I Want to Eat Your Pancreas - A Heartbreaking Romantic Drama Anime Movie

I saw the information about this movie in the social media of one Indonesian cinema chain. Apparently it only played in that particular cinemas and it proved to be a challenge to see it as the options were limited. I was intrigued to watch it especially since it seemed to be having positive views and it had been a while since last time I saw an anime in theater. Anyway once we got the chance on Sunday, I managed to convince my wife to accompany me seeing it together as I thought it would be something she like. Well let us get on with the movie now.

Brief Story Line

Movie was narrated through the eyes of a high school boy who referred himself as Boku (voiced by Mahiro Takasugi). Through some coincidence, Boku found out that his classmate named Sakura (voiced by Lynn) was having a pancreatic cancer. Sakura did not want to reveal this fact to her childhood best friend Kyoko (Yukiyo Fujii). Sakura somehow felt that she could be open up to Boku and immediately decided she wanted to spend the rest of her days with Boku.

(TV SERIES) Bodyguard - A Heavy Political Thriller Drama with some Mind Blowing Twists

I saw somewhere earlier about this series being very popular, and then my wife's brother-in-law mentioned he was told about how good the series was, though he had not seen it. So few days ago I started to watch this one which only got 6 episodes and I thought would be easy to finish. How good was the series? Let us find out more below.

Brief Story Line

Police Sergeant (PS) David Budd (Richard Madden - Live version of Cinderella, Bastille Day etc) who was an Afghanistan war veteran was given a new assignment to protect the British Home Secretary Julia Montague (Keeley Hawes - Death at a Funeral, Line of Duty TV series etc). Having a strong political view with a controversial idea, made Julia became a rather unpopular figure and attracted the unnecessary attention. It also made her become target of threats from some people, thus requiring such protection.

Mary Poppins Returns - An Overdue Sequel to the 1964 Classic Disney Musical Movie

When this movie's teaser trailer was shown few times earlier, I did not have any excitement yet, but I did know it was a sequel to a very famous movie from Disney many years back. As it was a family movie and my wife seemed to be very interested in watching it, we decided to see it on the first day it premiered which happened to be on Christmas holiday as well. We saw this at a cinema not far from our home. Well let us get on with the film now.

Brief Story Line

Set in the 1930s in London, Michael Banks (Ben Whishaw - Paddington, The Danish Girl etc) had to take care of his young 3 children: the twins Annabel & John and the youngest Georgie by himself. He only got help from his sister Jane (Emily Mortimer - Shutter Island, Hugo etc) and their housekeeper Ellen (Julie Walters - Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, Harry Potter series etc). It was difficult for Michael to take care of them while having to work at the bank under his boss Mr. Wilkins (Colin Firth - Kingsman: The Golden Circle and its predecessor Bridget Jones trilogy etc). So when a nanny named Mary Poppins (Emily Blunt - A Quiet Place, The Girl on the Train etc) came and offered herself to work with the Banks, Michael & Jane accepted her immediately.

Milly & Mamet: Ini Bukan Cinta & Rangga - A Review by Yennymakanmulu

For the past few weeks, we have been shown the trailer to this movie many times and it really seemed like a fun film, especially with the name Ernest Prakasa as the writer & director. Ever since Cek Toko Sebelah, I have been quite a fan of his works. This time around the movie was set in the universe of Ada Apa Dengan Cinta? which was a very popular film back in the early 2000. The story was told roughly at the same time as the 2016 sequel that was equally successful, where we got the chance to see more of the two main characters of this movie. As usual, I would let my wife write her own views of the movie which I thought was the best option since it really touched her heart.

Review of the movie as written by Yennymakanmulu in Bahasa Indonesia

[MOVIE] Milly & Mamet: Ini Bukan Cinta & Rangga *spoiler alert*

Begitu gw tau bakal ada spin-off dari AADC dengan judul Milly & Mamet, semangat banget gw nungguin filmnya nongol. Siapa yang gak kenal Milly dan Mamet? Hmm coba nonton deh AADC 1 dan AADC 2. Ntar jadi kenal siapa mereka. Kemaren itu gw beli promo BOGO mereka di tix-id, lumayan masi dapet kursi, tapi bukan kursi favorit. Telat belinya huhuhu. Tapi masi untung lah dapet paling belakang. Gw paling males duduk di depan orang, suka ditendangin bangku gw. Heran, mereka nonton pake mata apa pake kaki sih? Jadi inget iklan XXI belakangan ini featuring Milly, Mamet, Sakti dan Yongky. Lucu banget. Tapi sayangnya bener semua. Dari yang ngerekam film, angkat2 kaki, ngobrol berisik sampe maen hape bikin silau. Dan mereka bikin iklannya dengan sangat menarik. Gemash deh. Semoga aja yg liat jadi bisa sadar diri ya. Trus gimana filmnya? Yuk terus baca sampe bawah. Oya, film ini diproduseri oleh Mira Lesmana, dengan sutradara Ernest Prakasa.

To continue reading, please click the link below:

Milly & Mamet: Ini Bukan Cinta & Rangga Review by Yennymakanmulu

PS: You can also read her other reviews about food and travel in her blog.

Notes:

To my personal opinion, this movie was wonderful in terms of combining the elements of drama and humor. I quite enjoyed the banter between the supporting characters (who were mostly comedians) and the chemistry between Milly and Mamet's characters which were performed very nicely by the two lead cast. And this time around, I think the drama and humor part were quite balanced, although I did feel the conclusion was a tinsy bit oversimplified, but overall it was indeed a fun & entertaining romantic drama comedy. Another great job by Ernest Prakasa.

Bumblebee - A Family Friendly and Nice Fresh Take on the Transformers Series

I am actually one of big fans of Transformers series (and not ashamed of it). My wife and I really enjoyed the first movie and were really amazed and in awe when we saw those cartoon characters came into life for the first time. Back then I never thought they could pulled it off but they did (thanks to Michael Bay). But later the movies did decrease a bit in quality though I still enjoyed them, that is until I saw the fifth installment which kind of disappointed me. So when they said they wanted to make a prequel with the beloved Bumblebee as main lead, I was really excited. We immediately bought the ticket for its premiere date and last night we got the chance to see it in the theater nearest our home. 

