Susah Sinyal - A Drama Comedy of Mother Daughter's Relationship from Ernest Prakasa

At last, after almost 2 weeks playing in theaters, my wife and I finally got the chance to see this movie. There seemed to be always something or some reasons that made us cancel our plan in earlier occasions. Until we decided we would see this one today, on the very last day of the year 2017. So what was the movie all about? Let us find out, shall we?

Brief Story Line

After working many years in a major law firm, Ellen (Adinia Wirasti - Critical Eleven, Kartini etc) and her good friend Iwan (Ernest Prakasa - Ngenest, Stip & Pensil etc) wanted to start their own law firm. To assist them, they hired a young intern named Astrid (Valerie Thomas). As usual in a new firm, there would be various challenges they would have to face.

The Greatest Showman - A "Could Have Been" Better Musical Movie of The Man Who Created Circus

Today, after weeks of watching the trailer to this movie, finally it premiered for the first time in Indonesia. My wife and I were expecting to see this one as it seemed to promise a wonderful story of P.T. Barnum, the man who created the Circus. Since there was not a lot of theaters playing the movie, we had limited options to see this. Luckily it played in the cinema not too far from our home at Lotte Avenue. Anyway, let us get on with the movie now.

Brief Story Line

P. T. Barnum (Hugh Jackman - Wolverine in various X-Men movies, Real Steel etc) was a man of poor background and had very huge imagination. He was not satisfied with just having a life as a regular working people and since he promised his wife Charity (Michelle Williams - Brokeback Mountain, Dawson's Creek TV series etc) that he would give the best kind of life to her and to their daughters Caroline and Helen, he always tried to do something grand and earn wealth plus people's respect.

Pitch Perfect 3 - The Final Performance of The Bellas

This movie was already playing in Indonesian cinemas since yesterday but I was unable to see it on its premiere date. So instead my wife and I saw this one today. To be honest I have never seen the first and second Pitch Perfect movie when I saw the trailer to the movie few weeks ago, but when I noticed it looked like a funny movie, I immediately looked for them online. So I managed to see Pitch Perfect and its sequel last week before I see this one. Well let us get on with the movie now.

Brief Story Line

The girls from a cappella group The Bellas consisted of Beca (Anna Kendrick - Trolls, The Accountant etc), Fat Amy (Rebel Wilson - Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb, Grimsby etc), Chloe (Brittany Snow - John Tucker Must Die, Hairspray etc), Aubrey (Anna Camp - True Blood TV series etc), Lily (Hana Mae Lee), Cynthia (Ester Dean), Flo (Chrissie Fit), Jessica (Kelley Jakle), Ashley (Shelley Regner) and Stacie (Alexis Knapp) have graduated from university and felt they were going nowhere in their lives after Bellas. So when they had an opportunity to perform in the tour of USO (United Service Organization), the Bellas decided to form the group together and sing once again. With the addition of Emily (Hailee Steinfeld - The Edge of Seventeen, 3 Days to Kill etc) who was the next generation Bellas and still in University, they went ahead with the tour.

Shock Wave - The Cool 2017 Action Movie Featuring Andy Lau

I have seen first half of this movie while on my way back from my family trip to Pontianak 2 months ago in the in-flight entertainment of Batik Air. I was having difficulty in seeing the second half and conclusion (perhaps as I was not serious enough looking for it). Luckily in the Celestial Movies cable TV, it was promoted that the movie would be playing in December. Last night was the day the movie premiered for the first time in that channel and it so happened that the hotel we stayed in during our weekend staycation have this channel so I could see it again till finished. Well without further ado, let us move on with the movie.

Brief Story Line

After almost completely stopping a robbery attack led by Peng Hong nicknamed Blast (Wu Jiang - Monster Hunt, 1911 etc), an undercover Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Bureau agent named Cheung JS (Andy Lau - Chasing the Dragon, The Great Wall etc) was highly appreciated by the police department. During his undercover assignment, Cheung's handler was officer Chow (Felix Wong - 1983 version Legend of Condor Heroes TV series etc) and he also worked closely with chief Kong (Philip Keung - Trivisa, Beast Stalker etc). 

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle - Sequel to the 1995 Famous Robin Williams' Movie

After teased by the trailer to this movie which was shown weeks in weeks out, finally the film premiered in the Indonesian cinemas today. It so happened that I have got 2 vouchers to the 4DX cinema that I have to utilize before 28th December, so it was lucky that this movie also played in the 4DX theater in CGV Grand Indonesia. My wife and I decided to go and see the movie there to experience all the effects which I thought would be awesome. We shall proceed with the movie now.

Brief Story Line

A high school student who loved to play video game named Spencer (Alex Wolff - My Friend Dahmer etc) was punished to the detention room with 3 other students, a rather shallow selfish popular girl Bethany (Madison Iseman - Still the King TV series etc), a popular football star Fridge (Ser'Darius Blain - When The Game Stands Tall etc), and a shy awkward girl named Martha (Morgan Turner). In that room, they found an old type of video game titled JUMANJI which they tried to play. Each one of them chose the character in that game which apparently made all 4 of them somehow transported into the game itself in the Jumanji world.

Ferdinand - A Nice Story of An Extraordinary Bull

Today, there was an animated movie that premiered in Indonesia. I was a bit surprised that this movie would be premiering on the same day as in the US since we were already shown Star Wars: The Last Jedi earlier. In any case, it is our gain as we are not too far behind like in other previous new movies. My wife and I utilized our final vouchers that we acquire from my credit card (which would expire in less than 2 weeks time). So we were quite happy to see the movie for free 😀. Anyway, let us get on with the movie.

