Star Wars Episode 7: The Force Awakens (2015)

When I first heard that there will be a new trilogy for Star Wars, I just jump and scream as high and as loud as I can. As you can see, I’m a BIG BIG FAN of the Star Wars franchies. I used to watch the previous 6 films EVERYTIME I just went home from school. I would watch it over and over again until the DVD cracked or lost. Since then, Star Wars will always be part of my childhood.

So let’s get to the movie.

The movie is good. Just good. Not perfect. There are things that bothered me and maybe it will be kind of strange for some Star Wars fans. They say the film was the best amongst the others. I don’t agree with this. Episode 7 seems to be copying the original Star Wars (1977) formula. When I went to the theatre, I wanted to see something new and fresh – yes, there are but not too convincing to me. They teared up the 50% with the new things, but left the 50% of the original formula. I wanted 75%-80% of new things.

The film follows 3 new characters. Those three new characters would be the main protagonists in the new trilogy. Do I hate them? No, I love them! But, Poe should have more screen time. Rey is amazing. There hasn’t been a lot of convincing female jedi in the film. Now this is one of the amazing new ideas in the movie.

The story lacked of information. Who is Supreme Leader Snoke? Where have Han Solo and Chewie been in the lost 30 years? How does Maz Katana get her hands on Luke’s lightsaber? Etc.

But as I said, the new ideas were very fresh. You can see the new lightsaber, the new X-Wing, the new characters, and Kylo Ren. Oh, I haven’t talked about Kylo Ren.

Kylo Ren has a good character arc. Though he was not as strong as Darth Vader, we love his inconsistent emotion and way of thinking. We identified him easily because we too are like Kylo Ren. We are human beings who can’t decide which to do and which to think. We sometimes chose the right one, but we also sometimes chose the bad one.

The final lightsaber battle was the best in the movie. It was motivated. We don’t know if Rey was going to defeat Ren or not. Rey doesn’t have any training skills. Because of the motivations behind the battle, we sit with hard tense from your feet to the tip of you hair.

But, there are a lot of things that really need to be answered in Episode 8. So… we’ll have to wait until 2017.

The verdict:

The film wants to draw attention to new audience, I understand that. But it lacked a new formula - FORMULA, not ideas.

Black Mass (2015)

A film starring Johnny Depp is finally here! Scott Cooper is the director (Out of The Furnace – 2013). Benedict Cumberbatch, Joel Edgerton, Kevin Bacon, and many Hollywood A-list star the film.

The film tells the story of James “Whitey” Bulger – an American mafia – the rise and the fall of his empire. Scott Cooper was a bad-director who filmed Out of The Furnace with almost no emotions. But this time, he’s great - the film’s great!

It seems like a long time since Depp appeared in a perfectly crafted film. This film marks his comeback as a real actor rather than a “stereotype’ actor. I love how he acted every scene with his heart in it.

Benedict Cumberbatch – as a man with a low-bass voice – learns the accent of an American-Italian. He really nails it.

Junkie XL composed the score – before that he composed for Mad Max: Fury Road (2015). I love how he uses scoring at certain moments. The film isn’t dominated by the score, but by the mood of the scoring.

But, unfortunately, this film is very “heavy” for mainstream audience. Most of the people left the theatre even before the film ends – I saw them all.

The verdict:

The film is not for mainstream audience, but I want to challenge you. Are you one of them?

Everest (2015)

A film about the 1996 Mount Everest disaster which was dramatised. Even the best-selling writer of Into Thin Air, Jon Krakauer – the real man of the character – said that the film is a complete ‘bull’. I dislike the film, because it didn’t ‘get’ me. The film tried to ‘get’ me into the character, disaster, and the emotion. But, as the story went, it didn’t gave a great conclusion. The film only gave us the conclusion of the characters – not the world’s reaction of the disaster. What kind of film, which is based on a real global news, turned into a dramatised and fake-looking thing?

The assemble cast didn’t quite good. Each of the actors and actresses didn’t do their full potential of the character.

The film was made with a great landscape cinematography, because most of it was shot on a real location. Like the airport, the path to the basecamp, and also the Everest Base Camp. The rest of it was shot in a studio.

The verdict:

The film had a great cinematography, a great story, a great character, and some great places to shoot. But, the filmmakers only realised the cinematography and the places.

Inside Out (2015)

I waited… I waited… I waited.. I waited..

Almost 2 months of waiting for this movie to come out in Indonesia. In the other side of the world, this movie was already out. I began to lose hope.

BUT THEN IT FINALLY CAME OUT!

This is the best animation movie of the year. I’m sure it will win an Oscar – if not, two Oscars. The concept of the story and the world-building were very good. So good, you just have to love it only from seeing the trailer. Especially the cast, the entire cast are comedians. They are so great – because comedians make the best from their mouth. The tear-jerking moment was not cheap. When you hear the scoring, oh – how relaxing it was.

Pixar gave me an adversary for my expectation mind. They really feed its hunger. The hunger for good movies.

The verdict:

My only complaint is the time for this movie to come out in Indonesia, other than that, I could tell you, you wouldn’t waste your money on something THIS good.

Mission Impossible : Rogue Nation (2015)

This is a smart movie, both from performance and technical achievement. I adored the director’s and producer (also starred) Tom Cruise’s vision.

Tom Cruise knew what he was doing as a producer. Most of the decision was made by him. You can also see one of his extreme decision to perform all of the stunts with his own body. And yes all of the stunts were true. Tom Cruise really flew on a military aircraft!

Ferguson’s performance was also a highlight of the movie. From half of the movie we really don’t know whose side she was on.

I also like to note Alec Baldwin’s comeback in the acting industry. I think the last time he looked fresh as in the movie was in ‘The Hunt For Red October’ (1990). Now, he was also a key plot of the film (or SPOILER: the franchise in the future).

But from all of its achievement I would like to salute the movie because it was shot on film instead of digital. This type of filmmaking are very rare now. The traditional ways are always the best way to create the best movies.

Shooting on film is always my dream.

From all of the good things, there was only one thing I hated - the antagonist of the movie. They were not very iconic. Syndicate was the nemesis of IMF in the TV series. So, I was expecting a group of antagonist, which was very very very hard to take down.

Just like Benji said to Ethan, “Nahhh.. it’s not so hard.”

The verdict:

MI: Rogue Nation achieved many things that I hadn’t expected to achieve, it’s a great summer blockbuster movie and they keep the franchise fresh.

Pixels (2015)

Pixels was served with ideas that came from video games back in the 80’s. The film would give us many nostalgic feelings – especially for the elders. The ideas are fresh (in the trailer): entertaining, tempting, and unforgettable.

BUT (note: this is a big butt, sorry ‘but”)

The storyline was as easy as 1-2-3. You can predict every second of it - resembles the ‘Writer’s Journey,’ without even bother to change some of it. The target of its movie was for children, not adults (adults who was more familiar with the games in the movie). The trailer spoiled some of it also.

The jokes weren’t with us anymore. We have passed beyond a point of humor which was more intelligent than that. They think we are stupid. Even kids now days are better than that.

In the movie, everything IS a joke! Idiots, Idiots are everywhere!

When I first saw the trailer for this movie, I thought how they might thought about some developed ideas for the film. I was so excited. Then, there they are. Spitting at their own feet – told themselves they’ve done their best job and laugh. In truth, they just wrote it with no effort.

The joke was on the filmmakers.

The verdict:

Go see another movie!