Sunday, October 30, 2016

Inferno - The Third Installment of Robert Langdon Adventure

It was just 2 weeks ago that this movie started playing in Indonesian theaters, but due to some very hectic schedule at work and in private lives, plus the fact that I could not watch a sequel without seeing the predecessor films first, I only got time to see this today. It was difficult to look for cinemas that were still playing it in Jakarta, and I could only find 4 cinemas from Cinema XXI chain and 3 cinemas from CGV Blitz. As I just had my car washed in Kuningan area and Lotte Avenue was one of the cinema playing this movie, I decided to go there and watch the 2.25 PM show. When I reached there at 11.30AM, the queue was very long, no doubt for people wanting to watch Doctor Strange. So when it reached my turn, I could not get to my favorite spot and had to take the 3rd seat from the top left. But I guess better than have to wait for 7.25PM since the shows in between was for The Accountant. Anyway, let's get on with the movie now.

Doctor Strange - The Strangest Super Hero of Marvel

I finally got the chance to watch this movie yesterday when there was a brief moment of time where I do not need to be involved in an activity. Unfortunately my wife had to do something personal so I had to watch the movie by myself. I chose to watch it at Epicentrum XXI where earlier some of my wife's sisters and family were hanging out around that area and also because the movie was having the Dolby Atmos sound effect. To my surprise, when I went to buy the ticket at 11.30AM, the theater was still having a lot of empty seats for the 12PM show. Not sure whether it was the theater or it was because Saturday noon not a lot of people want to see movies. Anyway, let's find out what the movie was all about.

Brief Story Line

Movie started with the scene of Kaecilius (Mads Mikkelsen - Casino Royale, The Hunt, Hannibal TV series etc) trying to steal some pages from an ancient book in the library somewhere in Nepal. After tearing his required pages, a person dressed in a yellow priest robe came to the location and tried to capture him. Kaecilius and his fellow students tried to escape by opening the library door where they reached to a modern western world. It gave us an idea that all of these people were able to do some magics and Kaecilius was able to escape through another dimension after having to fight with the person pursuing them who seemed to be very good in magic as well.

TROLLS - Bringing Life to the Famous Troll Dolls

After having a week full of work, including business travel and also tiring emotional situation, I needed a break and a fun movie. So this one that just premiered on Friday was definitely a good option. My wife whose 1 of her event was cancelled at the last minute asked whether we should go watch a movie. Naturally I jumped to this opportunity and agreed to her suggestion and decided to watch this one instead of the latest Marvel movie Doctor Strange which happened to be full house in most theaters. Anyway, we went to the 6.45 PM show at Lotte avenue just like our usual thing on a weekday and I was almost a bit late reaching there due to traffic jam after the heavy rain earlier. Well let's get on to the movie itself.

Brief Story Line

Many years ago, the large creatures who were always feeling unhappy called Bergens discovered that they could be happy when they eat Trolls who were always in happy condition, singing, dancing, hugging and stuff. Every year a Trollstive (I hope I got the spelling right) was held by the Bergens where every one of them could eat a Troll and become happy for a while. This festival was led by the Chef (Christine Baranski - Mamma Mia!, The Good Wife TV series etc) who put all the Trolls that she managed to catch in a cage in a tree which would be opened and revealed to the Bergens on that festive day.

Thursday, October 27, 2016

True Story - A True Story of A Reporter and A Murderer

When I went back from my 1 day meeting trip to KL, I flew using Malindo Air managed by Lion Group. I am not a big fan of Lion Air but since it was the only flight available at 8.30 PM, we had to choose this one. Unfortunately, my colleague and I were very disappointed in our first ever experience, as the flight was delayed for 2.5 hours due to "technical" problem which till the time we finally took off, it was never cleared what problem they had. Luckily however, despite being a medium class budget airline, it provided inflight entertainment as well (though not as many as Garuda having). So the good thing is while waiting for the matter to be resolved, I was able to watch a movie completely without worrying not able to complete it. As there were not a lot of option, I chose to watch this one which I had never seen before. So let's find out what the movie is all about.

Brief Story Line

A New York Times journalist named Michael Finkel (Jonah Hill - 21 Jump Street, The Wolf of Wallstreet etc) was well known for reporting great humanitarian news and have been putting good articles in the cover of New York Times magazine. However, in his last article about slavery, there was a complaint that the character he featured was not the person being abused. After being confronted by his editors and unable to prove his innocence, Finkel was fired from his office and had to return back to his hometown and stay with his wife Jill (Felicity Jones - A Monster Calls, Inferno etc). 

Time Renegades - also known as Siganitalja

As I was engaged to go to KL for a meeting, I took the Garuda flight in the morning and was very lucky to find tons of inflight entertainment available to choose. I was a little bit confused on which movie to watch during my 2 hours 5 minutes flight, so I decided to watch a movie that was shorter than that the flight schedule and still interesting. Hence this movie was chosen as it fit into the 2 criteria above as the movie was happening in 2 different timelines but somehow connected. I also chose this as I remembered wanting to watch the movie when it played in Indonesian theater few months ago, but was not able to see it due to some reasons. Anyway, let's get on with the movie.

