#ke review*

[eastasiansonwesternscreen]

2023 - A YEAR IN REVIEW

[liam-summers]

Sp*ke: “I’m drowning in you, Summers, I’m drowning in you”

Me:

[wearevillaneve]

It's not your imagination. A LOT of people hated the finale of Killing Eve. (KilltheTrope.org)

[strawberrysapphocake]

Is now a good time to remind everyone about that bit of the house meeting after the L*ke fiasco where Hisam straight-up pretended he didn’t hear that shit and essentially threw Cory under the bus when we all know full well he was fucking Shook™ at the time, ‘cause… 👀

(I know it’s weird to be bringing this up again months after it happened, but given L*ke’s recent livestream it seems relevant to me).

[tinyreviews]

Tiny Review: Kung Fu Panda 4. Wholesome passing of the staff.

I went into this with very low expectations. The franchise has been quite lacklustre. The previous movie barely had any story.  

But this one, like its theme, brings change. It’s commendable that they are transitioning the franchise past Po and into a new generation.

I love Po’s slow acceptance of passing on the staff. And look forward to Zhen’s heroic growth arc, in the next one.

Edit: OMG, I realized this so late... Po's awkward transition into bad jokes is a reflection of him slowly becoming a father-figure(dad jokes)!

Hmm, I can’t help but think of the MCU’s transition as well. I think this succeeds where Marvel failed, because Zhen is a wholly different personality than Po.  

Whereas in the MCU, the successors were mostly gender/race-bended bland copies of the originals.

Kung Fu Panda 4 is a 2024 American animated martial arts comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation. It features Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman, James Hong, Bryan Cranston, and Ian McShane, with Awkwafina, Ke Huy Quan, Ronny Chieng, Lori Tan Chinn, and Viola Davis. 

[thenarddogmeister]

Everything Everywhere All At Once. The Daniels. 2022.

I love this film and have watched it three times so far so it’s about time I wrote this review.

First of all, I think the main themes I see being explored in this film are the different outlooks/ philosophies a person can use to live in a world like this. Everything Everywhere is a daunting film to write about because it’s postmodern to the maximum, there’s so much to talk about. Firstly, the absolute hybrid of genres and intertextual references (ranging from Disney’s Ratatouille to Wong kar-wai’s In The Mood For Love) makes this a staple of post-modernism and reflects the chaos of the world we live in today. We have access to everything and we can see so many things (especially with the rise of social media) and just like this film proves, it can provide beauty but it can also cause chaos and destruction. The movie is beautiful in its variety of colours, creative costumes, and allowing Evelyn (Joy’s mother) to understand her daughter’s sexuality better by jumping to a universe where she is in a relationship with Jamie Lee Curtis’s Deadre. However, it is also immensely destructive as by having a surplus of meanings and universes, Joy finds that she feels now, nothing has any meaning and she can’t trust anything she sees because she has seen everything. To use a perfect quote from the film, “She no longer believes in an objective truth.”

The Daniels like to draw contradictions in the film to highlight this distrust we feel in our modern culture due to having access to so many juxtaposing “truths.” For example, they comically use phallic and yonic imagery to reinforce the binary opposite drawn between nihilism (nothing matters) and absurdism (represented by Waymond’s whimsy throughout the film). This imagery is funny when we see Joy fighting with large dildos but it also allows us fresh perspectives when Evelyn and Joy put their hands together to create a vaginal-like shape, allowing Evelyn to see what Joy sees. This juxtaposition of humour and deep understanding supports the theme throughout the film that in this culture of media oversaturation, we cannot find an objective truth or an objective way of living anymore. It’s all about choice. This is also inferred as Evelyn is seen at the beginning of the film choosing to either stick to her laundry and taxes or go into the mysterious janitor’s closet - at one point, the screen even explicitly cracks into two perspectives to anchor this idea of choice. 

