A Big Tale from a Small Hero, A movie review of Marvel's Ant-ManAnt

This is my first movie review, and I apologize beforehand on the things I will say, after all this is my view or opinion and take on the subject matter, and there will  be some movie spoilers along the way, for those not interested, you may feel to check my old posts by hitting the previous posts button.

Ant-Man, July 17

Ant-Man is one rollercoaster ride, like every roller coaster, has slow build of an introduction, as it brings us to introducing us to Hank Pym, a younger version of Michael Douglas, and yes it’s pretty amazing how CGI gave his Wall Street looks.  In which a flashback scene of showcases how dangerous his technology can be to a greed hungry corporate board, sounds familiar? Yep, it sounds like the tone of Iron Man, in which if the technology falls in the wrong hands means disaster, and that’s what the movie is all about, having someone prevent someone from taking this tech in the wrong hands, that’s where Paul Rudd comes into play, as he plays the expendable, from zero to hero, becomes the guy that Michael Douglas hires – and yes this is how the movie build itself rollercoaster ride to the pattern to a Marvel hit – it isn’t so bad, as it delivers wit, humor and action that leaves anyone at awe, it also takes us to a perspective of how it is to be small, much better than Honey, I shrunk the kids. In this ride, as it climbs up to its climax it drops so quick, so fast and as it goes down, you wish it won’t end, because the thrill is just so unbearable, and as the ride stops, you just want more. And that’s what this movie delivered – a ride of cool action sequences, and a sweet father-daughter moment. I don’t want to give any detail further more on how Evangeline Lily’s character is, but to those comic book readers, you know by now who she is.

Ant-man may have deviated much a lot from the comic book version, but after all this is the Marvel Cinematic Universe, in which its intent is to cater the people who has not read the comics. It was pleasant take, in which the characters live up who they are suppose to be, from egos, to tempers, it was just spot on.

The Marvel universe is expanding, as it slowly rolls to Phase 2 by the release of Ant-Man, this super hero flick is post Avengers 2: Age of Ultron, so do expect major cameos. To those who are into knowing Ant-Man by comic origin, feel free to check this (Source: http://wikia.com/Henry_Pym_(Earth-616) ). As I have mentioned, Ant-Man is slowly becoming part of the ever growing Marvel Universe, as it slowly tries to be a piece itself and be part of it as we know the Civil War is coming- who’s side will he be on?

So my take away, Ant-Man, is indeed a Big Tale from a small hero, but don’t let this size fool you. I give it 3 ½ out of 5. 

three conventions and a delayed photoshoot

It has been pretty a long time since I wrote something in my blog, and I still feel the falling out from a colleague who helped me get to where I am at. A lot has happened over the course of the month itself, tragic or joy – thankful that I got through. May, was a busy month, where I was able to attend three cosplay conventions from Saturday to Sunday to the end of the month, and tried to pull off a photo shoot in the same but got delayed due to unforeseen things.

 I never realized how much the month of may drained me, that to this very day I still felt never so tired – never again will I do something like this but down the line I had fun.

April, O-Kun Fiesto

Nica, Nexcon

Shion Goddess, Animax

On the 16^th of May I attended the O-Kun Fiesta which was held in the SMX of SM Mall of Asia, sad to say the event pretty much disappointed me, in which I felt the event proper felt flat – I got bored right away where I took a few shots and left home early. Maybe it was the crowd that got to me or maybe it was the lack of sleep, which I think I had only 3 hours of – I came in to see two of my daughters, April and Yuriko, and did a small shoot with some friends that I knew who were present in the area. I was pretty much convinced that I will not go the event the day after which was Nex Con, but sure enough with a few tugs from Vincent aka No-face and Nica, I surprised myself by boarding the cab heading out to the function rooms of SM Aura. With all the cosplay events I have attended, I have never gone to something that felt organized and clean with Nex Con. Though the cosplayers wore western influenced characters such as the likes of TV series the Game of Thrones to Lord of the Rings to DC Comics characters – it was fun. More so that Vincent and I helped opened the 2^nd day to the event with  a game called Face Palm the Music, in which we had to guess the theme or song by face palming a human buzzer. I lost by one, because we had to spin around before buzzing… I lost to “Mortal Kombat”.  And my friends, this is how I humiliated myself with loads of people, but I can't stop smiling from then on.  I had a number of shots, from shooting a gang load of Daenarys attacking a Tyrell, to seeing the New 52 Joker harassing a Batman mannequin, to bumping in person the famous Jin and Tadashi cosplayers, and scream my lungs out on a Lip Synch battle in support of people who I just met. I went home late with a smile as oppose to O-kun.

