After months of renovation
resulting in various foreign language film festivals heading to other cinemas (that
sadly didn’t have the same vibe and feel), the Shang Cineplex has rebranded
into the Red Carpet, the Shangri-La Plaza mall’s updated cinema/café/events
area.
The Red Carpet’s bold, vibrant
red marquee greeted guests during the cinema’s grand launch that featured a
special advanced screening of Aquaman.
My first impressions of the
cinema’s exterior is that it is more elegant with warm, light wood panel walls
and marbled, stone floors that made the reds in the carpet stand out more. It
actually felt more like the lobby of a highbrow arts/cultural center rather
than a cinema complex.
Inside, gone are the carpets with the vibrant, dated
pattern as they are now replaced with those featuring a marble like pattern in
more subdued, earthy color scheme. The comfortable seats, ample leg room, and
stadium type seating retain the intimacy of a shared viewing experience. Overall,
the exterior and interior of the cinemas gave the Red Carpet a more luxurious
and timeless feel.
Aquaman
About the film Aquaman, directed
by James Wan, all I can say is that I had fun watching it although I haven’t
read much of the character’s comics nor am I updated with the more recent DCEU offerings. One
of my gripes in the movie though were the trips that Arthur
Curry/Aquaman (Jason Momoa) and Mera (Amber Heard) took in various parts of the
world that felt too The Da Vinci Code for me. I was brought back to the early days of the resurgence of superhero films when I saw Willem Dafoe as Arthur’s mentor Vulko although my first thought was "Green Goblin" actually. One of
the biggest delights of the movie is whenever Nicole Kidman's Atlanna was onscreen. I never knew that she was part of the cast.
As a longtime comicbook reader, a
big question is whether the film is enough for me to dive into Aquaman comics.
The answer is not really. I don’t find myself scrambling to comicbook shops and
seek the further adventures of Arthur Curry via the latest Aquaman issue or
whatever trades in print. Surprisingly, it is actually the history of Atlantis
in the DC Universe that interests me more. Good thing that Aquaman: The Atlantis Chronicles by Peter David and Esteban Maroto
is finally collected 27 years after the limited series came out in 1990. This
epic tale, spanning decades, recalls the history of Atlantis, its rise and fall,
and culminates with the birth of Aquaman. This collection is available physically
in hardcover format but is priced rather steeply.
It is highly unlikely though that
Warner Brothers will make a prequel film expounding on the history of Atlantis.
So I should be content with this comic satisfying my craving for more Atlantis
lore. But the mid-credits scene involving antagonist Black Manta (Yahya
Abdul-Mateen II) strongly hints of an upcoming sequel which is very likely now considering
the box-office success of the film.
No comments:
Post a Comment