Origins

Back in 2006, there was this hyper popular TV show. It was even more popular than anything else. Mainstream was still cool and everyone must've watched this show. It was way ahead of its time. Before superheroes run amok in your big screens and small. It was Heroes. Without hashtags, the phrase 'Save the cheerleader, save the world' became iconic to the show. It was my first TV show that I followed until the end. My first TV show that I obsessed over. Well, so before the revival limited series which is destined to be the lesser (I mean, they couldn't bring back Claire or Peter).

Heroes is only one of the very few shows I re-watched. I always say that I'll watch Game of Thrones all over again on holidays but never do. I re-watched the first two seasons of Downton Abbey with my mom. Heroes, as my first TV show, set a really high standards. It was a heavily serialized show, the first season was so masterfully plotted that it is actually a sin not to binge-watch it. After Heroes I thought all American shows were like this but sadly no. It's usually your case-of-the-week type episodes, monster-of-the-week, superhuman-of-the-week stuff. It gets really boring. Unlike Heroes.

I am now at the beginning of the third season. When I watched it religiously during high school, it was pretty fun but now the third season is just painful to watch. Heroes is just an example of how a great show was mismanaged until it became really bad. But still, I have to ask who's your favorite hero? Let's do a run down of the main cast, alphabetically.

Claire Bennet
Save the cheerleader, save the world! Her storyline in the first season was one of the best ever. Her ability to regenerate is just awesome. Sometimes it is disgusting as hell and gory but it's so good. Remember, this is TV in 2006, it's not supposed to be that good. I guess Hayden is my first TV show crush. The sad thing is her storyline in season two is awful. And that blood thing curing everyone, I never liked that. So, Kurtzman and Orci might steal all those blood thing from Heroes.

Noah Bennet
During the first half, Bennet or The Man in Horn-Rimmed Glasses is so creepy. But then his character become one of the most relatable in the films. He's just trying to protect his loved ones. Even he got himself an episode dedicated to him. And it's also one of the best episode in Heroes ever. See that episode titled 'The Company Man."

Sylar/Gabriel Gray
He was the scariest TV villain of his time, before Gus Fring and all that. And this is the first time we discovered Zachary Quinto. He played Sylar so good, that even when he's playing Spock or any other character, he is still Sylar. Like everyone else, his character was dumbed down in season two onwards after he met Maya. Ergh.







Isaac Mendez
The coolest guy ever. Got high and painted the future? Let me in. He has the most unique ability just because it's so different. And his painting is cool. Sadly, I never liked his death. By letting it all to fall to destiny and fate. Maybe you can change your destiny? Change your fate? I mean, why would you easily want to die?

Hiro Nakamura
Best character ever. His story is the best-written one. Even in the getting-worse season two he still has the best storyline. He is the one who actually understands about being a hero. His friendship with Ando is also one of the high points in the series. And thanks to Hiro, we got a glimpse to the future in the best episode in the show.








Matt Parkman
His ability to read minds is awesome. In season three he became this cool mind controller. And at one part in season four he could even trap Sylar in his mind. However, Matt is just too clumsy. He's too stubborn. And sometimes just simply stupid.

Nathan Petrelli
His character is very interesting. In season one he's one of the best characters. He's running for congress, a family man. His brotherly love with Peter is always the best. It's just sad to see him brutally killed in season three and living again in Matt's head (if I remember it correctly?).

Peter Petrelli
So, so, so highly overrated. He struggles so much to be a hero that he just looked stupid. Peter's not that interesting. I wished he died in the first season though. Probably it would make the show better. I don't know. But I never have that much love for Peter as a character.

Niki Sanders
She has the best family. All powered people. Sometimes I don't like the character but you just have to love Ali Larter. She portrayed the split personality really well. And Niki herself is pretty cool yeah? Ripping people apart like it's no big deal. I love her with D.L. and Micah. Very exciting character. Not gonna talk about Tracy, that's a different person.

Mohinder Suresh
Everytime I think of Heroes, I would think of Claire, Hiro and Mohinder. Mohinder even though he's powerless (for the first two seasons), he's very iconic to the show. I mean, the show is narrated in his voice. I really like the actor portraying him too, he's really good at it. Sadly, Mohinder is also clumsy, sometimes pretentious and in season three, he's just simply hateable.






Let's hope with fingers crossed that Heroes Reborn will be as good as Heroes Genesis.
I need to travel through the space/time continuum to make sure.
Or I'll just have to get high and paint something.