Brief Story Line

Set in the year 1987, Charlie (Hailee Steinfeld - Spider-man: Into the Spider-verse, The Edge of Seventeen etc) was a teenager who had withdrawn herself a bit from her family and really wanted to have her own car. With some luck she came across with a yellow very old Volkswagen Beetle and managed to get it started. Little did she know that it was actually an Autobot called B-127 (voiced by Dylan O'Brien - The Maze Runner trilogy, American Assassin etc) that had transformed himself into the car, to avoid capturing by Decepticons.

Billionaire Boys Club - The Controversial True Story of 1980s Infamous Investment Company Led by the Young & Wealthy

I noticed that this movie was still playing in theaters and decided to give it a try. Movies based on true story and with an interesting subject, tend to intrigued me. But I saw this one by myself as I could not convince my wife it was a good enough movie for her to see. Anyway, here goes about the film.

Brief Story Line

Set in the early 1980s, two best friends since high school, Joe Hunt (Ansel Elgort - Baby Driver, Divergent series etc) a very intelligent guy worked in the finance area and Dean Carny (Taron Egerton - Robin Hood, Kingsman: The Golden Circle etc) who loved to hang out with some of the very rich young people decided to form a financial company called BBC and get profit by investing in various items. They attracted huge investments from various people including their high school friends as well. But their biggest investor would be a high profile ex Wall Street player named Ron Levin (Kevin Spacey - L.A Confidential, House of Cards TV series etc).

Spider-man: Into the Spider-verse - The Unique Story Telling of the Many Versions of Spider-man

This movie premiered since last Friday and I only got the chance to see it last night. It was a movie that I noticed during the end credit of another movie few months back and quite intrigued me (if you have seen that movie and waited till the end, you would know what movie I was referring to). Good thing it played in the nearest theater from our home, so my wife and I could easily go the location. OK, here we go with the movie now.

Brief Story Line

In Detroit, Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) was a normal teenager who was adjusting life in his new school where he met with a rather mysterious girl Gwanda (Hailee Steinfeld - Pitch Perfect 3, Ender's Game etc). Miles sometimes felt awkward with the way he was treated by his father, police officer Jefferson (Brian Tyree Henry - Hotel Artemis) and would look for his uncle Aaron (Mahershala Ali - Luke Cage TV series, The Hunger Games etc) for advice. Miles life would soon turned upside down when he got bitten by some kind of spider and made him have spider-like abilities.

Aquaman - A Fun Enjoyable Full of Action Origin Superhero Movie from DC Universe

It has been quite a while since my last post of a major Hollywood movie which was entirely due to my holiday trip with my wife outside Indonesia. I was actually looking forward to see this one on its premiere date, but the movie played while I was away. Anyway when we returned on Saturday evening, we decided to see it on Sunday in my favorite theater with Dolby Atmos sound system. OK, let's move on with the movie now.

Brief Story Line

Arthur Curry (Jason Momoa - Braven, Baywatch TV series etc) was the son of lighthouse keeper Thomas (Temuera Morrison - Moana etc) and the queen of Atlantis named Atlanna (Nicole Kidman - Lion, The Hours etc). Being a half Atlantean, he has unique abilities of under water breathing, super strength and good fighting skills, and used it to help people in need, including fighting under water pirates led by David Kane (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II - The Greatest Showman etc).

(TV SERIES) Krypton Season 1 - The Story of Superman's Family Origin

After watching an action thriller series, I was in the mood for some series based on comic books. This time I wanted to give a DC comics adaption a try. I came across this one when I was reading list of all comic books adapted into TV series and I was intrigued by the premise. What was it about? Let's find out more below.

Brief Story Line

Story was set in the planet Krypton many years before the events of Kal-El aka Superman was sent to earth. The series focused on his grandfather Seg-El (Cameron Cuffe) whose family House of El was stripped of their rank. It was all due to Seg's grandfather Val-El (Ian McElhinney - Game of Thrones TV series etc) persistence not to share important information to the government. Growing up, Seg had to work odd jobs and befriended with a bar owner named Kem (Rasmus Hardiker). 

Mortal Engines - An Entertaining Highly Imaginative Full of Visually Stunning Special Effects Movie

This was 1 of the movies that probably did not appear in my radar, until the past couple of weeks when its trailer was shown few times in theaters. The thing that intrigued me was the name Peter Jackson. When it was promoted for advance ticket sales since last weekend, my wife and I decided to buy them for its first day. So let's find out more on the movie.

Brief Story Line (Warning Spoiler Alert!)

Set in the post-apocalyptic time, the cities of the world now were added with engines that enable them to move around and gather scarce resources & old technologies. London was one of those cities referred to as Traction which could capture smaller cities and collect their resources. Thaddeus Valentine (Hugo Weaving - Hacksaw Ridge, V for Vendetta etc) was one of London's respected leader and he had a loving daughter Katherine (Leila George). In London, there was a young historian named Tom (Robert Sheehan - Bad Samaritan etc) who knew a lot about old technology and loved to scavenge through stuff collected when London captured other cities.

(TV SERIES) Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan Season 1 - An Awesome Action Thriller Series with Some Great Action Sequence

After finishing few TV series that I was catching up, as usual I wanted to try a new one. Since I did not want to watch a 20+ episodes/season series which would take a long time, I chose this one which only had 8 episodes and it seemed entertaining plus it had a good rating (though sometimes nowadays it may translate differently to me due to some differing opinions/taste). Anyway, I started and finished it only in 1 day. So here goes.

