Captain America: Civil War - Biggest Fight Among Marvel Super Heroes

This was one of my most anticipated movies of this year but when it premiered on 27 April 2016, I was very busy with work and had no chance to watch it. Lucky for me that my wife got a free movie voucher which she passed to me as she was unable to use while she is in Bali for her staycation trip. So on the weekend, I went to the theater and fortunately there was still an empty seat in the middle of the last row, which of course I immediately took it.

Now starting from this post onwards, I am going to do something a little bit different on my reviews. I will separate the brief story line in few paragraphs under a section called "Brief Story Line" (not very creative, I know but it does clarify what it's all about). I hope differentiating these few paragraphs would enable those who do not want to know what the movie's plots & stories can just go direct to the moments that I experienced (you can call it the conclusion or the recommendation or anything). So, here goes:

Brief Story Line

Movie starts with the scene of Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan) in 1991 brainwashed by HYDRA officer. Move on to the present day, Steve Rogers/Captain America (Chris Evans), Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Sam Wilson/Falcon (Anthonie Mackie) together with their latest group member Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) were on a mission in Lagos, Nigeria to capture Rumlow who wanted to steal a biochemical weapon. 

(TV SERIES) Sherlock - Modern Day Adaptation of the Famous Detective

At first, I thought that this is a series set in the 19th century just like in the books written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. But apparently it was told in the modern day. So instead of seeing Sherlock Holmes using a large magnifying glass, we will see him using his smartphone. Instead of writing books, he writes blogs. and all other modern culture references in the current day London.

Anyway, this series only consisted of 3 episodes in each season. The first season started in year 2010 and each episode has a length of approx 1.5 hours. What I am about to write next would be related to the first season.

Episode 1 titled "A Study In Pink" would introduce us to Dr. John Watson (played by Martin Freeman - as Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit trilogy), an ex military person who just came back from war. He was advised by his therapist to do normal people's stuff and write about his experience in his blog. While walking by himself, he met an old friend who informed him of his friend looking for a room mate to share the rent. Watson was interested and introduced to this person who happened to be Sherlock Holmes (played by Benedict Cumberbatch - Star Trek Into Darkness, Imitation Games etc).

Needless to say, Sherlock who was able to deduce many things about Watson and made him intrigued and interested. So they both went to the apartment located at 221B Baker Street (for those who has ever read Sherlock Holmes stories would know that this is the address of his home). The landlady was Mrs. Hudson, who Sherlock & Watson sometimes asked her help as if she was their housekeeper.

The first case was about a series of suicides which at first seemed unrelated but Sherlock was able to deduce that they were not suicides and they were done so smartly by a serial killer. Using his power mind, Sherlock was always able to find out things that the normal eyes, coroner or even the lead detective, Detective Inspector Greg Lestrade could not see. These very very quick deduction made by Sherlock would always amazed Watson. He thought it was very fantastic for Sherlock to do those deductions, including in the very early stage where Sherlock gave the explanation of how he was able to find out so many things about Watson so fast. So this episode would be more of introduction to the characters.

Episode 2 titled "The Blind Banker" would tell the story where Sherlock was asked by his old college friend to investigate on the break-in of the bank where he worked at, leaving paint symbols on the wall which at first seemed random. The investigation would reveal something a lot bigger than just the break-in and involved lots of other people.

In this episode, instead of Detective Lestrade, another detective inspector named Dimmock would be the representative from police, whom at first was very skeptical of Sherlock.

We would also see Watson started to be a little irritated with Sherlock's way of doing things by himself including also his remarks about Watson (and everyone else) never use their brain. But ultimately Watson was still very protective of Sherlock and amazed with his deductions ability. 

Last episode of the 1st season, titled "The Great Game" was I think the best of them all. This was a very very fast paced episode. Sherlock was given the task of finding out the fault or crime done by other people with certain hours to complete before a person who was strapped with bombs would be blown up. In total there were 4 cases that Sherlock must solved. Meanwhile, Watson also would help on another smaller case provided by Sherlock's brother Mycroft Holmes who worked for the government about the missing flash disc contains a secret weapon information. 

This episode would totally blow your mind and strapped you to your seat. With such fast pace, you do not want to miss a scene. And the ending was just crazy and made you want to watch the second season immediately as it ended with cliffhanger. There was also a new character introduced here that would be crucial to future seasons played by Andrew Scott.