Anyway, just came back from the future, and there's gonna be more Heroes-related posts. No big deal right.

Delayed Summer

It's May 23. If I'm living in a normal country I would have watched Avengers: Age of Ultron, Mad Max: Fury Road, Pitch Perfect 2, and this week I would be preparing for Tomorrowland. But I'm not. There was actually a shed of hope when Dwayne Johnson-starring San Andreas was scheduled for Japanese release on May 30. That was already a peculiar start for one of the most explosive summers in memory but then the release date was scrapped until further notice. Fuck. I actually will have a holiday next weekend and that weekend I'm not going to the cinemas unless I am rewatching Run All Night. Anyway, for a year that has the second Avengers movie and the seventh Star Wars, the first months of 2015 was pretty much quiet. There are very few mainstream movies that are worth mentioning. The following are those few.

Kingsman: The Secret Service
I watched this twice in cinema just because it's that awesome. Simply the funnest thing to arrive in cinemas in a million years. Matthew Vaughn sure knows how to blow things up and fuck things up. I like the cast for the fact it counter-cast everyone. Sam L. Jackson as a villainous muthaffughha, Colin Firth as an all-round badass sporting all kinds of badassery, and Mark Strong as a nerdy spy agent. This film could be silly but thank heavens it didn't. It kicks all kind of asses. Manners maketh men bitchessss. Oxford not brogues y'allllll.



Cinderella
An honest-to-God film. Screw them gritty grit grittiness. Fuck those realistic realism. We go to the movies to escape. To feel wonder. To be awed. Cinderella is simply beautiful. I couldn't care less on Lily James' hyper skinny waist or Robb Stark's uber blue eyes. Y'all just jealous that you're not in it you miserable people. Feel those magic in every frame. Be creeped out by Cate Blanchett. Tap your feet as Cinderella takes the first dance. Feel your body shiver when Cinderella enters the ball. Cry when Cinderella wants to take her mother's dress with her. That's what you should do instead of complain. I also watched this twice in cinema. It's that good yo. Maleficent is shit, but this is da shit!

And these films fall in the category of 'I'd love to love them more but I couldn't'

Furious 7
That sincere closing scene is just the most tear-inducing scene ever. And it's just too hard not to shed a tear, because if you didn't you need to get your soul checked. However, the rest of the film is just too much. Ever eat so much food until you're full but you keep on eating? Ever got drunk until you pass out but in your unconsciousness you keep on drinking? It felt like shit innit? That's what the action of Furious 7 are. Oh they crashed thru a skyscraper? Oh another one? Oh it falls? Aight. Sometimes the phrase 'non-stop action' is awesome, but in this case it's not. For the record, I love Fast Five and I like Fast & Furious 6 more than this.

Focus
A very cool film. Will Smith, YEAH. Margot Robbie, TRIPLE YEAHS. Pretty slick scenes. Great exotic setting. It's a very entertaining film. That stadium scene is still the best scene of 2015 for me. The coolness of the whole film is only brought down by the unclimactic ending. It is still a very well made film though.

SpongeBob SquarePants: Sponge Out of Water
This is a very funny film. VEEEERY funny and VEEEEEEERY weird. The demographic for this film are kids aged 0-10 and people on acid. There's a talking dolphin. A sponge and a starfish destroying Jupiter. A too-long rap song. And an actual acid trip accompanied by a stoner song. It's still so funny though. But man, like acid, you'd think again to give it another go. Unless you really like acid.


And this one is just simply bad

Fifty Shades of Grey
I'm not going to justify this as a legit film with a further description. Trust me, it is way beyond bad.

But do watch Ex Machina though, because that's like hyper art. Alex Garland, Alicia Vikander and Oscar Isaac combined to create perfect gold.

Next film review would be Tomorrowland early June

Detour 1989

Look at that pun at the title. I'm that good I thought of it as I wrote it. Anyway, I know that my blog is supposed to talk about movies (hence the name), but I'm still so excited I don't know what else to write. So on May 5th, it was the first show of Taylor Swift's 1989 Tour ever. I was one of the fifty thousand people who attended the show in Tokyo Dome. Wait, come to think of it, it still has some relevance to movies. Taylor Swift was in The Giver although only for like 8 seconds. Yeah, I don't feel guilty of posting this anymore in my blog that is supposed to be about movies--if you need to protest, I will shake it off.

