Reviews

I was working in Jakarta at the time of the incident, there should be more to put ibto the story rather than this half-baked try of a film. The crowds gathering at the scene mere hours after the incident should show the city's defiance to terror, instead of one single mention of the hashtag #kamitidaktakut. The sate vendor should also get more backstory instead of just being the seller at which the bad guys and the victim accidentally met. Also there are events not captured in this movie, ones that were instead broadcasted live in the news that day via footage by people working at the upper floors of nearby buildings. Also there was the incident of an off-duty Indonesian intelligence officer at the scene, actively engaging the terrorirsts at the shootout, from within thw Skyline Building premises.

Just caught this on an online source, started the playback expecting it to at least bring about some of the horror side of exorcism movies. Quite frankly, I'd say this movie didn't scare me one bit. Plus the Russell Crowe depiction of the whiskey-drinking, joke-cracking exorcist, the least scare I expected going deeper into the movie. What I didn't expect to be wowed by is in fact how the movie depicts the relation between our own sin, guilt, God's forgiveness, acceptance of that forgiveness, and afterward claiming the power to banish the devil in God's name. It all adds up to the bible's description, sans the need to recognize the demon's name in order to banish it proper. Maybe I just forget the biblical reference, but I remember they did that too in the Conjuring.

I've watched the original movie, and recently found this supposedly extended cut on my free Prime Video subscription included with my mobile data package. Went to check what's the difference and found that it boasts up to 40 minutes of added footage. The longer duration was supposed to add more fright for the viewers, but I didn't get any. The added footage was just bits and pieces put scrambled here and there, adding luttle to the whole story and having little to no significance to improve the movie. For me, the biggest let down is the fact that the boasted 40 minutes of extra runtime actually consists of some 15 minutes footage extended teaser of another movie from the same story author and production company. All in all, I am just glad I didn't spend any money to watch this without getting sufficient value addition compared to the original movie.

If I watched this movie before I watched Bicycle Thieves, maybe it would've ended up as just another post-war movie for me. But in combo of Bicycle Thieves, this movie tells the complete story from both sides of the war victors and losers; none get the happy live. War torn everything, even the lives of the victors. We see it first hand as how Homer struggles to regain himself after losing his hands. Fred also struggles as he has everything a decent man dreams of, but lacks any other skill that he has to bow himself down to the harsh reality of the available work. AL also struggles morally as he chooses to do the right thing. And as we see only Homer's and Frede's story closes out well, as Al's didn't really get a justified ending to his ordeal. The actors did a great job in bringing live to the scenes.

Nancy Adams go to a solo surf vacation to a beach where her mom used to surf in Mexico. But as the movie's trailer and promotion materials simply put, now there's something different on the beach. Bitten and having her body giving in to gangrene, she fought alone in avoiding the shark which is determined to eat her. But at the end she gains the courage to fight the predator back and win her life.

As you ca see, I've decided to shorten my plot summary part for my movie reviews here as it would help me finish these posts quicker, LOL. Back to topic, The Shallows (2016) feels like a mix of a few different movies altogether. You'll definitely feel the Jaws (1965) mix, some degree of All is Lost (2013), and a hint of Soul Surfer (2011). But the thing is, having signatures of all those movies together didn't really help this movie's creators on how to incorporate them well and creating something new to see.

We still get the usual dose of sex appeal, like if the audience are those who will only see this movie for Blake Lively's body. Also story- wise, the movie didn't really build it's background well. The buildup that's supposed to ground Nancy's will to fight, that she lost her mother and she's currently distancing herself from her family, didn't really connect to the story as a whole, as they're not well reinforced. The whole deal with the ride and the surf just takes the movie into a very slow pace that it got very hard for the movie to suddenly jump into the thriller parts.

Speaking of the thriller parts, you don't get a fair amount of suspense from this movie. The thriller is mostly anticipation mood buildup where the saddening things mostly happen outside of the camera angle and we'll only see Nancy's reaction to it. There's just small amount of real shark fight moments that arouses our adrenaline. But in my opinion, the movie did well enough in setting up the flow after the buoy sequence kicks in. And the ending is something that is out of the classic shark movies.