Brief Story Line

While trying to capture a criminal on new year's eve of 2014, Gun-woo (Lee Jin-wook - Glass Castle & Nine: Nine Time Travels TV series) got shot and had to be hospitalized for some time. After this incident, he started to have a dream and can see through another person's eyes in 1983. He was able to see through Ji-hwan (Jo Jung-Suk - The Face Reader, My Love, My Bride etc) a music teacher working in a high school. 

Sunday, October 23, 2016

Jack Reacher: Never Go Back - Tom Cruise Delivers Again!

I have been eyeing to watch this movie in a Dolby Atmos theater as it was one of a rare movie with such sound effect. So I was very irritated when I reached Epicentrum 21 theater only to be informed that the theater was having some technical problem and they were trying to rectify it without knowing how long it would take to do so. I was tempted to go search different theater, but due to the lots of traffic allocation as a result of Jakarta marathon on that day, I decided to just had my lunch there first and hoping the issue would be resolved sooner rather than later. I went to this theater after I had one of my weekend staycation with my wife (who once again was invited to stay in a hotel near HI area). As she had another food tasting event on that Sunday noon, I went to the cinema by myself. After waiting till 1 hour, I called the cinema and got confirmation that the technical problem was already resolved. So I immediately bought the ticket for 2.25 PM show. Yaaaaaay. Well enough of my rambling and let's get on with the story.

Tuesday, October 18, 2016

A Monster Calls - A Touching Fantasy Drama With Cool Special Effects

I had known that this movie was already premiering in Indonesian theaters since last Wednesday. I already planned to watch it that day but due to some late works and discussions at the office, I was not able to leave on time and could not possibly make it to the usual 7 PM show. So yesterday when my wife and I were finally having the chance, we went to watch it in Lotte shopping avenue. All right, let us proceed with the movie then.

Brief Story Line

A young boy named Connor O'Malley (Lewis MacDougall - Pan) was having daily nightmare of earthquake and he was unable to save her mother from falling into the giant hole resulted from the quake. Every day when he woke up from his nightmare, he had to prepare everything by himself for school including breakfast, doing laundry etc as his mother (Felicity Jones - The Invisible Woman, The Theory of Everything etc) was sick. It was not clearly indicated but we assumed it was cancer. In school, Connor was always bullied by another kid named Harry. 

The Accountant - Great Way to Change the Image of A Back Office Profession into Something Entirely Different

As the second film of my movie marathon day with my wife yesterday, we chose to see this one at 7.15 PM show. I have seen the trailer to this movie previously and it did raise my interest to see it. It was also a new movie which only premiered on Friday. Anyway, what's the story about?

Brief Story Line

Movie started with the scene of a man in white shirt entering a house where dead bodies were scattered through the floors. As he was about to enter the room where the perpetrator was threatening the person inside, the scene moved to a different location. It was a consultancy room where the parents of young Christian Wolff who was an autistic child were discussing the possible method of treating him. The neurologist was telling them that Chris needed to be treated differently due to his autism. In the room also there was his brother who seemed normal and another girl who also seemed to be autistic. Chris was a genius in mathematics and has ability to put things together, which was shown when he was able to putting the jigsaw puzzle so fast. He also had the need to complete his task and would be very disturbed if it's not done.

Monday, October 17, 2016

Crayon Shin-chan: Fast Asleep! Dreaming World Big Assault! - Another New Animated Movie from the Popular Manga Character

Another one animated movie from popular manga & anime hit the Indonesian cinemas this week. This time, it was from the very popular character in Indonesia, Crayon Shin-chan. I was not a real big fan of Crayon Shin-chan in term of the drawing as I believe it was not having the best/highest quality. However, I could not say that I do not enjoy the silly crazy things that Shin-chan does. Which is why when the movie played, I was thinking of watching it next weekend as my wife and I were having our staycation this week. But as my wife's function was cancelled at the last minute, suddenly she was free to accompany me and it was decided that we would watch this movie in Blitz Grand Indonesia (as I explained in Mike's cinema option, I enjoy watching on Sundays in Blitz theater as we could have the bank promotion of buy 1 get 1 free ticket). So without further ado, below are my views of the movie.

Brief Story Line

Movie started with the scene where Shinnosuke (Shin-chan), his father Hiroshi, his mother Misae and his little sister Hima were sleeping and all having their own dream. The dream that they were having all started with good dream which were funny especially Shin-chan's dream. However all of them were disrupted in the end by giant fish who was pursuing them in dream and made them awake in the morning. It was found out later that everyone in town were having the same type of dream with giant fish pursuing them in the end.

