Railroad Tigers - The Latest Jackie Chan's War Adventure Drama Comedy Movie

When a Jackie Chan's movie trailer was shown 2 or 3 weeks ago in the theaters, I immediately told my wife about it. And since we were both fans of his works, we would love to watch his movie, whatever the story/topic about. Originally we wanted to see this movie on Thursday at Setiabudi, however it did not have the 7PM show there as it was still sharing the studios with other movies. But on Friday, it had a 6.30 PM show so we were able to buy tickets for that time. Ok, let's move on to the story now.

Brief Story Line

In 1941 when China was still under the Japanese colonialism, there was a group of railroad porters led by Ma Yuan (Jackie Chan - star of so many action comedy movies) that included Da Hai the tailor (played by the singer former EXO member Huang Zi Tao) and Ru Yi, the porter who love to use small hammer  in his act (Jaycee Chan - The Twins Effect 2, The Invisible Target etc). This so called gang specialized in robbing trains passing the railroads of China. However, they were not the normal robbers who targeted the passengers but instead they focused on robbing the Japanese soldiers' weapons and uniforms. Their trademark was always putting a cartoonish picture of tiger on the body of the Japanese soldiers.

Cek Toko Sebelah - A Nice Drama Comedy from Ernest Prakasa

My wife and I have been eyeing to see this movie for a while ever since we saw the trailer few times before. In actual fact, we wanted to see it on the premiere date on Wednesday, but one thing led to another and we had to postpone it till yesterday. Despite being late by 1 day though, the audience for this movie was still a lot, as proven by its fully packed studio. As usual on a weekday, we watched it at the nearest location from my office at 7 PM. And after many many advertisements & few trailers before the start of the movie, finally it started at 7.05 PM. So let's get on with the movie.

Brief Story Line

Ko Afuk (Chew Kin Wah - My Stupid Boss) was an owner of a grocery store where he had built his store from zero till it was quite a success. His store was next to another grocery store owned by Pak Nandar (Budi Dalton - Shy Shy Cat) who saw Ko Afuk as his competitor. Despite being in direct competition, Pak Nandar and Ko Afuk always respected each other. Ko Afuk had five store assistants who helped him during the day and aside from their daily routine, were always goofing around.

Passengers - Lovely Adventure of The Only Passengers on A Space Ship

This movie was already playing in Indonesian theaters since last Friday, but again due to various movies that premiered last week and were prioritized by my wife and I, and also due to other activities which we did during the weekend, we only managed to see this one on Monday noon. I took a 1 day leave from work as part of the Christmas holiday, so we could see this movie at the 2.50 PM show and we saw it at our nearest location in Setiabudi. 

Brief Story Line

The movie was set in a very distant future, where space travels had become a normal thing to do. A transportation space ship named Avalon, was on its way to a new planet called Homestead II with 5000 people/colonists on board the ship and they were supposed to build the planet and make it a good place to live. The distance of the planet was very far and it would take 120 years to reach the location. To enable the colonist survive the long journey, all of them were put to sleep in a sleeping pod and were supposed to be awake 4 months prior to reaching Homestead II. This also included the > 200 ship crews so the space ship was put on autopilot to reach the location.

Point Break - Remake of the 1991 Cult Movie

I did not had the chance to see this movie in theater last year. I could not remember the reason but most likely it would be due to some busy work days since usually an action movie would be a must for me to see in theater to enjoy the special effects and sound effects. Anyway, the movie finally premiered on Saturday Night in HBO TV cable. By chance I was having the usual staycation with my wife (who got another free 1 night stay at a hotel in South Jakarta) on Saturday and the hotel's inhouse TV entertainment included this channel. So I got myself ready to see this movie at 8 PM.

Brief Story Line

Johnny Utah (Luke Bracey - G.I.Joe: Retaliation, The November Man etc) was an extreme athlete who love to do various dangerous stunts and also very famous due to the huge publicity in youtube. After an incident happened 7 years earlier, Johnny decided to indefinitely stop his acts and continued his school & college and trained to become an FBI agent. Before becoming a full FBI agent, he was being thoroughly checked by FBI Instructor Hall (Delroy Lindo - Malcom X, Gone in 60 Seconds etc). He was then asked to attend a briefing about a heist done to a US diamond company on a very tall building in Mumbai, India by some people who escaped by parachutes.

In later stage, a similar heist happened in Mexico on a flying plane where the newly printed US money were then released from the plane. The perpetrators escaped seemingly into the jungle. Johnny was able to identify that the crimes were done by the same people who were planning to complete a list of extreme 8 ways to honor the nature called Ozaki 8. He believed that their next attempt would be to surf in France where the waves were unbelievably high and only happened many years once. Hall believed in this analysis and sent Johnny to France and to work together with Pappas (Ray Winstone - Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, The Sweeney etc).

