Release: Merdeka

Merdeka
Genre: Action/Historical
Director: Joe Taslim
Writer: Meirad Tako
Cast: Joe Taslim, Michiel Huisman






Budget: $24,000,000
Domestic Box Office: $8,050,005
Foreign Box Office: $20,054,585
Total Profit: -$17,056,833

Reaction: Well, that didn't work... The film was a calculated risk that just didn't work out. It was a very difficult film to market to western audiences: no big name actors, Asian historical setting, etc.

"I found the film enjoyable, although I'm not surprised at all by the film's failure at the box office. It's a bit of a slow-burn film and the characters are a bit cold. The fight scenes are strong and the journey by the two leads is an interesting one." - Tim Durand, San Francisco Chronicle

"This film was clearly too much for Joe Taslim to handle. He's never directed anything before, and he hasn't even been in the film industry for very long as an actor. He struggled both behind and in front of the camera. Merdeka needed a more experienced director to reach its full potential." - Rick Green, New Yorker

"Merdeka is a film I really wanted to like. The story is intriguing, but the execution is lacking. The story jumps around a lot, and we never get to know the characters outside of the revolution plot. Maybe a strong supporting cast could have given some depth to the story and the lead characters' journey, but star/director Joe Taslim and screenwriter Meirad Tako focused the film too much on just the two leads." - James Tubbs Jr., Vice Magazine

In Development

Obsession: Hot off the success of Spawn, Idris Elba (Spawn, Star Trek Beyond) has signed on for Mo Buck's latest film, Obsession, directed by David Lynch. Octavia Spencer (Hidden Figures, The Shape of Water) has also signed on to play Elba's wife. They will play patients of the peculiar psychologist played by Michael Shannon.

Lost Planet: Ali Larter (Resident Evil: The Final Chapter), Josh Pence (Star Trek: Enterprise, La La Land) and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaye (Sherwood, Suicide Squad) have been cast in video game adaptation Lost Planet from director Dan Trachtenberg and writer Billy Cruder. Pence and Akinnuoye-Agbaye will play NEVEC soldiers, while Larter will play a woman Aaron Taylor-Johnson's lead character encounters.

Texas Rangers: John Malone and Scott Cooper's upcoming western film has added the talents of Tye Sheridan (Ready Player One, Deprogramming), Joel Edgerton (Red Sparrow, Gorky Park), Bryan Cranston (Uncharted, Life on Mars) and O'Shea Jackson Jr. (Den of Thieves, Straight Outta Compton) to its cast. Edgerton has been cast as Leander McNelly, Texas Rangers captain. Cranston will play a cattle baron who convinces McNelly to form a team to stop the band of outlaws led by Oscar Isaac. Sheridan will play a farmer who joins the Rangers, while Jackson will play a Northerner who joins up.



Mortal Kombat: The heroes of the story have already been cast, now it's time for the villains. Ken Watanabe (Mass Effect: Cerberus, Akira), Dave Bautista (Carbon, The Grind), Manu Bennett (Nation's Pride, Masters of the Universe) and Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson ("Game of Thrones", Kickboxer: Retaliation) have all joined the upcoming Mortal Kombat reboot. Watanabe will play Outworld sorcerer Shang Tsung, Bautista will play Outworld emperor Shao Khan, Bennett will play international criminal Kano, and Björnsson has been cast as the four-armed Outworld champion, Goro. Gareth Evans directs the film from a script by APJ and Chad Taylor.

White Tiger: Writer Jack Ryder (Standing Back, The Grind) is back in the world of Marvel with a film based on the character White Tiger. Benicio del Toro will play the lead role, Hector Ayala / White Tiger, a vigilante granted powers from an amulet. Eiza Gonzalez (Baby Driver, "From Dusk till Dawn: The Series") and Ed Harris (Halo 3, "Westworld") have also signed on to the film. Gonzalez will play del Toro's niece who takes up his cause, while Harris will play a criminal kingpin. J.A. Bayona (Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, Birth of Frankenstein).

