Captain America: Civil War - Biggest Fight Among Marvel Super Heroes

This was one of my most anticipated movies of this year but when it premiered on 27 April 2016, I was very busy with work and had no chance to watch it. Lucky for me that my wife got a free movie voucher which she passed to me as she was unable to use while she is in Bali for her staycation trip. So on the weekend, I went to the theater and fortunately there was still an empty seat in the middle of the last row, which of course I immediately took it.

Now starting from this post onwards, I am going to do something a little bit different on my reviews. I will separate the brief story line in few paragraphs under a section called "Brief Story Line" (not very creative, I know but it does clarify what it's all about). I hope differentiating these few paragraphs would enable those who do not want to know what the movie's plots & stories can just go direct to the moments that I experienced (you can call it the conclusion or the recommendation or anything). So, here goes:

Brief Story Line

Movie starts with the scene of Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan) in 1991 brainwashed by HYDRA officer. Move on to the present day, Steve Rogers/Captain America (Chris Evans), Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Sam Wilson/Falcon (Anthonie Mackie) together with their latest group member Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) were on a mission in Lagos, Nigeria to capture Rumlow who wanted to steal a biochemical weapon. 

(TV SERIES) Sherlock - Modern Day Adaptation of the Famous Detective

At first, I thought that this is a series set in the 19th century just like in the books written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. But apparently it was told in the modern day. So instead of seeing Sherlock Holmes using a large magnifying glass, we will see him using his smartphone. Instead of writing books, he writes blogs. and all other modern culture references in the current day London.

Anyway, this series only consisted of 3 episodes in each season. The first season started in year 2010 and each episode has a length of approx 1.5 hours. What I am about to write next would be related to the first season.

Episode 1 titled "A Study In Pink" would introduce us to Dr. John Watson (played by Martin Freeman - as Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit trilogy), an ex military person who just came back from war. He was advised by his therapist to do normal people's stuff and write about his experience in his blog. While walking by himself, he met an old friend who informed him of his friend looking for a room mate to share the rent. Watson was interested and introduced to this person who happened to be Sherlock Holmes (played by Benedict Cumberbatch - Star Trek Into Darkness, Imitation Games etc).

Needless to say, Sherlock who was able to deduce many things about Watson and made him intrigued and interested. So they both went to the apartment located at 221B Baker Street (for those who has ever read Sherlock Holmes stories would know that this is the address of his home). The landlady was Mrs. Hudson, who Sherlock & Watson sometimes asked her help as if she was their housekeeper.

The first case was about a series of suicides which at first seemed unrelated but Sherlock was able to deduce that they were not suicides and they were done so smartly by a serial killer. Using his power mind, Sherlock was always able to find out things that the normal eyes, coroner or even the lead detective, Detective Inspector Greg Lestrade could not see. These very very quick deduction made by Sherlock would always amazed Watson. He thought it was very fantastic for Sherlock to do those deductions, including in the very early stage where Sherlock gave the explanation of how he was able to find out so many things about Watson so fast. So this episode would be more of introduction to the characters.

Episode 2 titled "The Blind Banker" would tell the story where Sherlock was asked by his old college friend to investigate on the break-in of the bank where he worked at, leaving paint symbols on the wall which at first seemed random. The investigation would reveal something a lot bigger than just the break-in and involved lots of other people.

In this episode, instead of Detective Lestrade, another detective inspector named Dimmock would be the representative from police, whom at first was very skeptical of Sherlock.

We would also see Watson started to be a little irritated with Sherlock's way of doing things by himself including also his remarks about Watson (and everyone else) never use their brain. But ultimately Watson was still very protective of Sherlock and amazed with his deductions ability. 

Last episode of the 1st season, titled "The Great Game" was I think the best of them all. This was a very very fast paced episode. Sherlock was given the task of finding out the fault or crime done by other people with certain hours to complete before a person who was strapped with bombs would be blown up. In total there were 4 cases that Sherlock must solved. Meanwhile, Watson also would help on another smaller case provided by Sherlock's brother Mycroft Holmes who worked for the government about the missing flash disc contains a secret weapon information. 

This episode would totally blow your mind and strapped you to your seat. With such fast pace, you do not want to miss a scene. And the ending was just crazy and made you want to watch the second season immediately as it ended with cliffhanger. There was also a new character introduced here that would be crucial to future seasons played by Andrew Scott.

In conclusion, the first season of Sherlock was totally great! I really truly enjoyed this TV Series. The portrayal of Sherlock in modern day is such a nice touch that it would made the new generations love this series, while the older generation who have read the books, I am sure would be appreciative of how Sherlock would be in the current situation. Watson portrayal also is very nice, and I can imagine the real Watson would be like this. He was always serious, very English, and charming to the ladies. I believe Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman did a fantastic job in this series. 

Other characters also were very lively and add to the charm of the series, such as Mycroft Holmes, Mrs. Hudson, even Lestrade.

So I am going to give the first season of this series something that I never done before, which is to give it a 5 stars!

This is a very very recommended TV Series. I am just hopeful that the 2nd and later seasons would be as incredible as this one.

