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THE WEDDING DIARY II releases official theme song in conjunction with selection as ScreenSG closing filmPosted on 23 Nov 2012 |
SYNOPSIS: Following the death of his mother, the young 'J' Cody goes to live with his estranged gangster relatives. With conflict escalating between his family of criminals and the police's armed robbery division, J finds himself at the centre of a cold-blooded vengeance plot. As he naively navigates his way through the criminal underworld, he is forced to question where his loyalties lie as he tries to decipher who he can trust and who can protect him while struggling for his own survival.
MOVIE REVIEW:
You’ll never guess from watching ‘Animal Kingdom’ that it is in fact Australian writer/ director David Michod’s feature filmmaking debut after an auspicious start in award-winning shorts. A modern-day gangster noir that is also a fantastic slow-burner of a thriller, it won Michod the world cinema jury prize at Sundance in 2010 amid universally positive reviews – and since it did not get the honour of a theatrical release in Singapore, we urge you not to miss it on home video.
Fantastically acted by an ensemble Aussie cast comprising of Guy Pearce, Ben Mendelsohn and Jacki Weaver, it is a grippingly told tale of the deadly war between a family in the Melbourne underworld and the city’s armed robbery squad. Instead of guns and bullets, the fight is one rooted in realism and psychology, as the unholy trinity of Darren (Luke Ford), Craig (Sullivan Stapleton) and Pope (Ben Mendelsohn) pitted against the anarchic methods of the squad officers that hide behind the shield of their badge.
The only moral presence in the force might be Nathan Leckie (Pearce), who uses his wits more than his weapon. Nathan wants to use the Codys’ nephew Joshua (James Frecheville) against them, the latter having moved into the house with the three brothers and their matriarch of a mother Smurf (Weaver) after his mother overdoses on heroine. Michod tells the story from J’s perspective, thrust into this ‘animal kingdom’ where being caught between predator and prey might just cause him his life.
Most dangerous of the lot is Pope, whom we meet slightly later in the film, the sullen leader of the pack with crazy in his eyes and a penchant for Hawaiian shirts. There’s something disarming about him when we first meet him, but as J soon discovers, underneath that veneer is a coolly calculated psychopath. Like animals threatened in their own habitat, the Codys’ once peaceful existence is threatened by the cops’ relentless surveillance, waiting for that perfect opportunity to pounce upon any member of the family.
The consequences are neither pleasant nor pretty, but even before the more graphically disturbing scenes roll around, the tautly filmed scenes building up the tension between J and Pope are already unnerving. Neither trusts the other, especially not when J is being courted by the police as a witness against his uncles. Michod creates such a compelling atmosphere that you can’t quite help but feel an acute sense of danger for the ingenuous J and a distinct abhorrence for Pope.
Of course, the fact that these characters get under your skin is also testament to the actors’ brilliant acting. Mendelsohn is a class act in himself, his indelible performance so nuanced and complex that it draws you in like moths to a flame. Next to Mendelsohn, Frecheville looks a little too stilted for his own good, but the newcomer still acquits himself with a twitchy nervous portrayal of a teenager out of his league. And as Smurf, Weaver, who was the first actress Michod courted for the movie, blends both cheer and menace into a perfectly calibrated performance.
With such fine acting, an intelligent script, and some assured direction, ‘Animal Kingdom’ stands as one of the best Australian films we have ever seen. Don’t go in expecting the kind of violent crime flicks Hollywood does, but rather a well-plotted genre piece that paints a realistic and utterly mesmerising picture of a modern-day crime family.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
If you have a whole hour to spare, then watch the ‘Making Of’, which is an extremely detailed feature on where Michod got his inspiration, how he got producer Liz Watts on board, how the actors/ actresses were chosen, and finally the challenges of shooting the movie on a thin budget.
The less patient folks might prefer the individual short interview snippets with David Michod, Guy Pearce, Ben Mendelsohn, Joel Edgerton, Jacki Weaver, James Frecheville, Laura Wheelwright, Sullivan Stapleton and Luke Ford, each giving a brief understanding of their character and their experience shooting the film.
Finally, to cap it off, go for the ‘Audio Commentary’ which pretty much places Michod’s comments in the making-of within the context of individual scenes in the film.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
The Dolby Digital 5.1 audio is nothing to shout about for a talky picture like this. Nonetheless, the dialogue is crisp and clear. Visuals are well-balanced in tone and colour, and the presentation is sharp.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD RATING :
Review by Gabriel Chong
Genre: Fantasy/Drama
Director: Ang Lee
Cast: Suraj Sharma, Irffan Khan, Gerard Depardieu, Adil Hussain, Rafe Spall
Runtime: 2 hrs 7 mins
Rating: PG (Some Frightening Scenes)
Released By: 20th Century Fox
Official Website: http://www.lifeofpimovie.com/
Opening Day: 29 November 2012
Synopsis: Based upon the bestselling book by Yann Martel, LIFE OF PI tells the story of a young man’s incredible survival at sea against impossible odds. A remarkable technological breakthrough in 3D epic adventure, PI is an emotionally captivating experience that will inspire, touch and transport audiences to a place of discovery that they will never forget.
