From director Bryan Singer and writer Simon Kinberg, X-Men: Apocalypse resurrects the first and most powerful mutant to do battle against the infamous X-Men.

Release Date: May 27, 2016
Writer: Simon Kinberg
Director: Bryan Singer
Cast: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Oscar Isaac, Nicholas Hoult, Rose Byrne

Since the dawn of civilization, the first mutant Apocalypse (Oscar Isaac) escaped death by moving his essence from mutant host to mutant host. With each transition, he would take on that mutant’s power. As he became more powerful, the humans around him would worship him as God.

That is until that last transition, when the human, who served him, revolted and was able to defeat Apocalypse. But defeat and death are two different things. For the next several millennia, efforts have been made to dig Apocalypse from his grave. All attempts unsuccessful…until the 1980’s.

It has been ten years since the events of X-Men: Days of Future Past. Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) has built a school out of his mansion home. Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) has been rescuing mutants from abuse and exploitation. In the process, she has become a hero to other mutants. Magneto (Michael Fassbender) has withdrawn into hidden seclusion with his new wife and daughter.

At the new school, Xavier gives each student a proper education and help in controlling his/her powers. With dreams of one-day uniting humans and mutants, Xavier is optimistic about the progress of his school. He is faced with some challenging students. Jean Grey (Sophie Turner) is a telepath, which is more powerful and more dangerous than Xavier. Scott Summers (Tye Sheridan) emits a dangerously powerful optic blast from his eye and needs help controlling it.

The students are now called prematurely into action when Apocalypse arrives and recruits his four horsemen: Angel (Ben Hardy), Psylocke (Oliva Munn), Storm (Alexandra Shipp) and yes…Magneto. After the betrayal of his friends and neighbors, Erik’s wife and daughter are killed. As Magneto, Erik joins Apocalypse to once and for all put an end to the reign of humans on Earth.

As you can see, there is a lot of story going on in X-Men: Apocalypse. This is also the main problem of the movie. In a superhero movie, audiences want action and except for a few minor set pieces, the action does not happen until the third act of the film. The first two acts hint at the powers of most characters, but it is really Xavier and Magneto who have the action. This action is McAvoy putting his fingers to his head and people doing what he says. Then there is Magneto with his hands in magicians pose while special effects happen around him.

If there is anything good about this X-Men movie, it is the final fight in the third act, when everyone’s powers are on display. This is the moment that the movie feels like a comic book. The exception is the horrible fights with Beast (Nicholas Hoult). It looks awkward and clumsy. The wire work just looks silly. The problem is you will have to sit through the first two acts to get there.

The early part of the film has good acting, over the top comic book drama, and a little too much humanizing the characters, so that we can relate to the story. You can tell the film still needed more exposition. It is still unclear, what Apocalypse’s powers are. The big cameo just at the end of the second act looks rather silly and a waste of the talent.

Again, my complaint is that we want to see mutant powers in action. It’s clear that Jennifer Lawrence is a big star…rightfully so. But as the chameleon, Mystique, she changes from maybe twice and is rarely ever in her blue makeup. Is this the perk of being a big star. Kodi Smit-McPhee is cool as my favorite X-Men, Nightcrawler. There is a lot of teleporting. Thank you, Bryan Singer. Evan Peters also returns as Quicksilver with a scene that almost tops the slow-motion segment in Day of Future Past. Nice try, Bryan Singer.

By no means, is X-Men: Apocalypse a great X-Men movie. It is barely a good one. By no means, is it as bad as Superman v. Batman. With the strides that Marvel Studios and Disney have brought to the superhero genre, we expect better from a team that is rich in amazing source material.

6 out of 10 stars

From writer/director Shane Black, The Nice Guys is a fun comedy thriller returning the fun the buddy films that has been missing since his first movie, Lethal Weapon.

Release Date: May 20, 2016
Writer: Shane Black, Anthony Bagarozzi
Director: Shane Black
Cast: Russell Crowe, Ryan Gosling, Angourri Rice, Matt Bomer

Taking place in 70’s Los Angeles, where the smog keeps its citizens indoors, and the gas shortage keeps them from leaving, two private investigators search for a missing girl, Amelia (Margaret Quailey), who doesn’t want to be found.

Holland March (Ryan Gosling) is a real private investigator hired by the mother of a murdered porn star to find her daughter after she sees her two days after her death. As a former cop, March takes small jobs from elderly seniors to support his daughter, Holly (Angourie Rice). Jauckson Healy (Russell Crowe) wants to be a private investigator, but realizes that he is more valuable as a hired thug. Healy is hired by Amelia to stop March from finding her.