Sunday, October 16, 2016

VISIONS - A surprisingly Little Bit Different Kind of Supernatural Horror Movie

As usual during another one of our weekend staycation with my wife (this time we were staying in a hotel outside Jakarta), I would not miss out on watching a movie that I never saw before in the hotel room. After browsing through the available channels on TV, I decided to watch this movie as it was part of the Saturday premiere of new movie. There was another movie which may have more quality playing in HBO (titled Steve Jobs), but as that channel was not available, I chose to watch the one playing in Fox Movies Premium. Apparently, to get ourselves ready for Halloween night on 31 October, the channel was playing horror movies every night at 8PM Indonesia time till that day. And so let's get on with the movie itself.

Brief Story Line

Eveleigh Maddox (Isla Fisher - Confessions of A Shopaholic, Now You See Me etc) was involved in a car accident where a baby died as a result. Despite her husband David (Anson Mount - Walk the Talk, Non-stop etc) trying to convince her that it was not her fault, Eve still felt guilty and having nervous breakdown & stress. A year later, Eve and David moved to another town and wanted to open a vineyard where they put all their money into this new place. Eve was now pregnant and seemed happy staying in the new place. 

Thursday, October 13, 2016

(TV SERIES) The Blacklist Season 1

This was one series that I was intrigued to try and watch. My only challenge was the fact that the series had been playing for 3 seasons, as it would take quite some time for me to catch up (the 4th season already started since 22 September 2016). In addition, the series itself was quite long as it had like 22-23 episodes per season. However, since the rating and popularity was quite high, I decided that it should be worthwhile for me to watch. So without further ado, here is the information & more details.

Brief Story Line

The pilot episode started with the scene of a person wearing hat and suit getting ready to go to FBI headquarter in Washington DC. When he came inside the building, he introduced himself as Raymond "Red" Reddington (played by James Spader - Sex, Lies and Videotapes, Stargate, Boston Legal TV series etc) and looking for Assistant Director Harold Cooper (Harry Lennix - Ray, Stomp The Yard, Man of Steel etc). Immediately the lobby was swarmed by so many agents pointing their guns at him as it turned out he was in on the most wanted list of FBI. He was then brought into a special prison to be interrogated.

Sunday, October 9, 2016

Ben-Hur - A Less than Successful Attempt of Remaking A Classic Movie

It was almost 1 week ago since I last posted my view of a movie. It has been an incredibly tight hectic last few days at work and even on Saturday. After having some tiring days, I was due for some fun at the cinema. The movie that I chose to see had already been playing for few days and I missed the premier of it as well, so by the time I write this post, perhaps some or most of you have watched this movie even before I did. Nevertheless, I still would like to share my views of this movie. So let's get it on....!

Brief Story Line

Movie started with the scene in the year AD 33, where Judah Ben-Hur (Jack Huston - American Hustle, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, etc) and Messala (Toby Kebbel - Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, 2015 Fantastic Four, Warcraft etc) were getting ready for a chariot race and each of them seemed to be very hostile against one another.

Tuesday, October 4, 2016

Deepwater Horizon - The True Story Behind The Largest Oil Spill Incident in History

I finally had the chance to go see a movie with my office colleagues after the last time we did for My Stupid Boss. Unlike then when we were able to combine 2 group companies into the so called "nonton bareng" event and almost 40 people altogether, this time there were less people who watched this movie together due to various reasons. Nevertheless we still could enjoy this movie as it was telling the story related to our company's line of business in the oil & gas industry. Anyway what was the story about? Let's find out shall we?

Monday, October 3, 2016

Erased - The Live Adaptation of Popular Manga Series

As the second movie on my movie marathon day last Saturday, we chose to see this Japanese movie which only played in Cinemaxx (also CGV Blitz). The movie started at 6.45 PM which gave us only like 1/2 hour after the first movie. And since we were very hungry, we were almost too late to see the beginning of the movie as we had some dinner first. Luckily my wife and I were able to eat food very fast. LOL. Btw, the premise of the story about someone who could go back in time to change the future and save people seemed interesting, which made us decided to see this one. The movie itself was an adaptation of the popular manga series which unfortunately I have not read and could not tell whether the movie would be following the exact stories. But anyway, let's get on to the story, shall we?

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children - The Latest Tim Burton's Dark Fantasy Adventure Movie

It's been a while since I had a movie marathon day, and last weekend I had the chance to do it again with my wife. It was a Saturday so we went to Cinemaxx and watch this one as our first movie of the day. It was a new movie that just premiered on Friday so it's still quite fresh. Without further ado, below is the story line

Brief Story Line

Jake Portman (Asa Butterfield - Hugo, Ender's Game etc) was a 16 year old teenager who was not having a lot of friends at school and feeling awkward all the time. He was very close to his grandfather Abe (Terence Stamp - Elektra, Valkyrie etc) who used to read him lots of bed time stories since he was still a child about Abe's time spent in Miss Peregrine's home where there would be many peculiar children.