Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)

Batman V Superman (2016) Trailer

Marvel has Captain America: Civil War where Captain America vs. Ironman vs. Spiderman. While DC has Batman vs. Superman plus Wonder Woman.

I have watched all Marvel Movies (including the Guardians of the Galaxy, Deadpool, Antman, X-men, Ironman, the Avengers, except the TV franchises, Wolverine series, and the new Spiderman franchises) and all DC Batman Movies (except the TV franchises). I haven't watched any Superman movies before this movie, but I'm interested in watching them now.

This movie has the same old same old theme as Christopher Nolan's Batman series, i.e. whether Batman is protecting the city or destroying it during the course of his battles with the enemies.

The first scene of Batman V Superman is the death of Bruce Wayne's parents. And here again we go through the same old story behind the bat cave, which was vividly depicted in Batman Begins (2005).

And then there is Superman's fight with the alien. A giant spaceship in the sky. It reminds me of Doctor Who Christmas Special: The Christmas Invasion (2005), where a giant alien star is in the sky.

To be honest, I think Christopher Nolan's Batman is very remarkable. I like the combo of Christian Bale as Batman and Michael Caine as Alfred. Even though Ben Affleck's resume has a good job in portraying a suspiciously evil character in Gone Girl (my review on Gone Girl is here), he does not have the physique as Batman. He looks fat and clumsy in that Batman suit. I remember Jeremy Irons' performance in Die Hard: With a Vengeance (1995). But I like Michael Caine's Alfred better, because he looks much older and wiser. Henry Cavill is very good-looking. But his character as Superman is dumb. He could have passed the spear to Batman or Wonder Woman. People said that Jesse Eisenberg tried too hard. But I think he did a good job in using his awkwardness to portray a psychotic sociopath. It's ashamed that the screenplay did not give him a background story in depth as we did not understand his motivation. That's why his character looks ridiculous. I don't know why when I see the performance of Holly Hunter, I think of Glenn Close. Wonder Woman, almost universally agreed, is the best part of the movie. The music rocks and the character rocks.

Interestingly, DC's Superman is Marvel's Spiderman as they are both journalists. DC's Batman is Marvel's Ironman as they are both rich playboys. So Alfred is Jarvis?

In my opinion, if they use retro pop music like how they used in the Guardians of the Galaxy and Deadpool, then the movie would be way cooler.

Ratings:

Premise: Average
Plot: Average
Characters: Good
Dialogue: Average

Recommendation: Recommended

I recommend watching this movie because it is the introduction to the following franchises of DC comics movies. Suicide Squad, Wonder Woman, Justice League Part I, The Flash, Aquaman, Shazam!, Justice League Part II, Cyborg, Green Lantern Corps, Batman x3 are coming.

Now You See Me (2013)

Now You See Me (2013) Trailer

Magic.

Always like magic stories, such as The Prestige, but not so much for Harry Potter's kind of magic.

I think the trailer of the movie is so successful attracting people to watch it in the cinema. I like the fast paced and information-loaded opening. The exposure of the story is very good. It keeps telling you the theme of the story, "the more you look, the less you see". (This parallels the first line in The Prestige, "Are you watching closely?")  It also defines what magic is, explains how important distraction is. (As in The Prestige, the three stages are the pledge, the turn and the prestige.)

After watching the trailer, I guessed how the Four Horsemen "robbed the bank". As I watched a lot of tv shows on exposing the secrets of magic, I have a brief idea of how they do it. I guessed that the robbery actually happened before the show, and the show is just a distraction. But the details are always the most difficult to sought out, that's why one big magic trick worths so much money.

The story and characters are well-developed as more and more characters are introduced which helps building the layers of mystery. A lot of CGI in post-production, including some magic tricks, also the typical car chase scene...all these elements are typical commercial Hollywood best-sellers tricks.

There are twists within a twist. Some plots are rather baffling. How would they betray their billionaire sponsor? The most disappointing part of the story is the ending. How could the "I'm-tracking-myself" stupid agent turns out to be the mastermind who is always three steps ahead? And there's too much coincidence in the story. How could Jack faked his death? The timing of blocking the cars behind is too good to be true. And why would the Four Horsemen take the risk of going to jail just to get the entry ticket to the Eye, which is an unknown secret organization? The writers seems to have over-used the coincidence quota.

Movies Update - New York, I Love You (2008), Nine, Eat Pray Love (2010), The Social Network (2010), etc.

I bought a bunch of VCDs today:


New York, I Love You (2008) Trailer

- New York, I Love You
- Nine
- All About Eve
- That Touch of Mink
- A Single Man
- Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
- Death Proof
- P.S. I Love You

Watched a lot of movies recently but no time to write my reviews.

Eat, Pray, Love (2010) Trailer


The Social Network (2010) Trailer


- Eat, Pray, Love
- Life As We Know It
- The Social Network
- 127 Hours
- Wild Target
- Despicable Me
- Machete
- The Kids Are All Right
- The Other Guys
- The Town
- Animal Kingdom
- The Romantics
- No Reservations
- Twilight: Eclipse
- Salt
- Killers
- Chole
- Iron Man 2
- Kick Ass
- About Schmidt
- Sex & the City 2
- Kill Bill
- Exam
- Pulp Fiction