Alienoid: Return to the Future - Second Part of the Hit 2022 Fantasy Sci-fi Action Movie that Provided Satisfying Conclusion

When I found out about this latest South Korean movie to hit the Indonesian theater, I was quite surprised as I did not know there would be a sequel to the 2022 film. This made me quite intrigued, but since I never saw the first movie before, I had to search for it via online streaming. Luckily it was available and I watched it on Saturday with my wife, before we went to see the new one in theater yesterday. OK, why don't I just get to it.

Brief Story Line (1st and 2nd paragraph were from the first movie)

Guard (Kim Woo-bin - Our Blues TV series, The Con Artists etc) and Thunder (voiced by Kim Dae-myung (The Drug King, Hospital Playlist TV series etc) were aliens who have been using people on earth as prison for their criminals for many years. They could come back and forth in time to catch those who somehow managed to escape. During one of their mission in 1380, they found a baby and brought her to the year 2012, named her Yi-an (Choi Yu-ri) & raised her for 10 years. But Guard's behavior was very weird and attracted the attention of Min Gae-in (Lee Hanee - Phantom, The Fiery Priest TV series etc), the aunt of a student who was best friend with Yi-an. When the latest batch of criminals were sent to earth, it created complication as they included the rebel Controller who was put inside Detective Do-seok (So Ji-sub - Confession, My Secret Terrius TV series etc) and wanted to turn earth into a place they could live freely but uninhabitable for humans. This could only be stopped by the Divine Blade hold by Guard.

Sound of Freedom - A Heavy Crime Drama with Some Powerful Messages

This week there was no major Hollywood movies released in the cinemas while the Indonesia films were not of interest for me. But there was a film shown since Wednesday that I wanted to give a try. Since we were not having anything really important to do yesterday, we decided to go and see this movie. All right, let's get to it.

Brief Story Line

Tim Ballard (Jim Caviezel - Passion of the Christ, Person of Interest TV series etc), an agent for Homeland Security Investigations had been capturing pedophiles for years and finally realized that the children saved were too few. After apprehended the latest criminal and managed to save a victim who was the child of Roberto Aguilar (Jose Zuniga - Half Brothers, The Duel etc), Tim set his heart on saving other children. Despite not fully approved by his boss (Kurt Fuller - Evil TV series, Ghostbusters II etc), but Tim's wife Katherine (Mira Sorvino - Stuber, The Replacement Killers etc) truly understood and supported his decision.

Badland Hunters - A Heavy Action Movie Based on Webtoon and Different Kind of Sequel to its Predecessor

I already knew there was going to be a new movie starring Ma Dong-seok since few weeks ago on Netflix. As fan of his action style, I obviously did not want to miss the chance of watching the film as soon as it was released yesterday. So much so that I opted to watch it as opposed to see a movie at the cinema. Anyway, here's more on it.

Brief Story Line

After a heavy earthquake rocked South Korea, the country had become quite uninhabitable. Some of the survivors gathered and lived in villages like the hunter Nam-san (Ma Dong-seok - The Roundup: No Way Out, Eternals etc) and his young partner Ji-wan (Lee Jun-young - Love and Leashes, Goodbye to Goodbye TV series etc) who had a crush on Su-na (Roh Jeung-eui - 18 Again TV series, The Day I Died: Unclosed Case etc).

(TV SERIES) Berlin - A Light Romance Series with Heist as Background in the Money Heist Universe

Despite already released on Netflix since late last year, this series was still quite popular. I was pretty late in watching this one due to trying to catch up with other series & movies earlier. But on Saturday, I gave this a try and finished it during the whole weekend. Now I will get on with the series.

Brief Story Line

Set years before the events of the original series, Andres de Fonolossa aka Berlin (Pedro Alonso - Gran Hotel TV series etc) was planning a heist on jewels to be auctioned worth around Euro 44 million. He enlisted the help from his old friend Damian (Tristán Ulloa - Warrior Nun TV series etc) along with Keila the hacker (Michelle Jenner - Los hombres de Paco TV series etc), Berlin's trusted guy Roi (Julio Peña Fernández - Through My Window etc), Bruce (Joel Sanchez) and newcomer Cameron (Begoña Vargaz - Welcome to Eden TV series etc).

