‘The Ringmaster’ (拳王) is a 25-episode TVB drama that is themed on boxing and starred Wayne Lai, Owen Cheung, Brian Chu, Elaine Yiu, Winki Lai, Shaun Tam, Huge Wong, Timothy Cheng, etc. It is one of the 4 anniversary series in conjunction with TVB’s 54th anniversary celebration this year. It is my 15th watched TVB series of the year and is also the last.

I couldn’t avoid but to be quite harsh on my review to this drama. The storyline is boring. I couldn’t get myself engaged to the dramas the characters are going through in the series. I hate that they kept on putting in intense powerful background score to lift up intensity of many scenes that aren’t really climactic or dramatic at all. It doesn’t work that way and it puts me off every time.

Owen Cheung put in a lot of effort to bulk up his body for this role. I am amazed by his effort and dedication but I think that has taken a toll on his acting. I find that his acting is a bit expressionless, stiff and bland in here. Wayne Lai is still a very solid actor but he alone cannot save the boredom of the storyline. And I can’t stand the fact that Owen defeated Wayne for this drama to be placed in top 5 in running for best actor next weekend. Wayne’s acting is much more refined and layered as compared to Owen’s bland performance here. Owen’s dedication in bodybuilding for this drama is not equal to his acting performance! Certainly poor judgement by these Hong Kong voters. And now I keep seeing Owen and Brian Chu in many recent TVB series. It is very obvious that TVB is heavily promoting them…and their muscular body. Brian especially…I knew it is not his choice but in both ‘Take Two’ and ‘The Ringmaster’ (back to back series), he has to purposely take off his shirt in some scenes. He has to show and prove his acting, not his body. TVB, please take note!

Although Shaun Tam only plays minor role in this series (as the deceased elder brother of Owen Cheung), but his storyline is actually the most engaging one. Elaine Yiu is the first female lead here but I don’t really see her presence as the lead. There is a huge group of friends of Owen in the boxing circle in the drama and each of them has their fair share of story arcs too but I couldn’t care less. By the way, Jacky Cai is the most annoying of all. I couldn’t stand her character. She has to magnify her voice and expression every time she act in this drama and that is very disturbing. I have not seen her before in any previous series too.

Out of 10 points, I rate ‘The Ringmaster’ 6.6. Features quite a number of award-winning actors and actresses but felt flat due to its boring and unappealing plot. Quite disappointed. Even the final episode contained very draggy and unnecessary long scenes of closures for each characters. They should have aired ‘Barrack O’Karma 2’ (expecting it to be good as its predecessor) instead of this series to end the year with a great finale.

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

‘The Righteous Fists’ (鐵拳英雄) is my first watched TVB series of the year. The 30-episode action period drama set in Bangkok’s Chinatown in 1960s has a story that follows the struggles of Chinese locals who are skilled in martial arts. The series starred Ruco Chan, Joel Chan, Natalie Tong, Elaine Yiu, Grace Wong, Philip Ng, Yuen Qiu, Cheung Kwok Keung, Jimmy Au, Carlo Ng, Tiffany Lau, etc.

When I first watched the series last month, I was immediately reminded of ‘A Fist Within Four Walls’, another action period drama that also starred many similar cast members and had won best series and also gave Ruco Chan best actor at TVB Anniversary Awards that year. And indeed…both stories are very similar. If you enjoyed ‘A Fist Within Four Walls’, you will enjoy ‘The Righteous Fists’ too. Same formulas applied all around.

Ruco Chan still has the charisma to take on this first male lead role that requires a lot of both physical and emotional effort. I usually am not impressed with Natalie Tong’s acting but I do enjoy her performance and character in here. Some have complained of her exaggerated acting in this drama but I felt that it actually suited her character and brought a bit of delight to the scene. Joel Chan should be given more lead roles. He is very good and his chemistry with Elaine is fantastic. Even all the cast playing supporting or even very minor roles in this drama performed well too (especially the veterans!).

The action sequences are something that I have high expectation on and I’m not disappointed. There are a variety of different styles of martial arts shown in this drama and some fighting scenes are indeed impressive and are full of energy. And again similarly to ‘A Fist Within Four Walls’, this series had us curious on finding out who is the big boss (main villain) as the series reached its later part. Although the plot twists are kind off predictable, but they do add interest and excitement as each episode progresses.

The only minor complain I have is the over exaggerated sound effect made to the fighting scenes to amplify the magnitude of each strikes. They do too much on that and distracted me a bit. In general, the series is solid with formulaic yet still workable storyline, great performances and awesome fights. Out of 10 points, I rate ‘The Righteous Fists’ a total of 8.2. What a good start for TVB series in 2022. I thoroughly enjoyed this series.

Images in this post are from various online sources)

I didn’t go to the cinemas for over a month and after returning from KL two weeks ago, it’s time to compensate by paying a visit to the cinema once every weekend. There are quite a number of newly released movies that I’m looking forward to watch. I watched ‘Moonfall’ last weekend and went for ‘Uncharted’ this weekend. Haha…I guess that’s enough…no more visit to the cinema for the next weekend or two.

‘Moonfall’ is a sci-fi disaster film co-written, directed and produced by Roland Emmerich, a man who is very popular for his past disaster films like ‘The Day After Tomorrow’, ‘Independence Day’ and ‘2012’. I enjoyed this type of films and always thought that he did very well in producing these films. ‘Moonfall’ delivered to my expectation although there isn’t much disaster scenes in this film. What’s interesting from the movie is its unexpected plot and unique take on the origin of the Moon. I won’t spoil any further. There are still some exhilarating scenes though, captured with impressive visual effects and excellent score. Out of 10 points, I rate ‘Moonfall’ 7.5.

‘Uncharted’ on the other hand is an action adventure film based on a video game series of the same name and starred Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg. I didn’t play the video game and only knew that this is going to be a treasure hunt film similarly to the past ‘National Treasure’ or ‘Tomb Raider’ film series. ‘Uncharted’ couldn’t match those films but it is still an enjoyable adventure film with the currently very popular young actor, Tom Holland as the main lead. Whenever we see him on screen, we immediately thought of Spiderman now. Haha…Many scenes are not making sense (Tom can stand very stable on a car floating on the sky, helicopter holding a huge decaying old ship and flying it around with so much manoeuvring and the ship still does not fall apart unbelievably, etc). Less puzzle solving and actions but the movie is still quite entertaining overall. I rate ‘Uncharted’ 7.1 out of 10.