Brief Story Line

A very big bull named Ferdinand (voiced by WWE wrestler John Cena - Daddy's Home 2, Trainwreck etc) was having a nice life with a girl that loved and adored him named Nina (Lily Day). He was a gentle kind-hearted bull who unlike other bulls did not enjoy violence and loved flowers. One day, due to some reasons, he was separated from Nina and ended up at the place he despised the most, where he would meet with other bulls who had been trained to fight matadors all their lives.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi - The Eighth Episode That Really Lived Up to the Hype

I was very fortunate that I could see this movie on its premiere date in Indonesia. I have already purchased the ticket since last Saturday and aimed for the 5.45 PM show at Epicentrum XXI which had a Dolby Atmos sound system and a very large screen. This time my wife did not accompany me as she had other events that she had to attend to (plus she was not a major fan of Star Wars anyway as she had not seen the complete movies). Well, let us get on to the movie.

Brief Story Line

The story started not too distant from the ending of Star Wars episode VII. The main plot of the movie would revolve around the Resistance led by General Leia (Carrie Fisher) who had to carry on with the war against the First Order led by Supreme Leader Snoke (Andy Serkis - Gollum in The Lord of the Rings trilogy and Caesar in new Planet of the Apes trilogy etc) with his right hand man general Hux (Domhnall Gleeson - American Made, The Revenant etc) and trusted "student" Kylo Ren (Adam Driver - Girls TV series, Lincoln etc). 

The Warriors Gate - An Unenjoyable East Meets West Movie

I saw the poster to this movie last year in a cinema, but it played only few days in the theaters that I did not have the chance to see it then. So when I saw that the cable TV channel Cinemax was going to play it on Friday night, I had reminded myself to see this. Last night, I almost forgotten about it but luckily while I was browsing through TV channel schedules, I saw that it would be playing at 9PM. Well, let us get on with the movie now.

Brief Story Line

A teenage boy named Jack Bronson (Uriah Shelton - The Glades TV series, Blue web series etc) was living with his mom Annie (Sienna Guillory - Eragon, Inkheart etc). They were having some financial problems where they might be losing their house. Jack was very skillful in playing video games using an avatar of his creation called The Black Knight. Due to some reasons, Jack was somehow transported to ancient China where he met with Wizard (Francis Ng - 2000 AD, Infernal Affairs II etc) who was having great wizard skills.

Ajin: Demi-Human - A Unique Action Movie of Humans Who Could Not Die

It was one of those days where there was no major Hollywood blockbuster movie premiering in the Indonesian theater on a Wednesday, so my wife and I ended up watching a movie that I was quite interested to see. I saw portion of the trailer to this Japanese movie few days ago and was immediately intrigued by the cool action sequences, despite not having a clue at all of what the movie was about. Anyway I convinced my wife to see this one in CGV Grand Indonesia by utilizing some of the CGV cinema vouchers we had from the CGV cinema opening event in JGC and watching the movie Message from the King. So let us move on with the movie.

Brief Story line

It was told that in Japan, there were some people who due to some reasons were not able to die and they were called Ajin/Demi-human. A young man named Kei Nagai (Takeru Satoh - Kamen Rider Den O movies and series etc) was one of those people who was probed and analyzed like guinea pigs in a Ajin research facility managed by government. The facility was headed by Tosaki (Tetsuji Tamayama - Lupin the 3rd etc) who was always accompanied by a woman named Izumi (Rina Kawaei - Sailor Zombies etc).

A Bad Moms Christmas - Sequel to Those Bad Moms Who Just Wanted to Have Their Own Christmas

It was quite surprising that the sequel to Bad Moms was already made and entered the theaters in just a year time. I saw the original back in September last year with my wife and now we could see the sequel aimed for Christmas that started to play in Indonesian cinemas today. My wife and I chose to see this film in CGV Grand Indonesia. So let us get on with the movie.

Brief Story Line

The story still revolved around the moms from the original movie: Amy (Mila Kunis - Max Payne, That 70's Show TV series etc), Kiki (Kristen Bell - When in Rome, Veronica Mars TV series etc) and Carla (Kathryn Hahn - Captain Fantastic, Crossing Jordan TV series etc). They were all quite stressful with the Christmas day right around the corner. Being a mother certainly gave them a lot of pressure of having to make the perfect Christmas celebration. Things become a lot more complicated when suddenly each of their mother coming to their house.

(TV SERIES) Riverdale Season 1 - A Great Dark Reimagining of Archie Comics

I cannot remember from where I read about Archie comics characters being made into a dark version TV series. When my wife wanted to buy few Archie comic books last week, I suddenly remembered of my intention to watch the series. So I immediately look for it online and started to see this since few days ago. Yesterday, I finally completed the first season and could not wait to write my views of the series. Well here goes.

Brief Story Line

The series was set in the year 2016 in the small town of Riverdale which was famous for its maple syrup. The story was narrated by Jughead Jones (Cole Sprouse - The Suite Life Zack & Cody TV series etc) who also introduced us to the main characters aside from himself. Started with Archie Andrews (KJ Apa - A Dog's Purpose etc) who was in the football team and started to realize he loved music and wanted to be good in it. Then there was Betty Cooper (Lili Reinhart - Miss Stevens, The Good Neighbor etc) who was Archie's neighbor and best friend since childhood, together with Jughead. It was told that there was a new girl in school transferred from New York named Veronica "Ronnie" Lodge (Camila Mendes) who had to follow her mother Hermione (Marisol Nichols - Big Momma's House 2, 24 TV series etc) moved to Riverdale due to some problems relating to her father.

Daddy's Home 2 - The Sequel with More Daddies to Enjoy

Yesterday my wife and I were thinking of just taking a rest but then she thought of seeing a fun movie. So it was decided that we would watch this movie which we know for sure would be a light one as it was a comedy movie. We have seen the original movie either from cable TV or online streaming and we already know what we would be getting if we saw this one. The movie did not play in the nearest theater near our home so we went to Kuningan City instead. Now we shall go more into the movie. 