In France, Pappas who was a much senior agent accompanied Johnny to the sea where there were already lot of surfers. Johnny also tried to go and surf, despite he was not very good at it. While attempting to surf on one of the highest wave, Johnny interrupted another surfer's flow and he fell into the water. The other surfer had to stop and help to get him out of the water. It was revealed later that his name was Bodhi (Édgar Ramírez - Carlos, Zero Dark Thirty etc) and he was also a rather extreme athlete accompanied by 3 friends, Roach (Clemens Schick), Chowder (Tobias Santelmann - Kon Tiki) and Grommet (Matias Varela - Assassin's Creed). They were sponsored by a very rich person named Pascal Al Fariq (Nicolas Kinsky) to do those extreme acts.

Despite some suspicion from Chowder, Johnny was able to infiltrate into this group and even managed to be very close to their friend named Samsara (Teresa Palmer - Lights Out, Hacksaw Ridge etc). After another wild stunt that they did together, Bodhi's whole group could finally accept Johnny. However, Pappas on the other hand was very upset as he thought that Johnny was only trying to enjoy glamorous undercover life.

Finally it was revealed that another heist would be done indeed by Bodhi and his friends which Johnny was trying to tell him not to. However Bodhi insisted that in order to complete the Ozaki 8, they had to give back to nature. 

So could Johnny stop this latest heist? Could he catch Bodhi and his friends who he had become so close in the past few days? Find them all in this full of wild extreme stunts movie.

End of Brief Story Line

As I mentioned on the title above, this movie was a remake from the 1991 movie with Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze as the main characters and had gained a cult status ever since. Before I do any comparison to the original, I would like to share my thoughts first on this 2015 version. As a movie, we would be amazed with the suspenseful extreme stunts such as the wingsuit scene (jumping from the Alps and like flying stunt), or the snowboarding from top of a snowy mountain. Including the chasing stunts were also very cool (one scene kind of reminded me of the latest Jason Statham movie, Mechanic: Resurrection). In term of story though, this one was a bit complex. I think the writers wanted to make the characters had some depth, like the reasons of Johnny to become FBI agent, or the reason for Bodhi to do what he did.

I did regret one bit though that I did not watch this movie in theater, as I believed the sound effect and the beautiful sceneries and breathtaking scenes with those suspenseful stunts would be very astonishing and lovely to see on large screen. However, I did feel that other than those stunts, the movie did not offer something new (especially when it was a remake of something that was done 24 years before).

Meanwhile, if we compare to the original 1991 version, then it's a different ball game. I hate to admit (and a little bit embarrassing as well) that I had many chances to see it in TV or online streaming or even through DVD, but I never did. So I only saw the original version last night after I saw the remake version. Once I saw the original one, I could understand the reasons for that version to be a cult classic. It had all the ingredients of such movie, with a rather brutal fight scene during the raid of one group of suspects and a very youthful Keanu Reeves & Patrick Swayze (fresh from his role in the popular romantic supernatural movie Ghost) plus of course one of the craziest stunt back then, at the finale during the chase between Johnny and Bhodi. Btw, I remembered one scene that was quite popular also referenced by Nick Frost together with Simon Pegg in the very fun action movie titled Hot Fuzz.

For those who loved the original movie, I doubt that they would appreciate this remake as it changed too many stuffs and made the film from originally a straight forward story into an overly complex one. However, if you are a neutral person who never saw the original like me or perhaps you did not get the chance to see this remake version when it played in the theater last year, then you can give it a shot. It would be playing once or maybe twice a day in HBO till next week. For a movie that offered suspenseful over the top extreme stunt, then this can certainly provide you such experience. But if you wanted to preserve your image of the 1991 original version, then perhaps it would not be a good idea to watch this one. The choice is yours.

Happy watching!

Mike's movie moments rating: 3 out of 5 stars

HANGOUT - A Cool Comedy Thriller Movie from Raditya Dika

It's been a while since I saw an Indonesian movie with my wife. So when this movie finally came out (as its trailer had been shown lots of times prior to the start of many movies in the past few weeks), we decided that we want to see this movie as early as possible. When it premiered though, we watched a different movie instead (Assasin's Creed which I just reviewed on Friday). Just like our last movie date of another movie directed & starred Raditya Dika (Koala Kumal), we also watched this one together with our nephews Ravel and Rimsky. But this time we watched it in Lotte Avenue since surprisingly Setiabudi did not show this movie. Anyway, the premise of this film was quite interesting and it starred not only him but also other quite well known (and senior) artists in Indonesian entertainment world. So let's get on to the movie now.

Assassin's Creed - The Adaptation from the Popular Game from Ubisoft

I have been quite late in the recent few weeks in catching up with premiere of the newest movies. Just like this movie which premiered on Wednesday, I could only watch it yesterday. And it seemed that pattern might continue until next week when I am more able to juggle my work schedules with my after office private activities. Anyway, this movie seemed very interesting, especially from the trailer, the main actor and also the adaptation of the hugely popular action adventure game in various platforms. My wife who is a fan of Michael Fassbender was interested in seeing this movie as well since the action sequence looked cool. So yesterday she bought the ticket for our usual 7 PM show at Lotte Avenue. Well, what's the story all about? Let's find out.