Right after finishing ‘The Righteous Fists’ last week, I managed to complete another TVB series in just a few days. The series is called ‘Freedom Memories’ and only has 15 episodes (hence I managed to finish it this quick). This drama is based on the Hong Kong TV industry in the 1980s, featuring characters who were TV artists in that era and how they later worked their way to become Hong Kong TV’s future superstars. The series starred many junior artistes like Karl Ting, Dickson Yu, Joey Thye, Tiffany Lau, etc.

This series surprises me a bit with very refreshing storyline and cast lineup. It is a very motivational drama and is a great opportunity to groom the younger generation of the actors and actresses in TVB. I guess Karl Ting’s character is inspired by Stephen Chow while Dickson Yu’s character is inspired by Andy Lau. The series also brought us back a lot of good memories from the past (Hong Kong in their golden era in 1980s with many classic hits and superstars). Out of 10 points, I rate ‘Freedom Memories’ a total of 7.6.

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

Not long after Zack Snyder’s Justice League version is released, another one of his works is out to the public this year too. It is ‘Army of the Dead’, a zombie heist film that follows a group of soldiers who plan a Las Vegas casino heist amid a zombie apocalypse. The film starred Dave Bautista, Ella Purnell, Omari Hardwick, Theo Rossi, etc.

It is a fairly entertaining and enjoyable zombie movie to watch especially on a comfortable Saturday’s night at home. We have got to spend most of our time now at home again due to the current ‘heightened alert’ of Phase 2 reopening in Singapore which saw increased number of daily Covid-19 cases in the community and more restrictions kicking in including ban on dining-in.

Let’s get back to the movie. The gore is there, the visuals are great and the actions are cool. However, the movie is lacking emotional punch extensively; I couldn’t feel the characters including the story arc between the main lead, Ward with his estranged daughter. The runtime of the movie is also extremely long (it’s nearly 2 hour and 30 minutes long, untypical for a zombie movie). I have to skip some of the unnecessary scenes.

Out of 10 points, I would rate ‘Army of the Dead’ a total of 7.1. It’s stylish and quite entertaining but even with a ‘zombie tiger’ in it, it still hasn’t manage to cross the line yet.

Recently, I have been watching three TVB series concurrently; ‘Shadow of Justice’, ‘Sinister Beings’ and ‘AI Romantic’. As mentioned earlier, more time at home means more time for movies and TV series. The first of out of the three to end is ‘Shadow of Justice’ (伙記辦大事), a 32-episode crime drama starring two TV kings, Bobby Au and Joe Ma. The drama also starred Joey Meng, Jeanie Chan, Mat Yeung, Pierre Ngo, Winki Lai, Timothy Cheng, etc.

I am purely disappointed with this drama. I am expecting to see more screen time of Bobby showing his intelligence in solving difficult cases and his chemistry with Joey. However, the drama is overly filled with Jeanie Chan’s love relationship with Joe Ma and Mat Yeung. It looks like as though Bobby is just playing a supporting role here. Jeanie is more suited for supporting role and she isn’t ready for leading role yet. Instead, she was given the most amount of presence here in this drama and it mostly revolves on her absolutely boring love storyline with Joe and Mat (also not to mention the huge age gap between Joe Ma and her which made the whole thing awkward too).

Both Joe Ma and Joey Meng delivered nothing to the show, thanks to their very stiff expression and poor acting. I still can’t get over how Joe Ma can win best actor few years ago over Dicky Cheung in that year. The one who shines in this series is not any of the main actors but a veteran actor who played an antagonist role here as a pervert rich businessman. He is Timothy Cheng, and he nailed the role.

The story development of the drama is also a mess. Bobby get to have his own story arc, Joe Ma has its own part too and it is up until 20 episodes only then they start to bump into each other. It is way too slow. People are expecting to see the dramatic clash between the two and it only started after two third of the whole series. That’s lame.

Out of 10 points, I can only rate ‘Shadow of Justice’ a total of 5.0. The lowest rated drama of the year so far (also among the lowest in recent years). It is bad…near to being awful. The drama should be called ‘Shadow of Love’ rather than ‘Shadow of Justice’. Jeanie Chan’s super frustrating, awkward and boring love storyline occupied 80% of the whole series. The clash between Bobby and Joe came in too late. Poor use of Bobby Au’s talent. What a waste. I’m glad this series is finally over. ‘Sinister Beings’ and ‘AI Romantic’ are way better.

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

First of all, Happy Wesak Day to all who are celebrating the festival! It’s the day to commemorate the birth, enlightenment and death of Buddha and devoted Buddhists and Hindus will pay a visit to temple and be a vegetarian for the day. Wesak is a public holiday (in both Malaysia and Singapore) and it gives me a much needed short break in the middle of the week filled with countless online meetings.

Just yesterday alone, I was already occupied with 6 Teams meetings that took nearly 7 hours of my time. That’s very exhausting. Having online meetings are much more convenient now to discuss on work progress and unresolved issues in this time of pandemic. However, this made it so much easier for everyone to simply organize plenty of such meetings (of which some are meaningless and repetitive…and some even beyond normal working hours) and sacrifice all the time to truly work.

I’m going to spend the day chilling at home and watch some new movies. By the way, I have completed another Hong Kong drama series yesterday. The series is called ‘AI Romantic’ (智能愛人), has 30 episodes and starred Ali Lee as a high-end AI robot who accidentally loses her way while being shipped from factory and ends up among a family of weirdos as an AI company employee (portrayed by Luk Wing) found her and decided to keep her for himself. The family eventually developed strong bond with her and she even begins to experience human emotions, love and desires. The drama also starred Crystal Fung, Mayanne Mak, Angelina Lo, Ram Chiang, C Kwan, etc.