Brief Story Line

As you would have known from the original movie, Brad (Will Ferrell - Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Blades of Glory etc) who was married to Sara (Linda Cardellini - The Lazarus Project, The Founder etc) and was the step father of Sara's children Megan (Scarlett Estevez) and Dylan (Owen Vaccaro) had become quite close to Dusty (Mark Wahlberg - Patriots Day, Transformers: The Last Knight etc), Sara's ex husband and the real father of Megan and Dylan. Brad and Sara also had a child of their own named Griffy. Meanwhile Dusty already married to Karen (Alessandra Ambrosio) who also had a daughter Adrianna (Didi Costine) from her previous marriage with Roger (WWE wrestler John Cena - The Wall etc).

Pokémon the Movie: I Choose You! - The 20th Pokémon Movie

Pokémon movie coming out in theater? Definitely interesting to see, right? My wife and I had the opportunity to see this one on its premiere date yesterday. Movie only played in 2 smaller movie chains in Indonesia, so we have limited choices to see this one and we ultimately chose to see it in CGV Grand Indonesia. Now let us move on to the movie.

Brief Story Line

Movie started with the story of how Ash/Satoshi (voiced by Rica Matsumoto) came to encounter his first pocket monster (Pokémon) named Pikachu (Ikue Ōtani) and became such good friends. After their first adventure, Ash and Pikachu saw a legendary pokémon called Ho-Oh, flying through the sky and dropped its feather which was picked up by Ash. Ash vowed that he would one day fight against Ho-Oh. Later on Ash and Pikachu would go on travelling to compete with other pokémon trainers so Ash could become the world number one trainer. 

Murder on the Orient Express - A Good Adaptation of Agatha Christie's Iconic Detective Poirot

On the premier date of this movie which I had been aiming to see since I saw its theatrical poster few weeks ago, my wife and I decided to see it in Plaza Indonesia mall (PI). It was not our usual place to see a movie, but I was having a Cinema XXI voucher from my credit card which can be used only in few theaters (PI was one of them), plus my wife had a meeting in Grand Indonesia that was very near the mall. So without further ado, let us get on with the movie.

Brief Story Line

Story was set in the year 1934, where the very famous detective Hercule Poirot (Kenneth Branagh - Henry V, Dunkirk etc) had to take the Orient Express train from Istanbul to London for an urgent case. Due to the last minute requirement, the Orient Express director named Bouc (Tom Bateman) had to put Poirot in a normal carriage together with other passengers instead of the usual first class carriage. He met with various people in the train such as the American woman who was previously married more than once named Mrs. Hubbard (Michelle Pfeiffer - What Lies Beneath, The Fabulous Baker Boys and many more) and seemed to be looking for her future husband. In this carriage, Poirot and the rest of the passengers were served by Pierre Michel (Marwan Kenzari).

COCO - A Lovely Family Movie (Disney Pixar Done It Again!)

Yesterday, this movie premiered in Indonesia and I urged my wife to see this one immediately. It was a Disney Pixar movie and I believed it would be a good one so I definitely would want to see it at the earliest. We went to see this at Lotte Avenue and the theater was not too full, but almost half of them were children. Well let us move on to the movie.

Brief Story Line

Miguel Rivera (voiced by Anthony Gonzales) was a 12 year old Mexican boy who lived in a small village and was really into music and he wanted to be like his idol Ernesto (Benjamin Bratt - Miss Congeniality, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs etc), who was the greatest musician in Mexico. However, he came from a family who honored tradition but totally hate music since it was believed to have ruined the Rivera ancestors. Miguel had to conceal his dreams in front of his family, especially from his grandmother Abuelita Elena (Renee Victor - Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones etc) who was the daughter of Mama Coco (Ana Ofelia Murguía). 

Duckweed - A Unique Comedy Drama of A Man Going Back in Time to Meet His Young Parents

I was aware about this movie playing in Celestial Movies channel since beginning of the month, as it was promoted as part of their weekly premiere of new movies. The synopsis of the movie seemed very interesting as it suggested some kind of time travel and I know the main lead's comedic appearance earlier which should be fun. So I told my wife that I wanted to see this one last night and we had to be back before 9PM when the movie started. Well let us get on with the movie then.

Brief Story Line

Story was set in the year 2022 when Xu Tailang (Deng Chao - The Mermaid, The Breakup Guru, etc) won his first ever trophy of China Rally championship. Lang invited his father Xu Zhengtai (Eddie Peng - Rise of the Legend, Operation Mekong etc) to witness his triumph but he also had hidden personal agenda with his father. When Lang asked Zheng to accompany him in the car and experience first hand how it felt inside the speeding car, they had an accident where Lang would later be transported back to the year 1998 in the small town where his family lived. This would be the start of something very fun for Lang as he could explore and find out his family history.

Marlina Si Pembunuh dalam 4 Babak - A Unique Movie Specialized for Festival

I was looking for a movie which I could see this Saturday while my wife was having an event and I decided to see this Indonesian film which premiered since last Thursday. It was a thriller movie that was promoted in Cannes Film Festival. The premise seemed interesting and it was categorized as thriller movie. So when my wife was being a host to the event at Grand Indonesia mall, I went by myself to the cinema there and saw this one at 11.30 AM show. Well let us get on with the movie now.

Brief Story Line

Marlina (Marsha Timothy - The Raid 2, Nada untuk Asa etc) was a woman who just lost her husband and having huge debts to settle. She lived in a house in the middle of a dry land in Sumba. One day a person whom she owed to named Markus (Egy Fedly - Pengabdi Setan, Ular Tangga etc) came to her home to gather Marlina's cattle for paying her debts. He warned her that there would be 6 more persons coming to collect her debts and the seven of them would also enjoy the pleasure of her body. Marlina was shocked to find out about this fact and she thought of a way to escape from these bandits.

(TV SERIES) Lethal Weapon Season 1 - One of the Best Series Adapted from Wonderful Movies

Back in year 2016, I knew that there would be a TV series based on the quite popular movie franchise Lethal Weapon where the original casts were Mel Gibson and Danny Glover. After the first season was completed few months ago, I set my mind to see the whole season starting from around 2 weeks ago. Now that I have completed watching it, I would like to share my thoughts on this series. So let us move on to the story now.

