Monday, June 24, 2024

Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In - Highly Entertaining Hong Kong Martial Arts Movie that Should Satisfy Fans of Its Genre

This movie was promoted in the social media of one of the cinema chains in Indonesia quite frequently and I also saw its trailer once before. Since it looked very interesting, I was looking forward to see it as soon as I could. Luckily during last weekend, there were more studios playing the movie compared to its first day release. So my wife and I had slightly better option to see this as we had another movie marathon day. All right, why don't I just get right to it.

Brief Story Line

Story was set in the 1980s Hong Kong where a lot of gangs were fighting over power in Kowloon Walled City, a very densely populated place inside the city, until Cyclone (Louis Koo - Warriors of FutureChasing the Dragon II: The Wild Wild Bunch etc) and his boss Dik Chau (Richie Ren - The Sniper, State of Divinity TV series etc) were able to unify and put order into the place. Cyclone was now assisted by his right hand man Shin (Terrance Lau - Beyond the Dream, Leap Year TV series etc) and AV (German Cheung - Rob & Roll etc) who was sort of a doctor. Both of them were very close with Twelfth Master (Tony Wu - Weeds on Fire etc) from a different gang but was very respectful towards Cyclone.

Sunday, June 23, 2024

New Dimension! Crayon Shinchan the movie: Battle of Supernatural Powers ~Flying Sushi~ - The First 3D CG Movie with Story that would Please Fans of the Series

When my wife found out there was going to be a new Shin-chan movie in the theater, she was ecstatic as she is a big fan of this character. So when it was released on Friday, we decided to see it on the day after. OK then, let's get more into it.

Brief Story Line

On a clear night in Japan, two lights from outer space somehow reached the earth. While the dark light entered into the body of a jobless and bitter man named Mitsuru Hiriya (Tori Matsuzaka - Samurai Sentai Shinkenger TV series etc), the white light entered into Shinnosuke Nohara aka Shin-chan (Yumiko Kobayashi) the kindergarten kid. Apparently the lights gave both of them super power which Mitsuru used to wreak havoc but Shin-chan used to play around.

Saturday, June 22, 2024

Trigger Warning - Might not be Impressive in term of Story or Writings but Still Pretty Enjoyable for an Action Thriller Movie

After few weeks of not seeing new movies on Netflix on Friday, yesterday I finally got the chance to do so. The premise sounded like something that I would enjoy after a hard day work at the office. OK, let's get on with it.

Brief Story Line

Parker (Jessica Alba - L. A.'s Finest TV series, Fantastic Four etc) was a Special Forces commando who frequently went on dangerous missions across the world with other team members, including her good friend with code name Spider (Tone Bell - Bad Judge TV series etc). When Parker received news from Sheriff Jesse Swann (Mark Webber - Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World etc) about her father's demise, she returned home to take care of her personal stuff. She also met with her old friend Mike (Gabriel Basso - The Night Agent TV series etc), Jesse's brother Elvis (Jake Weary - Animal Kingdom TV series etc) who was still a jerk and his father Senator Ezekiel (Anthony Michael Hall - Halloween Kills, Weird Science etc). 

Tuesday, June 18, 2024

(TV SERIES) Nightmares and Daydreams (Season 1) - An Interestingly Done Anthology Series of Various Genre

I noticed this series few weeks ago on Netflix which immediately intrigued me, especially with the name Joko Anwar attached to the title. When it was finally released few days ago, I was completing other series and only started to watch during the weekend & finished it in two days time. All right then, I'll get on with it now. Since it was an anthology series, I would not be putting any Brief Story Line like in my usual posts but instead a brief explanation from IMBD as follows:

"Ordinary people encountering strange phenomenons that may be keys to the answer about the origin of our world and the imminent threat we will soon face"

I said above that the name Joko Anwar was what made me curious to give this a try as he had directed, written or produced some good quality movies in the past like Janji Joni, Impetigore, A Copy of My Mind and few others that won or nominated for various local and international Awards. I guess with such portfolio, it was no brainer for Netflix to cooperate with him in creating Original Indonesian programming. Anyway this series consisted of 7 episodes with two of them directed by himself while few others were written by him but directed by other people such as Tommy Dewo, Ray Pakpahan and Randolph Zaini.  

Monday, June 17, 2024

Inside Out 2 - A Wonderfully Animated Sequel to the Beloved 2015 Movie with Awesome Story and Full of Emotions

This was one of the movies that I was quite eagerly waiting. It appeared the cinema chains knew there were a lot who wanted to see it first by having a special screening on Wednesday before its full release on Friday. My wife and I saw this on Saturday as the second of our movie marathon day. Without further ado, let's get on the movie.

