Smile and Wave🇻🇳

Watched “Spider-Man: Brand New Day.” A lonely hero. A lonely Spidey. A lonely Peter Parker. It felt fresh, and I really enjoyed it. Until now, Spider-Man films have generally been grouped into self-contained trilogies. With each new iteration, the cast and creative team changed, allowing the franchise to reinvent itself for a new era. This time, however, while both the cast and the story continue from the previous film, everything has been reset. The film focuses on Peter, once again alone, and the loneliness and inner conflict that come with that. It can be seen both as the beginning of a new series and as a direct continuation of the last one. A very clever structure. In the age of social media and its immense power to amplify every opinion, striking the right balance between what filmmakers want to create and what audiences expect has become incredibly difficult. Genuine, heartfelt filmmaking is becoming increasingly challenging. Because of that, this is a film that puts the “Brand” in “Brand New Day” to the test, as part of a blockbuster franchise that simply cannot afford to fail. 🕷️

A few days ago, I threw out my back, so I wasn’t sure I’d make it through to the end watching a movie. But armed with my secret weapon—an inflatable lumbar pillow into the chair—I watched “Predator: Badlands.” A back-friendly 107 minutes! And it was great! I’m sure some long-time fans will say, “This isn’t Predator!” I, too, love John McTiernan’s Predator (1987). But director Dan Trachtenberg already pulled off a brilliant reimagining of the original style with “Prey,” successfully completing that mission. “Predator: Badlands”marks his next phase. It builds on the animated film, “Predator: Killer of Killers.” This is a character-driven movie about the Predator “Dek” and his partner “Thia” (Elle is, as always, adorable). Rather than a tale of “terror of being hunted,” it’s a classic, comedic action film that depicts the “friendship” born in the midst of the hunt. “Failure of the weak, isolation, journey, training, encounter, rebellion, clash, comradeship, betrayal, redemption, reconciliation, unity, revenge, growth, choice, family—and a new threat.” These elements form the very blueprint of mainstream Japanese manga storytelling, typified by “Weekly Shonen Jump.” The film also takes heavy visual inspiration from video games. It represents a new direction for Hollywood entertainment led by a new generation of filmmakers who have inherited the global ‘memes’ of manga, anime, and gaming culture. I especially hope young anime fans who usually steer clear of live-action Western films will give this one a try. Even with Dek’s “ugly” face, you’ll find yourself emotionally invested from the opening scene. You’ll definitely get hooked.

Since I’ve been on a world tour, I hadn’t had the chance to watch it, but this morning, I finally got to see James Gunn’s “Superman.” It was good. It was neither dark nor stylish, cool or even “super.” The perspective of the audience—the distance and elevation—is different from the “Superman” we used to LOOK UP (into the sky) to. This film gently observes the human being Clark Kent and Superman as one and approaches him from the same human perspective. It’s a heartwarming “human” film. The movie itself wasn’t “punk,” but “Punkrocker” by Teddybears, with vocals by our very own Iggy Pop, played during the credits — that part was pure punk, and it was amazing.