Brief Story Line

Martin Riggs (Clayne Crawford - Rectify TV series etc) was a former police in Texas who was transferred to Los Angeles Police Department in the robbery/homicide division. He was partnered with a senior detective Robert Murtaugh (Damon Wayans - Bulletproof, Marci X etc) who just recovered from a heart surgery and should avoid having too much excitement. The partnership was initiated by their captain, Brooks Avery (Kevin Rahm - Desperate Housewives, Mad Men TV series etc) who was previously Murtaugh's partner.

Justice League - A Very Well Done DC Comic Movie Adaptation

I have been looking forward to see this movie for a while now. So when I found out that the movie would be playing on 15 November, I rescheduled all my plans to especially see this one on its premiere date. The tickets were already sold in advance since last Saturday and it was quite challenging to get the seats in my favorite cinema with Dolby Atmos system, but luckily we still got nice seats in the middle of another nice theater not far from our home. Well let's get on to the movie now!

Brief Story Line

Not long after the events from Batman Vs Superman: Dawn of Justice, Batman/Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck) found out that some kind of demon-like creatures seemed to be threatening the world. It would later on be revealed that those creatures were the armies of a very powerful demon god named Steppenwolf (Ciarán Hinds - Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Hitman: Agent 47 etc) who was looking for items hidden on earth. They seemed to gain courage after the death of Superman.

Paddington 2 - Sequel to that Cute Lovable Kind Naive Bear Movie

This movie was already playing in Indonesian cinemas last Friday and funnily enough, my wife and I did not really feel it was a very good one and we did not provide time to see this in the theater the past few days. Usually if we were serious, we would have seen it no matter what the condition was. Today finally we decided to see the movie in the theater nearest to our home, after I completed my work and my wife finished her event. The studio was filled with only around 10 people, which was probably due to weekday. Well let us move on to the movie now.

Brief Story Line

The story was told not long after the events in original movie where Paddington (voiced by Ben Whishaw - In the Heart of the Sea, Skyfall, Spectre etc) was now having a nice life with the Brown family. He was very friendly towards everyone around him and they all loved him for that. In order to celebrate the 100th birthday of her beloved aunt Lily (voiced by Imelda Staunton - Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix, Vera Drake etc), Paddington was looking for the perfect present in antique store owned by Mr. Gruber (Jim Broadbent - Harry Potter series, Game of Thrones TV series etc). He finally found it in the form of a pop-up book with London's famous landmarks. However, the price was too expensive and hence Paddington had to work and start saving some money, which proved to be not as easy as he thought.

Meanwhile, a washed up artist/performer named Phoenix Buchanan (Hugh Grant - Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill etc) somehow found out about the same book and he was really interested in getting his hands on it. He was even willing to do anything even illegally to obtain the book. Unfortunately it would implicate Paddington in ways he could not have imagine. With Paddington in trouble, the Browns stuck together just like previously to save Paddington. They would also be assisted by unlikely ally of Knuckles (Brendan Gleeson - Edge of Tomorrow, Assassin's Creed etc) and his friends.

So could the Browns save Paddington and expose Phoenix' plan? Could Paddington get the perfect present to his aunt? Find them all in this fun, loving adventure comedy family movie.

End of Brief Story Line

Just like in the original movie, this one was also truly a family movie. Almost the same formula was used in here where Paddington, being a naive, friendly kind bear caught in trouble due to the bad things done by the villain, and had to be rescued by the Browns. There was definitely a lot of laugh and love around in this movie. So get ready for some funny moments and of course some touching emotional moments.

The movie itself focused on the feel-good factor that you would experience when watching it and especially the happiness and emotional sensation after the climax scene in the end. However, this movie was not a very deep one filled with intelligent conversation. Instead it was a light movie filled with scenes where we would be feeling happy or sad for Paddington. Of course some of the things were also a little bit illogical and have a sense of absurdity in it, but we could still tolerate and just enjoy the movie. It was made purely to be enjoyed by the whole family and I think it would be nicer to see this one during Christmas period. I do not know why, but it had a Christmas aura in the movie.

The CGI to create Paddington was as nice as the original film, but I especially love the scenes shown during the imagination of Paddington when he was looking at the pop-up book. It was very nice and wonderful to see it and I could actually experience what he was imagining. The Brown family affection and of course the whole neighborhood's appreciation towards Paddington was very lovely to see as well. And be reminded to see the warm feeling when you see the scene involving Brendan Gleeson and his friends. There was a fun mid credit scene that you could enjoy too, but no end credit scene.

In the end, this movie was just to be enjoyed and not to be overly thought. You would need to have good imagination and also better to have watched the original movie to have better appreciation of Paddington and the Browns relationship. But even if you did not see the first one, I think you could still understand the movie as it was not too overly complicated. My wife and I were pretty entertained with the movie, especially my wife who had some emotional moments in the touching scenes. We were definitely glad to have seen this one, even though a bit late. The only thing I quite regret was the scenes of the trailer were a bit too much and some of the funny scenes were already shown there. 

So if you are looking for a family friendly movie with some of those funny moments plus if you want to enjoy seeing that cute cuddly bear with his naivety and kindness to brighten up your day, this one definitely would be a good choice. 

Happy watching!

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

Jigsaw - The Return of that Scary Creepy Horrific Villain of the Saw Series

I found out that this movie started playing in Indonesian theaters 3 days ago. But strangely enough it was not playing in all cinema chains. When my wife was having an event in Plaza Indonesia yesterday, I decided to see this movie in Grand Indonesia which was only few minutes walking distance. As usual I would watch a horror movie by myself. After so many commercials the movie finally started at 6.45 PM and the audience were quite a lot though not a full house. Now let us get on with the movie.