In conclusion, the first season of Sherlock was totally great! I really truly enjoyed this TV Series. The portrayal of Sherlock in modern day is such a nice touch that it would made the new generations love this series, while the older generation who have read the books, I am sure would be appreciative of how Sherlock would be in the current situation. Watson portrayal also is very nice, and I can imagine the real Watson would be like this. He was always serious, very English, and charming to the ladies. I believe Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman did a fantastic job in this series. 

Other characters also were very lively and add to the charm of the series, such as Mycroft Holmes, Mrs. Hudson, even Lestrade.

So I am going to give the first season of this series something that I never done before, which is to give it a 5 stars!

This is a very very recommended TV Series. I am just hopeful that the 2nd and later seasons would be as incredible as this one.

Oooh before I forgot. They somehow produced the pilot episode in a shorter version (less than 1 hour), which I happened to watch first and confused why the episode was similar to the 1 that saw next. Apparently that version never aired and I suggest to avoid confusion, better stick to the ones shown (the 1.5 hour long) and only watch this one if you are interested. That one since it was shorter, did not introduce to the important character we would see in the future episodes.

Mike's movie moments rating: 5 out 5 stars

The Huntsman: Winter's War

This movie is a little bit different than the usual prequel or sequel, because it is a prequel AND a sequel to the "Snow White and the Huntsman" movie which I have reviewed earlier. Maybe it will be clearer once I give more info on this film.

Yesterday, I got one of those rare moments when the work was not as hectic as usual and I could leave home earlier. And in an even rarer moment, my wife happened to be staying home too. So, both of us went to the nearest theater from our home (5 minutes walk) and watched this movie at 7.30 PM. Surprisingly, there were quite a lot people watching in this studio, especially since the theater was playing the film in 2 studios.

Anyway, let's get on to the movie. It started with the scene of Ravenna the evil queen from the original movie (played by Charlize Theron), who already got her habit of killing kings to dominate the kingdom. In this movie though, it was shown that she has a younger sister named Freya (played by Emily Blunt - Edge of Tomorrow, The Devil Wears Prada etc). Freya was a more gentle character than her scheming sister, but Ravenna believed that Freya should also have a magic power just like her, only she was not confident enough.

Freya who was in love with a duke, apparently has already conceived a baby with him. The duke promised to leave his kingdom and get married with Freya and bring up their daughter. However, during the night when they were supposed to meet, the room where Freya's baby was sleeping caught on fire. Her baby was found burnt and the duke was apologizing to Freya for setting up the fire. Felt heart broken, Freya screamed and a breath of ice came from her body freezing the duke and killed him instantly. Since that moment, Freya was able to make ice from her touches. She also left Ravenna to the north and seek her own kingdom.

While conquering the northern kingdoms, she had decided to gather the children in those kingdoms and made them her own special army called "the Huntsman". Two of her first generation of huntsman were Eric and Sara who seemed to be having crushes. There was also Tull, one of her would be leader. Eric's greatest ability was using two small axes, while Sara was best in archery. There was even a saying that "Sara never missed". When they all grew up, the huntsman would be Freya's weapon to conquer even more kingdoms.

Later we would find out that Eric (played by Chris Hemsworth) and Sara (played by Jessica Chastain - Interstellar, The Martian) were really in love. Sara also made Eric her husband by giving him her necklace given by her mom. They decided to run away and leave the ice kingdom for good. However, during their escape attempt, they were caught by other huntsman. Freya told them they can only leave if they were able to fight all the huntsman. Eric and Sara were surrounded and fought their way off. When they seemed to be winning, Freya made an ice wall between the two of them. Eric could only saw behind the ice wall how Sara was killed by Tull. Feeling destroyed and helpless, Eric was knocked on the head and later thrown to the river.

The story would then jump 7 years later. This is the part where it became interesting as during these 7 years were the period when Eric would help Snow White regain the kingdom in the south. So the story later actually become the sequel of the original movie. Hence the movie becomes a prequel and a sequel altogether.

Moving back to the film, William (Snow White's husband), came to seek Eric's help to re-collect the magic mirror which was stolen and had actually possessed dark magic. With the help of Nion (1 of the dwarves from the original movie, played by Nick Frost - Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz etc) and his half brother Gryff, Eric agreed to look for the magic mirror as he was worried if it got to the hands of Freya.