Back to the concert, it was so perfect. Other than the fact that when I got there, most of the merch were sold out and we had to wait in line for around one hour to buy them--or the fact that I didn't got selected to Loft '89..... This is getting a bit fanboy-ish. Well, I've been wanting to see Taylor since she visited Singapore on 2011 for Speak Now Tour. After four years, finally I got in. Actually last year, I almost went to her concert too but man, it was sold out like within seconds. Literally seconds. It's hard to compete with these kids in Japan who might be her biggest and most hardcore fans. I mean look at the people who dressed up with her cheerleader costume in Shake it Off music video (this one's a favorite), her Halloween unicorn costume, her 'Ew!' skit with Jimmy Fallon costume, and even her Great Britain flag outfit from the 2013 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show. Talk about dedication (and it's kind of amazing that I know where these costumes are from).

I think this period of Taylor Swift's career is just the perfect time to attend the concert. Before, we've heard that Taylor's so bad at singing live and she kinda did if you look at her early live videos but now, she can definitely sing like a pro. And she's just so sexy and pretty now. It's just the best. She predictably starts the show with 'Welcome to New York' but with so much swagger--the screen started with New York buildings and then lights!-enter Taylor Swift and her amazing dancers. Then proceed to 'New Romantics', it's so good that even the screen has that dreamy filters turned on.

Her 'Blank Space' performance was quite the experience. Before the last chorus of the song, she looped her voice screaming Tokyo and proceeded with singing the secondary melody of the lyrics 'boys only want love if it's torture / don't say I didn't say I didn't warn you'. It was amazing. And then she surprised us all with a killer version of her pseudo-dubstep hit 'I Knew You Were Trouble' but with a way better, way cooler arrangement--1989 style. Prior to the start of the shows, we were given bracelets and those bracelets can light up. And in 'Trouble' it lighted up so cool. I just cannot describe this. It was p-e-r-f-e-c-t. And guys, this is only the fourth song!

She changed her clothes-her second out of ten-and then proceeded to sing normal versions of 'I Wish You Would' and 'How You Get The Girl'. During her outfit change, there's this video that featured Lena Dunham, Karlie Kloss, Cara Delevigne, and HAIM, just to name a few, talking about her. It's so funny, I don't know whether the Japanese audience got it fully. I mean, a girl behind me was asking her friend what is single to her friend. Duh. 'I Know Places' comes next--my favorite--and along with it a door-opening, show-stopping dance choreography followed by 'All You Had To Do Was Stay'.

She then comes to the front of the stage with her guitar, acoustically singing 'You Are In Love' and then the stage RISES. THE STAGE RISES. I'm not saying metaphorically. The stage actually, literally rises! She followed that with 'Clean'--another favorite of mine--with a very amazing, 'Style' music video-style graphics. It's just so gorgeous. So GORGEOUS. I'm betting those are unused footage from 'Style' though. Yeah, those True Detective opening style things. And then she brought the audience wild (and me wilder than the rest of them) with her 1989-style 'Love Story'. I think that's a mandatory song or else, some Swiftie Yakuza member is going to burn the dome down after the show.

Another costume change and she sang my all time 1989 favorite 'Style'. I. Went. Wild. That song gets even better when she sings it live. Then she sang 'This Love'. After another costume change, she brought fire to the screen and change the mood completely with 'Bad Blood', which gets better when sang live and with a slightly different arrangement from the recording. She followed that rock-and-roll aura to her most un-rock-and-roll-ish song 'We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together'. I never fully understand the hype for that song, but this rock version should be getting a proper recording because it's that good. Then she changed into an outfit similar to Karlie Kloss' and delivered 'Enchanted' with a twist--mashed up with 'Wildest Dreams' That is like the mash-up of perfection. I'm sorry I'm so in love with this concert. After that she sang 'Out Of The Woods' and exited.

After seeing so much of Lena Dunham and friends, this time it's Taylor Swift on the screen with her cats. I don't usually watch cat videos but this one's really cute. Then it's 'Shake It Off' time! It was so energetic, the stage was spinning with her and the dancers and that was the end of the show! It was around two hours of happiness and perfection. The dancers were crazy good. The light show was a freaking spectacle. And her performance is so much better than even your best expectations. Thank you, Taylor.

I actually can imagine myself like 30 years from now, attending a Taylor Swift Greatest Hits concert and still freak out at her every song. I guess that's what would happen when your high school breakups were consoled by Taylor Swift's 'Breathe'. Or when your breakups got even worse when you heard 'I Almost Do'. Or you had an emotional breakdown when you first heard 'The Last Time' because it hit home badly. (Cringe all you want, even Dwayne Johnson sang 'Shake It Off' on Lip Sync Battle)

See you in every concert after this! I swear I'm going to wear a kick ass costume next time that you need to hold a special aftershow meet-and-greet with me alone. (That's not creepy at all). Anyway, replaying 'Wonderland' because somehow she forgot to play this in the show.

