Final Score - "Die Hard" in a Football Stadium

Last Friday, a new movie premiered in one of the cinema chain in Indonesia. It was not difficult to see this as it played in quite a lot of theaters including ones near my home. Since the Indonesian movie that my wife and I wanted to see only played in limited theaters, I decided to see this one first by myself. Those who have read my previous posts would understand that sometimes I would see movies that I have doubt on the quality to save my wife from the pain of having to see films that she might not like. Anyway, we shall move on to the movie now.

Brief Story Line

Mike Knox (Dave Bautista - Guardians of the Galaxy 2 and its predecessor, Escape Plan 2 etc) was a US soldier who took time off to London to meet with his best friend's family there. He wanted to bring their teenage daughter Danni (Lara Peake - How to Talk to Girls at Parties etc) to a soccer match between West Ham United and Dynamo in the Boleyn Ground (Upton Park) which had around 35,000 capacity, and also happened to be the last match in that stadium. 

Johnny English Strikes Again - A Hilarious Rowan Atkinson's Spy Comedy Movie

This movie had in been in my radar for weeks as I was looking forward to seeing Rowan Atkinson reprising his role in this spy comedy movie. Though I did not have any recollection of the plot from the earlier movies, but I still remember I had lots of fun watching them. So when it finally premiered in Indonesia yesterday (much earlier than in US), my wife and I bought the tickets for 6.45 PM show in the theater nearest to our home. OK let's get on with the movie now.

Brief Story Line

When the British secret service agency MI7 was having a cyber attack which exposed the identities of all the secret agents, they had no choice but to seek the help from the only living agent who had been in retirement, Johnny English (Rowan Atkinson - Mr. Bean TV series, Keeping Mum etc). Despite the reluctance from the Britain's Prime Minister (Emma Thompson - Beauty and the Beast, Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix etc), they had no choice but to let him lead this assignment.

(TV SERIES) Altered Carbon Season 1 - A Quite Awesome Cyberpunk Series

After completing another series that ran along for 6 seasons, I was looking forward to try a new series that did not have too many episodes in a season. While searching for it, I found this series playing on Netflix which only had 10 episodes, plus the story seemed really interesting. So I decided to start watching this one. OK, let us get into the series now.

Brief Story Line

Story was set in the very distant future where a person's memories and consciousness could be backup in a chip (referred to as "stack") put inside the neck and when the person died, the stack could be put inside another body and the person would be "alive" again with his memory intact. The body which was called "sleeve" could be other people who had suffered "real death" (permanently died without the backup when stack was destroyed) or it could also be the clone of the person's body. This could result to people literally live forever, but usually only the very rich called Meth could enjoy such privilege.

ALPHA - A Visually Stunning Movie of Friendship Between a Hunter and a Wolf

Now this movie was something that my wife and I were a bit doubtful at first. When both of us saw the trailer once, we did not feel intrigued or really interested in it. So when it finally premiered in Indonesia yesterday (late by more than a month from the US release), we were not that excited. But then again, since I want to be updated on the new movies, I still went on to see this. And my wife was willing to accompany me. Anyway, let us find out about the movie now.

Brief Story Line

During the time of around 20.000 BC, a tribe of hunters led by Tau (Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson) went on a hunting trip with all the males, including his young son Keda (Kodi Smit-McPhee - X-men: Apocalypse, ParaNorman etc) who was in his first ever trip. Challenge was despite his ability to create good hunting equipment, Keda did not seem to be suitable for hunting role as he was not the ruthless and strong type.

Peppermint - A Jennifer Garner's Violent Vengeance Movie

When this movie premiered on Tuesday, I was unable to see it until only last night. It only played in 1 cinema chain, but since one of them was located very near my home, it was not difficult for me and my wife to see this. I did not choose to see it in a Dolby Atmos theater as it did not have that sound effect. Anyway let's get on with the movie now.

Brief Story Line

Riley North (Jennifer Garner - Alias TV series, Elektra etc) was a woman whose lives was torn apart when a gang of drug dealers led by Diego Garcia (Juan Pablo Raba - Narcos TV series) decided to attack on her family. Unfortunately the corrupt system and people made sure that Garcia's men never got convicted, even though Riley got the support from Detective Carmichael (John Gallagher Jr. - 10 Cloverfield Lane, The Belko Experiment etc) and his partner Beltran (John Ortiz - Fast & Furious, Kong: Skull Island etc). 

