Monday, March 31, 2025

(2025) Nocturnal - A Slow-Paced Crime Thriller With Disappointing Few Unresolved Things

As one of the movies that I missed out during vacation with my wife, I tried to catch this one before it's gone. There were just 3 cinemas left playing this movie yesterday, so my wife and I went to the one easiest to access from our home. Well I'll just get right to it then.

Brief Story Line

When his beloved brother Seok-tae (Park Jong-hwan - Confidential Assignment 2: International, Taxi Driver 2 TV series etc) was found dead, Min-Tae (Ha Jung-woo - Hijack 1971Take Point etc), a former convict decided to search for the truth. His first instinct was to find out what happened from Seok-tae's boss, gang leader Chang-mo (Jung Man-sik - I, The ExecutionerRampant etc). During his investigation, Min-tae also learnt that his brother's girlfriend Moo-young (Yoo Da-in - The Cave, Memorials TV series etc) was missing and started to look for her.

Sunday, March 30, 2025

Ne Zha 2 - An Absolutely Entertaining, Action-packed Chinese Animated Movie that Broke Various Box Office Records

After reading the news about this movie for a couple of months, I was excited to hear that it would be released in Indonesia. However it was done while I was on vacation with my wife and hence we had to wait till we return to Jakarta. Yesterday we finally got the chance to see it in one of the cinemas not far from our home. Without further ado, here's more on the film.

Brief Story Line

Story was set immediately after the events in the first movie where the bodies of Ne Zha (Lu Yanting) and his best friend Ao Bing (Han Mo) were destroyed. Ne Zha's teacher Master Taiyi (Zhang Jiaming) tried his best to recreate their bodies but due to some complications, they had to find other ways to complete the work. To do so, Ne Zha had to leave his parents General Li Jing (Chen Hao) and Lady Yin (Lu Qi) to go to Yu Xu castle managed by Master Wuliang (Wang Deshun - Wu Kong, Heavenly Sword and Dragon Slaying Sabre 2019 series etc) to complete three trials and collect a special treasure.

Saturday, March 29, 2025

A Working Man - Another Satisfying Statham's Action Thriller Movie

Though the movie was released only this week, technically it is still one of the film that I tried to catch up after my vacation. Since yesterday I was allowed to leave work earlier before the long holiday, together with my wife we were able to see the movie at a more convenient time. OK, why don't I just get to it then.

Brief Story Line

Levon Cade (Jason Statham - Meg 2: The TrenchFast and Furious: Hobbs & Shaw etc) was a former Royal Marine who left the force to be a good father to his young daughter Merry (Isla Gie). He chose to work as a construction worker for the company owned by Joe Garcia (Michael Peña - Fantasy IslandThe Lego Ninjago Movie etc). When Joe's daughter Jenny (Arianna Rivas - Prom Dates etc) was kidnapped by some human traffickers, Levon was asked to find her. 

Friday, March 28, 2025

(2025) Snow White - Despite Its Surrounding Controversies, Still a Pretty Enjoyable Live Version Adaptation of Disney's Classic

After having vacation out of the country for 2 weeks with my wife, I was eager to play catch up with the movies released during those time. Yesterday evening, we opted to see this film in the cinema just walking distance from our home. All right, let's just get on with it.

Brief Story Line

Snow White (Rachel Zegler - Shazam! Fury of the Gods, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes etc) was a princess who lost her parents since she was young. Meanwhile her step mother, the Evil Queen (Gal Gadot - Heart of StoneWonder Woman etc) was obsessed of being the fairest of all by constantly checking on the Magic Mirror (voiced by Patrick Page - Spirited, The Gilded Age TV series etc). Fearing that Snow White would trouble her in the future, the Queen confined her in the palace and turned her into the maid. One day, Snow White met and sympathized with a thief/rebel named Jonathan (Andrew Burnap - The Front Room, Under the Banner of Heaven mini series etc) who was eager to defy the Queen. After the Evil Queen was told by the Mirror that she was no longer the fairest, she decided to kill Snow White and instructed the Huntsman (Ansu Kabia - Miss Scarlet and The Duke TV series etc) to do so. 

Sunday, March 9, 2025

Mickey 17 - A Movie Having Very Unique Story and Strong Dark Humor from Bong Joon-ho

I have seen the trailer to this movie few times before and I thought it looked really interesting. So when it was finally released mid of the week, my wife and I decided to see it yesterday after we have a little get together earlier. OK, I'll just get to it then.