Brief Story Line

Jack Ryan (John Krasinski - A Quiet Place, The Hollars etc) was a former marine who now worked as an analyst at the CIA in the Terror Finance Arms Division (T-FAD). During his work, he spotted some transactions that maybe related to terrorist activity. However, his new boss Jim Greer (Wendell Pierce - The Wire, The Odd Couple TV series etc) was very skeptical and wanted to investigate the matter cautiously. It would later on be revealed that Jack's suspicion was justified and the terrorist referred to as Suleiman (Ali Suliman - The Kingdom, Body of Lies etc) was indeed real and dangerous.

Hotel Artemis - A Rather Unique but not the Most Memorable Cyberpunk Thriller

This movie actually played in Indonesian theaters since Tuesday, but my wife and I opted to see another movie that we had been eyeing since weekend. And due to some movies that I saw in the past 2 days, I only got the chance to see this one last night. My wife did not accompany me as I was not sure of the quality. Anyway, let's get on with the movie now.

Brief Story Line

Set in the year 2028, Los Angeles was in a riot due to fresh water being charged. Criminal brothers Sherman (Sterling K. Brown - The Predator, Black Panther etc) and Lev (Brian Tyree Henry - Atlanta TV series etc) were injured during a bank heist and went to a secret hospital especially for criminals named Hotel Artemis. The hotel was managed by Nurse Jean (Jodie Foster - The Accused, The Silence of the Lambs etc) with her helper Everest (Dave Bautista - Final Score, Guardians of the Galaxy series etc).

(GALA PREMIERE) Sesuai Aplikasi - A Nice Comedy Movie with a Touch of Drama

Last night me and my wife were quite fortunate to be among some of the people invited to the Gala Premiere of a comedy movie which would be shown in theaters next week. The movie had some well known stars playing in it and we were kind of hoping there would be some of them showing up so we could take pictures with them. Anyway, after the registration and ticket exchanges, we found out that the movie only start at 9.15 pm which was a surprise to us since the invitation mentioned 7.30 PM. Finally at 9.30 PM the movie started. So let's get on with it.

Brief Story Line (Spoiler Warning!)

Pras (Valentino Peter) and Duras (Lolox - Security Ugal-ugalan) were 2 childhood best friends who worked hard for a living as online ojek driver. Pras lived with his mother (Alicia Djohar) and had a girlfriend (Former Indonesian Idol Kamasean) whom he planned to marry, while Duras was financing his sister Monik (Meisya Amira) to be a doctor. With his good looks, Pras had some loyal customers including a famous Dangdut singer called Sofiyah (Titi Kamal - Mendadak Dangdut, Hang Out etc). Duras on the other hand, was not so lucky and had no choice but to borrow money from a loanshark called Ci Asiu (Dayu Wijanto - The Returning, Generasi Micin etc) for his sister's college fee.

Creed 2 - A Powerful Sports Drama with Some Quite Spectacular Boxing Fights

When the trailer to this movie was shown so many times earlier, I was intrigued by it and wanted to find out more (I never did saw the first movie). After watching that one via online streaming, I thought it was a good film and decided it would be nice to see the second one. But my wife did not really enjoy and she did not finish it. Hence I saw this new movie by myself last night when it premiered in Indonesia. OK, we will start with the movie now.

Brief Story Line

Few years after the events in the first movie, Adonis Creed (Michael B. Jordan - Black Panther, Fantastic Four etc) had been a popular figure in boxing, especially since he became the heavy weight champion of the world. His life also was in the best shape with the support from his love Bianca (Tessa Thompson - Thor: Ragnarok, Sorry to Bother You etc), his trainer Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone - Escape Plan 2, Rambo series etc) and his step mother Mary Anne (Phylicia Rashad - The Cosby Show etc).

Iceman: The Time Traveller - A Disappointing Sequel to the 2014 Donnie Yen's Movie

I saw the poster to this movie a while back in the cinema and was looking forward to it as it starred Donnie Yen and it's also a sequel to the 2014 movie titled Iceman which had a cliffhanger ending. So when it finally premiered few days ago, I wanted to see it immediately. But alas, it did not play in a lot of theaters and we had many activities during the past few days. Until last night my wife and I finally got the chance to see it. OK, let's move on to the film now.

Brief Story Line

Set exactly after the first movie, He Ying (Donnie Yen - Chasing The Dragon, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story etc) decided to return to his time during the Ming dynasty period to try and change the fate of his family and friends while leaving his friend/savior in the modern world May (Eva Huang - The Sorcerer and the White Snake, Kung Fu Hustle etc). 

Rampant - A Pretty Enjoyable Korean Period Zombie Movie

Yesterday my wife and I were thinking of seeing a new movie playing since Saturday but then she realized that a Korean movie which had been shown earlier from Wednesday had 2 of her favorite actors in it. Hence we decided to see this one at the 1.20 PM show. Without further ado, let's get on to the movie now.

Brief Story Line (SPOILER ALERT!)

Set in the rather ancient period in Joseon country, Prince Ganglim/Lee Chung (Hyun Bin - The Negotiation, The Swindlers etc) had just returned from Qing country with his loyal personal servant Hak Soo (Jung Man-sik - Kundo: Age of the Rampant etc) only to find out that the first village he arrived at had been damaged by monsters/zombies. He met with the so-called rebels led by Park Eul-yong (Jo Woo-jin - Inside Man, Steel Rain etc) and somehow befriended them including with a great archer named Deok-hee (Lee Sun-bin - Missing 9 TV series etc).

Ralph Breaks the Internet - Another Heartwarming Funny & Beautifully Animated Disney Movie About Friendship

This was one of the movie that I really wanted to see on its premiere day, so when it finally showed in Indonesian theaters on Friday, my wife and I wanted to buy the tickets for around 7 PM. But unfortunately there were no studios near our place showing the movie around that time. So we decided to wait until weekend and finally we saw it today in the Pluit area where my wife had various events. OK let's move on with the movie then.

Brief Story Line

Wreck-It Ralph (John C. Reilly - Sing, Chicago etc) and Vanellope (Sarah Silverman - Battle of the Sexes, I Smile Back etc) had been best friends for 6 years and living a routine life every day. That was until the internet started to be installed in Litwak's arcade where their video games were plugged in. Pretty soon Ralph and Vanellope decided to go inside the internet in search of something specific they thought could be found there.