The very next week I had to go to BGC for a photo shoot I organized with inked friends, unfortunately I had to postpone due to having one of my models not feeling so well that day. I was pretty much tired, I didn’t want to go to any other events until my officemate the cosplayer, Shion Goddess pushed me to attending Animax which was on the 31^st of May. To be honest, I never wanted to go and support Alodia events because I felt cheated on overpriced tickets and felt it was not worth m time – but it was Shion Goddess’ return, I had to pay my respects and help get her career going – thinking nothing could top the experience and fun I had with Nex Con, the event of Animax was rather almost as par, same chaos though, but meeting colleagues like my idol Sir Christian Mack, seeing my old model Ysa, meeting up with Cjaze and others I had a decent amount of fun. From the cheesy lanyard I got from the ticket to laughing my ass off seeing Shion Goddess try to grab a soda, and ended up almost half an hour or so because the fanatics just can’t stop admiring and take a shoot of her, to having mysef just chilling and having a good time without stressing myself too much.

Maybe I should keep on having this mentality of not stressing myself too much on the next cosplay events – and just really feel and rock the vibe of people and meet new friends. I am ever grateful to all of the time I have had – it helped me overcome the depression I had along the way, especially dealing with my Mom’s cancer and work performance blues… I hope the momentum keeps on going. 

it just gets better

A friend recently posted on her Facebook wall, the Thai Film, "It Gets Better", reckons it's good movie, a comedy and tragedy of the third sex, that she tells everyone to watch. When I heard about this, I can't help but be curious to go up to my laptop and tried to check out all the torrent sites that I know and try to download myself a bootleg copy of it - I ended up watching via YouTube, and caught myself immersed to a life, full of color - and can't help but remember my past.

Basically, it's a film that tells 3 stories, and how it slowly intertwines each other into one large tale - From a son dancing off to his dead mother's clothes, caught by his father and was sent to exile to a Buddhist monastery in hopes that will straighten his ways; A story of a post-op transsexual, visiting a province, with a shady past; And, a son goes home from abroad to visit his late dad's lady boy cabaret bar, in making the biggest decision of his life, to continue the legacy of his father, or end up closing the bar for the money.

To begin with, this movie isn't for everybody - the reason why I watched it in the first place, is how I remember my two relationships - I had who were transgenders, one lasted for more than 4 years and the other just for 9 months. The other reason why I watched it, is that I am a sucker for unconventional love stories, that's why I dig movies like What Dreams May Come, If I Stay, The Vow, My Sassy Girl and Miracle in Cell No. 37. When I meant the movie isn't for everybody - it's because It's all about the third sex, if you are homophobic, and all you can think Brokeback Mountain moments is the most horrible thing you've seen, and Boys Don't Cry made you cringe, then this is not for you. It's a movie meant for the open minded, to people who believe or see love has no borders, to fathers and sons trying to find acceptance and to people who just are as crazy as I am who enjoy watching movies that make you feel vulnerable and see humanity at it's purest.

It Gets Better, 2012

After going through an hour and forty minutes, seeing how these stories, mold itself - I enjoyed watching it because the story is simple, where scenes doesn't distract ones eye, and the dialogue is not over exaggerated - the story itself doesn't fill with impossibility but could happen to any one, one can immerse and feel one's shoes, it will drive you to feel confused as they were, to question your own existence as they did, to go and empathize. After watching it, feels like you've gone to a whirlwind of emotion - it shows how finally transgenders are not meant always portrayed for comic relief, this movies shows that they are human beings, and they don't deserve labels, that they bleed like we do and from a guy's point of view things become more clearer.

So to wrap things up, of good color and good story, I like the twists and turns on how these became one good solid movie, I even learned that this movie was released on Valentine's Day 2012.  So Must I feel this Good for this flick - Definite a Heart warmer for this Summer Season, 4.5 out of 5.