Movie Review:
A man. At sea. With a Bengali tiger in his lifeboat. That in essence is the premise of Yann Martel’s ‘Life of Pi’, one of the most talked about books of the last decade. If you’re thinking ‘Castaway’, then you’re half right – indeed, there is a whole section in the movie where you see but one human character trying to survive against the odds of nature. But if it were that simple, then it would not have taken so long for the book to make the transition to the big screen; on the contrary, there is far more meaning to this ripping lost-at-sea yarn.
Anyone who has read the book will tell you that Martel’s Booker-winning novel is really an allegorical tale of faith and reason, or to put it plainly, to believe without seeing. Precisely because of this, the book was widely deemed unfilmable - short of having its titular character, Pi (short for Piscine Patel), recite his thoughts to the audience incessantly. Yet despite retaining the novel’s narrative structure in having Pi relate his incredible tale, director Ang Lee is a better filmmaker than to lay all that exposition on his protagonist; instead, together with screenwriter David Magee, he takes advantage of the book’s cinematic qualities to enhance the complex themes within Martel’s book.
So more than half of the movie is spent on the second act of the book, that sees Pi as the sole survivor on board a Japanese freighter which capsizes in a thunderstorm by climbing onto the one and only lifeboat. At first, Pi is joined by three other animals from the zoo his family owns – an orang utan, a hyena and the ferocious 450-pound tiger he names Richard Parker; though it isn’t long before the survival of the fittest and the smartest dictates that only Pi and the tiger are left.
Was it God’s plan that he survived the storm? Was it God’s plan that he be left to fend for his life against one of God’s fierce yet majestic creations? What was God’s plan for him in the days ahead? These nagging questions linger at the back of Pi’s head, even as his day to day consists of collecting enough water, fishing for food, and most importantly establishing a relationship of mutual dependency with Richard Parker just so the latter does not decide to rip his head off one day for its meal.
227 days is how long Pi spends adrift before being rescued - and the story told in flashback by an older Pi played by Irrfan Khan pretty much tells you that he will make it out of his ordeal alive. But in between what would certainly be an endless repetition of days and nights for Pi, Lee fills the screen with some of the most beautiful visuals you have ever seen, drawing his viewer into a fantastical world. By day, the ocean in looks like a vast mirror reflecting the white clouds in the sky; by night, it glows phosphorescent with iridescent jellyfish and just about one of the largest whales you have ever seen breaching.
A lot has been said of the movie’s lush imagery, but all that talk doesn’t quite prepare you for just how much of an awesome spectacle Pi’s journey is. With generous help from his cinematographer Claudio Miranda, Lee has orchestrated hands-down the most gorgeous film you’ll ever see this year – and not only does Lee manage to translate all those fascinating images from the book for the cinema, he does so in stunning 3D. Lee’s mastery of 3D deserves special mention, because – like Martin Scorcese did with ‘Hugo’ – it shows the possibilities that superlative technology can offer to a master craftsman to immerse his viewer into the experience of the movie.
Rightly so, the larger-than-life quality of the images leaves you feeling surreal – especially when Pi suddenly chances upon an island teeming with meerkats that turns into a shimmery carnivorous entity by night. The effect is entirely intended – ditto for the whimsical style that Ang Lee evokes for the preface that covers Pi’s childhood as the son of a Pondicherry zoo owner, including why and how he got his name shortened from Piscine Militor Patel – but its purpose only becomes clear towards the end when the present-day Pi relates a parallel story but with its characters as humans instead of animals.
As the book has, the metaphorical ending will likely polarise viewers (rest assured, even though a good many already know how it ends from the book, we won’t spoil it here for the uninitiated) – but no one can quite deny what a feat of filmmaking Ang Lee has achieved with this movie. In line with the core of the novel that questions the very notion of faith, Lee has lavished the film with a rapturous fable-like quality that manages to convey both the peril, isolation and loss of its lead character as well as to suspend its audience on the edge of belief and doubt as to the veracity of the story.
