(Special Screening) The Roundup - An Entertaining Action Thriller Movie with Some Really Exciting Good Old Fashioned Hand to Hand Fight Sequence

My wife and I were aware of this movie for some time as it was shown in the social media quite frequently. Since both of us are fans of Ma Dong-seok aka Don Lee, we were looking forward to see the movie once it's scheduled to be released. Fortunately for us, my wife got the invitation for special screening last night before its wide release today. So after brief opening remarks, the movie finally started at 7.15 PM.

Brief Story Line

Set in the year 2008, four years after the events in The Outlaws, Detective Ma Seok-do (Ma Dong-seok - Eternals, The Bad Guys: Reign of Chaos etc) and his captain Jeon (Choi Gwi-hwa - Long Live The King, Bad Guys 2 TV series etc) were assigned to Vietnam for some task. However, what started as a simple enough job turned to be something far more dangerous.

(Special Screening) Till We Meet Again - Unique Love Story with Strong Chinese Mythology Background

It has been quite a long time since my wife and I went to Special Screening of upcoming movie in theaters, since we prefer to avoid crowded places during the pandemic. Not that the pandemic is over now, but after experiencing the virus ourselves and getting vaccinated, both of us were not as rigid as before. Anyway, when my wife got the latest invitation to the screening of this movie, we decided to go and see it. After we were introduced to new F&B products specially designed for CGV audience, plus some exciting giveaway time, the movie finally started at almost 7 PM. So how was it? Let us find out more, shall we?

Brief Synopsis

When Allan (Kai Ko - Tiny Times movies, A Choo etc) died and went to the underworld, he was given a choice to reincarnate into an animal or become the God of Love. Through some tough challenges, he finally managed to become one and was partnered with Pinky (Gingle Wang - Detention, Plurality etc).

(Early Screening) Roe V Wade - The Story Behind the Controversial Decision of the US Supreme Court

Few days ago I got an email providing me the chance to have early screening of this movie before it's officially released in the US theaters. I was intrigued by it as it was based on true story and starred some quite well known names. Without further ado, here's more on the movie.

Brief Story Line

Story was told from the point of view of Dr. Bernard Nathanson (Nick Loeb), a medical doctor who together with several others including his friend Lawrence Lader (Jamie Kennedy - Scream 2, Ghost Whisperer TV series) and feminist Betty Friedan (Lucy Davenport) formed abortion rights organization called NAFAR in 1969. Their aim was to ensure the woman's right of abortion legalized in the US. 

(Special Screening) Guns Akimbo - Fun, Entertaining, Freaking Violent and Gore Action Movie with some Stylish Action Sequence

After just seeing the poster to this movie shown in the social media, it was certainly a pleasant surprise when my wife got the invitation to its special screening last night. Prior to the movie's start at 7.15 PM, we were shown several trailers of upcoming movies that would be released in CGV cinemas which also excited us. OK, let's head on with the movie now.

Brief Story Line

Miles (Daniel Racliffe - Harry Potter series etc) who worked in video game developer was a nobody and did not seem to have a life. Until one day, due to an incident, Miles was caught up in an underground fight club managed by the ruthless Riktor (Ned Dennehy). In order to save his life Miles had no choice but to fight against the toughest opponent Nix (Samara Weaving - Ready or Not etc) who seemed to kill people for fun.

(Special Screening) Vanguard - High Octane Over the Top and Entertaining Full Action Movie

When my wife got an invitation to the special screening of this new Jackie Chan movie, I was really excited and immediately told her to accept it (not that she needed any encouragement anyway as she is a really big fan of Jackie Chan). So off we went to the screening at Senayan City where the movie started at 7.20 PM after brief opening remarks and prize distribution from sponsor. And now let us get on with the film.

Brief Story Line

Tang Huating (Jackie Chan - The Foreigner, Bleeding Steel etc) was the leader of a private security consultant based in London with a large team of former military and experts in security. When one of their VIP client was being targeted by a group of deadly assassins, two of Tang's team members who happened to be nearby the area, Lei Zhenyu (Yang Yang - Once Upon a Time, Martial Universe series etc) and Zhang Kaixuan (Ai Lun - Hello Mr. Billionaire etc) were called to rescue, with the aid from another member Miya (Miya Muqi - Kungfu Yoga etc).