Shane Black tells a fantastic story of these two unlikely PI’s. It is clear that director Black likes to play against type. As March, Gosling appears to be the goody-two-shoes and straight-laced investigator, but he has problems with drinking and literally stumbles into the important clues. As the hired thug, Crowe plays Healy as the healvy, who wants nothing to do with the immature behavior of March.

Black is at his best by keeping audiences on its toes. Little mundane details at the beginning of the movie play a role in complicating. Black also likes to play against tropes and The Nice Guys becomes a series of mishaps that work together to solve the big case. Never knowing exactly where the movie is going next makes The Nice Guys the fun thriller to see this year.

Angourie Rice is fantastic as March’s daughter Holly. She is constantly in danger or constantly puts herself in danger and has the maturity to get out of tough situations. Although, this movie makes March a really bad father by all of the time his daughter is captured or almost killed.

Humorous moments come from the banter between March and Healy. It also comes from the fact that their plans of solving this case ever work the way they think.  The Nice Guys will hopefully find its way to becoming Black’s next franchise movie. Please let a sequel be in the works.

8 out of 10 stars

Comfort is a sweet romantic comedy about a courier who gets mixed up with the daughter of his company’s most important client. Comfort is one of the funniest entries at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival.

2016 Los Angeles Asian American Film Festival
Writer/Director: William Lu
Cast: Chris Dinh, Julie Zhan, Kelvin Han Yee, Billy ‘Sly’ Williams

Comfort has a unique premise to cross into the rom-com genre in a while. Cameron (Chris Dinh) is a courier in Los Angeles with dreams of becoming a chef. Cameron suffers from Xeroderma Pigmentosum, a disease that causes extreme sensitivity to the sun’s ultraviolet rays. Like a vampire, Cameron can only exist during the night.

Cameron’s boss, Eddie (Billy ‘Sly’ Williams) needs him to make an important delivery for his best client, Martin (Kelvin Han Yee), the King of Hot Sauce. Martin asks Cameron for a favor. He needs Cameron to pick up his daughter Jasmine (Julie Zhan) at LAX, because he has to stay late to finish an important hot sauce ad campaign. Cameron, in turn, gives Jasmine a late night tour of Los Angeles. Soon a friendship and romance develop.

Comfort walks that fine line between romance and schmaltz. Comfort saves itself with a well-disciplined story from William Lu and good acting.  Writer/Director William Lu manages to capture discussions of love, life and romance that feels real. There’s a lot of sweet comedy set in the landscape of late night Los Angeles.

As an Asian-American myself, I’m also excited to see good acting and the cast of Comfort is fantastic, funny and real. As the film’s lead, Chris Dinh and Julie Zhan are so likable that you cannot help but root for them to find romance. Chris’ performance is subdued and low key with a subtext of a dreamer. Julie is sweet, attractive and plays as Cameron’s inspiration to reach his dreams.

7 out of 10 stars

Captain America: Civil War manages to do everything Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice failed to do. That tells a fantastic story involving way too many superheroes and introduce new characters in a meaningful and exciting way.

Release Date: May 6, 2016
Writer: Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely
Director: Joe & Anthony Russo
Cast: Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr., Anthony Mackie, Scarlett Johansson

Similar to the Marvel Comics event that pitted hero against hero, Captain America: Civil War pits Captain America (Chris Evans) against Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) in a physical and moral battle. After the events of Avengers: Age of Ultron, the United Nations demand that all powered humans register with their governments and submit to its authority as well.

Iron Man is for hero registration because even the most powerful hero needed to be kept in check and held responsible for collateral damage when acting alone. Captain America is for civil liberties and can not submit to a government agency, especially when lives are at stake.

A crisis occurs when the debate over the matter is interrupted when a bomb is set off next to the U.N. Headquarters. The explosion kills many including the leader of Wakanda, King T’Chaka (John Kani). Video footage shows that the bomb was set by the Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan). The U.S. decides to engage supporting heroes to capture and even kill the Winter Soldier. This includes the new hero, Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman), who decides to avenge the death of his father.

Captain America knows that if the Winter Soldier did set the bomb, he did not do it of his own free will. In fact, a new villain reveals himself in the shadows, Zemo (Daniel Bruhl). Zemo was the one who reactivated the Winter Soldier and turned him once again into a killing machine. Zemo is intent on bringing down an empire and his plan involves finding the secret lab that created ten other Winter Soldiers.

Teams have been formed. Team Iron Man consists of Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Vision (Paul Bettany), Black Panther, War Machine (Don Cheadle) and amazingly Spider-Man (Tom Holland) (pun intended). Team Captain America is Falcon (Anthony Mackie), Ant-Man (Paul Rudd), Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner).

