Friends Reunion, WW84, and HBO Go

When I subscribed to HBO Go Asia last March to watch Zack Snyder's Justice League, I intended to terminate my subscription after a month. As it turn out, I ended up extending my subscription in April so I could watch Wonder Woman 84 which became available on HBO Go on April 21 and I extended my subscription again in May to watch the Friends: The Reunion.

Friends: The Reunion

I was one of the many millions of people who tuned in regularly to watch Friends across all its seasons so I definitely had to watch this. But rather than this reunion being a show that told us how Chandler, Joey, Monica, Phoebe, Rachel, and Ross were now, it was a nostalgic walk down memory lane with Courteney, David, Jennifer, Lisa, Matt, and Matthew, along with other cast members and creators of the show. Lisa was asked towards the end of the reunion whether they've talked about making another episode or another movie and she said that the writers David Crane and Mrta Kauffman said that "they ended the show very nicely and they would have to unravel all those good things in order for their to be stories." I actually liked the format, which involved the cast talking to each other and reading scripts, showing clips from the show, and even having all of them interviewed in front of a live audience. It was so nostalgic seeing Matt and Matthew sit on Joey and Chandler's reclining chairs, seeing Matt put on all of Chandler's clothes again, hearing Lisa, Rachel, and David reenact the time when Phoebe found out about Chandler and Monica, listening to Lisa sing Smelly Cat again, and even seeing Maggie Wheeler who played Janice (Oh... My... God...) and James Michael Tyler who played Gunther make special appearances.

It was mentioned during the reunion that the one sentence pitch is for the show was "it's about that time in your life when your friends are your family" and seeing the cast together and talk about how important they all are to each other really tugs at your heart. Oh and to anyone who might not know, I believe it was Friends that coined the term "Friendzone". Check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugYEJfwUdcA. 

Wonder Woman 1984

The first Wonder Woman film is one of my favorite superhero movies so I wanted to see this sequel. It was entertaining and enjoyable to watch, but it wasn't as good as the first one. It was an interesting story, which I won't spoil, but as we all knew that Chris Pine would reprise his role as Steve Trevor who died in the first movie, I wanted to see how that would happen. I was also curious to see Cheetah's origin story and understand how her powers would be at a level that would enable her to match up against Wonder Woman. (When this is revealed in the movie, I thought it made perfect sense.) SPOILER ALERT: One of the cool things in this movie is that we got to see Lynda Carter, who portrayed Wonder Woman in the TV series that aired in the 1970s.

*****

Since I'm already subscribed to HBO Go, I tried to maximize it by watching as many movies as I can. I normally play a movie while I'm doing other things at home (for instance, doing chores) so I tend to watch films that I've already seen  before. In the last couple of months since I subscribed, I've re-watched 23 movies. These are: Spider-Man: Far From Home, Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse, Wonder Woman, Red Eye, Four Weddings and a Funeral (I've forgotten how funny this movie is), School of Rock, To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar, Red Riding Hood, Blues Brothers 2000, The Specialist, The Pelican Brief, Minority Report, Justice League: War, Godzilla: King of The Monsters, Pacific Rim, The Guilt Trip, Hellboy II: The Golden Army, Assault on Precinct 13, Mean Girls, The Italian Job, Scooby-Doo, Along Came a Spider, and Snakes on a Plane. Aside from Zack Snyder's Justice League and Wonder Woman 1984, I only got to watch one other movie - The Enchanting Phantom - for the first time.

The Enchanting Phantom

This is a Chinese Movie about a scholar Ning Cai Chen who falls in love with a woman who turns out to be a ghost. This "enchanting phantom" named Nie Xiao Qian seduces men so she can steal their life essence. Somehow, Nie Xiao Qian ends up falling in love with Ning Cai Chen as well. It's an easy enough film to watch with a few interesting twists and events but I realized that recently, I find it difficult to stay focused on watching new movies, moreso if I have to read subtitles.

I know that Godzilla vs Kong was released on HBO Max recently - last month I think - so I'm hoping that it becomes available on HBO Go soon.