Brief Story Line

Five people awaken in a confined room with their heads covered with a bucket-like mask and their necks tied to steel chains. All of them were given instruction to do a task so they could saved themselves from saws on the walls. The survivors from this first task was Anna (Laura Vandervoort - Smallville and Bitten TV series etc), Ryan (Paul Braunstein), Mitch (Mandela Van Peebles) and Carly (Brittany Allen). They would later be on be given more impossible tasks through tapes and TV from the person who seemed to know about each of their dark past.

Chasing the Dragon - Semi Biography of Crippled Ho, Hong Kong's King of Drug Dealers

This movie premiered in Indonesian theaters on Wednesday, but as I was already having plans with my wife on another location, we only saw this movie a day later. It was a very rare moment where a Hong Kong/Chinese movie had a wide release opening in Indonesia. But I guess the big name of Donnie Yen and Andy Lau were quite well known that the cinema chain decided to show this movie in quite a number of theaters as opposed to the usual previous limited releases. Since my wife had an event in Gandaria City, we decided to see this one there. So let us continue with the movie now.

Brief Story Line

The story was set in the 1960s where times were tough in Hong Kong and it was still under the British colonials government. A group of 5 immigrants with their "leader" named Ng Sek-ho (Donnie Yen - Ip Man trilogy, xXx: Return of Xander Cage etc) were doing lots of odd jobs in order to survive there. During a major gang fight where Ho and his 3 best friends were only there to earn some easy money, he was saved by a police detective Lee Rock (Andy Lau - Infernal Affairs, Running on Karma and many many more) who was accompanied by his trusted right hand man Piggy (Kent Cheng - Ip Man 2 and 3, Run Papa Run etc). Ho felt a real gratitude towards Lee since then. But Ho also made an enemy with a British chief inspector called Hunter (Bryan Larkin) who would be his nemesis in future.

(Special Screening) Message from the King - A Drama Action Movie Experienced in the Biggest CGV Auditorium

On the 8th of November 2017, my wife and I were fortunate to be part of a small group of people invited to the grand opening of new CGV cinema in AEON Mall at Jakarta Garden City (JGC) located in Cakung, East Jakarta area. We went to AEON Mall by bus provided by CGV team from their office in AIA Tower. Despite starting off late due to some people who were unable to follow the simple rule of coming on time, we managed to be there at 11AM and were given the tour of this latest cinema from CGV group. There were few nice photobooth areas and it also provided us new type of finger food in the Crunchy Zone. Furthermore, it was having 9 auditoriums which included 1 Velvet class and 1 Gold class auditoriums, while the rest of them were the standard auditorium. But, the best of it all, we were given the chance to experience watching a movie in the biggest auditorium in Indonesia from CGV. This Auditorium 1 was having around 670 seats and segregated into the usual seats as well as some of their Sweet Box type (special seats for 2 people without the divider in the middle and gave a different more personal & romantic experience). They even had separate doors to access the auditorium. After some introduction and slides presentation from CGV, we were finally shown the movie which I was about to tell you below. Btw, the more detailed info on the new CGV cinema would be available in my wife's blog soon. I will update link on that post later.

(TV SERIES) MacGyver Season 1 - Re-imagining of The Iconic Character in 1980s

I am a major fan of the original series back in the 1980s. So when it was announced that TV producers were going to make a new version of MacGyver in his 20s, I thought to myself, why not? It's about time we see him again in small screen, albeit a younger version. The series started in 2016 and I just had the time to begin watching it few weeks ago. Now I want to share my views about this series.

Brief Synopsis

Angus MacGyver (Lucas Till - Monster Trucks, X-Men: Apocalypse etc) was working for a US secret agency disguised as a think tank organization. In his missions, he was always partnered with another agent named Jack Dalton (George Eads - CSI: Crime Scene Investigations TV series) who supported MacGyver in the more physical part which required fights, gunshooting or car chases. The organization which later on would be named as Phoenix Foundation was headed by director Patricia Thornton (Sandrine Holt - Terminator Genisys, Once A Thief TV series etc) who was very strict to Mac and Jack.

The Beauty Inside - A Unique, Touching and Lovely Romantic Korea Drama Movie

It was a rare Sunday night when I was at home and suddenly got the urge to browse through the cable TV channels. I accidentally stumbled into this Korean movie in Celestial Movie where it just started. The very brief synopsis really intrigued me so I told my wife about this, but apparently she had seen it before. She said it was a lovely movie, and naturally I decided to watch this. What was this movie about? Let us move on to the story now.

Brief Story Line

Kim Woo-jin (voiced by Yoo Yeon-sook - Whistle Blower, The Royal Tailor etc) was a man who was having a very unique condition. He would wake up every morning in a different body, be it a male, female, young, old and even as foreigner. Regardless of the gender, age or nationality, he was still Woo-Jin inside. This condition was only known by his best friend Sang-baek (Lee Dong-hwi - Reply 1998 TV series, Confidential Assignment etc) and also Woo-jin's mother.

Flatliners - Not the Best Remake but Entertaining Nevertheless

This movie was making me quite curious. I knew it was a remake of the 1990 movie of the same title and when the trailer was shown few times earlier, it seemed to me like a good horror movie. So I was kind of looking forward to when the movie would be playing in Indonesian theaters. It was already playing in US for few weeks when finally this film premiered yesterday. Strangely enough, it did not open on a wide scale and instead only playing in several theaters. I guess the time was too near with the movie Thor: Ragnarok which was still occupying a lot of theaters. My wife who was actually not feeling really well was kind enough to accompany me seeing this movie. Thanks Hon! So let us get on with the movie now.