Captain America: Civil War features three amazing chase/battle scenes. The ultimate battle between the heroes at an airport feel like it leaps directly from a comic book. It’s fun and incredible. The final battle between Captain America and Iron Man is both sad and satisfying.

The tight story from Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely makes this long movie feel like you want more. It succeeds in so many ways. First, Let’s face it, this movie has a lot of heroes and it’s easy to be lost in the sauce, but every character has a moment to shine, not only in battle but as individual characters.

Second, the story introduces two characters: Black Panther and Spider-Man. Both characters make a bold statement in the movie. Black Panther is a prince avenging the death of his father as well as donning the new responsibility as the leader of a nation. His motivations of anger are justified and his character arc leaves you excited for the upcoming Black Panther movie.

Spider-man is also interesting in the sense that he really isn’t needed in the movie. Clearly, he was added because Marvel wanted to show off that they have Spider-Man back in the Marvel fold. The movie could have done without Spider-Man. Give credit to Markus and McFeely, they tell the Spider-Man story in a way that is fun and exciting. Tom Holland brings an element of Spider-Man that we haven’t seen in the other films and that’s Peter Parker’s need to constantly comment and make smart remarks throughout an entire fight. His moments with Tony Stark are hilarious, especially the moment that Stark makes Peter admit the kid is “Spider-Man.”

Zemo, played by Daniel Bruhl, is one of the most understated villains so far. Without throwing a punch or threatening to destroy the world, his actions are slowly revealed and the impact of his plan is everything you expect from a villain. He is the reason Captain America and Iron Man fight to the death, making him one of the best villains in the MCU, even though you’ll forget Zemo when you walk out of the movie.

Making a movie like Captain America: Civil War has challenges that need to be faced or the movie will fail. Under the direction of Anthony and Joe Russo, those challenges are met from beginning to end. These challenges include the problem of too many heroes. Everyone has a moment to shine. The reason for the heroes to battle one another are solid and make sense. There is no clear hero. Both Iron Man and Captain America is morally right to do what they are doing and you find yourself shifting back-and-forth regarding who is right. Also a story that has as many holes plugged up as possible.

Captain America: Civil War is the best Marvel movie to date, but it clearly could not have been great without the films before it. Solid story and stunning action pieces with an ambiguous sense of right and wrong make this film the one you see over and over again.

10 out of 10 stars

Based on J. G. Ballard novel of the same name, High-Rise, observes life for the residents of a high tower run out of control.

Newport Beach Film Festival – 2016
Writer: Amy Jump
Director: Ben Wheatley
Cast: Tom Hiddleston, Jeremy Irons, Sienna Miller, Elisabeth Moss

High Rise, I think, is an allegory about class warfare. It’s a very strange movie, and I’ll describe it as best as I can. Dr. Robert Liang (Tom Hiddleston) is a upper-middle class doctor that moves into a futuristic high rise building. The building is an essentially a self-contained country. The rich and affluent live on the higher floors while the poor live on the lower floors. Living on the penthouse level is the architect of the building, Royal (Jeremy Irons), who designed the entire project.

The beginning of the movie, everyone starts moving into their individual apartments. The high rise has its own market, workout room and every amenity imaginable. But quickly things start to fall apart. Liang first attends a party by the lower middle-class residents. Not to be outdone, the rich decide to throw an even better party.

As the movie progresses, documenting a three-month period of time, the society within the high-rise begins to deteriorate. Food becomes scarce, the electricity and water fail and garbage begins to pile up. The upper-class bunker into their floor and the lower class wonder why nothing is improving. Or at least, that’s what I think is happening.

I am absolutely baffled by this movie. Clearly the film is some kind of statement about class warfare, but I can’t really tell you what that statement is. It is based on a popular novel that I have not read, but I’m sure many people have. I should have to read a book to understand a movie.

The main problem a film has when it’s hard to follow. It gets boring fast. I start looking at the clock. I keep hoping this act is the last act. But the end doesn’t come, and I am forced to endure more torture.

The movie is littered with strange and odd images. Visually, the high-rise appears as a sleek modern building of today, but over time, the building deteriorates. Halls are littered with trash and the ungodly. Even food becomes moldy, and water becomes cloudy.

The strange thing is I hear laughter, and I see people who are enjoying this movie. I begin to wonder, am I just too stupid to enjoy this film? Then paranoia sets in, and I wonder if the movie is making fun of me.

I love Tom Hiddleston, and I am a fan of Jeremy Irons. They are good actors and light up the screen. It was probably the only thing that helped me get to the finish line that is the ending of this movie.

I’ll just come out and say it. I didn’t get this movie, and if there was a point or commentary about life and class warfare, it was lost.

4 out of 10 stars