MOVIE SYNOPSIS

Since 2008 the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) has developed into a carefully constructed and delicately linked cash-cow that's expanded masterfully over the span of 14 films. And with the universe's 15th installment, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 , slated to dominate the box office on May 5th, I'm devoting April's Movie List of the Month to the best of Marvel's expansive series ( March's list ). Full disclosure, I'm not a comic book fanatic who's examining the universe from such a nerd-centric standpoint. Instead, I'm detailing the MCUs most entertaining films. Honorable Mention:   Captain America: Winter Soldier , Iron Man 2 and Thor #5. Ant-Man (2015) I've always had a soft spot for Paul Rudd and the comedic actor's venture into the superhero genre felt effortless with Peyton Reed's Ant-Man . Rudd stars as cat burglar Scott Lang who's recruited by Dr. Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) to assume the identity of Ant-Man, a special suit t...

Setelah hadir mencoba babak baru dalam kemampuan mengarahkan film lewat film Hangout yang rilis Desember lalu, Raditya Dika kembali lagi menyapa para penonton dan juga fans-nya. Di tahun 2017 ini, Raditya Dika kembali bekerjasama dengan rumah produksi Soraya Intercine Films untuk menyelesaikan proyek filmnya yang naskahnya sudah dikembangkan dalam jangka waktu yang panjang. Jeda waktu antara Hangout dengan proyek terbarunya ini memang terasa terlalu dekat, sehingga bisa jadi hal itu akan mempengaruhi performa Raditya Dika dari kualitas hingga kuantitas. Proyek terbarunya ini Raditya Dika tak lagi berusaha mengeksplorasi genre baru seperti yang dilakukannya di Hangout . Raditya Dika kembali lagi ke akarnya untuk membuat sebuah komedi romantis seperti apa yang dia lakukan di film-film sebelumnya. The Guys , judul proyek terbaru dari Raditya Dika bersama Soraya Intercine Films setelah berhasil berkolaborasi lewat Single di tahun 2015 lalu. Naskah yang sudah dibuat oleh Raditya Dika cuk...

Fast and Furious adalah salah satu franchise lama dan terbesar milik Hollywood. Franchise ini sudah berkembang mulai dari tahun 2001 dan sebagian besar orang selalu menantikan setiap seri film ini. Furious 7 adalah titik puncak karena anggota ‘keluarga’ dari Franchise ini meninggal yaitu Paul Walker. Daya tarik penonton untuk menyaksikan Furious 7 semakin besar karena ingin menyaksikan performa terakhir dari Paul Walker di seri ini. Momen wafatnya Paul Walker juga berdampak pada angka penjualan tiket Furious 7 dan mendapatkan angka pembukaan yang fantastis. Hal ini tentu membuat produser memberikan lampu hijau agar seri ini tetap berjalan. Maka dari itu, tahun ini Fast and Furious memutuskan untuk merilis seri ke delapan dari Franchise -nya. Pergantian sutradara pun terjadi, dari James Wan ke F. Gary Gray dan berpengaruh pada pemilihan judul. The Fate and The Furious adalah judul terbaru dari franchise ini di US, meski judul di Indonesia tetap menggunakan Fast and Furious 8 ...

J.J. Abrams carefully resurrected the Star Wars franchise with the wildly praised seventh installment, The Force Awakens . Yet, he passes the reins to Looper and Brick director, Rian Johnson, for this December's continuation, Star Wars: The Last Jedi . Mark Hamill is primed to reprise his iconic role of Luke Skywalker as Johnson progresses the stories of Rey (Daisy Ridley), Finn (John Boyega) and Kylo Ren (Adam Driver). Despite the debut trailer's laughable similarities to the previous film's premiere footage ( you need to watch this if you haven't ), The Last Jedi is destined to be a box office smash. Catch the film's first-look teaser below. Sofia Coppola, daughter of acclaimed Godfather helmer, Francis Ford Coppola, looks to correct her professional trajectory with the Cannes Film Festival entry, The Beguiled . Colin Farrell stars as John McBurney, a wounded Civil War soldier who finds himself recuperating in a home filled with sheltered women who run rampant...

One of the hottest headliners at this year's SXSW Film Festival was Ben Wheatley's action-comedy shootout flick, Free Fire . Unfortunately, the crowds were too overwhelming, so I took my movie-watching schedule in a different direction that day. But now, a month after missing out on it's United States premiere, I nestled in for an advance screening of Free Fire and enjoyed Wheatley's most simple and cohesive narrative to date. In late 1970s Boston, Justine (Brie Larson) brokers a weapons-swap in an abandoned warehouse between Northern Ireland fighters in search of assault rifles to bring back home, and a local gang looking to unload illegal arms for cash. But after members of each of these groups recognize each other from a falling out the previous night, tensions begin to mount and eventually erupt into a chaotic gun battle for survival. With some alliances stronger then others, and a back-stabbing group of rifled snipers entering the fray, it's a wonder if anyone...