Another part of the film that I love, is the soundtrack/score, which also expertly contributes to the point of the film, that we are all confused and scared in this overstimulating postmodern world. Clair de Lune is used as a musical motif throughout the film, which perfectly sums up the point the Daniels are trying to make. This is an old, classical song used in possibly the least classical movie ever, showing how we have access to content spanning over literal centuries (due to streaming platforms like spotify I can listen to the 1905’s Clair de Lune and seconds later listen to the 80’s She Goes Down by Motley Crue). This overwhelming level of choice can be beautiful as we can watch Everything Everywhere All At Once and hear the magnetic and majestic Clair de Lune but it can also create so much disillusionment and confusion as how do we decide what is true and how we should live when there are million and millions of contradicting answers to those questions out there. 

The last thing that needs to be mentioned is the motif of the Bagel. The bagel represents Joy’s nihilism. It sucks everything in and leaves nothing in its wake. Moreover, it is black which is what you get when you mix all the colours together, surplus resulting in nothingness. However, the room we see the bagel in is overwhelmingly white, which is what you get when all the colours of light are added  together. White has happier connotations like heaven and purity, adding to this idea that the same situation (all the colours added together) can be interpreted positively by us or negatively. Will we see the black-hole bagel or the googly eyes that Waymond leaves around the house? 

Lastly, I love the match cut at the end where Joy and Evelyn share a mother-daughter hug, which then transitions ,through this match cut, into planets colliding. It really anchors this point that we can either focus on the massive destruction in this world (planets colliding) or the intimate moments of love (the hug). And each is powerful. 

The theme of this movie is so masterfully explored in the film’s editing, sound, cinematography, genres, imagery etc and so in my opinion it might be a perfect film.

[anotherfanaccount]

A long (spoilers included) review of Dunki.

Because I think I should just write it all out.

Starts with classic Hirani flavour. A main character on a wheelchair plotting an escape. And they succeed. Mannu runs away to meet her lawyer to ask about her visa condition. The answer is negative but she's desperate to be back home now. So comes the names of Hardy, a guy who she hasn't met in 25 years now.

Cue Hardayal Singh Dhillon, in all his greys and old age cramps running a race and also winning it but well a call from Mannu, who cares about a damn race. He answers no I'm not coming to get you and she smiles saying 'kand' ho gaya hai. And how can the 'Banda' refuse.

This was the introduction of a tale so simple, yet so real. Why do people leave their homes? The homes even with the poverty still has the warmth and love. But what could be more glaring than poverty for unemployed youth. Sometimes it's heartbreaking love, a love so powerful that people decide to end themselves instead of trying to survive through. That's Sukhi and Jassi's subplot, which only propels Hardy to decide on the donkey route, a decision that'll change all their lives forever.

And so starts the dunki, shown very aesthetically if I might say the horrors and the dangers. But you know your leads survive so you hold on. They wade underwater, scared and tired. They hide in freezers, cold. They walk through the desert among skeletons and evilness. Mannu has a cathartic experience here. And you wonder what exactly is the point of going through all this trouble without any guarantee. But they manage to reach their destination.

And now awaits another horror. Immigrants are looked down upon. They aren't humans in the eye of the citizens and don't get the dignity to live like humans either. Toiling through odd jobs, sending fake pictures to assure their families and to give them a better life is their only cause now. But Hardy doesn't have any of that. He's there for Mannu, so he starts the point of going back. But necessity is larger than lives for some people.

So they get caught and the rest seek asylum but Hardy can't lie, won't lie that it was his country that's unsafe for him. So he's sent back.

Fascinatingly dark that deported people get to travel safely back to the places they tried so hard to escape. It's along the same line as punishing people attempting suicide. This helps no-one.

Anyway 25 years pass offscreen. We get to know in passing that the families back home are doing well enough but our 3 asylum seekers are not getting the visa to return home. But trust Hardy, he can do it.

And Hardy does, with a bit of cunning and so much old man charm, the old man does it for his Mannu. But Mannu is dying. And ah well. What beats a tragic love story.

What beats a movie with so much heart and love and pain underlying the humour and constant laughter.

