Looking Through My Eyes: THE RAID

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I started April by watching Indonesia's Box Office Action Movie; The Raid.

There are lots of brutal fighting scenes, gun shots, some explosions and blood; lots of blood. Lots of dead bodies  victim of the battle. Oh yes, this movie is full of violence (even a girl like me not even feeling sorry for watching so much blood spilled over many times in this movie).

The Raid offers something different like I've never feel before while watching other action movies. Watching The Raid is like riding a roller coaster for approximately 100 minutes.It started smoothly (sweet and sentimental—kind of romantic, if I may say) until then you have to hold your breath. Next thing, you will find yourself gasping in awe, clinching your fists and feels the adrenaline rushing from the first 10 minutes until the end.

The fighting choreography is superb; they use pencak silat (Indonesian martial art) almost in every fist-to-fist scene. Its special effects are awesome—the wounds and the bloods look pretty real (Indonesian usually sucks at faking blood). The dark ambiance of the scenes blended with the score really helps to build the tension.

Actually, the plot of this movie is quite simple; the police versus the bad guys, although it also have a background story of brothers rivalry. It also simply sets in a soppy apartment building. And if you like conversational-based movie, you won't find too many dialogues here. But once they say their lines—beside cursing, it's something strong and meaningful. Despite the simplicity, they packed every detail perfectly you don’t have to think too much about the story; you just watch and enjoy it flows. But still, I noted some moral value from this movie about friendship, loyalty and brotherhood.

Oh, by the way, the lead actor, Iko Uwais, is cute. And Doni Alamsyah, one of the supporting actors, is cool as always.

Iko Uwais

So, if you want to see some real action with some real blood spilling moments, The Raid should sit on the top of your “Must See” list.

Looking Through My Eyes: A Dangerous Method

This movie hasn't been released yet but its preview on Venice Film Festival promising something big. This is the movie I won't be missed. I'd be watching this in the cinema if Indonesian cinemas played it, of course*. 

Since I'm a type of person who prefer to download the movie online, watching movie in the cinema is a big thing. Do you think I'm supporting piracy by downloading movie instead of going to cinema or buying original DVDs? You tell me. But I'm a cheap person, so yeah :/

There are some notable reason why I must watch this movie immediately in the cinema as soon as they release it:

1. Because I'm a psychology student and this movie contains the history of Psychoanalysis. The director stated here about how this movie will reveal the background of Psychoanalysis by 'resurrecting' the subjects (in this case; Freud and Jung). For so long, I only 'knew' Freud and Jung throughout their theories. It would be interesting to know the other side of this two important person. 
2. The casts are bright; Michael Fassbender, Keira Knightley and Viggo Mortensen. Hell yeah, Viggo Mortensen (who looks like Val Kilmer in the poster) is Sigmund Freud and Michael Fassbender is his protege, Carl Jung.
3. Because I fancy Michael Fassbender.
4. The rating is totally awesome. IMDB give A Dangerous Method 9 over 10, while Rotten Tomatoes (which--I find--usually give harsh comments about films) giving it 71% positive review and 98% of their audiences agree that this movie is watchable. 

So yeah, I'm sure I'll be watching A Dangerous Method cause it fits my requirement (British actors, 20th century setting, Michael Fassbender), though the subject might be a little bit 'heavy'. Anyone interested?

*) Indonesia currently having affair with movies importer that makes some movies late to be played in the the theatres or worse couldn't be released in cinemas.