The acting overall is just a standard level performance, as it's all Blake Lively's scenes and she performed just at a standard level. The CGI feels quite nice as the movie adds in the nice placement, duration and camera angle considerations to keep the CGI just out of the keen eye's ability to discern it.

My say for The Shallows (2016) is a 6 out of 10. Is it recommended? I think so, but only if you watch it for free, LOL, as the suspense level isn't as satisfactory as expected.

Three sisters Sachi, Yoshino and Chika live together in their old house. Their father abandoned them as kids and ran our with another woman. Soon their mother followed suit and left them with their grandmother. As their father died, while already married to his third wife, they find their half sister Suzu, their father's daughter from her second wife. The movie tells the story with Suzu as a new addition to the house, including the friction with the sister's mother, Suzu's development in her new environment, and the deaths of close people the sisters know from childhood. I really like this movie. It's no secret that Japan can also produce gripping family drama stories like this. Our Little Sister (2015) tells us a "what if" story which may not happen in the real world, but the story's development is nicely logic and emotional at the same time, without having to be full with confrontation. I like how the story stretches wide enough but still gets confined into the limits of the small town where the sisters live in.

What strikes as strange is that this is the second good Japan drama movie that has great story after Departures (2008). Both movies strongly feature themes related to death, particularly death of an estranged father. Both also focus on the live of small Japanese town instead of the metropolitan or the rural area.

Acting-wise, Haruka Ayase, Masami Nagasawa, Kaho and Suzu Hirose did well in giving life to their characters. I like how the they kept their character steady along the whole two hours of the movie. They acted well that audience will easily sympathize to them, even though their characters have oddly awkward backgrounds facing each other, particularly Suzu to the sisters. My say for Our Little Sister (2015) is a solid 7 out of 10. For me it's a really recommended watch. But then again it may be hard to find this movie in local theaters.

1947. Dalton Trumbo was one of Hollywood's finest screenwriter, and a known communist. He and his fellow Hollywood communists including Arlen Hird, Ian McLelland Hunter, Edward G. Robinson soon found ideological enemies in the columnist Hedda Hopper, actor John Wayne, and the Congressman J. Barnell Thomas, who heads The House of Un-American Activities Committee. The committee subpoenaed Trumbo and 19 others on communist activities. 9 of them follows Trumbo's lead to not to answer the committee's questioning, getting them tried for contempt of Congress. Hedda forces MGM to push all studios to fire the Hollywood 10. The trial found the 10 guilty. Trumbo filed an appeal but couldn't get any work. He wrote the script for Roman Holiday under Ian McLelland Hunter's name. A judge on the 10's case died, leaving the case hopeless and the men going to jail in 1950. Arlen Hird got lucky because the government put him in a hospital due to his cancer. Trumbo befriended Virgil Brooks in jail. He also met the ex-Congressman Thomas there. Eddie Robinson got subpoenaed and he betrayed his fellows and sold their names, this time naming Ian Hunter. April 1951 saw Trumbo's release, but still he couldn't get any job. He came to Frank King's meager studio, getting screen writing jobs under pseudonyms. But his ideology as a communist stills took tolls on him and his family as his neighbors vandalized his house. 1953 saw Roman Holiday made it big but Trumbo and even Ian Hunter didn't get its fruits due to the blacklist they're on, even though it gave Ian an Oscar nomination. Trumbo lobbied the King brothers to hire his fellow communist screenwriters under pseudonyms. He even got his family to handle administration for his other pseudonyms for other producers.