Brief Story Line

The first few minutes of opening scenes were showing the ancient secret societies named Assassins in the year 1492 in Spain. It seemed to be an initiation of some sort to a member named Aguilar (Michael Fassbender - X-Men First Class trilogy, Prometheus etc). Scene moved to the year 1986 where a young Callum Lynch was instructed by his father (Brian Gleeson) who seemed to be a member of the Assassins as well, to run away as far as possible, since he was going to be captured.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story - Another Episode in the Star Wars Anthology Series

I was a bit late posting this movie as it had been playing in Indonesian theaters since Wednesday when it premiered the first time. It was a hectic week at the office and I only got the chance to see it on Friday. I was fortunate enough that my wife was quite free in the afternoon so she could help buy a ticket for me. She was not a fan of Star Wars series, so it was a bit easier to look for ticket for 1 person rather than 2. If it hadn't been for her, perhaps I would only be able to see this on Sunday. The studio was fully packed from top to bottom row and no empty seats at all, so it would be a challenge if I tried to look for tickets at the last minute by myself. Anyway, let's get a move on to the juicy stuff of this movie.

Brief Story Line

Galen Erso (Mads Mikkelsen - Doctor Strange, Hannibal TV series etc) was a very good scientist who was working for the Imperial under the command of director Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn - The Dark Knight Rises, Exodus: Gods and Kings etc) to finish the completion of creating the ultimate weapon called Death Star which supposedly could destroy a planet. Meanwhile, Jyn Erso the only daughter of Galen was taken under the wings of extremist named Saw Gerrera (Forest Whitaker - The Last King of Scotland, Vantage Point etc) who fought against the Imperial and was based in the rebel city called Jedha.

(TV SERIES) The 100 Season 1 - The Survival Story of 100 Juveniles on Post- Nuclear War-Earth

What better way to put up my 100th post of my blog than to write about the series with the above title? A bit cheesy I guess, but hey, I like cheesy staff anyway. LOL. If anybody asked whether I had thought I could make 100 post within 1 year from the time I first started my blog, I would not have thought so. Anyway, I have watched this series for a while now, but did not have the time to write it up and I wanted to update my blog with the more recent movies playing in theater. As usual, I read about this in the internet while I was looking for some new series to fill up my time (as if my time was not already filled with TV series at the moment). Well let's move on to the story itself.

Brief Story Line

After a nuclear war on earth, it had became inhabitable by humans which forced a confederation of people from 12 countries to create outer space stations which jointly formed a single station called The Ark where people could live to avoid extinction. 97 years later, Clarke (Eliza Taylor - The November Man) who was in prison for something she did earlier, was instructed to leave The Ark. Clarke's mother, Dr. Abigail (Paige Turco - the 1991 & 1993 version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles etc) informed Clarke that she was part of a team that was assigned to go to earth and see if it would be habitable for humans, together with 99 other juveniles who were in prison, forming the 100 (referring to 100 prisoners who were instructed to go to earth).

Your Name (Kimi No Na Wa) - Lovely Story of A Boy and A Girl Who Could not Remember Each Other's Name

This movie has been playing in the Indonesian theaters since last 2 weeks but I did not know what the story was all about and I had no rush to watch it. But then I saw some news/information on the internet that the movie seemed to be creating a lot of interests. So on Saturday I had made plan to watch it in Cinemaxx FX which played the movie only at 4.30 PM and 9PM. But due to some last minute change of plan, I had to do it only on Sunday. I was a bit doubtful about going due to the heavy rain after I watched Fallen earlier, however I thought that if I did not watch it then, there would be high probability I would not had the will to go and see this. So finally I reached the location almost at 4PM and to my surprise, the movie was almost fully packed. Since I was alone (my wife was having a nice event to Bali for few days), it was easier for me to pick a seat of my choosing. Lucky there was still 1 seat available on the top row. Well let's get on to the movie now.

Brief Story Line

The movie was about two high school students who lived apart but always felt that they were looking for someone or something in their lives. The first one was a boy named Taki (voiced by Ryunosuke Kamiki - Spirited Away) who was living in Tokyo with his father and had two best friends in school Tsukasa and Shinta. He was quite a short tempered boy but had a good heart and he also worked part time at an Italian restaurant where he had a crush on a more mature and sophisticated co-worker simply called Ms. Okudera (voiced by Masami Nagasa - Our Little Sister etc). Taki always believed that his life started to change after the comet shower he had seen earlier.

Fallen - Everlasting Love of An Angel Who Had Fallen to Earth

I saw the posters of this movie for quite some time in the website of Cinema 21 in the "coming soon" part and when I read the synopsis about love between a person an angel, I thought the premise seemed interesting. However, I did have doubts as there was no familiar names playing in this film. Nevertheless, as I plan to watch another movie that only played at 4.30 PM in another theater, I had some time to kill before I plan to go to that mall. So since this was the only movie that I had not watched, I decided to go and see this one at 1.15 PM at Setiabudi. I would have enough time to leave the place by 3 PM and see the other film in different location. Well what is the story all about?