Cukup mengagetkan, di awal tahun ada 1 film yang benar-benar mendapatkan pujian di luar sana. Lebih mengagetkan lagi adalah film itu ternyata berasal dari Blumhouse Pictures yang memiliki konsentrasi lebih ke film-film horor. Ditilik lebih dalam lagi, memang film ini adalah film penuh atmosfer menyeramkan ala Horror genre digabung dengan tensi rapat khas genre Thriller. Karya ini lahir dari seorang bernama Jordan Peele yang ternyata baru pertama kali memiliki kesempatan mengarahkan sebuah film. Dan inilah, Get Out , sebuah film horor yang muncul dari tangan komedian dan mendapatkan pujian di berbagai festival hingga di awal tahun memiliki kesempatan untuk ditonton banyak kalangan. Beruntung juga Indonesia memiliki kesempatan untuk menyaksikan film ini meski baru tayang di bulan April ini. Sehingga, beberapa orang –yang tahu akan adanya film ini –tentu akan menantikan film ini saat diputar. Sehingga, meski tanpa nama-nama besar, Get Out berhasil mengundang rasa penasaran orang dengan...

Kathryn Bigelow owns the rare distinction of being the only female to ever win a Best Director Oscar, for her Best Picture winner, The Hurt Locker . Bigelow then followed up the successful feature with perhaps her best work, Zero Dark Thirty . It's been 5 years since her last feature and Bigelow returns in 2017 with the heavy-hitting action-drama, Detroit , which chronicles the chaotic riots within the city during racial tensions in 1967. John Krasinski, John Boyega and Anthony Mackie star in this potential Oscar contender which arrives in theaters this August. Catch the first-look trailer of Detroit below. The marvel universe continues its expansion with the third installment Thor: Ragnarok . Director Taika Waititi takes over the franchise and puts his imprints on the Thor sage which now finds the superhero (Chris Hemsworth) forced to face off against The Incredible Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) in a gladiator match in order to save Asgard from destruction. Cate Blanchett joins the series...

Two years ago F Gary Gray's Straight Outta Compton took audiences nationwide by surprise with its compelling journey back to the roots of early 90s gangster rap. The late-great Tupac Shakur gets the biopic treatment this summer with Benny Boom's All Eyez on Me . Boom doesn't carry the same clout as Gray, yet his alleged "untold" story of the legendary rapper, actor and activist features newcomer Demetrius Shipp Jr. and hopes to ride the wave of Compton 's success. All Eyez on Me arrives in theaters this June and you can catch the film's newest trailer below. Sylvester Stallone's prolific underdog film, Rocky , went on to capture a Best Picture Oscar. Yet, Stallone's inspiration for his franchise-building character was scrappy New Jersey heavyweight boxer, Chuck Wepner, who also gets the biopic treatment Philippe Falardeau upcoming feature, Chuck . Liev Schreiber stars in the title role as audiences will receive an in-depth look at the sad but tru...

Disney sedang rajin menggalakkan kampanye untuk menghidupkan kembali dunia dongeng di film-film animasinya sebagai sebuah film live-action. Sudah ada Cinderella di tahun 2015, The Jungle Book di Tahun 2016, dan akan lebih banyak lagi di tahun-tahun berikutnya. Harta karun Disney yang sudah berdebu ini mulai dimanfaatkan sebagai ladang emas yang sangat berkilau. Dan tahun ini, Disney kembali melakukan peremajaan terhadap karyanya yang fenomenal dan menjadi film animasi pertama yang masuk nominasi Best Picture di tahun 1991 yaitu Beauty and The Beast. Bill Condon adalah komandan yang punya kendali penuh saat mengarahkan film live-action dari mahakarya milik Disney yang diambil dari dongeng legenda perancis ini. Banyak orang yang cukup khawatir atas ambisi Disney yang sedang berusaha keras mengenalkan kembali seluruh film-film animasinya di zaman sekarang. Pintarnya, Beauty and The Beast yang memiliki Emma Watson dan Dan Stevens di deretan pemainnya ini gampang meyakinkan calon penontonn...

Most directors would envy a debut as successful as Marc Webb's 2009 Golden Globe-nominated film, (500) Days of Summer . Webb then took a bit of a leap by following-up his rom-com with superhero blockbusters,  The Amazing Spider-Man and its 2014 sequel. But success is fickle in this industry and, like many do, the filmmaker has gone from being handed a major franchise to taking on the new limited-release drama, Gifted . Chris Evans trades in his Captain America uniform for a much simpler life as Frank Adler, a boat repairman raising his deceased sister's child, Mary (Mckenna Grace), who's firm understanding of advanced mathematics is a rarity. But as Frank pushes Mary towards a conventional childhood built on playing and making friends in the public school sector, rather than a taxing life of studying rigorous mathematics at a specialized institution, his mother (Lindsay Duncan) resurfaces and takes legal action with a custody battle over guardianship of the seven year-old ...

April's variety of new DVD and Streaming options isn't as expansive as last month's top-heavy crop, but it does offer 2016's Best Film ( March's suggestions ). Outside of April's most notable release, there are a few other noteworthy titles that are assured to satisfy your movie-watching cravings. Here's what this month has in store: La La Land - 4 stars out of 4 - ( Read my full review here ) Damien Chazelle's magical film La La Land went into the Oscar ceremony as the overwhelming favorite to nab the Best Picture honor. While the evening's gaff won't be forgotten any time soon, Moonlight may have actually won the crown, but Chazelle's original musical is truly the more accomplished piece of filmmaking. Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling star as a struggling actress and jazz pianist who fall in love in Los Angeles while trying to capture their dreams. La La Land has it all, phenomenal performances, a creative script, a stand-out score and nosta...