The Lady in the Lake: Joel & Ethan Coen (An Honest Mistake, Hail, Caesar!) are back to work for Last Resort Films, this time tackling a film based on the Raymond Chandler novel The Lady in the Lake. Coen Brothers regular George Clooney (High Society, Money Monster) will portray private detective Philip Marlowe, who is investigating the case of a missing woman. Dwight Gallo (Shōgun, Heavy Rain) wrote the adaptation.

Now Showing: Merdeka

Merdeka
Genre: Action/Historical
Director: Joe Taslim
Writer: Meirad Tako
Cast: Joe Taslim, Michiel Huisman

Plot: Indonesia, 1889. The invasion by the Netherlands on Indonesia (also called Nusantara before Indonesia got their freedom) made Indonesia and its people suffer. Many people died, many children lost their beloved one. Their parent's or their friend because of the invasion. It's already more than 200 hundred years after the dutch have invaded Indonesia. The people who fight for the freedom cannot do much because the lack of weapons or supplies.

Ari Bima (Joe Taslim) and his Dutch-Indonesia brother-in-arm, Joko Wardoyo (Michiel Huisman) is Medaner (the people of the city of Medan). They were both orphaned with no brother and sister. Their orphanage got destroyed by the dutch, in their little heart lies revenge and hatred.

Ari Bima and Joko Wardoyo both train Silat and various other martial art and weapons. At the age of 26, Ari and Joko successfully push the Dutch out of Medan with their strategy and their slogan "Merdeka (independent) or die". And because of that Ari pointed to be the general and Joko as His right hand. But that's when the conflict starts. Joko jealous because Ari is the one who get the fame and can marry a beautiful lady meanwhile he can't get anything.

One night, Joko decided to go to Batavia (Jakarta) where Dutch HQ in Indonesia located. He sign a contract with them and become the ally of Dutch. At midnight, some of the Ari's soldier knock his door so hard that makes him wonder what is happening. He's shocked about the news. The Dutch is almost reach the city of Medan. Ari Bima leads the soldier to stop them by firing canons from the shores. Their attack doesn't give a scratch on the Dutch ship, instead a rain of cannon ball come to them. In that situation flee is the only option but they didn't take it instead they keep firing their cannon.

Once the Dutch ship docked, Ari's soldier rush the ship with Keris (Indonesian Traditional weapon) with Ari on the front line. Ari slips between them and directly to the captain. He can't believe it when he saw Joko with Dutch army uniform and stand as a captain. Ari shakes his head and throw away his thoughts and attack Joko.

An epic fight with various martial art happens, nothing is pushing or being pushed cause basically they're in the same level. Not until Joko shot Ari in the stomach. Ari stand with his knee, Joko ready to shoot Ari before he screams "MERDEKA ATAU MATI!" He explodes the dynamite and kills both of them. And all of Joko's armies are surrender.

Ari Bima may not be a national hero but at least he is a true hero.

Premiere Magazine #62

The Roundup with Jeff Stockton (Season 7 Round 2)

This round had a little more consistency at the box office, unlike the opening round of the season which solely relied on Halo 3. Nobody made me mad this round, but there's always Round 3. So let's get right into the latest Roundup...

3. Idris Elba as Spawn
He has long been a fan favorite to play the role, but it has finally happened thanks to Last Resort Films. A lot of people have said they want him as Batman or Bond, but fuck that shit. He is perfect for Spawn. I haven't even liked most of his performances (he's yet to top his role as Stringer Bell on "The Wire" for me) - and he's all wrong from Batman and Bond - but he nails the role of Spawn in every way.

2. Revolution's Soundtrack
Now this film had a groovy soundtrack. Films like this, much like Trip, are great reminders of great songs from the past.

1. The Cast of Revolution
Holy shit, the cast on this one. The film essentially has six lead roles played by six different legitimate movie stars. It never feels forced, unlike certain films from last season that shan't be named, because they all have their own story lines and they are all very actor friendly roles. I expect to see a lot of the names from this film come awards season.

