Legend of The Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen

"A continuation of the 1995 television series Fist of Fury, Donnie Yen reprises his role as Chen Zhen, a role made famous by Bruce Lee in "Fist Of Fury" (1972). The film is set seven years after the apparent death of Chen Zhen, who was shot after discovering who was responsible for his teacher's death in Japanese-occupied Shanghai. A mysterious stranger arrives from overseas and befriends a local mafia boss. That man is a disguised Chen Zhen, who intends to infiltrate the mob when they form an alliance with the Japanese. Disguising himself as a caped fighter by night, Chen intends to take out everyone involved as well as get his hands on an assassination list prepared by the Japanese (Movie Overview: Yahoo! Movies Singapore)."

The story is lacking and a little confused as it consists of romance, brotherhood, betrayal and politics. I feel that the director focused too much on the dramatic scenes especially to the love story between Donnie Yen and Shu Qi. I guess most audiences would prefer to see more action from the male lead. I also wonder why Donnie wanted to mimic Bruce Lee’s fighting moves when he fought with an entire dojo of Japanese students. I believe his unique martial arts were good enough already. As for the final fight between Donnie and the Japanese Boss, it was too short. Talking about my favourite part of the movie, it was the beginning when Donnie killed those enemy soldiers in the European war. Donnie’s fast and furious moves were again delivered in this movie. As for Shu Qi, she is hot and sexy, and her performance is great. Despite to the negative comments above, the movie is still enjoyable especially to the fighting scenes. Don’t miss it if you were a fan of Donnie Yen (Movie Rating: 3/5).

WWE "Undertaker" Mattel PPV4 Elimination Chamber

This is the third "Undertaker" figure I have in my collection. The reason I bought this piece is because I always wanted a show-off chest Undertaker to be displayed on shelf. Surprisingly, the head sculpt and wrestling attire look exactly the same as the one in "Pay Per View 2: Survivor Series".

WWE "Santino Marella" Mattel 2 Packs Series 1

Compared to the earlier release by Jakks Pacific, this head sculpt has a better likeness of Santino Marella. His facial expression is very accurate too.

Due to its limited articulation, these are some basic poses I can get from the figure.

The paint work on the facial sculpt is good and his wrestling attire is also nicely replicated.

Besides having tattoos on the front torso, arms and legs, Santino has a big one on his back.

In WWE, Santino is an entertainer rather than a wrestler as he seldom wrestles in the ring. You may read my previous post on Jakks Pacific Santino here.

Resident Evil: Afterlife

"In a world ravaged by a virus infection, turning its victims into the Undead, Alice continues on her journey to find survivors and lead them to safety. Her deadly battle with the Umbrella Corporation reaches new heights, but Alice gets some unexpected help from an old friend. A new lead that promises a safe haven from the Undead guides them to Los Angeles, but when they arrive the city is overrun by thousands of Undead and Alice and her comrades are about to step into a deadly trap (Movie Plot: inSING.com)."

The story was straight forward and it continued from "Resident Evil: Extinction". The female lead, Alice (played by Milla Jovovich) continued to look for survivors and brought them to safety. The supporting actress "Ali Larter" as Claire Redfield was sexy and she was able to fight too. The performance of Wentworth Miller as Chris Redfield was great but not much action from him. The visual effects were good with tons of gunshot scenes. There were also lots of slow motion scenes just like the one in "Matrix" but nothing special about that. I like the battle scene between the giant Zombie and Alice with Claire as it was exciting. The ending indicated there will be a sequel in future. Overall, the movie was entertaining and my rating for this installment is 3/5.

Penang Trip - Day 3 on 8 Aug

As 8 August was the final day staying in Penang, I had my favourite Char Kway Teow as breakfast. The prawns were big and fresh. I could even smell the "Wok Hei" from the Kway Teow that I seldom find in Singapore and the taste was good. I also tried the bananas pancakes ordered by others.

After a heavy meal, we headed towards one of the famous tourist spots in Penang heritage trail, the "Fort Cornwallis".

We saw the statue of Captain Francis Light, the founder of Penang after we entered the fortress.

Many cannons were placed around the fortress perimeter. This particular one (as shown in the above) has a very interesting history. The locals believe it has magic which will improve a woman's fertility if she places flowers on the barrel. This is not a joke as we really saw a Chinese lady did that when we were taking some photos. We then went to New World Park for lunch.

At the food court, I ordered the Penang Assam Laksa again. I was disappointed as the taste of the soup was diluted and I did not enjoy it at all. As for my Fried Oyster Omelette, it was still okay.

Luckily, I enjoyed the desserts there. This was the first time I saw so many chendol strips were being served in a bowl. It showed the stall owner was very generous to his customers. The Ice Kacang with ice cream topping was pretty nice too.

Before going back to hotel to pack our luggages, we bought the local famous "Tau Sar Piah" and "Hiong Peng".

After a 40 minutes journey to the airport, we took our dinner at Pinang Kopi Tiam. We arrived Singapore quite late that night. All of us were tired but agreed we had an enjoyable trip in Penang. We will go back one day. You may also read my Day 1 trip here and Day 2 trip here.

Sideshow - 501st Legion Clone Trooper Pt.2

I have been aiming to get the Medicom 501st Legion Clone Trooper since I started my Star Wars collection. Due to expensive pricing, I give up in the end.

Later, when Sideshow started to release the 1/6 scale clone troopers, I was very happy. Because I know they will release the 501st Legion Clone Troopers one day.

This is the same mold Sideshow used to produce the Imperial Shock Troopers and Utapau Clone Troopers. The colour deco on the armour is the only difference you can compare from other clone troopers.

Looking closer to the figure, I notice some black marks on the armour are printed by machine rather than hand painted. However, this doesn't affect the overall weathering on the armour.

All the joints are fairly tight except to the loose ankle joints. It's really annoying when trying to make some poses.

Surprisingly, the undersuit is made of stretchable fabric material that can be torn by sharp objects. I prefer the rubber undersuit used for the previous releases.

Despite to the loose ankle joints, this is a very nice figure in term of pricing and paint work. I highly recommend to pick it up if you are a huge fan of Star Wars clone troopers. You may view the box packaging here.