Brief Story Line

Movie started with the narrative of the story of angels of heaven who had to take sides when Lucifer, the most loved angel by God was fighting with God. There were some angels who did not want to choose either side, but instead they stayed among the humans and choose the side of love. Later scene moved to Lucinda Price (Addison Timlin - The Town that Dreaded Sundown etc) being driven by her parents to a private school named Swords and Crosses. Just like any other private schools, there were a lot of activities that could be attended by Luce as mentioned by the headmaster. However, apparently the school is not just a normal private schools as it was revealed later that the students there were mostly having some personal troubles or when parents did not have any idea on how to handle their children.

Headshot - One of the Bloodiest Brutal Fighting Movie After The Raid

This movie has been intriguing me for quite some time due to its trailer that raised all sort of possibilities. And there was also the very smart marketing done, whereas the movie did not play in Jakarta until 8th of December but it did play in other cities from the past two weeks which created the anxiety of the big cities movie enthusiasts. I wanted to see this movie on that premiere date as well but due to some reasons I could only see it today. So what was the story all about on this film? Let's continue, shall we?

Brief Story Line

Movie started with the scene of some bad guy broke out of jail leaving trail of bodies of his fellow inmates as well as the prison guards. Scene later on moved to 2 months later when a young doctor named Ailin (Chelsea Islan - Merry Riana: Mimpi Sejuta Dolar, 3 Srikandi etc) was trying to nurture a coma patient to health. As she did not know the name of this patient, she came up with a name Ishmael which she felt suited him. He would soon woke up from his coma but he could not remember who or where he was and why he was injured. 

SING - Great Story, Tons of Songs, Awesome 3D Animated Movie

Finally I was able to catch up a new movie that just premiered on a Wednesday. It seemed like it has been ages since I did so with my wife. She happened to be having a function at Pacific Place mall at noon, so she managed to buy the ticket at CGV Blitz for the 7PM show. As it was the 7th of December and since my car's license plate ended with odd number, I could go through the Gatot Subroto area freely (this was due to the regulation in Jakarta to limit the number of vehicles passing through certain areas and avoid heavy traffic jam). So I headed to the mall from my office which took less than 1/2 hour and had a bite for dinner before we go to the cinema. To my surprise, it was not fully packed. Anyway, let's get on to the movie.

Brief Story Line

Buster Moon (voiced by Matthew McConaughey - The Wolf of Wallstreet, Interstellar and many more) was a koala who was the owner of an almost bankrupt music theater due to all his previous play productions failed commercially. He requested the financing from his best friend, the sheep Eddie (voiced by John C. Reilly - Wreck It Ralph, Guardians of the Galaxy etc) who was from a rich family, but he was not able to assist as Buster's track record was not too good. With the help from his assistant, the rather aged iguana Ms. Crawley, Buster sent many flyers to announce a singing competition he wanted to hold in his theater. Buster really needed this to be a success since the theater was going to be foreclosed by the bank due to unpaid loan. 

Underworld: Blood Wars - Selene Returns With A Big Bang!

After 1 whole very very busy week at work, I had no chance of watching this latest (fifth) installment of the Underworld series on the premiere date on Wednesday. I had to wait until Sunday to be able to watch it. Last week, as I knew this movie was about to play, I felt that I had forgotten the background story, so I decided to watch again from the 1st till the 4th installments. And I did not regret it as it made me realize that I had only watched Underworld and its direct sequel Underworld: Evolution. Apparently I have not watched the 3rd installment which was also the prequel, i.e. Underworld: Rise of the Lycans and also Underworld: Awakening which was the sequel of Underworld: Evolution as well as the 4th installment. This movie is the direct sequel of Underworld: Awakening. Hence I was able to understand the story without scratching my head to remember the sequences. Well, let's get on to the movie, shall we?

Brief Story Line

ALLIED - Story of A Man Torn Between His Love for the Country and His Wife, Suspected as an Enemy Spy

I knew about this movie just few weeks ago when I saw the trailer and was a bit intrigued by the seemed to be interesting premise. But as I knew more and more, I became a bit doubtful as it did looked to be a more drama/romance kind of movie rather than the suspenseful thriller movie. Nevertheless, when my wife told me that she was informed about how good this movie was, we decided to watch it anyway yesterday noon at Cinemaxx in Plaza Semanggi since we had not been there for a while. Unfortunately, we did not have good experience due to the rather non-sympathetic way of security checking on our bags and asking us to keep our take-away lunch. Anyway our mood was a bit ruined so we may not have the best kind of image watching it. But, as the usual saying, the show must go on. So here goes my views about the movie.

MOANA - The Different Kind of Lovable Disney Princess and A Sure Classic Animated Movie

I have watched this movie's trailer again and again in the past few months till the point of me being irritated by the length of such trailer and rather disappointed that so many scenes were shown. I like to watch trailers, but when trailers revealing too much information, it kind of ruined the surprise for me and reduced the fun of watching some new movie. I am one of those guys that hate spoiler. Anyway, it just played yesterday and since my wife did not proceed with her function, she was quite free and I immediately offered her to see this movie. It was this or the latest Brad Pitt's movie Allied and no surprise there, she chose this one. So let's get on to this exciting movie.