You just end up sitting a bit longer in the theatre and hoping to gather your thoughts because there's so much and yet there's this numbness. Is it because you saw the best movie, maybe. There's no best movie as per me honestly. Is it because this topic is way too real but so far from your reality that it shocks you a bit more. Is it because you love the man frontlining these moving images and you can see no fault.

Honestly I don't even want to conclude. If I could I would like to hug Sukhi right after the phone call, and Hardy after the court and at the terrace. But I'm guessing Hardy will be fine. Wo sambhal lega apne ko. Mannu I hope you had happy moments, even if they were the bare minimum.

[balimode]

His pin is incredible... I love him a lot... yet another Karl homage is killin' me, smalls.

[twh-news]

Loki season two review – by far the best Marvel TV show in years ★★★☆☆ | The Guardian

Tom Hiddleston’s lovably narcissistic Norse god is back with Owen Wilson for a spectacular time-hopping caper that may just save the MCU from certain death

If ever there was a time for a second season of Loki, it’s now. The first outing was a witty romp through time and space, in which Tom Hiddleston’s lovably narcissistic Norse god charmed the pants off viewers. There were wild cameos (Richard E Grant as a weird alternate Loki!). There was sizzling chemistry (the bromance with Owen Wilson’s Agent Mobius!). There was even the tender blossoming of love (with Loki’s metaverse alter ego Sylvie – almost certainly the most poignant romance a TV character has ever conducted with themselves). So, naturally, the Marvel Cinematic Universe chose to follow up this televisual triumph with a disastrous series of flops, culminating in June’s Secret Invasion: a slog of a show that felt like the death knell for the franchise’s entire TV future.

[Possible spoilers ahead]

Luckily, Loki’s action-packed return suggests it is more than prepared to rise to the challenge of shaking off Marvel’s track record of TV tedium. We’re taken to the exact moment the previous season left off: the aftermath of Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) killing He Who Remains – the shadowy figure behind temporal police the Time Variance Authority (TVA). There are slow-mo chases, car crashes in flying vehicles and Loki constantly running into effigies of He Who Remains. One thing is instantly clear: you really can’t avoid season one if you expect any of the following to make sense.

A good chunk of the opener consists of Hiddleston vanishing into another timeline. His body briefly turns into something that looks like it belongs in Stranger Things’ Upside Down, while he makes the sound of a man who has eaten some seriously out-of-date scampi. “It’s horrible,” quips Wilson’s Agent Mobius. “It looks like you’re being born, or dying – or both at the same time.” There are temporal loops, baffling causality chains and the establishment of what will be a series-long plot about stabilising a “temporal loom” – whose explanation is so convoluted the characters may as well be repeatedly chanting the word “MacGuffin”. Compared to the first season’s simple thrills, it’s all a bit overcomplicated – a disappointing choice of direction, if predictable.

Less explicable is the decision to do away with the beating heart of season one – the surprisingly lovely romance between Loki and Sylvie. This time, they’re on very separate paths, with Di Martino’s character reinvented as a time-hopping assassin, while Hiddleston moves ever further from his character’s mischievous past to buddy up with Agent Mobius in a bid to fix the McTimeWotsit. This makes for more zingtastic back-and-forth between Hiddleston and Wilson, but it robs the show of emotional heft. And with Loki proving ever less of a bad cop to Mobius’s good cop, there’s less edge to that sparkling comic chemistry too.

Nonetheless, the performances are as excellent as ever. Hiddleston is fantastic in every mode, from debonair to monstrous or ashen after a brutal insult from Sylvie. Di Martino is a bubbling pot of empathy, eyes constantly dewy with sadness, when she’s not spilling over into murderous rage. Wunmi Mosaku’s reprisal of her role as a TVA agent is ineffably intense – from taking down fugitives while wearing a tangerine ballgown to subjecting goofy colleagues to a Paddington-esque hard stare. And Owen Wilson is … Owen Wilson: a twinkle in the eye in human form.

