khazad Dum, or the final stand at Amon Hen, we got to see and feel the emotions of the individual characters. Shout out to the incredible cast Elijah Wood as Frodo Baggins, Sean Astin as Samwise Gamgee, Dominic Monaghan as Merry Brandybuck, Billy Boyd as Pippin, Viggo Mortensen as Strider -Aragorn, John Rhys Davis as Gimly, Orlando Bloom as Legolas, Cate Blanchett as Galadriel, Ian McKellen as Gandalf, Christopher Lee as Saruman, Liv Tyler as Arwen and Hugo Weaving as Elrond.

Stay tuned for part 2,The Two Tower and The Return of the King!