It’s a very refreshing theme for a TVB drama as I believe TVB has never produce any drama yet with AI (artificial intelligence) robots as the theme. I’m also pleased that we are seeing some fresh faces taking on main roles in this drama such as Luk Wing and Mayanne rather than seeing all the recent usual actors again. Ali Lee nailed the role as the AI robot. It’s a very challenging role as it requires her not to exhibit any emotion with robotic movement while slowly transforming into a much more ‘human’ robot as the series progresses.

All the story arcs including the ones that involve only the supporting characters are interesting and engaging. This is quite uncommon for TVB standard nowadays. They are very funny to watch too. Besides that, the chemistry among the cast portraying the family is fantastic too. Basically, it’s all compliments from me to this drama. A good effort and an interesting premise further supported by excellent performance, I rate ‘AI Romantic’ a total of 8.0. My highest rated TVB series so far for this year!

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

My dad just told me that he had finally received his first dose of vaccination today and is scheduled to take the second dose next month to complete the vaccination. Seniors above 60 years of age are among the most vulnerable groups to the health effects of Covid 19 and it’s a relief for me to hear that my dad had completed at least the first dose today especially knowing the very slow progress of nationwide vaccination for Malaysia. He took the China-made vaccine, Sinovac which is his first preference too.

He sent me a picture this afternoon doing what most people did after their injection; posing in front of a cardboard cutout with the words ‘I have been vaccinated’. Many have shared such pictures in recent weeks. Both of my sisters are opting for the AstraZeneca vaccine which is not under the national vaccination programme but my sisters had successfully registered for it last month and will be taking the first shot next week.

How about me, over here in Singapore? There is a news today stating that 50% of Singapore’s population has received at least a dose of vaccination. It means that I’m in the other 50% who is still waiting and waiting. Well, this is expected because I’m a foreigner and is only a long-term pass worker here, hence I have to be at the back of the queue. I’m estimating that it will be my turn for first shot end of next month and the second shot in September. The government has opened up for everyone to register for vaccination by now, and all we have to do are just to wait for the appointment. I’m eagerly waiting for my SMS now.

Hopefully with majority of population (over 90%) fully vaccinated near end of the year, more things can probably be opened up and I can then return home to Malaysia or even travel to certain low-risk countries for leisure travel by next year. Vaccination isn’t a 100% answer to this Covid-19 pandemic. All the safe measures are still have to be followed and the situation depends largely on the rate of vaccination and infection rate of other countries too.

Staying at home most of the time is still the best thing everyone can do to limit the community transmission. This is the only time when being introvert is recommended. I do have more time to learn and cook new recipes and also more time to catch up on movies and series. Now I have a habit of cooking new dishes on every Sunday for dinner.

By the way, I have also recently completed another TVB series. It is ‘Final Destiny’ (一笑渡凡間), a 20-episode comedy fantasy series that starred Edwin Siu, Roxanne Tong, Sammy Shum, Rebecca Chan, Jessica Kan, etc. This period drama tells about a man who is intelligent in solving crime cases in the town and slowly learns that he has supernatural powers that are proven to be useful later against a vengeful black demon who happened to be his best friend.

It’s a fast paced light-hearted drama and there is actually nothing more for me to comment. The storyline is very predictable (I knew who are the antagonists already at the beginning of the series before they are revealed) but still quite fun to watch though. Edwin Siu plays the male lead role very well and he is very suitable for this type of quirky role. Out of 10 points, I rate ‘Final Destiny’ a total of 6.9.

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

It’s just the mid of July and I have already completed 9 TVB series. It looks like I’m going to break the record of having watched most number of TVB series by end of this year. Well, it is highly possible since I have been spending more time at home now like everyone else due to the current pandemic.

‘Murder Diary’ is a 25-episode series that revolves on a police officer, King Fung who has dissociative identity disorder caused by his mother, Bik Sum who herself suffers from mental disorder and almost killed him and his younger sister when they were children. The series starred Vincent Wong, Kara Hui, Philip Keung, Benjamin Yuen, Mandy Wong, Chris Lai, Alice Chan, Venus Wong, etc.

The plot isn’t as simple as what I have described above. In fact, it is way far more complicated and is quite hard to digest if you don’t really invest into the series as it progresses. I find it difficult to invest into it due to the boring storyline despite featuring some bizarre crime cases. The dark colour palette for the visual made the series very distressing. The story also features many ‘crazy’ characters that made it not family-friendly. I do admire the effort by the production team on this fresh new attempt to deviate from typical light-hearted themed series but the outcome for this one just didn’t quite appeal to me.

Anyway, the drama do contains excellent performances by the cast, particularly Kara Hui. She is well known for portraying emotionally unstable characters (and thus won many acting awards before) and this role should give not much of a challenge to her. She is very good but I felt that she had portrayed such characters countless of times. Vincent Wong also shines for portraying his character that has split personality. He can change realistically from one personality to another in a second. Both of them had a shot to clinch best actor and actress respectively again for this year’s awards ceremony.

Vincent is good but he always has no chemistry with his on-screen partner. He isn’t compatible at all with both Mandy and Venus in here. By the way, this line-up of cast is so similar to another past TVB series called ‘The Defected’. Almost the same cast. I prefer to shake up the cast a bit by replacing Benjamin and Mandy as both of them delivered nothing to the show. Always wooden acting from both of them. Out of 10 points, I rate ‘Murder Diary’ a total of 6.0; quite low rating because it doesn’t appeal to me. Everything just went too dark and complicated. All the points are given for only the acting and the fresh direction used.

Next up is my review for ‘Plan B’, a much light-hearted series (also has 25 episodes) that revolves on the hardship of a couple in bringing up their young daughter while attending to the challenges posed by their own family members and jobs. The series which starred Kenneth Ma, Eliza Sam, Kiki Sheung, Mimi Kung, Hugo Wong, Joseph Lee, Yoyo Chen, Jonathan Cheung, etc is an indirect sequel to another popular series in the past called ‘Who Wants A Baby?’.

I do have a good time watching this series and each episode taught us on a lot of meaningful life lessons (like the need to be more positive, accepting, patient and understanding, etc) derived from the storyline of the series itself as it moves forward. Kenneth is really very suited for this kind of family-guy role while Eliza is not the best pick, but I can see that she has placed effort to portray the female lead role here. She isn’t an experienced actress and her delivery of dialogues may appear unnatural at times but overall it is still bearable. The veteran actors and actresses are all very solid in their roles as the parents of Kenneth and Eliza. They played huge roles to hold the series well and they deserves huge compliment, if not awards.