In particular, Lee pays great detail to the evolving relationship between Pi and Richard Parker. So vivid is the tiger that you would not believe it was mostly a CGI creation, but with the wonders of technology today, Lee has created a character both animal in its ferocity and yet human in spirit. Lee guides his newcomer actor Suraj Sharma adroitly to play the counterpoint, and Sharma is truly a revelation in the way he gets under the skin of his character to portray Pi’s emotional and psychological complexities – his doubts, his fears and ultimately his faith.
And no matter your personal inclinations towards the view of God and religion portrayed in Martel’s book, there is no doubt at all that Ang Lee brings an Oscar-worthy craftsmanship to this adaptation. From start to finish, Lee invites you to join him in a spellbinding journey, one that is always beautiful and occasionally breathtaking as beguiling scene after beguiling scene unfolds before your eyes. There is poetry, mysticism and magic in the film, and at once this seemingly simplistic story of a man at sea with a Bengali tiger becomes so much more – a survivalist tale of man against nature, an intriguing reflection on the possibility of co-existence and finally a mesmerising lesson on the perennial debate between faith and reason.
If in the end you’re not convinced of its spiritualism, then at the very least we guarantee you’ll be completely won over by the film’s sense of wonder and imagination.
Movie Rating:
(Putting some of the most beautiful visuals you’ll see in a film this year to the service of a story that debates the very notion of faith, Ang Lee has created a masterful work of storytelling that is poetic, mystical and magical)
Review by Gabriel Chong
Genre: Action/Thriller
Director: Simon West
Cast: Nicolas Cage, Josh Lucas, Malin Akerman, Danny Huston, Sami Gayle, M.C. Gainey, Edrick Browne, Mark Valley, Barry Shabaka Henley
Runtime: 1 hr 36 mins
Rating: PG13 (Some Coarse Language And Violence)
Released By: Golden Village Pictures
Official Website: http://www.stolen-movie.com/
Opening Day: 29 November 2012
Synopsis: Director Simon West and Nicolas Cage re-team for the first time since "Con Air" for "Stolen," a fast paced action thriller set during Mardi Gras in New Orleans. Will Montgomery (Nicolas Cage) is a master thief who after being double-crossed in a heist gone awry is sent to prison for 8 years. Upon his release he’s ready to leave his criminal past behind and try to rebuild a relationship with his estranged daughter Allison. The FBI and his old cohorts believe that he hid the loot from the last heist 8 years ago, $10 Million in Bonds. To get his hands on it, his old partner Vincent (Josh Lucas) kidnaps Allison and demands the entire $ 10 Million as ransom. Keeping her in the soundproofed trunk of a Taxi Cab, he’s able to stay mobile amongst the throngs of taxis out during Mardi Gras day making it nearly impossible to find. Montgomery only has one day to get the $10 Million ransom but much to the disbelief of the FBI on his trail and Vincent, Will doesn’t actually have it. Instead, he must trust his instincts and his old partner in crime, the beautiful, sexy and smart Riley (Malin Ackerman), to do one more clever heist to get his daughter back alive before it's too late. .
Movie Review:
At a time when eminent action stars are few and far between, Nicholas Cage stands tall – and not just because he has been imposing a brooding presence on the screen. The 48-year-old actor has been working tirelessly for the past three decades, skimming across a multitude of leading roles as far ranging as a demon vigilante in Ghost Rider and an alien mystery solver in Knowing and as conservative as an assassin in Bangkok Dangerous and a violent gangster in Face/Off that it feels like he’s on the cusp of retiring, yet he’s still making movies at a rate that nearly any other legitimate action star couldn’t hope to match. This unflagging energy has earned him a place beside Sylvester Stallone in the upcoming The Expendables 3.
So whether you should expect something groundbreaking from a man who has featured in over 70 movies and is gradually approaching the end of a long and storied career is really the clincher here. Stolen, then, is in many ways representational of Nicholas Cage: it isn’t anything that we haven’t already seen several times, but as far as damsel-in-distress movies go, it’s one of the best, striated with enough action, tension and wit to erase the eye-popping poster headlines and make us forget that this is some sort of shameless pastiche of Liam Neeson’s multi-million hit Taken from 2008. Not that the accusation is something to be ashamed of, but it’s certainly a mark of ingenuity when a movie is more Taken than Taken.
To be sure, some of the basic plot points are pulled directly from Taken. Nicholas Cage plays Will Montgomery, a bank robber whose accomplices abandon him after a heist goes awry one night. Released after spending eight years in prison, Will is confronted by former partner in crime Vincent (Josh Lucas) who asks for his share of the $10 million that was stolen eight years ago. Unfortunately, the money has already been burnt during the night of arrest and Vincent resorts to kidnapping Will’s daughter. Will must now beat the time to find and rescue his daughter or perform one last bank robbery to get the $10 million required to pry his daughter from Vincent’s grab.