(2018) Robin Hood - A Highly Entertaining Fresh Look on a Classic Tale

In the last couple of weeks, me and my wife have been shown the trailer to this movie few times and every time we were always hyped up by the seemingly cool action sequences. So when it was announced the movie would be playing on the public holiday on Tuesday, we immediately set our sights to see this one. We managed to get the tickets for the first show in my favorite Dolby Atmos theater and well, let us get into the movie now.

Brief Story Line

Robin of Loxley (Taron Egerton - Kingsman series, Sing etc) was just a regular lord in Nottingham and having a love relationship with Marian (Eve Hewson - Papillon, The Knick TV series etc). But he had to leave all of them for a Crusade after being drafted by the Sheriff (Ben Mendelsohn - Darkest Hour, Bloodline TV series etc). 

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald - A Sequel to Set Up the Grand Finale in Fantastic Beasts Series

I was a bit late in seeing this movie as it already premiered on Wednesday but I only managed to see it last night. This was all due to my favorite theater with Dolby Atmos sound system did not have any show around the 6 or 7 PM time on more than one occasion. Since we were already late anyway, I decided to just wait till the weekend to see the film at that theater, together with another movie which just premiered on Friday. Well we shall get on with the movie now.

Brief Story Line

Not long after the events of Fantastic Beasts and Where to find Them, Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne - The Other Boleyn Girl etc) was back at London and trying to appeal for his right to travel. He was supported by his brother Theseus (Callum Turner) and his old friend during Hogwarts years Leta Lestrange (Zoë Kravitz - Kin, Mad Max: Fury Road etc). He even got the support from Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law - The Talented Mr. Ripley, Sherlock Holmes etc) though not in plain sight. 

The Girl in the Spider's Web - A Different, More Action-ish Sequel to the Critically Acclaimed 2011 The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

This movie started to play in Indonesian theaters on Friday, however it did not play in any of the cinemas easily accessible from my office or my home then. So my wife and I decided to just wait till the weekend to see it, together with another movie that premiered on Wednesday but we did not see due to same reasons. Anyway, as this film was a sequel and my wife had not seen the first movie, she watched it through online streaming the night before. Well let's get on with the first of our movie marathon.

Brief Story Line

Set few years after the original movie, Lisbeth Salander (Claire Foy - First Man etc) now became a vigilante who sometimes protected and helped abused women. She was requested by Frans Balder (Stephen Merchant - Logan etc) to steal a dangerous program called Firefall from NSA, which prompted special agent Needham (Lakeith Stanfield - Sorry to Bother You, Atlanta TV series etc) to pursue and capture her in Stockholm. 

A Man Called Ahok - A Review by Yennymakanmulu

After few days of the movie playing in the theaters, we finally decided to go ahead and saw this one last night. This time, I prefer to let my wife share her views of the film as I thought that her personal experience while watching the movie would be more suitable than if I wrote it. So here goes below her wonderful review in Bahasa Indonesia.

[MOVIE] A Man Called Ahok – Kisah Memperjuangkan Belitung Timur *spoiler alert*

5 hari setelah film A Man Called Ahok rilis di bioskop2 Indonesia, gw baru bisa nonton di hari Selasa kemarin. Terbentur dengan lokasi bioskop dan tempat duduk yang gw incer, makanya gw tunda dulu nonton di hari pertama main. Semua bioskop penuh! Tapi terus terang, gw gak terlalu napsu buat nonton awalnya. Bukan! Bukan karena gw gak suka Ahok. Oh wow, gw justru kagum banget sama sosok seorang Ahok. Gara2 Ahok, Jakarta pernah jadi yang terbaik di mata gw. Sebelum Ahok kerja di Jakarta, gw gak kenal siapa beliau. Sepak terjang Ahok bikin Jakarta lebih baik dari sebelum2nya. Terus, apa sih sebetulnya alasan gw gak beli tiket pertama kali? Gw ragu Daniel Mananta bisa mewakili sosok Ahok. Monmaap ya Kak Daniel. Secara gw gak pernah nonton Daniel akting. Tapi setelah banyak teman yang bilang filmnya bagus, okelah gw coba nonton deh. Oya film diadaptasti dari buku dengan judul yang sama, karangan Rudi Valinka, dan disutradarai oleh Putrama Tuta. Yuk mulai nonton!

To continue reading, please click the link below:

A Man Called Ahok Review by Yennymakanmulu

Just heads up on the movie, it was mentioned by the director that it's not a documentary and certain aspects might be dramatized.

PS: You can also read her other reviews about food and travel in her blog.

(2018) The Grinch - A Wonderfully Animated Christmas Movie

Yesterday there was a new family movie that premiered in all Indonesian cinemas. My wife and I wanted to see this in the theater nearest to our home but unfortunately it did not play there. So we saw this in another one which was quite near as well. It was the one with Dolby Atmos sound system, though the movie playing there did not have such effects. Anyway, let's get on with the movie now.

Brief Story Line

Grinch (Benedict Cumberbatch - Doctor Strange, Sherlock TV series etc) was very grumpy and really hated Christmas day. Few days before Christmas, he grew even grumpier especially when the city nearby called Whoville went all around to make sure this year's celebration was 3 times bigger than previous year. With the help from his friend Max the dog, Grinch decided to steal Christmas from the residents of Whoville.

He's Out There - A Better Than Expected Terrifying Horror Movie

This was one of the two movies playing only in the smaller Indonesian cinema chains. I got the chance to see this last night, but I saw it by myself as it was a horror movie. However, I thought it did not seem like a very scary one so I still wanted to give it a try. Well let's get down to the movie now.

Brief Story Line

Laura (Yvonne Strahovski - The Predator, Chuck TV series etc), and her two young children Kayla (Anna Pniowsky) and Madison (Abigail Pniowsky) were on their way for holiday at a remote lake house. Laura's husband Shawn (Justin Bruening - Knight Rider remake, All My Children TV series etc) was coming a bit later as he had some things he had to attend to. 

