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Darren (1599 KP) rated Iceman (2014) in Movies
Aug 6, 2019
Story: Iceman starts when Ho Ying (Yen) gets awoken from a frozen sleep of 400-years in the modern time, he must look to adapt fast to a world different from his own. Ying isn’t the only one to make it to the modern time, his brothers Sao (Wang) and Niehu (Yu) arrive as they look to hunt him down after all these years after he is meant to of betrayed his emperor.
Ying must use the people willing to help him in May (Huang) to locate the Golden Wheel of Time, to prove that he is innocent to stop his brother’s from hunting him down.
Thoughts on Iceman
Characters – Ying was once one of the emperor’s most trusted imperial guards, he is betrayed and framed for treason before getting frozen in time. He gets defrosted in the modern time, where he must go in search for the Golden Wheel of Time to prove his true innocence and protect the world from his own brothers. Sao and San Ko are the two brothers that have also, they are causing more havoc in their hunt for Ying which has drawn more police presence. May is the young lady that takes Ying in, teaches him about the modern day unaware of the true danger that could come their direction. Cheung is running a military chase for Ying, he has learnt the power of the Golden Wheel of Time and believes that he can use it for his own good.
Performances – Donnie Yen is the main attraction to this film, we know he can handle the action which is does with ease, it is when it needs to work on the comedy side of things when his performance goes downhill. Baoqiang Wang and Kang Yu are both entertaining enough in their roles, while Simon Yam brings much needed seriousness to the film. Shengyi Huang is the strongest part of the comedy in the film.
Story – The story follows three brothers and former imperial guards in ancient China, find themselves waking up in the modern time, still at battle for the action that happened in the ancient times. This story is an ambitious idea and it does work for the idea of having the fish out of water situation created for the imperial guards. We do go through the idea of needing to figure out how survive in the new surrounding, which does work too and seeing the twists along the way with the flashbacks does fill in moments of blanks in the storyline. Parts of the storyline can come off confusing though because we do seem to have a lot going on and it does feel like if you blink you might miss something.
Action/Comedy – The action in this film is easily the highlight of it, we get to see Donnie Yen doing his fighting sequences which are always entertaining to watch. The comedy however falls flat resorting to fart jokes, May is the only one that gets proper laughs.
Settings – The film uses the settings to show how the ancient men must adapt to the modern world with the different type of locations they visit.
Special Effects – The effects in the film are good in places, but weak if others, when it comes to the roaring faces they particular look weak.
Scene of the Movie – Bridge fight.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – Fart Jokes.
Final Thoughts – This is an easy watch action sci-fi film, if you want martial arts entertainment this will give you what you need.
Overall: Enjoyable action film.
Ying must use the people willing to help him in May (Huang) to locate the Golden Wheel of Time, to prove that he is innocent to stop his brother’s from hunting him down.
Thoughts on Iceman
Characters – Ying was once one of the emperor’s most trusted imperial guards, he is betrayed and framed for treason before getting frozen in time. He gets defrosted in the modern time, where he must go in search for the Golden Wheel of Time to prove his true innocence and protect the world from his own brothers. Sao and San Ko are the two brothers that have also, they are causing more havoc in their hunt for Ying which has drawn more police presence. May is the young lady that takes Ying in, teaches him about the modern day unaware of the true danger that could come their direction. Cheung is running a military chase for Ying, he has learnt the power of the Golden Wheel of Time and believes that he can use it for his own good.
Performances – Donnie Yen is the main attraction to this film, we know he can handle the action which is does with ease, it is when it needs to work on the comedy side of things when his performance goes downhill. Baoqiang Wang and Kang Yu are both entertaining enough in their roles, while Simon Yam brings much needed seriousness to the film. Shengyi Huang is the strongest part of the comedy in the film.
Story – The story follows three brothers and former imperial guards in ancient China, find themselves waking up in the modern time, still at battle for the action that happened in the ancient times. This story is an ambitious idea and it does work for the idea of having the fish out of water situation created for the imperial guards. We do go through the idea of needing to figure out how survive in the new surrounding, which does work too and seeing the twists along the way with the flashbacks does fill in moments of blanks in the storyline. Parts of the storyline can come off confusing though because we do seem to have a lot going on and it does feel like if you blink you might miss something.
