CRIMINAL - The Mission is in the Memory

During the past weekend and this super long weekend in Indonesia, there are not a lot of options for movie enthusiast like me. Between Captain America: Civil War and AADC2 which are occupying most of the theaters in the 3 major cineplexes, there was a new Hollywood movie released on Wednesday titled Criminal.

It is surprising to see such a large ensemble cast in a movie which did not have a lot of hypes when it was shown in Indonesia. Even to watch this movie, it takes a bit of an effort since there were only like 11 cinemas showing it in Jakarta. Ok, so let's move on to the movie itself.

Brief Story Line (warning some spoilers, so you can skip this part if you are not interested)

Movie is about a CIA agent named Bill Pope (played by Ryan Reynolds - Deadpool etc) who took a bag full of money and passport from some place. He then called his wife Jill (played by Gal Gadot - FF5 & 6 and as Wonder Woman in DC movies) and his daughter Emma before noticing he was being chased by a group of bad people.

In the CIA headquarter in London, their leader Quaker (played by Gary Oldman - The Dark Knight trilogy etc) was worried about the safety of Bill so he sent a team to assist Bill. However, the main villain Heimbahl - an anarchist who did not trust governments was able to intercept and caught Bill. He wanted to find out where Jan Stroop aka Dutchman, a hacker who managed to have the wormhole to the weapon/missile system was hiding. If the codes should fall into the wrong hands, this would potentially create chaos and war.

When Quaker's team finally able to track down Bill's whereabouts, they were too late and he was found dead at the scene. Later CIA looked for the help of Dr. Franks (played by the veteran Tommy Lee Jones) to retract Bill's memory from his brain and put into someone else which was basically what Dr. Franks 18 years research all about. Though this was never experimented on actual human beings, but it appeared to be the only option then to find out Dutchman's location. However, the trick was to find the person able to receive Bill's memories. It should be a person whose frontal lobe brain not properly developed. The best available candidate was a psychopath who did not have emotion and could not differentiate between right and wrong, a criminal named Jericho Stewart (played by Kevin Costner - The Bodyguard, Dances with Wolves, Robin Hood etc).

At first when the operation was done, it appeared unsuccessful and Quaker was very upset. So he instructed Jericho to be returned to prison. But apparently it was successful as Jericho started to have some of Bill's memories and feelings coming to him piece by piece. Unfortunately one of the thing he remembered was the bag full of money which for him was very interesting. Hence, start his mission to look for the money by looking from various places, starting from Bill's home where Jill & Emma still staying.

This act was found out by Quaker's team and they realized he started to have Bill's memory. And Heimbahl also managed to learnt about this info. Hunted by Quaker & his CIA team and also Heimbahl's assassins, Jericho tried all his best to avoid them while looking for the money. This was also made complicated with the feelings he started to have from Bill's memory, especially for Jill and Emma.

So can Jericho outrun all of them? Can he get the money he wanted so bad? What will happen to him and will he be having Bill's memory permanently or will he lose it? Find them all in the movie.

End of Brief Story Line

To all of you looking for something different than the 2 biggest movies playing in theater now, I believe this can be an option. It is not a spectacular action movie. It is not a pure science fiction either (even though transferring brain memory to another would classify as that). I think this one is more like a thriller, with some actions but not special effects kind/cgi kind.  

Of course there were certain parts where I felt a bit unrealistic (the ending part) from my opinion. But hey, this was not supposed to be that kind of movie. So just sit back and enjoy the show. Btw, if you are a big fan of Kevin Costner, this would feel a little bit different from his other films, coz he has to be a psychopath in this movie, so his actions were sadistic, but somehow it made him likeable to us audiences as well. 

Mike's movie moments rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Captain America: Civil War - Biggest Fight Among Marvel Super Heroes

This was one of my most anticipated movies of this year but when it premiered on 27 April 2016, I was very busy with work and had no chance to watch it. Lucky for me that my wife got a free movie voucher which she passed to me as she was unable to use while she is in Bali for her staycation trip. So on the weekend, I went to the theater and fortunately there was still an empty seat in the middle of the last row, which of course I immediately took it.

Now starting from this post onwards, I am going to do something a little bit different on my reviews. I will separate the brief story line in few paragraphs under a section called "Brief Story Line" (not very creative, I know but it does clarify what it's all about). I hope differentiating these few paragraphs would enable those who do not want to know what the movie's plots & stories can just go direct to the moments that I experienced (you can call it the conclusion or the recommendation or anything). So, here goes:

Brief Story Line

Movie starts with the scene of Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan) in 1991 brainwashed by HYDRA officer. Move on to the present day, Steve Rogers/Captain America (Chris Evans), Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Sam Wilson/Falcon (Anthonie Mackie) together with their latest group member Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) were on a mission in Lagos, Nigeria to capture Rumlow who wanted to steal a biochemical weapon. 