Brief Story Line

Story was set in the future where people had found an inhabitable planet called Niflheim which took 4.5 years to reach. An expedition led by politician Kenneth Marshall (Mark Ruffalo - The Adam ProjectNow You See Me 2 etc) and his wife Ylfa (Toni Collette - Juror #2Hereditary etc) was done to conquer the planet with many personnels including scientists, security agents like Nasha Barridge (Naomi Ackie - The End of the F***king World TV series, Blink Twice etc), pilot such as Timo (Steven Yeun - Nope, Beef TV series etc) and last but not least, an expendable Mickey (Robert Pattinson - The Batman, Tenet etc).

Saturday, March 8, 2025

The Monkey - The Pretty Awesome Adaptation of Stephen King's Short Story

Last night I decided to see one of the new movies released in Indonesian cinemas this week. It was a rare opportunity since during the fasting period, my office allowed all employees to leave earlier. Although it was a horror, my wife and I felt it would not be too scary for us as it was said to be comedy horror. All right then, why don't I just get to it.

Brief Story Line

In 1999, young twin brothers Hal and Bill (Christian Convery - Sweet Tooth TV series, Cocaine Bear etc) who were living with their mother Lois (Tatiana Maslany - She-Hulk: Attorney At Law TV series, The Other Half etc), found a Monkey toy left by their father and played with it. Unbeknownst to them, the toy somehow created an event that resulted to the death of someone close. Feeling it would be dangerous, they decided to hid it somewhere.

Monday, March 3, 2025

Demon City - A Very Dark and Violent Revenge-driven Movie Based on Japanese Manga

When I saw this movie in the Coming Soon section of Netflix and its cool looking poster, I was interested to give it a try. But as I was finishing another series, I only got the chance to watch this last night, 3 days after its release. So how was the film then? Let's find out more, shall we?

Brief Story Line

Shuhei Sakata (Toma Ikuta - Hanamizuki, Beyond Goodbye TV series etc) was a professional hitman who informed his handler Fujita (Taro Sugura - Tokyo Swindlers TV series etc) that he wanted to retire and live peacefully with his family. Unfortunately for him, a group of masked men murdered them and pinned the crime to Sakata by showing that he committed suicide.  

Sunday, March 2, 2025

Legends of the Condor Heroes: The Gallants - Despite Focusing on Final Chapters of the Beloved First Book of Jin Yong's Trilogy, Still Pretty Entertaining Movie in the Wuxia Genre

After weeks of waiting for the movie to be released in Indonesian cinemas, finally it was available on Wednesday. My wife and I decided to see it yesterday as doing so on weekdays would be very tiring since it has long duration. Anyway, why don't I just get right to it.

Brief Story Line

Story was set during Southern Song dynasty period where its people were caught in the war between Jin dynasty and Mongols. Guo Jing (Xiao Zhan - Jade Dynasty, The Untamed TV series etc) who was an excellent martial artist was separated from the love of his life Huang Rong (Zhuang Dafei - My Wife's Double Life TV series, Be My Wife etc). While searching for her, Guo Jing met with his Mongol old friends that included To Lui (Alan Aruna - The Knockout etc), third son of Genghis Khan (Baya'ertu). He later decided to return to Mongolia to meet his mother Li Ping (Ada Choi - S Storm, Empresses in the Palace TV series etc), though things got complicated when Guo Jing also met with the Khan's daughter Huajun (Zhang Wenxin) who was betrothed to him.

Saturday, March 1, 2025

(TV SERIES) High Potential Season 1 - Fun, Light & Enjoyable Police Procedural Series with Interesting Lead Character

I noticed this series under the new release section of Disney+ channel and read a bit on the premise which sounded interesting. But I only started watching 3 nights ago when I saw that the finale would be available on Thursday & finished it last night. OK, I'll just get started then.

Brief Story Line

Morgan Gillory (Kaitlin Olson - Finding Dory, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia TV series etc) was a cleaning lady for the LAPD who noticed something bothering her on a murder board. The Detective in charge Adam Karadec (Daniel Sunjata - Echoes mini series, Graceland TV series etc) found out it was Morgan who did something on the board. It would be revealed later that she was a High Potential Individual (HPI) who could deduce things based on what she saw. Lieutenant Soto (Judy Reyes - Devious Maids TV series, Smile etc) saw her potential and decided to appoint Morgan as consultant for the police despite the reluctance and skepticism from Karadec, although the other Detectives Daphne Forrester (Javicia Leslie - Batwoman TV series, Always a Bridesmaid etc) and her partner Lev Ozdil (Deniz Akdeniz - The Flight Attendant TV series, Dumb Money etc) were more open minded.