Minions (2015)

This animated movie was made with the crew’s heart in it. I love how the director – Pierre Coffin – made a full contribution for the movie. He even gave his own voice to make ALL of the minion’s voices.

In Wikipedia, it’s said that this is an American movie. But in the rolling credits I saw a lot of French people – including the director himself. It’s an odd thing. Only the distributer was American. I think the movie should be called French-American Movie.

In the movie, I saw a lot of dark and funny reference. If you haven’t watch the movie yet, I dare you to look around for “small things” which were references.

Also – one more – look at the detail of every material. Kevin’s gloves were made of leather. You can see the crack of the leather.

The verdict:

The movie was made with “heart”, it was a great movie, but not too great because of the ordinary story, but again it was enough.

Ant Man (2015)

When I heard this movie was coming, I thought how being small was so boring. Ants are not so strong – just crush them with your thumb and they’re dead. But this movie defines that “size doesn’t matter!”

Edgar Wright – a great filmmaker – was appointed to be the director. But was only credited as a writer when he had a different creative idea with the producer – Kevin Feige. You can still see Wright’s comedy style in the movie, which was hilarious!

Kevin Feige – the producer from all of Marvel’s movies in the cinematic universe – was good to keep the phase of the movie. But I think he limited every creativity from every directors. Their style was alternated every time. So we can’t really enjoy every director’s potential.

Alright enough with the crew, lets talk about the film.

The film was a heist film. I should’ve thought about it when I was still sitting in the cinema. The phasing for the film was too fast in the end (as a heist film). Like I said, Edgar Wright was to be the director. His style match with his writings. The replacement director - Peyton Reed  - can’t even matched Wright’s phasing.

Also, there was not much information to make the film more likeable. For instance, the antagonist. Just take a look how small his evilness – it was even smaller than an ant.

But in the end, I think Ant Man deserve more than just “this.” His character was more likeable throughout the film.

The verdict:

This is a bad heist movie, but sure it was a good movie as a superhero movie.

Terminator: Genisys

This movie deserves a review from me. Why? Because the movie sucked so much!

First of all, the originality of the movie was there, I mean, guys.. ARNOLD’S BACK! But – let’s do the math here – if Arnold’s only 10% of the originality then this movie just turned the other 90% into vomit. I don’t like that. In the prequels, the franchise defined “machines” as machines. Now they turned machines into a pet dog. Well that’s only 45% from the 90% I said before. The other 45% was the idiocy of the time paradox.  They’d spit on their own parents.

Second, was the director. I felt pity on him. The name is Alan Taylor. He said the franchise forced him to spill out the plot twist in the movie. I say, “BULLSHIT!” A director and a film are like a parent and a child. The parent must protect and teach the child at all cost to be as perfect as they can. But the franchise – or so I say the social service – wanted the child to be on their side. So, I raise you a question. What will you do if your child would be taken by the social service?

YOU FIGHT FOR YOUR CHILD!

Third, the cinematography made me dizzy. It was so awful, I didn't follow the story very well. So I had to watch it twice.

The verdict:

The movie lacks of originality and mixed them with the wrong ingredient, but if you like action, you’ll like it.

The Amazing East Java

I haven't post anything for awhile, sorry guys, I was having my holiday on June 5-7th. And I'm finishing my films that I had captured during my holiday. My films are called The Amazing East Java. I broke the films into 3 parts - with a side part 1.5 , 2.5 , 3.5, which I posted them on Instagram.

On June 5th, I took a flight to Malang in East Java. I went with my cousins, my aunt, and my grandmother. Our plan was to visit Batu, Mount Bromo, and Surabaya. I'm going to talk about the places in my films. Okay we will start from..

Part 1 : Jawa Timur Park 2 (East Java Park 2) - Batu.

As you see in the film, we went to a zoo called Batu Secret Zoo. The zoo was quiet - not much people visited this week, said one of the staff. We saw a lot of beautiful animals - even the ones that were not in Taman Safari. Their animals were much more unique. You can see the full film below.

Part 1.5 : 'I really forgot the place's name.' - Batu.

It was a high waterfall. We had to climb the mountains to see it. But this place was full of people - so noisy. I imagined what it would be like if there was no people there. Just alone, I with my beloved (including my camera).

