8 Times in 2 Months

Hi y'all!

Wonder what the title means? LOL.. It actually refers to how many times we watched movies between (late) May and June! Okay, i actually cheat, we didn't only watch 8 movies in two months (considering we watch movies two to three times a week when they're playing nice ones it's practically impossible to watch only 8 movies in two months!) but i've already reviewed most of the movies we watched on May here (five of them, to be exact), since i am trying to give a more errr.. interesting titles to my posts (which usually has the worst, most cryptic titles *LOL*), that's what i decided to call this post :p!

So yeah, most of the movies are already long disappeared from the cinemas, i don't think i qualify as a proper movie reviewer and all, i just like to list and talk about the movies i watched. A bit for myself actually, as part of my online diary (yes, i was the kind of girl who listed all of the movies i watched complete with the movie tubs slipped into the pages of my real diaries, back in the day), sometimes i forgot what movies i've watched (partly because i watched too many of them, partly because some of them were so boring i completely forget about it within a few days) plus to help people like #Undecided out, who likes to buy DVDs and always ask me for a recommendation haha.

Since i write anytime i want, i think i'm gonna make this kind of "movie reviews" list once in a while, i might forget to mention the movies i watched whenever i write other type of posts but i won't repeat lah, if i already mentioned it as a part of the day's entry then i put it in the list. Reasonable yes? (dunno why i need approval to write in any way on my own blog, i just am too OCD that way).

So the first movie i'm gonna talk about was actually quite special, because it was the very first time in Baby Boy's 5 years and 10 month's life that he ever set foot into the cinema. Like i said many times already, he's a little bit of a scaredy cat haha (he cried before in a theatre, that wasn't even as dim as the cinema!), hates the dark and loud noises, so even if we wanted to bring him to a movie before, he would chickened out *LOL*, happened a few times. But...

It finally happened, Baby Boy in the cinema! LOL

And the movie that was honored to be Baby Boy's first movie in the cinema?

Epic

Of course it's an animation lah (don't think Baby Boy would have any staying power otherwise). How i found the movie? I think it was pretty great! It was funny, had endearing characters (my fave was the slug hahaha), tight storyline and amazing animation. Lots of the scenes were breath-taking and totally kept me entertained from start to finish.

In a super short summary, it was about a girl named M.K. who had to return to her eccentric scientist father who is obsessed with a civilization of tiny humans in the nearby forest. It was not long before M.K. tried to leave because she cannot connect with her dad, and was sucked into the fantasical world of the exact tiny people she 100% didn't believe to exist. She was shrunken down by dying Queen Tara (queen of the forest, voiced by Beyonce, yeah i'd recognize her voice anywhere) and had to help the leafmen get the pod bearing the queen's heir to the trone to safety until it blooms and keep it safe from their enemies, the Boggans. She was joined with a veteran Warrior Leafman, a young and rebellious guy (who's supposed to be a Leafman too but gone AWOL), an uptight Snail (Grub) and a cray cray slug which i LOVED named Mub!

Adorbs Grub and Mub!

It's a feel good, warm-hearted movie that is great for the entire family! I loved it, Baby Boy was thoroughly entertained that he laughed and cheered throughout the movie (he's watched two more movies afterwards but so far i think he liked Epic best! Judging by how enthralled he was from start to finish, while he showed signs of boredom in some parts of the next two movies briefly) and hunny also liked it very much! Highly recommended for anyone of any age, especially fans of fantasy and animations!

The Hangover Part III 

Yeah yeah, i just jumped from animation family movie to a movie that i wouldn't let Baby Boy watch for years to come. LOL. 

I'm pretty sure this is one of the movies that needs no introduction, since The Hangover had been pretty huge with the audience! We have, of course, watched all the previous two movies. This time the wolfpack had to take Alan (after the death of his father) to a mental institution (what took them so long? LOL), but on the way to the hospital they were attacked and Doug (why was it always Doug? I guess because he's the smallest, hence looking the frailest???) was kidnapped and they were forced to track and get Chow (crazy as ever) who escaped from Bangkok's jail earlier and stole the gangster's (who attacked them, he believe they had a connection with Chow and can bring Chow to him) gold. They have to surrender Chow to the gangster in exchange for Doug.

Now, i honestly dislike hearing people's opinion on a movie before i watched it myself, because i am... well, very prone to suggestion and therefore quite easily affected. This time, it was L (as always) who gave us her free review without being asked (thanks, L... NOT!), and she told us that it's nowhere near as funny as the previous two movies. She said maybe because they were actually sober in the entire movie and the hangover part (therefore the HILARIOUS part) was only at the very back, in the end of the movie.

