Monday, July 30, 2018

Inuyashiki - A Nicely Done Science Fiction Movie with Great Moral Message

A couple of weeks ago I found out there was a new Japanese movie to be playing in Indonesian theaters soon. When I read the synopsis about cyborg and seemed to be action movie, I thought I would give myself a try. Yesterday I finally got the chance to see this one in one of the few cinemas still playing the movie (it was quite a challenge since this kind of movie only played in the smaller cinema chains and with a very big Hollywood movie just playing, the options became even more limited). Anyway, let us get on with the movie.

Brief Story Line

Inuyashiki (Noritake Kinashi) was a rather elderly family man married to Marie (Mari Hamada) and they had a high school daughter named Mari (Ayaka Miyoshi) and her younger brother Takeshi (Nayuta Fukuzaki). Working at a company with small pay made him unable to provide for his family and they seemed disrespectful & did not love him, especially Mari. One night his life would change forever when an incident made him became like a cyborg with various "super" power. At first he was confused but later on started to do good things using his power, but he only kept this to himself and did not dare to share it with his family.

Sunday, July 29, 2018

Mission: Impossible - Fall Out - An Awesome Action Movie and One of Tom Cruise's Best

Finally after premiering for few days, my wife and I got the chance to see this movie yesterday. We had other plans on its premier date and we decided to try and see this in IMAX using the VIP vouchers that my wife got from her friend. It was a wonderful experience as we did not have to queue at all and we were given 2 nice seats in the middle of the studio which were usually kept empty for VIP guests. So how was the movie itself? More on that below.

Brief Story Line

Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise - American MadeThe Mummy etc) was given a new mission to acquire plutonium which would be used for terrorist attack. In order to do so, he had to make sure purchase could be done through an arms dealer called White Widow (Vanessa Kirby - Me Before You, The Crown TV series etc). Due to his earlier mission went awry, the CIA's director Erica Sloane (Angela Bassett - Black Panther, American Horror Story TV series etc) had assigned one of his best agent named Walker (Henry Cavill - Man of Steel, The Man from U.N.C.L.E etc) to "accompany" Ethan.

Saturday, July 28, 2018

Teen Titans Go! To the Movies - A Hilarious Animated Movie of DC Younger Superheroes

I saw the trailer to this movie few weeks ago and thought it looked like fun. So when I got the chance to see this film on its premiere date and as it happened to play in the cinema very near to my home, my wife and I were very happy and immediately bought the tickets for 7 PM show. It was the perfect time to see it as I would be able to return back from office with plenty of time to have dinner and walk to the cinema. So let us get on with the movie now.

Brief Story Line

Story was set in Jump City where a group of young superheroes who called themselves Teen Titans led by Robin (Scott Menville) and his friends Cyborg (Khary Payton - The Walking Dead TV series etc), Starfire (Hynden Walch), Raven (Tara Strong - My Little Pony: The Movie etc) and Beast Boy (Greg Cipes) were trying to fight crimes but they were always fooling around and were never treated seriously by the more established superheroes, especially by Justice League.

Tuesday, July 24, 2018

Blockers - A Nice Enough Drama Comedy

During my trip using Singapore Airlines few days ago with my wife, I watched a movie in the inflight entertainment. Since it was a short trip of around 1 hour 45 minutes, my option was quite limited and after browsing through the various movies, I decided to see this one as it was still quite new and did not play in Indonesian theaters back then. Now we shall go into more details on the film.

Brief Story Line

Julie (Kathryn Newton - Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Gary Unmarried TV series etc), Kayla (Geraldine Viswanathan - All Out Dysfunktion!) and Sam (Gideon Adlon) were three best friends in high school who were planning to lose their virginity during the prompt night. Julie was the first to have such idea with her boyfriend Austin (Graham Phillips - The Good Wife TV series), while Kayla wanted to do it with her lab partner Connor (Miles Robbins) and Sam who earlier was doubtful about doing so, finally decided to do it with her friend Chad (Jimmy Bellinger).

Monday, July 23, 2018

Future World - A Failed Attempt of Creating Mad Max Type Movie

As I was taking holiday with my wife the past few days, I was not able to keep up with the latest movies playing in Indonesian theaters since last Wednesday. When we finally returned home, there was little time to see the movies and my wife was not feeling enthusiastic either. So I decided to see this one without my wife's company. What was the movie all about? Let us find out.

Brief Story Line

Story was set after the war between humans and robots that destroyed the world. The remaining humans were trying their best to survive in the post-apocalyptic world which was mostly desert. Some of the more savages people who called themselves Raiders were led by a Warlord (James Franco - Why Him?, The Disaster Artist etc) and running around in their motorcycles looking for people they can rob & kill (and women to rape). These raiders managed to find a female android that was revived by Warlord. He gave her the name Ash (Suki Waterhouse - Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Assassination Nation etc) and made her his own personal slave, despite Ash' unique perspective of her "life".