(TV SERIES) Sherlock - Modern Day Adaptation of the Famous Detective

At first, I thought that this is a series set in the 19th century just like in the books written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. But apparently it was told in the modern day. So instead of seeing Sherlock Holmes using a large magnifying glass, we will see him using his smartphone. Instead of writing books, he writes blogs. and all other modern culture references in the current day London.

Anyway, this series only consisted of 3 episodes in each season. The first season started in year 2010 and each episode has a length of approx 1.5 hours. What I am about to write next would be related to the first season.

Episode 1 titled "A Study In Pink" would introduce us to Dr. John Watson (played by Martin Freeman - as Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit trilogy), an ex military person who just came back from war. He was advised by his therapist to do normal people's stuff and write about his experience in his blog. While walking by himself, he met an old friend who informed him of his friend looking for a room mate to share the rent. Watson was interested and introduced to this person who happened to be Sherlock Holmes (played by Benedict Cumberbatch - Star Trek Into Darkness, Imitation Games etc).

Needless to say, Sherlock who was able to deduce many things about Watson and made him intrigued and interested. So they both went to the apartment located at 221B Baker Street (for those who has ever read Sherlock Holmes stories would know that this is the address of his home). The landlady was Mrs. Hudson, who Sherlock & Watson sometimes asked her help as if she was their housekeeper.

The first case was about a series of suicides which at first seemed unrelated but Sherlock was able to deduce that they were not suicides and they were done so smartly by a serial killer. Using his power mind, Sherlock was always able to find out things that the normal eyes, coroner or even the lead detective, Detective Inspector Greg Lestrade could not see. These very very quick deduction made by Sherlock would always amazed Watson. He thought it was very fantastic for Sherlock to do those deductions, including in the very early stage where Sherlock gave the explanation of how he was able to find out so many things about Watson so fast. So this episode would be more of introduction to the characters.

Episode 2 titled "The Blind Banker" would tell the story where Sherlock was asked by his old college friend to investigate on the break-in of the bank where he worked at, leaving paint symbols on the wall which at first seemed random. The investigation would reveal something a lot bigger than just the break-in and involved lots of other people.

In this episode, instead of Detective Lestrade, another detective inspector named Dimmock would be the representative from police, whom at first was very skeptical of Sherlock.

We would also see Watson started to be a little irritated with Sherlock's way of doing things by himself including also his remarks about Watson (and everyone else) never use their brain. But ultimately Watson was still very protective of Sherlock and amazed with his deductions ability. 

Last episode of the 1st season, titled "The Great Game" was I think the best of them all. This was a very very fast paced episode. Sherlock was given the task of finding out the fault or crime done by other people with certain hours to complete before a person who was strapped with bombs would be blown up. In total there were 4 cases that Sherlock must solved. Meanwhile, Watson also would help on another smaller case provided by Sherlock's brother Mycroft Holmes who worked for the government about the missing flash disc contains a secret weapon information. 

This episode would totally blow your mind and strapped you to your seat. With such fast pace, you do not want to miss a scene. And the ending was just crazy and made you want to watch the second season immediately as it ended with cliffhanger. There was also a new character introduced here that would be crucial to future seasons played by Andrew Scott.

In conclusion, the first season of Sherlock was totally great! I really truly enjoyed this TV Series. The portrayal of Sherlock in modern day is such a nice touch that it would made the new generations love this series, while the older generation who have read the books, I am sure would be appreciative of how Sherlock would be in the current situation. Watson portrayal also is very nice, and I can imagine the real Watson would be like this. He was always serious, very English, and charming to the ladies. I believe Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman did a fantastic job in this series. 

Other characters also were very lively and add to the charm of the series, such as Mycroft Holmes, Mrs. Hudson, even Lestrade.

So I am going to give the first season of this series something that I never done before, which is to give it a 5 stars!

This is a very very recommended TV Series. I am just hopeful that the 2nd and later seasons would be as incredible as this one.

Oooh before I forgot. They somehow produced the pilot episode in a shorter version (less than 1 hour), which I happened to watch first and confused why the episode was similar to the 1 that saw next. Apparently that version never aired and I suggest to avoid confusion, better stick to the ones shown (the 1.5 hour long) and only watch this one if you are interested. That one since it was shorter, did not introduce to the important character we would see in the future episodes.

Mike's movie moments rating: 5 out 5 stars