Kung Fu Soccer - Spiritual Sequel to the Stephen Chow's 2001 Cult Classic Shaolin Soccer

I have been eyeing for this movie for quite some time ever since I found out about its existence. So when it had advance ticket sale last week, I did not hesitate to buy for the first show on its premiere date yesterday. Originally my wife and I planned to buy tickets for another movie on the same day at the same cinema but unfortunately it was not available. However when we checked on the cinema apps yesterday morning, we found the other film was also playing in the same theater, so we bought the tickets and had ourselves another movie marathon day. All right then, I'll just get right on this film now. 

Brief Story Line

Story began with the introduction of various teams competing for the Asian women's soccer tournament which included the 7 times champion Taiga and other experienced team like Jinlong, Ehwa plus newcomer Emei. As a team that consisted of practically nobody, Emei were obviously looked down. However their captain Shuang (Zhang Xiaofei - YOLO, Hi,Mom etc) and her best friend Jade (Dilraba Dilmurat - Mr. Pride Vs. Ms. Prejudice, The Long Ballad TV series etc) who played as striker were very confident of themselves and adamant to prove they could go on to win the championship.

Per Aspera Ad Astra - A Visually Stunning Space Adventure Sci-Fi Movie With Some Greatly Done Special Effects

Last night I was searching for new things to watch on various streaming services and came across this film on Netflix that was released the day before. I never knew of its existence previously but seeing the synopsis and the lead star, I was immediately intrigued. So without hesitation, I immediately gave it a try. OK, let's dive right into it then.

Brief Story Line

Story was set in the future where space travels were quite common and a lot of missions were done towards distant planets which would take many years to reach. During these travels, the crew were put in deep sleep but were able to live and control their dreams using technology called LM developed by Sweet Dreams Corporation. During a long mission on Mengya interstellar ship, a coder from Sweet Dreams named Xu Tianbao (Dylan Wang - Light to the Night TV series, I Dreamed a Dream etc) had awakened from his sleep earlier and later saw an explosion on certain part of the ship.

The Furious - A Brilliantly Done Full Action Movie With Truly Well Executed Fight Choreography that Should Satisfy Fans of Such Genre

I was hoping to see this movie in my favorite studio with large screen and great sound system. Unfortunately when it premiered yesterday, the film did not play there at all. I was thinking of seeing it on following days, however after discussing with my wife, we decided to just see it immediately after another movie earlier. It was very very rush but somehow we were able to make it just in time for the next show at a different location. Without further ado, here's more on the film.

Brief Story Line

Story was set somewhere in South East Asia where a group of young children had been missing for quite some time. A journalist named Matia (Jeeja Yanin - Triple Threat, Tom Yum Goong 2 etc) was trying to uncover the truth but somehow ended up missing herself. While investigating her disappearance, Matia's husband Navin (Joe Taslim - Mortal Kombat II, The Night Comes for Us etc) found access to some child traffickers who he believed to be responsible.

Panda Plan: The Magical Tribe - Just Like Its Predecessor, Still Not An Entertaining Jackie Chan's Action Comedy

A couple of weeks ago, I saw the trailer to this latest Jackie Chan movie which was going to be released after Chinese New Year. Although it has advanced ticket sale last week, but I opted not to buy them and decided to just do it during the weekend. Anyway yesterday my wife and I went to see it in the cinema nearest to our home. All right then, I'll get right on with the movie.

Brief Story Line

While passing through a remote location, Jackie (Jackie Chan - Unexpected Family, Kung Fu Yoga etc) and his beloved panda friend Huhu somehow got themselves into a hidden place in the mountains inhabited by strange local tribe led by its Chieftain (Ma Li - The Dumpling Queen, Unbeatable You TV series etc). Huhu was mistakenly recognized as divine creature like the tribe's prophecy that she would be able to prevent major catastrophe by going to the mountain top together with a messenger. Jackie who was thought to be the messenger obviously did not want to do the task and tried to get out of the village with Huhu. 