The conclusion is a simple guess away for anyone who has ever watched at least a few action movies in the past decade, but the focus has never been on the ending as much as it is on the journey to the conclusion. For a moment, there seems to be a promise of more karate chops to the neck when Will picks up the call from his daughter’s kidnapper and utters the menacing words, “I want to talk to her – now!” But Stolen is far less grounded in Liam Neeson’s ‘very particular set of skills’, preferring to approach the rescue from a Sherlock Holmes’s standpoint. This creates an intriguing mix of detective work and bits of pure brutality that are required to achieve the former.
What we have here is a more restrained version of Taken and while that may sound diametrically opposed to the idea of what makes a great action movie, it isn’t. Stolen involves a fair bit of strategy on the part of the rescuer, planting Will’s actions in more purpose and aim. Every inch of hope is felt here not because Will goes from door to door like an ice-cream salesman, busts down doors and clashes with henchmen who may have no answers to his daughter’s whereabouts, but because every place or every person Will visits and meets is guaranteed to yield a clue. When all else fails, there’s always the option of robbing a bank to fund the ransom.
Without giving much away, let it be clear that director Simon West has done a fine job of concocting a simmering hotpot of brilliant ideas that meld into an enjoyable action movie. At its heart, it’s Taken minus the quotable lines, high on moments of intense action and fraught with the perils of if-I-don’t-save-my-daughter failure. Yet at the same time, Stolen delivers more with flashes of Sherlock Holmes and there’s even time for brief forays into The Italian Job as Will executes bank heists right under the noses of the blithely unaware staff and police. Stolen is wholly unoriginal, but the way in which it makes all the borrowed ideas work in tandem is refreshing and the movie is ultimately more worthy than most would give it credit for.
Movie Rating:
(Delivering an intriguing mix of detective work and pure brutality, Stolen is what Taken should have been)
Review by Loh Yong Jian
Genre: Action/Thriller
Director: Dan Bradley
Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Josh Peck, Adrianne Palicki, Josh Hutcherson, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Isabel Lucas, Connor Cruise, Edwin Hodge, Kenneth Choi, Alyssa Diaz, Brett Cullen, Will Yun Lee, Matt Gerald
Runtime: 1 hr 33 mins
Rating: PG13 (Some Coarse Language & Violence)
Released By: Golden Village Pictures
Official Website: http://www.facebook.com/RedDawnFilm
Opening Day: 22 November 2012
Synopsis: DireIn Red Dawn, a city in Washington state awakens to the surreal sight of foreign paratroopers dropping from the sky - shockingly, the U.S. has been invaded and their hometown is the initial target. Quickly and without warning, the citizens find themselves prisoners and their town under enemy occupation. Determined to fight back, a group of young patriots seek refuge in the surrounding woods, training and reorganizing themselves into a guerilla group of fighters. Taking inspiration from their high school mascot, they call themselves the Wolverines, banding together to protect one another, liberate their town from its captors, and take back their freedom.
Movie Review:
There are big, loud and dumb movies, and then there are movies like ‘Red Dawn’, which deserve to belong to a category in themselves for being sheer stupidity magnified. The fact that this was in fact a remake of a 1984 movie that starred the likes of Patrick Swayze, C. Thomas Howell, Charlie Sheen and Jennifer Grey is no excuse for how blatantly silly the premise is – if you’re looking to give it another go, the least you can do is to try to make it better.
For those who have not heard of that John Milius picture, its essential conceit was how a ragtag group of teens become a formidable resistance force when their peaceful community is suddenly attacked by an occupying force. The Russians were the ones unfortunate enough to be vilified then – not surprising given the lingering Cold War fears – but writers Carl Ellsworth and Jeremy Passmore have made the North Koreans the invaders this time round, though any real world relevance the opening sequence of edited news footage might suggest the movie would have is quickly thrown out of the window barely ten minutes into the film.
After briefly introducing the audience to the pair of brothers – the newly returned Iraq War veteran Jed Eckert (Chris Hemsworth) and his hot-headed younger brother Matt (Josh Peck) – the North Koreans are literally dropped into the movie. Waking up the rumble of explosions, Jed and Matt are horrified to discover that the sky is dotted with North Korean bombers and scores of soldiers are parachuting into the town in a hostile takeover attempt. If it already sounds unconvincing as we are describing it to you, trust us when we tell you it looks even more ridiculous onscreen.
Are we supposed to believe that within the span of one night, the North Koreans have suddenly made their way halfway across the globe to attack America? Are we supposed to believe that they could have come with all that firepower? And worst of all, are we supposed to even buy into the fact that they would even bother about a small town called Spokane? Sure, we would willingly suspend our disbelief for a movie that bothers to make sense; but ‘Red Dawn’ makes no such attempt, and utterly baffles in how it thinks it can get away with such an absurd setup.