Rewriting a bad script from Arlen, Trumbo told him an idea that would become The Brave One. Roman Holiday won Best Screenplay. Buddy Ross asked Trumbo's help and, despite Ross' previous adversity, Trumbo helped. He asked Arlen to help but Arlen refused. The following hectic schedule created a friction between him and his daughter Niki. Soon he found Arlen had died of his cancer. Trumbo soon visited Eddie and returned his money. Trumbo argued with his family about the work schedule. He apologized to Niki after his wife talked him him into it. Trumbo went on and wrote The Brave One, which eventually won an Oscar. Words fly out since there's no real person under the pseudonym Robert Rich under whom Trumbo wrote its script. Despite the controversy, Kirk Douglas went to Trumbo for Spartacus. Douglas shrugged off pressure on him about it. The director Otto Preminger went to Trumbo for another side project. Despite more controversy, Trumbo listened to Niki's advice and came forward with truth about Robert Rich. Douglas opened up about Trumbo writing Spartacus, stirring more controversy. But as President Kennedy attended the movie screening, the controversy died down. Soon Trumbo got the recognition he deserved.

The movie is quite well written in general. It moves fluidly enough as it depicts the important stages of Trumbo's struggle along the blacklist time. Yet I feel that the movie lacks enough "silent time", where the characters slow down and reflect. The transitions between the movie's scenes occur very rapidly as if it's an action movie.

The production design feels somewhat awkward. We can see nice mix of archive footage into the scenes, which are done very smoothly. The movie did decently in portraying the costumes for the time frame. Yet the movie just lacks very much in picturing the era's signature in properties. There are very few scenes on outdoors setting which displayed the era's cars or architecture.

The acting in overall feels rather imbalanced as only Bryan Cranston, Diane Lane and Elle Fanning who displayed the effort to really give it all into their characters. Even Helen Mirren didn't really shine, though I think it's because of her small duration on screen on each of her scenes. Louis C.K. and John Goodman's performances were also just at standard. But surely Cranston's performance really deserves the Oscar nomination he got. He nicely delved into his role's character with adequate mannerisms and accent.

I give Trumbo (2015) a 7 out of 10 score. A recommendation will be a yes from me (provided the movie is at the movies at this time). The movie delivered the true story very well, completing the perspective about the era's view about arts and movies.

Hugh Glass is a military scout. With his Indian half-breed son Hawk, he serve in with John Fitzgerald, and Jim Bridger under Commander Andrew Henry, tasked to hunt animal pelts. They have to face both the Indians and the French. While hunting, Glass returns back to camp after hearing a commotion when the Indians attack. They flee to the river as the attack kills 33 men. Fitzgerald suggest a route but Glass suggest an opposite route. Henry listens to Glass and they rest for the night. At first light Glass goes ahead first as Hawk remains with the company. But Glass enters a Grizzly bear's domain and gets attacked viciously. He manages to kill the beast, but his throat is injured badly, making him unable to speak. The company finds him and carries him. Fitzgerald suggests to leave Glass as apparently they can't save him. Eventually Henry gives up, but he insists that Glass die naturally, promising money for three men who stay with Glass. Hawk and Bridger volunteer, and surprisingly so did Fitzgerald.

But Fitzgerald gets impatient, offering Glass a quick death if he just blinks. Glass closes his eyes for some time, and when he opens them Fitzgerald considers it as blinking then tries to kill him. Hawk catches Fitzgerald and the two struggle, but eventually Fitzgerald kills Hawk. Bridger comes and Fitzgerald convince him to bury Glass alive in a shallow grave. He stops as Glass is neck deep. Glass crawls out of his grave, surviving on eating bits and pieces until he can stand again. Able to walk, Glass meets an Indian man carving meat from a dead beast. Glass begs for some and the man gives, but he faints after eating. The Indian is actually pursuing his daughter Powaqa's kidnappers. He helps Glass after he explains his ordeal. The man builds Glass a makeshift shelter when they face a blizzard. When Glass wakes up the man has gone. Glass finds a French trappers' camp, and waits until nightfall then readies to steal a horse. A French man brings an Indian girl and rapes her near Glass. He rescues the girl and they escape on a stolen horse, but Glass dropped the flask Bridger left him.

