TERMINATOR: GENISYS

Hollywood is fond of remakes and , and they are also fond of inviting actors from former movies to appear in current ones to evoke past memories or to provide a sense of humour. The first 4 Terminator movies were screened in 1984, 1991, 2003 and 2009 respectively.

This latest movie set in 2029 wasn't so much about John Connor, leader of the resistance against the machines, but focused more on the relationship between his parents Kyle Reese and Sarah Connor. Saved by John Connor as a child, Kyle was raised to join the resistance in the fight against the Skynet and its machines. The resistance failed to destroy Skynet and Kyle volunteered to be sent back in a time machine to 1984 to protect a young Sarah Connor from harm. Thereafter, the characters were originally planned to be sent to 1997 to change the events but instead moved forward to 2017 to stop the launch of a new global operating system known as the Genisys, which was supposedly Skynet.

Well, this movie was action-packed but it was a tad too confusing for me as they seemed to shuttle between different timelines which altered past and future events. Jason Clarke who played John was second fiddle to Emilia Clarke's Sarah and Jai Courtney's Kyle. Arnold Schwarzenegger reprised his roles as the terminator machines T-800 and T-800 (model 101) and he went from young to old through the times. There were two scenes of Kyle going all naked for the time travel and there was the famous Arnie naked scene as well and his deadpan looks and corny "I'll be back" phrase. Lee Byung-hun seemed to be Hollywood's favourite Asian or Korean actor to play similar roles as the villain (e.g. in the G.I. Joe movies) or killer machine in this as T-1000.

At the end of the movie, there was an easter egg segment, which hinted at a possible sequel.

Arnie as T-800 (model 101) in a rare Kodak moment

Sarah Connor and Kyle Reese

John Connor who was infected by Skynet in the future

T-1000 the killer machine

Kyle and John

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY

I must admit I had negative expectations of this Marvel Comics movie before I watched it and hence was pleasantly surprised to enjoy it.

In fact, I read that this movie took the box office by surprise too. I attribute it to the charismatic and humorous Chris Pratt, who lit up the screen with his presence in every scene he was in. Everyone suddenly sat up and took notice of the versatile Chris Pratt, who by far didn't seem to be in the league of big boys. I read that in US the women made up the majority of movie-goers for this movie and swooned all over him. They must all be so jealous of his wife Anna Faris, another comedian whom I like. With this movie, I am sure a lot of meaty roles will come his way.

Interestingly, Vin Diesel was the voice for Groot while Bradley Cooper was the voice for Rocket the genetically engineered raccoon. Who could recognize them and Lee Pace, behind the face of Ronan the Accuser, whom was the Elven King Thranduill in 'The Hobbit" series as well as the nomadic vampire Garrett in 'Breaking Dawn - Part 2'?

The easter egg segment though was really meaningless.

Gamora, Peter Quill / Star Lord, Groot and Drax

Do we see Rocket or Bradley?

Guest star Glenn Close as Nova Prime Irani Rael

Lee Pace as Ronan the Accuser