(Special Screening) 1917 - A Genius and Extraordinary Work from Sam Mendes

After generating rave reviews and multiple nominations plus few already won awards, this movie certainly is on top of my to see list. So when my wife got the invitation to special screening of the film before its official premier date, I was so excited and could not wait for the time to come and see it. Well enough said on that part and let's get on with the film.

Brief Story Line

During the World War I in 1917, two young British soldiers Corporal Will Schofield (George MacKay - Marrowbone, Ophelia etc) and Corporal Tom Blake (Dean-Charles Chapman - Game of Thrones TV series etc) were given special assignment by General Erinmore (Colin Firth - Mary Poppins Returns, Bridget Jones Diary trilogy etc) to send a message to Colonel MacKenzie (Benedict Cumberbatch - The Grinch animated version, Star Trek Into Darkness etc) to cancel an attack on the Germans as it was a trap.

(Special Screening) Ashfall - Entertaining and Surprisingly Fun Disaster Movie with Some Amazing Special Effects

It was a surprise for both of us when my wife got the invitation to the special screening of this movie few nights ago as I thought it would only be done in January 2020 prior to the scheduled release. However, we were obviously happy that we got the chance to see it before we went for our holiday. Anyway I will go straight to the movie now. 

Brief Story Line

When a volcano erupted and threatened to damage the whole Korea, a bomb squad team led by Jo In-chang (Ha Jung-woo - Take Point, The Tunnel etc) was assigned by the South Korean president to prevent further eruption that could flatten both Korean countries. The method was based on theory created by professor Kang Bong-rae (Ma Dong-seok - The Bad Guys: Reign of Chaos, Unstoppable etc) who was convinced by government official Yoo-Kyung (Jeon Hye-jin - The Throne TV series etc) to help with the extraordinary situation.

(Special Screening) Dark Waters - An Amazing Eye Opener True Story on one of the Most Shocking Fact in Our Lives

This movie actually premiered yesterday at certain cinemas, so it was a bit of a surprise when my wife got an invitation to its special screening on the same day it was released. Usually such event would be done prior to the release of the movie. Regardless though, my wife and I accepted the invitation and went to see this at CGV Grand Indonesia for the 7PM show. OK let us find out more on the movie now.

Brief Story Line

Robert Billot (Mark Ruffalo - Now You See Me 2, 13 Going On 30 etc) an attorney in a major law firm Taft Stettinius & Hollister got a request from Wilbur Tennant (Bill Camp - Molly's Game, Vice etc), a farmer in West Virginia to assist in finding out the suspected pollution on the water in Wilbur's farm. Despite his reluctance and the hesitance from senior partner Tom Term (Tim Robbins - Mystic River, Dead Man Walking etc) Robert still tried to assist Wilbur.

The Bad Guys: Reign of Chaos - A Pretty Entertaining Action Movie with Classic Bad Guys vs Worse Guys Story

Yesterday my wife and I went to an event called Korea Indonesia Film Festival (KIFF) 2019 at CGV Grand Indonesia and we got two tickets courtesy of Virgin Radio. We were very fortunate to get the tickets since 1 of my wife's IG follower could not come to the event and she offered the tickets for us, knowing that we both love to see movies. Anyway, after some commercials, the movie finally started at around 7.15 PM, oddly without any introduction. OK we'll go ahead with the film now.

Brief Story Line

When a group of dangerous criminals managed to escape from prison, the chief of Special Crime Unit Oh Gu-Tak (Kim Sang-joong - My Husband's Woman, The Rebel TV series etc) was tasked to apprehend them. In order to do so, he created a team which consisted of the infamous ex-gangster boss Park Woong-cheol (Ma Dong-seok - The Gangster, the Cop and the Devil, Train to Busan etc), a young new prisoner Ko Yo-sung (Jang Ki-yong - Come and Hug Me, Kill It TV series etc) and last but not least, a female con artist Kwak No-soon (Kim Ah-joong - 200 Pounds of Beauty, Live Up to Your Name TV series etc).