3. The Case of Revolution's Disappearing Child
It looks like John Malone wrote himself into a bit of a corner with the characters in Revolution. The character of Robert (Noah Schnapp) was needed at the beginning as part of Billy's (Jaeden Lieberher) story line, but once his important work is done he disappears completely from the film never to be seen again. It was honestly weird not seeing him in the end when we see how most of the characters have winded up. I get that he was the only character without his own story line, but throw the kid a bone. It's an odd part left dangling in an otherwise impressive film.

2. Lack of Cogliostro in Spawn
Overall, I rather enjoyed Harry Wright and Mo Buck's Spawn adaptation, BUT - one aspect I was highly disappointed with was the exclusion of the character of Cogliostro. For those unfamiliar with the comic series, Cogliostro serves as a mentor of sorts to Spawn after he returns to Earth from Hell. It would have been a great role for an older actor (Jeff Bridges? Ian McShane? Ray Winstone?) and would have helped fill in some narrative holes in the film. UPDATE: I forgot that Cogliostro doesn't show up for first handful of episodes of the Spawn comic series. I am excited to see the character in the sequel, although I still feel the character could have helped in this first entry as a guide to help introduce Simmons, as well as the audience, to the rules of the world. I at least now understand the lack of an appearance from the character (even if I don't like it...). So you can count this one as a minor negative in a very solid round in the world of Last Resort Films.

1. The "Teenagers" of Looking for Alaska
Were we really supposed to believe those "kids" were supposed to be in high school? They looked old as shit to be in that setting. Freddie Highmore is 26, Kaya Scodelario is 26, Josh Hutcherson is 25, Sophie Turner is a ragged looking 22. If the film were set in a college, the cast could work, but not as high schoolers. Hell, Highmore plays a doctor on TV and Scodelario is married with a kid!

Release: Spawn

Spawn
Genre: Action/Superhero
Director: Antoine Fuqua
Writer: Harry Wright and Mo Buck
Based on Image Comics characters
Cast: Idris Elba, Jackie Earl Hayley, Jason Isaacs, Sean Penn, Kerry Washington, Eric Stonestreet, Stephen Merchant, Stanley Tucci, Michael K. Williams, Wood Harris, Minka Kelly, Michael Chiklis



Budget: $132,000,000
Domestic Box Office: $150,902,890
Foreign Box Office: $139,132,889
Total Profit: $45,019,902

Reaction: While on paper the profit and the box office may not be overly impressive for a big budget movie, but you have to remember that this is a dark, R-rated property. We took a huge chance on this one, making it one of the most expensive R-rated movies of all-time, so we are quite happy with the box office turn out (which made it one of the highest grossing R-rated movies of all-time).

"Antoine Fuqua was the perfect choice to direct this film. He has always had a strong ability to make you care about characters who aren't always likeable and portray a world that feels realistic, regardless of the heightened elements at play. These skills were perfectly used with a property like Spawn." - Ken Decker, Denver Post

"I'm sure some fans of the comic will just be happy that the film is R-rated (unlike the previous adaptation from 1997), but that is not and should not be enough. The narrative is not nearly focused enough. A lot of time is spent on murdering random, nameless thugs, but the character of Spawn doesn't really spend any time fighting the actual villains of the story." - Clark Haverford, Nerdist

"I absolutely love that a comic series like Spawn is being taken seriously on the big screen (this time). The filmmakers and the studio have not shied away from some of the riskier and darker subject matter." - Dave Vrosky, Den of Geek

Comic to Film: Spawn

With a new adaptation of Todd McFarlane's famed comic book series Spawn in theaters right now, we have decided to cover it for the inaugural segment of Comic to Film. Spawn is directed by Antoine Fuqua (The Equalizer 2, The Magnificent Seven) and written by Harry Wright (Grand Theft Auto, Lucky Luke and Calamity Jane) and Mo Buck (Halo 3, Doppelganger).