Brief Story Line

Riley (Kensington Tallman) who had just turned 13 and her 2 best friends Grace (Grace Lu) and Bree (Sumayyah Nuriddin) were invited to join a hockey summer camp. Joy (Amy Poehler - Movie, Duncanville TV series etc) and the rest of the emotions inside Riley's head, Disgust (Liza Lapira - The Equalizer TV series etc), Anger (Lewis Black - The Last Laugh etc), Fear (Tony Hale - Clifford the Big Red DogToy Story 4 etc) and Sadness (Phyllis Smith - The Office TV series etc) were very excited with Riley's experience.

Sunday, June 16, 2024

The Watchers - An OK Enough Horror Movie with Some Pretty Well-Built Eerie Feeling but Rather Unsatisfactory Ending

It's amazing how there were so many new movies released in Indonesia this time of year as compared to even the period before Covid. It reached to the point where my wife and I ended up having to do movie marathon almost every weekend just to catch up with them. Yesterday we saw two movies where this was the first that we opted. OK, will get to it then.

Brief Story Line

Mina (Dakota Fanning - The Equalizer 3, The Alienist TV series etc) was working in a pet shop in a town in Ireland and got an assignment to deliver a parakeet to the zoo in Belfast. When she drove the car through a thick forest, her car broke down and tried to find shelter for the night. She somehow met with an old woman later revealed as Madeline (Olwen Fouéré - The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2022, Tarot etc) who told her to immediately go inside a small room called The Coop.

Saturday, June 15, 2024

(TV SERIES) Tracker Season 1 - Interesting Series with Unique Case Solving but Lacking in Large Story Arc

I noticed this series that was shown on Disney+ some time ago and was curious to find out about it. But since it was released one episode per week, I waited till it's almost final to start watching. And when it was said that the finale would be out on Wednesday, I began to watch the day before and finish it last night. All right then, I'll get to the series now.

Brief Story Line

Colter Shaw (Justin Hartley - Senior Year, Smallville TV serie etc) was a survivalist with great tracking skills who worked as a tracker to find missing persons and collect the reward. He mostly worked on jobs found by his handlers, the couple Teddie (Robin Weigert - Smile, Sons of Anarchy TV series etc) and Velma (Abby McEnany - Work in Progress TV series etc) who also provided background information on the cases, though sometimes he would work on his own.

Tuesday, June 11, 2024

The Plot - Unfortunately Having too Much Distractions and Unnecessary Twist that Made this Remake Less Entertaining than its Original

When I read the premise of this South Korean movie in the social media, I was quite intrigued. So my wife and I decided to see this during the weekend after it was released on Friday. After much consideration, we finally went to the cinema not too far from our home which was quite lucky for us as there were not that many studios showing the movie. OK, let's just get to it then.

Brief Story Line

Yeong-il (Gang Dong-won - BrokerGolden Slumber etc) and his team that consisted of Wol-cheon (Lee Hyun-wook - #Alive, Mine TV series etc), Jackie (Lee Mi-sook - Untold Scandal, Queen of Tears TV series etc) and Jeom-man (Tang Jun-sang - Dog Days, Racket Boys TV series etc) were working as contract killers who always cover their killing by perfectly designing them as accidents. After finishing their latest assignment, Yeong-il got a new request from Joo Young-seon (Jung Eun-chae - Nobody's Daughter Hae Won, Anna TV series etc) that was way more dangerous as it involved a high profile candidate for attorney general. 

Monday, June 10, 2024

The Strangers: Chapter 1 - The First Part of a New Trilogy Based on Amazing 2008 Psychological Horror Movie

The second movie that we saw on Saturday during our movie marathon was this horror thriller that I knew after seeing its trailer few weeks before. Obviously I was interested, even though my wife was not that excited as she knew it's going to be disturbing for her. OK without further ado, let's get right on it.

Brief Story Line

Mary (Madelaine Petsch - Sightless, Hotel for the Holidays etc) and her boyfriend Ryan (Froy Gutierrez - Cruel Summer TV series etc) were having a road trip to celebrate their fifth anniversary. When they reached small town called Venus, their car broke down and while waiting for it to be repaired, they rented a house from Airbnb.

However, their seemingly nice romantic night turned into nightmare when three strangers starting to terrorize Mary and Ryan.

