Thursday, June 19, 2025

Elio - Another Wonderful Work from Disney Pixar Studio with An Unconventional Setting but Still Provide Meaningful Story

As my wife and I would not be able to see any movies this weekend since we would be going out of town, we decided to watch this new film yesterday on its first day of release. It was very convenient for us as it played in the cinema walking distance from our home, so we could make it just nicely after I came back from work. OK, let's just get to it then.

Brief Story Line

Elio (Yonas Kibreab - Sweet Tooth TV series etc) was a young kid who had difficulty in fitting in and always felt lonely. Despite her effort, Elio's aunt Olga (Zoe Saldana - Avatar: The Way of WaterThe Adam Project etc) was unable to keep him really happy. After finding out about an expedition space ship to find life outside earth, Elio had been trying to make himself abducted by aliens so he could live with them. And somehow his dream came true and he was really taken by various aliens who lived in one location called Communiverse.

Monday, June 16, 2025

Hi-Five - Hilarious Comedy Action Superhero Movie Perfect for Stress Relief and for Fun

I saw the trailer to this movie once few weeks back and thought it looked like fun. And my wife who is major fan of South Korean dramas & films would love to see it. So when it was released on Friday, we set our schedule for another movie marathon on Saturday, which frankly was a bit challenging due to the inconvenient timing in our favorite theaters. Luckily there was one cinema whose schedule was quite nice for us to see two movies. Without further ado, here's more on the film.

Brief Story Line

A group of people just received organ transplantation which somehow gave them unexpected power. They consisted of high school girl Wan-seo (Lee Jae-in - Hard Hit, Night Has Come TV series etc), screenwriter Park Ji-sung (Ahn Jae-hong - Rebound, LTNS TV series etc), unemployed man Hwang Ki-dong (Yoo Ah-in - Seoul Vibe, Hellbound TV series etc), fresh delivery lady Kim Sun-nyeo (Ra Mi-ran - Miss & Mrs Cops, Cold Blooded Intern TV series etc) and factory manager Huh Yak-sun (Kim Hee-won - Project Silence, Han River Police TV series etc). Determined to do good deeds, they started to help people using their powers despite their obvious inexperience and constant bickering between Ji-sung and Ki-dong.

Sunday, June 15, 2025

(2025) How to Train Your Dragon - A Wonderful Live Version Remake of the Hit Animated Movie


I have known about this film for quite some time, but it was not something that I was truly excited about, although it was part of the summer movie list that obviously I would love to see. So when it was finally released this Wednesday, my wife and I decided to have another movie marathon as there was another film that we wanted to give a try. OK, without further ado, here's more on the movie.

Brief Story Line

In the Viking village called Berk, the villagers had to fight against continuous dragon attacks as they frequently stole their live stocks. Hiccup (Mason Thames - The Black Phone etc) the son of Berk's chief Stoick (Gerard Butler - Den of Thieves 2Plane etc) was training under blacksmith Gobber (Nick Frost - The Nevers TV series, Hot Fuzz etc) since he was thought to be weak in nature, although he always wanted to kill dragons to make his father proud. During one of the night's attack by dragons, Hiccup was convinced he had shot the most dangerous and unknown dragon, Night Fury though no body trusted him.

Saturday, June 14, 2025

(2025) Deep Cover - A Fun British Comedy With a Bit of Action

I forgotten that this movie was going to be released on Thursday in Prime Video and only got the chance to watch it yesterday. It was something that interest me due to its seemingly fun premise, so I was quite eager to find out if it's really as I expected. All right then, let's get to it.

Brief Story Line

Kat Boyles (Bryce Dallas Howard - ArgylleJurassic World: Fallen Kingdom etc) had been trying to become successful stand up comedian for years but found chances were slim and ended up working as improv coach in small club. When Detective Sergeant Billings (Sean Bean - Knights of the Zodiac, The Lord of the Rings trilogy etc) offerred her to work undercover for low level sting, Kat was interested as it provided some needed cash. However she would require two more people as support, so she enlisted the help from small time actor Marlon Swift (Orlando Bloom - Gran TurismoUnlocked etc) and Hugh, an IT guy who was trying to improve his social skills.

Sunday, June 8, 2025

(MINI SERIES) Mercy For None - Thrilling Series Full of Brilliant Fight Scenes

Although this series was put under the Coming This Week section in Netflix, I was a little bit hesitant to watch as I thought the premise was pretty standard and there was not a lot of hype about it. But since I just finished another series and was not sure what to watch next, I decided to give it a try on Friday night, a day after its release and managed to complete the whole series yesterday. OK, let's find out more then, shall we?

