Zulfahmi Ab Salam: 2014

2014 movie

The Hunger Games : Mockingjay Pt 1 (2014)

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) was saved from the grasp of The Capitol & President Snow during the Quarter Quell by District 13 allies. Panem was in chaos as citizens of most districts rose in rebellion & The Capitol retaliated. Civil War broke out. Katniss was asked to join the crusade by being the Mockingjay - a symbol of hope & rebellion.

Honestly, this movie for me is a bit of a let down. I feel that it's a mistake making it two parts because it felt draggy and there are no climax and closure. It felt incomplete. But of course, fuck the viewers. What's more important is money making. That's how Hollywood roles.

The book version of Mockingjay is awesome. It's about Katniss dealing with her trauma... Okey, not just Katniss. All of the tributes too. Besides that, it is also about war. The effects of war. The reality of war. The strategy, the suspense, the fast paced guerilla warfare.

So, I was expecting more out of the movie. Maybe it's me being selfish but I expect more action out of it. I was expecting, if not an all out, at least a short and engaging battle of Katniss and The Capitol troops. Instead, the only action in this movie is the scene shown in the trailer - the part when Katniss shot down two jets using an arrow.

They only show the first part of the book. The emotional parts. The trauma of Quarter Quell. By the way, Katniss... I mean, Jennifer Lawrence did an amazing job as war torn Katniss.

The thing that I love the most about the character Katniss is that she is realistic. She's not super woman. She's human. Heck, she's not even military trained. She's just a normal citizen caught up in war. She falls, she stumbles, she falls again and then struggles to stand back on her feet. When she was offered to be the Mockingjay, she didn't straight away agree and get into character like what most protagonists would.

Jennifer Lawrence portrays the human side of Katniss so well and that's why I love her.

This movie is also about the politics and propaganda of war. They tried to make the mind games and strategic offence and defence between the Capitol and District 13 engaging but I just don't feel the vibe. Meh. Boring.

All in all, like I mentioned before, this movie is draggy and incomplete. Booo Hollywood. Katniss is awesome though.

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2014 movie

Big Hero 6 (2014)

Monday, December 29, 2014

Hiro Hamada (Ryan Potter) was a 14 year old robotics genius who loved robot fighting & planned on becoming a professional robot fighting contender. His brother, Tadashi (Daniel Henney) felt that Hiro was wasting his talents & tried to convince him to enrol himself into a university. In his effort to do so, Tadashi brought Hiro to the university science lab, introduced him to his friends; Fred (TJ Miller), Gogo Tomago (Jamie Chung), Wasabi (Damon Wayans Jr.) and Honey Lemon (Genesis Rodriguez), and Baymax (Scott Adsit), an inflatable personal healthcare companion robot. Then, a tragic accident happened & it drove Hiro to upgrade Baymax with advanced armor, weapons & combat skills so that he could find out what really happened.

I was pretty excited about this movie because it's an end product of a collaboration between Disney and Marvel. To be honest, I've never heard of Big Hero 6 comics before they announced the movie. I'm more of a DC fan. I'm excited because if this movie succeeds, it can be the first one to many Marvel Disney collabo. Just imagine, 3D animated Avengers movie. That would be awesome. Hehe. Maybe I'm being quite optimistic there.

Anyway, the movie is good. Disney has been producing and releasing so many great animations such as Lion King, Hercules, Frozen, Toy Story, Monsters, Inc. and many more. Most of them are enjoyed not just by kids but they also cater for adult viewers. How do they do that? How do they attract grown ups? Well, they incorporated the feels. Yeah, the feels. I felt so emotional while watching a few parts of Big Hero 6. One of them is that time when Hiro discovered video recordings of Tadashi working on Baymax. That particular scene just touched me. That's what great about Disney movies. The emotional roller coaster makes most of their movies memorable.

Did I mention roller coaster? Yes I did, did I? It's a roller coaster because there aren't just sad, emotional moments. There are incredibly fun and yet moving moments such as when Hiro took Baymax for a flight test. That scene is amazing. It's one of the key moments of Hiro emotionally connecting with Baymax.

Furthermore, the graphics are amazeballs. Breathtakingly beautiful. I love how they portray the inside of the teleportation portal the most. So many colours and yet so hypnotising.

Character designs and concepts are also great. I love the advanced armour, weapons and costumes. They all go together so well with the various personalities. I'm sure all viewers walked out of the cinema having at least one favorite character. Mine's Honey Lemon. I'm into skinny, bubbly girl.

The biggest star is of course, Baymax. He's so cute and funny but definitely formidable when equipped with his combat equipments. From farting noises and awkward movements to high speed flying and dangerous karate moves. Baymax is indeed a charmer. One of the keys of this movie success is how they manage to give a soul to a soulless robot.

When it comes to Marvel, of course people would expect superhero action! The actions are very astonishing, suspenseful and well elaborated.

If I want to nitpick, then I would definitely go for the predictable story line. However, it's a minor disadvantage because the theme, the action, the cute characters are able to cover it.

All in all, Big Hero 6 is a must watch for kids. It's awesome. I would also recommend it to adults because even though it's not mind blowing, it's still a movie we all can enjoy. I'm 27 and I enjoyed it very much.