Brief Story Line

A very young Moana was listening to the stories from her Grandmother Tala (voiced by Rachel House) about the history of Te Fiti, the island goddess who had her heart stolen by the demigod named Maui (voiced by Dwayne Johnson - Central Intelligence, San Andreas and so many more) but he lost it when he encountered the lava monster Te Ka. Maui wanted to steal the heart as he believed it would give the power of creation. Maui himself lost his weapon, a fishhook that he got from the gods and was gone for 1000 years.

(TV SERIES) Stranger Things Season 1 - One of The Coolest Science Fiction Series Set in 1980s

It's been quite some time since I last wrote a post of a TV Series. I have heard about this one few months ago but I cannot remember now where I first heard it. Anyway, when I got the chance to watch it, I finished this in just 2 days as it consisted only 8 episodes. In fact if I watched it during the full weekend when I was having nothing to do, I am very sure that I would have finished it within 1 day. Anyway, what is the story all about? Let's find out, shall we?

Brief Story Line

This series was set in the year 1983 in a town named Hawkins, where a group of 12 year old children consisted of Mike Wheeler (Finn Wolfhard), Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin), Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) and Will (Noah Schnapp) were best friends and loved to play Dungeons & Dragons board game at the basement of Mike's house. One night after > 10 hours playing, Lucas, Dustin and Will went home by bikes where they split their ways in one of the crossroads. 

The Girl with All The Gifts - A Unique Zombies Movie

I have mentioned in my previous posts that I got some vouchers from Cinemaxx theater for winning a quiz they held and there was another voucher that I still need to utilize before it expired on 24 November. Since there was only 1 movie left that I had not watched in Cinemaxx (the other one was a supernatural horror movie that I did not want to watch if it was not a full house), I decided to watch this one yesterday. It was only playing in Plaza Semanggi and just 1 show per day at 2 PM. After reaching the location at 1 PM, I immediately exchange the voucher for the ticket and wait for a while until the theater was opened at 2PM (show started 15-20 minutes after that). Let's proceed with the movie itself.

Brief Story Line (possible spoiler)

Movie started with the scene of a young girl named Melanie (played by newcomer Senia Nannua) who was living in a cell block. In the morning, two soldiers would be taking her out of the cell block, in a wheelchair where her hands, feet and head were all strapped to the wheelchair, leaving no room for her to move around. She and 19 other similar type children were brought out of their cell blocks to another room where they were given lessons by a teacher named Ms. Justineau (Gemma Arterton - Quantum of Solace, Clash of Titants etc). It was shown that she was very fond of the children, especially to Melanie who seemed to be the smartest of them all.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them - Another Adaptation of J.K. Rowling's Novel

This movie has got a lot of buzz for quite some time and I was looking forward to see it as soon as it premiered. However, due to some practical reasons, my wife and I only managed to see it yesterday. We were lucky enough that we got the vouchers from Cinemaxx Theater for winning the quiz they held earlier and hence we were able to watch it for free. Yeaaaay, thanks Cinemaxx. Since the movie got Dolby Atmos option, for sure we choose the studio that was playing it with this sound system. Anyway, enough of that, let's get on to the movie.

Brief Story Line

This movie was happening during the year 1920s in New York city (so it's way before the Harry Potter times and also in different country). Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne - The Theory of Everything, The Danish Girl etc), a wizard from England arrived at New York harbor bringing a suitcase full of various beasts which he captured previously. When he was walking around, he encountered Mrs. Barebone (Samantha Morton - The Messenger, John Carter etc) who was giving speech in front of a bank about the danger of witches living around them. Newt then realized that one of his creature, a niffler escaped from his suitcase and was stealing gold coins etc (as it was attracted with shiny objects). 

Get A Job - College Graduates Facing Their Biggest Test of Adulthood and Real Life

While I was waiting to see the newest major Hollywood movie playing in theaters on Saturday night, ie. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, I had to kill sometime off and decided to watch this film which seemed interesting enough. The premise was about the young generation's struggle on the real life after college, which kind of represent the current actual condition in working environment. So let's continue with a more detail information on the movie.

Brief Story Line

Story started with the narration by Will Davis (Miles Teller - Whiplash, Divergent, Fantastic Four 2015 version, etc) about the fact his generation were awarded for anything they achieved or completed, even if that was not the best. It continued to the scene where Will and his girlfriend Jill (Anna Kendricks - Pitch Perfect 1 & 2, Trolls, The Accountant etc) were having lunch with Will's father Roger (Bryan Cranston - Saving Private Ryan, Argo, Breaking Bad TV series and many more) and mother, celebrating Will and Jill's start of working life after college.

Keeping Up With The Joneses - Simple Suburban Couple Meet the Perfect Couple Neighbors

Finally I had the time to watch this movie last night, after it premiered for almost a week. I was so busy this past week and was looking forward to watch this one using the free vouchers from Cinemaxx and wanted to watch during the weekend, but since my wife and I were not in Jakarta, we have to postpone it until yesterday only. Anyway the movie was just what I needed after having long days at the office as it seemed to be a funny film based on the trailer. So let's find out more on the movie.