Brief Story Line

Courtney (Ellen Page - Juno, Inception etc) was a medical student who was looking for answers of what happened after a person died. She asked the help from her friends Sophia (Kiersey Clemons - Dope etc) and Jamie (James Norton - Happy Valley TV series etc) to assist her in making her temporarily die (or in the medical terms: flatline) and then revived her again while recording her brain's activity. Despite the protests from Sophia and Jamie, they still went through with the experiment and brought the help from a bright student named Ray (Diego Luna - Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Elysium etc) with Marlo (Nina Dobrev - Vampire Diaries TV series, xXx: Return of Xander Cage etc).

Beyond Skyline - Just Another Alien Invasion Movie

It had been exactly one week since my wife and I had fun watching Thor: Ragnarok. As there was no major movie playing in Indonesia theaters in the past few days, I was looking forward to another one of those Wednesday movie premiere day. Today this movie was the one I chose to see (the other one was an anime movie which I may or may not see later, depending on my mood). I was intrigued in seeing this movie since it had 2 Indonesian stars in it and some of the scenes were shot in Indonesia as well.  Anyway, let us get on with the movie.

Brief Story Line

In the city of Los Angeles, a detective named Mark (Frank Grillo - The Purge: Anarchy, Wolf Warriors 2 etc) was heading home in a subway with his son Trent (Jonny Weston - David in Project Almanac, Chasing Mavericks etc) when suddenly their train seemed to be having power failure. The train machinist Audrey (Bojana Novakovic - Edge of Darkness, Generation Um... etc) was trying to restart the train but to no success. With the sounds of explosion outside, Mark decided to lead the passengers out to the surface, only to find out that the city had been attacked by aliens and people were taken into their space ship.

Thor:Ragnarok - The 3rd and Most Fun Thor Movie

Today with no urgent work matter to attend to, I purposely take leave from my office just to see this movie (besides I still got few more balance which if not taken would be expired). My wife and I went out since 9 AM to two locations before we reached our destination at Gandaria City. Originally we wanted to see in IMAX but since it was in 3D, we were worried about being tired wearing the 3D glasses. The show started at 1PM in a Dolby Atmos theater. Well let us get on with the movie now.

Brief Story Line

Thor (Chris Hemsworth - Blackhat, Rush etc) kept on getting dreams of his home Asgard being destroyed by powerful Sutrur. After finishing one of his tasks, Thor returned home and met again with his brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston - KONG: Skull Island, Crimson Peak etc) whom he thought was dead in the previous movie. Both were later informed by their father Odin (Anthony Hopkins - Silence of the Lamb and it's sequels, etc) of the imminent threat from the Goddess of death Hela (Cate Blanchett - Elizabeth, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Aviator etc).

2:22 - A Uniquely Interesting Thriller Drama Movie

Today my wife had an event in Central Park Mall at 12 PM and I was thinking of catching up with movies that were playing in CGV. There were 3 options that I could choose but only this one that was not a horror movie. When I read the synopsis, it definitely raised my curiosity and so without hesitation, I opted to see this one at the 11.15AM show. The next show was at 3.30PM which was a bit tight for our next schedule. Once we reached the mall, we split ways as my wife got ready for her event and I went straight to the cinema. I was the first one to buy the ticket for the movie. So let us move on with the film.

Brief Story Line

Dylan (Michiel Huisman - The Age of Adaline, The Invitation etc) was an Air Traffic Control employee in JFK New York, one of the busiest airport in the world. Being a person who was able to see any type of patterns and loved regular things, he truly enjoyed his work there as he could keep the "chaos" of various airlines departing and arriving at the same time. However, after an incident occurred during one of his normally regular day at 2:22 PM, he got suspended until further notice. This was the time when he met with a girl named Sarah (Teresa Palmer - Lights Out, Hacksaw Ridge etc). They really hit it off with one another and felt (in a cliche way) that they knew each other for a long time.

Happy Death Day - How to Solve Your Own Murder While Reliving The Day?

Yesterday my wife and I got the chance to see this movie on its premiere day in Indonesia. I have been eyeing to see this one after I saw the trailer to it weeks ago as it was truly interesting. It was a good thing that I was not too busy and able to leave the office on time to see this movie as the rain was quite heavy and usually Jakarta's traffic would be hell. My wife also finished her food tasting event early and both of us reached the cinema location 1 hour before the 7.15PM show in Setiabudi. Ok, let us shall go on with the movie now.

Brief Story Line

A college student named Theresa aka Tree (Jessica Rothe - La La Land) woke up in a male's dorm room occupied by Carter (Israel Broussard - Flipped, The Bling Ring etc) feeling the worst hangover and could not remember anything from the night before. She immediately rushed out of the room and went back to her own place where she met her friend Danielle (Rachel Matthews) and her roommate Lori (Ruby Modine) who knew it was Tree's birthday. She also went to the class where he met with her lecturer Gregory (Charles Aitken) and continued with her activities till night while ignoring calls from her father (Jason Bayle). Before she reached back home though, she was murdered by a person wearing mask and suddenly woke up in Carter's room again.

Geostorm - A Rather Unique Disaster Movie

After few days playing in Indonesian theaters, my wife and I only saw this movie today during my personal leave from work. As we wanted to spend our time enjoying the places we stayed during our unusually long weekend staycation, we decided to postpone watching it after checking out from the last hotel we stayed in. We had to go back home first and thus it made more sense to buy the tickets in the nearest theater, Setiabudi XXI. Now let us continue with the movie.

Brief Story Line

When the climate changes almost destroyed earth in 2019, a system with multiple satellites connected to one another was created with the nickname "Dutch Boy" under the cooperation of 18 countries including US. The system was able to successfully "control climates" and avoid natural disaster on earth. All these satellites were being controlled by a climate space station outside earth with crew from various countries under the command of Jake Lawson (Gerard Butler - 300, London Has Fallen etc) who happened to create Dutch Boy. 

Sully - A Heroic True Tale of the Pilot of the Flight 1549

It has been a while since I saw a movie on Saturday Night Premiere in HBO and it was a fortunate thing during the latest weekend staycation with my wife, the hotel we stayed in had this channel on its TV. Both of us did not see this movie when it premiered last year, perhaps due to combination of my reluctance to see heavy drama movie in theater and possible other more intriguing movies then. So when it finally started at 8PM last night and after our dinner at the hotel, my wife and I watched this one together. Here are some more info on the film.

