Train To Busan: Movie Review

NOTE: I've started another blog (notcolman.wordpress.com) and I won't be updating this blog anymore



Being a zombie fanatic there was no way I was gonna sit this movie out.

Before watching this, I've always had this mindset that all Korean movies/ shows are the same like y'know those typical love dramas and Train To Busan definitely made me see Korean films in a different light.

Train to Busan is simple story with many twists. It was very unpredictable unlike every other movie I've watched and honestly deciphering storyline twists is my only talent.

I really loved how the movie revolves around a train because it changes the whole mood of the story. Like usually zombie films take place in a large terrain and by trapping the protagonists in a train creates a claustrophobic and helpless atmosphere, which added on to the fear factor of the movie. And also the fact that the characters had no legit weapons like guns and knives made this movie more intense.

Besides the gore and violence, the other thing about zombie movies which appeals to me is the different human nature in times of a crisis, which is strongly exemplified in this movie. Sometimes I think it's so crazy how one small selfish act can lead to the death of many while how one selfless sacrifice can spare the lives of others.

And of course the violent-gore aspect of the movie was amazing too! The movie kept me at the edge of my seat and my heart thumping wildly throughout the movie. The zombies are so fast and strong unlike those in The Walking Dead. They'd be the last kind of zombies that I'd want in a zombie apocalypse.

Another important factor of a successful zombie movie is character development. I think it's amazing how the movie made me fall in love with the characters in a mere 2 hour movie. In fact it was so good that there were a few people crying during one of the protagonist's death.

"Busan is still open, so let's go there!"

Ratings: 5/5 stars ★★★★★

Zombie Comparison

During the movie I was comparing zombies from The Walking Dead and zombies from Train To Busan and I was thinking which zombies have a higher chance of dominating the world so

SPEED
TBS zombies can move a lot faster than TWD zombies. In fact, TBS zombies can run as fast as humans, or even faster. I'm sure that the people who watch TWD was as surprised as me when the TBS zombies started sprinting after the commuters.

STRENGTH
I'm not so sure about this but I think that the TBS zombies are stronger than TWD zombies as well... or it could be just the way they lunge at their meal.

RATE OF ZOMBIFICATION (?)
By this, I mean the time taken for them to turn into zombies. In TBS, the infected turns into zombies in the snap of a finger whereas in TWD, it takes 30 to 60 seconds for them to turn.

APPEARANCE
TBS zombies are so much more scarier than TWD zombies. Just look at the protruding veins on their skin and the way their joints jerk when they move. Meanwhile TWD zombies are just piles of rotting flesh.

WAY OF INFECTING
Although both types of zombies infect humans through the contact of body fluids (eg. biting), TWD people who die, no matter what happened to them, turn into zombies too.

So in conclusion I think that TBS zombies have a higher chance of taking over the world because they are faster and stronger than TWD zombies. And also because TBS zombies look so much scarier than TWD zombies.

I love zombies omg

Nerve (2016): Movie Review

NOTE: I've started another blog (notcolman.wordpress.com) and I won't be updating this blog anymore



Nerve is the best movie ever and I'm not even exaggerating one bit. The storyline, the actors, the cinematography; everything about this movie is just so so great!

Welcome to NERVE. A game like truth or dare, minus the truth. Watchers pay to watch; players play to win cash and glory. Are you a watcher or a player? 

'Kinda sounds like a rip off of hunger games' was what my friend said when I asked him to watch Nerve with me. To be honest I didn't even know what the movie was about except that it's a game which you either play or watch and I'm really glad I didn't watch the trailer (neither should you) because the trailer gives away the entire movie.

The build up of the storyline was really good from the beginning to the end. There wasn't any boring scenes in the story. It was either hilarious, emotional or breathtaking. The cinematography helped to add suspense and depth into the movie by filming from the different points of view. And as an art student I really enjoyed it :-) 

And I also really loved their soundtrack. Someone was using soundhound during the movie haha. Here's the link to the playlist of the movie's soundtrack.

If Nerve was a real game, I would probably join as a player because of the money $$$ and it seems kinda fun? But I'm definitely not going to the finals because the final dare will probably be insane.

"Are you a watcher or a player?"