Does it get better along the way? Absolutely not. Seeing his father executed before their eyes, Jed comes to the conclusion that they need to prepare for war – and just like that, he becomes training commander of a young team of rebels who call themselves the ‘Wolverines’. They learn to fight, to shoot and to hide, all in the name of preparing to wage an urban guerrilla campaign against the North Koreans who have taken over their town with their arsenal of soldiers, jeeps, and tanks.
And when they are finally ready, Matt decides to undermine their plans by scuttling off to rescue his girlfriend Erica (Isabel Lucas), thereby igniting a brotherly conflict between the rational and responsible Jed and the impulsive and impetuous Matt. What a pathetic attempt at trying to make us care about two stock types who frankly are just in the movie so we have the good guys – the same goes for bringing Toni (Adrianne Paliki) and Erica into the fray and building some sort of romantic links between Jed and Matt respectively.
Even if we accept the tradeoffs in plot and character most B-movies would have their audience make, the least director Dan Bradley could have done is to mount some decently shot action sequences. That is precisely Bradley should have done with his cameraman Mitchell Amundsen – shoot him point blank. Clearly trying too hard to emulate the ‘Bourne’ films to lend the action a sense of urgency, the shaky camerawork is downright frustrating to watch, and even more so because the sequences – especially the final one set within a huge circular room fronted on all sides with glass windows – are pretty promising to begin with.
No thanks to its abundant flaws, the movie also wastes its promising young cast. Hemsworth has good presence as the smart leader of the team (he takes over Patrick Swayze’s role in the original), while Josh Hutcherson (who played Peeta in ‘The Hunger Games’ and here is in C. Thomas Howell’s role) brings naivety and temperance to the role of Robert Kitner, a bookish type who turns warrior because of circumstance. Less convincing is Peck, who mostly just looks too stoned to convey any sort of inner dilemma his character is supposed to face.
Nonetheless, the acting is the least of the flaws in a movie that is painfully illogical and utterly nonsensical. Its invasion scenario might have been able to fly with an audience in the ‘80s, but to try to transplant the same premise to today’s context is just plain daftness. Ironically, there are some moments that appear to suggest that the filmmakers are wise enough to know not to take the movie too seriously – but those moments fade away as soon as the next unabashed war-mongering scene arrives.
Don’t get us wrong – this isn’t about whether we love B-action movies or not. We do, but it is movies that insult the intelligence of its audience that we truly detest, and ‘Red Dawn’ is one perfect example of that. Watch only if you need to understand the meaning of stupid.
Movie Rating:
(Bad doesn’t begin to describe how terrible this action movie is – illogical, nonsensical and just plain dumb, this Dawn deserves never to see the light of day)
Review by Gabriel Chong
Genre: Drama/Action
Director: Jack Neo
Cast: Joshua Tan, Maxi Lim, Noah Yap, Wang Weiliang, Richard Low, Irene Ang, Roy Li, Wang Lei, Aizuddin Nasser, Alvin Richard, Charlie Goh, Daniel Ang, Feng Wenna, Hanrey Low, Janson Lim, Luke Lee, Ridhwan Azman, Jacky Chin, Justin Dominic Misson
RunTime: 1 hr 53 mins
Rating: PG13
Released By: Golden Village Pictures & Clover Films
Official Website: https://www.facebook.com/AhBoysToMen
Opening Day: 8 November 2012
Synopsis: In commemoration of Singapore’s 45th year of National Service, renowned homegrown director Jack Neo returns with a S$3million production – Ah Boys To Men. The movie stars local veteran actor Richard Low, well-known actress/comedienne Irene Ang, celebrated musician Roy Li and actors Wang Lei and Jacky. On top of these familiar faces, Jack Neo also introduces fresh faces to the cast lineup, including famous bloggers Mr Brown, Qiu QIu and Tosh. In conjunction with the NS45 campaign “From Fathers To Sons”, the movie shares how youngsters now step out of their comfort zone and learn the importance of protecting their country. Ah Boys To Men is sure to bring back memories for Singaporean men who have previously served National Service and at the same time, interest young boys who have yet to join the army.
Movie Review:
Love it or hate it – National Service (NS) is an indelible part of the Singapore identity, and what better way on this forty-fifth anniversary of NS to celebrate the special place that it has in every Singaporean than to make a movie about it. So Jack Neo has done just that, embarking on his most ambitious (and certainly his most expensive) film ever that attempts to tell an NS story able to resonate with both the younger and the older generation who have been through that life-changing experience.