Actually, L and us have very different tastes, especially in movies. So, what she says to be a good movie, doesn't always necessarily turned out to be the best, and vice versa. But this time sadly i have to agree with her zzzz. It's quite flat and dare i say, boring in parts. Not too hilarious, especially compared to my personal fave-the second movie (which left me in stitches for hours!). I read a review just know and one review put it in the title "too much Chow kills this cash show" and i think he is right. It's hilarious to see Chow pops out in every other scene, doing his crazy things, but when he hogged the limelight... It was no longer funny but at times became cheesy and quite annoying. 

In short, it's not a must see movie. If you're looking for pure comedy and crazy moments, skip this one and watch (if you didn't already) the first two instead. But if like me, once you start watching a movie then the sequels are a must watch, then do it but don't let yourself have too much expectations (like i did) because you'd be left with nothing but disappointment.

Now You See Me

It was one of the movies which i wasn't interested in initially just by reading the synopsis and hearing all the buzz about (because this one seriously had a lot of buzz long before they were showing!), but after watching it i realized i'd be missing out if i didn't watch it! In conclusion, this movie was BRILLIANT! Fast paced, unique, interesting, entertaining and not all that predictable!

I'm sure most of you have watched this (#Undecided and husband watched this with us) and most enjoyed it as much as we do (otherwise they wouldn't have so much positive reviews), it's about four (somewhat amateur but exceptionally good) magicians who got "summoned" by a mysterious someone and a year later, exploded to the public as the four horsemen, big time illusionists who perfomed on huge stages. At one of their shows in Las Vegas, they robbed a bank, who turned out to be real. A hot headed FBI was signed to investigate them, but like their motto "the closer you look, the less you see", it was nowhere near easy as nothing ever be as they seemed to be. 

If there are anyone who hadn't watch this, seriously, you're missing out! It's simply one of the most interesting movie this year! It's smart and entertaining, usually smart movies aren't that entertaining for most people, but this one seriously pleases both parties! And girls, if like L, you think this guy is cute and familiar :

Well, that's Dave Franco. Franco, you say? Yes yes, he's the little brother of James Franco. They look a lot alike i think, they have the exact same smile and they also have the same talking style! L also asked me what movie he was in previously, well... He's in Warm Bodies. And if you're old like us and feel like it's wrong to lust after a young guy, he's not that young. He's our peers actually (less than a year younger than L and i), he's just one of those guys who stays young looking forever, therefore always got to play the high school kid (or jerk, mostly). LOL. 

Oh, i also always have a soft spot for Hulk himself, Mr. Mark Ruffalo.

Kamar 308

Did you see how i cleverly slip in one Indonesian movie in the middle of Hollywood movies and hope you guys didn't even realize? No? Well, i tried. LOL. As you already know, i am a HUGE fan of horror movies, and Indonesia used to produce such good, scary movies (like Jelangkung, Tusuk Jelangkung, etc). But it's been a while, lately all of the horror movies are leaning more to pornish-slapstick comedy types, which i HATE. They are just stupid WTF.

Then comes this movie, it seemed quite promising (they even had a controversy to add, the movie was originally titled Samudra Hotel, but were met with strong resistance from various sides-not even from the exact hotel itself, oh yeah it really exist, the hotel. Therefore they changed it into the room's number instead). It's unlike the usual suster ngesot (er... ghost nurse who moves by dragging her body with her hands because her feet was broken or something), pocong (Moslem ghosts that jumps around, Moslem people who died always being wrapped with shroud and tied at several points so the only way the ghosts can move was by jumping around), or kuntilanak (female ghosts who wear white clothes, has a very long hair and likes to laugh scarily), this movie was not actually about a ghost, but more of a deity.

It's about Nyi Roro Kidul, the Queen of Southern Javanese seas. She really has a room dedicated for her in real life, okay! It's one of the most famous Indonesian legend, and until today people would tell you not to wear green colored clothes if you ever visit Southern Javanese seas' beaches because it's her fave color and she'll bring you down and make you her helper in her kingdom under the sea (suddenly Sponge Bob's song's blaring on my head, Who lives in a pineapple under the seaaa...).

