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Tuesday, January 26, 2016

December Movies

So this month the monthly movies review is more than just a tad late.

I swear i wanted to blog it once i returned from Japan (not more than a week later) but... I kinda forgot what movies we've watched on December (sometimes the movies just jumbled together in my brain and i always say "We watched that LAST month? I thought it was 3 months ago!"). I always write the movies down in my old Blackberry (that i don't use much anymore ever since i got my Iphone. Just use it for BBM and writing down notes) and... Well. I lost my Blackberry in Japan -___-.

If you've been following this blog for awhile then you'd know this is the second time i lost my Blackberry FML. Fortunately (if i can even call it that) this time round i lost it oversea and all of our possessions are insured. You know how i feel about travel insurance, but for once i'm quite grateful that hunny didn't even ask for my opinion and went ahead and got us insurance. Lost it pretty early in the trip so we managed to get the crucial documents from the police (not like it mattered last time, but i am much smarter and bitchier now so the insurance company better not try anything smart to me) and all of other documents needed to claim the insurance. Everything is sent and we're just waiting for the process. They do anything funny there's gonna be a second part of that rant post.

ANYWAY.

That's why i didn't blog sooner. Lost all wills because whenever i think about writing this, i remember about my old, trusted Blackberry again. Some people make jokes about how nice it is, just lose your old things and get a new one when i'm overseas, i know it's just a joke but it offends me a bit. I am not that kind of person. Instead of a new one, i'd be much happier if i can get my old phone back. I'm sentimental like that. Not to mention all of those important notes i have in it. SIGH. Now i gotta start them anew, mostly based on my (crusty) memory.

So i'm not even sure if i'm going to be able to review all of the movies we actually watched last month. Might miss one or two *sigh* coz we simply can't remember!

Oh well, here are those that we do remember.
If you know me then it's easy to see that this is not the kind of movie i am excited for #LOL. I wasn't. Wouldn't even consider watching it if hunny's not so insistent on doing so. After watching it, even though it wasn't bad or anything, it left me with nothing -___-. Definitely not my kind of movie, but it's still watchable and pretty good to spend some time on.

An extreme sports addict slash famous Youtuber is looking for a change of career, he wants to be an FBI agent after losing his best friend in an accident which he believes to be his fault. His first assignment is to find and identify individuals who comitted some mind-boggling crimes at crazy and extreme circumstances, seemingly without any obvious gain for themselves. He went undercover so deep and found himself in his old world, and finding more than some things in common with the supposed enemies-he found brothership (should i say, bromance?) with them. When things got out of control, he has to make a choice between his new and old world.

This movie is sure is a show off. I mean, loads of adrenaline inducing, BIG scenes that make you gasp and gawk. But i don't see a lot of point in it. I ended up with "But whyyyy?" in the end of the movie *LOL*. Maybe i don't get it because i am not an adrenaline junkie. Heck, i have to be dragged to get on most scary rides (did i tell you i cried when we rode Tower of Terror in DisneySea? Yeah, i did. But more because i was scared because it's my first time. It's nowhere as scary as how i expected it to be *LOL*) so risking your life for the thrill of it... is not something that i can understand. Maybe you need to have that (passion) to be able to be immersed in this movie. In the meantime, it's pretty entertaining and thrilling so i would recommend watching it if you want to live precariously through someone. On the screen.

PS : Luke Bracey reminded me of young Paul Walker and that saddened me. At the same time i can't believe he's 26, he looks so much older than me -____-

I never really watched Snoopy's series (i didn't even know that it's actually called The Peanuts before) when i was little, i was a strange kid who didn't like cartoon too much. When i do watch cartoons, i prefer Japanese ones (Doraemon and Sailor Moon are my fave!). When i saw the trailer, it looks like a sweet, wholesome movie (it was) that i should drag my son to before he gets too old to enjoy it.

Unlike me, you might be more familiar with the Peanuts gang (i only know Snoopy, believe it or not). Charlie Brown (Snoopy's BFF) is a sweet, kind little boy who thinks (and thought of by his peers) of himself as a loser. He fell in love with a pretty red-haired girl who just moved in town and he's trying very hard to be a better version of himself to win her over, with the help of Snoopy-who also spends a lot of time imagining that he's a world class jet pilot in pursue of his nemesis, the Red Baron.