So Eric, Nion and Gryff would embark in a journey to get the magic mirror with the help from other female dwarves (Doreena and Bromwyn) and an unexpected company. The journey itself was quite fun as the all the characters were quite funny and their chemistry were quite alive. There would also be lots of twists and surprises till the end. Though many people might say they could already guessed them.

Then can the group collect back the magic mirror from the thief? What secret did the mirror hold? Would Freya be catching up with them and acquire the magic mirror? Find them out by watching this to finish.

I actually rather enjoyed the movie. It was surprisingly fun to watch the group's little fights that made them close to each other. I also think that Eric here is better to watch than from the original movie. ANDDD, the special effects I believe were great. The transformation of the magic mirror, and the ice creation by Freya among them.

If you like this kind of adventure, fantasy movie with little fairy tale in the background, then you can watch this for fun. Do not let the ice queen character fool you. This is definitely not Elsa from Frozen. And I also believe this is no longer a fairy tale adaption. I am not too sure what people actually expected from this movie as I heard some people thrash this one. Though I personally think people can just enjoy the fun part and the special effects.

Ooh 1 more thing, if you want to understand the continuity of the film between the 7 years before and after the snow white story, perhaps it would be better if you watch "Snow White and the Huntsman" first. But if you do not really care, you can skip that one and just watch this as it was hinted a little in the background by the narration and I also feel that one is not really worth to watch.

Mike's movie moments rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Snow White and The Huntsman - Retelling of a Classic Fairy Tale

I purposely watched this movie before I watch the prequel The Huntsman: Winter's War which is playing in the theater so as to understand the story. This movie was adapted from the fairy tale "Snow White" which was part of the compilation of folklores by German brothers called "the brothers Grimm". They have made popular folklores such as Sleeping Beauty, Hansel and Gretel, Rapunzel and many others which were also adapted few times into movies.

Anyway, this movie focused the story on the princess Snow White, born to Queen Eleanor from Kingdom of Tabor who wished to have a daughter as white as snow and lips as red as blood. When Snow White was still a young child, she befriended with William, the son of Duke Hammond. Later Queen Eleanor fell sick and passed away, leaving young Snow White and her father, King Magnus.

When the army of dark forces wanted to attack the kingdom, King Magnus and his armies fought them and managed to save their prisoner Ravenna (played by Charlize Theron - Hancock, Mad Max: Fury Road and many others). Enchanted by her beauty, the king immediately asked her for marriage. During their wedding night, Ravenna revealed herself as a sorceress and killed the king while releasing the kingdom's gates for her dark armies (led by her brother Finn) to come in. Ravenna took over as queen and ordered her army to kill all the guards while imprisoning Snow White. Ravenna also asked the magic mirror who was the fairest in the country & she would get her satisfying answer that it was her. Meanwhile, the kingdom also became ruined and the land almost died since Ravenna became queen.

Years later, when Queen Ravenna asked the magic mirror again, she was informed that Snow White (played by Kristen Stewart: Panic Room, Twilight series etc) has become an adult and Ravenna was no longer the fairest of them all. Knowing this, Ravenna instructed his brother Finn to bring Snow White's heart to her. All this time, Ravenna was able to maintain her youth and looks by absorbing the life out of young women.

Snow White managed to escape from the prison and ran to the Dark Forest. This was found out by one of the army of Duke Hammond who informed the Duke and his son William (who was also an adult now, played by Sam Claflin - The Hunger Games series). Having this knowledge, William who felt guilty for leaving Snow White behind during the invasion of Ravenna, decided to assist Snow White.

Meanwhile, since Ravenna's magic/power could not work in the dark forest, she asked Finn to assign someone to capture Snow White. Finn was able to locate a drunk Huntsman named Eric (Chris Hemsworth - Thor, Blackhat etc) who had ever gone and came back from the dark forest. Eric, at first rejected Ravenna's demand, but later he was tempted by the possibility of Ravenna raising his dead wife.

Using his experience, Eric was able to capture Snow White easily. But convinced by her offering for gold and also disappointed with Finn's statement that Ravenna would never be able to help Eric's wife return to the living, Eric changed his mind and decided to help Snow White instead.

Now being hunted by Finn and his thugs, Snow White and Eric must find the way to go to Duke Hammond's mansion and seek his help to return the kingdom to its rightful leader and defeat Ravenna with the help from the dwarfs whom they met during their journey.

So can Snow White and the Huntsman complete their task to defeat the evil queen Ravenna? Can the country be returned to safety from the disaster brought by Ravenna? You can find them out by watching the movie till completion.

