Movie Review: Captain America: Civil War

THERE ARE SOME SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

Hello readers,

It was 7.03pm when I started typing out this post and I just got back from JEM. As you can tell, I just watched Captain America: Civil War and honestly it is one of the Marvel's best films out there. The film assembled with Chris Evans as the titular character and some familiar faces including Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark/Iron Man, Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow and Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier.

Captain America: Civil War is a thought-provoking film on the good and bad side of being a hero. If you could recall the moments in Avengers: Age of Ultron, Avengers and Captain America: Winter Soldier, then it wouldn't be a problem when references were made in this film. Because of the recent events, the government and the United Nations decided that there must be guidelines and law needed to contain The Avengers. Thus, Sokovia Accords was born.

The story begins from here when the audience were shown the breakdown of The Avengers, especially between Captain America and Iron Man. As righteous as we know Captain America, his refusal to sign the bill caused a riff in the Avengers since everyone listened to his orders most of the time. On the other hand, Iron Man is one of those superheroes whom the public knows in and out and was filled with guilts, especially the recent Avengers event.

Besides the different sides of Captain America and Iron Man, this film also introduced two new superheroes including Black Panther and the long awaited Spider-Man. Black Panther was different from the rest of the cast members. He does not stand on any side and all he wanted to seek revenge for his father after allegedly killed by The Winter Soldier.

In my opinion, there was no good or bad. Both Captain America and Iron Man saw each other as wrong. Iron Man did what he could because he wanted to protect his people and was feeling remorse for his actions. His arrogance was the factor that led him to be a hot-headed person and it was evident when he refused to listen out that The Winter Soldier was innocent and harmed anyone who was in his way. Captain America has his fault too because of his friendship with Bucky Barnes. He spent almost the whole time in the film, trying to reach out for Bucky, despite what he had done as the Winter Soldier. The rest of the cast members were just standing with different side because of either benefits or ideologies.

Throughout Captain America: Civil War, the film was brilliantly written in bringing out the 'VS' kind of stuff and was on another level than Batman Vs Superman: Dawn of Justice. The villain was a jerk and it reminded us, people, that not all villains are people with abilities or anything. He was just a normal guy whose sadness and anger consumed him to the point he decided to mess up the Avengers for his agenda: vengeance. Like what I said, this film is a thought-provoking film and it really does reflect on real life. I totally liked the idea of bringing Ant Man and Spider-Man into the equation. They made the film more lively and vibrant (check out Ant Man's new ability!).

In conclusion, if you haven't watch Captain America: Civil War, I recommend you should. This film is one of best (emotional thought-provoking) by Marvel Studios and I look forward to seeing how the Russo Brothers proceed from here.

Ratings: 10/10

P.S. There are two ending credits scenes in this film. Also, any Steve and Bucky shippers out there, what's with the helicopter scene? I swear Bucky was smirking at Steve.

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PFP@RP Orientation Day Camp

Hello readers,

For the past two days, I went for Republic Polytechnic's Polytechnic Foundation Programme (PFP) Orientation Day Camp. I decided to compose a post for this camp because I think it is rare for anyone to actually come out and talk about this. There was a similar post by someone dated back in 2013 but those experiences were different from now.

For Day 1, I remembered waking up at 6am to meet up with my secondary school friend and classmate at 7.10am. We wanted to take either Bus 963 or 966 to Woodlands Interchange, but it was funny how 966 often showed up more times than 963. The programme started 8.30am and you must be wondering why we have to there early? That was because we have to register ourselves at 8.15am. At the registration, the student leader will asked you for your identity card which is your Ezlink concession card or NRIC card. He/she will also then asked for your shirt size which is important because you would collect your PFP shirt the next day. At first, I was puzzled over the size of the shirt because I barely know what shirt size I wear and so I just used my previous CampTeen experience as a gauge since I believed that the shirt was going to be same material and style as that. All these process and waiting took place at Agora Halls 1, if you are wondering.

When I said the programme started at 8.30am, I meant that all the students were to gather themselves in their respective group. Everyone in the programme were split into six groups with each having 25 members and of course, different superheroes' planet or cities name. I was placed in the last group and it was called Themyscira, Wonder Woman's home planet. Other group names include Atlantis, Gotham and Asgards. In the group, we introduced ourselves, followed by talks (National Youth Achievement Award and school matters) and then several games that involved running and tripping if you are not as active like myself. Almost all the games in Day 1 were tiring and challenging because I am seldom active and the last time I had physical education lesson was back in Secondary Four...

I remembered spending the whole morning playing all the games including Dog & Bone and Trees & Squirrels (?). We only had lunch at roughly 12.30pm and I can honestly tell you that if you can't finished your food, then you better don't forced yourself. The portion of my rice (I took vegetarian dietary) was huge and with all due respect, the lunch made my stomach very filling. After the lunch, my group went to the Adventure Learning Centre in the hot, sunny afternoon at 2 something. I didn't take part in walking on the obstacles in the air because I was afraid of heights and didn't want to conquered it, so I just watched some group members did and it wasn't that easy.

I don't remember what I did after the adventure learning centre, except the student leaders asking everyone to do some breakdown along with the song, Turn Down For What.