It's a very sweet movie, and innocent. And not something most kids nowadays used to. It's quite pure so i was a tad worried that it might be boring for Little O (he was engrossed. His daddy, on the other hand, fell asleep quite a few times). I personally enjoyed it, there are parts that got me bored (not a fan of those scenes of Snoopy's imaginations), but i did love it in the most part. It also touched me, and i love the moral of the movie as well. They simply don't make that kind of kid movies anymore. I would highly recommend this movie especially for those with young children. It taught us that it's okay not to always be the hero, it's okay to be sweet (most kids these days would think that it's not cool to be sweet), and ordinary. And kindness always wins in the end.

Wanna see Thor got skeletal? Go see this! Just kidding. It's a great movie, i definitely liked it a lot. It's about the whaling ship that got assaulted by a giant whale (a whale is gigantic already, talk about massive!) and later inspired Moby-Dick. I never read Moby-Dick though, i didn't know what to expect.

This movie mostly tells the story of Owen Chase, an experienced sea-man and whaling expert who has the disadvantage in climbing the "corporate ladder" in the whaling world due to his background. He is, once again, having to take a second place in the newest expedition to babysit a richman's son with the right background to be the captain of their whaling expedition. One fateful day, their ship sunk because of  a mammoth sized whale attack and we got to see how the team must do anything and everything they can do in order to survive.

It's good, much better than i expected. I was worried i might get bored (especially because KC insisted and dragged us to watch it in Premiere XXI. I don't like watching movies in Premiere, weird as it might sound. I prefer to sit comfortably in normal movie seats!), but it wasn't boring at all. It was intense and gripping. It's quite of a must see and i am glad to see Chris Hemsworth owning the role. I honestly never liked his other roles other than Thor, but in this movie he really became Owen Chase.

I like Raditya Dika a lot, he's so effing hilarious i can't even. I watched most of his movies (but mostly when he plays himself) and never dislike any of them. But i was a bit hesitant about this movie because he's playing someone else and i'm not sure that he's a good actor *LOL*. But i needn't worry, he's smart enough to write the character to resemble his normal self (just a bit stupider and more innocent) that he still looked comfortable enough.

Ebi (Raditya Dika) is a single 27 year old (in Indonesia, if you're still single at 27 it's questionable *LOL*, people are expected to be married in their late 20s), very naive and a little bit of a loser. He still can't find a job (not even a good job, any job at all), lives in a kost an (basically a huge house with multiple rooms rented for various people) with his 2 best friends and still asks for money from his mother. He is very desperate for a girlfriend and tries to find one in any way he can-with the help of his two friends. He then fell in love with a new girl that just moved in, but not only his own insecurity prevent his from making a move, she also comes with her own baggage, including a super annoying "big bro" who always had a crush on her.

It's HILARIOUS seriously. I hate how most Indonesian comedies are slapsticks and stupid nowadays, but with the emergence of those stand up comedians making movies, we are in for a treat! Smarter jokes, subtle but super silly gestures, simple but big hearted stories, well they definitely win us over with their kind of comedy! I highly recommend this movie for anyone, i think it got English subs too for overseas market, hopefully the jokes won't get lost in translation. It's highly recommended and suitable for everybody (except children for some of the cruder jokes).

I'm definitely not a fan of Star Wars, in fact i am one of those who must be eliminated according to Star Wars fanatics because i used to not be able to differentiate between Star Wars and Star Trek *LOL*. I am better than that now, but i still don't know much about Star Wars except for the central characters (thanks for the crash lesson, Little O!). I almost totally refused to watch this movie (because i haven't watched the first 6 movies WTF wouldn't i be more than a little lost?), i tried watching the older ones on TV with hunny and Little O but i really don't like old movies. Alas, my little boy is a huge fan of Star Wars (nerd hottie in the making?) so we went to watch it anyway. I was surprised because it was easy enough to understand (although i did have to ask Little O once i a while who that person on the screen was *LOL*) and it's actually very entertaining!