To tell you the truth I did not have a good time watching this movie. It felt more like an obligation rather than for enjoyment since I do not like to watch a sequel/prequel without watching the preceeding movie. In addition, the movie itself lacked something that interest me. The action sequence was a little bit ordinary, though the special effects of the dark armies, or the change of shape by magic mirror & Ravenna were good. The twists that they wanted to make for such movie were not really good. Not to mention Kristen Stewart looks expressionless all the time and did not look believable as Snow White.

Anyway, if you want to see different interpretation of this kind of fairy tale, I think Maleficent is much much better. If you want to watch the prequel, The Huntsman: Winter's War, I believe there is no need for you to watch this movie first. 

Mike's movie moments rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

The Jungle Book - Disney's cartoon classic came to live

Yaaay, another Disney movie in a year. After Zootopia this is another one from Disney which is a remake & live adaption of Disney's cartoon classic from 1967. There was also another version in 1994 played by Jason Scott Lee where the main character, Mowgli was shown from childhood until adult. But that was not from Walt Disney Pictures.

For the younger generation who has never heard about this title, the movie is adapted from novel written by Rudyard Kipling, an English author in the 19th century who was born in India and stayed there for few years before moving back to England. Which I believe is the reason why most his novels were having Indian background. Well, that's about all I can tell about him. You can learn more about him and his novels from the internet.

The movie itself starts with a small Indian boy named Mowgli who was running together with a black panther named Bagheera (voiced by Ben Kingsley - Gandhi, Schindler's List, Iron Man 3 etc). Mowgli fell from a dead tree and was reminded by Bagheera to always know the signs of dead trees to avoid falling down in future. They both returned to the wolves pack led by Akela (voiced by Giancarlo Esposito) where all the wolves were always reminded about the strength of a pack and always follow the "wolf way". It's also shown that Mowgli was raised by female wolf, Raksha (voiced by Lupita Nyong'o - 12 Years a Slave, Non-Stop etc) from very young age after Bagheera found Mowgli abandoned in the jungle years back.

One day during a very dry season, the river water became dry and the base became so low that the Peace Rock showed itself. It is the time when all animals in the jungle can drink water from the river together without any animal hunting one another. Mowgli having his first experience of "water truce" came to the river and was looked with curious eyes by other animals. When the very fierce tiger named Shere Khan (voiced by Idris Elba - Thor, Pacific Rim etc) came, all animals were afraid of him. He found out about Mowgli who was protected by Akela and the wolf pack. Shere Khan held a grudge to men since his face was scarred by a man using "red flower" (the term animals refer to for "fire"). Shere Khan threatened Akela to release Mowgli to him so he could personally kill him. He also reminded the wolf pack that the dry season could not last forever and the truce would be lifted in the near future.

When the rainy season finally came, the wolf pack was divisive with groups that wanted to protect Mowgli (especially Raksha who considered herself as Mowgli's mother) and the rest that feared Shere Khan. Knowing this, Mowgli decided that he should leave the pack. Bagheera and Akela agreed that going back to the men village would be better for Mowgli as they can protect him from Shere Khan. Bagheera would accompany Mowgli during this trip.

After leaving the pack and during their journey, Shere Khan managed to catch up with Bagheera and Mowgli. They got separated during this chase and Mowgli was told to go to a place where Bagheera would meet him. In this location, Mowgli met with Kaa, a huge phyton snake (voiced by Scarlett Johansson - Lost In Translation, Lucy, and many Marvel's comic book adaptation). It was also revealed by Kaa what actually happened to Mowgli and why he was left in the jungle by himself.

Mowgli who was little bit hypnotized by Kaa fell to sleep and was awaken in a cave where a huge bear named Baloo (voiced by none other than Bill Murray) said he had saved Mowgli and in return, he had to help Baloo gather honey for Baloo's stock during winter. Using his tricks, Mowgli managed to help Baloo gather honey. They also became very good friends until Bagheera came and reminded Mowgli to return to the men village but Mowgli and Baloo disagree.

On the other hand, Shere Khan came to wolf pack's place and was furious that the pack let Mowgli leave. He threatened the wolf pack and demanded all animals to spread the news that until Mowgli comes back, the wolf's spot will be his. 