The movie revolves around this orphaned (i guess) young woman who got offered to work in Samudra Hotel by a suitor (with strong recommendation from her good friend), and she brought along her little sister. Somehow when she started working, the hotel was actually being shut down for a few days (for extramination purpose, supposedly the surrounding village was struck with dengue fever) and only a handful of upper positioned hotel staffs was staying in the hotel (weird) and weirder things started to happen, her little sister was possesed a few times, she saw a silhouette of a floating magestic lady a few times, and one by one the staffs began to die.

Hmph... It's not the WORST horror movie i've ever watched and i applaud them for tackling on a different kind of horror (because the diety is NOT a ghost okay) but it was too much like a normal horror movie, and some of the casts (not Shandy Aulia, but i might be biased since i've always liked this girl since she was a teeny-whopper actress. And the leading guy's quite convincing too, but the supporting actors are all a joke) are HORRIBLE and hilarious (as in stupid, not in a good way), not to mention wayyy to many holes in the movie (i have so much gripes about the holes, so much that i'm gonna write another entry just dedicated for that). So, not a horror movie worthy of your time (maybe if you're really bored or desperate). I am hoping there will be a decent Indonesian horror movie again in the future. I have not lost hope for the industry. 

After Earth 

On the contrary to Now You See Me, this movie was one that seemed to be very interesting judging from the trailer only. And boy, we've been shoved its trailer time and time again whenever we went to watch movies. It reminded me of Oblivion (the setting, the background story), but sadly, nowhere near as good as Oblivion. We heard before we actually got to watch it that this movie tanked at the box office, at the time we didn't know why (coz we still thought it was an entertaining movie, at least), but once we saw it, we wonder no more. LOL.

The story's pretty simple (or maybe too simple, with not enough action to make up for its simplicity), about a teenage boy coming of age who is quite distant from his General father (spurred by a family tragedy earlier on earth) in a world where the humans have vacated the earth after it being deemed unfit for human living. They were stranded on, where else, the earth after their spaceship was crashed by an asteroid. The general was left badly injured and had to rely on his son to get to the other part of the ship that was broken and fell off faraway from their current location. The movie mainly follows young Kitai on his journey towards the other end of the ship, and also his journey to manhood. 

It's, in short, very boring. And i don't think the cast was perfect either (not that i think casting other people would help this movie), Jaden Smith was actually okay (but not too convincing as a scaredy boy, he was much more convincing towards the end when he finally found his courage and became a warrior on his own rights), but Will Smith was all wrong. He was nowhere near convincing as an hard-ass, strict dad with no sensitivity at all towards his sensitive son. I dunno if i watched him in too many comedies that it was weird seeing him as a hard as nail kind of dad, but i didn't buy it (plus he was really really stiff and delivered very stilted lines. Maybe he mistaken being stiff as being a hard core strict dad?). He looked to sweet and kind for this role. I think Jaden totally bullies him in real life. LOL.

It got better towards the end, but the last few minutes didn't help the long long dragging story for the first (and half) few hours. If they were to follow such a simple storyline, i guess a little bit more action would help this. This movie probably try to rely more on the coming of age part, but no... It didn't really worked. Not for me at least. I'd skip this movie altogether.

Man Of Steel

Another movie that i think everybody had watched (summer is the time for blockbuster movies after all) and definitely needed no introduction. After all, they said Superman's symbol was one of the most recognized symbol on earth after Christian's cross. And i can't believe i'm saying this, but this is my favorite super hero movie to date.

Of course, it tells the story of Clark Kent, who went on a search to find his true self (he knows from a young age that he was adopted and not of this world). Unlike previous superman movies, this one actually explores where he came from (Krypton, obviously, everybody knows that), and digs deep about his origins and background. The first quarter of this movie was set in Krypton, where the kind of suit superman wore is a norm and therefore, you won't find it too odd why he was wearing those suit with a cape all of a sudden.

This is also so very very different from any Superman movie ever made before (on big or small screen), it is so much more grown up, realistic and believeable. It also very touching and made superman himself very humane. But of course, they hardly ever called him "superman" in the entire movie, and that totally adds to the grown up aura this movie had (calling someone superman is hardly very adult, isn't it? LOL). It's not at all comical, and i am very glad they decided to lose the red panties (or removed it inside for all i know haha).

Also liked how they made Lois Lane so much stronger and independent (instead of being the helpless girl who continued being kidnapped as a hostage), and even though Amy Adams isn't someone who i pictured to play her, she did a fantastic job (even though she didn't look nearly as pretty as usual in this movie). And i must admit, i was one of those who was skeptical about them casting Henry Cavill as the man of steel himself.