I'm not good at explaining this kind of movies, so imma copy the synopsis from their IMDb :

30 years after the defeat of Darth Vader and the Empire, Rey, a scavenger from the planet Jakku, finds a BB-8 droid that knows the whereabouts of the long lost Luke Skywalker. Rey, as well as a rogue stormtrooper and two smugglers, are thrown into the middle of a battle between the resistance and the daunting legions of the First Order.

Yeah, that. I don't know if (according to hunny) it's easier to watch and more family (and girls) friendly because it's now owned by Disney, but i do like it a lot (so those who are in the same boat as me, don't worry-go watch it!). It's funny, it's entertaining and it's thrilling. I would no longer resist watching the next installment *LOL*. At the moment i have to deal with a BB8-obsessed husband and Storm Trooper/Kylo Ren-obsessed son. I don't mind collecting the merchandises though, they're cute.

Ip Man makes me like Donnie Yen. A lot. I used to see him as this non-descript fighting guy in Chinese movies-but now i totally associate him with Ip Man. Love him as Ip Man, still can't enjoy watching his other movies. It's like he becomes Ip Man now, any other roles makes him look unnatural (a bit like Thor up there). 

In this third installment, Ip Man witnessed a band of brutal gangsters led by a crooked property developer trying to take over the city. They even wreak havoc in his son's school because they wanted to buy the place, and the headmaster (who's also the owner, i guess) refused (and rightfully so) to. He and his students kept watch of the school, while his deteriorating wife (unknown to him, she's getting very ill) getting more and more agitated as he spends more time protecting the school (and city) than his own family.

Story wise, it's not as solid as the first two movies. There are a lot more added drama (i'm not sure that the real Ip Man really fought off a black boxer back in the day), but it's still good. And Donnie Yen proves that he CAN act (those scenes with the dying wife...), not only fight. And people commented on how the other guy was trying too hard to be Asian Johnny Depp (LOL. I didn't realize it when i watched it, but i sort of get in when i was told). Lots of fascinating wing chun fights of course, a must see for all martial art fans (or non fans. I was never a fan of martial art anything, but i loved Ip Man), action movie fans, Chinese movie fans, or any movie goers really. I'm sad that this is (most probably) the last time we're seeing Donnie Yen as Ip Man. Unless they decided to make a Bruce Lee movie on this Ip Man-training day, that is.

I THINK that those are all the movies we watched in December. I can't think of anymore, if there's any that i missed then i will be reviewing it when i remember it *LOL*. Like this movie, which supposed to be in October Movies but totally slipped my mind :

American Ultra
There's something compelling about Jesse Eisenberg. He's not conventionally good looking, he doesn't look tough, he's not super charming but i like to watch him. Especially when he's playing a weird, sensitive, anti hero like his role in American Ultra (i like to see him as a cold, badass sorta jerk-like his role in Now You See Me too). Kristen Stewart in the other hand, i don't get her. I don't get how she still got roles *LOL*. I don't think she can act -___-. And she's not even that pretty. I guess Twilight gave her career insurance.

Mike Howell lives in a small town in the middle of nowhere, where nothing ever really happens. He spends most of his time getting high with his girlfriend and write comic books about super hero monkey. But what he doesn't know is that he was actually a trained killing machine made by CIA. He is then targeted for termination, got activated by his former handler (his skills woke up but somehow he still had no idea what's going on, probably due to the drugs) and must avoid all of the killers unleashed by the CIA to eliminate him, save himself and his girlfriend with his newfound powers.

I like this movie, it's crazy! Funny, exciting, and you root for the total loser-with-superhuman-powers to the end! I personally think it's a very cool movie (although you can totally replace Kristen with any generic Hollywood girl, it wouldn't make any difference. She brings nothing to this movie) and would totally recommend this to anyone (who has weird tastes like me).

Okay! That's all! It's almost the end of January and i would have to work on January Movies soon. LE SIGH.
Bare-faced and nerdy looking
#Pink

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