Dare Me If You Dare

Netflix just released its latest juggernaut series, Daredevil. Starring Charlie Cox, who played a gay Duke in Downton Abbey as the titular hero. Unlike the childish Agents of SHIELD and Agent Carter, Daredevil is leaning towards the DC-grim-and-gritty tone which is amazing. Netflix shows always have high production values and quality, like the immensely binge-worthy House of Cards and Orange is the New Black. Daredevil falls behind those two flagship series but it is way beyond the CW-ish effort to retell one of the greatest explorers in the world, yes, I'm talking about the quite unwatchable Marco Polo. Binge-wise, Daredevil doesn't make you consume your time because each episode takes its time and you cannot just watch it all (or maybe now I'm just mature). It took me three days to watch the latest season of House of Cards and maybe four days to watch last year's OITNB, but Daredevil took me around one week. Quality-wise it is the best superhero series by far. I never really got into CW's superhero shows, I used to love Smallville but it got too campy for me, especially after Lana Lang exited. I never even finished Arrow pilot and The Flash was pretty bad for me. And then comes Gotham which is not only the bottom of the barrel but maybe way under the barrel. It's so bad, you actually can feel your IQ declining by just watching that.

nope this one's from the series

Daredevil, where to start... We can start from that badly-received film adaptation starring the now Bruce Wayne/Batman Ben Affleck in 2003. Even though it was universally-hated, I think it is quite remarkable that Daredevil got made before any other existing superhero. His story isn't that good anyway, blind lawyer turns vigilante. I completely forgot the theatrical version, but I got my hands to the Director's Cut recently. Many of the reviewers on IMDb said it's great but I still think it's average at best. I only like Jennifer Garner there, and usually I don't like Jennifer Garner. The fights are slow, the CGI was bad (considering we had Spider-Man just a year before), and the acting was ew (Colin Farrell might be buying all Daredevil DVDs just to burn it at his Irish home because that's what I would do if I were him).

Fast forward 12 years later we have a winning team at Netflix, headed by Cabin in the Woods director Drew Goddard that turned that bad taste into a five-star hotel taste. Casting Charlie Cox from Stardust fame as the titular hero and the rising Vincent D'Onofrio as Wilson Fisk is inspired. Also future breakout stars Elden Henson and Deborah Ann Woll. If I don't see the three of them in a great movie anytime soon, then we can conclude that Hollywood hates Netflix. Daredevil is a very far-fetched concept but Drew Goddard handled it in the best way possible.

There are so many things to like and love. Charlie Cox's spot-on portrayal as Matt Murdock/Daredevil. The simple black costume. Elden Henson as Foggy which could be highly annoying but doesn't. Expanded role for Karen Page which introduces us to the amazing Deborah Ann Woll. That backstory with Battlin' Jack Murdock. The vulnerable yet ruthless Wilson Fisk aka Kingpin played by multilingual Vincent D'Onofrio. The gritty great story. The minimum amount of the usual Marvel easter eggs. The production values. The necessary violence and gore. The title sequence and theme song.

I hope they don't ruin the series by cramming to many easter eggs though. I've heard rumors they're going to introduce Elektra and Bullseye in season two. If done well, it could be great but if done badly, Netflix is going to get a new Gotham.

This Week On... We Have No Avengers This Month

I don't know if this is some kind of American torture on Japanese people as a part of their long game on the retaliation of Pearl Harbor. Or this is Japanese self-torture on their war losses after the two atomic bombs, you know, that Bushido code and stuff. But the fact that the Japanese release of definitely the biggest movie of the summer, Avengers: Age of Ultron is delayed until July 4 is killing me. Not the reality that I have to wait for two months, because I've done worse with Star Trek Into Darkness and Thor: The Dark World (4 MONTHS WAIT). It is the necessary manoeuvre that I'm about to take to avoid imminent spoilers from the disgusting attention-seeking geeks of the internet who posts spoilers on YouTube comments and also to avoid over-sharing from the click-hungry, zero-quality movie blogs who decides that every single scene in Avengers is worth analyzing. OH LOOK AT THE HULK HOLDING HANDS WITH SCARLETT JOHANSSON! Yes, I'm going to stay away from the Internet for two months. But I will still post something here though, don't worry. It's just those posts won't have anything to do with them Earth's mightiest heroes.

