Movie Review: Doctor Strange

Doctor Strange is American superhero movie from the Marvel comics character of the same name, directed by Scott Derrickson, about a former neurosurgeon Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) becomes a powerful sorcerer under the tutelage of a mystic known as The Ancient One (Tilda Swinton). The movie also stars Chiwetel Ejiofor, Rachel McAdams, Benedict Wong, and Mads Mikkelsen.

Before watching it, I read some underestimating comments on twitter about the movie. Someone said it was better if the movie directed by Christopher Nolan, instead of Scott Derrickson. And I remembered someone tweeted that watching Doctor Strange is a wasting of time!

Like, Really?

Wasting of time?

I think all the movies starring Benedict Cumberbatch is worth to watch, including Doctor Strange, although a friend of mine said the plots is too fast. So I convinced my bf to prove it. We finally watched the movie last Saturday at CGV Blitz Paris Van Java, Bandung.

Oh by the way, I never read a comic book of Doctor Strange before, so I would say that I can’t compare between the comic and the movie. Well, in the opening scene, there were some monks in a silent temple. I didn’t watch it carefully, because of making status on Path. Haha…

In the next scene, we saw Dr. Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) pulls bullets out of a dying man's head in the New York Hospital. His ex-girlfriend and colleague Dr. Christine Palmer (Rachel McAdams) gave the movie a romantic side (and sad, with a little bit humor). Strange’s sarcasms made me remembered of Dr. Gregory House from House M.D. drama series. But overall, the genius obsessive arrogant and self-centered Strange made me remember of Tony Stark!

All his successful life was gone once he got a serious car accident, caused an irreparable damage to his hands, and made him lost his ability to do surgeon. He was trying everything to get it back, until he find out a Nepalese mystic named The Ancient One who lives in a hideaway named Kamar-Taj. There, he advanced quickly after several months, learned about countless alternate dimensions, and by reading a special book which a page is missing; he knew how to bend time with the mystical Eye of Agamotto.

Cumberbatch did an excellent job. It’s not Sherlock with magic, just Cumberbatch doing his acting soooo good. And the most I’ve enjoyed from Cumberbatch: his funny! It completed by Benedict Wong (acted as Wong, a librarian) and Chitwetel Ejiofor (as Strange’s mentor Mordo) who served as sidekicks to strange but were used mostly to field jokes. For example, when Mordo gave him a piece of paper with “Shamballa” written on it:

Strange: [hold the paper] Well, what’s this, my mantra?

Mordo: it’s the Wi-Fi password. We’re not savages!

The other funny thing is when Strange visited the library and introduced himself to Wong. He asked if Wong’s name only consists of a word, Wong. Just like Adelle, Eminem, etc (I forget it, hhaha…) Wong asked him to stop. In another chance, Strange looked for books for astral projection, and Wong said he wasn’t ready, Strange replied “Oh give it up to Beyonce!”

Later, Strange found Wong secretly listening to Beyonce’s Single ladies on his headphones. I’m dying! HAHAHAHAHA…

The exchange between Strange and the villain, Kaecillus (played by Mads Mikkelsen), was also soooo funny. Here the lines:

Kaecilius: Mister...?

Strange: Doctor.

Kaecilius: Mister Doctor?

Strange: It's... "Strange".

Kaecilius: Maybe. Who am I to judge?

Yeah, Strange insisted to be called “Doctor”, like he did before when he first met The Ancient One.

I love the 3D and inter-dimensional scene, and when the cityscapes spiraling like a rubiks cube is amaaaazing! May be you’ll remember of Inception movie when you see it. Oh and I think Strange's red cape deserves its own credit, it was so funny! I didn’t recognize that Scott Derrickson is the director of Deliver Us from Evil, a movie starring Eric Bana, which is underrated, until I read it on Wikipedia. But, for this movie, I give him two thumbs up!

Well, ladies and gentlemen, I’m sorry if this post contains spoilers. But let me tell you, this movie is highly entertaining!

PS: If you watch this movie, please remember it is a marvel movie, so don’t go anywhere before the credit tittle end!

Cheers,

Esa

Movie Review: The Man Who Knew Infinity

The Man Who knew Infinity is a 2015 British biographical drama about the life and academic career of the pioneer Indian mathematician, Srinivasa Ramanujan, and his friendship with his academic advisor, Professor G.H. Hardy. This movie is written and directed by Matthew Brown based on 1991 book with the same title written by Robert Kanigel.