‘Ah Boys to Men’ is the name of Neo’s film, split into two parts after the filmmaker realised that he just had too much material to fit into one single movie. In this first-parter, Neo largely focuses on overcoming the psychological barrier that accompanies every new recruit’s entry into Basic Military Training (BMT), the barrier of fear, trepidation, reluctance and just general resistance to the sacrifice of freedom and two years of one’s prime teenage years.
The protagonist here is Ken Chow (Joshua Tan), a headstrong and impulsive rich kid who is forced to put his plans to study abroad on hold due to NS commitments. As such, he starts off hating even the thought of NS, and while his father (Liu Qianyi) tries to convince him to think positively about it, his mother (Irene Ang) busies herself trying to find ways for her son to skip NS – even going to the extent of approaching their Member of Parliament (MP).
To complicate matters further, his plans to go overseas included his girlfriend, who would also be heading overseas for academic reasons. Yet as the Government would have it, his application for deferment is denied, leaving him Tekong-bound in body but certainly not in spirit. Ditto for his fellow enlistees ‘Lobang’ (Wang Weiliang) and ‘I P Man’ (Noah Yap), the former a particularly resourceful and enterprising buddy who sells charged spare handphone batteries to his section mates.
With generous support from Mindef, Neo accurately chronicles the baptism of fire of a BMT recruit in Pulau Tekong, especially in acclimatising to regimen and authority. Besides the morning revelry and the stand-by beds, there’s also the physical training in terms of IPPT, Standard Obstacle Course (SOC) and route marches. Rather than build too much plot into these scenes, Neo wisely keeps them simple by allowing his audience to project themselves into the various onscreen characters and relive their own BMT experiences.
Not only that, Neo also allows his audience to identify the various archetypes in NS – the ‘chao keng’ kings (i.e. Ken and Lobang), the over-achiever/ bootlicker (represented here by a certain bespectacled Aloysius Jin played by Maxi Lim) and the stern platoon sergeant (in the form of Second Sergeant Ong played by Tosh Zhang) – as well as the unique NS trademarks of singing, marching and water-parading. Part of the reason why the movie proves surprising entertaining is of course how easily anyone who has been through NS will be able to find something familiar and therefore nostalgic.
As one who has gone through a different generation of NS, Neo also observes with a keen eye the differences between NS in the past and the NS of today. The oft-heard line from those who did their NS in the 1970s is how easy recruits have it nowadays, and to illustrate this point, Neo takes the opportunity at certain points in the movie to flash back to how it would have been in the past – and that shrewd calculation easily ensures that his movie speaks also to the generation of males who have served NS in its early days.
For a good part of the movie, plot essentially takes a backseat while Neo dramatizes BMT then and now, but he gets back to it with a melodramatic twist in the last half hour. Thankfully, it is handled with more deftness than you would expect from a Jack Neo treatment (think ‘Money No Enough 2’), and while teetering on the brink of histrionics, it at least achieves its aim of getting its audience to think about the consequences of taking ‘chao keng’ to dangerous heights.
That’s of course a message that Mindef would gladly endorse, and let us warn you beforehand that there will be propagandistic talk glorifying the importance and significance of NS. Kudos to Neo however for ensuring that this movie doesn’t end up as no more than a Mindef mouthpiece, and for the audacity to include some common tongue-in-cheek jokes about the Service – these are particularly funny in Hokkien, and especially so when delivered by native dialect speakers like Wang Lei.
Lei also appears in the movie as Ken’s uncle, but like the other veteran actors, his role is no more than a supporting one. Instead, attention is placed square and centre on the newbies, whom Neo manages to elicit surprisingly convincing performances. The casting is spot on, with the actors easily inhabiting their roles – and most entertaining is Wang Lei’s getai protégé Wang Weiliang, who plays the loutish Lobang with panache. Importantly, the camaraderie amongst the actors is keenly felt, making it easier to buy into their team spirit in the movie.
You’ve probably noticed at this point that we’ve avoided mention of what was the selling point of this movie – the depiction of our island city at war, with iconic destinations such as the Central Business District (CBD) and Marina Bay hit and our HDB heartlands overrun by terrorists. Certainly, those were the money shots, but the ironic thing is how awkwardly they fit into the rest of the movie – no matter Neo’s purpose of trying to educate his audience of the significance of NS.
Those guessing that the sequences are no more than hypothetical scenarios at this point in time are however correct – and while it isn’t a dream like the much-ballyhooed ‘The Best Bet’, the rationale here for their inclusion isn’t any better. Yet ‘Ah Boys to Men’ doesn’t need Hollywood theatrics to stand out as a funny and entertaining ode to NS; on the contrary, all it needs – and what Neo has managed to do – is to tap into its audience’s own NS experiences and to portray them as accurately as possible. You’d laugh, you’d reminisce and you’d leave with a smile on your face knowing that you have been part of a Uniquely Singapore experience – on that account alone, this is a must-see for anyone who’s given up two years or more of their lives to the defense of this country.