Sunday, June 9, 2024

Bad Boys: Ride or Die - Still Fun and Entertaining Buddy Cop Action Comedy

As usual when a new Blockbuster movie was released, my wife and I were excited to see it. But in the past months, we were no longer that enthusiastic to immediately go to the cinema on the day of its release (except maybe on specific case). So we only went for another movie marathon yesterday and this was the first in our schedule. All right, let's dive into it now.

Brief Story Line

After the events of Bad Boys for Life, Detective Mike Lowrey (Will Smith - Suicide SquadGemini Man etc) and his partner Marcus Burnett (Martin Lawrence - Open Season, Blue Streak etc) were shocked to find out that the late captain Howard (Joe Pantoliano - Memento, The Matrix etc) was accused of corruption. With the help from their only trusted friends in Miami PD, Dorn (Alexander Ludwig - Night Teeth, Heels TV series etc) and Kelly (Vanessa Hudgens - Tick, Tick, ...Boom!, The Princess Switch etc), they tried to prove Howard's innocence.

Saturday, June 8, 2024

Hit Man - A Highly Praised, Fresh and Pretty Entertaining Black Comedy Movie

Last night I was planning to see a new movie that was released in Indonesian cinemas, but since I worked rather late, I was not able to catch it. So instead I watched this latest movie shown on Netflix. I thought it had a pretty interesting premise which made me intrigued. All right then, I'll get to it.

Brief Story Line

Gary Johnson (Glen Powell - Top Gun: Maverick, Devotion etc) was a philosophy professor who lived alone and worked part time tech support for the New Orleans Police Department with Claudette (Retta - Parks and Recreation TV series etc) and Phil (Sanjay Rao - Bad Romance etc). When Jasper (Austin Amelio - The Walking Dead TV series etc) who was supposed to be working undercover and posed as a hit man for hire was suspended, Gary was asked to fill in for him.

Monday, June 3, 2024

Godzilla Minus One - A Kaiju Movie with Interesting Story and Well Created Visual Effects

I have known about this movie for quite some time and was a bit confused why it did not play in Indonesian theaters. Fortunately after months of release in Japan and various other countries, it was finally available in Netflix. Since I was finishing another series earlier, I only watched this yesterday. OK, I'll get right to it then.

Brief Story Line

Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki - Your NamexxxHolic etc) was a former kamimaze pilot who had survivors guilt after returning home safely to Tokyo when the World War II ended in 1945. He met with Noriko (Minami Hamabe - The Promised Neverland, Ranman TV series etc), a young woman carrying a baby girl who also survived the Tokyo bombing and they all later lived together like a family. Due to difficulty in looking for well paid jobs, Shikishima finally decided to be part of crew on board a small vessel captained by Akitsu (Kuranosuke Sasaki - Hancho TV series etc) and other crews, former Naval officer Noda (Hidetaka Yoshioka - Dr. Coto's Clinic TV series, Fukushima 50 etc) and young crewman Mizushima (Yuki Yamada - Pending Train TV series, High & Low movies etc) doing dangerous work of sweeping mines left from war.

Sunday, June 2, 2024

(MINI SERIES) The Veil - Interesting Enough Espionage Drama Series

After months of having weekly released episode of new series on Disney+, finally there was one that has all episodes shown in a day. Although I was a bit unclear on the premise but I just wanted to give it a try. So how was the series then? Let's dive into it now.

Brief Story Line

In a remote refugee camp, a French woman named Adilah El Idrissi (Yumna Marwan - Costa Brava, Lebanon etc) was suspected of being an ISIS commander and was held captive. A mysterious woman who used the name Imogen Salter (Elisabeth Moss - The Invisible Man, Mad Men TV series etc) came to the camp and convinced Adilah to leave with her as she was in danger from people trying to kill her. So both of them embarked on a long trip to France to ensure Adilah's safety.

Saturday, June 1, 2024

(2024) Monster - A Supposedly Smart Thriller but Sadly Failed to Make a Great Impression

When this movie was released few days ago, I did not seem to be noticing it. Not until it showed up when I was looking for new movies to watch and I was immediately intrigued by the premise and the promotion from Netflix. Without further ado, I'll just get right on it.

Brief Story Line

Two primary students Alana (Anantya Kirana - Pamali: Dukun Pocong etc) and her friend Rabin (Sultan Hamonangan) were just playing around after school. Unfortunately, they were kidnapped by a stranger later on revealed to be Jack (Alex Abbad - My Stupid Boss, Jatuh Cinta Seperti di Film-film etc).

Alana had to use all her wits and kept her voice down to escape the house where they were placed in before Rabin was taken away by Jack's partner (Marsha Timothy - Kembang ApiQodrat etc).