THE DIVERGENT SERIES: INSURGENT

Part of a trilogy from "The Divergent Series", this second part "Insurgent" starring the same leads Shailene Woodley, Theo James and others such as Jai Courtney, Maggie Q, Naomi Watts and Kate Winslet.

The movie continued off from the last movie where Tris, Four, Caleb and Peter escaped from the Erudite faction leader Jeanine's clutches and were hiding in the Amity faction until Eric came along in search of a divergent who could be a perfect match to open up a mystery box, from the city's founders, that contained the symbols of all factions. 

Peter betrayed the others who fortunately managed to kill Eric and sought refuge in the Factionless territory instead. Jai Courtney played the ruthless Eric so convincingly that I would really miss his absence. There, Four was unhappily reunited with his mother Evelyn who was then the leader of the Factionless, and revealed his true name Tobias. Evelyn tried to persuade Tobias to accept her proposal to get both Dauntless and Factionless to combine forces to fight against Erudite.

Eventually, Tris was caught by Jeanine and on her own accord, managed to open up the box to reveal the secret behind the walls. The combined factions also managed to defeat Erudite and Jeanine was taken as prisoner, where she was shot in the head by Evelyn before the movie ended.

I didn't like Shailene and I still don't, but overall I do think this second part is better than the first.

Jeanine and Peter tested many divergents to open up the mystery box

Tris cut her hair

Eric had madness written all over his eyes

Eric confronting leader of the Amity faction

Tobias (Four), Peter and Tris

THE FOUR (FINALE)

The tales of the four constables are based on a chinese wuxia comic book series and I failed to understand how they can shoot it as a trilogy.

The attempts seemed to make each movie of the trilogy to be independent of each other to cater to audiences who did not catch all three installments yet the storyline in the three parts is interwoven. Starring a cast comprising Deng Chao, Liu Yifei, Collin Chou, Ronald Cheng, Anthony Wong, Wu Xiubo, Sheren Tang and Alec Su etc, I wasn't thrilled by the acting or storyline. However, I must admit I find a lot of comic relief and am pleasantly surprised in recent years whenever Alec Su, or was he known as Tommy Su, acted in chinese wuxia movies. As the Emperor in this role, he breathed more life into the character than any of the other four constables, who looked far too serious most of the times.

That said, I am glad they put an end to this trilogy.

MAGIC MIKE

Today's weather - sunny

The movie is based loosely on the life of Channing Tatum and tells the story of 30-year old Mike, with Channing as the lead of course, who works odd jobs in the day and as a stripper at night. Also starring Matthew McConaughey, Alex Pettyfer, Matt Bomer, Adam Rodriguez and Cody Horn, the movie did not thrill me at all.

Matthew McConaughey was as usual, a bit crazy in his looks and acting, which kind of scares me. The show was all about Channing and 19-year old Alex, who was the lead in the movie "I Am Number Four", who found the short cut in life to earn big bucks by becoming a male stripper. Matt Bomer, from the TV series "White Collar", and Adam Rodriguez, from the TV series "CSI: Miami", were nothing more than toppings on a cake, whose presence were hardly noticeable or memorable.

I was so bored although I stopped short of falling asleep during the movie.