When it spreads its wings, Loki’s second season manages to have plenty of fun. By episode two it feels like a time-travel thriller, with Loki and Mobius being shot into period-specific missions. There’s a retro spy caper in 70s London, our heroes suiting up like extras in Gangs of New York for a hot pursuit through 19th-century Chicago and an attempt to track down Sylvie in a 1980s McDonald’s in which romantic tension simmers over retro cash registers. The design is spectacular throughout, particularly the gloriously stylised TVA building in which every computer monitor looks like a microwave’s great grandparent, corridors are lined with tarnished aquamarine filing cabinets and even their IT guy (played by Everything Everywhere All at Once’s Ke Huy Quan) is dressed in a Ghostbusters-esque boiler suit that drips with vintage cool.

A few episodes in, things are settling into an enjoyable enough – if not tremendously exciting – groove. Then there is a gigantic cliffhanger that upends the narrative, wrongfoots the viewer and blows the show wide open. The final two instalments aren’t available for preview, so it is hard to say whether this will kickstart the show into scaling the heights of its first season. But either way, one thing is certain: this is easily the best Marvel TV series in years – for all that’s worth.

[marvelloussynergy]

What did you think of Loki S02E06?

Like the Facebook page. Follow on Instagram. Get the books: Phase One | Phase Two | Phase Three Listen to the podcast: Anchor | Google Podcasts | Spotify

[lostinaflashforward]

LOKI - Recensione 2x05 "Science/Fiction"

A un passo dal finale, la seconda stagione di Loki confeziona un sorprendente e intrigante preludio a un epilogo che promette di essere esplosivo e rivoluzionario per l'intero Marvel Cinematic Universe.

RECENSIONE 2x05

[eastasiansonwesternscreen]

2022 - A YEAR IN REVIEW

[agentnico]

Kung Fu Panda 4 (2024) review

Jack Black’s new version of “Hit Me Baby One More Time” is great. In all honestly all of Tenacious D’s covers are superb. Their take on “I Think I Love You” for Croods 2 slaps as hard as Will Smith’s palm against Chris Rock’s face. Apologies, I just watched the new Bad Boys trailer so that momentary awards moment has sprung back into my mind.

Plot: After Po is tapped to become the Spiritual Leader of the Valley of Peace, he needs to find and train a new Dragon Warrior, while a wicked sorceress plans to re-summon all the master villains whom Po has vanquished to the spirit realm.

For some reason I presumed Kung Fu Panda 3 was the ending to the trilogy and the story was over. Then again Hollywood wants to keep making more money and this animated franchise has been highly successful for DreamWorks till now, so of course it was only a matter of time. To give them props though, DreamWorks has been on a bit of a hot streak recently with The Bad Guys - a visually-pleasing heist flick; Croods 2 - hilarious riot; this year’s Orion and the Dark - a fun concept with a mind-bending ending; and of course Puss in Boots: The Last Wish which is an animated masterpiece. There, I said it. The Puss in Boots sequel is fantastic and I won’t hear otherwise! As such even though the trailers weren’t showing too much promise, I went into Kung Fu Panda 4 optimistically, hoping it’s not just a needless cash-grab.

Right, yep, it’s a cash-grab through and through. You can tell the writers were really trying to milk some kind of an idea for a plot, and all they could come up with is Po needing to find a new Dragon Warrior in his place. Not the most original concept as is, and one that in the end feels really rushed, and his choice for his replacement is one that feels unsatisfying. The main villain also is really weak. A chameleon voiced by Viola Davis, and though visually the shape-shifting gimmick works really well, narratively this character has hardly anything to do, let alone be in any way intimidating. I recall in one of the previous films the villain was Lord Shen, who was introduced as someone who has killed Dragon Warriors before. What’s the scariest thing this chameleon now does, you may ask? She lightly pushes someone down the stairs. That’s it.

Another rushed aspect of the movie is that many voice actors from the previous films are needlessly ditched either with a lame excuse for their absence, or not giving them any lines and the characters appearing in silence. Like a big selling point in the marketing is that we get to see all the villains from the previous entries come back. A fun idea, however aside from Ian McShane as Tai Lung the other villains only appear as if they’re in a silent movie. Are you telling me that DreamWorks really couldn’t afford to get Gary Oldman to record a couple of lines on his phone and send them over? It’s like if Spider-Man: No Way Home had all the old Spidey villains from previous films come back, but they just stand about silently doing nothing. How crap would that have been? So yes, this really cheapens the movie.

