X-MEN: Apocalypse - 1 of the Best X-Men Movies I Have Ever Seen

This is definitely the one that I never thought I would be wowed. I know this is the 3rd film of the trilogy of younger X-Men and I did not have very high expectation. The first trilogy was spread between year 2000 - 2006 which started with X-Men, followed by X-2 and ended with X-Men: The Last Stand. Well the second trilogy started with X-Men: First Class, followed by X-Men: Days of Future Past. I was a fan of Days of Future Past as I believed the director managed to combine the 2 story lines from the older X-Men and the younger X-Men into a believable and quite easily understood movie. That is until I saw this one which totally blew me away. Anyway, let's get on to the story line, shall we?

Brief Story line

For those of you who I believed have watched the previous X-Men and saw the end credit scene, would know there was a mutant that helped build the pyramid. After the usual comic book flipping scenes of Marvel comic adaptations, scenes move to Egypt 3600 BC, where the Egyptian were worshiping a "God" whom they called En Sabah Nur (played by Oscar Isaac - Star Wars: The Force Awakens). He and his 4 disciples were entering the pyramid, where there was a person who was having ability to heal himself, and they wanted to transfer the ability to the "God". This intended ceremony was interrupted and En Sabah Nur was buried for thousands of years. 

Later the scene would moved to 1983, 10 years after the incident from Days of Future Past. We would be introduced to several new X-Men characters in this movie, like the young Scott Summers aka Cyclops (played by Tye Sheridan), young Jean Grey (played by Sophie Turner - Sansa Stark of Games of Thrones), young Kurt Walker aka Night Crawler (played by Kodi Smit-McPhee - Dawn of the Planet of the Apes). They all were part of the school for gifted (mutants school) managed by Charles Xavier aka professor X (played by James Mc Avoy) and he was helped by Hank McCoy aka the Beast (played by Nicholas Hoult). 

Erik Leshner aka Magneto (played by Michael Fassbender) who managed to escape earlier has moved to Poland and now married with 1 daughter. Meanwhile Raven aka Mystique (played by Jennifer Lawrence) has gone rogue and travel around the world to assist other mutants escape from the spotlight and manipulated by bad people. 

En Sabah Nur who was awaken from his long "sleep" was really surprised with the condition of the world now. He met young Storm (played by Alexandra Shipp - Straight Outta Compton) who was amazed with En Sabah Nur's ability and chose to follow him after her power was raised significantly by him. CIA agent Moira McTaggert (played by Rose Byrne) who witnessed this awakening process, was approached by Charles Xavier to bring him up to speed on En Sabah Nur's history. Since the very beginning, he was always having 4 mutants to assist him. And now he started to look for other mutants to be recruited and be the 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse. After various manipulation and convincing, he was able to get Psylocke (played by Olivia Munn - Mortdecai), Angel (played by Ben Hardy) and last but not least Magneto. 

With such power and strength by his side, En Sabah Nur intended to wipe out the whole population of normal people of the earth where they would lead the only survivors, i.e the mutants.

So can professor X and the young X-Men fight against such incredible power? Can the apocalypse be stopped? Will the young X-Men be able to control their powers and use them to fight En Sabah Nur? Find them all in this latest super hero movie of 2016.

End of Brief Story Line

As I already highlighted in the beginning, I was truly wowed with this movie. One of the best moments I enjoyed watching movie. The opening scenes were quite intense. The introduction to the new generation of X-Men were very smooth and did not felt forced. The action sequence were great. Special effects were also great. Even the sound effect felt very realistic and add to the element of intense (I watched this in Dolby Atmos and I really was satisfied). 

In addition to the above, I also felt that the ultimate fighting scene was amazing! Prior to this movie, there were 2 movies which pitted 2 super heroes or team of super heroes against each other. I cannot help have a feeling that there is this kind of similarity in this movie as there was also fight between super heroes (mutants). Only difference is, in "Batman Vs Superman: Dawn of Justice", there was a feeling of slow pace before the final fight, while in "Captain America: Civil War" (both I have reviewed earlier), the ultimate fighting scenes were not exactly what I was hoping for. This, on the other hand really satisfied my hunger for major fight between heroes against the main villains and the pace was quick enough.

There were also some other mutants appeared in this movie, such as Peter Maximoff aka Quicksilver (played by Evan Peters - American Horror Story), Alex Summers aka Havoc (played by Lucas Till - Hannah Montana) and few others to add the elements of satisfaction. In short, there were enough X-Men to be the ultimate finale to this trilogy.

This is really a recommended super hero movie. However, be warned there were some bloody violent scenes and very brief "strong" language not for the young kids. There was a little of more adult feel to this movie, unlike "Civil War" which was really family friendly. There were some serious moments, little humor here and there and few cheesy moments.

Oh, in case you are not in a hurry, you can wait for the end credit scene to see hint to the next/future Marvel films.