The movie stars Dev Patel as Srinivasa Ramanujan, Jeremy Irons as G.H. Hardy, Devika Bhise as Janaki, and Toby Jones as John Edensor Littlewood. Ramanujan is portrayed as a pioneer Indian mathematician who growing up poor in Madras, India, leaving his wife, Janaki, after got admittance to Trinity College, Cambridge, during World War I under the supervising of brilliant and eccentric Professor G.H. Hardy. In the real life, Prof. Hardy only 10 years older than Ramanujan but in this movie, they’re look like father and son. On the other hand, Janaki, Ramanujan’s wife portrayed older than in the real life, whom married to Ramanujan at ten or twelve. Well, there are many good things to say about the film.

From this wonderful movie I know who Ramanujan is. I never heard of him before but I’m familiar with Hardy's name, whom known for his Hardy-Weinberg balance. I think all of the biology students will be quite familiar with his name.

I love the way Prof Hardy impressed by Ramanujan’s work. Well, Ramanujan gave him a looooot of theorems written on his letter to Hardy. I love their relationship. Ramanujan had a miraculous mathemathics talent, but being forced to prove its worth to the world. At least, this is what made a friction between him and his professor who tried to convince him that proofs in mathematics is very substantial and important.

While Hardy was an atheis, Rahmanujan was born as Brahmanian. It is believed that Brahmanian couldn’t leave his land and across the sea, or there will be no one marry his children. And it was so touching when Rahmanujan’s hair cut by Janaki right before he leave Madras and voyaged to England by ship. And the moment when Ramanujan keep his promise for being vegan, and became more difficult along the war, is respectful. I remember when Hardy asked him about where did Ramanujan get his theorems, and Ramanujan answered “An equation for me has no meaning, unless it expresses a thought of God.”

And here is my favourite quote from the movie:

Janaki: [holding Ramanujan's note book, seeing the computations] what does it all do?

Ramanujan: It's like a painting, I think. Only imagine it is with colors you cannot see.

Janaki: What good is that?

Ramanujan: [chuckles] Not much for you, I'm afraid. But for me it is everything. Maybe there is someone else who can see and understand it as well. And for them it will be important.

Janaki: Have you met them?

Ramanujan: No, not yet.

Janaki: I want to understand more than just colors I can’t see.

Ramanujan: what do you see?

Janaki: sand.

Ramanujan: yes. Imagine if we could look so closely, we could see each grain, each particle. You see, there are... There are patterns in everything, the color in light, the refections on water. In maths, these patterns reveal themselves, in the most incredible form. It's quite beautiful.

I love the script, and the lighting, and the music as well. Dev Patel has well known for his acting in Slumdog Millionaire, and here in this movie he once again gave us a brilliant acting skill. This movie got rating 62% on Rotten Tomatoes and 7.3 of 17k on IMDb. The Man Who knew Infinity maybe will remind you of Good Will Hunting, a 1997 American biographical drama about Will Hunting, a janitor at M.I.T. that has a gift for mathematics, starring Matt Damon. But let me tell you, this movie is highly recommended. So, happy watching!

Movie Review: Jason Bourne

Dua minggu yang lalu aku ketemu Santo di Bandung. Dan seperti biasa, saat kita ketemuan sebulan sekali ini, agendanya ngga pernah jauh-jauh dari makan dan nonton. Bulan lalu kami nonton film Precious Cargo di Botani Square, tapi karena ngga sempet ngeblog dan sekarang udah lupa-lupa ingat sama ceritanya, kita skip aja yaa... Hahaha…

Jadi minggu itu di XXI Ciwalk kita berdua nonton Jason Bourne, sekuel ke-5 dari film seri Bourne. Film ini menceritakan tentang Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) yang udah 10 tahun bebas dari agensi yang telah melatih dan membentuknya untuk menjadi senjata pembunuh. Sementara itu, Direktur CIA Robert Dewey (Tommy Lee Jones), berusaha untuk memburu Bourne guna menutupi seluruh jejak kejahatannya dari publik dan pemerintah. Seorang agen bernama Heather Lee (Alicia Vikander) ditugaskan untuk menangkap Bourne. Makin masuk ke kasus ini, Lee sadar bahwa pemburuan Bourne ngga hanya tentang Project Treadstone aja. Terus apa dong?