Visually the film looks great. It’s mad to see how the animation has progressed as this series of movies has gone further. Particular attention has been given to the background environments that look gorgeous! Great use of colours and detail. A chase sequence through a city of thieves is a particular eye-popping set piece, that even gives Hans Zimmer the small opportunity to have some fun with the music score during it.

As for the voice cast - Jack Black is a charisma machine! He’s an icon and of course Po is just Jack Black being himself, but he has so much energy in his line delivery that he carries this movie fully on his shoulders. Awkwafina is also in this movie. Look, the reason I’m pointing that out is that if one looks at her filmography since 2019 she’s voiced characters in Little Mermaid, Migration, Kung Fu Panda 4, Bad Guys, SpongeBob: The Movie, Raya and the Last Dragon, The Dark Crystal Netflix series, Angry Birds Movie 2…. That’s so much!! What does she have on these animation studios that they keep hiring her? She’s not the only female voice actor out there. And I’m sorry, she’s not even that great of a voice actress, and I wasn’t a fan of her here either. Dustin Hoffman kind of just lingers about questioning his life, Bryan Cranston and James Hong have some amusing co-dads banter, Ian McShane being back as Tai Lung was lovely, and Ke Huy Quan is the usual ball of excitable energy that he always is.

Unlike Puss in Boots where the wait for the sequel was more than worth it, Kung Fu Panda 4 feels as if the franchise may have run its course and the writers have simply ran out of ideas. There’s a “been there done that” aura surrounding this whole movie, and again it’s not terrible, but more so just passable. There’s nothing new here, simply retreading old territory. I’m sure if you take your kids with you to see it though they’ll probably have a good time. Probably. That “Hit Me Baby One More Time” cover though - hell yeah!

Overall score: 5/10

[movieanimex]

Marvel Is Back ! Checkout Loki Season 2 Episode 1 Review And Explanation On MovieAnimeX:

[suckmyshlock]

OSCAR THOUGHTS

Everything Everywhere All at Once dominated at the Oscars this year, celebrating the ending of awards season with the most accolades a film has ever won with a total of 165 awards.

Everything Everywhere All at Once is a little movie with big heart and it's gone big places in a well-deserved way. Made with a relatively low budget of around $20 million and shot hyper-quickly over the course of less than 2 months, with a small cast of characters, very few locations, and all editing and visual effects done in-house - EEAAO was a passion project for writer/directors, the Daniels. Kwan & Scheinert are formerly known for Swiss Army Man, an equally strange movie that made little splash in comparison to the cannonball of EEAAO. Like the Daniels, the casting choices in the film favored actors with unconventional careers. Ke Huy Quan, a beloved child actor who had been out of the film industry for two decades. Jamie Lee Curtis, a scream queen and genre star. And Michelle Yeoh, who is primarily known for 90s martial arts films and experienced a career revival similar to Quan's. The Daniels sought out underrated and unconventional film stars for EEAAO, in a movie built on strange choices, and the finished project, while still unconventional, was rated just right this year.

I'm coming up on my 30s next year, which is a difficult milestone for anyone. It's easy in our world to think that once our 20s are over, we're too late. That if we don't make the right connections, end up in the right place at the right time and fast, then it's best that we give up and surrender to a life of mediocrity, normalcy; that it's time to finally "grow up." Ke Huy Quan, Michelle Yeoh, and Jamie Lee Curtis are all performers that I grew up watching. Indiana Jones and The Goonies, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, and Halloween are all insta-classics that I was shown over and over as a small child, which were never thought of as old movies at the time and now, suddenly, are. When Ke Huy Quan accepted his award and said, "I almost gave up on mine, keep your dreams alive" and Michelle Yeoh said "Never let anyone tell you you're past your prime" these are statements that hit not only me but everyone from my generation and older who has thought about giving up. When Jamie Lee Curtis thanked the fans that have supported her through years of making genre films and said "this is a win for us", she was talking about the impact that genre filmmaking has had on the industry, which is too-little recognized. Is Jamie Lee the first scream queen to win an Oscar? I struggle to think of another.