While Laura was taking a rest, the girls wandered around the woods and found something they did not share with their mother. During the night, things started to get creepy as sounds coming from outside and on the second floor as well. Getting real panic, Laura tried to find help, only to find that her effort was futile, especially since no one was around in the area to help them.

Overlord - A Great Nonstop World War 2 Era Action Movie With a Touch of Horror

This was one strange movie. I had very little knowledge about the film despite it being a major movie released in the US cinemas this week. I saw the poster few weeks ago and was unfamiliar with the cast and not sure what the plot was all about. Not until around 2 weeks ago when I first saw the trailer prior to another movie. Even then I was a bit doubtful, though there was a hint of monster or whatever which made it a bit interesting. Yesterday when the movie finally played, I saw it was having Dolby Atmos sound effect and played in the cinema with such system near my home and it also played in IMAX studios. So I thought it must good movie. Well to cut the story short, let's get down to the movie itself.

Brief Story Line

Set during the World War 2, a group of US military soldiers were deployed into the German territory near a small village in France. Their target was to destroy the radio tower so that the major attacks by the Allied countries could be successful. The team consisted of several soldiers which include the explosive expert Corporal Ford (Wyatt Russel - Goon: Last of the Enforcers, Table 19 etc), the kind hearted soldier Boyce (Jovan Adepo - Fences etc), the very talkative Tibbet (John Magaro - The Finest Hours etc), the private who wanted to write books Dawson (Jacob Anderson) and Chase (Iain De Caestecker - Marvel Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D TV series etc) who loved to take photos.

(TV SERIES) Van Helsing Season 1 - A Unique Vampire Series But Might not be the One You Are Looking For

It's been a while since I tried a new series as these past few weeks, I concentrated on watching other series. I was looking for a science fiction series and thought that usually SyFy had some of the best ones, such as 12 Monkeys that I saw some time ago. So I decided to watch this one which was into their 3rd season this year and with only 13 episodes each season, it should not be too difficult to catch up. My views below would be only on the first season that I just completed last night.

Brief Story Line

In the year 2019, the world was in a post-apocalyptic state where the sun was blocked by some cloud that enabled vampires to roam the streets and did not have to hide in the dark anymore. This phenomenon was referenced as The Rising. A mysterious woman named Vanessa (Kelly Overton - Tekken, Legend TV series etc) had been in a coma for the past 3 years and guarded by a marine named Axel (Jonathan Scarfe) and Doc (Rukiya Bernard) in an abandoned building. It would later on be revealed what Vanessa could do and her importance in the war between humans and Vampires.

The Returning - A Valiant Attempt in Creating Unconventional Indonesian Horror Movie

On Friday night, my wife was given the chance to see a new Indonesian movie directed by an old acquaintance of her in a Nonton Bareng event at CGV Grand Indonesia. We were told that it would start around 7 PM but we need to register first. Since my wife had to do something relating to her activity as a food blogger in the mall near that area in the afternoon, it would not be too inconvenient for us to reach the location at the designated time. After the registration, we could finally enter the studio at almost 7.30 PM and the movie started at 7.40 PM. Well let's go on with the movie now, shall we?

Brief Story Line

Colin (Ario Bayu - Soekarno: Indonesia Merdeka, Serangoon Road TV series etc) got into an accident but his body was never found, leaving his wife Natalie (Laura Basuki - Di Timur Matahari, Madre etc) and their two young children Maggie (Tissa Biani - Perfect Dream etc) and Dom (newcomer Muzakki Ramdhan) in grieve. After 3 months of living in denial as Nat could not accept the lost of her husband, she finally went to psychologist to get help. Meanwhile Maggie was very upset with her mother's condition and only found solace from her grandmother Sonya (Dayu Wijanto - Bukaan 8, Love for Sale etc).

The Nutcracker and the Four Realms - Not One of the Best Disney Movie but Still Quite Entertaining

When my wife and I saw the trailer to this movie, we actually were not really interested in it. Somehow the trailer did not create a lot of interest for us, but still since it was a Disney movie which usually translate to a good family movie, we decided to give this a try. And it so happened that the movie did play in the theater near our home and was very convenient. Well let's see what the movie was all about. 

Brief Story Line

A young girl named Clara (Mackenzie Foy - The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Interstellar etc) who just lost her mother was looking for ways to fit in. During the Christmas eve, in the house of his godfather Drosselmeyer (Morgan Freeman - Driving Miss Daisy, Million Dollar Baby etc), Clara somehow was transported to another "world" where he met with a Nutcracker soldier named Phillip (Jayden Fowora-Knight) guarding the realms and also a bunch of mice where 1 of them stole the key Clara got from her mother.

Down a Dark Hall - A Not Too Scary Supernatural Horror Movie

This was one of the movies premiering on a busy Wednesday in some of Indonesian cinemas. I saw the trailer to the film 2 or 3 times before and I noticed that despite being a horror movie, it did not seem too scary. So I decided to give this a try last night. As usual, I saw this one by myself due to my wife's preference to avoid watching horror movies. Ok, let's get on with the movie now.

Brief Story Line

A troubled high school student named Katherine (AnnaSophia Robb - Race to Witch Mountain, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory etc) was enrolled by her parents to a boarding school called Blackwood led by its headmistress Madame Duret (Uma Thurman - Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill etc). Apparently the school only accepted very few students which include the rebellious Veronica (Victoria Moroles - Teen Wolf TV series etc) and other troubled girls Ashley (Taylor Russel), Izzy (Isabel Fuhrman) and Sierra (Rosie Day).

Bohemian Rhapsody - The Best Biography Movie of Legendary Rock Band I Ever Experienced

Yesterday morning I saw the tweets from the Indonesian cinema chains that this movie would be playing earlier than the usual Wednesday premiere. I was a bit doubtful whether I could make it to see this as it was the day that I had to use the infamous Jakarta's unreliable public transport. Especially since the shows in the various theaters near my office were all playing at 6.15PM. Anyway I decided that I want to see it and my wife bought us the tickets for the show nearest to our home. Well let's get on with the movie now.