The girl leaves Glass and The French pursuers catches up on him, so he runs off of a cliff, killing his horse. As another blizzard looms, Glass removes the horse's entrails and use the carcass as a cocoon. One of the French wanders into Henry's fort, bringing the Bridger's flask. Henry wonders if it's the missing Hawk, so they set out to find him. They instead find Glass himself. Henry rides back ahead but Fitzgerald had already gone with the company's money. Glass reveals the truth, asking supplies to hunt Fitzgerald. Henry goes with him. As Glass spots a camp's smoke in the wilderness, he and Henry check it out from opposite directions. But Henry meets Fitzgerald, who then kills him. Glass finds the body and uses it to lure Fitzgerald out. He succeeds and they fight a bloody melee. Glass finally has the upper hand and readies his killing blow. But he spots a band of Indians up the river and remembers the words of the previous Indian man that revenge is in God's hands, and he lets Fitzgerald floats on the current to them, who kills him.

Another great movie this month, The Revenant (2015) is full of great work in acting, directing and effects. The story is like other revenge movies, although I don't think the movie was clear enough at it. There's a lot of unnecessary footage if we see it story-wise. There are quite a lot of other story elements which are not concluded in the end.

But I must say again that the movie is a gem technical-wise. It's a beautiful sight to see. Inarritu was very kind in supplying us with another trick up his sleeve. Here you see a lot of mind bending close up shots of crazy stunts. They are enabled by the help of moving camera and impeccable timing execution that lets it require less editing.

There are many moments where the movie builds up suspense with the camera closing up on the actors, pans away, rotates to view the surroundings, and suddenly we have them getting shot at point blank. The special effects are done well that the stunts achieved their intended effect. Many times I was left behind as I was wondering how did they rigged the stunt that just happened when suddenly the movie just shoves another crazy stunt in my face.

The cinematography is great. Emmanuel Lubezki is really looking like he's aiming for another Oscar. Aside from the great job on the main story elements, there are also very pretty photography in this movie. Lubezki did a great job in capturing the spirit of the location to insert into the movie.

The acting overall is just superb. Leonardo DiCaprio did great in handling the dominant focus his character has as the entire movie mostly centers on Glass. Tom Hardy managed to bend himself into yet another believable character, despite the original reasoning of his apathy to Glass' ordeal remains unclear. Domnhall Gleeson's star is clearly rising steadily, as he secured roles in three acclaimed movie this year so far; here, Star Wars Episode VII, and Ex Machina. Will Poulter nicely adds depth to the whole story, as with the native American cast.

For me The Revenant (2015) deserves a 7 out of 10 score. It would have been more enjoyable for the ordinary people if there's less duration that only contains silence. I did enjoy the movie though, yet I don't think many other ordinary people will too.

In post civil war American frontier, the bounty hunter John Ruth rides a coach steered by OB Jackson to Red Rock in a blizzard, bringing in the fugitive Daisy Domergue to collect. On the way they meet another bounty hunter former Union Major Marquis Warren. Ruth lets him in though with some doubts for they've met once before. Warren lets him see his correspondence letter with Lincoln. Soon the coach finds another man hitching a ride in the blizzard, Chris Mannix, who claims to be the new Sheriff for Red Rock. Again Ruth gives a ride with caution. They reach Minnie's Haberdashery in the mountains to rest for the blizzard. Minnie wasn't there and a Mexican named Bob welcomes them. Inside Ruth finds earlier guests Joe Gage, Oswaldo Mobray who claims to be the area's hangman, and an old man. Warren, Mannix, OB, and Bob tend to the horses before going in. Warren questions Bob's employment at Minnie's. Inside, Mannix recognize the old man as a former Confederate General Smithers, and Warren does too as he was at opposite sides at the Battle of Chattanooga with the general. As their dialog heats up, Mobray suggests they stay on opposite corners of the room as northerners and southerners.