Brief Story Line

A US Airways pilot named Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger (Tom Hanks - Forrest Gump, Saving Private Ryan etc) was flying an airplane from LaGuardia airport with his first officer Skiles (Aaron Eckhart - The Dark Knight, London Has Fallen etc). What started as a routine flight became a total disaster when just after few minutes of taking off, some birds flew inside the plane's machines and damaged them. With so little time to think and after considering the options, Sully landed the plane on the Hudson river. Miraculously everyone of the passengers including the air crew survived with only minor injuries.

Wind River - A Rather Heavy Crime Mystery Drama Movie

This movie actually had been shown in US theaters two months ago but only premiered in Indonesian theaters on 25 September. Yes, I was a bit late seeing this one as I was occupied in the last couple of weeks. In fact, I almost thought that I would not be able to see this one in the theater. But as so happened, there was no new movie that intrigued me yesterday and while looking at the Cinema 21 website, it appeared that this film was still playing in 3 theaters. One of them was in my wife's favorite mall at Lotte Avenue. So we decided to see the movie at 7.15 PM, but prior to that, my wife managed to see The Foreigner first. Good for her! Anyway, we shall now concentrate on the movie.

Brief Story Line

A US Fish and Wildlife Service Tracker named Cory (Jeremy Renner - Hawkeye in Marvel Cinematic Universe, Arrival etc) was tracking some wild animals in an Indian Reservation called Wind River when he found a body of a teenage girl named Natalie (Kelsey Chow). He noticed that the body had been there for quite some time and there was blood which suggested foul play. He requested the assistance of police chief Ben (Graham Greene - Dances With Wolves, The Green Mile etc) who then asked the help from FBI. A rookie agent named Jane Banner (Elizabeth Olsen - Scarlet Witch in Marvel Cinematic Universe, Silent House, Godzilla etc) was assigned to Wind River as she was the agent nearest to the location.

Confidential Assignment - A Good Old Fashioned Buddy Cop Action Movie

During the last trip to my mother's hometown last week, the four of us including my mom, wife and cousin went by Garuda airlines. As usual it was having an inflight entertainment and once I was on my seat, immediately I started to browse the movies that I could watch. One movie caught my attention which was this Korean film that seemed interesting. However, the duration of the movie was around 2 hours while my flight was less than that. But I thought I could see it during my flight home anyway. So I continued watching this one while my wife saw a different movie. Well let us continue with the story.

Brief Story Line

A North Korean investigator named Im Cheol-Ryung (Hyun Bin - My Name is Kim Sam-soon, Secret Garden TV series etc) was given a special assignment by his superior, to capture a rogue officer and former military named Cha Ki-seong (Kim Joo-hyuk - My Wife Got Married, The Servant etc) who escaped to South Korea bringing money counterfeit plates referred as Supernotes. Cheol-Ryung also had other motives for capturing Ki-seong and he would stop at nothing to do so.

Blade Runner 2049 - Sequel to the 1982 Cult Classic

I finally got the chance to see this movie after it premiered in Indonesia for more than 3 days. I was travelling to my mother's hometown for the past 4 days and my wife was feeling tired so she did not accompany me this time. I went to see this at Epicentrum XXI to enjoy the Dolby Atmos sound system but the time was very tight as it played at 6.25PM. Lucky for me I could use different route and despite having further distance, I was able to reach the location much earlier than if I use the usual way. Anyway, let us get on with the film.

Brief Story Line

The movie was told in the year 2049, 30 years from the time of this film's predecessor Blade Runner. We were introduced to our main character, a Blade Runner simply referred to as "K" (Ryan Gosling - The Notebook, The Big Short etc) who was also a bio engineered human called Replicant. It was an uncommon thing as the older Replicants used to be hunted down by Blade Runner. K reported to his superior Lt Joshi aka Madam (Robin Wright - Forrest Gump, House of Cards TV series, Wonder Woman etc). K did not have any friends and only accompanied by a hologram with AI referred to as Joi (Ana de Armas - Overdrive) whom he seemed to fell in love with.

Blade Runner 1982 Uncut Version and A Cult Classic

I knew that there would be a sequel of this movie to premiere in Indonesian theaters on Friday, but as I have completely forgotten the story, I thought it would better for me to see this again to refresh my memory. So I looked around in the internet and managed to find it online and saw this without hesitation. Now what was the movie all about? Let us find out more.

Brief Story Line

The story was told in the year 2019 where a group of humans created through bio engineering and called "The Replicants" were sent to do space colonization. The Replicants were created by Tyrell corporation led by Dr. Eldon Tyrell (Joe Turkel - The Shining etc). When four of the Replicants led by Roy Batty (Rutger Hauer - Blind Fury, Batman Begins etc) fled from one of the colony to earth, a retired cop specializing in capturing Replicants and referred to as Blade Runner named Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford - no intro necessary) was assigned to recapture those four.

The Foreigner - An Unusually Dark Jackie Chan's Movie

I have heard about the next Jackie Chan film few months ago which was unlike his more recent comedy action movies. When I saw its trailer few weeks ago that confirmed the news, I have set up my mind to see this one with my wife. The movie actually premiered in Indonesian theaters on Friday, but I chose to see another movie then and wait till Sunday to see this. Sadly my wife could not accompany me despite her being a big fan of Jackie Chan, since she was not feeling well and preferred to take a rest at home. So off I went to the cinema nearest to my home & watch the 5 PM show. Now let us go on with the movie.

Brief Story Line

Quan Ngoc Minh (Jackie Chan) was a Chinese who had emigrated to London since 1984 and became an England citizen. His normal life was torn apart when his only girl Fan (Katie Leung - as Cho Chang in Harry Potter movies) became a victim of a bomb set by Irish terrorists called UDI who claimed responsibility for the attack.