Out of 10 points, I rate ‘Plan B’ a total of 7.8. Quite engaging and touching at times, this series do connects with the audiences because of the realistic portrayals of hardship of a young family of which many will feel very relatable to. Alright. That’s all for my reviews to these two dramas. It turns out to be quite a lengthy post already.

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

By now, I guess most of you would have known or watched this Netflix series that has gone viral since middle of last month. You would have already seen people sharing content related to a large creepy female doll or sugar honeycomb cookie which were featured in this series. Titled ‘Squid Game’, it is a South Korean survival drama television series of 9 episodes broadcast by Netflix. It is the first Korean drama to top Netflix’s charts globally.

I joined in the party (don’t want to be left out as the series has been a surprisingly massive-hit worldwide) by binge-watching the entire series in two days in my previous weekend. I must say that the series is very fun and exciting to watch but I felt it is slightly overrated. I got hooked to it immediately after the end of first episode though when the first game concluded.

If you are not aware, the series tells the story of a group of debt-ridden 456 people who are invited to participate in a mysterious survival game (consisting of 6 children-themed games in total) that could win them the prize of 45.6 billion Korean won. However, they did not realize that they will be killed if they lost in the game. The series starred Lee Jung-jae, O Yeong-su, Park Hae-so, Wi Ha-joon, etc.

The series no doubt achieved success due to its creative concept. Who would have thought of turning children games into violent and bloody life-and-death situation. The scenes when the games are being played are so tense and got me glued to the screen while holding my breath. It is that intense (especially the glass floor and the tug-of-war games)! The cinematography and the set design deserve huge praise. The hidden details (contrasting colour of outfits of the participants and games staff, painting on the wall in the participants’ room, plot twists, etc) are brilliant and intriguing too.

The main cast bring life to their respective characters to the point that you felt them (and deeply understand their stand or choice) as the story progresses where hard decisions have to be made. The series also taught us a lot of valuable and meaningful life lessons that reflect the somehow hard reality of this world. There are still some poor aspects to the series such as the awful acting and dialogue by the Western actors as the VIPs, some unanswered loopholes and unexplained background/details in the story. Since there is no plan for a sequel to it, this series should have been better with few additional episodes to sort those issues out.

That’s all for my review to ‘Squid Game’. I would rate it a total of 8.5 out of 10. A great, solid and engaging series that deserves (and got its) attention but I felt it is overhyped and slightly overrated (as the series still has its set of flaws…but its creative concept simply overpowers almost everything for general audiences, hence its current massive success and popularity).

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

TVB, Hong Kong’s largest television station had successfully held its 54th anniversary gala on last Friday with the attendance of over 200 artistes from both the acting and singing fields. Popular veteran actor Eric Tsang may have hosted the annual gala show many number of times in the past but this year’s gala is the first under him as the newly appointed general manager of the station in charge of content operations.

Famous actors and actresses in attendance include past TV kings (Vincent Wong, Kenneth Ma, Moses Chan, Ruco Chan), past TV queens (Natalie Tong, Sisley Choi, Ali Lee), Mandy Wong, Chris Lai, Benjamin Yuen, Shaun Tam, Elaine Yiu, Owen Cheung, etc. Famous singers present at the gala include Hacken Lee, Gin Lee, Joyce Cheng, Hana Kuk, Jinny Ng, etc. Carol Cheng, Nat Chan, Liza Wang hosted the gala along with many other young artists.

Recently, I have completed watching another two TVB series, ‘Take Two’ and ‘Kids’ Lives Matter’. These two are part of the four anniversary series this year. Out of the two, I find that the former is better with more interesting and engaging plot although the twist at the ending is short-sighted.

‘Take Two’ is a 25-episode series that revolves on a engineer who is transported back to months before (yes…time travel!) the collapse of a residential building and his death to find out the culprits behind all these. The series starred Shaun Tam, Gloria Tang, Brian Chu, Cheung Wing Hong, Angel Chiang, Moon Lau, Gilbert Lam, etc. This drama has quite an interesting storyline only to be disappointed by the plot twist at the end which I have highlighted earlier. Shaun has improved in his acting and even Gloria did quite well taking on her first ever lead role here. Gilbert Lam nailed the villain role. Out of 10 points, I rate ‘Take Two’ 7.9. Second highest rated TVB series this year so far.

The same cannot be said for ‘Kids’ Lives Matter’. This medical drama which has quite a strong cast (Kenneth Ma, Kevin Cheng, Linda Chung, Him Law, etc) couldn’t excel in my opinion although I have read from reviews that many actually quite like this series. I’m in the opposite. There are quite a lot of sad or touching cases involving sick children in the hospital of this drama but I just couldn’t feel or get immersed into their stories that only scratch at the surface level. They just couldn’t pull me in unlike past similar drama like ‘The Hippocratic Crush’. Full of realistic surgeries’ scenes but lack emotional drama or intensity. The cast performed fairly well but that’s not enough. I’m starting to get tired of seeing Kenneth Ma portraying a doctor again. People are touched by Linda’s crying scene in this drama but I don’t find it exceptional as I have seen the same from her in the past However, that is actually good enough to win best actress in TVB standard nowadays. Same goes to Kevin who did not bring anything new to the screen after not acting for quite some years. Just an average medical themed drama that will be easily forgotten. Out of 10 points, I rate this series 6.6.

So..whose names are brought up so far in contention for best lead actor and actress for this year’s TVB Anniversary Awards? While it is still quite early and the nomination list is not out yet, I am starting to predict that the best actor race will be between Owen Cheung (from the upcoming ‘The Ringmaster’), Shaun Tam (Take Two), Wayne Lai (The Ringmaster), Kenneth Ma (Plan B) and Vincent Wong (Murder Diary). Vincent gave the most impressive performance but he had won it twice already and ‘Murder Diary’ series performed badly in rating (so nope). I am thinking Shaun Tam may take it.

