January Movies

9:51:00 PM

Hey guys...

Geez, didn't i say i was going to do more personal blog posts? I think i haven't written one this month so far, and it's almost the end of the month :(. February is crazy hectic for me and SBB, which i am very grateful for ofc-it just means even less time for me to blog-and when i do, i have to clear out loads of sponsored drafts >.<.

Oh well, before i go back to my sponsored posts/event reviews, i'm not gonna miss out on my monthly movies review! January movies... They were very lackluster i'm being totally honest... Some were fine but most of them are just so so for me.

1. Railroad Tigers

I love Jackie Chan (not as much as hunny does, ofc) and i tend to watch most of his movies-but i think most people would agree with me when i say Jackie Chan movies can be very cheesy-especially if it's an all Chinese production (i think i prefer his Hollywood movies). Including this one. I don't remember much about this movie so imma take a quick peek into the Wikipedia (coz the IMDb isn't much help).

So the setting is in East China in winter 1941 when Japan expands their occupation to Southeast Asia. The railway from Tainjin to Nanjing is a key military transportation route so it's heavily guarded by Japanese soldiers. A railroad worker Ma Yuan leads a team of freedom fighters to sabotage and ambush Japanese soldiers on trains, steal supplies to feed hungry Chinese. Things started to go south and Ma Yuan decides to launch his most dangerous mission-which is almost a mission impossible/suicide mission : to blow up a heavily guarded railroad bridge.

It's... Okay i guess. I was really bored and disinterested the first half and hour of so into the movie, but it gets better. And it's totally refreshing to see the dynamics between Jackie Chan and his son (i think this is their first movie together?), i personally feel that they should do more (and better) movies together. It's not a totally horrible movie, but i wouldn't cry over it if i never watched it.

2. Arrival

Okay this one. Hunny was the one who wanted to watch it, i don't like alien movies (except The Fifth Wave) so i wasn't interested to watch it-but ofc since he wanted to watch it, i went along. Then HE fell asleep halfway through the movie *LOLOLOL*. It's so embarassing whenever he falls asleep during movies coz he SNORES!

Anyway, this movie actually goes back and forth (but at the end of the movie you'd realize that what you thought were the past is not always true) following the start and the end of Louise Banks (who turns out to be an expert linguist)'s young daughter's life at first, then changes setting to when mysterious spacecrafts touch down across the globe-an elite team (in each country where the spacecraft lands) is brought together to investigate and find out their purpose on earth-and that includes Louise for the American team.

It's such... a slow... movie. I got super bored and i understand why hunny fell asleep-but at the end, when everything falls together, at least i understood the movie. Hunny didn't. I wonder if he was asleep longer than i thought he was *LOL*. It's a weird one, takes quite a certain taste to enjoy it. Not my cup of tea (and clearly not hunny's as well) and if i knew the movie was going in this direction, i wouldn't go and watch it :p.

3. The Great Wall

Now, this one is one of the better ones this month. I don't think it's mind-blowingly great or anything, but it was quite entertaining and at least i didn't get bored watching it. The fact that my bae Eddie Peng is one of the Chinese actors in this movie (with fake scars across half his face but still as handsome as the devil nevertheless) obviously helps. You know when you have a strong celebrity crush, you would be smiling like an idiot whenever he/she appears on screen. That's how i feel about him.

William and Tovar are mercenary warriors who travels all the way nearby the Great Wall of China in pursue for the mysterious weapon, the black powder (quite obviously gun powders, yea?). One day their little group is ambushed by inhuman forces and William managed to slash off one of the creatures' hands-only William and Tovar survives the attack. They are pursued by the Khitan bandit and decided to surrender to this secret Military sect called the Nameless Order. They then find out that the Nameless Order are fighting against the same beasts (and they also possess the black powder William has been searching for) as the one William managed to hurt. William has to decide whether he wants to be the hero and join the war or try to steal the black powder and run away with it.

It's quite good really. The action scenes are quite engaging and gripping too. The storyline is very simple, nothing too complicated. Quite recommended if you want some mindless entertainment. I just wish that Eddie had more screen time *LOL*.

4. XXX : Return of Xander Cage

I think it's obvious that i cannot remember the first XXX movie much... When it comes to these kind of movies, they all tend to jumble together in my mind *LOL*. But hunny was really excited about this movie and it turned out quite good.

