10 CLOVERFIELD LANE - One Heck of a Good Psychological Thriller Movie

After seeing the trailer and noticing the title which has got a "cloverfield" word in it, I was as ready as I can be to watch this movie. The trailer itself was showing something very little. A rare thing nowadays as a lot of movies tend to show too much in the trailer which made the element of surprise missing when watching the actual movie (I have raised this issue earlier as so called "minus" point in my review of Kungfu Panda 3).

Anyway, the movie starts with scenes of Michelle (played by Mary Elizabeth Winstead - Die Hard 4 & 5, Fnal Destination 3 etc) decided to leave her fiancee Ben (I bet you would never guessed who he was) and drove all by herself out of town. During the night driving, while she was receiving a phone call from Ben, her car got into a very loud accident. She woke up in a room with no windows at all and her right leg was chained to the wall. Feeling scared and after shaking her disorientation, she tried all her best to reach for her phone to get some help. Later the door was unlocked and a very big guy with a gun on his belt came to see her. Michelle pleaded him to release her, but the guy who later told Michelle that his name was Howard, said he was only helping her after she got into car accident. 

After Michelle tried to escape, Howard (played by the quite veteran John Goodman) explained to Michelle that there was nobody else out there to help as there was a huge attack outside. He thought it would either be a chemical or nuclear attack and the air above was contaminated. They had to stay in a bunker which Howard had built for the exact purpose like this. The bunker itself was filled with canned food, a kitchen, toilet and various entertainment such as TV, videos, even juke box. The bunker also has its own air cleaning system. 

Inside the bunker there was also another man, Emmet (played by John Gallagher Jr) whose right hand was hurt. He was the worker who helped Howard built the bunker. He believed in everything that Howard told about the attack. Michelle who still felt that Howard was dangerous, kept on trying to escape from the bunker. Using her wit and resourcefulness Michelle was able to make one more attempt of escaping. However, this latest attempt was also unsuccessful, and Michelle later became more content and was finally able to accept her condition. This made the situation more harmonious amongst the 3 of them. They even enjoyed their lives more and spending time by playing monopoly, see movies together etc. 

But was life really as nice as it seemed? Was it true that the air above contaminated and the world was no longer habitable? Where was the attack actually came from? What would happen to the lives of these 3 people? Did they really have to stay inside the bunker for 1 - 2 years like what Howard said?

I had an enjoyable moment watching this movie. This is more like a psychological thriller than an action movie. The movie itself was only having 3 major characters where the 3 of them were completely different. Michelle was very smart & resourceful, Emmet was positive and brought the aura of comfort, while Howard was very mysterious and very dominant.

Almost every scene would provide a new knowledge about each character. I also feel the pace was just nice. It's slow enough for us to absorb new information revealed in the upcoming scenes, but fast enough to keep us intrigued on what would happen later. The background music and sometimes lack thereof would add extra element of tension. I noticed this during the scene involving Howard, Michelle, Emmet with a drum full of liquid corrosive (I hope I remember it correctly).

Well, this is a movie that I think critiques would love. It was smart, and acting was cool. But for people expecting to see lots of action or special effects, better be prepared that this is not that kind of movie. Then what about the "cloverfield" word in the title? Does it have anything to do with the movie "Cloverfield" produced by J.J. Abrams? The answer is yes. I think this movie happens a little bit after that one. I do not think of this as a sequel, but more like a film with the same background or as they say same universe. 

Ooh, for those of you worried that you will get the same headache when you first time watched Cloverfield, need not worry as it is shown in the normal 3rd person narrative instead of the found-footage method.

If you really do watch this movie, I hope you would enjoy it as much as I did.

Mike's movie moments rating: 4 out of 5 stars

13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi - A Michael Bay Film

A Michael Bay film? Yeah, I know that most people would trash his movies. But for action movie lover such as I, actually quite enjoy his movies. Usually it has the elements of grand action, some slow motion scenes, lots of explosions, car chases and special effects. I believe there is no need for me to mention what films he has directed.

