Timur - Directorial Debut of Iko Uwais Which Sadly Underperformed

This week, Netflix got plenty of new movies and series released, including several older shows from other networks that made me pretty busy playing catch up. But this film that was made available yesterday caught my attention so I decided to immediately watch it last night. All right then, why don't I get right to it.

Brief Story Line

A group of researchers that included few Indonesians and foreigners together with local guide Apollo (Aufa Assagaf) and Yoseph (Adhin Abdul Hakim) who went to East Indonesia were captured and taken hostage by terrorist group led by Tobias (Arnold Kobogau) and his right hand man Frans (Macho Hungan).

With negotiations going nowhere, the Indonesian government decided to do a military operation by the Special Forces Corps (Kopassus). Timur (Iko Uwais - Ash, Triple Threat etc) and his best friend Sila (Jimmy Kobogau) were among these elite soldiers who were assigned on this highly dangerous mission. 

(TV SERIES) Legends Season 1 - Very Interesting Undercover Unit of Inexperienced Officers Inspired by Real Life Person

As I was searching for new things to watch last night after finishing another season of other series, I came acrossed this one which did not look so great at first. But as I read the brief synopsis, I was rather intrigued and decided to give it a try. OK then, I'll start on it now.

Brief Story Line

Story was set in the year 1990 Britain where heroin were flooding the country and the Prime Minister then decided to go on war against drugs. The head of Customs and Excise Department Angus Blake (Douglas Hodge - G20, Diana etc) was given task to stop the illegal importing of drugs. But without any additional budget, together with his Head of Operation Don Clark (Steve Coogan - Despicable Me 4, Our Idiot Brother etc), Blake decided to form an undercover team comprised of the Customs officers to infiltrate gang of drug dealers and find out their leaders to stop them.

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.

Firefighters - The Story of A South Korean Group of Fire Fighters Based on True Events

There were few new films released in Indonesian cinemas last week but my wife and I decided to only see this one on Saturday due to various reasons. It was a South Korean movie that I was intrigued to find out, while my wife was interested after seeing the cast list. OK, so here's more on the film.

Brief Story Line

Story was set through the years of 2000 to 2001 about a group of Rescue Unit of a fire station in Seoul. They consisted of Commander Kang (Yoo Jae-myung - Harbin, The Sound of Magic TV series etc), Captain Jeong (Kwak Do-won - The Golden Holiday, Never Give Up TV series etc), team members that included the kind hearted Yong-tae (Kim Min-jae - The Roundup: Punishment, The Fiery Priest TV series etc), Song Ki-cheol (Lee Joon-hyuk - The Roundup: No Way Out, Vigilante TV series etc) who was dubbed as poster boy due to his good looks, Hyo-jong (Oh Dae-hwan - I, The Executioner, The Tale of Lady Ok TV series etc), rookie Choi Cheol-woong (Joo Won - Carter, My Sassy Girl TV series etc) and several others.

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).

Hijack 1971 - The Amazing Story of the Actual Incident in the South Korean Aviation History

This movie was already released in Indonesian theaters more than a week ago, but as my wife and I were on holiday trip, we only saw it last Saturday. It was rather challenging as we also wanted to see another big superhero movie while this film only played in several cinemas. So we ended up having to move to different location just to see both on the same day. All right then, why don't I just get to it.

Brief Story Line

Set in the year 1971, a passenger plane was scheduled to fly from Gimpo to Seoul. The crew consisted of the experienced Pilot Gyu-sik (Sung Dong-il - Project Wolf Hunting, Ghost Doctor TV series etc), First Officer Tae-in (Ha Jung-woo - Ashfall, Narco Saints TV series etc), flight attendant Ok-Soon (Chae Soo-bin - The Pirates: The Last Royal Treasure, Rookie Cops TV series etc) and Chang-bae (Moon Yoo-kang). 

Sound of Freedom - A Heavy Crime Drama with Some Powerful Messages

This week there was no major Hollywood movies released in the cinemas while the Indonesia films were not of interest for me. But there was a film shown since Wednesday that I wanted to give a try. Since we were not having anything really important to do yesterday, we decided to go and see this movie. All right, let's get to it.

