Midsommar - An Unusually Disturbing and Depressing Cult Horror Movie

After weeks of contemplating whether or not to see this movie, I finally decided (and got the chance) to see it during last weekend. This was due to the fact the movie was released while I was on holiday trip and I tried to play catch up with many more new released movies during the period. But as it garnered quite a lot of hype, I was still keen to find out about the movie. As my wife was not a fan of such film, I saw this one by myself. Anyway, let's get on with the movie.

Brief Story Line

A group of college students that consisted of a rather depressed Dani (Florence Pugh - Lady Macbeth, Outlaw King etc) with her boyfriend Christian (Jack Reynor - The Man with the Iron Heart etc) and his friends Mark (Will Poulter - The Maze Runner, The Revenant etc), Josh (William Jackson Harper - The Good Place TV series etc) & Pelle (Vilhelm Blomgren) went to Sweden to experience a midsummer celebration with Pelle's community which only happened every 90 years.

Drunk Parents - A not That Funny Comedy Movie with a Misleading Title

There were few movies that were released this week, but I was away on a business trip and only got chance to start seeing it yesterday. I wanted to see another comedy movie released earlier but as my wife wanted to take a rest, I decided to see this one instead which I did not think she would be interested. Anyway, I will go straight to the movie now.

Brief Story Line

A seemingly rich couple of Frank Teagarten (Alec Baldwin - The Boss Baby, The Aviator etc) and his wife Nancy (Salma Hayek -  The Hitman's Bodyguard, Desperado etc) just dropped their only daughter Rachel (Michelle Veintimilla) to college. Turned out, Frank and Nancy did have some financial problems which they tried to hide from Rachel.

Ad Astra - A Really Slow Paced Drama Sci-fi Movie with Brad Pitt's Awesome Performance and Stunning Visual Effects

This was one of the movie that I honestly did not have a clue what it was all about. I did not read anything about it and the trailer did not reveal too much information, but it did not seem to be having a lot of spectacular moments either (apart from one scene which intrigued me). Anyway as it was one of the new release movie this week, plus it had a major star in it, my wife and I decided to see it last night. Again due to the traffic restriction, we opted to see this at the cinema near our home, rather than at our favorite Dolby Atmos studio. So let us proceed with the movie now.

Brief Story Line

Set in the near future, when the space travel was already quite common and even trip to the moon was done commercially, an unidentified power surges happening throughout the earth and endangering the planet. Major Roy McBride (Brad Pitt - Mr & Mrs Smith, World War Z etc) a veteran and quite famous for being calm under dangerous situation was given special assignment which related to his father, the astronaut Clifford McBride (Tommy Lee Jones - Jason Bourne, The Fugitive etc).

(TV SERIES) The Orville Season 1 - A Very Entertaining Sci Fi Series with Some Touches of Humor

While on my holiday trip last month and during the quite long flight, I was unable to find movies that I could watch (except for The Great Battle) as the rest of them I have seen already. So I decided to try watching TV series. Apparently there was option of several series and lucky for me, one of them was shown from first season. Since the premise was interesting, I gave this a try. Only four episodes were shown in the inflight entertainment, and I just completed the rest of them this week. Well we'll go ahead with the series.

Brief Story Line

Set in the 25th century, after having a bit of a slump in his career, Ed Mercer (Seth MacFarlane - Family Guy TV series, Ted etc) finally got his break when he was appointed as the captain of a mid-level exploratory space vessel named USS Orville. His senior crews included the pilot as well as his best friend Lieutenant Gordon Malloy (Scott Grimes - Robin Hood 2010 version, Party of Five TV series etc) and First Officer Commander Kelly Grayson (Adrianne Palicki - G.I. Joe: Retaliation, Friday Night Lights TV series etc) who was also Ed's ex-wife.

Rambo: Last Blood - A Good Enough (Hopefully) Finale of One of the Most Iconic 80s Heroes

When I heard they were going to make another Rambo movie, I was quite intrigued as I am a big fan of this character and all the movies in the franchise. When it premiered yesterday, I was having a bit of a challenge to see in my favorite theater with Dolby Atmos system due to the traffic condition. But as I did not have info on whether the movie had that specific sound effects, I opted to see it in the theater nearest to our home. My wife was supposed to accompany me, but she did not feel well at the last minute so I went to see it by myself. Anyway, let's go straight to the movie now.