Anyway, I watched this movie after I saw some tweets from CGV Blitz on 2 April 2016 promoting this film, giving 4 reasons why we should watch it. So, without hesitation, I watched it on the following day. 

Well, once the movie started, for the first 10 or 15 minutes, I was starting to think to myself, "what have I gotten myself into?". I truly felt at first that the film was too crowded, with unclear direction where it was going. And no major star actor did not help at all, especially with most of the main characters faces were all bearded and made me difficult to differentiate who was who. LOL.

The movie was shown in Libya in the year 2012, where after Muammar Gaddafi the leader/dictator was overthrown, the country was in chaos and seemed to be without law. US government wanted to help the country and they setup a CIA base in Benghazi with > 20 people working, gathering intel and so on. This base was guarded by 5 ex military people who became private military contractors called Global Response Staff (GRS) led by Tyrone "Rone" Woods (played by James Badge Dale). Other members were Mark "Oz" Geist (played by Max Martini), John "Tig" Tiegen (played by Dominic Fumusa), Kris "Tanto" Paronto (played by Pablo Schreiber) and Boon (played by David Denman). The newest member of the team, Jack Da Silva (played by John Krasinski) just came to Libya to be part of Rone's team. 

In the following half hour or so, we were shown the activities of the CIA members, but mostly the 6 GRS members in the base. It was shown that they were mostly family men who worked there more for financial reasons than patriotic reasons. We were also introduced to the Chief of the CIA base (played by David Costabile) who really dislike GRS. In addition there were also some other agents such as Sona (played by Alexia Barlier), Brit (played by Fredie Noma). Another noteworthy character would be Amahl, a Libyan who helped as translator for the CIA base. And of course Glen (played by Toby Stephens) who was also GRS officer but based in Tripoli.

On the 10th September 2012, the US ambassador Chris Stevens (played by Matt Letscher) was scheduled to come to Libya for maintaining diplomatic relationship. He would be accompanied by team of 2 men consisting of Scott and Dave. They were stationed in a large villa which was bullet proof with the size of 9 acres. Rone's team gave their worried assessments as the place was too large and the people guarding seemed to be inexperienced. Nevertheless, they promised to provide support if needed.

On the day after, due to the 9/11 anniversary, the ambassador was advised to remain at the villa and not go out at all. This would be where the film start to pick up the pace and I say, it was very fast moving forward. We would see that the Libyan militants launched heavy attacks to the villa using machine guns, rocket launcher and setting up fire.

With so few people guarding the villa since the local armies called 17-Feb militia left the compound for the US ambassador guards to fight by themselves, the situation became very critical. The GRS team felt very frustrated as they were not allowed to give aid by the Chief. 

So can Rone's team save the US ambassador? Can they save the CIA base from the attacks? All these would be revealed and rounded off in the 13 hours long of fighting which was compiled in the following 1.5 hour.

I admitted that I got "strapped" to my seat for that remaining part. Watching the movie would make you feel that you were actually in a real war zone. So I could not help but having small sense of relief every time there was like a short "break" during the attacks.

I pretty much had a great moment watching this film. This is based on a true story. The GRS team and CIA people, including the ambassador were real life persons. And by the end of the movie, we would be shown of what happened to the people involved after that 13 hours. I also felt that the GRS team started to grew on me after a while. There were also some very touching moments at the end of the movie, especially involving Jack and his wife Becky (played by Wrenn Schmidt) in addition to small humor here and there. 

For those who like Michael Bay film, this definitely is a must watched. It feels a little bit different from his other movies, but for sure you would like it. For those who do not like him, I still recommend you to try watching this one. It may change your mind a bit about his movies (though I am not counting on it).

Mike's movie moments rating: 3.5 out 5 stars

(TV Series) How to Get Away with Murder - Season 1

This will be my 1st review of a TV series. I chose this one as it is the series that I am currently watching. The title immediately caught my attention as I was choosing what series I wanted to watch during my night rest after hard day's work.