Movie Rating:
(Tapping into his audience’s own NS experiences, Jack Neo’s latest is a funny, entertaining and ultimately nostalgic trip back to Tekong)
Review by Gabriel Chong
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"AH BOYS TO MEN" THANK YOU PARADE HAPPENING THIS SUNDAY!Posted on 26 Mar 2013 |
Genre: Drama
Director: Michaël Cohen
Cast: Emmanuelle Béart, Michaël Cohen, Jean-Paul Dubois, Meiji U Tum'si, Patrick Vincent, Mikis Cerleix, Shane Vives-Atsara Woodward
Runtime: 1 hr 27 mins
Rating: R21 (Sexual Scenes)
Released By: Shaw
Official Website:
Opening Day: 25 October 2012
Synopsis: "It Begins with the End" is a hopelessly overwrought tale of romance. First-timer Michaël Cohen directs and stars alongside real-life partner Emmanuelle Béart as two lovers who fight, frolic, fornicate and frolic some more in a flashback-heavy narrative. When Jean (Cohen) spots Gabrielle (Béart) at a cafe sucking on a lemon, his hormones literally explode into his espresso. When she removes her bathrobe and claims, "I'm more than just this," well, he's hooked.
Movie Review:
There’s something about Gabrielle that drives Jean wild.
Be it her alluring mix of cool insoucianceand fiery passion, or the sensuous way her bee-stung lips caresses the lemonsshe eats whole—skin, rind and all, Jean is drawn to the strong-headed yet fragile woman, who is like a petulant child.
But Jean is as crazy as Gabrielle, and like moths to a flame—each fearing yet embracing their combustive end, the two develop a deep and oftentimes sadistic love. When the premonition of a vague and imagined tragedy becomes too unbearable for Gabrielle, she tells Jean that the real proof of their love would be the ability to withstand falling out of it.
After a hiatus, they reunite for a night,and this narrative developsalongside flashback scenes from when they first met (a clue: keep track of the length of Jean’sbeard for a sense of the timeline). While this storytelling technique is not uncommon in many romantic films, It Begins with the End is one of the few that does it best.
For a start, iteschews the clichés of Hollywood romantic dramas. Instead ofindulging in slick or sappy one-liners, the film is peppered with authentic, though-provoking wit. It is refreshing when Gabrielle takes offense to Jean’s question if she loves him, describing his doubt as “tactless.” This instance and many others in the film prove that a little honesty goes a long way in shaking our idealistic strongholds and naïve conceptions of love. It’s really also, just a whole lot cooler than the expression, “I’m a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her.” (No prizes for guessing which film.)
Yet it’s less about pretentious content, and more about the genuine complexity and irony of a love so strong that threatens the very relationship between two. Thisaudacious and clever script can only be pulled off by the equally fearless and real-life husband-and-wife team Michaël Cohenand Emmanuelle Béart put on charismatic performances in their roles.
Béart, who rose to fame as the ravishing beauty in Manon of the Spring (1986) (the sequel to the classic Jean de Florette [1986]), and later asthe sultry housemaid in the murder-mystery hit 8 Women(2002), is one of those few actresses whose characteristic visage burns into your mind long after a film. As Gabrielle, herchemistry with Cohen (Jean)is intense and addictive, and the two act out an insatiable, tempestuous love that is poignantly interspersed with light, tender moments when they cuddle, nose-kiss and laugh when they have sex.
Cohen, who also directed the film, is fond of the close-up, and this level of intimacy is just right for a visual discourse on passion (no, not porn). Despite clocking a short 87 minutes, Cohen, a first-time director, demonstrates an excellent sense of timing and balance, knowing when to take his time and when to speed things up. There is pretty intense smothering in many scenes, but the director conveysthe bond between the protagonists in a manner that neither drags nor overwhelms.
The film is sometimes heavy because it is so light. It is also immensely hopeful yet bitterly depressing. For consistently triggering a complex range of emotions in the audience, It Begins with the End is a fine film that’s full of its own personality and humour. The raw, stormy love between Jean and Gabrielle may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it isromance at its consuming best. Andthat’s the love we love to dream of—Irrational. Intense. Impossible.In Gabrielle’s words, “It’snothing like life and yet exactly like it.”