Best actress race will be between Ali Lee (AI Romantic), Kara Hui (Murder Diary), Rosina Lam (Battle of the Seven Sisters), Priscilla Wong (Battle of the Seven Sisters) and Linda Chung (Kids’ Lives Matter). Kara Hui gave the best performance out of the five but the series is not for everyone and failed in rating as mentioned earlier (so nope). The trophy most likely goes to Linda Chung but my own preference is actually Ali Lee but she had won before. Where is ‘Barrack O’ Karma 2′? I thought this series will be released end of this year (anticipating it for very long already!). If so, it will give a good fight for the awards.

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

‘The Ringmaster’ (拳王) is a 25-episode TVB drama that is themed on boxing and starred Wayne Lai, Owen Cheung, Brian Chu, Elaine Yiu, Winki Lai, Shaun Tam, Huge Wong, Timothy Cheng, etc. It is one of the 4 anniversary series in conjunction with TVB’s 54th anniversary celebration this year. It is my 15th watched TVB series of the year and is also the last.

I couldn’t avoid but to be quite harsh on my review to this drama. The storyline is boring. I couldn’t get myself engaged to the dramas the characters are going through in the series. I hate that they kept on putting in intense powerful background score to lift up intensity of many scenes that aren’t really climactic or dramatic at all. It doesn’t work that way and it puts me off every time.

Owen Cheung put in a lot of effort to bulk up his body for this role. I am amazed by his effort and dedication but I think that has taken a toll on his acting. I find that his acting is a bit expressionless, stiff and bland in here. Wayne Lai is still a very solid actor but he alone cannot save the boredom of the storyline. And I can’t stand the fact that Owen defeated Wayne for this drama to be placed in top 5 in running for best actor next weekend. Wayne’s acting is much more refined and layered as compared to Owen’s bland performance here. Owen’s dedication in bodybuilding for this drama is not equal to his acting performance! Certainly poor judgement by these Hong Kong voters. And now I keep seeing Owen and Brian Chu in many recent TVB series. It is very obvious that TVB is heavily promoting them…and their muscular body. Brian especially…I knew it is not his choice but in both ‘Take Two’ and ‘The Ringmaster’ (back to back series), he has to purposely take off his shirt in some scenes. He has to show and prove his acting, not his body. TVB, please take note!

Although Shaun Tam only plays minor role in this series (as the deceased elder brother of Owen Cheung), but his storyline is actually the most engaging one. Elaine Yiu is the first female lead here but I don’t really see her presence as the lead. There is a huge group of friends of Owen in the boxing circle in the drama and each of them has their fair share of story arcs too but I couldn’t care less. By the way, Jacky Cai is the most annoying of all. I couldn’t stand her character. She has to magnify her voice and expression every time she act in this drama and that is very disturbing. I have not seen her before in any previous series too.

Out of 10 points, I rate ‘The Ringmaster’ 6.6. Features quite a number of award-winning actors and actresses but felt flat due to its boring and unappealing plot. Quite disappointed. Even the final episode contained very draggy and unnecessary long scenes of closures for each characters. They should have aired ‘Barrack O’Karma 2’ (expecting it to be good as its predecessor) instead of this series to end the year with a great finale.

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

‘The Righteous Fists’ (鐵拳英雄) is my first watched TVB series of the year. The 30-episode action period drama set in Bangkok’s Chinatown in 1960s has a story that follows the struggles of Chinese locals who are skilled in martial arts. The series starred Ruco Chan, Joel Chan, Natalie Tong, Elaine Yiu, Grace Wong, Philip Ng, Yuen Qiu, Cheung Kwok Keung, Jimmy Au, Carlo Ng, Tiffany Lau, etc.

When I first watched the series last month, I was immediately reminded of ‘A Fist Within Four Walls’, another action period drama that also starred many similar cast members and had won best series and also gave Ruco Chan best actor at TVB Anniversary Awards that year. And indeed…both stories are very similar. If you enjoyed ‘A Fist Within Four Walls’, you will enjoy ‘The Righteous Fists’ too. Same formulas applied all around.

Ruco Chan still has the charisma to take on this first male lead role that requires a lot of both physical and emotional effort. I usually am not impressed with Natalie Tong’s acting but I do enjoy her performance and character in here. Some have complained of her exaggerated acting in this drama but I felt that it actually suited her character and brought a bit of delight to the scene. Joel Chan should be given more lead roles. He is very good and his chemistry with Elaine is fantastic. Even all the cast playing supporting or even very minor roles in this drama performed well too (especially the veterans!).

The action sequences are something that I have high expectation on and I’m not disappointed. There are a variety of different styles of martial arts shown in this drama and some fighting scenes are indeed impressive and are full of energy. And again similarly to ‘A Fist Within Four Walls’, this series had us curious on finding out who is the big boss (main villain) as the series reached its later part. Although the plot twists are kind off predictable, but they do add interest and excitement as each episode progresses.

The only minor complain I have is the over exaggerated sound effect made to the fighting scenes to amplify the magnitude of each strikes. They do too much on that and distracted me a bit. In general, the series is solid with formulaic yet still workable storyline, great performances and awesome fights. Out of 10 points, I rate ‘The Righteous Fists’ a total of 8.2. What a good start for TVB series in 2022. I thoroughly enjoyed this series.

Images in this post are from various online sources)

I didn’t go to the cinemas for over a month and after returning from KL two weeks ago, it’s time to compensate by paying a visit to the cinema once every weekend. There are quite a number of newly released movies that I’m looking forward to watch. I watched ‘Moonfall’ last weekend and went for ‘Uncharted’ this weekend. Haha…I guess that’s enough…no more visit to the cinema for the next weekend or two.

‘Moonfall’ is a sci-fi disaster film co-written, directed and produced by Roland Emmerich, a man who is very popular for his past disaster films like ‘The Day After Tomorrow’, ‘Independence Day’ and ‘2012’. I enjoyed this type of films and always thought that he did very well in producing these films. ‘Moonfall’ delivered to my expectation although there isn’t much disaster scenes in this film. What’s interesting from the movie is its unexpected plot and unique take on the origin of the Moon. I won’t spoil any further. There are still some exhilarating scenes though, captured with impressive visual effects and excellent score. Out of 10 points, I rate ‘Moonfall’ 7.5.