(MINI SERIES) Fool Me Once - A Series With Slow Start but an Amazing Twist and Ending

When this series was released on Netflix on New Year's day, I was too busy with other stuff and concentrating on other movies & series that were of more interest to me then. But I noticed it became a big hit since last week so I decided to give it a try few days ago and finished it yesterday. Without further ado, here's more on the series.

Brief Story Line

Maya Stern (Michelle Keegan - Coronation Street, Brassic TV series etc) just lost her husband Joe Burkett (Richard Armitage - Space Sweepers, The Hobbits trilogy etc) who was killed in a robbery and was still in mourning when she caught a video of him holding their little daughter Lily in a nanny cam. Feeling perplexed, Maya started to doubt her mind and looking into Joe's murder. Her mother in-law Judith (Joanna Lumley - She's Funny That Was, Absolutely Fabulous TV series etc) was concerned with Maya and especially her grand daughter.

The Bricklayer - An OK Action Movie Unfortunately Lacking Interesting Enough Characters

I was not aware about this movie till I saw its trailer more than a week ago in the cinema. It did not look like an amazing action film, but there was no other new movie released in the theater that interest me. So I decided to give it a try last night by myself (as usual I would leave my wife out of this kind of movie in case it was not a great experience). All right then, I'll get to it.

Brief Story Line

When few journalists in European countries were getting killed presumably by CIA, Kate (Nina Dobrev - The Out-laws, Flatliners 2017 remake etc) a desk agent who was analyzing data found the involvement of a former operative Radek (Clifton Collins Jr. - The Last Castle, Westworld TV series etc) and informed her superior O'Malley (Tim Blake Nelson - Watchmen TV series, Colossal etc).

(TV SERIES) Monarch: Legacy of Monsters - A Wonderfully Created Series that Managed to Tie In Many Aspects of the MonsterVerse Movies

I have known a bit about this series since it was released through Apple TV+ from mid November 2023. However, just like other original series from this platform, they opted to show only one episode per week (except in first week). So it took quite some time to have the whole season finished. Anyway I began watching it on the day after its final episode released 5 days ago and completed it last night. OK, I will dive into it then.

Brief Story Line (warning possible spoiler)

In 2015, a year after the appearance of Godzilla in San Francisco, Cate (Anna Sawai - Ninja Assassin, Giri/Haji TV series etc) who survived the catastrophe went to Tokyo to find out more on her father Hiroshi who was presumed dead. Unexpectedly Cate met with Kentaro (Ren Watabe) who was just as surprised as her when she appeared. After further digging on Hiroshi's past, they found some hidden encrypted data & they enlisted the help from Kentaro's ex girlfriend May (Kiersey Clemons - The Flash, Angie Tribeca TV series etc) to find out more. 

(TV SERIES) Gyeongseong Creature Season 1 - A Nice Combination of Action Thriller with Horrifying Monster and Dramatic Moments

When this series was promoted on Netflix few weeks ago, I thought it looked interesting especially with a premise that has something to do with creature/monster. But when it was only released partially in the end of December 2023, I decided to wait till the remaining was available earlier this month and finally finished watching yesterday. OK, I'll get into the series now.

Brief Story Line

Story was set in the spring of 1945 when Gyeongseong was still occupied by the Japanese army. Jang Tae-sang (Park Seo-joon - The Marvels, The Divine Fury etc), who owned the largest pawnshop never wanted to be involved in politics and focused on his business. This survivalist approach was always challenged by his best friend Jun-taek (Wi Ha-joon - Squid Game TV series, Midnight etc) who was part of rebel group. In his day to day matter, Tae-sang was assisted by the deacon Mrs. Nawol (Kim Hae-sook - Her Story, My Demon TV series etc) and butler Mr. Gu (Park Ji-hwan - The Roundup movies, Our Blues TV series etc). 

Role Play - Not Spectacular and Funny Enough as Action Comedy with Only Bill Nighy's Performance as the Highlight

This movie was released on Friday on Prime Video but I opted to watch another new movie that was shown on different streaming platform. So I only got to see it last night. OK, why don't I just get to it.

