MOVIE REVIEW: The Great Wall

Legendary Chinese director Zhang Yimou's first English language feature is a spectacle. It is beautifully shot with excellent costumes and top notch production design. The hiring of A-list Hollywood superstar Matt Damon is a feat in himself and if I'm the Oscar winning actor/screenwriter, I say "Why not??" Yimou has an excellent filmography among them the visually outstanding spectacles Hero, House of Flying Daggers and Curse of the Golden Flower as well as my personal favorite the quiet and touching Not One Less which proved that he can also tell a story without the aid of visual effects.

There's a lot of stories of how the Great Wall of China was built and for what purpose. The film tackles one that's suitable for the big screen: to protect the land against the Taotie, a deadly lizard like beast with paranormal strength and ability. Matt Damon enters the picture as William, a mercenary caught just outside the wall with his companion Tovar played by Pedro Pascal from Game of Thrones. After the two have shown to the army that they have killed a Taotie and shown them a claw, they all have joined forces to fight the mythical monsters.
The Great Wall is the first collaboration of Legendary Pictures with it's Chinese partners and as a form of big screen entertainment. it's commendable. However with the amount of talents involved both from Hollywood (Damon, Pascal, Willem Dafoe and screenwriter Tony Gilroy among others) and the East (Andy Lau, Tian Jing and Yimou) it could have been better. There's something missing in its writing and despite the visual spectacle, the film is just like one of those CGI Hollywood films that lacks character and emotion.
U.S. President Donald Trump could learn a thing or two on how a wall no matter how tall or strong can still be invaded. Don't discount the element of surprise and teamwork of those who have been persecuted.

MOVIE REVIEW: The Lego Batman Movie

Lego continues to work wonders in the movie world with The Lego Batman Movie. Just like in the first film three years ago where the Caped Crusader was a part of the cast of familiar and endearing pop culture characters, the film is flooded with well known superheroes and villains in the DC and Warner Brothers film universe. Some expected and some will totally surprise you in a pleasant way.

The film begins in a style that echoes last year's excellent comic book movie Deadpool and yet it mocks rival Marvel with a password that put downs one of its famous characters that equals the same traits of Batman and his alter ego Bruce Wayne.

The voice actors from The Lego Movie led by Will Arnett as Batman still remain and unless you still remember the talents behind the voices in the film, you should definitely stay thru the end credits and it will fun knowing who the actors voiced, most especially the new characters that weren't around in the fist movie.

The Lego Batman Movie also pays homage to previous films starring the Caped Crusader and unlike the recent live action ones, this is one Batman movie that brought back the fun in the character that's prominent in the old animated TV series.