Bourne adalah suatu film berseri yang diangkat dari 12 novel karangan Robert Ludlum dan Eric Van Lustbader. Dari sejumlah novel tersebut, sudah ada empat judul yang difilmkan. Matt Damon sudah membintangi tiga film pertamanya, yaitu The Bourne Identity (2002), The Bourne Supremacy (2004), dan The Bourne Ultimatum (2007). Sementara seri keempat film ini, The Bourne Legacy (2012) dibintangi oleh Jeremy Renner sebagai lead role. Pada sebuah interview, Damon pernah bilang kalau dia ngga mau main sebagai Bourne lagi kalau misalnya Paul Greengrass ngga jadi sutradaranya. Btw Paul udah nyutradarain film Bourne yang pertama dan ketiga. Jadi ya udah deh, akhirnya film kelima Bourne ini disutradarai oleh Paul dengan Matt Damon kembali berperan sebagai Jason Bourne. Reunian. :)

Terus Reviewnya gimana?

Kalau kalian ngikutin franchise ini, pasti ngamatin kan kalau matt Damon sekarang walaupun udah mulai kelihatan kerut-kerut di wajahnya, tapi masih kelihatan yahuud dan fit to his character, Jason Bourne we all know and love.

Film yang berdurasi 123 menit ini memiliki plot yang jelas, walaupun maju-mundur, I think it wouldn’t be confusing. Cara ngambil gambarnya masih seperti film sebelumnya, kadang cepet banget, kadang kameranya kayak goyang (atau ini emang gayanya Paul Greengrass?). Di menit-menit pertama aku sempat ngantuk banget, tapi lama-lama kebawa suasana juga. Walaupun ceritanya Bourne udah kembali ingatannya, tapi dia masih harus memecahkan teka-teki, seperti apakah ayahnya terkait dengan operasi Tradstone? Bagaimana ayahnya meninggal?

Walaupun storyline-nya bisa dibilang biasa aja (kalau ngga boleh dibilang weak), namun adegan action yang ditayangkan cukup intense and pumping blood as ever. Kalau dibandingkan dengan triloginya Damon sebelumnya, di sini dia kelihatan agak kurang lean sih. I don’t know, maybe it really better not to remember those earlier trilogy, or even compared it with Renner’s. Adegan yang paling aku sukai adalah saat kejar-kejaran pakai mobil. Rasanya ngilu banget nontonnya. Hehe… Tapi tetep sih, pas nonton aku mikirnya “why don’t you just keep moving forward, instead of ngurusin Treadstone/Blackbiar/hacker or anything?” hahaha….

Seperti prequelnya, di sini kalian juga akan menemukan agen CIA cantik yang percaya kalau Bourne adalah a good guy. Di film ini muncul agen CIA wanita yang baru bernama Heather Lee, yang diperankan oleh Alicia Vikander, si cantik yang pernah kita lihat kemampuan aktingnya dalam film The Danish Girl. Dan kayak di film sebelumnya, cewek yang bantuin Bourne ujung-ujungnya bakalan mati, dalam hal ini Nicolette Parsons (Julia Stiles), former agent yang udah ada sejak di prequelnya.

Pokoknya, I was entertained by this movie. Ayo nonton mumpung filmnya masih tayang di bioskop!!

Weekend Bareng Santo: Warcraft dan Sate Padang

Saat pacar tiba-tiba memutuskan untuk datang ke Bogor tanpa diminta, dan baru memberi tahu saat sudah di perjalanan, ternyata merupakan hal sangat membahagiakan. Biasanya kami harus diskusi dulu untuk menentukan siapa yang minggu depan akan berkunjung, aku yang ke Bandung atau dia yang ke Bogor. Tidak jarang kami ngambek-ngambekan dulu sampai akhirnya ada salah satu yang mengalah, “ Okay, aku yang ke sana.” Jadi senyum-senyum sendiri, mungkin lain kali harusnya ngga usah ngambek supaya saat dia datang. Biarkan dia datang bukan karena diminta, tapi karena dia yang mau. Hehe…

Santo datang hari Sabtu siang, langsung mengajak makan di Yellow Corner, shalat, lalu ke Botani Square. Kami ketemu antara 2-4 minggu sekali, dan hampir selalu disempatkan nonton berdua (pacarannya memang seputar nonton dan makan aja sih, hehe...). Minggu ini ada banyak film bagus yang ingin ku tonton, yaitu Warcraft, My Stupid Boss, dan Money Monster. Sementara itu dia memang berniat untuk menonton Warcraft: The Beginning atau X-Men: Apocalypse. Karena aku sudah menonton X-Men pada hari Rabu bersama Ibu kost, ya sudah akhirnya Warcraft-lah yang kami pilih.