Pengabdi Setan - A Scary Horror Movie from Joko Anwar

After weeks and weeks being "tortured" by the trailer to this movie, finally it played in the cinemas from yesterday. As I was having some work schedule out of the country, I could only see the film today. I chose to see this in a cinema not too far away from home and managed to get 1 seat at the last row in the middle of lots of audience (which was my intention since I would rather not see this alone and sitting by myself). Yes I mentioned in my other posts earlier that my wife would rather not see a horror movie, especially when it was a supernatural horror movie from Indonesia. Anyway, let us get on with the movie now.

Brief Story Line

It was the year 1981 when handphone and internet was not available yet. Bahri Suwono (Bront Palarae - Halfworld TV series, Anak Jantan etc) was a father of four who had to endure financial difficulty due to his wife's continuous illness for 2 years. His eldest child was Rini (Tara Basro - 3 Srikandi, A Copy of My Mind etc) who Bahri could rely on to take care of the mother (Ayu Laksmi - Soekarno: Indonesia Merdeka). The second child was a 16 yeard old high school student named Toni (Endy Arfian - Brandal Brandal Ciliwung) who loved his mother very much and was willing to put the family's welfare first. The third child was a 10 year old primary student named Bondi (Nasar Annuz) and very close with the youngest one, Ian (played nicely by newcomer Muhamad Adhiyat).

(TV SERIES) Marvel's The Defenders - The Smaller Version of Avengers on TV

I have been watching the series from Netflix about the Marvel superheroes that consisted of Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist for a while now and the prospect of having 4 superheroes working together was really exciting. So when I got the chance to see this series during our last weekly weekend staycation, I finished it off very fast, especially since it only had 8 episodes. Well to speed things up, let us get on with the series now.

Brief Story Line

Few months after the events of Daredevil season 2 and Iron Fist season 1, Danny Rand (Finn Jones) and Colleen Wing (Jessica Henwick) were trying to locate the people that could help them expose The Hand which was the organization responsible for the death of Danny's parents. Their journey brought them back to New York where supposedly The Hand had some secret agenda there. Meanwhile Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox) was now concentrating more on his daytime job as lawyer working on pro-bono cases. He was still having mixed feeling on his decision to put off his suit as Daredevil. However, his good friends Foggy (Elden Henson) and Karen (Deborah Ann Woll) were more relieved with such decision. 

Kingsman: The Golden Circle - Sequel to that Awesome New Kind of British Agent Movie

This was one of my most anticipated movie in the month of September, but as mentioned in my previous post, I was unable to see it on its premiere date. During our weekend staycation, we were lucky enough that the hotel we are staying in is located in the same block as a mall in Tangerang area (more on that in my wife's blog later). Hence it was very convenient for my wife and I to go and see the movie since we just need to walk inside the mall and go straight to the cinema location. I would be talking more on the movie now.

Brief Story Line

The film started not long after the events in Kingsman: The Secret Service where Eggsy Unwin (Taron Egerton - Sing, Eddie the Eagle etc) had become quite an agent in Kingsman organization. He was now having a serious relationship with princess Tilde (Hanna Alström) and still supported by the reliable knowledge-able and high tech friend Merlin (Mark Strong - Rocknrolla, The Imitation Game etc). 

The LEGO Ninjago Movie - Another Movie Based on The Popular Lego Bricks

It has been almost a week since the last time I saw a Hollywood movie on its premiere date. I have been on a short "hiatus" from watching new movies in theaters as I could not bring myself to do so due to the new movies were not that new and exciting. Anyway yesterday there were 2 movies premiered in Indonesia which was quite surprising considering both were truly new and were not even scheduled to play in US theaters till Friday. Actually my wife and I were looking forward to see another movie, but the cinema where we wanted to go to, did not show that one at our usual preferred schedule 7PM. So we went to see this movie instead. And what was the movie all about? Let us find out more.

Brief Story Line

In the city far far away called Ninjago, there was a boy who just turned 16 named Lloyd Garmadon (Dave Franco - Nerve, Now You See Me and its sequel etc). He was not feeling excited on his birthday due to his father was the most notorious evil villain Garmadon (Justin Theroux - The Girl on the Train, The Leftovers TV series etc) who tried to conquer Ninjago all the time. Lloyd's mother nicknamed Koko (Olivia Munn - X-Men: Apocalypse, Ride Along 2 etc) tried to convince Lloyd to enjoy his day but it was very challenging with everyone being so judging to him.

American Assassin - Just Another One of Those Standard Special Agent Fighting Terrorist Movie

It was a rather slow week in the Indonesian cinemas and the only new movie seemed worthwhile to see was this film that premiered on Wednesday. As I had to go visit my friend whose father just passed away on that day, my wife and I went to see this one only yesterday. Despite choosing the time of 7.15 PM, I think my wife was a bit worried if she could not make it as she had an event earlier, so she decided to use different mode of transportation and ended up reaching home very fast. I myself reached home a little while after her and we were able to be in theater before the movie started. Anyway, we shall go on with the movie now.

Brief Story Line

After having a life changing experience, Mitch Rapp (Dylan O'Brien - The Maze Runner, Deepwater Horizon, Teen Wolf TV series etc) decided to try infiltrating a terrorist cell and kill its leader who had ruined his life. Based on his wit and several useful abilities such as martial arts, weaponry and language fluency, he was recruited by a CIA deputy director Irene Kennedy (Sanaa Lathan - The Best Man, Now You See Me 2 etc) to be a special ops agent. He was being trained by a very tough veteran and experienced former agent named Stan Hurley (Michael Keaton - Tim Burton's Batman, Beetlejuice, Spider-man: Homecoming and many more). He would be trained with other potential agents that include the more experienced person named Victor (Scott Adkins) who thought that Mitch was reckless, cocky and dangerous for the team.