Brief Story Line

Set many years after the event of the last movie, John Rambo (Sylvester Stallone - Creed 2, Escape Plan: The Extractors etc) was leading a peaceful life in a ranch with an old woman named Maria (Adriana Barazza) and her teenage granddaughter Gabrielle (Yvette Monreal). Occasionally Rambo also become a volunteer when required.

Dumplin' - A Quite Lovely Mother-Daughter Relationship Movie

Last Saturday night I was thinking of watching a movie on cable TV as it was usually the premier day of new movies. And it turned out that my decision was correct as there was 1 movie which was never shown in Indonesian theaters but I read somewhere that it was a good film. So I proceed watching it on Fox Movies Premium channel. Now I'll just get on with the movie.

Brief Story Line

A teenage plus-size girl named Willowdean (Danielle Macdonald - Birdbox etc) had been living with her aunt Lucy (Hilliary Begley) from very young age. But when Lucy passed away, Will had to move back and live with her mother Rosie (Jennifer Aniston - The Break-up, Friends TV series etc) who was a former beauty queen in their hometown Texas. Will who was also nicknamed Dumplin' by her mother, had a best friend since childhood named Ellen (Odeya Rush - The Hunter's Prayer etc) and they both went to the same school. 

(SPECIAL SCREENING) One Piece: Stampede - A Real Feast for Fans of this Series to Celebrate its 20th Anniversary

Last Saturday my wife and I went to the special screening of a quite brand new Anime movie based on famous manga by Eiichiro Oda. Even though we had never seen the series or read the comics, we wanted to give this a try and hope to know & understand the story and characters better. Who knows it might kickstart our own fandom with this series. The film itself started at 2 PM after brief introduction and few movie trailers. OK, let us get on with the movie.

Brief Story Line

During a Pirates Expo, an event where all the pirates could come and have a "party" was held which was promoted by the mysterious Buena Festa (Yūsuke Santamaria), all the pirates including the Straw Hats led by Monkey D. Luffy (Mayumi Tanaka) and his team such as Zoro (Kazuya Nakai), Usopp (Kappei Yamaguchi) etc went to this expo. 

Chasing the Dragon II: Wild Wild Bunch - Sadly an Uninteresting "Sequel" to that Entertaining 2017 Movie

This was a movie that was released few days ago and intrigued me due to its title. I read the synopsis and thought it might be worth to try. However there were not a lot of theaters showing the film, and it was only playing in 1 cinema chain. But it did play in 1 of the theater not far from my home. Anyway, I will just get on with the film now.

Brief Story Line

Set in 1996 before Hong Kong was to be returned to China a year later, the police was keen to reduce crime by capturing criminals. Their target was one of the most notorious, a ruthless & intelligent criminal named Logan Long (Tony Leung Ka-fai - Double Vision, The Myth etc) with his favorite MO to kidnap wealthy businessmen for ransom. In order to do so, they assigned undercover detective named Sky He (Louis Koo - Paradox, Rob-B-Hood etc) to infiltrate Logan's gang.

The Great Battle - An Amazing War Movie with Some Breathtaking Battle Scenes

During the flight home to Jakarta last week, I was browsing through the inflight entertainment of Garuda Indonesia which unfortunately had not been updated for more than 2 months and mostly the films (even TV series) have been watched by me. But then I noticed this movie which somehow eluded me few times earlier. I thought a war movie might be nice for a change and there was no other worthy option anyway, so I gave this a try. How was the movie? Let's get more into it now.

Brief Story Line

Set in the year 645AD during the Tang Dynasty in China, their emperor Taizong (Park Sung-woong - The Dude in Me, Monstrum etc) led an army of 500,000 men to invade Goguryeo (one of the ancient kingdoms of Korea). When they were almost reaching the capital, they encountered a rather small city of Ansi which Taizong thought would be easy picking.