Brief Story Line

Emma (Kaley Cuoco - Based on True Story TV series, The Wedding Ringer etc) was happily married with Dave Bracket (David Oyelowo - Silo TV series, Chaos Walking etc) for 7 years but secretly she was actually a professional assassin without her husband's knowledge. One night they decided to do a role play in a hotel but their plan was interrupted by the appearence of an unknown man who called himself Bob (Bill Nighy - Detective Pikachu, Living etc) and seemed to know about Emma's identity.

(2024) Lift - A Heist Movie that is not of the Highest Quality but Still Pretty Enjoyable

I was kind of looking forward to this latest movie in Netflix which was released yesterday. Being fan of heist genre, obviously I was intrigued with the film and eager to watch it as early as I could. So I watched it last night after returning home from work. All right, I'll just head to it then.

Brief Story Line

Cyrus (Kevin Hart - Me Time, Jumanji: The Next Level etc) was the leader of a heist team that consisted of the pilot Camila (Úrsula Corberó - Snake Eyes: G. I. Joe Origins etc), the hacker Mi-Sun (singer Kim Yoon-ji), the safecracker Magnus (Billy Magnussen - No Time to Die, Tell Me a Story TV series etc), the engineer Luke (Viveik Kalra - Blinded by the Light etc) and Denton the disguise expert (Vincent D'Onofrio - Echo TV series, The Cell etc). Cyrus had been under the radar of Interpol art division agent Abby (Gugu Mbatha-Raw - Loki TV series, The Whole Truth  etc) and her boss Huxley (Sam Worthington - Avatar: The Way of Water, The Hunter's Prayer etc).

(Mini Series) Echo - An OK Enough Series with Few Violent Fight Scenes in the Marvel Cinematic Universe

Once again there was a new series from the Marvel Cinematic Universe released on Disney+. Unlike previous series, this time all episodes were made available in one day, which made it possible to complete the whole season immediately. OK, let's get to it then.

Brief Story Line

After the events in the Hawkeye series, Maya Lopez (Alaqua Cox) decided to return to her home town in Tamaha, Oklahoma. There she met with her kind hearted cousin Biscuits (Cody Lightning - Four Sheets to the Wind etc) and her uncle Henry (Chaske Spencer - The Twilight Saga movies etc) who was still working for Wilson Fisk (Vincent D'Onofrio - Death Wish, Law & Order: Criminal Intent TV series etc).

The Beekeper - An Entertaining Old School Action Movie with Some Greatly Done Fight Scenes

As fans of Jason Statham, my wife and I did not want to miss out on seeing him in action once again. So when this latest movie of his was released yesterday, it did not require too much convincing for my wife to see it in the theater near our home. It was the 6.30 PM show which gave me plenty of time to be there after my day's work. All right then, let's get into it.

Brief Story Line

Adam Clay (Jason Statham - Meg 2: The Trench, Fast X etc) was a beekeeper who was neighbor with a retired teacher, Mrs. Parker (Phylicia Rashad - Creed III etc). When she got scammed by a group of scammers and lost her savings, Adam decided to take matters into his own hand. He tried to pursue all the people responsible, especially their ultimate leader Derek (Josh Hutcherson - Zathura: A Space Adventure, Future Man TV series etc) who had a resourceful advisor Wallace (Jeremy Irons - Red Sparrow, The Mission etc).

(TV SERIES) The Brothers Sun Season 1 - A Pretty Entertaining Action Series with Dark Comedy About Family of Triads

This series was put in several list of most anticipated in 2024 likely due to the premise and the lead star. It was released on Thursday but I came home late that night and only started to watch it on Friday & finished it yesterday. OK, why don't I just get to it then.

Brief Story Line

Charles Sun (Justin Chien - Two Sides: Unfaithful TV series etc) was the son of renowned Triad leader in Taiwan who after an incident that happened in his hometown, had to go to Los Angeles to protect his family. They were Charles' mother Eileen (Michelle Yeoh - Everything Everywhere All at Once, A Haunting in Venice etc) and younger brother Bruce (Sam Song Li) who had little recollection of his childhood life and did not know his gangster background.