Brief Story Line

In 1970, Farrokh Bulsara (Rami Malek - Mr. Robot TV series, Papillon etc) who later on renamed himself as Freddie Mercury joined a group of university students rock band named Smile, with the lead guitarist Brian May (Gwilym Lee - Midsommer Murders TV series etc) and drummer Roger Taylor (Ben Hardy - X-Men: Apocalypse etc). Later on there was also the addition of bassist John Deacon (Joseph Mazzelo - The Social Network etc) and the group was renamed to Queen by Freddie. Freddie also grew very close to Mary Austin (Lucy Boynton - Murder on the Orient Express etc) and later on became lovers. However, Freddie's parents, especially his father was not too approving in his music "career".

After making a recording in a studio, Queen garnered the interest of a manager named John Reid (Aidan Gillen - Maze Runner: The Death Cure, Game of Thrones TV series etc) with his partner Paul Prenter (Allen Leech - The Hunter's Prayer, Downton Abbey TV series etc). Queen also had their own legal adviser named Jim Beach (Tom Hollander - Pride & Prejudice, In the Loop etc). They would later on tour to various countries and make numerous albums together. But behind the seemingly successful life, there was something else going on with Freddie which would later on changed his way of life and also disturbed his relationship with everyone.

So how did Queen and Freddie Mercury became so legendary today? Find them all in this breathtaking biography movie.

End of Brief Story Line

Phew this move was totally awesome! I loved every minute of it and my wife sometimes were very emotional as well during several scenes (as I did too). The movie started off very brightly with some hint of what it would become. Then the story was focusing more on the Freddie Mercury's life and how Queen was formed. The pace was moving in a steady but surprisingly not slow and certainly not boring. The movie was filled with some story relating to Freddie, but most interestingly were the scenes showing the process of some of their hit songs creation, especially the song Bohemian Rhapsody. Those scenes were very entertaining (although some might be dramatized, but still it was a very nice way of showing us).

Apart from the story of Freddie's earlier life and Queen's earlier process of making their other albums, it later on also evolved to a more serious and dramatic turn around on Freddie's personal way of life. The movie showed us quite significant amount of Queen's performance in various locations. These were also very interesting. There was 1 scene where the very popular song of Love of My Life shown that was truly emotional. 

When I read they were making a movie about Queen, honestly I thought that OK, it was another biographical drama which I may or may not like. But I saw the trailer to this film several times in the past few weeks and it really made me interested. So I was really happy that I decided to go ahead and see this last night as it was one of the best experience I ever had watching a movie about a rock band's biography. However, what I did not know earlier was the fact that it focused more on Freddie Mercury, even though it was supposed to be about Queen. And to let you in on it, Rami Malek was amazing and magnificent as Freddie Mercury. Sometimes I really could picture him as the real Freddie and the prosthetic teeth effects were also great making his face feature also similar, especially after he had the mustache. The sound effects were very good, which would have been much greater if I saw this in a studio with Dolby Atmos system.

All the Queen's performance on stage and when creating the songs were wonderfully done. The crew did fantastic job recreating those scenes. The best of it all would surely be the performance during the 1985 Live Aid concert. That was really great, impressive and truly spectacular! It was a really grand finale that captivated me and my wife. I was in awe by the huge performance and got a bit of goosebumps seeing those tens of thousands of people in the Wembley stadium singing together with Queen. And I know that my wife was really emotional, especially when the song We Are the Champions were sung. 

Now I know that critics were not really receptive to this movie due to some historical inaccuracy, but I thought if the rest of the band who had some influence on the movie as creative consultants did not object to it, then it may not really mattered to them? Although I could understand that if it was a biography movie, it would have to be as accurate as possible. It also had some internal problems as well with the original director Bryan Singer (famous for directing movies like X-Men series, Valkyrie and several others) unable to finish directing and was replaced by Dexter Fletcher. 

Anyway, my take of the movie is, despite the possible inaccuracy, it was a truly enjoyable and memorable film. Remi Malek gave undoubtedly a great performance to my opinion and apparently all critics were unanimous in praising his performance. For me and my wife who apparently knew more Queen songs that we realized, we really had a wonderful time, and I personally did not have a single objection to the movie.

Oh before I forgot, despite the movie categorized as PG-13 in the US, it got the 17+ rating in here, which I thought was probably more suitable since there were scenes more for adults (few scenes were cut by Indonesian censorship body). When I saw the end credit which showed a real life Queen's performance, I noticed there were so many songs mentioned (no surprise there) but there was no post end credit scene. Overall, this would be a really recommended movie for Queen fans, or audience who loved to see a movie about legendary rock band and the personal life of Freddie Mercury. But if you are like one of those critics who believed that historical accuracy is a must, then you might not enjoy it. The choice is yours.

Happy watching!

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

The Night Comes for Us - Another Truly Violent & Bloody Indonesian Action Movie

Almost 2 weeks ago, this movie that I have heard for a while, finally premiered in Indonesia. Although it was not shown in Indonesian theaters, but in the streaming service instead (Thank God for Netflix!). Anyway I only got the chance to see it last week. So what was the movie about? We shall go into details now.

Brief Story Line

Ito (Joe Taslim - Star Trek Beyond, Fast & Furious 6 etc) was one of the elite members of the Triad called Six Seas who were their top enforcers and very vicious & ruthless. Feeling fed up after 3 years with the triad, Ito suddenly did the unthinkable by saving a young girl named Rheina (Asha Kenyeri Bermudez) from being killed. This act certainly angered the triad who wanted to make an example of him and Rheina. With the help from his old friends Fatih (Abimana Aryasatya - Warkop DKI Reborn: Jangkrik Boss! part 1, Haji Backpacker etc) and White Boy Bobby (Zack Lee - Headshot etc), Ito tried to bring Rheina out of the country.