Action/Comedy – The action in this film is easily the highlight of it, we get to see Donnie Yen doing his fighting sequences which are always entertaining to watch. The comedy however falls flat resorting to fart jokes, May is the only one that gets proper laughs.
Settings – The film uses the settings to show how the ancient men must adapt to the modern world with the different type of locations they visit.
Special Effects – The effects in the film are good in places, but weak if others, when it comes to the roaring faces they particular look weak.
Scene of the Movie – Bridge fight.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – Fart Jokes.
Final Thoughts – This is an easy watch action sci-fi film, if you want martial arts entertainment this will give you what you need.
Overall: Enjoyable action film.
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Sophia (Bookwyrming Thoughts) (530 KP) rated The Corridor (The Corridor Duology, #1) in Books
Jan 23, 2020
<b><i>I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.</i></b>
It seems, that <b>books relating to parallel universes are like mermaid books and contemporary books</b>: I either get along with them, or I don't get along with them.
It's no brainer that <b>a book involving parallel universes as <i><a title="A Thousand Pieces of You by Claudia Gray" href="https://bookwyrmingthoughts.com/audiobook-review-a-thousand-pieces-of-you-by-claudia-gray/"; target="_blank" rel="noopener">A Thousand Pieces of You</a></i> and <i>The Corridor</i> have would be extremely scientific in its explanation</b>. An information dump is (or maybe just a dumbing down of information) bound to happen if the authors want me to make sense of their parallel universes.
But somehow, <b>I enjoyed a story concocted by A.N. Willis far more than a story concocted by Claudia Gray</b> (parallel universes related I DO like Claudia Gray's other works), even if my first thoughts reading the first chapter was, "Oh, no. Parallel universes. Please don't disappoint me, A.N. Willis."
I find that I'm actually not disappointed I really enjoyed the first book in the <i>Corridor</i> series, and <b>I was pretty engrossed with Willis' writing. I wanted to know more than what the author actually wrote</b> Estele's power, Dr. Taber's betrayal years ago. <b>I even found myself interested in the science of the universes that the scientists were seeing and the different "Earths" Estele visits using her power.</b> And I am not generally a science person, regardless of the fact I think Chemistry is easy and passed it with a fabulous A-.
(Maybe I'm a chemistry kid rather than a physical science or biology kid. I guess I can't run away from math after all. What if I'm an accountant one day?!?!?! I won't complain, of course, since it's baby math...)
<b>There were moments that I found myself confused on which Earth the characters were talking about each world has different names for each of the other Earth</b>. The original Earth simply went with First Earth, Second Earth, and possibly so and so forth if they found any more. Estele went with calling First Earth and Second Earth whatever the scientists called them, and came up with names that were significant to that Earth when she first visits. Another version of Earth was further advanced and found more twelve Earths in total, and went with the zodiac in naming each of them. I found that <b>while the more advanced Earth was far more complicated, Estele's version seemed to make things a lot more clearer in matching up the Earths.</b>
Possibly <b>the biggest difference between <i>A Thousand Pieces of You</i> and <i>The Corridor</i> was how Marguerite actually uses a device while Estele somehow has a power to travel across worlds.</b> I personally found that really cool and interesting, and as mentioned earlier, I wanted to know more about that power as much as Estele did.
By the time I actually got to the end of the book, I was pretty disappointed... in a good way. I suppose Willis did disappoint me after all. <b>I honestly have no clue where the author is going with the series</b>, but I'm hoping the sequel will be just as good as the first one is.
<a href="https://bookwyrmingthoughts.com/arc-review-the-corridor-by-an-willis/"; target="_blank">This review was originally posted on Bookwyrming Thoughts</a>
It seems, that <b>books relating to parallel universes are like mermaid books and contemporary books</b>: I either get along with them, or I don't get along with them.
It's no brainer that <b>a book involving parallel universes as <i><a title="A Thousand Pieces of You by Claudia Gray" href="https://bookwyrmingthoughts.com/audiobook-review-a-thousand-pieces-of-you-by-claudia-gray/"; target="_blank" rel="noopener">A Thousand Pieces of You</a></i> and <i>The Corridor</i> have would be extremely scientific in its explanation</b>. An information dump is (or maybe just a dumbing down of information) bound to happen if the authors want me to make sense of their parallel universes.