Film ini merupakan fantasi epic Amerika yang disutradarai oleh Duncan Jones, dan dia tulis bersama Charles Leavitt dan Chris Metzen, berdasarkan video game berseri dan novel dengan judul yang sama. Film ini menceritakan tentang dunia Azeroth yang terdiri atas tujuh bangsa dan dipimpin oleh manusia, tiba-tiba menghadapi terror karena adanya invasi yang dilakukan oleh pasukan Orc yang disebut Horde. Bangsa Orc awalnya tinggal di dunia Draenor yang mengalami kerusakan parah sehingga sulit untuk meneruskan kehidupan. Mereka masuk ke Azeroth melalui portal yang dibuat oleh penyihir bernama Gul’dan (Daniel Wu) yang memiliki kekuatan sihir Fel berwarna hijau dan menyerap energi dari mahluk hidup sebagai bahan bakarnya. Ini juga sih yang menyebabkan dunia Draenor mengalami kehancuran. Durotan (Toby Kebbel), Orc yang mempimpin Clan Frostwolf, sadar bahwa jika Gul’dan tidak dihentikan, maka bangsanya serta Azeroth juga mengalami kehancuran. Dengan bantuan Garona Halforcen (Paula Patton), seorang campuran manusia dan Orc yang cantik, Durotan berusaha menyelamatkan kaumnya dan bekerja sama dengan manusia untuk menghentikan Gul’dan. Kaum manusia dipimpin oleh raja Liane Wrynn (Dominic Cooper), dibantu oleh seorang pejuang bernama Sir Anduin Lothar (Travis Kimmel) yang di sini menjadi tokoh protagonist utama, dan Khadgar (Ben Schnetzer) calon penerus Medivh (Ben Foster), seorang penjaga Tirisfal yang melindungi Azeroth dengan kekuatan sihirnya. Karena keadaan semakin genting, perang pun tidak dapat dihindarkan lagi.

Hari ini Minggu, 30 Mei 2016 aku lihat Warcraft meraih poin 29% di Rotten Tomatoes dan 37% di Metacritics. Aku bukan orang yang paham tentang game Warcraft, Santo juga belum pernah memainkan game itu. Jadi saat kami memutuskan untuk menonton film tersebut, tidak ada referensi yang kami punya. Jadi tidak ada ekspektasi harusnya begini, atau begitu. We went into this with an open mind. Saat nonton, kami berdua terhibur dengan konsep fantasi yang disajikan. Kalau nontonnya versi 3D mungkin bakalan lebih greget deh visual effect-nya. Oh kalau kalian bandingin Orc di film ini dengan Orc di film sebelumnya, misalnya LOTR, maka si mahluk berbadan besar  dengan darah hijaunya di film ini keliatan lebih cakep sih. Hahaha…. Terus Garona juga seksi abis. Justru yang jadi istrinya Raja Liane rasanya kok agak plain. Plotnya jelas as crystal clear, jadi kayaknya anak-anak pun nggak bingung saat nonton. Guyonan yang ditampilkan lumayan bisa dicerna. Antara konflik, survival, keluarga, dan kesetiaan bisa dipadukan dengan pas. Aku sendiri nggak sabar untuk menantikan sequel dari film ini!

Kami beres nonton sekitar pukul 19.00, lalu keluar dari mall. Bingung mau makan di mana. Awalnya mau ke Mister Celup yang di dekat Air Mancur, tapi ramai banget. Akhirnya kami makan di Sate dan Soto Padang Air Mancur. Dia pesan sate, aku sate dan soto. Ahahaha… Kalau kalian suka sate Padang, kayaknya wajib nyobain sate ini deh. Aku lupa untuk mengambil foto (keburu lapar), tapi serius, you can imagine 10 tusuk sate yang dagingnya lumayan besar, lontongnya banyak, dengan sambal khas rempah Padang yang disantap panas-panas, enak dan pedas banget. Kalau kata Santo, lebih pedas daripada sate Padang langganan kami yang ada di seberang Kampus Unpad Dipati Ukur. Sementara soto dagingnya nya pas banget kalau disantap cuaca dingin. Sedap banget. Di sini per porsi sate dibanderol Rp 26.000,00 dan soto 25.000,00. Dulu kami pernah ke sana saat lagi jaman skripsian, jadi semacam flash back gitu deh. Bahagia. Setelah makan, dia mengantar aku pulang ke kosan, lalu dia balik ke Jakarta.

Well, that was how we spend our weekend. Cuma beberapa jam ketemu, ngobrol, makan, dan nonton,  tapi lebih cukup untuk recharge energi dan semangat untuk menghadapi hari-hari selanjutnya. Terima kasih ya, Mas! :)