Baloo who finally found out that it was Shere Khan who was trying to catch Mowgli, finally accepted Bagheera's request to convince Mowgli to return to men village. However, before they can continue the journey, Mowgli was kidnapped by a group of monkeys and was delivered to a hidden top of the mountain palace where their leader, a huge orangutan named King Louie (voiced by Christopher Walken) wanted to ask Mowgli's help to reveal the secret of "red flower".

So can Mowgli escape from King Louie's grip? What will happen to the wolf's pack under threat by Shere Khan? Will Mowgli be able to return to men village? Or would he be forced to encounter Shere Khan?

You can get all the answers after watching this movie. This is one of Disney's movie at its best. I really enjoyed watching this movie with my wife. As usual Disney's movie, there were many touching moments that made her tearful. I was truly amazed with the special effects that made all the animals seemed so alive. The voices filled by the stars were also nice and able to make the animal characters believable, particularly for me is Baloo and Shere Khan. My wife and I also like the newcomer Neel Sethi who played Mowgli. We thought that he really looked like the one in the original cartoon. Oooh there were also songs sung by Baloo and also by King Louie.

So if you are a fan of Disney's movies, you definitely have to watch this one. I think the movie is suitable for younger kids as well as older audiences. You can watch it together with your loved ones, full family or with your friends. I believe this one is another classic.

Mike's movie moments rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars 

10 CLOVERFIELD LANE - One Heck of a Good Psychological Thriller Movie

After seeing the trailer and noticing the title which has got a "cloverfield" word in it, I was as ready as I can be to watch this movie. The trailer itself was showing something very little. A rare thing nowadays as a lot of movies tend to show too much in the trailer which made the element of surprise missing when watching the actual movie (I have raised this issue earlier as so called "minus" point in my review of Kungfu Panda 3).

Anyway, the movie starts with scenes of Michelle (played by Mary Elizabeth Winstead - Die Hard 4 & 5, Fnal Destination 3 etc) decided to leave her fiancee Ben (I bet you would never guessed who he was) and drove all by herself out of town. During the night driving, while she was receiving a phone call from Ben, her car got into a very loud accident. She woke up in a room with no windows at all and her right leg was chained to the wall. Feeling scared and after shaking her disorientation, she tried all her best to reach for her phone to get some help. Later the door was unlocked and a very big guy with a gun on his belt came to see her. Michelle pleaded him to release her, but the guy who later told Michelle that his name was Howard, said he was only helping her after she got into car accident. 

After Michelle tried to escape, Howard (played by the quite veteran John Goodman) explained to Michelle that there was nobody else out there to help as there was a huge attack outside. He thought it would either be a chemical or nuclear attack and the air above was contaminated. They had to stay in a bunker which Howard had built for the exact purpose like this. The bunker itself was filled with canned food, a kitchen, toilet and various entertainment such as TV, videos, even juke box. The bunker also has its own air cleaning system. 

Inside the bunker there was also another man, Emmet (played by John Gallagher Jr) whose right hand was hurt. He was the worker who helped Howard built the bunker. He believed in everything that Howard told about the attack. Michelle who still felt that Howard was dangerous, kept on trying to escape from the bunker. Using her wit and resourcefulness Michelle was able to make one more attempt of escaping. However, this latest attempt was also unsuccessful, and Michelle later became more content and was finally able to accept her condition. This made the situation more harmonious amongst the 3 of them. They even enjoyed their lives more and spending time by playing monopoly, see movies together etc. 

But was life really as nice as it seemed? Was it true that the air above contaminated and the world was no longer habitable? Where was the attack actually came from? What would happen to the lives of these 3 people? Did they really have to stay inside the bunker for 1 - 2 years like what Howard said?

I had an enjoyable moment watching this movie. This is more like a psychological thriller than an action movie. The movie itself was only having 3 major characters where the 3 of them were completely different. Michelle was very smart & resourceful, Emmet was positive and brought the aura of comfort, while Howard was very mysterious and very dominant.

Almost every scene would provide a new knowledge about each character. I also feel the pace was just nice. It's slow enough for us to absorb new information revealed in the upcoming scenes, but fast enough to keep us intrigued on what would happen later. The background music and sometimes lack thereof would add extra element of tension. I noticed this during the scene involving Howard, Michelle, Emmet with a drum full of liquid corrosive (I hope I remember it correctly).