The story revolves around a defense attorney lawyer - Annalise Keating (played by Viola Davis - Eat Pray Love, Blackhat) who also teaches law in the Philadelphia university. She is portrayed as a very strict and ruthless professor where every year, she will choose 4 of her students to be her intern in her court cases. A trophy will be given to the best of these 4 students by the end of the semester which creates competition among the interns.

In the pilot episode, Annalise chose Michaela (played by Aja Naomi King), Connor (played by Jack Falahee), Laurel (played by Karla Souza) and Asher (played by Matt McGorry). Due to some reasons, Annalise somehow added a 5th intern to the curiosity of other students. Last but not least would be Wes (played by Alfred Enoch).

It was also shown in the opening scenes of this episode that Wes, Laurel, Michaela and Connor were busy trying to dispose of a dead body during the college bonfire. And afterwards the story would back track to 3 months prior to that incident. 

After the 5 interns have been chosen, Annalise brought them to her house which also serves as her office where she is aided by Bonnie (played by Liza Weil) and Frank (played by Charlie Weber).

The first case is about the death of a CEO of a major company due to sleeping pills poisoning, where his 2nd assistant (who was also his mistress) is suspected of purposely giving the pills. Annalise asked her interns to find anything that can help for her defense. All the interns would be competing against one another to find any clues and each student would be providing lots of ideas even the out of box thinking.

Meanwhile, we are also introduced to Rebecca Sutter, Wes' neighbor (played by Katie Findley) who is also series regular. Other noteworthy characters would include Nate, the detective in Philadephia PD (played by Billy Brown) and Sam Keating, the husband of Annalise (played by Tom Verica), and also Oliver, Connor's love interest (played by Conrad Ricamora). There is also the case of a missing college student named Lila Stangard (played by Megan West).

The series would be told in 2 time periods. First would be about the disposing body in the start of the series. While second would be about the cases that Annalise and the interns are trying to solve which starts 3 months prior to the disposing body story line and moving forward in each episode until it will be in line with the first time period in episode 9.  

Cases that Annalise and the interns handle would vary in each episode, such as the case of a millionaire accused of murdering his wife, insider trading, defending a son's murder of abusive father, re-opening case of murderer in death row and others. 

I truly had great moments watching this tv series. Each episode makes me want to watch the next one as almost every episode will provide ending that is intriguing, especially episode 9 (which is also a mid-season finale) where we would finally see the complete story line of the body disposal.

Starting from episode 10, the story line would change a little bit but with 1 major case being handled by Annalise & her interns and other cases they would take like in the 1st half of the season.

They have also added few characters with one very exceptional is Hannah Keating (Sam's sister - played by Marcia Gay Harden).

In addition to raising curiosity of the viewers on the murder from pilot episode, viewers are also shown various ways of winning court cases taught by Annalise through her teachings or through the creativity of her interns to find alternatives and evidences.

Each characters would be given their share of story also. Some would involve their love interest which I guess comes with the territory and to keep viewers intrigued and continue watching. I believe this is a series for adults as there are few love making scenes, though not as vulgar as Game Of Thrones or True Blood series but for some people, it can be considered a little too much, such as Connor's part.

So, if you are interested in watching a television series where there are various plots & twists, combined with courtroom scenes and you also want to find out "how to get away with murder", the first season is definitely worth to watch. Especially, if you continue until episode 15 which is the season finale as it would totally blow your mind away. I personally cannot wait until I got the time to watch the 2nd season.

Mike's movie moments rating: 4.5 out 5 stars

Note:

- This series is produced by Shonda Rimes who was the creator of other famous TV series such as Grey's Anatomy - a medical drama and Scandal - a political drama.

- Pilot episode is referred to as the opening episode of a new TV series. A pilot would always be reviewed by Television network whether there are enough people watching it and worthy of producing into full TV series. 

- TV series airing in US networks usually will have some break in the middle of 1 season. The final episode of the 1st half of the season will be called as Mid-season finale. Meanwhile the final episode of the 2nd half of the season is called Season finale.