But somehow, <b>I enjoyed a story concocted by A.N. Willis far more than a story concocted by Claudia Gray</b> (parallel universes related I DO like Claudia Gray's other works), even if my first thoughts reading the first chapter was, "Oh, no. Parallel universes. Please don't disappoint me, A.N. Willis."
I find that I'm actually not disappointed I really enjoyed the first book in the <i>Corridor</i> series, and <b>I was pretty engrossed with Willis' writing. I wanted to know more than what the author actually wrote</b> Estele's power, Dr. Taber's betrayal years ago. <b>I even found myself interested in the science of the universes that the scientists were seeing and the different "Earths" Estele visits using her power.</b> And I am not generally a science person, regardless of the fact I think Chemistry is easy and passed it with a fabulous A-.
(Maybe I'm a chemistry kid rather than a physical science or biology kid. I guess I can't run away from math after all. What if I'm an accountant one day?!?!?! I won't complain, of course, since it's baby math...)
<b>There were moments that I found myself confused on which Earth the characters were talking about each world has different names for each of the other Earth</b>. The original Earth simply went with First Earth, Second Earth, and possibly so and so forth if they found any more. Estele went with calling First Earth and Second Earth whatever the scientists called them, and came up with names that were significant to that Earth when she first visits. Another version of Earth was further advanced and found more twelve Earths in total, and went with the zodiac in naming each of them. I found that <b>while the more advanced Earth was far more complicated, Estele's version seemed to make things a lot more clearer in matching up the Earths.</b>
Possibly <b>the biggest difference between <i>A Thousand Pieces of You</i> and <i>The Corridor</i> was how Marguerite actually uses a device while Estele somehow has a power to travel across worlds.</b> I personally found that really cool and interesting, and as mentioned earlier, I wanted to know more about that power as much as Estele did.
By the time I actually got to the end of the book, I was pretty disappointed... in a good way. I suppose Willis did disappoint me after all. <b>I honestly have no clue where the author is going with the series</b>, but I'm hoping the sequel will be just as good as the first one is.
<a href="https://bookwyrmingthoughts.com/arc-review-the-corridor-by-an-willis/"; target="_blank">This review was originally posted on Bookwyrming Thoughts</a>
Lee (2222 KP) rated The Shape of Water (2017) in Movies
Feb 8, 2018
Sally Hawkins (1 more)
Michael Shannon
Beautiful and Enchanting
The Shape of Water really is one of those movies where I feel the trailer doesn't really do it justice. From seeing the trailer, I wasn't really sure how much I was going to enjoy the movie. Like I'm sure many others will be, I was persuaded that I might be wrong by the 13 Oscar nominations it recently received. I shouldn't have had any doubts to be honest. Pan's Labyrinth, also directed by Guillermo del Toro, is one of my favourite movies and The Shape of Water shares many similarities with that. A beautiful and enchanting mix of fairy tale, love story and monster movie.
Sally Hawkins plays Elisa Esposito, a mute woman who works nights as a janitor for Occam Aerospace Research Center along with friend Zelda Fuller (Octavia Spencer). At home she lives a simple life, watching musicals with her gay neighbour Giles (Richard Jenkins) and finding joy in the simple things in life. One day a strange creature is brought into the research center to be studied, surrounded by military and medical personnel. Colonel Richard Strickland has accompanied 'the asset' from it's previous location, and appears to have developed a serious dislike to it. He carries an electrified cattle prod, which he takes great delight in using on the creature. In return though, the creature does manage to remove two of Stricklands fingers, and also inflicts serious injuries on others.
But Elisa takes pity on the creature and over time tries to befriend it, bringing him hard-boiled eggs and teaching him sign language. When she learns that plans for the creature involve vivisection, she hatches a plan to help him escape, and from that point their feelings for each other develop into love. A true Beauty and the Beast style fairy tale.
I found myself absolutely captivated, swept along by the story, and everything about it is just beautiful. Sally Hawkins is incredible, portraying such varied emotions without speaking, she provides much of the films humour, and shines in the more serious scenes too. Doug Jones does what he does best as the creature, but the real monster of the movie is Michael Shannon as Colonel Strickland. Terrifyingly brilliant.
For me, I'm not sure if this beats Pan's Labyrinth, but The Shape of Water is certainly worthy of all the praise, and hopefully the awards, it receives.