The House with a Clock in Its Walls - A Nice Enough Novel Adaptation Fantasy Movie

Yesterday this movie premiered in some of the Indonesian cinema chains. It was rather odd that it did not play in all cinemas, and since that was the case, there were limited options to see the movie. After discussing our plans, my wife and I decided to see this in the cinema nearest to my office at CGV Pacific Place. Although we did not have any idea what the movie was all about (never saw the trailer at all either), we thought it would be a fun one since it had Jack Black in it. OK, now let's move on to the movie.

Brief Story Line

Set in the year 1955, a 10 year old Lewis (Owen Vaccaro - Daddy's Home and its sequel) moved to live with his uncle Jonathan (Jack Black - Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, Goosebumps etc) in the city of New Zebedee. Jonathan's house was an old and very weird looking place that seemed to have lots of strange stuffs. And there were countless clocks everywhere, plus rather scary sounds at night. Jonathan's neighbor and best friend Florence (Cate Blanchett - Ocean's 8, Cinderella etc) was always around the house and would soon become quite close with Lewis as well. But there was also another very nosy neighbor Mrs. Hanchett (Colleen Camp - The Swinging Cheerleaders, Clue etc) who was not appreciative of the noises Jonathan made during late nights.

The Humanity Bureau - An Average Not Memorable Science Fiction Action Movie

Yesterday there was a new movie premiered exclusively in the largest cinema chain in Indonesia. As I have seen almost all the latest movies, I decided to give this one a chance. It was a Nicolas Cage movie which nowadays usually are B class movie. But this film caught my attention as the synopsis from the cinema website seemed to hint something interesting. More details on the movie below.

Brief Story Line

When the earth suffered the effects from global warming, some of the Midwest American area were in panic and having recession. To resolve it, the government had formed a new agency named The Humanity Bureau to identify the non-productive people and exile them to an area called New Eden. Noah Kross (Nicolas Cage - Teen Titans! to the Movies, Ghost Rider etc) was one of the best agents assigned to verify such cases. 

A Better Tomorrow 2018 - An Almost Identical Remake of John Woo's 1986 Classic

I mentioned in 1 of my previous posts that while I was on holiday trip with my wife, I was able to watch 2 1/2 movies and one of them was this. I was intrigued by the title as it is clearly a remake of the hit 1986 classic which I loved a lot. So I opted this as my second movie of the day, and I was excited as I would be able to see this without interruption. Well here goes more on the movie.

Brief Story Line

Zhou Kai (Wang Kai - Railroad Tigers, Ode to Joy TV series etc) and Zhou Chao (Ma Tianyu - The Founding of An Army, Ice Fantasy TV series etc) were 2 brothers who were very close but were having the complete opposite line of work. Zhou Kai together with his right hand man Ma Ke (Darren Wang - Legend of the Naga Pearls,  Suddenly Seventeen etc) were members of a smuggling ring and specialized in the route between China and Japan. Meanwhile Zhou Chao was a rookie police and never knew about his elder brother's activities.

The Predator - A More Humorous and Lighter Tone Predator Movie

At last another big budgeted action movie playing in the cinemas after we were shown horror, thriller, rom-com genre for a while. It was actually quite odd that this kind of movie did not play during the US summer time. But anyway, I am just glad we have this in the month of September. Oddly enough, there were not a lot of cinemas with Dolby Atmos system playing in Jakarta yesterday, so my options were quite limited. I decided to see this one with my wife at the cinema nearest to our home. OK let's get on with the movie now.

Brief Story Line

During one of his mission, Captain McKenna (Boyd Holbrook - Logan, Jane Got A Gun etc) encountered a spaceship that was having the Predator inside it. Worrying that he might be leaking the information about alien, the CIA led by Agent Traeger (Sterling K. Brown - This is Us TV series etc) tried to imprison him. While being transported to the place where he would be locked up, McKenna met with other soldiers to be imprisoned as well. They were the never-afraid-to-die "Nebraska" Williams (Trevante Rhodes - 12 Strong etc), the funny guy Coyle (Keegan Michael Key - Why Him?, Storks etc), the twitching guy Baxley (Thomas Jane - Before I Wake, Dreamcatcher etc), Lynch (Alfie Allen - Game of Thrones TV series etc) and Nettles (Augusto Aguilera).