‘Uncharted’ on the other hand is an action adventure film based on a video game series of the same name and starred Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg. I didn’t play the video game and only knew that this is going to be a treasure hunt film similarly to the past ‘National Treasure’ or ‘Tomb Raider’ film series. ‘Uncharted’ couldn’t match those films but it is still an enjoyable adventure film with the currently very popular young actor, Tom Holland as the main lead. Whenever we see him on screen, we immediately thought of Spiderman now. Haha…Many scenes are not making sense (Tom can stand very stable on a car floating on the sky, helicopter holding a huge decaying old ship and flying it around with so much manoeuvring and the ship still does not fall apart unbelievably, etc). Less puzzle solving and actions but the movie is still quite entertaining overall. I rate ‘Uncharted’ 7.1 out of 10.

Right after finishing ‘The Righteous Fists’ last week, I managed to complete another TVB series in just a few days. The series is called ‘Freedom Memories’ and only has 15 episodes (hence I managed to finish it this quick). This drama is based on the Hong Kong TV industry in the 1980s, featuring characters who were TV artists in that era and how they later worked their way to become Hong Kong TV’s future superstars. The series starred many junior artistes like Karl Ting, Dickson Yu, Joey Thye, Tiffany Lau, etc.

This series surprises me a bit with very refreshing storyline and cast lineup. It is a very motivational drama and is a great opportunity to groom the younger generation of the actors and actresses in TVB. I guess Karl Ting’s character is inspired by Stephen Chow while Dickson Yu’s character is inspired by Andy Lau. The series also brought us back a lot of good memories from the past (Hong Kong in their golden era in 1980s with many classic hits and superstars). Out of 10 points, I rate ‘Freedom Memories’ a total of 7.6.

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

I was watching ‘The Righteous Fists’ when the ‘Modern Dynasty’ is airing back during the past Chinese New Year period. Both are Hong Kong dramas released this year. Only I watched the former while the rest of my family watched the latter. I did joined them to watch a couple of minutes of an episode around the middle of the series but felt overwhelmed by all the dialogues and lost interest.

After finished watching ‘The Righteous Fists’ and ‘Freedom Memories’ end of last month, I spent my daily’s evening on past movies or simply just browsing through YouTube videos. My urge to watch dramas came back last Saturday when I couldn’t find anything else to watch. I decided to pick ‘Modern Dynasty’ of which all of its 30 episodes have already been released. I give it a try and I made the right decision not to miss it.

In less than a week, I finished the whole series. That shows how engaging the series is. ‘Modern Dynasty’ (家族榮耀) revolves on the ups and downs of the three generations of the wealthy Ma family after two close friends got married into the family on the same day. Many back stories and motives unfold as the plot progresses that lead to family tragedies and also downfall of their business empire. The series starred Julian Cheung, Tavia Yeung, Rain Lee, Him Law, Derek Kwok, Lynn Hung, Toby Leung, Raymond Wong, etc.

I think this is Tavia’s comeback drama after several years. She is also reunited with her real life husband, Him Law on screen (but not act as partners in this drama). She delivered fantastic performance as the villainous second brother’s wife and CEO of the company. Her acting here is worthy of a second best actress win for her. Well, a female lead character with scheming mind and evil intention…if you nailed this kind of role, you are on course to awards. All the other main and supporting cast also did great on their respective roles within the huge family in this series. Even unfamiliar faces like Rain Lee and Lynn Hung surprised me with their cleverly delivered emotional performances.

The storyline is interesting (enjoyed all the revelation of the evil plots and histories). Great script there accompanied with a beautiful huge residence as the main setting of the show that showcases the high status of the family. It was also quite a happy ending for the Ma family in the end after all the crisis but I felt weird with the surprised abrupt ending at the very last minute of the final episode (and also felt Gallen Lo’s cameo appearance in the final episode to be unnecessary). It could have ended in a better note.

Anyway, the series is still a solid one with great story and cast. Out of 10 points, I rate it 8.2, the same rating given also to ‘The Righteous Fists’. Both are my equal best Hong Kong dramas this year so far.

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

When the original series ‘Barrack O’Karma’ was first released in 2019, it was met with critical acclaim and success due to its mind bending story, great performances and unique take on its supernatural theme. Many were immediately looking forward to its sequel that was planned soon after the first series. After several filming delays, pandemic and postponement of its release, its sequel titled ‘Barrack O’Karma 1968’ is finally released this year with high anticipation.

With almost all of the original cast returning, the series once again centred on the various sub-plots taking place mostly in the Twilight Mansion building. The core of the story was still based on themes of parallel universes with Joel Chan and Selena Li taking on multiple characters again. Besides the two of them, the 20-episodes series also starred Timothy Cheng, Christine Ng, Henry Yu, Willie Wai, Jazz Lam, Candice Chiu, Roxanne Tong, Arnold Kwok, Karl Ting, Hubert Wu, Shiga Lin, Bob Cheung, etc.

Unfortunately, I don’t have a very positive reception to this sequel this time. It felt to me as though the main storyline is confusing for the sake of being confusing. Most of the side stories have little to no connection to the main storyline or the main characters. The side stories are only made more scary/darker but less interesting this time around. They felt very detached to one another too.

The series is still good that it is able to make you scratch your head, think and put some imagination on why it ended up this way. Not many TVB series are able to accomplish this. However, I felt that the scriptwriters overdid it and all the juxtapositions of ideas and universes made the drama quite a confusing mess now. It is also a pity that Joel and Selena’s multiple characters in this sequel are more flat too although they still share very great chemistry on screen.

A good attempt for a sequel though. It is extremely difficult to write a follow-up sequel from the original which was already so spectacular and out-of-the-box. There are still some very creative ideas in play here but diluted by detached side stories and super confusing and over complicated approach on the theme of parallel universe (everyone is talking about multiverse now!). Out of 10 points, I rate ‘Barrack O’Karma 1968’ a total of 7.1.

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

It’s the month of June already and four days later, I will be flying to New Zealand to commence my working holiday trip. The trip was planned since March once I got my working holiday visa approved. After nearly 3 months of waiting and preparation, the trip is finally within sight.