IT Chapter Two - A Satisfying Conclusion to that Stunning Horror Movie Adapted from one of Stephen King's Best Works

Again this was one movie which I had been eyeing to see when it first premiered, but as I was away for holiday with my wife, we could only see this last night. For this I opted to see in the cinema with Dolby Atmos system as I want to feel the effects of the sound. Luckily it was playing at 6.25 PM which was just perfect after my office hour. OK I'll go ahead with the movie now.

Brief Story Line

Set 27 years after the events in the first movie IT, all the Losers club had already grown up and mostly moved out of Derry town, except for Mike (Isaiah Mustafa - Shadowhunters TV series etc). So when the missing children started again and likely the evil clown (Bill Skarsgård - Castle Rock TV series etc) resurfaced, Mike realized that It has not been killed. He started to call the rest of his friends starting with their leader Bill (James McAvoy - Glass, Atonement etc), the only female Beverly (Jessica Chastain - X-MEN: Dark Phoenix, The Help etc), the trashmouth Richie (Bill Hader - The Angry Birds Movie 2, Trainwreck etc), Ed (James Ransone - Sinister etc), Ben (Jay Ryan - Beauty & The Beast TV series etc) and Stanley (Andy Bean - Swamp Thing TV series etc). 

Ready or Not - A Brilliantly Done Movie of a Simple Premise

This is the next movie that I saw after my long holiday. It was released since 28 August 2019 in Indonesia and we were supposed to see it on that night, but it did not play in the theater nearest to our home. It was a good thing that it was still playing, as there was another movie premiered two days later but no longer playing now, so we had the chance to see the film last night. Anyway, I'll just get on with it.

Brief Story Line

Grace (Samara Weaving - SMILF TV series etc) had just gotten married with Alex LeDomas (Mark O'Brien - Republic of Doyle TV series etc) who was from a really wealthy family. As part of their family tradition, Grace had to play a game before officially becoming part of LeDomas. As so happened, the game they were required to play was Hide and Seek. However, it would appear that the game was not a normal kind, since Grace had to hid and not be found or caught before dawn, otherwise she would have to die.

Gundala - A Decent Indonesian Superhero Origin Movie to Kickstart its Own Shared Universe

At long last, my wife and I got the chance to see this movie after it had been playing for almost 2 weeks. It was one of my highly anticipated film which unfortunately premiered on 29 August while we were on our holiday. Anyway, after we got back home, we opted to see this as our first movie we tried to catch up. Sadly though, the cinema where we usually see films with Dolby Atmos effect was not showing it last night at our available time, probably because of some events. OK, without further ado, let us get on with the movie.

Brief Story Line

Sancaka (Abimana Aryasatya - The Night Comes for Us, Sabtu Bersama Bapak etc) was a loner who worked as a security guard in a factory. He was quite a bitter person who did not like to be involved in other matters due to the hardship he had to endure since childhood. But when his neighbor Wulan (Tara Basro - Pengabdi Setan, 3 Srikandi etc) was being threatened by market thugs, he came to the rescue and made him the target of more thugs. Using the power of lightning that he somehow manage to control, Sancaka started to help other people and became the beacon of hope.

(TV SERIES) Wu Assassins Season 1 - Iko Uwais' First Attempt in a Western Series

Before my long holiday, I started to watch this series as it had Iko Uwais name as the lead role. But sadly I was unable to complete the series and it dragged until last night when I completed the last 3 episodes. Well anyway, let's get on with the series now.

Brief Story Line

Kai Jin (Iko Uwais - Stuber, Triple Threat etc) was a half Chinese half Indonesian chef who had been living in Chinatown San Francisco from his childhood years. He was raised by Uncle Six (Byron Mann - Skyscraper, Crying Freeman etc) who was a ruthless Triad leader. Jin was also best friends with Lu Xin Lee (Lewis Tan) who had some shady business,  a restaurant owner Jenny Wah (Li Jun Li - The Exorcist TV series etc) and her drug-addict brother Tommy Wah (Lawrence Kao) who loved to hang out with the Triads.