(SPECIAL SCREENING) One Piece: Stampede - A Real Feast for Fans of this Series to Celebrate its 20th Anniversary

Last Saturday my wife and I went to the special screening of a quite brand new Anime movie based on famous manga by Eiichiro Oda. Even though we had never seen the series or read the comics, we wanted to give this a try and hope to know & understand the story and characters better. Who knows it might kickstart our own fandom with this series. The film itself started at 2 PM after brief introduction and few movie trailers. OK, let us get on with the movie.

Brief Story Line

During a Pirates Expo, an event where all the pirates could come and have a "party" was held which was promoted by the mysterious Buena Festa (Yūsuke Santamaria), all the pirates including the Straw Hats led by Monkey D. Luffy (Mayumi Tanaka) and his team such as Zoro (Kazuya Nakai), Usopp (Kappei Yamaguchi) etc went to this expo. 

(SPECIAL SCREENING) Exit - A Highly Entertaining Disaster Action Comedy from the Producer of Battleship Island

Since last week, this movie was getting a lot of hype as it was promoted by quite a number of people. Then my wife got the invitation to the special screening of this film which obviously made us excited. Despite a new animated movie that started to premier yesterday, we still opted to see this film as we did not want to miss the chance to see this South Korean hit before its wide release next week. Well without further ado, let's get into the movie now.

Brief Story Line

Yong-nam (Jo Jung-suk -  My Annoying Brother, Oh My Ghost TV series etc) was kind of a slacker and had been unemployed for some time. During the birthday celebration of his mother Hyeon-ok (Go Doo-shim), his whole family including his father Jang-soo (Park In-hwan - Miss Granny etc), older sister Jung-hyun (Kim Ji-young - Forever the Moment etc) and many others went to a restaurant where the girl Yong-nam had a crush on named Eui-joo (Yoona - Confidential Assignment, God of War Zhao Yun TV series etc) worked.

(SPECIAL SCREENING) A Dog's Journey - Another Miraculous Chapter in Bailey's Wonderful Life (Warning Possible Spoiler)

Once again my wife got the invitation to the screening of a drama movie which would premiere in Indonesian cinemas next week. The trailer had been shown to us many times before so we could guess what kind of movie it would be. Anyway, the film finally started after few minutes of introduction and vouchers giveaway. And how was the movie? Let's find out more below.

Brief Story Line

The story was told from the point of view of a dog who could reincarnate named Bailey (voiced by Josh Gad - Murder on the Orient Express, Jobs etc). He had been accompanying his master Ethan (Dennis Quaid - Frequency, The Rookie etc) from his childhood. Ethan and his wife Hannah (Marg Helgenberger - CSI TV series, Species etc) were taking care of their daughter in-law Gloria (Betty Gilpin - GLOW TV series etc) and her only baby girl Clarity June (CJ).

(GALA PREMIERE) Dua Garis Biru - A Review by Yennymakanmulu

Yesterday afternoon my wife suddenly told me that there was a Gala Premiere event of an Indonesian drama movie which we were quite interested after seeing its trailer few times earlier. Despite the movie would only start at 9.15 PM, we were still excited and went ahead to the cinema before 7PM for registration purpose. Luckily the event was in Epicentrum XXI which was only 10 minutes drive from our home. Anyway, my wife has written a wonderful review of this movie, so I am going to share it below:

[MOVIE] Dua Garis Biru – penyesalan selalu datang terlambat

Beruntung gw semalam bisa ikut Gala Premiere Dua Garis Biru di XXI Epicentrum. Semua berawal dari harapan gw mo foto bareng sama Dwi Sasono, pemeran Ali Oncom, yang sangat gw kagumi. Gila, bentukan sekeren Dwi  bisa menghidupkan karakter Ali Oncom dengan sempurna. Tiba2 aja Edi kontek gw nanya bisa ikutan GP-nya gak, kan bisa ketemu Dwi. MAUUUUK. Dan malam itu gw sudah duduk di sebuah coffee shop sambil liatin foto gw bareng Dwi Sasono. *halah gak penting2 amat Yen buat doi* LOL. Anyway, sutradara sekaligus penulis skenario-nya adalah Gina S. Noer. Oya kenapa judulnya Dua Garis Biru, bukan Dua Garis Merah atau Dua Garis Pink? Nonton ya tgl 11 Juli nanti, ntar juga tau. Yuk kita mulai filmnya.