KIN - A Boring Science Fiction Movie With Too Much Drama

Yesterday, my wife and I went to a couple of locations related to her food blogging activity. At that same location, there was a cinema which showed movies different from the largest Indonesian cinema chain. I was a bit intrigued with one of the movie playing there which was a science fiction type. Since there was a bank promotion for the ticket, I managed to convince my wife to accompany me seeing the film, despite my worry that the movie might not be to her liking. OK, why don't we see what the movie all about now?

Brief Story Line

Story was set in Detroit where a 14 year old boy named Elijah (Myles Truitt) was going around abandoned buildings to scavenge items he thought could be sold to earn some extra money. In one of those places, he saw what seemed to be an aftermath of fights and found an item that looked like a weapon but not a conventional one. It even seemed like from out of this world.

A Simple Favor - A Very Fun Enjoyable Mystery Thriller Movie

Last night after we saw another movie earlier (I would post about that later), we were thinking of going home. But then we thought why not see a film that we were intrigued after seeing the trailer last week. And since there was a show at 6.15 PM which would give us enough time from our first location, we decided to go ahead with seeing the movie. So here we go with the details of the film.

Brief Story Line

Stephanie (Anna Kendrick - Pitch Perfect 3 and its prequels, Get a Job etc) was a single mom who was also a vlogger sharing cooking and various tips on her show. Her young son Miles was best friends with Nicky and because of that she also became close with Nicky's mother, Emily (Blake Lively - The Shallows, Savages etc) who was a high ranked employee in a fashion company. Stephanie shared a lot of her personal stuff including her deepest secrets as well, but Emily was a lot more secretive. She did share her financial troubles due to her husband Sean (Henry Golding - Crazy Rich Asians) having writer's block after his single successful novel years before.

When Emily asked for a simple favor to Stephanie to pick up her son Nicky, she then disappeared for few days. Feeling worried, Stephanie and Sean asked the police help to find out. Detective Summervile (Bashir Salahudin) was in charge of the investigation. Stephanie who really wanted to help and find out what happened to Emily tried to look for clues by herself. 

So what actually happened to Emily? Find them all in this fun, entertaining mystery thriller movie.

End of Brief Story Line

Yeah it had been a while since I enjoyed a mystery thriller that was fun, amusing and intriguing at the same time. This movie was really enjoyable since the start of the movie when we were introduced with Anna Kendrick's character Stephanie, a single mom who was a positive thinking, cheerful and really loved to help person (my wife said her character was just like a child). I think the audience also enjoyed her performance in here as we could hear a lot of chuckles or brief laughter when she did something rather "silly". 

And then when Blake Lively's character Emily showed up, the way the director made her was such an opposite of Stephanie with her outspoken personality and total self confidence (that scene was very funny involving the umbrella). Both these two women's chemistry was lovely. We really could believe that they really hit if off. I thought this film was kept entirely interesting because of their performances. Another person who was crucial to the movie was Henry Golding, fresh from his very successful rom-com earlier. I felt that a lot of women who flocked the theater last night were mostly coming to see him (I could literally hear some gasps coming from them in the studio when he first appeared). 

Apart from these 3 main characters, the movie also had the support from additional cast who were fun to see as well, such as one of the parent named Darren (Andrew Rannels - The Intern etc), Emily's boss Dennis Nylon (Rupert Friend - Hitman: Agent 47, Homeland TV series etc) and other performances from Linda Cardellini (Hunter Killer) and Jean Smart (Legion TV series etc). I thought most of the cast were quite memorable and leave a good impression.

The story itself was quite intriguing, and we were kept guessing till almost the end of what actually happened. There were a number of twists where few we might be able to predict but few others were still surprising. The pace of the story was consistent, and the movie did not have the suspenseful or dark tone. There was one or two jump scare scenes but not horror scary, more like gave us a bit of  "fun" shocks. Throughout the whole movie duration which was almost 2 hours, we were never bored at all as it was always fun and we really wanted to know the ending. I believe this was due to the good work by the director Paul Feig (known for directing some comedy movies like Spy, The Heat, Bridesmaids, Ghostbusters and few others). This movie was based on a novel of the same title written by Darcey Bell. Oh there was no mid or end credit scene in case you were wondering. Just some nice French song accompanying us (I noticed quite a number of songs here were French. Not sure about the reason).

Overall this was a fun and entertaining movie focusing on the mystery and investigation helped with the great performances of Kendrick and Lively who had great chemistry which made it very enjoyable. Audience looking for this kind of genre would be able to have fun as well. But beware that it was not the suspenseful, intense type and having serious & dark tone like Gone Girl. Though just like that movie, this one was definitely more appropriate for adults (there were even scenes cut by Indonesian censorship body). So if you have not seen this movie, go on see it as you would most likely had fun just like my wife and I did.

Happy watching!

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

The Negotiation - A Rather Suspenseful Hostage Negotiation Movie

As the second of our movie marathon day, we opted to see this Korean film that was released in Korea itself in September 2018. So it was considered still quite fresh. In fact it was shown during a Korean Indonesian Film Festival last week. I noted from the brief synopsis, it seemed like an interesting movie. OK, will move on to the movie now.

Brief Story Line

Ha Chae-youn (Son Ye-jin - The Last Princess, My Wife Got Married etc) was a hostage negotiator working for the Seoul police department. She worked with her partner Ahn Hyuk-soo (Kim Sang-ho - Fabricated City, Running Man etc) under the leadership of Captain Jung (Lee Moon-sik - Mapado, The 101st Proposal etc).

After her last case, Chae-youn who was thinking of resigning, was suddenly given a very tough assignment to negotiate a hostage situation with the kidnapper Min Tae-gu (Hyun Bin - Confidential Assignment, The Fatal Encounter etc) threatening to kill a reporter. With a special forces team aiming to capture Tae-gu and releasing the hostage, Chae-youn was tasked to buy some time before the hostage was killed.