Blades of the Guardians - Very Entertaining Martial Arts Movie with Some Brilliantly Done Fight Sequence

I have been highly anticipating this movie ever since I found out about it more than a month ago. But since it was released while my wife and I were away on holiday, I only got the chance to see it four days after it was available in Indonesia. Without further ado, here's more on the second of our movie marathon day. 

Brief Story Line

Set during the Sui dynasty era, Dao Ma (Wu Jing - Meg 2: The Trench, Wolf Warrior 2 etc) was a well known bounty hunter who himself was actually the second wanted man in the country. One day he was asked by his benefactor, the chief of Moji village Lao Mo (Tony Leung Ka Fai -  Legend of the Condor Heroes: The Gallants, The Lover etc) to escort the most wanted man Zhi Si Lang (Sun Yi Zhou - iPartment series, This is Not What I Expected etc) to Chang'an capital. Despite his reluctance, Dao Ma fulfilled the request and went there together with the child under his protection Xiao Qi, Lao Mo's daughter Ayuya (Opera performer Chen Li Jun) and her bodyguard Ani (Xiong Jin Yi - My Sassy Deskmate TV series etc).

(2026) 96 Minutes - Rather Bland for a Supposedly Intense Action Thriller Movie

I saw this film promoted in the Coming Soon of Netflix and was interested after reading the brief synopsis. But somehow I missed when it was released on Thursday, so I only watched it yesterday. All right then, let's just get on with it now.

Brief Story Line

Song Kang Ren (Austin Lin - The Knight of Shadows: Between Yin and Yang, Women in Taipei TV series etc), a former bomb disposal expert was returning home with his fiancée Huang Xin (Vivian Sung - Till We Meet Again, Adrift in Love TV series etc) and his mother (Lu Hsueh-Feng) using a high speed train. His journey was interrupted when he was informed by his former superior Li Jie (Lee Lee-Zen - The Black Box, The Kidnappers TV series etc) that there was a bomb threat on the train which would detonate in 96 minutes from the time it departed the station. Though Li Jie suspected it might be just prank call, he still requested A-ren's help due to something on the message. To avoid panic, they decided not to tell anyone except the train employees.

Unexpected Family - A Wonderful Drama Movie with Jackie Chan's Amazing Performance in a Completely Diferent Role

When the trailer to this film was shown few weeks ago, my wife and I were interested to see as it starred one of our beloved actor Jackie Chan. Despite knowing that it would be a drama movie instead of the usual action comedy, we still wanted to watch it as we never missed any of his recent movies. OK, I will just get on with it now.

Brief Story Line

Zhong Bu Fan (Peng Yu Chang - Viva La Vida, I Am Nobody TV series etc) came to Wuhan for personal reasons with very little money. He ended up working for a car wash place owned by Jia Ye (Pan Bi Long - Born to Fly, Battle of Shangganling TV series etc) and was provided a place to stay. Apparently the house was owned by Ren Ji Qing (Jackie Chan - The Shadow's Edge, Hidden Strike etc) who was suffering from early Alzheimer disease and mistakenly thought Bu Fan as his son.

(2025) Nobody - The Fun Adventure of Kind Hearted Demons that Became the Highest Grossing 2D Chinese Animated Movie

I never knew about this film until it was promoted in two cinema chains in Indonesia last week. It sounded like something that I would like so I convinced my wife to accompany me seeing the movie yesterday when it was released. It was not playing in that many theaters but it did play in one of the studio not that far from our home. So we decided to see it there after lunch. All right then, let's get more into this.

Brief Story Line

Story focused on a Yaoguai (demon) in the form of pig (Chen Ziping) who worked together with his friend the toad demon (Lu Yang) as cleaner for the Cave King. When Pig heard he could become a Budha by getting scriptures like the Tang Monk who was travelling together with his group in their journey to the West, he decided to do the same thing.

