Pikachu doesn’t just talk, he’s got some sass. This particular Pokémon sure has evolved on the screen in ways we didn’t expect it to. In the first live-action film of the Pokémon series, moviegoers are allowed inside the head of the franchise’s undoubtedly most famous character—a cuddly yellow electric mouse. “Detective Pikachu” is essentially science fiction for kids—and, more importantly, kids at heart. That’s what makes this movie special. It transforms the wildest of fiction into some sort of reality—a reality generations of fans have longed to be part of. As it shows a world where the fauna are different Pokémon types, it does nothing but reinforce that longtime geeky wish to have Pokemon in real life.
Long lines in the cinemas. Cryptic status updates about the movie. Annoying people who think spoilers would make them cool. Rotten Tomatoes rating. These are only some of the things that a Marvel fan who hasn’t seen “Endgame” yet can feel frustrated about. Don’t worry, buddy, you’ll get your turn soon, and when you do I promise it’s one of the best [Marvel] films you’ve ever watched.
Here’s how you can prepare for an awesome movie experience:
Rewatch “Infinity War”
It’s been a year since Thanos’ snap made half of the population turn into dust, and you probably need to be reminded how our favorite heroes lost the most important battle of their lives. You need to go into the theaters angry, hopeless, and impossibly optimistic that the Avengers can pull off just one more miracle for the sake of its cinematic universe.
You have to revisit the exact same moment where the story was cut off to be completely immersed in “Endgame.”
Choose your movie buddies wisely
Like I have once said before, everyone has the right to enjoy “Endgame.” There are many of us who have been following this cinematic universe for half of our lives, but that doesn’t put us on a pedestal. It does, however, make it necessary for hardcore fans to choose their movie-going crowd. Watch it with people who you know will enjoy it and will spend time digesting the film with you afterwards. “Endgame” takes on deep (and lasting) emotional tolls, that even the best fan theorists would need at least a week to process a culmination of an iconic superhero era.
Eat a heavy meal
Eating inside the cinemas is simply a distraction.
Bring a pack of tissues. Or maybe two.
Take it from Chris Evans, who reportedly cried six times while watching the film—and he even knew what was going to happen. If you ask me, I only cried once but it lasted all throughout the film (but Thor and Ant-Man gave fleeting comic relief in between).
There are no after-credits scenes
Save your bladder and run your way to the restrooms. The film is extremely long (but will never be long enough for my Marvel-loving heart) and has no room for you to even blink. Every second of it is essential and there should be no one leaving the theaters for a quick visit to the loo. The Russo brothers have thought this through, believe me. While it goes against Marvel tradition, the rolling of credits straight into blackout doesn’t mess with the film’s glorious momentum.
If you ask me, maybe you can stay until you see the six original Avengers’ names on the screen. Even that can easily make you tear up.
Put eating a cheeseburger on your post-Endgame plans
It’s the ultimate comfort food you’ll be needing after watching this film. Trust me. Again, an American cheeseburger—and maybe a shawarma, too?
Save money for a second viewing
“Endgame” is the kind of movie you’d want to see again and again, even if that means you’ll go broke.
Photos courtesy of Marvel Studios. “Avengers: Endgame” is showing in cinemas nationwide.
There can only be a few words that can describe the magnitude of greatness “Endgame” turned out to be. I can do a mental search of adjectives to match the intensity of praise it requires and deserves, only to find myself with the most common phrase to tell all its fans: You have to see it for yourselves.
Now I can’t exactly say the Russo Brothers have outdone themselves, but they did hit every expectation every fan had going into the cinemas. “Endgame” is the only Avengers film where they have complete command of one’s attention and emotion with every single scene they have set on the screen. In a screwed up sense, Thanos’ snap did bring balance. “Endgame” brings forth the proper culmination a decade’s worth of films needed—finally.
The anticipation “Endgame” drew from the world is actually one that it deserves. It wouldn’t be owing its blockbuster numbers just because it’s some monumental piece—a celebration of a cinematic universe—much like “Infinity War” did. That one felt too much like a calculated move to bring every known hero together, a jumble of frustrating scenes only meant to be a setting piece.
Sure enough, the Avengers film that came before it gave its viewers thrilling and visceral action, and undeniably handed its fans devastating losses. But the thing is, it was meant to only give us exactly that—and did so only at the latter parts of that movie. It was made to be a cliffhanger and nothing more.
The gravity and core the story Marvel has patiently built lies in “Endgame.” Here, fans become witnesses to every fiber of humanity our heroes have (left) in them (except, of course, for Carol Danvers).