Brief Story Line

Nam Gi-jun (So Ji-sub - Alienoid: Return to the Future, Oh My Venus TV series etc) used to work for the two largest gangs in Seoul, i.e. Joowon led by Lee Joo-woon (Heo Joon-ho - Dark Nuns, Bloodhounds etc) and Bongsan led by Gu Bong-san (Ahn Gil-kang - Sweet & Sour, A Shop for Killers TV series etc). After a major incident 11 years before, Gi-jun left the organization and became normal person, while his younger brother Gi-seok (Lee Joon-hyuk - The Firefighters, Our Beloved Summer TV series etc) became second in command in Joowon since Mr. Lee's only son Geum-son (Choo Young-woo - Oasis, Trauma Code TV series etc) worked as a Prosecutor. On the other hand, Bong-san's only son Jun-mo (Gong Myung - Extreme Job, Be Melodramatic TV series etc) who was supposed to take over the Bongsan organization was making a lot of trouble that worried his father.

Saturday, June 7, 2025

(2025) Ballerina - An Enjoyable Addition to the John Wick Expanding Universe

After the announcement of this spin off to the John Wick universe, I was really excited to see what would be in store. So when it was finally released few days ago, I already set plan to watch the movie yesterday as it happened to be public holiday in Indonesia. Without further ado, let's get right on it.

Brief Story Line

Eve Macarro (Ana de Armas - GhostedNo Time to Die etc) had been training to become a ballerina assassin with Ruska Roma led by its Director (Anjelica Huston - Prizzi's Honor, The Addams Family etc) for many years as she wanted to get revenge to the killing of her father. In one of the nights living in the head quarter, she encountered for the first time John Wick (Keanu Reeves - Sonic the Hedgehog 3, The Matrix movies etc) and was given brief advice on this dangerous life. 

Thursday, June 5, 2025

(TV SERIES) Nine Puzzles - A Pretty Enjoyable Mystery Crime Thriller Disney+ Original Series

I noticed this series in the coming soon section of Disney+ few months back and thought the premise seemed interesting. When I found out that the finale was going to be released on 4th of June, I immediately began to watch it two days before, so I would be able to complete the series on that day. All right then, let's just get to it.

Brief Story Line

An excellent Seoul Criminal Profiler Yoon E-na (Kim Da-mi - Soulmate, Itaewon Class TV series etc) was the witness of her uncle's murder ten years ago and was suspected by the rookie police Kim Han-saem (Son Suk-ku - The Roundup, Big Bet TV series etc), though it was never proven. Because of the trauma that made her lost a bit of her memory, E-na had been seeing psychiatrist Dr. Seong Joo (Park Gyu-young - Sweet Home TV series, Love + Sling etc). In present day, a series of gruesome murders started where the killer left a piece of puzzle to E-na related to each of the crime.

Tuesday, June 3, 2025

(TV SERIES) Dept. Q Season 1 - Wonderful & Well Written Crime Thriller Series with Engaging Characters & Great Story Telling

I said in one of my previous posts that there were two new shows released on the same day in different streaming platforms last week. As I already opted to watch the other one first, I only started watching this series on Netflix since Saturday & finished it on Sunday. OK here's more on the series then.

Brief Story Line

Experienced Detective Chief Inspector Carl Morck (Matthew Goode - The King's Man, The Good Wife TV series etc) who worked in Edinburgh police office was reassigned by his boss Moira Jacobson (Kate Dickie - Game of Thrones TV series, Damaged etc) to a newly formed Department focusing on cold cases. Despite his obvious resentment, Carl did not have a choice since he was just involved in a major incident earlier that required him seeing psychiatrist Dr. Rachel Irving (Kelly Macdonald - Boardwalk Empire TV series, No Country for Old Men etc). 

Sunday, June 1, 2025

Karate Kid: Legends - A Nice Addition to the Beloved Long Running Franchise

Few months ago I saw the teaser of this movie which immediately excite me and my wife. Although it was public holiday on Thursday (a day after it was released in Indonesia), we were having other plans and ended up only seeing the film yesterday. OK, why don't I just get to it then?

Brief Story Line

Li Fong (Ben Wang - American Born Chinese TV serie etc) had been practicing Kung Fu with his great-uncle Master Han (Jackie Chan - Ride OnSkip Trace etc) despite the disapproval from Li's mother, Dr. Fong (Ming-na Wen - Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D TV series, Push etc). When Dr. Fong and Li decided to move from Beijing to New York, both had to adjust with new culture. Li Fong later befriended with Mia (Sadie Stanley - The Sleepover etc), the daughter of Victor Lipani (Joshua Jackson - Dawson's Creek TV series etc) owner of a pizza restaurant. But their friendship was disturbed by Mia's ex boyfriend Conor Day (Aramis Knight - Into the Badlands TV series etc) who was the champion of Karate tournament called Five Boroughs for 5 years in a row.