The first month of 2025 is ending soon and I have completed watching my first TVB series of the year. This Hong Kong drama is called ‘Battle of Marriage’ and starred Edwin Siu, Jinny Ng, Winki Lai, Brian Chu, Eric Tang, etc. This 20-episode romance comedy series revolves on a successful actor who tried hard to juggle between living with his wife who have returned from Canada after several years and his mistress who lives just a floor below.
To be honest, the drama is quite entertaining to watch if you don’t put any high expectation of it which is common for any TVB series that is released in early part of the year. Edwin Siu is a solid actor and he is seriously in need of a breakout role for him to clinch the best actor some day. Too bad this role isn’t one but the truth is, it is not easy to portray a comedic role convincingly too. Both Jinny and Winki also gave out good performances and it is quite refreshing to see the two of them on screen.
The plot get bored at times but did went heated up as it should near the end when Edwin finally had to decide the way out of the love triangle that made all three of them suffer. A cameo appearance by Owen Cheung with a little interaction with Winki that referenced back to their previously collaborated series is a nice add-in in the final episode. Out of 10 points, I rate ‘Battle of Marriage’ 7.3.
Moving on to the second topic now. The nomination list for the 97th Academy Awards (Oscars) was finally announced recently after a bit of delay due to the LA wildfires. ‘Emilia Perez’, a French musical film led the list with 13 nominations, followed by ‘The Brutalist’ and ‘Wicked’ of which each received 10 nominations. These 3 films made it into the 10 titles vying for the best picture, alongside ‘The Substance’, ‘A Complete Unknown’, ‘Conclave’, ‘Anora’, ‘Dune: Part Two’, ‘Nickel Boys’ and ‘I’m Still Here’.
So many ‘nominees to be determined’. Haha…It seems that details are not finalized and a lot of paper works need to be done. Out of these 10, I have so far only watched 3 of them (‘The Substance’, ‘Dune: Part Two’ and ‘Wicked’). I’m looking forward to watch ‘A Complete Unknown’ and ‘The Brutalist’ once they are available. As I am not that immersed into Oscar-bait movies last year, I don’t have much preference on my choice out of the nominees this year. Anyway, the 97th Academy Awards will be held on 2nd March 2025. 3 more years and the Oscars will be entering the historic centenary celebration.
(Images in this post are from various online sources)