Brief Story Line

A suburban couple named Jeff Gaffney (Zach Galifianakis - The Hangover trilogy etc) who was working in Human Resource department in a technology development company named MBI and his wife Karen (Isla Fisher - Confessions of a Shopaholic, Now You See Me etc) who was an interior designer were having the perfect life with their 2 sons. When their children were sent away for a camp trip for 2 weeks, the Gaffneys were suddenly having free time from their children and they already had some  "bright ideas" on how to spend it. 

If I Stay - Not Your Standard Romantic Teen Drama

I initially watched first half of this movie during my plane trip home from business trip in KL few weeks ago when I used Malindo airline. As I mentioned last time, the plane was delayed for 2.5 hours, and due to this, I managed to watch 1 full movie which I already wrote last time (titled True Story) and also saw this one but not completed. This time, when I went back from my trip to Singapore last night using Batik Air, which was same group as Malindo (Lion Air group), I was fortunate that the movies in the inflight entertainment were exactly the same. So I immediately continued where I left off and managed to complete watching the full movie and can therefore provide my insights on the film.

Brief Story Line

Mia Hall (Chloë Grace Moretz - Kick Ass 1 & 2, Carrie etc) was a high school girl with very huge talent in playing cello. She had a wonderful family with very loving mother Kat (Mireille Enos - The Killing TV series, World War Z etc) and father Denny (Joshua Leonard - Higher Ground etc) plus a much younger brother named Teddy (Jakob Davies).

Bounty Hunters - A Korean-Chinese Comedy Action Movie

When I got a sudden 1 day assignment to go to Singapore last Friday, I asked my wife whether she wanted to join me and we could go for a weekend getaway trip there. My wife was a big fan of Singapore and after thinking for a while, she finally decided to go, even though the departing time was at 6 AM which meant that we have to get up like 3AM in the morning to reach airport. This was due to the fact that I had to have a meeting at 10AM and the earliest plane would be Garuda which flew at that hour. As usual, I would definitely enjoy the inflight entertainment from them. There were so many options that I could chose from, but mostly when I can choose, I would pick Asian movies rather than Hollywood produced, since Asian movies were more difficult to see in Indonesia compared to the Western movies. Anyway, there were more than 1 that I can see, but I chose this as it was not too long and the lead roles were played by famous actors & actress. So what's the movie all about? Let's continue, shall we.

Hacksaw Ridge - A Wonderful Tale of a True War Hero Who Managed to Save Lives Without Lifting A Single Weapon

When the huge demonstration was held on 4 November in Jakarta and did not have the peaceful ending as what was promised, the following day made majority of the people avoid going out. My wife and I were among those who decided to stay home on Saturday morning. However, after seeing that finally the demonstrators from out of town were transported back to their home town, and the situation was much more better, we felt that we can still go out in a nearby place to have some dinner and a movie. The movie that we chose just premiered on Friday only in the Cinema 21 chain and it was the only movie that interest us in Setiabudi XXI. So let's get on with the movie.

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.

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. 

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.

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.

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.

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. 

(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.

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.

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?

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.

(TV SERIES) Mr. Robot Season 1 - Psychological Drama Thriller of Hackers and Cyber Attack

It has been a while since I wrote my views on TV series as I had been doing a lot of catching up for ongoing series such as Game Of Thrones (season 6) and The Walking Dead (season 6) and also finishing some of the series that have ended such as Justified, Bitten, Glee, Cougar Town, Downton Abbey etc. So now I had the chance to start seeing new series and possibly continue catching up other series that I have not been able to watch for a while. This series caught my attention when I read somewhere that it was very good. The lead actor also had won Emmy awards few weeks ago. So should be interesting, right? Anyway, what was the story all about?

USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage - The Unexposed True Story Impacting the End of World War 2

This movie had premiered in Jakarta theaters since last Friday but only in 1 cinema chain. I was not sure whether I wanted to see this one or not since it was not the usual Hollywood blockbuster kind of movie and I am only familiar with 1 name which was Nicolas Cage. But then the movie was playing in the theater nearest our home which added the element of interest. And yesterday was a slow Monday & I had no urgent task at the office, so I was free to see it with my wife who already bought the tickets for 6.40PM show since lunch time. Well what's the story all about?

Bad Moms - When Moms are Tired Being the Perfect Mothers

I have watched the trailer to this movie few times already and was definitely interested in watching it, but did not get the chance to watch until last weekend. When my wife was finally able to accompany me (as I knew she would not want to missed out on seeing this one), we managed to go and see it in a theater where quite luckily, there was a promotion of Buy 1 Get 1 Free ticket in 1 of the cinema chain in Indonesia. And it was even luckier that it applied for all classes, so we were able to watch it in the VIP type cinema with only 12 coupled reclining seats in the whole theater.

The Magnificent Seven - 2016 Remake of 1960 Remake of 1954 Original!