Dongji Rescue - The Awesome Story of the Amazing Rescue Act Based on Historic Event During World War 2

For the second of our movie marathon day, my wife and I went to see this Chinese film. Its premise seemed interesting from the very brief synopsis in the cinema website. But we had to move to different location since it did not play in the cinema we saw the first movie. All right then, I'll just get started.

Brief Story Line

Story was set in the year 1942 where Japanese ship named Lisbon Maru carrying 1816 British Prisoners of War (POW) was shot down by US submarine in the waters of Zhousan islands. As the ship started to sink, the Japanese saved their own crews but left the POWs inside the hatches.

The Shadow's Edge - Most Entertaining Jackie Chan's Movie in Years

When I found out about a new Jackie Chan's movie going to play in Indonesia, obviously I was interested seeing this in the cinema since my wife and I are major fans of his films. So when it was finally released mid of this week, we decided to see it last night instead of waiting till the weekend like we used to do. All right then, I'll just get on with the film.

Brief Story Line

A group of thieves led by the Shadow (Tony Leung Ka-Fai -  The Legend of Condor Heroes: The Gallants, Double Vision etc) with his god-sons including the briliant hacker Simon (Ci Sha - Creation of the Gods I & II, The Legend of Heroes TV series etc), Hu Feng (singer Jun) and few others had done a highly sophisticated heist in Macau. To capture them, the Judiciary police decided to ask retired inspector Wong (Jackie Chan - Panda Plan, Karate Kid: Legends  etc) to help track them.

Detective Chinatown 1900 - Not the Best Installment in The Hugely Successful Comedy Mystery Buddy Film Series

When this movie was released in Indonesia some time back, I did not get the chance to see it due to some reasons. So I was obviously delighted when I found out it was going to be released on Netflix. Even though I was in the middle of another series, I decided to watch the film last night once it was available. All right then, let's get on with the movie.

Brief Story Line

Story was set in San Francisco, USA during the year 1900 where the Chinese population had grown a lot and mostly lived in Chinatown, but still being discriminated by the Americans and other immigrants. The tension escalated when the daughter of US Congressman Grant (John Cusack - Utopia TV series, High Fidelity etc) and a native American were found murdered with Bai Zhenbang (Steven Zhang - My Huckleberry Friends, Skate into Love TV series etc) became the only suspect. Zhenbang's father Bai Xuanling (Chow Yun Fat - Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, Project Gutenberg etc) believed he was innocent and sought the help from outside party. 

Invincible Swordsman - Another Adaptation of Jin Yong's Popular Martial Arts Novel

Few days ago, I watched this Chinese movie that I have also been eyeing when it was released during vacation with my wife. It was very challenging since very few cinemas left showing the film. In fact it was no longer available in Indonesia from yesterday. Anyway, here's more on the movie.

Brief Story Line

Ling Huchong (Tim Huang - The Forbidden Depths, Captain Han TV series etc) was the Huashan sect disciple who always had mind of his own and dislike following rules of martial arts world. Due to some reasons, he was expelled by his teacher Yue Buqun (Zhang Lu - Undercover TV series etc) but later become the direct student of Grand Master Feng (Sammo Hung - Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In, Mr. Nice Guy etc) and learnt even greater skills.

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.

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.

The Prosecutor - A Very Entertaining Action Thriller Movie from Donnie Yen

I was quite surprised to see glimpses of trailer to this movie on the TV behind the cinema's cashier while buying tickets for another film last week, cause it starred one of my favorite Hong Kong actor Donnie Yen which I was not aware of. Obviously my wife and I would not want to miss it, so we readied ourselves yesterday for a movie marathon. Without further ado, here's more on the movie.

Brief Story Line

Fok Chi-ho (Donnie Yen - John Wick: Chapter 4, Come Back Home etc) was a former police who decided to become a prosecutor in Department of Justice. In his first assignment, Fok was working together with his senior Bao Ding (Kent Cheng - I Did it My Way, Chasing the Dragon etc) to prosecute a young man named Ma Jia Jie (Mason Fung - Zero to Hero etc) involved in drug trafficking case. Ma was assisted by experienced lawyer Au Bo Wen (Julian Cheung - Final Score, L Storm movies etc) and his associate Lee Si Min (Shirley Chan - My Indian Boyfriend etc).