Ratings: 5/5 stars ★★★★★

Finding Dory: Movie Review

After 13 years, Disney Pixar finally decided to release the sequel to the popular movie, Finding Nemo.

This heart-warming, adorable movie will no doubt steal the hearts of many Disney fans.

But what I really like about the movie is the character developments (and also the addition of the three-hearted Septopus (voice by Ed O' Neill's) and other adorable little animals). It really enhanced the story line and of course who doesn't love cute little animals am I right? I think Hank the Octopus really stole the show! 

I don't know why but I'm extremely in love with the sea lions.

And of course the star of the show- Baby Dory! I'm sure everybody found her cute!!

Y'know how usually the sequel ruins the first movie, well that doesn't really apply to Finding Dory. No actually I don't think that applies to any Disney movie #HardcoreDisneyFan. The storyline was flawless; every scene of the movie was relevant to the overall storyline and there were also bits and pieces connected to the first movie. 

And of course, what brought this movie to life was its amazing graphics and animation. 

If you haven't watched this movie, you have to. This animation is intriguing from the start till the end. It invokes happiness, sadness, and constant 'aww's.

"Hi, I'm Dory. I suffer from short term memory loss."

Ratings: 4/5 stars ★★★★

The 5th Wave: Movie Review

The 1st Wave

Knocked out all the power

then the 2nd Wave hit

An earthquake strong enough to shake the entire planet

With the 3rd Wave 

A disease spread across the world

By the 4th Wave

They were among us

and The 5th Wave?

Nobody knows... but it'll be the last wave before all of humanity gets wiped out.

With a trailer like this, anyone would think that the 5th wave will be their top loved film of 2016 but you guys are so wrong.

With a 1.5/5 popcorn rating in Golden Village and a 5.5/10 dished out by IMDB, the movie is basically an ugly person that meitu xiu xiu-ed his/her face before posting the photo online.

Personally, I think that the movie was not bad until I compared it with the book. I'm not saying that book-inspired movies should be completely the same as books but the number of things and details that they miss out was !!!! Honestly, it is movies like this that make book lovers like myself think 'the book is better than the movie.'

So here are the 10 differences between the movie and the book

warning: the following blog post contains an immense amount of spoilers. Read at your own risk. Viewers discretion is advised. 

1. Wonderland

This is a really important piece in the storyline but for some reason the producers decided that it meant nothing. The Wonderland is a machine that allows the others to see the memories of a person attached to it. Every new comer to Wright Patterson has to be attached to Wonderland to see if he/she knows about the Others. 

This is why Ben had to shoot himself before returning to base alone, so that he had to be put under medication and wouldn't be plugged into the Wonderland immediately.

2. Dropping The Eye

This scene takes place after the massacre at the refuge camp. Cassie didn't witness the killing at first because she ran away to the ash pit (which wasn't mentioned as well) and killed two of the Others there before returning to see the eye, which is a glowing green explosive sphere.

3. Evan and Cassie
This is a really cute scene in the book because it shows how Cassie and Evan's relationship develops from being strangers to lovers; and it shows how Cassie's suspicion turned into love. During this period of time, Evan helped Cassie recover from her bullet wound and also shared many secrets and stuff about their pre-apocalyptic life but all these was cut from the movie.

4. Oompa's death

Oompa, the soldier who was shot in the bus, did not die from a bullet. Based on the book, they were running towards a car park and a metal shard from the explosion impaled him from the back.

5. Wright Patterson's secret

Okay so for some reason, the producers decided to screw up the most important scene in the whole movie as well. In the book, Ben's squad's commander is Reznik (the movie named the nurse Reznik for some reason) and that Reznik was the one who opened fire at the roof-top. After getting the rest of the squad to safety, Ringer and Ben went to the roof top and to find out that they were the 5th wave. They found Reznik and killed him, retrieving a silver device that has a gps system to track all the soldiers, and a red button to kill anyone with the tracker. 

There was a soldier named Flynn in their squad who was a major ass-hole. He didn't believe Ben and Ringer so he grabbed the device, pressed the red button and ended his life.

6. Mayfly
Somewhere in the book, Cassie told Evan that they were cockroaches that the Others were killing them off one by one because they survived the previous waves; like how a few cockroaches will survive after spraying the house with insecticide. And Evan was telling her how brave she was and said, "you're the Mayfly."