For the Daniels to be so highly recognized as to receive the awards for best original screenplay as well as best directing for an oddball science fiction film, as a team consisting of a queer artist and an artist of color, shows that the Academy is beginning to move away from long-held beliefs that favor the white-dominated high-drama Oscar brand of filmmaking. 2023 is perhaps the first Academy season to inspire me. It shows that passion and love is what art is all about. That as long as we don't give up, our time can come. When you love what you're making and put your heart into it, your audience will find the work, and they will love it too. And it's never too late for that. That is a big and beautiful sentiment for something as sterilized as the Academy Awards. Like EEAAO, the Oscars this year packaged a lot of real, human emotion into an unexpected place. It meant a lot to me on a personal level to see, and it gives me hope for the future of art and genre filmmaking.

[scorbleeo]

Drama Gossip: Douluo Continent (斗罗大陆)

Source: Google Images

Having lost his mother at a very young age, Tang San grew up relying on his father just as much as his father relied upon him. Meticulous and mature for his age, with extraordinary talent and wit, he was sent to Nuoding Academy at the age of sixteen to begin pursuing his dream of becoming a great soul master. There, under the tutelage of Yu Xiao Gang, he befriends an orphan by the name of Xiao Wu, and together they begin the long and difficult journey of cultivation. As time passes, the two friends draw ever closer, eventually swearing to look out for each other as siblings for life.

As their power and connection grow, Yu Xiao Gang realizes they need more guidance than he can provide. Sending the pair to the Shrek Academy, Tang San and Xiao Wu join five other prodigies from various academies in their journey of cultivation. Strong in their power, the seven students become known throughout the land as the “Shrek Seven Devils”. With their fame ever-growing, the talents of the Seven are eventually noticed by a few very prominent nobles who invite them to continue their cultivation at the esteemed Tian Dou Royal Academy.

Not long after accepting the invitation, the Seven Devils find themselves caught up in an imperial struggle for power between the first and fourth princes. At the same time, Tang San uncovers a long-hidden secret about his mother’s death. Suddenly facing battles on many fronts, Tang San finds himself forced to fight, not only to protect those he loves but to bring honor to his sect, save his country, and complete his quest to become the greatest soul master of all time.

Source: MyDramaList (2021)

It's Just So Good, Ya'know?

In spite of being a Xiao Zhan fan, I don't love a lot of his dramas. Douluo Continent though, that is one of the few I truly enjoy. This is a rewatch and the parts that irritated me, I still don't like but the parts that I like, I still enjoy.

The biggest problem with this drama is the pacing. This is me being nice but oh boy, the pacing is all over the place with Douluo Continent. Also, I am just not a big fan of the romance in this show. Don't get me wrong, I love Zhu Zhu Qing and Dai Mu Bai's relationship, I had hoped to get more from them. The other two couples among the Seven Devils are quite cute but sometimes really redundant. Especially the many scenes of Xiao Wu and Tang San. I get it, but I did not watch this show for their romance, it's average at best.

That being said, lets talk about the show itself. Fantastical wuxia dramas without long melodramatic or constant betrayal scenes are my favourite. The storyline, the world, the characters, the action, Douluo Continent really is entertaining to watch. A downside? For a show focusing on people's powers and abilities to fight, there is a severe lack of action scenes. Sometimes, I just want the fight scene to drag on or show me more action rather than slow motion scenes of anyone being attacked and falling backwards.

Every time I watch Douluo Continent, I get the urge to watch the animation as well. Unfortunately, the animation is not it for me. So until the second instalment comes out, I really don't think I will consume any content of Douluo Continent except for this drama. A pity, really.

Rating: ★★★★☆