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See What Show: Fast & Furious 7

Fast & Furious 7, also known as Furious 7, also known as We Like To Stand In a Straight Line 7, was really quite enjoyable. Stupid silly fun. Don't think, just get in and put on your seat belt.

This time, Deckard Shaw, played by Jason Statham, goes after the Furious 7 team, to take revenge for what they did to the main bad guy in Fast & Furious 6, his brother, Owen Shaw.

Owen Shaw, as you all know, did this really bad thing in Fast & Furious 6, which is why Dominic Toronto, er Terazzo, er Cornetto, ok ok, Vin Diesel, had to whack him. Actually, I can't remember the plot for Part 6, and you too, right?

So it is with Furious 7. Who cares about plot? We just want to see cars flying through the air and The Rock wielding a Gatling gun as big as his body despite being injured. And Furious 7 delivers the over-the-top action in spades.

You will laugh at some of the stunts they pull.

You will find yourself saying, "Random siol!"

You will wonder how the bad guy got his hands on a Predator drone.

Easily one of the best Fast & Furious installments so far.

Question: What is up with the lack of hair in the Fast & Furious world?

Dwayne Johnson, no hair. Vin Diesel, no hair. Tyrese, no hair. Ludacris, Jason Statham and Djimon Hounsou, almost no hair.

No hair is more aerodynamic, issit?

The tribute to the late Paul Walker was also pretty well done and moving.

See What Show: Chappie

Chappie was lovely. I have now forgiven Blomkamp for Elysium after this. I've never felt this much for a robot.

It was closer to District 9's spirit and the movie impressed with its heart. The action and CG was great when it happened but you don't watch this for robots blowing stuff up alone.

Hugh Jackman was a tad two-dimensional as the villain in this piece, and Dev Patel was a little limp as Deon, Chappie's "Maker". But Sharlto Copley captured Chappie's movements so convincingly ,and Ninja and Yo-Landi Visser stole the show.

Brilliant and fun stuff.

See What Show: Project Almanac

Project Almanac was a decent enough time travel yarn as long as you can take:

A) super shaky cam

B) major Microsoft product placement.

I mean, really? Kids all use Microsoft Surface tablets, Lumia phones and build time machines out of an Xbox? A bit obvious, right?

I think The Butterfly Effect is still the better movie but Project Almanac is light and entertaining fluff.

You do have to suspend disbelief in many areas. I mean, this is a found footage movie, and by that I mean the whole movie is shot like it has been edited together from video from consumer cameras. Like the movie Cloverfield.

They try to make you think there is a reason the young people in this movie are video-recording. Every. Freaking. Moment of their lives.

Sure, ok. We can accept that. But wow, their camera can zoom in from super far away and you still hear the audio of the couple talking as if they are standing next to the other teenager shooting the scene.

And the low light performance of these consumer cameras are astounding. Next to no light and you can still shoot so much detail!

I want that kind of high tech camera too.

The characters are likable enough. And we enjoyed the movie. But we did feel a little nauseous after the end credits.

See What Show: Taken 3

Stay here in the toilet, Kim. Daddy will protect you. Again.

Taken 3 was… ok. I wish I can say it was as good as the first but it was serviceable. Not to be Taken too seriously.

The plot is like The Fugitive (Tommy Lee Jones, Harrison Ford) except with more killing and neck-snapping.

And really, by now, you'd think Bryan Mills should know how to keep his loved ones safe. But nooooo, the movie may as well be renamed Woefully Negligent Parenting.

I think the idea of having the police after him and at the same time having to deal with bad guys was interesting. But you never really saw it resolved in an artful way.

And without a clear villain, you aren't really rooting for Bryan Mills here. Who is the bad guy? Who?!

And as Liam Neeson huffed and puffed his way through some of the running scenes, you can't help but wonder if the franchise is getting somewhat tired.

Perhaps it is apt that the movie tagline is "It ends here."

Yes, please.

See What Show: Brotherhood of Blades

My buddies and I watched Brotherhood of Blades (绣春刀) in Penang because we were bored (hey you can only have six meals a day before you run out of space for awesome hawker food).

Also, movie tickets in Malaysia are so much cheaper than Singapore.

Didn't know a single Chinese actor or actress there but the made-in-China movie was not bad. Great fight scenes and a conspiracy plot that was actually easy to follow.

The story is about three sworn brothers-in-arms in the Ming Dynasty, who are lowly Imperial Assassins (kind of like Black Ops grunts) in over their heads with political intrigue, conspiracies and evil plots.

The women in the movie were generally 花瓶, to look cute or helpless, which was annoying. And sometimes, the acting was over the top.

Once in a while, you see a lost-looking extra who is supposed to be an elite soldier looking like an clueless recruit just out of BMT.

Still, production values remained generally high. Sometimes the show gets a little too violent for my taste.

The Chinese language used in the dialogue was cheem, flowery and beautiful, even to someone like me, whose Chinese isn't that great. Still, I was thankful for English subtitles.

mrbrown's See What Show: Meet the team behind Disney's Big Hero 6

YouTube link: http://mrbrwn.co/1xlMBCr

I meet Producer Roy Conli, Directors Don Hall and Chris Williams in Tokyo, and ask them about Big Hero 6. And I also find out what they think about our national airline.

Watch the trailer here: http://youtu.be/p5oiw1Zn_Xo

mrbrown's See What Show: At the Tokyo International Film Festival 2014 Red Carpet

YouTube link: http://youtu.be/8lYRxA6RhjA

I was at the red carpet of the 27th Tokyo International Film Festival, and caught a glimpse of many stars, including Arashi, Festival Muse Miki Nakatani and the team from Disney's Big Hero 6.

Watch out for my interview with the Big Hero 6 team, coming soon!

See What Show: Fury

Fury was a fierce WWII movie. Epic tank battles, killing Nazis, gritty underdogs what's not to like?

The middle was a bit draggy though. The movie is no Inglourious Basterds, even both movies have Brad Pitt in it. Fury takes itself very seriously and sometimes, that drags the pace down.

We get it. War is terrible. People die. Body parts have to be cleaned off the inside of tanks.

When Fury gets to the fighting parts, it is clobbering time. And even it's even more entertaining when you know that the Americans are using peashooter M4A3E8 Sherman tanks against vastly superior German Tiger tanks.

What the Shermans lacked in armor and firepower, it made up for in numbers and reliability. And the ability to travel in water. Shermans were the Zergs to the Tigers who were the over-engineered Protoss.

But the German tanks were truly fearsome beasts and a single Tiger could obliterate several Shermans by itself.

Sherman tanks couldn't penetrate their armor without hitting them from the sides or behind, and in one scene, the movie captures this fight brilliantly.

Watching this makes me want to build model tanks again. And maybe play a WWII game. Maybe Battlefield 1942.

[Photos courtesy of Shaw]