“I keep telling people to move on. Some do, but we don’t,” Captain America (Chris Evans) tells Natasha Romanoff (Scarlet Johansson) after half the population of Earth vanished. Loss lingers longer than we imagined. “Endgame” does not fail to explore how Thanos’ act affected the lives of those who survived it. Time has made one Avenger a drunk, and the other, a vigilante. The mix of guilt, grief, regret, and hunger for justice aren’t just part of the story, it is the story itself. It explores our heroes’ helplessness and the tone is bleak for the most part.
But that’s exactly why this movie thrives: It actually turns the focus on its characters. The interconnectedness of the realities to which they belong to is no longer the emphasis of the story. It dedicates itself to emotion, which covers new grounds that make us understand exactly what our heroes are made of—their insecurities, fears, and what they value. The very essence of this film is to wield the emotion that brings into balance the action “Infinity War” has shown. But that doesn’t mean “Endgame” doesn’t pull out one heck of a final battle. It does and it’s unlike any we’ve seen before—it’s pure heart-racing majesty on screen. Viewers are latched onto every character’s struggle to win and survive at all costs. It is a battle we’ve been groomed to be emotionally invested in all these years—it’s a movie that makes their triumph ours to claim as well.
Each discovery is climactic. Every part of it is as momentous as its end. Marvel even attempts to blend all the genres it has experimented with, retaining the humor most moviegoers familiar with thanks to films like “Guardians of the Galaxy,” “Ant-Man,” and “Thor: Ragnarok.” And perhaps these slapstick moments may be the only scenes that don’t bring you into tears.
In a way, “Endgame” is a lot like the movies we’ve already seen: Hope is taken when it is most needed, and brought back by the most likely of circumstances. But “Endgame” is everything a fan had hoped it would be: A great narrative that carves itself a place in the history of reels, and makes a home at the heart of contemporary pop culture.
“The Avengers” have gloriously gone full circle, where the beginning is only as meaningful as the end. Yes, by that I mean Tony Stark.
VINNY VERDICT: 5/5
Photos courtesy of Marvel Studios. “Avengers: Endgame” is showing in cinemas nationwide.
Yesterday’s biggest pop culture news kept me up all night: Netflix’s “Stranger Things” will be premiering globally on July 4. There will be eight episodes for this season.
But unlike the previous seasons that had us submerged into a grotesque alternate reality where nighttime seemed to be longer than any of the days, the show’s third installment is giving us a glimpse of a warm, adventure-filled (and soon-to-be-gone-wrong) summer. It’s so much more vibrant than we remember it to be, and even lets its characters embrace the bold and eccentric neon colors of the 80s.
The first ever Netflix-produced Korean drama requires you to pay attention to every second it plays on the screen. The story has enriched itself with details that is revealed in perfect and patient pacing—a narrative that is intensely gripping, heightening its viewers’ senses with the atrocious politics it tries to depict.
There’s no denying that “Kingdom” is indeed an addition to the long list of Korean period dramas. But what makes it different is its effort to build the political landscape of the era. While it shows a power struggle, it gives time to communicate the difficulty of the times, the frustration of the people, and the battle of politics versus philosophies.
The last time we saw Spider-Man on our screens, he immortalized this line: “Mr. Stark, I don’t feel so good.” But it seems like the young hero, along with half of the universe, was able to survive Thanos’ wipeout after all. Let’s be honest: We knew “Endgame” would undo the deaths of the film that came before it. But even in the out-of-this-world Marvel Cinematic Universe, shit like that change you (Cue “Iron Man 3”).
In the official trailer of “Far From Home,” we see Peter Parker (Tom Holland) packing for a trip to Europe with MJ (Zendaya), Ned (Jacob Batalon), and the rest of the gang. He decides to skip on his heroic duties on this vacation, but as Marvel fans know by now, the Avengers are such strong magnets to trouble.
We’re beyond excited to see how Jon Watts along with screenplay writers Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers have decided to continue this geeky and rookie chapter of the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. So far, its one and only trailer was dropped and we already have so many questions running in our heads. These are some of them:
Joe Goldberg and Peach Salinger aren’t exactly the best of friends in the Netflix adaptation of Caroline Kepnes’ bestselling novel, “You.” In fact, they’re the fiercest of competition.
The charming bookstore manager (played by Penn Badgley) falls in love with Beck (Elizabeth Lail), an aspiring and struggling writer. They first meet at Mooney’s, where Beck buys a copy of “Desperate Characters” after Joe’s recommendation. From their first interaction, Joe seems to be overly observant—alarmingly accurate, in fact—as he tries to interpret Beck’s flirtatious hints.
He soon meets Beck’s friends, and the Queen Bee of the group is none other than Peach Salinger (Shay Mitchell)—this extremely loaded Brown alumna, who also happens to be JD Salinger’s relative. First off, Joe isn’t exactly a fan of the “Catcher in the Rye” writer—just cause he thinks he can see straight through the phonies of his world (how ironic). He called Salinger’s readers pretentious. And that prejudice doesn’t really change towards the other Salingers of the show.
Last Tuesday, Jan. 15, the Greenbelt Gallery was completely surrounded by a swarm of fans—phones were held up in the air, with booming voices calling the attention of two Hollywood stars: Penn Badgley and Shay Mitchell.
The two star in what is proving to be Netflix's first global phenomenon of 2019, a thriller based on Caroline Kepner's "You." Its episodes were first released last Christmas, but it's undeniable that the show's popularity continues to rise.
Badgley asked the crowd for a show of hands, curious to see who were troubled by the character he was playing—Joe Goldberg. "Not too many, I see," he said. Fans then screamed they loved Joe. "You probably loved me playing as him," the 32-year-old actor joked.
Badgley revealed he didn't have that much fun as the lead, but only because it wasn't a type of character worth celebrating. "The scenes with Shay (playing Peach) were the most fun, the scenes with Paco were the most heartwarming, and the scenes with Beck were the most heartbreaking," Badgley shared.
According to Badgley and Mitchell, who plays Joe Goldberg and Peach Salinger respectively, "You" has been a meta experience to watch. The stars pointed out that the show touches a lot on how people nowadays project images of themselves and their lives online and, on the flipside, how social media is used as a tool for one to build their own perceptions of people.
But that's not all that makes it relevant and relatable—it's that underlying desire to connect and develop meaningful human relationships that is consistent among all its characters. Only for some of "You's" personalities, this desire is carried out to the extreme.
The 10-episode series centers on the charming Joe Goldberg. He's been tagged as the last nice guy in New York, a real score to anyone who fancies a guy who reads (and could give you a lecture on classic literature). But behind his unassuming and kind front is a troubled man, engulfed by his insecurities and outrageous fears.
Photo by Karl Hui for alike. This article was previously published by alike Media.
Stories of the walking dead aren’t at all new. It starts with an impossible endemic to stop, and we are all left to follow the survivors’ strife in a decaying city. But it was the South Korean film “Train to Busan” that introduced a new breed of zombies—ones that are lightning fast and blind in the dark—and, for our viewing pleasure, made a once worn out narrative exciting again.
South Korea clearly isn’t done telling its tales about these flesh-eating monsters, especially with the growing popularity of its thrillers internationally (among them “Okja,” “The Battleship Island,” and “The Prison”). And when you put the genre of historical drama and apocalyptic thrillers together, you’re sure to have a new show to binge-watch.
Netflix original “Kingdom” explores a new take on how period dramas are done—quite an ambitious undertaking for the streaming giant’s first-ever K-drama production. Well, the Joseon era had to have more problems than just the assassination of its emperors, right? In this horror series, the royal family is once again at the center of a power struggle, with the crown prince (played by Ju Ji-hoon) framed for treason.
Ju Ji-hoon plays the crown prince in Netflix’s newest horror series/Netflix
But here’s the unveiled twist:The prince also takes on a quest to uncover the origins of an infectious plague turning his subjects into the undead. His journey towards the truth is much rooted in familial redemption—because from what the trailer suggests, the king himself has become a monster of the palace.
Joseon is facing famine, but the unfruitful land isn’t just what strikes fear in the masses—now they are forced to satiate an evil hunger that lurks in the night.
“Kingdom” does seem to be cut from the same cloth as “Rampant,” a film by Kim Sung-hoon (the same man behind the famous movie with Gong Yoo as its lead actor), with its shared historical setting and the zombie narrative defying its dystopian archetype.
But one shouldn’t tag the series as an unoriginal concept. After all, the “Kingdom” unites two of Korea’s most compelling industry names—“Signal” screenplay writer Kim Eun-hee and “Tunnel” director Kim Seong-hun. The two industry greats are known for their exhilarating storytelling methods, often surprising fans and viewers alike with the unconventional and breathtaking twists they set.
All episodes will be available for streaming on Jan. 25 next year, and we know we’re putting this drama on our 2019 must-watch list!