I was not a big fan of Western Cowboy movie nowadays. I am not sure since when I lost the interest, coz during my younger age (while I was still in primary school), I totally loved cowboy movies. I even imagined myself as a sheriff, holding guns to capture bad guys. LOL. But when I grew out of such passion, I hardly ever watched any western cowboy movies, not even the famous The Lone Ranger. Anyway, as I saw the trailer of this movie and since it was having few quite famous actors playing in it, I thought I ought to give it a chance to see it. So here we were (I managed to convince my wife to accompany me, even though she was not really in to such genre) watching it yesterday. So what was the story actually? Let's find out, shall we?

STORKS - What a Cute and Adorable Movie!

Another night of watching the premiere of a new movie in theater awaited my wife and I last night. As the time was a little bit earlier than usual (6.45PM), I had to leave the office quite on time. A funny thing actually happened while we were waiting in the cinema for the start of the movie, as a couple was like choosing the best place to sit. We were both amazed at this "scene" coz it was not the first time we saw this. In fact we also heard that other person had the bad experience of having to politely tell the persons sitting in their seats but instead of getting the apology, they were like complaining for being asked to move. And worst part was they even chose to sit at other places (not their own seats). Anyway, perhaps security in cinemas need to be more proactive to avoid such cases (including to avoid the live streaming from theater that happened during the screening of the most successful Indonesian movies till date, Warkop DKI Reborn: Jangkrik Boss part 1).

Pete's Dragon - Another Lovely Disney Movie

It has been a couple of weeks since I watched a movie on weekday, so when my wife and I had the opportunity to watch something yesterday, it was decided that we would watch this film as it was already playing for a week and it may get more difficult to watch it in our favorite theaters. As usual, the tickets were for 7PM show and I was able to reach location nicely. It was quite odd though that when we were so on time to sit in the theater after it opened at 6.45PM, the trailer only began 5 minutes before the movie should have started. It only made sense later the reason was there was just 1 trailer to be shown. I guess there were not that many family friendly movie playing soon. Anyway let's get on with the story.

Brief Story Line

A very young Pete befriended with a funny looking green dragon in the forest of Millhaven in the US. He named the dragon Elliot as per the name of a dog in the children story book that he was holding. Six years later, a bigger roughly 11 years old Pete (Oakes Fegley) had become very accustomed to the life at the forest. He had built a tree house very high with the help from Elliot, while Elliot himself stayed in a cave inside the forest. The two of them were very close and Elliot was very protective of Pete.

However, their peace was a little bit distracted when 1 day during their trip quite far from their home, Elliot and Pete saw Grace (Bryce Dallas Howard - Spiderman 3, Jurassic World etc) identifying trees that should not be chopped down. Elliot was able to camouflage himself and made him seemingly invisible (just like a chameleon). Pete took away Grace's locket and hid himself when Grace heard something.

The following day, a group of lumberjack crew led by Gavin (Karl Urban - Dredd, new Star Trek trilogy, etc) were chopping down trees and the noise awaken Pete. He was curious and looking from quite nearby. Meanwhile, the owner who was also Gavin's brother, Jack (Wes Bentley - The Hunger Games, Interstellar etc) came to see the location with his girlfriend Grace and also his daughter Natalie (Oona Lawrence - Bad Moms). Natalie saw Pete and was curious so she went to the forest. Like children they were, soon they were running around and climbing trees. But when she climbed too high, she fell down and screamed. Gavin, Jack and Grace immediately ran into the woods and finally saw Pete. 

Grace tried to persuade Pete to calm down, but when he tried to run away, he was accidentally knocked unconscious by Gavin. He was later on brought to the hospital and taken care by Grace, Jack and Natalie, despite Pete's insistence to go home to the forest. He tried to explain that he had to go back to find his friend Elliot, which seemed very much like a dragon after he drew it. Grace was curious and asked her father Mr. Meachem (the veteran Robert Redford) on what he saw years ago. He asked Grace to open her mind about something she had never seen.

Meanwhile, Gavin who got suspicious of the sound in the forest went in and spotted a very big footprint and started to investigate with his crew. It was indeed Elliot who was worried when he could not find Pete after he woke up. He had no choice but to camouflage himself to avoid being seen by Gavin and his crew. 

So what would happen next? Would Gavin & crew able to find what they were looking for? Could Elliot find Pete again? Would Pete return to the forest to be together with his best friend Elliot? Find them all in this lovely & touching family movie.

End of Brief Story Line

As a typical Disney movie, you should expect to see a family friendly story. This one is no exception. It had all the ingredients of a lovely family drama movie, with touching odd relationship between a boy and his friend (who happens to be a dragon) and also family relationship. I quite enjoyed the movie, as apart from having those moments, it also had some funny moments (but not very hilarious ones) and I also enjoyed the good CGI special effect on the creation of Elliot. So please do not compare this with other kids movie where the aim was to make you laugh out loud.

It was a little bit funny looking at Elliot as he did not look like the usual dragon that we have pictures of, but his expression seemed more like a dog, especially when he loved to sniff around. He also sometimes sounded like a horse. At some points I even saw similarity of the popular Shrek's face, especially since Elliot's skin was green. Anyway it was hard not to root for him as the closest thing to a father to Pete and also his loving & caring for Pete. It was no doubt the greatest thing about this movie was their relationship. Elliot also pictured as a dragon in the real world where he could not speak. So this is not one of those movies where the animals can speak.