Oooh before I forgot. They somehow produced the pilot episode in a shorter version (less than 1 hour), which I happened to watch first and confused why the episode was similar to the 1 that saw next. Apparently that version never aired and I suggest to avoid confusion, better stick to the ones shown (the 1.5 hour long) and only watch this one if you are interested. That one since it was shorter, did not introduce to the important character we would see in the future episodes.

Mike's movie moments rating: 5 out 5 stars

The Huntsman: Winter's War

This movie is a little bit different than the usual prequel or sequel, because it is a prequel AND a sequel to the "Snow White and the Huntsman" movie which I have reviewed earlier. Maybe it will be clearer once I give more info on this film.

Yesterday, I got one of those rare moments when the work was not as hectic as usual and I could leave home earlier. And in an even rarer moment, my wife happened to be staying home too. So, both of us went to the nearest theater from our home (5 minutes walk) and watched this movie at 7.30 PM. Surprisingly, there were quite a lot people watching in this studio, especially since the theater was playing the film in 2 studios.

Anyway, let's get on to the movie. It started with the scene of Ravenna the evil queen from the original movie (played by Charlize Theron), who already got her habit of killing kings to dominate the kingdom. In this movie though, it was shown that she has a younger sister named Freya (played by Emily Blunt - Edge of Tomorrow, The Devil Wears Prada etc). Freya was a more gentle character than her scheming sister, but Ravenna believed that Freya should also have a magic power just like her, only she was not confident enough.

Freya who was in love with a duke, apparently has already conceived a baby with him. The duke promised to leave his kingdom and get married with Freya and bring up their daughter. However, during the night when they were supposed to meet, the room where Freya's baby was sleeping caught on fire. Her baby was found burnt and the duke was apologizing to Freya for setting up the fire. Felt heart broken, Freya screamed and a breath of ice came from her body freezing the duke and killed him instantly. Since that moment, Freya was able to make ice from her touches. She also left Ravenna to the north and seek her own kingdom.

While conquering the northern kingdoms, she had decided to gather the children in those kingdoms and made them her own special army called "the Huntsman". Two of her first generation of huntsman were Eric and Sara who seemed to be having crushes. There was also Tull, one of her would be leader. Eric's greatest ability was using two small axes, while Sara was best in archery. There was even a saying that "Sara never missed". When they all grew up, the huntsman would be Freya's weapon to conquer even more kingdoms.

Later we would find out that Eric (played by Chris Hemsworth) and Sara (played by Jessica Chastain - Interstellar, The Martian) were really in love. Sara also made Eric her husband by giving him her necklace given by her mom. They decided to run away and leave the ice kingdom for good. However, during their escape attempt, they were caught by other huntsman. Freya told them they can only leave if they were able to fight all the huntsman. Eric and Sara were surrounded and fought their way off. When they seemed to be winning, Freya made an ice wall between the two of them. Eric could only saw behind the ice wall how Sara was killed by Tull. Feeling destroyed and helpless, Eric was knocked on the head and later thrown to the river.

The story would then jump 7 years later. This is the part where it became interesting as during these 7 years were the period when Eric would help Snow White regain the kingdom in the south. So the story later actually become the sequel of the original movie. Hence the movie becomes a prequel and a sequel altogether.

Moving back to the film, William (Snow White's husband), came to seek Eric's help to re-collect the magic mirror which was stolen and had actually possessed dark magic. With the help of Nion (1 of the dwarves from the original movie, played by Nick Frost - Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz etc) and his half brother Gryff, Eric agreed to look for the magic mirror as he was worried if it got to the hands of Freya.

So Eric, Nion and Gryff would embark in a journey to get the magic mirror with the help from other female dwarves (Doreena and Bromwyn) and an unexpected company. The journey itself was quite fun as the all the characters were quite funny and their chemistry were quite alive. There would also be lots of twists and surprises till the end. Though many people might say they could already guessed them.

Then can the group collect back the magic mirror from the thief? What secret did the mirror hold? Would Freya be catching up with them and acquire the magic mirror? Find them out by watching this to finish.

I actually rather enjoyed the movie. It was surprisingly fun to watch the group's little fights that made them close to each other. I also think that Eric here is better to watch than from the original movie. ANDDD, the special effects I believe were great. The transformation of the magic mirror, and the ice creation by Freya among them.

If you like this kind of adventure, fantasy movie with little fairy tale in the background, then you can watch this for fun. Do not let the ice queen character fool you. This is definitely not Elsa from Frozen. And I also believe this is no longer a fairy tale adaption. I am not too sure what people actually expected from this movie as I heard some people thrash this one. Though I personally think people can just enjoy the fun part and the special effects.

Ooh 1 more thing, if you want to understand the continuity of the film between the 7 years before and after the snow white story, perhaps it would be better if you watch "Snow White and the Huntsman" first. But if you do not really care, you can skip that one and just watch this as it was hinted a little in the background by the narration and I also feel that one is not really worth to watch.

Mike's movie moments rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars