Tiger & Bunny: The Rising

Synopsis: Kotetsu T. Kaburagi, a.k.a. Wild Tiger, and Barnaby Brooks Jr.’s partnership comes to a sudden end when Apollon Media’s new owner Mark Schneider fires Kotetsu and moves Barnaby back into the First League, pairing him up with Golden Ryan, a new hero with awesome powers and a huge ego to match. When the heroes are sent to investigate a string of strange incidents tied closely to the city’s Goddess Legend, they discover three superpowered NEXTs plotting to bring terror and destruction to Stern Bild. [Source: Cathay Cineplexes]

A continuation of where the anime left off. Things do start to get interesting when Barnaby was paired with a new egoistic partner and Kotetsu was fired and has to deal with life being back to a normal civilian. The movie itself was pretty average but it was rather good to see that the heroes decided to discard the rivalry among themselves and worked together to defeat the evil at the end of the movie. This was something that did not happened in the anime as usually, the heroes will try to outdo each others in apprehending the criminals.

Rate: 6/10

Divergent

Synopsis: Divergent is a thrilling action-adventure set in a future world where people are divided into distinct factions based on their personalities. Tris Prior (Woodley) is warned she is Divergent and will never fit into any one group. When she discovers a conspiracy to destroy all Divergents, she must find out what makes being Divergent so dangerous before it's too late. Divergent is based on the best-selling book series by Veronica Roth. [Source: Cathay Cineplexes]

 

The movie follows most of what was written in the original novel, except for a few scene which was altered to suit cinema settings. The plot has a resemblance to The Hunger Game, where people are divided into various classes to  suit their personality. An evil then arises to try to break the balance and it is left to the leads to save the day. The pace of the movie was good, with just enough excitement to keep the audience contented. Overall, I will find this a pretty good movie to watch. It was also confirmed there will be a sequel to this "Divergent", which will again based on the novel "Insurgent" released in 2012.

 

Rate: 7.5/10

Lupin the 3rd vs Detective Conan

Synopsis: Bypassing Inspector Zenigata and Inspector Megure, Lupin steals the Cherry Sapphire and then makes contact with Aan Smithee.Meanwhile, Jimmy Kudo, while watching TV, learns that Jigen, who is a member of Lugin's group, will escort popular idol Emilio. Jimmy Kudo also learns that at Emilio's live appearance tomorrow, a deal related to the Cherry Sapphire will take place. [Source: Cathay Cineplexes]

 

Lupin the 3rd is simply hilarious. I really wonder is he a good guy or a baddie in the movie. On the other side, it is a joy to see Conan in action again. However, I will highly advise you to finish watching the television special of Lupin the 3rd vs. Detective Conan released on 27-Mar-2009 before watching this movie as it is a continuation from the television special event. As usual, Conan saved the day with his out-of-the-world detective skills. A great movie to catch for the weekend.

 

Rate: 7/10

Need For Speed

Synopsis: Based on the most successful racing video game, Need For Speed follows Tobey Marshall (Aaron Paul), a blue-collar mechanic, who is set on revenge when the wealthy ex-NASCAR driver Dino Brewster (Dominic Cooper) frames him for a crime he didn’t commit. Tobey knows the only chance to take down Dino is to defeat him in the high-stakes race known as De Leon. However to get there in time, Tobey will have to run a high-octane, action-packed gauntlet that includes dodging pursuing cops coast-to-coast as well as contending with a dangerous bounty Dino has put out on his car. [Source: Cathay Cineplexes]

This movie is quite all right, though the car racing scene and stuns are not as good as "the fast and the furious" series. The only thing that I feel out of place is the girl lead with the British accent. The way she speaks was just so incompatible with the rest of the cast. Other than that, the cars showcased in the movie are pretty nice. This will be an average movie to pass your time.

Rate: 6.5/10

Hunter X Hunter: The Last Mission

Synopsis: Some tens of years ago, chairman of the Hunters Association Isaac Netero sealed away Jed, a man representing the "shadow" of the association that had began to make use of the power "on." "On," being another side of the coin of "nen," derives its power from the user's pure hatred at the cost of their life. Although he thought he had sealed Jed and "on" away, a team of on-using warriors appears at Heaven's Arena's Battle Olympia Tournament. Gon and Killua, who had come to cheer on Zushi, along with Kurapika, who attends the tournament to protect his boss Neon, are forced to find the source of a violent invasion of the tower and defeat it. However, this may not be so easy, as their foes use the power of hatred as they wish for the death of all Hunters. [Source: Cathay Cineplexes]

I am glad to see the familiar Hunter X Hunter characters again, but the movie doesn't seems to have any fresh character breakthrough. Concentrated on its main protagonists, Gon and Killua lead the main charge against the bad guys, with Hisoka helping them in the background. I find that it is a waste that the movie developers did not develop Hisoka further as he is such an interesting character, who can be on the bad and good side at the same time depending on what his actual intention is. Overall, this is an average movie. It will be nice to relive Hunter X Hunter again, while waiting for the current anime television series to complete its run.

Rate: 6/10

China (Beijing/Shanghai) Work Trip (230214 - 270214)

First ever solo work trip overseas with a mission to accomplish, unlike the past where I usually am participating in some training or Kaizen event.

 

Things did not went off on a good start though. The first thing that greeted me when I look out of the airplane window at the Beijing Capital Airport was the yellowish environment.

Welcome to Beijing

 

If there is such a thing as a pollution measuring scale here, the PSI will hit 400+, in my opinion. I will be facing this kind of environment in the next 2 days. My time in Beijing was short and hectic. After meeting will be training, followed by risk assessment review of the various departments. I can really say I did not have any spare time left for other stuffs. After I am done in Beijing, it is time to scoot off to Shanghai, which the air is so much better.

 

Met with an ex-colleague of mine on Wednesday night and he brought me to the Yu Garden (豫园). It was really nice to see the classical old buildings lighted up at night.

 

The famous Nine-bend Bridge (九曲桥)