(SPECIAL SCREENING) Parasite - A Really Captivating Thriller Dark Comedy Movie Worthy of Winning Palme d'Or

Once again, my wife and I were some of the fortunate people to be invited in the special screening of this critically acclaimed movie from South Korea, prior to its wide release next week. It was held in CGV Grand Indonesia last night, where I was a bit worried that it might be difficult to reach due to some road closures near the area since 2 PM. Anyway I finally arrived quite on time and the movie started at 7.30 PM. So let us see what the movie is all about.

Brief Story Line

A poor & jobless family of four that included the father Ki-taek (Song Kang-ho - Snowpiercer, A Taxi Driver etc), his wife Chung-sook (Jang Hye-jin) and their children Ki-woo (Choi Woo-sik - Train to Busan, Monstrum etc) & Ki-jung (Park So-dam - Beautiful Mind TV series etc) had to stay in a semi basement house that was not a suitable place to live.

(SPECIAL SCREENING) Miss & Mrs Cops - A Hilarious Buddy Cops Movie Filled With Fun & Laughs

It was another happy day for me and my wife when just after seeing a good movie on Sunday, she got invited to a screening of another South Korean movie that I thought would be fun just by looking at the title. Without any doubt, we accepted the invitation for the event last night at CGV Grand Indonesia, despite a bit of worry to reach the area due to some of the roads towards there were still closed because of the various demonstration few days earlier. Anyway, my wife and I managed to be there quite on time without hassle and the movie also started only few minutes behind schedule. Well let us get on with the film now.

Brief Story Line

Park Mi-yeong (Ra Mi-ran - Reply 1988 TV series, The Himalayas etc) was a former police woman who was assigned to the public service department after being married to a goofy but very loving husband Ji-chul (Yoon Sang-hyun - Queen of Housewives etc). Meanwhile a rookie police detective named Ji-hye (Lee Sung-kyung - Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok-joo TV series, Love + Sling etc) was given disciplinary sanction due to her over enthusiasm in handling a particular case and was also assigned at the same department with Mi-yeong.

(SPECIAL SCREENING) Touken Ranbu - Live Adaptation of the Highly Popular Video Game from Japan

I noticed about this movie as part of the new films to be shown in CGV and as luck would have it, my wife got another invitation to the special screening a week before its wide release. However, due to some reasons, we were only allowed to post our views about the movie today. Anyway, I wrote this post few days ago after the screening since I wanted to write them while it was still fresh in my memory. So what was the movie about? Let us go into detail below.

Brief Story Line

Set in the future, a group of young men who were "transformed" from various swords owned by people in the past were recruited as part of a team to maintain the history intact from attacks by evil forces who wanted to change history. Led by their captain Munechika (Hiroki Suzuki), the rest of the team that included the joker Nihongou (Hiroaki Iwanaga), the youngest Fudou (Taizo Shiina, the hot headed Hasebe (Masanari Wada), the guy dressed like a mage called Yagen Toushirou (Ryō Kitamura) and Yamanbagiri (Yoshihiko Aramaki) were sent on a mission to protect history related to the 16th century Japanese feudal lord Oda Nobunaga (Koji Yamamoto).

(SPECIAL SCREENING) (2018) The Vanishing - An Intriguing Tale of The Mysterious Disappearance of Lighthouse Keepers in Scotland

My wife got another invitation to the special screening of a rather new movie starring Gerard Butler one day before its premier date which we accepted graciously. Despite the unfriendly weather on that night, I still manage to get to CGV cinema Grand Indonesia ahead of the 7PM registration schedule. After few interesting trailers of upcoming new movies in CGV, the movie finally began at 8PM.