Brief Story Line

Tim Ballard (Jim Caviezel - Passion of the Christ, Person of Interest TV series etc), an agent for Homeland Security Investigations had been capturing pedophiles for years and finally realized that the children saved were too few. After apprehended the latest criminal and managed to save a victim who was the child of Roberto Aguilar (Jose Zuniga - Half Brothers, The Duel etc), Tim set his heart on saving other children. Despite not fully approved by his boss (Kurt Fuller - Evil TV series, Ghostbusters II etc), but Tim's wife Katherine (Mira Sorvino - Stuber, The Replacement Killers etc) truly understood and supported his decision.

Gran Turismo - An Exciting and Entertainment Movie Based on True Story of a Gamer Turned Real Life Car Racer

I was interested in seeing this movie after I saw the trailer few weeks before. So I convinced my wife to see it this weekend together with another film as part of our movie marathon. OK without further ado, I'll get right on it.

Brief Story Line

Danny Moore (Orlando Bloom - Carnival Row TV series, The Lord of the Rings trilogy etc), the marketing executive of Nissan managed to convince his bosses to form an academy for players of the "Gran Turismo" racing simulator and turn them into actual racer. He later decided to employ Jack Salter (David Harbour - Violent Night, Stranger Things TV series etc), a former race driver as the trainer for the GT Academy. In order to find the best players in the world for this purpose, they put up a competition.

(Mini Series) The Watcher - Pretty Intriguing Psychological Thriller Drama based on True Events

And another series that I was a bit late in watching because of so many new movies and series released on Netflix in the past few weeks. But after few days, I finally finished this one last night. Well, here goes.

Brief Story Line

Dean Brannock (Bobby Cannavale - Blonde, Sing 2 etc) and his wife Nora (Naomi Watts - Boss Level, 21 Grams etc) decided to buy their dream house in the suburb through the real estate agent Karen Calhoun (Jennifer Coolidge - The White Lotus, American Pie movies etc). After moving in with their teenage daughter Ellie (Isabel Gravitt) and young son Carter (Luke David Blumm), Dean and Nora met with various people in the neighborhood such as the elderly couple Mitch (Richard Kind - Spin City TV series, Cars etc) and Mo (Margo Martindale - Instant Family, The Americans TV series etc) and the woman who wanted to preserve history Pearl Winslow (Mia Farrow - Rosemary's Baby, Alice etc) and her younger brother Jasper (Terry Kinney - Oz TV series, Save the Last Dance etc).

(2021) The Last Duel - Intriguing Story Based on True Events During Medieval Era in France

Two days ago I found out there was a new movie released on Disney+ which caught me by surprise as it was quite new (released in the US in mid October 2021) and if I am not mistaken, did not play in Indonesian theaters. It was interesting for me as I remember reading some good things about the film. So here's more on the movie.

Brief Story Line

Set in medieval time in France, Jean de Carrouges (Matt Damon - Ford v Ferrari, Downsizing etc) started to befriend a squire named Jacques Le Gris (Adam Driver - Star Wars: The Last Jedi, House of Gucci etc) during the war. Upon their return, both were informed to serve under Count Pierre d'Alençon (Ben Affleck - Live By Night, Argo etc) by King Charles VI (Alex Lawther - The End of the F***king World TV series etc). While Jean was a brute person, Le Gris was much more educated and managed to gain the trust from Count Pierre, which made their friendship grew apart.

The Outpost - The True Story of Battle of Kamdesh with Strong Documentary Feel and Realistic Battle Scenes

During last weekend, I watched 3 new movies on various platforms and this was 1 of them. I was intrigued to try as it seemed promising. OK let's get on with it.

Brief Story Line

In 2006, there were several military outposts set up by US Armies in Afghanistan to support reconstructions of the country. One of those was called Kamdesh Outpost which was under the command of Captain Keating (Orlando Bloom - Carnival Row TV series, Pirates of the Carribbean movies etc). For some time, the outpost has been the subject of attacks from the Taliban due to its position that was surrounded by mountains, making it difficult to defend.

(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. 

Richard Jewell - Great Story of Character Assassination based on Real Person and Events

Last night a new movie was shown on HBO and released on HBO Go application hours earlier. I remember watching the movie's trailer some time ago where I thought it looked interesting. So I was glad when it was put in the Coming Soon section since last month. Anyway, we'll go ahead with more details now.