Now I shall talk about Day 2 which unlike the Day 1 which ended at 6pm, Day 2 ended roughly around 7pm. I went with the same person to Republic Polytechnic and followed by my group again playing games including Captain Balloon and this Sumo-like Ball rolling and knocking opponents out. I really enjoyed that Sumo game because it was the only time where every members in the group were equally weakened by the huge sumo-ball costume and also I liked to knock down my opponents with it. It was fun knocking down my opponents and especially because my team won the first round, I managed to do again for second round!

At 1.10pm, everyone in Agora Halls 1 have lunch until 2pm. My lunch was again fried rice and some spring rolls and curry veggies. This time, the lunch was better than the first one. I forgotten to mention that the lunch provided in this orientation camp also provided fruits too! Day 1 was a red apple and Day 2 was a yellow pear. At 2pm to nearly 3pm, all the groups have group cheer competition and no, my group didn't won.

Things get more interesting from 3pm to 4.45pm. Around 3pm, we managed to know our own respective class and sadly, the people that you make friends with in the group would either be with you in the same class or different class. On the positive note, almost everyone will have lessons in the same block. After this, everyone gotten their PFP shirt and we were told to get ourselves changed into the shirt. We then were split into our respective classes and were briefed on how to understand and read our own timetable.

Speaking of respective classes, we were able to meet the in-charge of various schools in Republic Polytechnic. I am from the School of Infocomm (SOI) and hence, I joined the group of students fro the same school as me. There were less than or equal to ten students when I sat with them. The in-charge of SOI talked about the school, what he does, polytechnic rules and what would we expect before and after PFP. He even said, "I would see you guys next year".

From 4.45pm to 7pm, everyone attended the previous PFP batch's graduation ceremony. It was filled with guess who quizzes and two duet performances. After the ceremony, there was a buffet served but I decided to went home with my two new friends I made in the group because I was tired and I just missed my home.

In conclusion, I enjoyed myself during the two days and I was surprised by the fact that I managed to find new friends there and at least talk to most of the people. The orientation camp was different from most camps I took part in and I would say it was the best thing I ever went. I am having aches on every part of my body, so you can say either I did nothing during the holidays or the activities were vigorous and active.

I have mixed feelings for what is coming next week because of my newly assigned class and I have no idea what to expect. Saddest part of my timetable was first lesson of Monday is physical education from 8.30am to 10am. Nevertheless, going to the orientation camp and even collecting PFP shirt was the best thing that ever happened since CampTeen.

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Movie Review: Batman Vs Superman: Dawn of Justice

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SOME SPOILERS.

Hello readers,

I am here today to talk about Batman VS Superman: Dawn of Justice, a sequel to the 2013's Man of Steel and also served as an introduction for both Wonder Woman and Batman. I wrote a review on the previous film three years ago and if you are interested in reading, you can click here. Batman VS Superman: Dawn of Justice starred Henry Cavil as the usual (Superman/Clark Kent), Ben Affleck as Batman/Bruce Wayne, Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman/Diana, Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor and Amy Adams as Lois Lane.

The film took an interesting take on superheroes, whether or not do the people actually wanted Superman as their God, the saviour to the city. You see, some people don't feel the same. The audience were shown the previous fight between General Zod and Superman, an epic fight if I remembered and how ferocious the battle was with Superman being thrown from buildings to buildings. Chaos running about in the city as the ordinary people tried to get themselves to safety and it was this segment where we first saw Bruce Wayne, being in a hurry to get to his Wayne Enterprises as quick as possible by car (just after the helicopter landed). If you didn't watched the previous film, then it would be likely you would find yourself a little confused how did the story even started with a fight or something.

Batman VS Superman: Dawn of Justice also finds the two heroes, having different perspective and a heavy misunderstanding that occurred 18 months after the film ended. Both heroes' similarities are they are good people trying to keep their cities safe from any danger and each individual thought the other to be dangerous to the public. Besides, the only antagonist in this film is Lex Luthor. Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor was rather disturbing and a little disappointing. I don't remembered Lex being such a sociopath or a psychotic maniac. In my opinion, if Jesse was going to act like that for Lex Luthor, then someone should actually give him another DC Comics villain instead.

Unlike Man of Steel, the storyline for this film was all over the place. The story was inconsistent at the beginning and it felt like the scenes were selected and edited just for the sake of the film duration of 2 hours and 31 minutes. From time to time, the film consistently changed from one genre to another. I felt at times I was watching a romantic film and sometimes a mystery film. Overall, I am saying that the storyline could have been better plotted.

I have no problem with the leading heroes' performances, especially Ben Aflleck as Batman/Bruce Wayne. Three years ago, there were backlashes on Ben as the casting choice for the famous DC Comics character and worst of all, there was even a petition for it. I wasn't disappointed with Ben's performance in Batman VS Superman: Dawn of Justice, in fact he actually nailed the character. Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman was also impressive too. 

In conclusion, Batman VS Superman: Dawn of Justice could have been better in terms of storyline. I did enjoyed the ending where the three heroes fought together against Doomsday and also the tease of the three upcoming superheroes. I look forward to watching Justice League when the time comes and Batman and Wonder Woman's own spin-off. Nevertheless, the film was still worth watching.

Ratings: 5/10

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