Sally Hawkins plays Elisa Esposito, a mute woman who works nights as a janitor for Occam Aerospace Research Center along with friend Zelda Fuller (Octavia Spencer). At home she lives a simple life, watching musicals with her gay neighbour Giles (Richard Jenkins) and finding joy in the simple things in life. One day a strange creature is brought into the research center to be studied, surrounded by military and medical personnel. Colonel Richard Strickland has accompanied 'the asset' from it's previous location, and appears to have developed a serious dislike to it. He carries an electrified cattle prod, which he takes great delight in using on the creature. In return though, the creature does manage to remove two of Stricklands fingers, and also inflicts serious injuries on others.
But Elisa takes pity on the creature and over time tries to befriend it, bringing him hard-boiled eggs and teaching him sign language. When she learns that plans for the creature involve vivisection, she hatches a plan to help him escape, and from that point their feelings for each other develop into love. A true Beauty and the Beast style fairy tale.
I found myself absolutely captivated, swept along by the story, and everything about it is just beautiful. Sally Hawkins is incredible, portraying such varied emotions without speaking, she provides much of the films humour, and shines in the more serious scenes too. Doug Jones does what he does best as the creature, but the real monster of the movie is Michael Shannon as Colonel Strickland. Terrifyingly brilliant.
For me, I'm not sure if this beats Pan's Labyrinth, but The Shape of Water is certainly worthy of all the praise, and hopefully the awards, it receives.
Phillip McSween (751 KP) rated New Jack City (1991) in Movies
Mar 21, 2018
Good Movie
Released in 1991, New Jack City takes place in the late 80's with the perfect vibe to boot. A time during which Kangol hats and "gold ropes" were in and rap needed a hard bass beat to be considered car system-worthy. New Jack is a solid groove of a film that remains timeless even to this day.
While a handful of spots were farfetched, I appreciate the grit and realness of the film as a whole. It's an open awareness into the crack epidemic and how badly it damaged black communities. It's hard watching people destroy the lives of those in their community knowing full well their lives gave them little choice to do much else. In one of my favorite scenes, antagonist Nino Brown (Wesley Snipes) is having a meaningful conversation with an older man. At the heart of the conversation, they talk about how black people haven't gotten far from a societal progression standpoint since Martin Luther King Jr. died. No matter which side of the argument you're on, both had strong points that made you think.
The lead roles were consistently strong throughout. Chris Rock excelled in his role as Pookie, a crackhead trying to get his life together. You come to sympathize with his character hoping for a happy ending, but knowing the fate he is destined for. And you can't mention lead roles without giving Wesley Snipes his proper due as Nino Brown. Nino is smooth, a speaker for the people. His presence oozes with power in the criminal circuit yet the law sees him as just another delinquent. I give Rock the nod, but Snipes is a very close second.
Ice-T plays the role of Appleton, a cop hired to take a bite out of the crack epidemic by taking out one of its largest suppliers: Nino. The film as a whole is not without its faults as it lacks cohesiveness in certain spots. While the main actors are outstanding, the supporting roles are ghastly at best. I could definitely have done without Keisha (Vanessa Williams). If I heard "Rockabye baby" one more time, I'm pretty sure I would have lost it.
Not a classic for me, but still a consistent watch. I give New Jack City a 75.
While a handful of spots were farfetched, I appreciate the grit and realness of the film as a whole. It's an open awareness into the crack epidemic and how badly it damaged black communities. It's hard watching people destroy the lives of those in their community knowing full well their lives gave them little choice to do much else. In one of my favorite scenes, antagonist Nino Brown (Wesley Snipes) is having a meaningful conversation with an older man. At the heart of the conversation, they talk about how black people haven't gotten far from a societal progression standpoint since Martin Luther King Jr. died. No matter which side of the argument you're on, both had strong points that made you think.
The lead roles were consistently strong throughout. Chris Rock excelled in his role as Pookie, a crackhead trying to get his life together. You come to sympathize with his character hoping for a happy ending, but knowing the fate he is destined for. And you can't mention lead roles without giving Wesley Snipes his proper due as Nino Brown. Nino is smooth, a speaker for the people. His presence oozes with power in the criminal circuit yet the law sees him as just another delinquent. I give Rock the nod, but Snipes is a very close second.