I'm assuming you remember Xander Cage, the "original" XXX (i put on the " coz i don't really know for sure) was thought to be dead (and replaced by Ice Cube in the second movie?) but apparently he's just really really good at hiding and faking his own death. He comes out (grudgingly, ofc) from his hiding when Gibbons (the founder of XXX program, if i remember correctly. Don't quote me on that) was killed by a crashing satellite that seems to be hacked to kill people. Shortly after, four very skilled individuals (led by Donnie Yen. Still v excited to see Asian superstars in Hollywood movies, dunno why) infiltrates the CIA headquarter and steals the "Pandora's Box", a device that can control the satellites. In order to hunt down those bad asses, the CIA has to form a team that is of the same level as them-that's why they need Cage to step up.

These types of movies (i always categorize XXX as the same genre as Fast and Furious and stuffs) with over the top action scenes are always entertaining to watch-at least now i learn to appreciate them (before i met hunny i would never willingly go to watch such movies haha). Very popcorn, nothing new or mind blowing, but still very good entertainment.

5. Ballerina

This one is apparently re-titled as Leap! in the USA? But it sticks to the original title in Indonesia. I didn't plan on watching it, then Cynthian asked me if i want to watch it with her-hunny sure didn't seem to be interested so i was like... Okay, why not?

Set in 1880 France, an orphan girl named Felicie dreams about becoming a ballerina. With her best friend Victor (who dreams to be an inventor), she runs away to Paris where she pretends to be another girl (Camille) and takes her place in the other girls' ballet class. Although she has no formal training whatsoever, with her endless energy, perserverance and the help of a mysterious cleaning lady named Odette, she pretty much creates a miracle by never getting the axe as the mentor eliminates one girl from the class everyday. Until the real Camille shows up and exposes her.

It's actually so much better than i thought it would be! Story wise, i actually think this is my fave movie in January! It's got heart, it's super engaging and it made me cry *LOL*. I am not a fan of the graphic (as you might already know by now, i like my animation more like Disney's style) but it's still a very good movie. I actually highly recommending this!

6. Monster Trucks

This is the case of underestimating the trailer and getting a nice surprise that the movie is actually better than i thought it's gonna be. Again, it's not super good or anything, but i really thought the trailer was very boring (and we probably seen it 100x already so that made it worse) that i am super thankful that the movie didn't bore me to tears.

Tripp is a high school senior who wants nothing but to get away from his life in his little home town. He builds a Monster Truck from bits and pieces of scrapped cars in his spare times. One day there's a massive accident at a nearby oil-drilling site (whose owners press on with the drilling even though they found a pocket of water with biological life in it), Tripp meets Screech, a creature that then replaces engine for Tripp's monster truck.

It's obviously targeted for younger audiences, and i actually asked my son if he wanted to watch it while secretly hoping he'd say no-he said yes, obvi -___-. But it's really not bad. It's quite funny and sweet so if you have kids-this might be enough to entertain them while keeping you mildly amused too. Would i go and watch it if Little O refused to watch it? Probably not.

7. Resident Evil : The Final Chapter

The last movie of January for me was Resident Evil's latest movie, it states itself to be The Final Chapter but i really wouldn't be surprised if they come up with another one. If you're wondering how i feel about Resident Evil movies in general, you can refer to last month's review on Underworld. Sometimes i have difficulties telling the two franchises apart. I don't hate them but i really don't care much about them-to a point where i find it hard to remember the storyline or who's who.

Apparently this movie picks up right after the last movie, Alice must return to the Hive because the Umbrella Corporation is gathering forces for a final strike to eliminate the only remaining survivors of the apocalypse-and then later must decide whether she is willing to sacrifice herself for humanity.

We made a mistake of watching this movie on a 4DX theatre. I got thrown around so much i actually got super dizzy in the first 10 minutes and wasn't sure what's going on in the screen -___-. Man, no more crazy action movies in 4DX. The good thing was i actually got surprised a few times when the seat jerked back when a creature made a jump scare *LOL*, if it was in normal theatre i wouldn't bat an eyelash coz i don't get scared of fugly creatures. Story wise it's not so bad i think, i mean... There's finally some explanation on who Alice really is and all. I do worry they're gonna make another one after this tho *LOL*. It was okay for me, again-not something i'd worry about missing tho.

So that's all the movies for January! What do you think about them? Anything you like/hate from that list?