Brief Story Line

Set in the year 1900 in Scotland, three men were assigned to guard a lighthouse on Flannan Isles for 6 weeks. The leader was the veteran Thomas (Peter Mullan - My Name is Joe etc) accompanied by the experienced James (Gerard Butler - How to Train Your Dragon:The Hidden World, London Has Fallen etc) and the new recruit & youngest Donald (Connor Swindles - Sex Education TV series). All three started their shift after taking over the previous team.

(Press Screening) Captive State - An Unusual Alien Invasion Thriller Movie

2 days ago, my wife got the invitation to the press screening of this movie. As usual, we were always excited to go for a special screening (or press screening) of a new movie released in Indonesia since we would get the opportunity to see them earlier. However, this time it was a bit strange as the screening was held on the same day of its premiere date on 10 April 2019. But anyway, we were still enthusiastic to see this one at CGV FX Sudirman. And after a seemingly long time of preparation and tons of advertisements and few trailers, finally the movie started at 7.30 pm (quite far behind schedule of 7 PM according to the invitation). OK, let us go on with the movie now.

Brief Story Line

9 years after alien invasion in 2019, the world had been in the control of Legislators (aliens representative on earth). Some people who were part of a resistance group called Phoenix tried to fight against the aliens in their "lair" underground called Closed Zone, though they mostly were unsuccessful. A young man named Gabriel (Ashton Sanders - The Equalizer 2 etc) who lived in the city of Pilsen had been wanting to get away from being harassed by Chicago police chief Mulligan (John Goodman - Kong: Skull Island, Atomic Blonde etc) who suspected Gabriel to be involved with Phoenix where his deceased older brother Rafe (Jonathan Majors - White Boy Rick) was a part of. 

(Special Screening) Extreme Job - A Really Hilarious Action Comedy Movie

While I was at work on Thursday, my wife informed me there was a special screening event on Saturday. It was a movie that intrigued me due to its huge box office success in South Korea. So we both were very excited to get the chance to see it before its official premiere date in Indonesia on 20th February 2019. After waiting a while, the studio finally opened at around 1.10 PM which was only a bit behind schedule, but apparently due to valid reason as there was surprise giveaways to audience prepared before the start of the show (which sadly my wife and I did not won it). OK, let's move on with the movie.

Brief Story Line

A bunch of narcotic police division group led by Captain Go (Ryu Seung-ryong - Miracle in Cell No. 7, The Target etc) that consisted of the surveillance guy Detective Yang Ho (Lee Dong-hwi - Reply 1988 TV series etc), the rather crazy Detective Ma (Jin Seon-Kyu - The Merciless etc), the only female in the group, Detective Jang (Lee Hanee - The Rebel TV series etc) and the rookie Jae-hoon (Gong Myung - The Bride of Habaek TV series etc) seemed to always screwing up their job assignments. So when they were given some kind of last chance to stakeout and capture the notorious Mubae (Shin Ha-kyun - Brain TV series etc) they did not hesitate.

(Special Screening) Green Book - A Remarkable Movie About Friendship of Two Completely Different Personalities

Two days ago I got information from my wife that there was a special screening event of the movie which got multiple Academy Awards nomination and won Golden Globes awards as well on Tuesday. As it would only premier in Indonesian theaters today, it was nice of us to catch a glimpse of this outstanding movie earlier. The event itself was held in CGV Grand Indonesia and scheduled to start at 7 PM. After few minutes of introduction and 2 movie trailers, it began at 7.15 PM. 

Brief Story Line

Tony Vallelonga aka Tony Lip (Viggo Mortensen - The Lord of the Rings trilogy, A History of Violence etc) was an Italian-American bouncer who worked in a night club. But when it was closed for renovation, he had to look for various odd jobs to support his wife Dolores (Linda Cardellini - A Simple Favor, Daddy's Home 2 etc) and his 2 small kids Nick and Frankie.