Ice-T plays the role of Appleton, a cop hired to take a bite out of the crack epidemic by taking out one of its largest suppliers: Nino. The film as a whole is not without its faults as it lacks cohesiveness in certain spots. While the main actors are outstanding, the supporting roles are ghastly at best. I could definitely have done without Keisha (Vanessa Williams). If I heard "Rockabye baby" one more time, I'm pretty sure I would have lost it.
Not a classic for me, but still a consistent watch. I give New Jack City a 75.
Joe Goodhart (27 KP) rated Dark Nights: Metal in Books
Nov 30, 2020
So, here's how I am gonna open this review.. With a kinda-sorta-but-not-reeeaaallly Spoiler: it's got a scene with <i>frikkin' Batman</i> riding a <b>DINOSAUR</b> (a T-Rex or Allosaurus)! Look, even you are one of those self-proclaimed haters of all things METAL-related, it's <u>the @#$% BATMAN on a #$@ing DINOSAUR</u>! If that ain't enough to get you excited, well, then, go watch an episode of SAVED BY THE BELL! instead, because that's more your speed!
DARK NIGHTS: METAL (as well as the prequel pieces, THE FORGE and THE CASTING) was one hell of an entertaining ride! It was clear that Scott Snyder had a great appreciation for the events of old, offering us a leaner event than Marvel has in the last five years! Sure, there was some hiccups along the way, and that is nearly truly for anything piece of literature. However, the hiccups were not enough to take away from the love and care that Snyder and Capullo put into this decidely scary (in an EVENT HORIZON or HELLRAISER-kinda way) yet highly interesting!
This was a tale spun out of FINAL CRISIS and 52, with ties as far back as CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTH! Yet, it also showed some of the intricacies at play since Dr. Manhattan's "tinkering" (Man, I hope DOOMSDAY CLOCK gets finished before I die)! Yes, sometimes as the adventure unfolds, there may be a moment here or there where you'll be like, "Um, that's just not something that'd happen!". Well, duh, it's a comic book, silly! If you can hit [PAUSE] on the UberCriticalComicFan sub-routine in your brain, you might find that this is actually pretty damned good stuff! You can clearly see the love and attention put into this by both the writer and the artist alike!
Speaking of which..
Greg Capullo was a great choice to partner up with Snyder for this! His art is tight, yet creepy and foreboding! There were several moments throughout where I was just like, "Holy cow!". It honestly felt like a good DC movie (not like BATMAN V. SUPERMAN)!
Look, at the end of the day, here's what you've got: one hell of a good hero story, something any non-Trump supporters could use right about now! It's just Good vs. Evil, plain and simple! If that ain't the basis for a good story, then, heck, I don't know what is!
DARK NIGHTS: METAL (as well as the prequel pieces, THE FORGE and THE CASTING) was one hell of an entertaining ride! It was clear that Scott Snyder had a great appreciation for the events of old, offering us a leaner event than Marvel has in the last five years! Sure, there was some hiccups along the way, and that is nearly truly for anything piece of literature. However, the hiccups were not enough to take away from the love and care that Snyder and Capullo put into this decidely scary (in an EVENT HORIZON or HELLRAISER-kinda way) yet highly interesting!
This was a tale spun out of FINAL CRISIS and 52, with ties as far back as CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTH! Yet, it also showed some of the intricacies at play since Dr. Manhattan's "tinkering" (Man, I hope DOOMSDAY CLOCK gets finished before I die)! Yes, sometimes as the adventure unfolds, there may be a moment here or there where you'll be like, "Um, that's just not something that'd happen!". Well, duh, it's a comic book, silly! If you can hit [PAUSE] on the UberCriticalComicFan sub-routine in your brain, you might find that this is actually pretty damned good stuff! You can clearly see the love and attention put into this by both the writer and the artist alike!
Speaking of which..
Greg Capullo was a great choice to partner up with Snyder for this! His art is tight, yet creepy and foreboding! There were several moments throughout where I was just like, "Holy cow!". It honestly felt like a good DC movie (not like BATMAN V. SUPERMAN)!
Look, at the end of the day, here's what you've got: one hell of a good hero story, something any non-Trump supporters could use right about now! It's just Good vs. Evil, plain and simple! If that ain't the basis for a good story, then, heck, I don't know what is!
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