Settling on a new place to live is never easy and is pretty daunting at first. Fortunately, I have such experience in the past twice when I moved to Australia for two years for my postgraduate study and then moved to Singapore for work purpose. Haha…I was like a nomad; changing places to settle at once every few years.

I would already be in New Zealand by the time my next blog post appeared. I will most probably write on my first impression of Queenstown, share some stunning pictures of the place during winter (opps…it’s going to be freaking cold over there!), and share some of the things I have to do once I arrived there before I start my seasonal job at the Remarkables ski resort. Looking forward to this view below of Queenstown and the Remarkables mountain at the background when I get there next week.

Before ending my post, I would like to share my quick review to a recent TVB drama that I have watched; ‘Stranger Anniversary’. It is a 25-episode series (cut short to 20-episode for TVB version due to extremely poor rating this series has received) with a story that revolves on two people who are not related by blood, but very similar in appearance. They contact each other, and have been miraculously affecting each other’s life trajectory. The series starred Joe Ma, Roxanne Tong, Winki Lai, Matthew Ho, Alice Chan, David Chiang, Angel Chiang, Tsui Wing, etc.

I understand why the series received such poor rating. A very simple answer; it is simply bad. Comes with a non-engaging storyline and poor chemistry between the cast, the series just couldn’t deliver. Joe Ma is too old for the role and is not compatible at all especially with her much younger female co-stars (Roxanne and Winki). The comedy part of the series was also not funny. For its drama side, it was uninteresting. My only compliment to the series is its effort on putting two Joe Ma’s characters together in the same frame in a couple of scenes which require some hard work. Out of 10 points, I rate ‘Stranger Anniversary’ a total of 6.0. A light-hearted show but could not bring anything fresh to the table.

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

It’s almost end of the month. I have already been in New Zealand for 20 days now. Still can’t stand the freezing temperature over here. Taking a shower here feels like a torture and going downstair to the kitchen and living area was an undesirable thing to do due to the chilling winter here.

A quick update for my current working holiday here at Queenstown, NZ; I’m still familiarizing myself with all the variety of tasks for my front of house job (including handling some back of house works as well) in a restaurant up on a ski mountain called The Remarkables. I also went up to Coronet Peak (another ski mountain) earlier this week, took a first-timer lesson in ski (for free from my privilege as a staff…both mountains are managed by same company) and managed to learnt how to slow down/brake while skiing. Good first step. My plan is to practice once a week so that I will be able to ski (at least until mastering beginner’s level) before end of this winter season.

Back to the main topic of this post; a brief review for another Hong Kong TVB drama that I have recently finished watching. The drama is called ‘Brutally Young 2.0’ (十八年後的終極告白2.0) and is an indirect sequel to the original which was released few years ago and was quite good as far as I can remember. TVB usually fails when it comes to sequel but that isn’t the case for this one surprisingly. ‘Brutally Young 2.0’ was actually very good and kept me engaged and thrilled by its suspenseful story, brilliant plot twists and excellent performances.

This 20-episode drama starred Shaun Tam, Joel Chan, Katy Kung, Candice Chiu, Zoie Tam, Raymond Cho, etc. It is not a stellar cast but they shined in their respective roles in this drama. I won’t see them as great actors/actresses previously. However, after seeing their performances in this series, I have to change my mind. Their roles here allow them to showcase their wide range of acting. Out of the 6 people I mentioned above, I actually find Shaun Tam (first male lead) to be the least convincing in terms of acting instead (he was last year’s best actor winner for his performance in ‘Take Two’).

The series has a very fast paced storyline (which is good) and was full of nice suspense, secrets (yes, all characters hold so many secrets from one another especially from their partners…and eventually blown up to a hot mess that we love to watch) and surprises along the way. Out of 10 points, I rate ‘Brutally Young 2.0’ a total of 8.3. My highest rated drama this year so far. By the way, this drama is Joel Chan’s third drama this year (after ‘The Righteous Fists’ and ‘Barrack O’Karma 1968’). Have been seeing him on screen a lot of time recently. What a busy year for him. Well, he deserves more opportunities like these. His time for best actor win will come soon. He was splendid in this series too.

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

In three more months, we will have to leave Queenstown to start on our full-time travel across New Zealand before our working holiday visa ends on early December. If we are not able to complete the planned trip before early December (and we have to leave since our working holiday visa expires by then), we will most probably go on a brief stop to a city in Australia and then departs back to New Zealand to finish up the remaining planned trip.

We have actually not making any real plans yet on our full-time travel around New Zealand as mentioned above despite being here for over a month by now. It’s time to commence on the necessary research to plan out the road trip across North and South Island, choose the suitable walking trails at the picturesque national parks, find cool complimentary and paid attractions to visit, search for budget-friendly guided tours and accommodations, etc. There’s quite a lot of homework to do to ensure the full-time travel later on will go as smooth as possible without missing any major destinations while staying below our budgets and schedule.

So far, some of the places that I am keen to visit later on would be the Milford Sound, Hobbiton (sets for the famous Lord of the Rings film series), Kaikoura (for whale watching!), Waitomo Glowworm Caves, Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers, Wai-o-Tapu pools, Lake Tekapo, Bay of Islands, Oamaru Blue Penguin Colony, Blue Pools, and some adventurous national parks. We will certainly cross through these cities or towns as well along the way; Oamaru, Dunedin, Christchurch, Wellington, Napier, Nelson, Rotorua, Hamilton, Auckland, etc.

On a side note, I have recently completed watching a TVB series called ‘Big White Duel 2’. It is a medical-themed drama and is a direct sequel to 2019’s ‘Big White Duel’. This 30-episodes drama starred Roger Kwok, Kenneth Ma, Moses Chan, Nancy Wu, Natalie Tong, Kelly Cheung, etc (that’s 3 TV Kings and 2 TV Queens there!…what a cast!). The first series didn’t leave a huge impression on me and yet it won best drama at the TVB Anniversary Awards that year.