Henry Cavill

I never found him to be attractive, in fact i scowled when i read Stephanie Meyer pictured him while writing the character of Edward Cullen. I didn't find him all that hot in Immortal, and i really dislike his character in The Cold Light of Day. Plus usually actors who plays Superman are really pretty, almost doll-like (Brandon Routh...) and they typically looked a bit alike, Henry was always too scruffy, too rough looking to be playing the same role that used to be played by such pretty guys. But man, was i wrong. He buffed up (*drool*) for this role, and his new body totally suited him! And his brings realness, more human touch for this alien, and made him endearing and drool-able all at the same time. 

All i can say that, he left me having a few sleepless nights, thinking of how hot he was when he was flying down in circle with Lois Lane in his arms. He was so damn manly and broody, even such comical and iconic scene became all new and grown up. 

If you haven't watch this, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN???? Go watch it now!!! I personally think this movie would make even the most cynical superhero movies haters to warm up a bit, yes it was that good! I guess Christopher Nolan really is my hero, and i didn't even think he can do better than what he did for Dark Knight, but he totally did! A must see movie for all!

Monster University

This is the second movie Baby Boy ever watched. We were waiting for this movie for a long long time, i even thought once that this movie was made a long long time ago and never made it to Indonesia, since they had hyped this movie for so long! I LOVE LOVE LOVE the first movie, so i was really looking forward to this second one (that actually flashback-ed to the time when Mike and Sulley were young, university students).

Too bad, it was nowhere near as good as the original one. This follows the story on how Mike Wazowski and Sulley met, how they once couldn't stand each other and kept on competing with each other, despite on how different they both were (Mike was the grade A student who works his ass off learning the theories in scaring, while Sulley was the laid back, party lover monster who never even touched a book to study) and how they overcame all their differences and became the best of friends.

It's... a little bit boring at times. There are a few hilarious scenes (one that i remember the most was the snail trying to run because he didn't want to be late on his first day at school, but he's a snail so he didn't even move an inch! That didn't sound funny in words, but in the movie it was pretty hilarious) and all, but in the end i was pretty disappointed on how bad it was compared to the first one.

Baby Boy also didn't enjoy it as much as he did Epic, he moved around a few times, playing with the Superman figurine on top of hunny's tumbler (yes, he collects them. Bought one of Superman and two or Minions when we were in Jakarta) and all, but he stayed through the movie and laughs at some parts *LOL*. 

All and all, i think it was pretty mediocre. Sure, it was okay, quite funny too, but i guess since it is a prequel, one would always compare it to the previous work. I guess on its own, it was acceptable, yes you can watch it to pass the time and have a few laughs, but if like me, you loved the first movie and had a high expectation for this one, i must warn you that you might be dissapointed.

World War Z

This is the movie that Rosemary and my hunny had been waiting for a very long time for *LOL*. My myself, since i am not much of a zombie movie fan (except for Warm Bodies, which almost didn't count anyway) wasn't too interested or whatever. 

Like the title suggested, it combines world war story (but against zombies...) with, well... the Zs. Gerry was a former UN employee, and he was recruited by his former employer to find the cure for this ... plague i guess. He must race against the time to find where it came from in hope that it would lead him to a cure somehow. He was actually blackmailed into accepting this, or his whole family would be thrown out of the safe ship, away from all of the calamity.

I personally don't have too much opinions towards this movie. I didn't go crazy over it or whatever (thankfully we didn't actually pay for this movie's tickets! Watched this at Blitz Megaplex in Jakarta and apparently on weekends you can exchange your Niaga debit card's points with free tickets! My Niaga points are worthless in Surabaya :(...), but it also didn't bore me. It kept me entertained from start to finish.

I do find the zombies to be a little bit weird and stupid looking *the way they chattered their teeth to threaten people LOLOLOL, i couldn't stop mimicking it for days! It was so ridiculous), Brad Pitt never looked so old before (need BOTOX!), but the story was different than your usual zombie movies so it's a plus. And all of the actions also kept me on my seat, so it was not bad at all.

In conclusion, whether you're a zombie or non zombie movie lovers, it's quite watchable. It's a pretty good alternative to spend some time. You shouldn't hate yourself if you missed it though, i for once, would say that this one is not a must watch. It's a watch-it-if-you-have-time (and spare money) kind of movie. Not bad, but not super good either.

That's all of the movies i have lined for you all for now, guys... I think i'm gonna lump the movies i watched (and still going to) in July together, since it's so much easier to keep track that way. 

Hope you enjoyed my reviews!

Leaving you with another picture of Baby Boy in the cinema hahaha

#Pink