I Did It My Way - A Suspenseful Enough Action Thriller Movie With Nice Performance from Andy Lau and Gordon Lam

As mentioned in the post before this, I was on holiday with my wife for the whole last week. During the flight to our destination by Cathay Pacific, I enjoyed the variety of Hong Kong and Chinese movies which either did not play in Indonesia or only played at limited cinemas in short time that I did not have the chance to see them. Anyway there were several films that I watched during the flights to and return, but I prefer to write about this movie. Well here's more on it.

Brief Story Line

The Hong Kong Cybercrime unit led by Eddie Fong (Eddie Peng - Duckweed, Wu Kong etc) had been eyeing to capture leader of major drug syndicate referred to as the Boss. During a bust, the police managed to apprehend Uncle Chiu (Philip Keung - Warriors of Future, Trivisa etc) who was suspected as the Boss. Chiu later asked to speak to his lawyer George Lam (Andy Lau - Shock Wave 2, The Great Wall etc).

Panda Plan - A Disappointing Jackie Chan Action Comedy Movie

I found out about this latest Jackie Chan movie more than a week ago when I saw it in the Coming Soon section of the various cinema chains' websites. If you have read my previous posts, you would know that my wife and I are big fans of him, so we wanted to see it as early as possible. Yesterday, we wanted to also see another movie but due to limited screening, we only managed to see this one. All right, let's head down to the film then.

Brief Story Line

Jackie (Jackie Chan - The Knights of Shadow: Between Yin and Yang, The Lego Ninjago Movie etc) was a famous Kungfu movie star who was given the opportunity to adopt a newly born baby Panda. Together with his agent David (Wei Xiang - Too Cool to Kill, Champion etc), they both went to Noah Zoo located in a small island where the Panda would be given to Jackie by its Director (Andy Friend - The Wandering Earth II etc). Jackie would later meet with the Panda's nanny Xiao Chu (Shi Ce - Look At Me, A Soldier's Story TV series etc) who had been taking care of the baby for a while.

A Legend - Disregarding All the Minus Points, Still a Pretty Enjoyable Action Comedy Film

Once again a new Jackie Chan movie was released in Indonesia. And being huge fans of him, my wife and I would not want to miss seeing this in the cinema. So after it was released on Wednesday, we decided to catch it yesterday together with another film. OK, why don't I just get right to it then?

Brief Story Line

Famous archaelogist Professor Fang (Jackie Chan - Hidden Strike,Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem etc) and his assistants Wang Jing (Lay Zhang - No More Bets, The Mystic Nine TV series etc) and Xin Ran (Peng Xiaoran - Romance of a Twin Flower TV series, Good Bye My Princess TV series etc) found an artifact which looked a lot like the one Fang saw in his dreams. 

Breaking and Re-Entering - A Light and Fun Reverse Heist Comedy Movie

This week we got lots of new interesting movies and series on Netflix and this was one of them. It had a really intriguing premise which made me curious. I only watched it last night as I did not realize it was already released two days ago. All right, let's get down to it then.

Brief Story Line

A group of thieves that consisted of their leader Po-chun (Chen Bo-lin - The King of Blaze TV series, The Dreaming Man etc), the master of disguise Uncle Bin (Frederick Lee - Fish Memories, Trinity of Shadows TV series etc), the hacker Kao (Kent Tsai - Haunted House for Sale TV series, Bad Education etc) and the combat specialist Wen Hao (J. C. Lin - Let's Talk About Chu TV series, The Bridge Curse etc) had robbed a bank owned by Chen Hai-jui (Wu Kang-ren - Copycat Killer TV series, Abang Adik etc).

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 Future, Chasing 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 Day 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.