Mike's movie moments rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

The Angry Birds Movie - The Famous Game Character Comes to Live

I have seen the trailer for the movie few times earlier while I was getting ready for other films in theater. Even though I heard about it before, I was doubtful if this could be interesting movie, coz sometimes movie adaptation of games were not really successful. But when I saw the trailer, I thought this could be fun. The premises seem to be simple enough and quite similar to the story of the game itself.

Anyway, I saw this one on Saturday together with my wife since her previously arranged trip was cancelled a day before. This time, because of other arrangements, we chose to watch it at the nearest theater from home. So what was the movie all about? You can read them below.

Brief Story Line

Movie started with the scene of our main character named Red (voiced by Jason Sudeikis - Horrible Bosses, Epic etc) a bird who was unable to fly and had to run around bringing an egg all the way to his customer and becoming a clown on a "hatch day" occasion. since he was too late, the family who ordered his service was very upset and unwilling to pay. Red who had short fuse immediately became very angry and things totally got out of hand.

Because of this anger problem, Red who had previously been exiled to stay outside the city near the shore of Bird Island, got an extra punishment by the mayor to go for anger management class. In few scenes earlier, it was shown why Red could become such bad tempered bird and easily got mad over almost anything.

During this anger management class, Red would meet fellow birds who were also punished by the mayor, such as Chuck, a very very fast moving bird (voiced by Josh Gad - the voice behind Olaf in Frozen), Bomb, a bird that can have his body exploded (voiced by Danny McBrida - Pineapple Express etc) and Terence, a very big bird who looked very scary (voiced by Sean Penn). The class was taught by a very patient lady named Matilda. Even though in earlier sessions, Red was really not in the mood to get to know his fellow "classmates", later on they would built their relationship after a while. 

One day, a huge ship came to Bird Island, which was led by the green pig named Leonard (voiced by Bill Hader - Men In Black 3, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatball etc) where he informed all the birds that they came in peace with Ross, the only other pig accompanied him. He brought various gifts to the birds and claimed that they were to build good relationship with the birds. Red who was very upset since the anchor of the pigs' ship was thrown to his house, truly distrust the pigs, but he went along with the other birds anyway.

While having a party to honor the pigs, Red went to the pigs ship with Chuck and Bomb and found out something that raised his suspicion even further. Unfortunately, because of Leonard's tricks and smart talk, the birds instead believed the pigs rather than Red.

Felt disappointed, Red decided to look for the protector of the Bird Island, called the Mighty Eagle who was the only bird that can actually fly. Together with Chuck and Bomb, they embarked on an "adventure" to locate Mighty Eagle and request his help to convince the birds that the pigs have some bad plan to the birds.

So can Red, Chuck and Bomb find the Mighty Eagle? Can they expose the pigs' true plan? Will they be able to fight the pigs from getting their hands on their main target?

Find them all in the various hilarious scenes involving all the birds and the famous slingshot scenes of birds thrown to bring down the pigs' houses.

End of Brief Story Line

The earlier scenes of this movie felt a little bit so so to me. i.e the humor and jokes were just OK and not spectacular. However, as the movie continues, the 3 major characters start to grow on you. I personally really enjoyed the movie starting from the so called "adventure" which were very funny and there were few dramatic/touching scenes in the end as well, involving the very cute birds babies/children. Of course the ultimate part would be the scenes of the fight between the birds and the green pigs just like in the game. 

Finally, I can say that this was one of the movie adaptation of games that I can picture to have a success in future. This movie has a very simple idea and quite strict to the games. It's generally simple enough for kids to understand. You can bring your children to watch this one, and adults can also enjoy as I mentioned earlier, there were quite many hilarious scenes

Btw, I also believed that this one has a lot of good scenes if you see it in 3D. But if you don't really like to be bothered wearing 3D glasses, then you can watch it normally. It's still good enough.

Before I forgot, the 80s/90s generation can also have some nostalgic feeling as some of the songs in this movie were from those period. 

Happy watching!

Mike's movie moments rating: 4 out of 5 stars

(TV SERIES) Daredevil - Dark Portrayal of A Marvel's Superhero

I have actually seen the first season of this TV series last year, and just watched the second season during the past super long weekend. So it does not feel right if I go direct to the second season without providing some insights of the first season.

Well this is a series about Daredevil, 1 of the quite famous superhero from the Marvel comic books. It was already made into a movie many years back with Ben Afleck playing as the blind lawyer by day and crime fighting superhero by night.

The first season consisted of 13 episodes with duration ranging from 45 minutes to 1 hour plus (not sure why the length is not standard like other series). But the good thing about it was each episode just felt sufficient, not too short to fit into 45 minutes.

Brief Story Line of Season 1

The series introduce us firstly to Matt Murdock (played by Charlie Cox - The Theory of Everything) as the blind lawyer who formed a law firm together with his best friend "Foggy" Nelson (played by Elden Henson - The Hunger Games: Mockingjay). Their very first case was about a secretary named Karen Page (played by Deborah Ann Woll - True Blood series) who was framed for the murder of her colleague, since she found out about a scheme in her company to corrupt the pension fund. In one moment at her home, she was going to be killed by the bad guys before being saved by Matt dressing as vigilante. Later, Karen would be working as the secretary to Nelson & Murdock law firm. She would also seek the help from Ben Urich (Vondie Curtis-Hall), a reporter who was experienced in exposing crimes of high publicity.