Saturday, July 14, 2018

Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation - When Dracula and His Family & Buddies Go for Vacation

When this movie premiered yesterday, there were not a lot of theaters near our place that showed the film. The nearest cinema to our home only played 3 times with 5 PM being the latest show, which was not possible for me due to my office hour was till that time. So today we decided to buy the tickets for 1 PM show at Cinemaxx Plaza Semanggi. Well let us move on with the movie now.

Brief Story Line

Mavis (Selena Gomez - Wizards of Waverly Place TV series etc) felt that her father Count Dracula (Adam Sandler - Happy Gilmore, Click etc) and her husband Johnny (Andy Samberg - Storks, Hot Rod etc) were working too hard at Hotel Transylvania. Hence she wanted to give a surprise to them by giving a summer vacation and enjoy a luxurious cruise. With such attraction, obviously Drac's best friends that include Frankie the Frankenstein monster (Kevin James: Paul Blart: Mall Cop, Kevin Can Wait TV series etc), Griffin the invisible man (David Spade - The Benchwarmers, Rules of Engagement TV series etc), Murray the mummy (Keegan-Michael Key - Why Him?, Key & Peele series etc) and Wayne the werewolf (Steve Buscemi - Con Air, Boardwalk Empire TV series etc) would definitely come along.

Thursday, July 12, 2018

Skyscraper - Another Dwayne Johnson Silly Fun & Enjoyable Action Movie

This movie caught my attention few months ago when there was some article referring to the many movies starring Dwayne Johnson aka The Rock. There was no plot detail about the movie back then, but after I saw the trailer not long ago, I realized that it looked like a full action movie and should be interesting to see. My wife and I chose to see this one at Epicentrum to enjoy the large screen it had, which I thought would be nicer to experience the action sequences related to the film. Well here are more detail of the film.

Brief Story Line

Will Sawyer (Dwayne Johnson - RampageMoana etc) was a former FBI agent who had built a small security firm and was being asked by his ex colleague Ben (Pablo Schreiber - Den of Thieves, The King's Daughter etc) to perform a small audit on the tallest building in Hong Kong (and the world) called the Pearl, owned by a wealthy businessman Zhao Long Ji (Chin Han - Ghost in the Shell, Contagion etc). During the meeting with Zhao at the Pearl, Will also brought along his wife Sarah (Neve Campbell - Scream quadrology, Wild Things etc) and their twins children Georgia (McKenna Roberts) & Henry (Noah Cottrell) to stay at the 98th floor of the building.

Meanwhile, a group of criminals led by Botha (Roland Møller - Atomic Blonde, The Commuter etc) were planning to do something with the building, which involved setting the building on fire. The Hong Kong police led by Inspector Wu (Byron Mann - The Big Short, The Man with the Iron Fists etc) would later on be involved in stopping the criminals.

So could Will save his family from the tall building on fire, especially with his physical condition? And what was the reason for Botha to set it on fire in the first place? Find them all in this fun, exciting & full of action movie.

End of Brief Story Line

This movie was awesome in term of the suspense we were getting from the action and the cool special effects which it truly delivered. My wife and I were truly enjoying this movie for all those factors. Sometimes we were also feeling amazed and absorbed in the suspenseful scenes, especially that incredible jump scene or Dwayne Johnson's fight scenes. The film itself started of brightly, then there would be the introduction of Sawyer family, plus the showing of the smart building and tallest skyscraper which I think done pretty nicely by the special effects team. Then it continued to be quite non stop action till the end.

Movie such as this would rely heavily on computer effects. And luckily with a hefty budget of USD 125 million, personally I was satisfied with the effects. The computer graphics were quite smooth and the building plus the fire on it were quite lifelike. The actions were top notch and I think Dwayne Johnson literally rocks. I think his name nowadays can be translated into guaranteed good action movie (and of course some commercial success). Although some of the action sequence were a little bit exaggerated but mostly they successfully fulfilled my need of a good old fashion action scenes. I think other characters were OK but the main attraction certainly would be him.

The movie's plot here was not too complicated (which was not the main attraction anyway). In fact I felt a bit similarity with the first Die Hard movie starring Bruce Willis. It is probably a combination with a movie about tall building on fire such as The Towering Inferno. But people should not expect this to be a smart intelligent movie without any plot holes. Audience who expect that kind of film would probably be disappointed since this film should be enjoyed as pure fun and excitement. Credit should be given to the director Rawson Marshall Turber who previously directed action comedy or comedy movies such as Central Intelligence, We're the Millers and few others.

Sound effects of the film was great. I was not sure whether it was real Dolby Atmos effects or not (since the cinema website did not put such effect), but I was satisfied. The fire sound or the fighting scenes sound were very good. And again, I cannot iterate enough about the special effects of building on fire and the scenes from high altitude that were amazing. As my wife and I were not fans of height, this film also brought the intense feeling as well. The duration was around 1 hour 41 minutes including the very long credit scene to appreciate those effects team. Oh there was no post or mid credit scenes to be seen in here.