Wiro Sableng Pendekar Kapak Maut Naga Geni 212 - A Good Adaptation of the Popular Indonesian Martial Arts Novel

After spending more than a week's holiday with my wife, we were trying to catch up with movies that we were not able to see for a while. Hence, yesterday during a public holiday, we managed to have a movie marathon and saw this one as our second movie of the day. It had been playing quite some time and fortunately the film was still playing in Indonesian cinemas. So let us go on with the movies now.

Brief Story Line

Wiro Sableng (Vino G. Bastian - Warkop DKI Reborn: Jangkrik Boss Part 1 & its sequel, Chrisye etc) was saved & taught martial arts by his teacher Sinto Gendeng (Ruth Marini - Sebelum Iblis Menjemput etc) since his childhood. When he had grown up, Wiro was told by Sinto to look for and capture the leader of the dark forces and her former student named Mahesa Birawa (Yayan Ruhian - Beyond Skyline, Star Wars: The Force Awakens etc). 

Crazy Rich Asians - A Brilliantly Done Touching Romantic Comedy Movie

After playing in US cinemas for more than 2 weeks, finally this movie premiered in Indonesia yesterday. We were quite lucky as it was a public holiday and could easily choose what time to see the movie and where. My wife and I who have been eyeing to see this, opted to see at the 1.40 PM show as we wanted to see another movie after that. Well let us get on with the movie now.

Brief Story Line

Rachel Chu (Constance Wu - Fresh off the Boat TV series etc) was a Chinese American working as an economic professor and having wonderful relationship with her boyfriend Nick Young (Henry Golding). When Nick asked Rachel to accompany him go to his hometown in Singapore to attend the wedding of his best friend, she agreed to it though at first she hesitated. Unbeknownst to her, Nick was actually coming from a filthy crazy rich Singapore family.

Life of the Party - A Not too Memorable Melissa McCarthy Drama Comedy

During the flight back home from my holiday trip with my wife, I did not have the time to complete 3 movies, and only managed to see 2 and a half films. One of them was this comedy movie that did not play in Indonesian cinema and starring one of the funniest woman in the US. So without further ado, here are more details of the movie.

Brief Story Line

Deanna (Melissa McCarthy - Ghostbusters remake, Mike & Molly TV series etc) was a simple housewife who had a daughter in her senior year college named Maddie (Molly Gordon). Her life turned upside down when her husband Dan (Matt Walsh - Brigsby Bear, Veep TV series etc) suddenly wanted to divorce her as he was in love with their realtor Marcie (Julie Bowen - Horrible Bosses, Modern Family TV series etc).

The 15:17 to Paris - A Drama-Focused Terror Attack Movie

During the flight for holiday with my wife, as usual I would be watching the movies on the inflight entertainment. Since the plane had to transit first before proceeding to the final destination and the duration for the first flight was less than 2 hours, I had to choose a movie short enough to finish before we reached the transit airport. Of course I could always continue in the second flight, but I would rather finish it once rather than stopping then continuing. So I opted to see this movie that fit those criteria. OK we shall move on with the movie now.

Brief Story Line

Spencer (Spencer Stone), Alex (Alex Skarlatos) and Anthony (Anthony Sadler) were 3 best friends since childhood. When they have grown up a bit, Spencer enlisted in the Air Force while Alex was in the US armies and was stationed in Afghanistan. Anthony was the only one who went to college. The three of them planned to go backpacking across Europe while they were on holiday.

Big Brother - Not Your Average Donnie Yen Action Movie But Still Pretty Entertaining

Last night I got the chance to see the latest Donnie Yen movie with my wife. As we both are fans of Donnie Yen, we were definitely interested in watching all his films. Especially since we did not get the seats for an interesting Indonesian movie that I originally planned to see. Anyway let us get on with the movie now.

Brief Story Line

Henry Chen Xia (Donnie Yen - Chasing the Dragon, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story etc) applied for the position of a teacher in Tak Chi high school. Despite not having the proper experience, he was accepted and given the responsibility to be the head class of 6B which was filled with the most difficult and naughty students. Five of the most challenging students were Jack (Jack Lok) the hot headed one, the twins Bruce & Chris, the tomboy girl Gladys (Gladys Li) and the Pakistani boy Gordon (Gordon Lau) who only had singing on his mind.