Brief Story Line

Set in 1996 during the Olympic event in Atlanta, USA, Richard Jewell (Paul Walter Heuser - Da 5 Bloods, Songbird etc) who had been living with his mother Bobi (Kathy Bates - Misery, American Horror Story TV series etc) for a while, was working as security guard at Centennial Park. When he found an unattended bag under one of the bench, he suspected the content which turned out to be a bomb and went off after Richard and other security guards & officers managed to move most of the people away. 

Official Secrets - Amazing Film with Some Great Performances Based on The True Events on the 2003 Iraq Invastion

It's been quite some time since I watched new movie on HBO on a Saturday night, as usually I have seen them before in the cinemas. Last weekend though, this new film premiered at 8 PM but when I saw on HBO Go application, it was already available on the same day few hours before (or maybe the day before?). Anyway, I decided to watch it first in the app. OK I'll go into more details of this movie.

Brief Story Line

In the year 2003, the US government was insistent on invading Iraq with the support of United Nations using the danger of weapons for mass destruction as basis. As its ally, UK was requested to support US despite the objection from British people. When an employee of Government Communications Headquarters (GCHC) named Katharine Gun (Keira Knightley - The Nutcracker and the Four Realms, The Imitation Game etc) received confidential instruction from the US government that might change the UN's position, she felt it was an inappropriate thing.

The Current War - An Interesting Enough Eye Opener of the 19th Century War of Electricity Current in America

Last Saturday, I was browsing through the list of movies on several cable TV channels and noticed there was this title that I never heard, which premiered for the first time. When I read the synopsis and the stars name that included Benedict Cumberbatch, it immediately intrigued me and I decided to give this a try. So what was the movie all about? Let's get on to it now.

Brief Story Line

Set in the 19th century, Thomas Alva Edison (Benedict Cumberbatch - Doctor Strange, The Grinch 2018 version etc), was a famous inventor with several inventions such as the light bulb, Phonograph and also the electricity using Direct Current (DC). He had a young and trusted assistant named Samuel Insull (Tom Holland - Onward, Spider-man in MCU etc) and a lovely family who fully supported him.

(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.

Ford v Ferrari - An Extraordinary Sports Biography Drama

I was looking forward to see this movie when it was scheduled to premier on Friday. Unfortunately once again my favorite Dolby Atmos studio was having an event at around 7 PM and no shows were available during that time. My wife and I ended up seeing this one only yesterday at that studio. Anyway, I'll go on with the movie now.

Brief Story Line

Set in the early 1960s, Carroll Shelby (Matt Damon - The Adjustment Bureau, The Great Wall etc) was the owner of automobile manufacturer Shelby American. When Henry Ford II (Tracy Letts - Lady Bird, The Post etc) wanted to create a new race car for Ford capable of winning the Le Mans and beat their competitor Ferrarri, he assigned one of his executive Lee Iacocca (Jon Bernthal - The Punisher TV series, Baby Driver etc) to engage Shelby with this difficult task.

Midway - A World War II Movie with Some Great Visual Effects and Focusing (a Bit too Much?) on Historical Accuracy

To my surprise, this movie premiered on Friday which was usually set for comedy or animated movies. But this time it was a war action movie that my wife and I saw its trailer once few weeks ago and were immediately intrigued by it. As my wife was still on vacation and she told me not to wait for her, I saw this one today by myself. So how was the movie? Let's find out more below.

Brief Story Line

Set during the World War 2, story was focusing on the battle between the US and Japanese Naval forces. After the Pearl Harbor attack, Admiral Nimitz (Woody Harrelson - Zombieland: Double Tap etc) was now assigned to take command on the US Naval forces while supported by the intelligent officer Edwin Layton (Patrick Wilson - Aquaman etc).

Hustlers - A Nice Enough Drama Movie Inspired by True Events

I saw the poster of this movie since few weeks back in Cinema 21 theaters and I noticed it had some well known names in it. But it did not make a list of my most anticipated movies. When it was released on Friday, then I read a little bit more and realized it had interesting premise and had been quite successful as well in the US. So I decided to see this movie yesterday together with my wife who had come back from her holiday trip the day before. OK, I will get straight to the movie now.

Brief Story Line

Destiny (Constance Wu - Crazy Rich Asians etc) was a new stripper working for a strip club and earning little money. One night she noticed an experienced stripper named Ramona Vega (Jennifer Lopez - Ice Age: Collision Course, Maid in Manhattan etc) who was able to dance her way to so much money in a night. They both seemed to hit it off nicely and soon became partners and best friends.

(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.