Part 2 : Batu Night Spectacular (BNS) - Batu.

This place was more like Dufan or Disneyland. But it only opens at night. The tickets was cheap. We saw a lot of lights that night. Fluorescent with many different colours were everywhere. We caught a ride to see the whole place. It was energetic. See the place from the film below.

Part 2.5 : Museum Angkut (Transportation Museum) - Batu.

The museum was full of vehicles. From land to air to water transportation - they got it all. This place was fun at first but we got bored. So we headed back early to get some rest. We would have a journey in the morning.

Part 3 : Mount Bromo - East Java.

This place was the best place in the holiday. The active mountain, the savannah, the desert were all beautiful.

Part 3.5 : Omah Kayu - Batu.

Tree houses were everywhere in this place. It was amazing. You could see a whole village from the top of the tree houses.

Well this was an adventure. Again - sorry folks that I haven't post in a few days. There will be more coming about my holiday. On June 19th I'll go to Yogyakarta and I'll make films again.

I'll post something again every two or three days from now on.

Thanks for reading.

Good read, ladies and gentlemen.

An Unfuturistic World of 1984

I slept at 3 am. I was reading all night, trying to finish off George Orwell's 1984. I can't stop turning the pages. It was too exiting. The story of an everybody-man facing a dystopian world. At exactly 3.33 am, I finally finished it.

It can't get out of my head. The ending. Well I won't spoiler it to you of course. But the book was amazing. It griped-hard the message of the entire story. It was consistent. Never appealed to get out of its course. Even until the end, it was still hard on the message.

I can put the book back on the shelf. But, I can't manage to sleep though. The story was still hard on me. It was too much.

I had to open my first novel, which was To Kill A Mockingbird. I read a few pages at the end of the novel. Reading it aloud in my mind to sleep. It was working.

Well, see, I will spoiler the novel a bit. 1984 got a depressing ending. It got me thinking, if I were the person in the story, if I were tortured like him, if I have to betray my loved ones. I can't resist thinking what it would be if we were living in that kind of world. The world of hatred. Better be dead than living.

Stories are very strong in our life. They give you a strong feeling of mixed emotions. We, as the audience, want to fall into the story and identify with the protagonist. They will have some messages for us to learn, for us to make it real in our life, to become a changed person. That's why we need them. We need to feel as a human being. Stories can satisfy us.

When I woke up this morning. I felt a little bit better. Thinking today I would have nothing to do, I might work on my screenplay, read another book, and get some exercise at four in the afternoon. It would be a hell of a day!

Thanks for reading.

Good read, ladies and gentlemen.

The Enemy

After graduation, we had a long long holiday. My friends got four months of holiday. Some of them must go out of the country a month before college starts. Some of them who stayed, are chasing something called 'SBMPTN'. I, myself got five months of holiday. It was pretty fun though. I thought I could do something useful. Hmm. Get a job? Start a business? Learn what I want? Read some books? Make a film? or, all of them at once?

Some of them I already succeeded. I've read so many books. I've learn more about films. I've got a job with my friends, the advertisement video. I've got a new job tomorrow, actually, it's not a job, I'm just helping a friend. But what about the rest of them? I'M FAILING!

In some earlier post, I mentioned about my business with my friends which was selling milk pie. Turns out, no one wants to do it anymore. Some of my friends still wanted to enjoy the holiday and some of them think it was too risky. I too got a bit lazy.

How about making a film? That is what I'm working on. But there are too much things that must be done. I need a screenplay, I need actors, I need people who can give me money, I need people who can hold my microphone high enough. I'm afraid.

But moments ago, I opened one of my book, Steal Like An Artist by Austin Kleon. It was my first English-written book that I bought. And shit I was an idiot. The book opened my mind.

The real enemy is yourself. It's the worst thing, you have to face 'him/her' almost every time you do something. Your mind screws your mental. You become crazy, scared, afraid, and lazy. 'He/she' beats you up without laying a single punch.

So how do you beat 'him/her' back?

DO WHAT YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO DO! Don't think about anything else! Just think that you are going to finish the job. Ignore all the pessimistic thinking. Don't waste time! Make a deadline! Make a system! Make it clean!