Sure I do agree it is a really dumb romantic phrase but it's the kind of dumb romantic shit that people likes!! It could've been the "Maybe okay will be our always" from The Fault in Our Stars.

7. Forest scene
Another really romantic scene where Evan got injured from saving Cassie. In the book, Evan and Cassie were ambushed at night in the forest by four men. Evan was injured by a grenade but still managed to retaliate, killing the four men instead. This is how Cassie found out that Evan wasn't human.

8. Vosch and Ben
After Ben returned to the base alone to rescue Sam, Vosch brought him to the meeting room. Compared to the book, this was a huge contrast as Ben was severely injured and could barely walk. Vosch also acted like he believed Ben's explanation.

9. Cassie intruding Wright Patterson
Because every new comer has to be plugged into Wonderland, it was almost impossible for Cassie to infiltrate the base. She was supposed to strangle the nurse until she passed out, because like everyone else, she had a tracker in her neck and Vosch would know if she died.

10. Cassie's uniform

In the book, Cassie took a uniform that was obviously not her size but the uniform she was wearing in the movie looked like it was tailor-made for her.

So if you're planning to watch the movie, read the book instead because the book is extremely good and I was reading it all day instead of doing stuff.

"The Others see our hope as a weakness, but they're wrong"

                                                       Ratings: 0.5/5 stars 
                                                        but the book is 10/10

Maze Runner: The Scorch Trails: Movie Review

I've always been a the-book-is-better-than-the-movie kind of person until I watched the first Maze Runner movie. Wanting to have a better experience when I watch the other movies, I stopped myself from reading the second and third books afterwards because I didn't want to spoil the story for myself.

For once, the movie is better than the book.

And the second movie, The Scorch Trials didn't let me down.

I never really understood the feeling of 'oh this movie kept me at the edge of my seat' even though I used it quite a lot in my previous movie reviews. But for this movie review, I can finally say that it kept me at the edge of my seat because it really did. The actors, storyline, all-surround sound made me feel that I was in the movie. I was so engrossed in the movie that I thought that I was in the Scorch with Thomas and Minho, that I was clinging on my life for survival.

At times when the characters were running and parkouring around, it made me stomp on the ground because I thought I had to run for my life too. Though, it wasn't just the action scenes that were amazing. There were no boring and irrelevant scenes, not even when the actors were plain talking.

Let's not forget the amazing storyline with one mind-blowing plot twists after the other which really got me wondering what's going to happen next in the movie. The characters and story were developed so well that it could easily invoke emotions out of the audience (maybe just me but still ). Hope, despondency, anger, relief and fear. All these emotions welled up inside me as the movie played as if it was really happening to me

Although Maze Runner is a popular movie and I think it was just released, the cinema wasn't fully filled which is quite unexpected. Maybe it's because I have a liking for escape-and-survive stories such as Lorien Legacies so this post is 95% bias but for those who are Maze Runner fans, this movie will surely pump up your adrenaline even when you're seated down.

(ending off with my favourite character's poster)

"The Maze is one thing, but you' kids won't last one day in the Scorch" 

Ratings: 5/5 stars ★★★★★

The Lion Men: Movie Review

Just watched The Lion Men today. So glad I decided to watch it cause the last Jack Neo film I watched (Everybody's business) wasn't that nice.

But after I watched the trailer and realized that the actors are from the cast of Ah Boys to Men, I immediately dragged my family to watch it with me!

Unlike the Ah Boys to Men, this show has less like boring parts. And it was even funnier!

I like Noah in this movie. He's like really stupid... reminds me of myself :3

There were many scenes like the fighting parts and the lion dances made me anticipate what will happen and who will win. The lion dances are really nice and exciting. My sis kept her eyes closed during the competition cause she thought someone was gonna fall. (Not gonna tell if someone did~)

Tiger Crane 虎鶴

The other lion dance teams: Black Eagle 黑鷹 (I don't like this team)

and (omg I forgot the name), the lion dance group who combined hip hop and traditional lion dance!

This movie doesn't disappoints. You won't regret if you watch it ;)

~Happy Chinese New Year~

Ratings: 5/5 stars ★★★★★

"Please call us... the Lion Men!"