But for now, let's rank the ever-growing Marvel Cinematic Universe, now includes Phase Two!
Deja vu? If you're an avid reader of this blog (which you aren't), I ranked pre-The Avengers Marvel movies three years ago exactly in this timeframe. Yeah, there's some reshuffling in the order, because you know, my own character development and stuff.

10. Captain America: The First Avenger
It is the type of property that wasted goodwill (I don't know what that meant). I've only watched this twice and I almost fell asleep at the exact same point. It is not the action-packed superhero movie that we were promised. It sucked that the movie sucked because the cast is pretty awesome. It is also sad that this lackluster movie spawned a potentially awesome TV series that unfortunately turned out to be pretty lackluster as well. Man, I really like Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter so why can't Marvel make something good with her in it. And also, boo hoo, you just wasted Natalie Dormer big time in this film.

9. Iron Man 2
The movie's a mess. I don't know how to put it. If this were TV, this would be the equivalent of Gotham. Yes, it has that many easter eggs for future installments, many cameos. OK it's not as bad as Gotham. It has a pretty solid action though but still the story's all over the place. Yes, Scarlett's first outing as Black Widow might be one of the few things that saved this from being a total mess.

8. Iron Man 3

It's sad to see how Iron Man fell this much. The action scenes are amazing. But this film is the death of the ideology of being a hero. Tony Stark spent most of his Iron Man outings cowering in the safety of his Iron Man simulation making the suit do all the work but put himself out of harm's way. Don't make me start on those unfunny supposed-to-be-funny scenes. And of course that weak twist. And that fire-breathing Guy Pearce. Oh, so many to hate.

7. Thor: The Dark World

It's a very hollow movie, with very little consequences aside from having Agent Coulson cleaning up the mess in London. Let's make Thor movies about Thor vs. Loki because that's what people want to see. And what was that white alien doing? Nobody knows. All we know was that Tom Hiddleston owned this movie.

6. The Incredible Hulk

This is such a good movie if you think about it. Before being a cinematic universe was cool. Marvel infused just the right amount of easter eggs: not too much. Edward Norton was solid. Tim Roth was amazing. It's also refreshing to see a really mean-looking Hulk, rather than the current, a bit sappy one. I guess that's what you get when you use Mark Ruffalo's face. Hey, no hate for Ruffalo, he did a very good job. It just makes you wonder what Norton would bring if he's still Banner.

5. The Avengers

The movie could be better. It's those kiddie jokes that ruined the movies, that puny god scene or when the Hulk punched Thor out of nowhere. WHY. Despite all the stupid going on, the movie changes the landscape for being the first superhero team-up film. And executed so well than expected. The alien thing might turn off some people but yeah, it's just awesome to see those heroes team-up.

4. Thor

This one is also a very well-done film. This movie has that a different vibe with the other Marvel movies. I'd go out on a limb and say that this film is among the top three best directed Marvel movies along with Guardians of the Galaxy and Iron Man. Different with The Dark World, this one doesn't feel generic, it's original, it's grand. It's what you get when you have Kenneth Branagh on board, a superhero film on a Shakespearian scale.

3. Guardians of the Galaxy

I could love this movie more, if it's not for the over-praising that filled the Internet (guys, this movie doesn't deserve Best Picture at the Oscars, okay?). It's a fresh and a weird take on the superhero genre as well. And surprisingly, it works. The cast is instantly lovable. The juxtaposition with classic tunes only made it even better. And that dance-off scene--simply one of the best scenes of 2014.

2. Captain America: The Winter Soldier

2014 was a pretty big year for Marvel. Two movies, two game-changers. Unlike Iron Man movies which declined though time, the Cap is taking a big step by changing the course of MCU as a whole. It also doesn't feel like a generic punch-em beat-em superhero film, there's more story into it. It made Agents of SHIELD bad and good too. So, it's a big game-changer. The only sad thing is that the sub-titular character is shoved way behind for this huge story development.

1. Iron Man

Still the best film of them all is the one that started it all. We could have game-changers, but this film is the game-maker. Without it, MCU would be lost. Casting RDJ is of course a big win. He practically set the whole mood for the rest of the films. Hiring Jon Favreau is also a gamble but it worked. The whole film is a gamble and it is great. While Chris Nolan's The Dark Knight trilogy might be the best superhero films, Iron Man might be the only Marvel movie that could come close to the same level of greatness.

So, see you in two months for something Avengers related

Although, next I might talk about Daredevil.