Ruth suspects something's fishy, so he makes a clear warning to everybody, and collects the earlier guests' pistols. At dinner Mannix claims that Warren's Lincoln letter is fake, which disappoints Ruth. Bob starts playing Silent night on the piano, and Warren chats with Smithers. Warren reveals that he killed Smithers' son, and he puts a gun beside Smithers. This gets to Smithers and as he grabs the gun Warren shoots him dead. The others don't question the killing as it was self defense. But nobody else knew while Warren was revealing about Smithers' son, someone poisoned the coffee and Daisy saw it. Mannix is about to when OB and Ruth, after drinking the coffee, suddenly vomit blood and die. Ruth had time to warn Mannix about it. Daisy kills the dying Ruth, and Warren quickly control the situation. He rounds up the men as suspects, but dismisses Mannix as he almost drink the coffee himself. Warren reveals that he knows Minnie and her stew, that Minnie disliked Mexicans. Warren kills Bob then hell breaks lose as somebody in the basement opens fire, causing Mannix, Warren and Mobray getting shot.

The movie flips back to the morning before at Minnie's. Four passengers in a coach reach Minnie's. They are Joe Gage, Oswaldo Mobray, Bob and their gang leader Jody Domingray, Daisy's brother. They dispatched everybody else except an old man in order to keep the place's pretended mood. Back to the story so far, Mannix and Warren survives with grave wounds, pointing guns at the gang. Daisy and Gage is uninjured, so is Jody in the basement, while Mobray is also gravely injured. Warren and Mannix threaten to kill Daisy to lure Jody out, and kill him as he does. Daisy negotiates a deal with Mannix, offering Mobray's and Bob's bounty. Mobray backs Daisy's talk up, but Warren shoots him dead. In the commotion Gage reaches for a hidden gun but Warren and Mannix get to him first. Warren shoots at Daisy but he's out of bullets. Mannix keeps Daisy talking but eventually doesn't buy it. But he faints and Daisy goes for Gage's loaded gun. Mannix wakes up and shoots Daisy, disarming her. Warren says that they shouldn't just kill her. Instead they must hang her in honor of John Ruth who saved Mannix.

I got to say this December is surely a great month for it has some great movies worth the score 8 out of 10. The Hateful Eight (2015) surely deserves such a score. Story-wise it's an intriguing piece, very well done in the classic Tarantino style of storytelling. The story gets to be deeply character driven, offering seeds of mystery and suspicion all along the way. The twists and turns were laid out and positioned very well. The mood and pace did greatly in helping story to achieve critical mass.

Since the beginning, Tarantino movies have always had their strong part in the dialog. They effectively steer the scene, deepening the character introduction, and ultimately helping the audience let down their guard and anticipation for the surprises and twists to have maximum effect. I like how Tarantino have always make his movies have certain levels of humor, even amid bloody scenes. But it's exceptionally funny in this movie as there are more laugh spots spread across the movie.

Technically speaking, the movie displays great cinematography work. You can spot great timing direction that resulted in the long single shot at the very beginning. There are also classic camera angles and moving camera examples here and there, which are rarely found on westerns. The blood effects are really a signature of Quentin Tarantino movies. What's great to see here is that those blood work has been improved very well that they appear very grandiose. Maybe they look less realistic, but they sure look more artistic.

The acting work in overall is a great work. Samuel L. Jackson is just an essential part in a Tarantino movie. It's like not having him in one makes the movie feels awkward. Kurt Russell did great in adding into the fray, contributing very well to the movie's starting first half. Jennifer Jason Leigh did well enough in her character's concealment of the plot twist. What's bad about the cast is that we tend to see many old faces that frequent Tarantino movies. We have additions like Channing Tatum here, but the main cast only has Russell and Jason-Leigh as the new faces.

Nevertheless an 8 out of 10 score is rightfully deserving for this latest Quentin Tarantino movie. A recommendation goes out from me as I enjoyed this movie very much as I did Django, the Basterds, Kill Bill, and Pulp Fiction.