Well, this is a movie that I think critiques would love. It was smart, and acting was cool. But for people expecting to see lots of action or special effects, better be prepared that this is not that kind of movie. Then what about the "cloverfield" word in the title? Does it have anything to do with the movie "Cloverfield" produced by J.J. Abrams? The answer is yes. I think this movie happens a little bit after that one. I do not think of this as a sequel, but more like a film with the same background or as they say same universe. 

Ooh, for those of you worried that you will get the same headache when you first time watched Cloverfield, need not worry as it is shown in the normal 3rd person narrative instead of the found-footage method.

If you really do watch this movie, I hope you would enjoy it as much as I did.

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

13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi - A Michael Bay Film

A Michael Bay film? Yeah, I know that most people would trash his movies. But for action movie lover such as I, actually quite enjoy his movies. Usually it has the elements of grand action, some slow motion scenes, lots of explosions, car chases and special effects. I believe there is no need for me to mention what films he has directed.

Anyway, I watched this movie after I saw some tweets from CGV Blitz on 2 April 2016 promoting this film, giving 4 reasons why we should watch it. So, without hesitation, I watched it on the following day. 

Well, once the movie started, for the first 10 or 15 minutes, I was starting to think to myself, "what have I gotten myself into?". I truly felt at first that the film was too crowded, with unclear direction where it was going. And no major star actor did not help at all, especially with most of the main characters faces were all bearded and made me difficult to differentiate who was who. LOL.

The movie was shown in Libya in the year 2012, where after Muammar Gaddafi the leader/dictator was overthrown, the country was in chaos and seemed to be without law. US government wanted to help the country and they setup a CIA base in Benghazi with > 20 people working, gathering intel and so on. This base was guarded by 5 ex military people who became private military contractors called Global Response Staff (GRS) led by Tyrone "Rone" Woods (played by James Badge Dale). Other members were Mark "Oz" Geist (played by Max Martini), John "Tig" Tiegen (played by Dominic Fumusa), Kris "Tanto" Paronto (played by Pablo Schreiber) and Boon (played by David Denman). The newest member of the team, Jack Da Silva (played by John Krasinski) just came to Libya to be part of Rone's team. 

In the following half hour or so, we were shown the activities of the CIA members, but mostly the 6 GRS members in the base. It was shown that they were mostly family men who worked there more for financial reasons than patriotic reasons. We were also introduced to the Chief of the CIA base (played by David Costabile) who really dislike GRS. In addition there were also some other agents such as Sona (played by Alexia Barlier), Brit (played by Fredie Noma). Another noteworthy character would be Amahl, a Libyan who helped as translator for the CIA base. And of course Glen (played by Toby Stephens) who was also GRS officer but based in Tripoli.

On the 10th September 2012, the US ambassador Chris Stevens (played by Matt Letscher) was scheduled to come to Libya for maintaining diplomatic relationship. He would be accompanied by team of 2 men consisting of Scott and Dave. They were stationed in a large villa which was bullet proof with the size of 9 acres. Rone's team gave their worried assessments as the place was too large and the people guarding seemed to be inexperienced. Nevertheless, they promised to provide support if needed.

On the day after, due to the 9/11 anniversary, the ambassador was advised to remain at the villa and not go out at all. This would be where the film start to pick up the pace and I say, it was very fast moving forward. We would see that the Libyan militants launched heavy attacks to the villa using machine guns, rocket launcher and setting up fire.

With so few people guarding the villa since the local armies called 17-Feb militia left the compound for the US ambassador guards to fight by themselves, the situation became very critical. The GRS team felt very frustrated as they were not allowed to give aid by the Chief. 

So can Rone's team save the US ambassador? Can they save the CIA base from the attacks? All these would be revealed and rounded off in the 13 hours long of fighting which was compiled in the following 1.5 hour.

I admitted that I got "strapped" to my seat for that remaining part. Watching the movie would make you feel that you were actually in a real war zone. So I could not help but having small sense of relief every time there was like a short "break" during the attacks.

I pretty much had a great moment watching this film. This is based on a true story. The GRS team and CIA people, including the ambassador were real life persons. And by the end of the movie, we would be shown of what happened to the people involved after that 13 hours. I also felt that the GRS team started to grew on me after a while. There were also some very touching moments at the end of the movie, especially involving Jack and his wife Becky (played by Wrenn Schmidt) in addition to small humor here and there. 

For those who like Michael Bay film, this definitely is a must watched. It feels a little bit different from his other movies, but for sure you would like it. For those who do not like him, I still recommend you to try watching this one. It may change your mind a bit about his movies (though I am not counting on it).