Movie Rating:
(It is rare that a film too risqué for Cannes should find its place on our conservative shores, and an equally good sign that local distributors are catering to more mature tastes)
Review by Tay Huizhen
Genre: Drama/Crime/Action
Director: Ruben Fleischer
Cast: Josh Brolin, Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, Sean Penn, Mireille Enos, Josh Pence, Frank Grillo, Michael Pena, Anthony Mackie, Giovanni Ribisi, Holt McCallany, Robert Patrick, Sullivan Stapleton, Nick Nolte, Ambyr Childers, Troy Garity
Runtime: 1 hr 53 mins
Rating: NC-16 (Violence and Coarse Language)
Released By: Golden Village Pictures
Official Website: http://gangstersquad.warnerbros.com/
Opening Day: 10 January 2013
Synopsis: Los Angeles, 1949. Ruthless, Brooklyn-born mob king Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn) runs the show in this town, reaping the ill-gotten gains from the drugs, the guns, the prostitutes and-if he has his way-every wire bet placed west of Chicago. And he does it all with the protection of not only his own paid goons, but also the police and the politicians who are under his control. It's enough to intimidate even the bravest, street-hardened cop...except, perhaps, for the small, secret crew of LAPD outsiders led by Sgt. John O'Mara (Josh Brolin) and Jerry Wooters (Ryan Gosling), who come together to try to tear Cohen's world apart.
Movie Review:
Crazy, Stupid, Love alumni Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone once again share the screen – and the bed – in this quasi period drama about how a clandestine group of Los Angeles police officers supposedly shattered the legacy of real-life megalomaniacal mafia kingpin Mickey Cohen in the late 40s. The former is a member of the elite task force headed by Josh Brolin’s Sgt. John O’Mara, a straight arrow ex-soldier who dispenses justice with the laser-like intensity of Judge Dredd, and the latter is Cohen’s unwilling moll, a disturbingly stereotyped damsel in distress.
As it turns out, Gangster Squad, based on veteran Los Angeles Times journalist Paul Lieberman’s non-fiction book of the same name, has more to do with every possible permutation of bloodletting than the privy tale of Cohen’s rise and fall. The movie opens with a particularly violent scene in which Cohen tears a man into two by attaching him to cars pulling in opposite directions, throws you a deliriously offbeat catch-the-grenade car chase that is essentially a darker and more twisted version of Mario Kart and culminates in a grand fusillade of shots as the cops storm the gangsters’ turf.
It is, as you might expect, a pretty film. Which unfortunately, isn’t saying a lot about Gangster Squad as director Ruben Fleischer, responsible for more light-hearted fare like Zombieland and 30 Minutes or Less, prove that he doesn’t quite have the wherewithal to pull off another crime drama in the reins of genre standard bearer L.A. Confidential. Whereas the 1997 Oscar-winning film is a study in organised crime and police corruption, Gangster Squad is more populist entertainment than nuanced crime caper. That would be fine if the movie had dropped its pretensions, but then again, I might be asking too much.
Not the least of which is the movie’s feeble attempt at creating a climax midway through that not only fails to affect the characters it’s supposed to affect, but also comes off as being tragically half-hearted and far too predictable. Also casualties of the woefully underwritten script are the characters. Neither Stone’s character nor Brolin’s hardened cop is treated to any sort of dramatic layering, with the former relegated to the sole eye candy jostling for the attention of male viewers and the latter heartlessly single-minded in his pursuit of justice. Cohen is the undiluted psychotic with no redeeming qualities, fitting for the role of a Superman villain, but much less fitting for a movie that, at face value, is about him.
Perhaps the only one to be given moments to truly make his mark is Gosling’s morally estranged cop. At many points the compensating charm for Stone and Brolin – or even the embodiment of what Stone’s and Brolin’s characters should be – the apprehensive Gosling is at once the soft side of Brolin’s uncompromising cop and the strong side of Stone’s want-away girlfriend. In one of the best moments in the movie, Gosling questions Brolin’s authority, advises against his rash strategies and reminds him that he still has a wife and baby to take care of. It’s a scene that speaks to the reality of being human as opposed to being the untouchable superheroes everyone else seems to think they are.
That, ultimately, should have been Gangster Squad’s objective. If there was to be no depth to the story, the least the movie could do was line the characters with more personalities. Instead what we have here is a shadow of a crime drama that could be so much better. There are many who will adore the straightforward approach of Gangster Squad and even more who will find the set-pieces here visually attractive and entertaining. Those expecting an intimate retelling of a historically intriguing event, however, might want to skip Gangster Squad.
Movie Rating:
(More populist entertainment than nuanced crime caper, those seeking an intimate retelling of infamous mafia boss Mickey Cohen’s downfall should look elsewhere, but those searching for a slice of stylishly violent action will be thoroughly pleased)
Review by Loh Yong Jian
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GANGSTER SQUAD scheduled to arrive in January 2013Posted on 11 Oct 2012 |
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