The Olive Opinion

  Malaysian cinemas are not opening anytime soon, but it will not stop me from reviewing one of the anticipated releases of the year. A Quiet Place was meant to play in theatres last year before the pandemic happened and was one of the first few movies to realize how the pandemic was going to affect moviegoing since the virus is spread through contact, ergo cinemas will be closing down. Paramount decides to release a year later due to American cinemas opening (and not everywhere else worldwide) and then on Paramount Plus - their all-new streaming service - almost 40 days later. Well, it's finally here and I finally got to watch it.  I never thought John Krasinski would make a sequel but here we are. The ending of the first movie worked so well to become a standalone horror movie but instead got me worried as to whether it would be good or not since sequels don't always necessarily do well but he decided to surprise me but also managed to make a sequel that reached the exact pe...

  SPOILER-FREE AREA Loki is back to finish its first half of the season already. But even if there is so much left to cover, the all-new episode had so much going on in such little time that it didn't provide any insight into the bigger picture but it did tease something but then again... a tiny tease.  The 41-minute episode (including the 4-minute credits) provides more action than the first two episodes but it involved way more character development to the titular and the new spoiler-y addition to the show but that's all it was. For me, as a buff for getting to know underrated characters is great especially in a large universe like the Marvel Cinematic Universse but it did in fact, stray away from the show's main premise which unfortunately makes this a filler episode in a six-episode show, unlikely and a tad unnecessary.  Although, Marvel takes something out of the space opera book this time around with Mandalorian-like settings and tones for this episode which makes m...

Pixar has made such a roster that gives you bittersweet feelings throughout and right after watching the films they've made. It's one of the reasons why die-hard fans of the Pixar filmography are always ready for a new and original film even if it's by sneaking in tissues to the cinemas. Luca is Pixar's latest release on Disney Plus instead of the cinema to make sure everyone has a chance to catch this fable-like story that is one to remember.  Luca tells the story of the titular character who is a sea creature of sorts (no explanation given as to what they are in any part of the film) that befriends the adventurous Alberto to travel to the human-filled Italian town nearby to find a way to get a Vespa to travel the world but Luca gains the interest in more than just traveling the world through Giulia, a local girl he and Alberto befriend in this dangerous journey. I will honestly say that Luca may not be the best Pixar film ever made but it considers itself to be loved ...

  SPOILER FREE REVIEW Last week's Loki left us with a cliffhanger that we expected to come but yesterday's episode definitely left us breathless and groaning in agony by the time the 53 minutes ended. 'The Variant' is considerably longer than any of the MCU episodes we have gotten this last whole year and it delivers hard-on action, mystery, twists, and the whimsy duo Hiddleston and Wilson happily portray this time around after duos like Wanda and Vision and Sam and Bucky from their respective episodical stories.  Episode 1 apparently has already set everything up and the second episode is basically buckling us up for the rest of the ride which is turning out to be crazier than expected especially since... well, you'll have to watch it to believe me. Everything about this episode is so great that it has the potential to surpass WandaVision's and Falcon and The Winter Soldier's least favorite episodes but it's hard to say since Loki only has two episodes ...

Decided to write this review a few days ago when I watched this film but had a few setbacks (Code for: I was just feeling lazy as hell) but Awake - apparently not based on the Jessica Alba film that came more than a decade ago - makes up yet another post-apocalyptic scenario where people do not have the ability to sleep any longer. I can't even imagine not being able to sleep, let alone sleep for only 5 hours... thinking about it kills me. Back to the topic, Awake seems to be continuing a pattern of horror or thriller films that are taking away a part of the human sensory system especially with movies like The Quiet Place, Bird Box, and Hush but with 2016's Don't Breathe starring Jane Levy and Stephen Lang and now... Awake, we are starting to move away from our senses and instead take away things we need for our bodies to function.  Awake stars Gina Rodriguez to carry the weight of being the only name that everyone would know in this film to carry this really potential-fill...

Asian representation in animated movies has been flourishing screens for a while now as it should have been years ago. The likes of Raya, Over The Moon, and now, Wish Dragon makes me really happy for how far we've come and hopefully can look to the future to watch movies that will represent an Indian like me too. But we are not here to talk about that, this article is about Wish Dragon, the latest Netflix animated movie that portrays a familiar story that still managed to make such a great-looking 3D animation feature memorable.  Wish Dragon takes place in Shanghai, about a boy named Din who wants to meet his best friend whom he hasn't seen she moved away years ago. Constantly doubting himself if he is ever enough to keep the promise of being friends with her all those years ago, Din comes across a jade teapot that makes him the master of the Wish Dragon inside that has the ability to grant three wishes. The Dragon also has a motivation of his own for that he must serve 10 mast...

We haven't had a proper musical to watch on the big screen since Cats and that was an unexpected dumpster fire no one saw coming even if Jennifer Hudson's performance for 'Memory' and the inclusion of the Taylor Swift and Andrew Lloyd Webber collaboration for the original song 'Beautiful Ghosts' were the only scenes worth remembering. I have never seen the broadway show but, Cats really caused expectations for musicals to drown. Nobody had this worry when In the Heights was announced to be adapted for the big screen especially since Jon M. Chu was directing it. With this musical known to be completely written by the musical genius himself, Lin Manuel Miranda made it enough to get people hyped for it... luckily, the hype is real.   In the Heights is one of the best musicals I have seen in a while, even better than the Ryan Murphy helmed Prom musical that released last Christmas on Netflix. From start to finish, you cannot help but sing along even if you don't...

PART 1: Spoiler Free Review It has been more than a month since the controversial last episode of the Falcon and The Winter Soldier that proved that Marvel not only wanted to expand the Marvel Cinematic Universe cinematically but also as a working universe itself, fixing unrealistic aspects to make these stories relatable to the world today. With Loki's premiere episode, however, Marvel is back with a story that means to set up the next big Marvel event that will compete with the Infinity Saga that took a decade to come together in Avengers Endgame. With this next step to yet another apocalyptic threat, the focus is entirely on Loki, everyone's favorite villain from the Thor movies.  With his very own miniseries (or possibly full-blown TV show if rumors for developing a season 2 are true), Loki now has the chance to have more screen time for us to fully engage with this complex character that we have been begging to get to know more of since the very first Thor film that releas...

Sweet Tooth intrigued me the moment they announced they were doing the show until the moment it was revealed that Robert Downey Jr and his wife were the show's executive producers. Based on the DC Vertigo comic book, Sweet Tooth takes place in a post-apocalyptic setting where children are born as hybrids of human and animal, a level of human evolution that humans fear as it brought along a deadly virus that quickly killed millions but the plot point is Gus, a boy with antlers on an adventure to find himself and finally climb out the fence that surrounds his home.  In the midst of our own virus still taking innocent lives, Sweet Tooth really captures our common circumstance of a virus gone rogue that changed our lives completely. Although sugarcoated with a fantasy-like adventure of a rootable young character that will be beloved by everyone, Sweet Tooth portrays a dark imagination that could have taken place in our reality if we didn't take precautions.  Apart from its relatab...