Since the movie was categorized as PG-13, it was quite safe to be seen by teenagers, but I do not think it was suitable for the young children, as there were few violent scenes and very brief strong language. There were also few cheesy moments and a bit touching scene which as usual affected my wife. Now if you are looking for a pop corn movie that would provide you the enjoyment of silly fun or the suspense and Dwayne Johnson in action, then this movie should be able to satisfy you. But if you are looking for a smart movie and expect the best kind of scenarios/plots full of logics, then you probably would not like this one. My wife and I were certainly part of the former audience. The choice is yours.

Happy watching!

Mike's movie moments rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Sunday, July 8, 2018

Mother! - A Unique & Disturbing Psychological Horror Movie

Last night, there was a new movie premiered in HBO Asia as its usual Saturday Night Premiere program. It was a movie that never played in Indonesian cinemas last year. I remembered reading somewhere that the critics quite enjoyed this one but the audience did not like it and so I was truly intrigued to give this a try. Since my wife and I did not have any plan for the night, we were already at home at 8 PM when the movie started. But as she was not a fan of such film, I saw this one by myself. 

Brief Story Line


A Poet (Javier Bardem - Pirates of the Carribbean: Salazar's Revenge, Vicky Cristina Barcelona etc) was living with his wife who was referred to as mother (Jennifer Lawrence - Red Sparrow, American Hustle etc) in a house which seemed to be in the middle of nowhere. Mother was very much in love with the Poet and was willing to build the Poet's house which was completely burnt down earlier. Meanwhile the poet was having some writer's block and could not seem to write a new poem.

Friday, July 6, 2018

Distorted - An Uninteresting Supposedly High Tech Mystery Thriller Movie

Two days ago when Ant-man and the Wasp premiered in Indonesia, there was another movie that started to be shown as well, albeit not in all cinema chains. I saw its trailer 1 time earlier and thought it seemed like a small budget, maybe interesting thriller movie. Anyway, I decided to see this one yesterday night by myself as I am not sure my wife would have liked it. So let us get on with the movie.

Brief Story Line

Lauren (Christina Ricci - Sleepy Hollow, Casper etc) was a woman who seemed to be suffering from some kind of mental issue. Her husband Russel (Brendan Fletcher - Braven etc) felt that it might be good to move out of their current house to a better place. They decided to try the new apartment which was very modern, luxurious and very safe, with state of the art security. 

Thursday, July 5, 2018

Ant-Man and the Wasp - A Much More Family Friendly & Super Light Marvel Superhero Movie

Last night my wife and I went to the Epicentrum cinema to see 1 of the most anticipated movie as it was in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and I myself could not wait to find out its continuity with Avengers: Infinity War. We decided to see the 7.15 PM show to ensure that I did not have to really rush from my office. I did have time to go home and have dinner first before we went direct to the theater. So let us get on now with the movie.

Brief Story Line

Set 2 years after the events of Captain America: Civil War, Scott Lang (Paul Rudd - Role Models, I Love You Man etc) was now put in house arrest under the watch by FBI agent Woo (Randall Park - Fresh Off the Boat TV series etc) and had to stop being Ant-Man to avoid being jailed permanently. He was now having a rather peaceful life, spending time with his daughter and building security business with his old cell mate Luis (Michael Peña - 12 Strong, CHiPs etc). But soon he would be entangled with his previous life, when he was somehow connected with Janet van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer - Married to the Mob, Batman Returns etc) in the quantum realm. 

Sunday, July 1, 2018

Hereditary - Not Your Average Kind of Supernatural Horror Movie with Super Slow Build Up

After days of seeing this movie being promoted in the social media, I was obviously thinking that I should give this one a try. At first I was really doubtful as I had to see this movie by myself since (you got it!), my wife would not want to see this kind of scary film. But today my wife and I had some free time in the afternoon and I thought why don't I see it by myself? There must be some other people in the cinema to "accompany" me. And there I was, at almost 1 PM, waiting for the movie to start and surrounded by quite a lot audience which relaxed me a bit. Well let us get move on to the movie now.

Brief Story Line

Story started with the death of the mother of Annie (Toni Collette - The Sixth Sense, About a Boy etc) who worked as a miniaturist and had her own workshop at her house. Annie's husband Steve (Gabriel Byrne - All Things to All Men, In Treatment TV series etc), their teenage son Peter (Alex Wolff - Jumanji: Welcome to the JunglePatriots Day etc) and his 13 year old sister Charlie (Milly Shapiro) who loved to draw, were all dealing with the grief in their own ways. But the most affected one seemed to be Charlie as she was the closest with her grandmother.