I actually think this sequel is slightly better than its predecessor. It features more cast (Moses and Nancy are great addition here, although it is a bit disappointing that Ali Lee who was in the first series dropped out of this sequel), more relatable accident-driven medical cases, and more engaging conflicts between the characters. That’s all for my review on this drama. I have nothing further to comment. It is a solid drama that stays in the same path as its predecessor (similarly going in a distinct political direction) rather than the typical storylines of plenty of previous medical dramas. Out of 10, I rate ‘Big White Duel 2’ a total of 7.7.

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

I’ll start off the post with my brief review of yet another TVB series that I have finished watching recently. It was the 8th TVB series I have watched this year so far. It is a 15-episodes drama titled ‘Communion’. It starred Roger Kwok, Alice Chan, Kalok Chow, Rico Ng, Joey Thye, Matthew Ho, Hera Chan, Tsui Wing, Shek Sau, etc. The story revolves around a man who owns a traditional Chinese restaurant. He struggles to reconnect with his estranged wife who runs a much more successful restaurant business empire with the same name.

I do enjoy its fast-paced storyline. It is a pretty short series too (only 15 episodes!). I felt that this story can be slightly expanded to 20 episodes though. The cast has done great job and there’s quite a great chemistry between all of them including the seniors and the younger ones. Overall, the series has quite a lot of hearts in it and I enjoyed watching it. Out of 10 points, I rate ‘Communion’ 8.0. It is also the first time that a Hong Kong series features story about virtual reality/computer technology heavily. That’s interesting!

It’s almost end of July now. Last week I did have a plan to visit Arrowtown and go for night ski but those plans didn’t went through due to the predominantly bad weather last week. It was raining all day long on my planned day to visit Arrowtown. And on the day for the night ski, when I reach up the mountain, it was all too foggy and a bit of shower as well. The condition isn’t good at all especially for a beginner like me. So, I ended up travelling back down to the town.

Anyway, I did manage to go for ski this week (went up last Wednesday). Still falling down quite a lot of times (they do hurt and felt pretty exhausting to get back up on my feet every time). Have tried on new route but is still on the novice’s level. I would be no where close to intermediate level yet based on my present condition. Well, practice makes perfect. Hope that I can be much smoother on the novice’s routes next week onward and then my plan is to get to intermediate’s routes before the end of this winter season. Yup…that’s the goal!

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

Hey…it’s October now. One last quarter of the year left before we say farewell to 2022. This is going to be an exciting month as I will be finally embarking on my full-time road trip across the entire country of New Zealand beginning mid-October with my friend. Two more weeks of my work at The Remarkables. Time flies. We have worked there for almost 4 months now.

Just when I am getting familiarized with most of the variety of tasks of my present work and just when I am about to be confident on my skiing on the green route at The Remarkables, the ski season is coming to an end. Coronet Peak is having its last day for the season tomorrow. 16th October will be the closing date for The Remarkables. Mount Hutt on the other hand will close last; on 24th October 2022. These three mountains are managed by NZ Ski company.

My full-time road trip will begin on 18th October and will go on for about 2 months. Our itinerary is almost complete (did a lot of homework/research to prepare the itinerary!). We think 2 months are good enough to cover most places in New Zealand. We will then also travel to Australia (visiting Melbourne, Sydney and Perth) before heading back to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on January 2023. I hope everything goes according to the plan.

Before ending the post, I will write a quick review for another TVB series that I have watched. It’s ‘Against Darkness’, a 20-episodes Hong Kong series revolves on a great partnership between Sergeant Ko Fai (Ruco Chan) and Sergeant Chi Kiu (Alice Chan) in solving a complicated series of linked murder cases. Besides Ruco and Alice, the series also starred Kaman Kong, Sharon Chan, Joseph Lee, Brian Tse, Andrew Yuen, etc.

Just one case, but of multiple murders and drug offences along the way. The plot is quite interesting but we didn’t get to understand the whole background or motif behind the villain until the last 15 minutes of the entire 20-episodes series. That’s a bit too late. However, it was so predictable from the very beginning who the main villain is. It just kills off the suspense.

I’m glad that there isn’t any romantic storyline wrote between the two main leads. However, Ruco and Alice do have good chemistry in here. Kaman’s character is so full of potential but she is still annoying in portraying her role. Brian is considered good for his main villain role here due to his minimal experience but I don’t get why he create that online game in this series in the first place. It is like pointless. Overall, ‘Against Darkness’ is an average police drama with nothing to shout out for. Out of 10 points, I rate it 7.0.

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

It’s the middle of April. How I wish that this month would be gone sooner as this has been one of the toughest months in my life. Never expect year 2023 to turn out like this. Well, I believe there is always a reason my path is set out this way and will eventually lead me to the right direction. There’s a deep void in me, huge inner stubbornness in me, and plenty of self-reflecting in recent days and I’m glad I have really grown up from this.

While I will try my best to move on and stay positive, it is sometimes also okay to not be okay. After all, we are still human with emotions. Here are the two songs I would like to share that I love to listen to and the lyrics hit right to my feeling or thoughts now. Feel the sadness, cherish on the past memories, and then go on and focus on being the better self.

Alright. No more emotional stuff. I have recently completed my first Hong Kong TVB series of the year. It is ‘The Invisibles’, a 30-episodes police action drama that starred Kenneth Ma, Natalie Tong, Joel Chan, Tiffany Lau, Moon Lau, Alex Lam, Elena Kong, Jimmy Au, Ruco Chan, etc. I have to say that this is one of the much better police action TVB series in recent years especially after considering that this genre has been very common.

Excellent performances by the cast including those on supporting roles. It’s refreshing to see Ruco as the main villain (only appear in later half of the series as one of the supporting roles) here. Although it is not a main lead role, but Ruco nailed it flawlessly with brilliant acting. I am also impressed by Elena Kong’s turn as the head police officer with strict and cold personality yet with warm heart within. Kenneth Ma did well too especially during tense scenes but he flaunts too much of his signature ‘puppy-eyes’ during sad moments in this series (a bit too much!).

The series has a lot of gripping action scenes but also has too much of love storylines. I felt there’s a bit too much of romantic relationships featured in this series including those minor supporting characters (I haven’t even mention there are three main couples already in this series!). Out of 10 points, I rate ‘The Invisibles’ a total of 7.8. Still a pretty solid action drama with some forgettable flaws.

(Images in this post are from various online sources)