Mike's movie moments rating: 3.5 out 5 stars

(TV Series) How to Get Away with Murder - Season 1

This will be my 1st review of a TV series. I chose this one as it is the series that I am currently watching. The title immediately caught my attention as I was choosing what series I wanted to watch during my night rest after hard day's work.

The story revolves around a defense attorney lawyer - Annalise Keating (played by Viola Davis - Eat Pray Love, Blackhat) who also teaches law in the Philadelphia university. She is portrayed as a very strict and ruthless professor where every year, she will choose 4 of her students to be her intern in her court cases. A trophy will be given to the best of these 4 students by the end of the semester which creates competition among the interns.

In the pilot episode, Annalise chose Michaela (played by Aja Naomi King), Connor (played by Jack Falahee), Laurel (played by Karla Souza) and Asher (played by Matt McGorry). Due to some reasons, Annalise somehow added a 5th intern to the curiosity of other students. Last but not least would be Wes (played by Alfred Enoch).

It was also shown in the opening scenes of this episode that Wes, Laurel, Michaela and Connor were busy trying to dispose of a dead body during the college bonfire. And afterwards the story would back track to 3 months prior to that incident. 

After the 5 interns have been chosen, Annalise brought them to her house which also serves as her office where she is aided by Bonnie (played by Liza Weil) and Frank (played by Charlie Weber).

The first case is about the death of a CEO of a major company due to sleeping pills poisoning, where his 2nd assistant (who was also his mistress) is suspected of purposely giving the pills. Annalise asked her interns to find anything that can help for her defense. All the interns would be competing against one another to find any clues and each student would be providing lots of ideas even the out of box thinking.

Meanwhile, we are also introduced to Rebecca Sutter, Wes' neighbor (played by Katie Findley) who is also series regular. Other noteworthy characters would include Nate, the detective in Philadephia PD (played by Billy Brown) and Sam Keating, the husband of Annalise (played by Tom Verica), and also Oliver, Connor's love interest (played by Conrad Ricamora). There is also the case of a missing college student named Lila Stangard (played by Megan West).

The series would be told in 2 time periods. First would be about the disposing body in the start of the series. While second would be about the cases that Annalise and the interns are trying to solve which starts 3 months prior to the disposing body story line and moving forward in each episode until it will be in line with the first time period in episode 9.  

Cases that Annalise and the interns handle would vary in each episode, such as the case of a millionaire accused of murdering his wife, insider trading, defending a son's murder of abusive father, re-opening case of murderer in death row and others. 

I truly had great moments watching this tv series. Each episode makes me want to watch the next one as almost every episode will provide ending that is intriguing, especially episode 9 (which is also a mid-season finale) where we would finally see the complete story line of the body disposal.

Starting from episode 10, the story line would change a little bit but with 1 major case being handled by Annalise & her interns and other cases they would take like in the 1st half of the season.

They have also added few characters with one very exceptional is Hannah Keating (Sam's sister - played by Marcia Gay Harden).

In addition to raising curiosity of the viewers on the murder from pilot episode, viewers are also shown various ways of winning court cases taught by Annalise through her teachings or through the creativity of her interns to find alternatives and evidences.

Each characters would be given their share of story also. Some would involve their love interest which I guess comes with the territory and to keep viewers intrigued and continue watching. I believe this is a series for adults as there are few love making scenes, though not as vulgar as Game Of Thrones or True Blood series but for some people, it can be considered a little too much, such as Connor's part.

So, if you are interested in watching a television series where there are various plots & twists, combined with courtroom scenes and you also want to find out "how to get away with murder", the first season is definitely worth to watch. Especially, if you continue until episode 15 which is the season finale as it would totally blow your mind away. I personally cannot wait until I got the time to watch the 2nd season.

Mike's movie moments rating: 4.5 out 5 stars

Note:

- This series is produced by Shonda Rimes who was the creator of other famous TV series such as Grey's Anatomy - a medical drama and Scandal - a political drama.

- Pilot episode is referred to as the opening episode of a new TV series. A pilot would always be reviewed by Television network whether there are enough people watching it and worthy of producing into full TV series. 

- TV series airing in US networks usually will have some break in the middle of 1 season. The final episode of the 1st half of the season will be called as Mid-season finale. Meanwhile the final episode of the 2nd half of the season is called Season finale.