Eventually your hard work, even if it was only a small job, can satisfy you with a big smile on your face. Your heart will be calm.

I was an idiot enough not to remember what I've read. I am ashamed. But what I will do now is to continue my work and I won't let 'him' beat me up again! EVER!

Thanks for reading.

Good read, ladies and gentlemen.

The Two Oranges

Today is a sunny day. I woke up at 11 o'clock in the morning, or the afternoon for someone who used to wake up at 6 o'clock. I started the day as usual. A bit of breakfast- a plate of rice and fried fish. Then i took a shower. I dressed up with my blue and white stripes shirt and my blue boxer pants. Almost ready to do things for the rest of the day, I noticed my book on the table beside my bed. 

It was the lovely black-comedy book, A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess, I picked up the book and started reading. It was only 30 pages left. So I decided to finish it at once. And I finished it.

It was sad though. It was really a good book. The book tells a story about Alex, an anti-hero and sociopath in the form of a 15 years old teen. It explores violence, sex, drugs, words, and freewill in a very different way.

It was written with an odd language, the Nadsat language. Well it isn't odd, it's just a mix of English and Russian slang. You really need to do some research to know more. Or, you can just keep reading and if you're clever enough you'll understand. Even the title is in Nadsat.

A Clockwork Orange is an old novel. You can tell by the fate of the writer now. But old doesn't mean it's a crap. I've seen so many novels which sucks enough, called 'story' or whatsoever.

I knew the book from the adaptation movie of it. A Clockwork Orange (1971) by the one and only Stanley Kubrick. I am a fan of him. A BIG BIG BIG FAN. He made the movie awesomely, that he almost made me shit myself. The movie rarely shows any blood. But the violence isn't in your imagination again, it's live in front of the screen. I couldn't even want to see the ultra-violence that the movie gives. But that's Stanley Kubrick, he's the master of cinema, the master of all the masters.

Anyway, in the movie, Alex is played by the young Malcolm McDowell. Alex was beautifully acted. Malcolm McDowell really brought his 'everything' for the character. He even scratched his cornea when he was acting for the Ludovico's Technique. Because of his acting, he inspired Heath Ledger to play Joker in The Dark Knight (2008).

If you compare the two of them. There's only a slight of changes, not big, the moral and the outline of the story is still the same. But, the two of them really gave a big impact for the art world.

So today i had to put back the book into my book shelf and find another novel to read.

Good read, ladies and gentlemen.

Who I Am.

FADE IN

INT. DARK ROOM - NIGHT

In this dark dark room there's only a light up in the ceiling. We can't see the walls around the room. There are no sounds. Then, a chair was moved under the light. We can hear that squicky sound from the moving wood against the dark grey floor. A man comes towards the chair. He's wearing a black suit, red tie, with a black long sleeve shirt, and a pair of dark black Oxford shoes. He sits on the chair and puts his right leg crossing the other. He takes a breath. His name is HENRY ALI.

HENRY ALI

My name is Henry Ali. I've been in the world of

films since i was a kid. My father used to take me

to see some movies. I used to think that every

movie is all the same, but it's not.

He pulls a white clean paper from his suit. He gets up and walk around the chair.

HENRY ALI

It says here that i was born in Jakarta,

at November 28th 1996. So from this date,

I am 18 years old. I used to live in many places

around Kelapa Gading. And I just finished

High School this year. I'm going to attend

Institut Kesenian Jakarta to learn more

about filmmaking.

He puts the white clean into his suit and pulls something from his left pocket. A phone, an Iphone 5S.

HENRY ALI (CONT'D)

I used to like facebook and all of that shit. 

But now, i only got my Instagram, Line, Path, 

and Google+. 

But enough with the bullshit shall we?

He throws his phone to the dark side of the room.

HENRY ALI (CONT'D)

I don't really like Social Media.

I like to meet a person in person.

I especially don't like ebooks. You wasted

your life with that thing.

Why not read from the real thing.

He lets out a lot amount of air from his nose and sits down.

HENRY ALI (CONT'D)

I think thats enough. You will learn

about me along the way.

He stands up.

HENRY ALI (CONT'D)

Good read, ladies and gentlemen.

Good read.

He leaves the chair and the light. We hear his footsteps getting quieter and quieter.

FADE OUT