Bad Times at the El Royale - An Interesting Unique Mystery Thriller Movie

This movie premiered in Indonesian cinemas yesterday but unfortunately it did not play in the theaters near our home. So we ended up seeing this movie today at the cinema which is one of our favorites on Saturdays since they provided bank promotions for the tickets. And because there were multiple movies we could choose, we also had movie marathon after quite a while. Well let us get on with the movie now.

Brief Story Line

Story was set in the year 1969 in the hotel El Royale which was unique due to its location in the California and Nevada border. Half of the hotel rooms were located in California state while the others were in Nevada. A priest named Daniel Flynn (Jeff Bridges - Kingsman: The Golden Circle, True Grit etc), a backup singer named Darlene Sweet (Cynthia Erivo - Widows) and a salesman named Seymour Sullivan (Jon Hamm - Baby Driver, Beirut etc) wanted to stay at the hotel. With the addition of another woman who later on would be revealed as Emily (Dakota Johnson - Fifty Shades trilogy, Black Mass etc) they all stayed in the rooms number Four, Five, One and Seven respectively. 

It turned out that all these guests have their own hidden agenda in this hotel. The hotel employee named Miles Miller (Lewis Pullman - The Strangers: Prey at Night) apparently had his own secret. It would be revealed also later about the existence of a young girl called Rosie (Cailee Spaeny - Pacific Rim Uprising) in the hotel. Finally there was also the mysterious guy called Billy Lee (Chris Hemsworth - Thor trilogy, The Huntsman: Winter's War etc). All these 7 people's lives would be changed on that day.

So how would the story unfold and what secrets were they having? Find them all in this uniquely done thriller movie.

End of Brief Story Line

OK, when I saw the trailer to this film, I thought this seemed like an interesting movie. And the first half of the movie I thought was quite great. It was very cool the way the movie progressed as we were shown what was happening in each room. We were shown from the perspective of each individual and through some nice editing & direction, there was one occurrence which was shown from various angles which I thought was awesomely done. You would know what I meant if you have seen this film.

Now the progress of the movie was quite steady at first and we were kept wondering the mystery surrounding the hotel, and the people's secrets which were slowly revealed to us. However, there were times which I thought was a bit draggy, especially the singing scenes. Now I admit that Cynthia Eviro was a great singer and her singing were wonderful. But I could not help to feel that it was overly used. There were parts which I thought could be shown a bit shorter, although that might just be me. And once the movie reached its 1.5 hour mark, I suddenly felt the movie too long. My wife felt the quality a bit drifted when the focus was shifted to one of the 7 characters (for me I thought it was probably because the character was a bit annoying). 

The duration of 141 minutes to me felt too long, probably because of some scenes that I felt were unnecessary. It was a good thing that the ending was quite surprising and revealed something that was refreshing and provided an amazing finale. (No mid or post end credit scene here). If only they had shorten the movie a bit, it would probably be just perfect. Oh even though I said the singing scenes were a bit much, the songs in the movie were pretty awesome. There were some popular songs from 60s which had been remade such as Can't Take My Eyes off You or Unchained Melody. And the musical background plus the sound effects were quite satisfying. Sometimes my wife and I could be a bit surprised by the sound of gunshot or glass shattered and so on. 

The premise of showing one scene from multiple angle was actually not something new. However, in here, the story was combined with some rather disturbing scenes and probably some violent scenes that surely were cut by the Indonesian membership body. (I only noticed 1 of them, not sure if there were any more). Anyway, good thing was it did not impact the story itself as we could still understood the movie. For a movie that had this kind of story, it was understandable that the tone was dark and serious as well as mysterious. There was only a very very brief amusing scene but other than that, I personally felt it was a bit heavy (and sorry to say, slightly boring towards the final moments). There was one quite emotional moment that my wife was affected.

Overall I think this movie which was written and directed by Drew Goddard (his past writing credits included Cloverfield, World War Z and Cabin in the Woods which he also directed) was quite interesting. It had a promising start and managed to keep us interested till more than half of the movie, but somehow it became a bit draggy though we were still intrigued till the very end. Audience who are not accustomed to this kind of mystery thriller genre with little action and a pace that could feel a bit too slow, might not enjoy it. But those who want to see something different or wanted to see some smart quite sophisticated movie, might love it. The choice is yours.

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

Hunter Killer - A Decent Enough Submarine Action Thriller Movie

It was one of those rare Wednesdays where there was no major blockbuster Hollywood movies premiering in all Indonesian cinema chains but instead we have 3 new movies playing in various theaters. My wife and I chose to see this one as it played in the cinema nearest to our home. We plan to maybe see the other 1 or 2 movies this weekend. What was this movie all about? Let's move on to it now.

Brief Story Line

When a US and Russian submarines were involved in an incident in the Arctic seas, Admiral Fisk (Common - Smallfoot, The Hate U Give etc) with his superior Admiral Donegan (Gary Oldman - The Darkest Hour, The Hitman's Bodyguard etc) decided to assign another submarine to investigate. Fisk proposed Commander Glass (Gerard Butler - 300, Den of Thieves etc) to command the USS Arkansas to the location. During the investigation, Glass found out that things did not seem logical and made him suspect it was more complex than just an attack on both sides.

(2018) A Star is Born - A Beautiful Love Story with Great Performances of Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga

This movie had been playing in Indonesian theaters since last Friday. My wife and I were quite unsure whether we wanted to see this one or skip it. For me was because I thought it was a musical which was not really my favorite genre and only watched it if I was really in the mood. While my wife was not really interested as she thought it was the story of Lady Gaga and the songs were all country type (which was probably my fault for providing that false impression). Anyway after her sister and friends told her the movie was very good, we decided to give it a try. So last night we went to the nearest cinema and saw it at the 6.30 PM show. OK will start with the story now.

Brief Story Line

Jackson Maine (Bradley Cooper - Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2, American Hustle etc) was a famous country singer and writer who unfortunately was an alcoholic and drug addict. When he went to a drag bar looking for drinks, he met with a part time singer named Ally (Lady Gaga) who also worked as a waitress. Jackson was mesmerized by her performance and they hit it off quite easily with Ally's song writing ability amazed him as well.