While working on saving people from various thugs, bandits at night, Matt was frequently injured and she would be helped by a nurse working at night shift named Claire Temple (played by Rosario Dawson - Unstoppable etc). We would also be shown how Matt was able to have heightened senses when he lost his sight as a young boy. He was being taught martial arts by a blind person, simply called as Stick (played by Scott Glenn).

The main villain of season 1 was Wilson Fisk aka Kingpin (played by Vincent D'Onofrio - The Judge, The Jurassic World etc). He had a strong personality and very fierce who led by force and joined forces with the Russian, the Irish, the Triads, the Yakuza. There was also the love of her life named Vanessa (played by Ayelet Zuyer) whom Wilson would do anything to protect.

Season 1 basically introduced us to the various characters that would be involved in Daredevil's life with so many action sequence involving Matt and the various villains in each episode. In addition to the action scenes, there were also various dramatic events involving the clients of Nelson & Murdock and Kate and some flashbacks of the younger Matt & Foggy's days. We would also be shown slowly the rise of Daredevil (or called as the "Devil of Hell's Kitchen) which culminated at the 13th & final episode of season 1, where he would start to wear the red suit and would be putting up the fight of the season with Kingpin.

Brief Story Line of Season 2 (Spoiler warning on season 1)

Season 2 started with the Hell's Kitchen already aware of the devil's presence and were appreciative of his helps to capture the thugs of the street. Foggy who also have found out about this in season 1 can only asked Matt to be very careful.
However, the so called peace in their city would soon be gone with the "war" declared by someone who started to shoot and murder the Irish mob, the motorcycle gang Dogs of Hell. It was obvious that the person was only killing bad guys. Matt who always believed in justice system did not approve of this method as he trusted that there is always good in people even the bad ones. So they have to be sent to prison instead of being killed.

We would later find out that the killings were actually done by Frank Castle (played by Jon Bernthal - The Wolf of Wall Street, The Walking Dead series etc). He was later nicknamed Punisher. Needless to say, the way Punisher killed was always so brutal and later there would be some major fight with Daredevil as well.

In addition to having the Punisher in season 2, we would also be introduced to Matt's long time girlfriend Elektra Natchios (played by Élodie Yung). She had a very mysterious background and actually had a very big influence in the younger Matt during college years. She was also very good at martial art skills and later on we would be shown some background stories describing how she would be the Elektra now. The appearance of Elektra in Matt's life now would also make things complicated for Matt, as she would bring out the best and worst of Matt at the same time, not to mention relationship with Foggy &  Kate.

Some of the characters in season 1 also appeared again in season 2, such as Stick, Melvin Potter (the person who made Daredevil suit) and Wilson Fisk. There would also be notable new character, i.e. Blake Tower assistant District Attorney who would later be assisting Daredevil in future.

The second season would focus more on the relationship of Daredevil and Elektra, plus the trial of Punisher. We would also see the development of Kate into more like an investigative reporter. And the change of Foggy's view towards his partnership with Matt in their law firm. Also there would still be the various fighting scenes, particularly with the ninjas under the "organisation" called "The hand".

The ending of season 2 would provide us two shocking moments which would truly make season 3 becomes very interesting.

End of Brief Story Line

Well, I got to say, watching Daredevil series, you cannot help but feeling sorry for Matt especially in season 1 when he got kicked/punched and all sorts every time he fight with the villains. At the same time we could understand his difficulty in juggling the balance of his day life as lawyer and night life fighting crimes.

This is one of the series involving super heroes where I think is rather dark. This is not the average Marvel movies. People are really getting killed and the violence are quite strong. The topics are also quite heavy and the relationships are complicated. Even if there is humor, it's rather dark and not a lot of them.

Action sequence is top notch. The fights are generally great. I especially love whenever Daredevil is fighting many many people at the same time to fight his way out (or way in). The first season was very interesting and more of introduction. The main star I believe would be Wilson Fisk character. Meanwhile in second season, The Punisher was believable but unfortunately I don't feel Elektra is great enough. Sorry but this one I have to disagree with the critics saying her performance was very good. Although her fight scenes were coreographed quite well.

Anyway, if you want to enjoy watching a dramatic, violent Marvel version of Daredevil, you surely have to watch this TV series. It is much better than the movie version. The season 2 just aired in year 2016. So we have to wait until 2017 before we can see season 3.

Oooh 1 final thing, there was a scene in season 2 where the name Jessica Jones was mentioned. This is also another Marvel character that has been developed into a TV series also consisting 13 episodes. I will review that series later, so wait for that one in the very near future.

Enjoy watching!

Mike's movie moments rating: 4 out of 5 stars