The movie also had some tension moments, especially in the final third of the story. But please do not expect a story about dragon eating people, or dragon killing people. This is not that kind of movie. Please remember that this is family drama movie. If people are expecting fast paced & many plot twist, then this movie is really not for you. It is a movie that you can sit back and enjoy & watch it together with your family. It is also very safe for kids to watch. 

Enjoy watching it while still playing in theaters.

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

Note:

I just found out that this movie was actually a remake of 1977 musical animated movie of the same title. That one also received good review and even got an Oscar nomination for the original song titled "Candle on the Water". So this was not an original movie, although it was also done by Disney in the 1977 version. 

Blood Father - The Latest Mel Gibson's Movie

This film premiered in Jakarta theaters on Friday night only in 1 cinema chain. So the option to watch it was a bit fewer than if it's playing in all of them. When my wife and I returned from 1 of her food tasting event in west Jakarta last night, we chose to watch this movie as it was the only new movie (out of 4 that came out this week) which was playing in the theater nearest our home and the only one we had sufficient time to be able to watch it. Well what is the whole story all about?

Brief Story Line

The movie started with the scene of a teenage girl named Lydia (Erin Moriarty - After The Dark, Captain Fantastic) trying to buy some bullets from a supermarket. After that she gave the bullets to her boyfriend Jonah (Diego Luna - Contraband, Elysium, etc) with his gang who were trying to rob a house. Jonah was trying to calm Lydia down for doing the robbery but the robbery soon went very wrong, resulting to Lydia had to get away from the house.

Feeling worried of being chased by Jonah's men, she contacted her father John Link (Mel Gibson - Mad Max, Braveheart, Lethal Weapon and many more) who was an ex convict and making money by making tattoes for people. As he was still in parole, he could not do any crime related activities. John was getting sober from alcohol addiction and grew friends with his sponsor Kirby (William H. Macy - Marmaduke, The Lincoln Lawyer etc) and each of them living in a trailer which were located across each other in a trailer park.

John who had been divorced with his wife had been looking for Lydia who ran away since she was 14 years old and put up advertisement of her as missing person. Naturally he was happy to hear her after few years and immediately willing to help her. But he noticed Lydia was having drug addiction and convinced her to stay at his trailer for 1 week before he let her go with the money she wanted to escape with.

During her stay in that trailer, Lydia kept on receiving messages on her phone from Jonah's men that they were going to catch her. John was also trying very hard to help Lydia on her addiction. Until 1 night, three gang members who were Jonah's men came to John's trailer. They were asking John to give her up. After some heated exchange of words and gunshots, those 3 left the trailer park with threats to John that they would come back.

John who was not going back to prison and was really confused why Lydia was having this kind of problem, had no choice but to leave the park with her. He knew that by doing this, he would be breaking his parole. Kirby who was his sponsor tried his best to ask John to stay and explain to the police he would not do it to protect his daughter. 

So would John be able to save Lydia after all despite his problems with the law? What was Lydia actually doing with Jonah that would make her the target of the mafia who even assigned a very dangerous hit man to catch her? Watch them and find them all out till the end.

End of Brief Story Line

My wife and I did not have a lot of information about this movie. So we did not know what to expect about it. But the movie did have some nice moments in it. Particularly the relationship between a criminal father with his only daughter and also the unconditional love from the father to a child. This film was categorized as action thriller. For me personally I think this movie was more like a drama with some actions. Reason being the actions were not a lot in the film and there were more of dramatic moments. 

For those who want to see different kind of action movie, I think this one can be an option. Remember that the movie itself is only playing in 1 cinema chain in Indonesia. One thing though. The language in the movie was very explicit as there were so many F words in it. Also it had some minor scene with drug use. I really think this movie was not suitable for teens let alone children. So the censorship body got it spot on when they categorized this as mature rating. Hence, it was really amazing when there were parents who brought their very young child to see this (yes in fact there were 2 such parents and 1 of them sit next to me.. What a real shock!). I really think the security or cinema persons should be more proactive in their role of restriction for audience based on the rating of the movie.

Apart from those disturbance from the child next to me, I personally had some fun watching the movie. It has its few bits of fun (scene involving the motel receptionist Jason) and also the action scenes especially in the finale. As I said above, since it was more drama than action, we should not expect so many gunshots or car chases or special effects of things blown away. Although the actions involving Mel Gibson was surprisingly still good. He was after all a 60 year old guy. I got to admit I was a bit amazed with how he was still able to do the stunt on the motor cycle. So if you are looking for a full action movie in cinemas, then this may not be to your liking. 

A movie with the premise of father helping a daughter would be quite a lot, but I could not remember a movie where the father was an ex convict. Anyway, I understand that the movie was playing first at the Cannes film festival and it does not seem to be playing in US. And it also generated a very favorable rating from those. Though I myself did not have the very best moment in watching it as there were few moments that I felt a little bit bored, but overall it was an OK movie. 

Mike's movie moments rating: 3 out of 5 stars