Genre: Comedy
Director: Vincent Kok
Cast: Sandra Ng, Chapman To, Ronald Cheng, Teresa Mo, Lynn Xiong, Raymond Wong, Fiona Sit, Eric Kot, Karena Ng, Yu Bo, Janelle Sing, Jim Chim
Runtime: 1 hr 34 mins
Rating: PG
Released By: Scorpio East Pictures & Cathay-Keris Films
Official Website:
Opening Day: 7 February 2013
Synopsis: Brand new “Hundred Stars Hotel” is a well-equipped five-star hotel located at Qiandao Lake, Hangzhou. However, this hotel is run by a group of incompetent staff including OK (Ronald Cheng) the Assistant Manager, Pacino (Chapman To) the Chief Bartender, Peach (Sandra Ng) the Head of Housekeeping and Sammy (Janelle Sing) the Receptionist.
Rumor has it that a mysterious hotel detective will arrive soon and define the rating of “Hundred Stars Hotel”. In order to match the five-star standard, harsh Cruella (Teresa Mo) has been appointed as the Hotel Manager to restructure the hotel.
Cruella takes the chance to develop “Hundred Stars Hotel” as the shooting location for a big budget movie. Two leading actresses Marilyn (Karena Ng) and Audrey (Lynn Xiong) stay in the hotel and they are arrogant and too hot to handle. OK is assigned to serve Marilyn and gradually Marilyn falls in love with OK. Meanwhile, Paris (Fiona Sit), the daughter of a tycoon and a very good friend to OK, is also staying in the hotel. Paris has to get married in order to inherit her father’s huge assets. OK finds a handsome but nerdy Security Guard Mark (Yu Bo) to be her fake groom and a fake wedding ceremony is about to begin. However, Peter Chan (Raymond Wong), Paris’ uncle who is also one of the heirs, is craving for the wealth and trying all means to ruin the wedding. When OK knows Paris will go back to U.S. for good after the wedding, OK finally realizes Paris is indeed the one he loves. OK proposes to Paris and Paris accepts, the fake wedding becomes a real one!
Cruella and Peach suspect a countryman Jim (Jim Chim) is the mysterious hotel detective. They do their very best to please him with overwhelming services. In the meantime, the rest of the staff are organizing the wedding ceremony of Paris and OK, and protecting them from Peter’s conspiracy. Finally all of them discover that Jim is not the mysterious hotel detective but Mark, who joins the hotel as the Security Guard, secretly monitors the services of the hotel. Mark is touched by their positive attitude and classifies “Hundred Stars Hotel” as a Five-Star Deluxe.
Movie Review:
Presumably to kickstart a new all-star Chinese New Year franchise, producer and executive producer Raymond Wong has tapped on veteran actor/writer/director Vincent Kok to helm ‘Hotel Deluxe’. Unfortunately, despite declining returns back in Hong Kong after facing stiff competition from Eric Tsang’s rival ‘I Love Hong Kong’ series, Wong should very well have stuck with another instalment of ‘All’s Well Ends Well’, for this substitute is anything but funny.
Yes, you would have thought that Wong would have gotten the ‘he sui pian’ formula down to a pat after so many years in the industry – and at first glance, it does seem that he has got all the right elements in place. There is first and foremost an all-star cast - the likes of Ronald Cheng, Sandra Ng, Teresa Mo, Chapman To, Fiona Sit, and Raymond Wong himself - all of whom have experience in such genre fare, being alumnus of either the ‘All’s Well Ends Well’ rebooted franchise or the ‘I Love Hong Kong’ series.
The premise also shows comedic promise – a harsh and demanding hotel manager named Cruella (Mo) has to reshape the organisational practices of the “Hundred Stars Hotel” at risk of losing its five-star status due to the complacency and incompetency of its staff, including its assistant manager OK (Ronald Cheng), chief bartender Pacino (Chapman To) and head of housekeeping Peach (Sandra Ng). Her solution? Turn the place into a location for a big-budget movie – which creates opportunities for tongue-in-cheek jokes about the moviemaking industry.
And at the helm of the movie is veteran actor/ writer/ director Vincent Kok, who had in 2009 rebooted the ‘All’s Well Ends Well’ series and was also responsible for the quirky yet hilarious 2011 Lunar New Year comedy ‘Mr and Mrs Incredible’. Of course, those familiar with Kok’s filmography will know that he is not the most consistent filmmaker around, and an excellent case in point would be last year’s contemporary comedy ‘Love Is Pyjamas’ – also produced by Wong and written and directed by Kok – which was bland and humourless.
Indeed, it is Kok who proves to be the undoing factor this time round, wasting not only what potential the concept had but also the considerable talents of an ensemble cast. Simply put, he and his writers - Anselm Chan, Fung Min Hun and Poon Chun Lam – seem to have come up with the movie while on a creative void. Granted that half the humour in the dialogue is probably lost in the Mandarin-dubbed version that we are forced to endure here, but the scenarios are in themselves just tired and uninspired – and it says a lot when the funniest thing here is a toilet gag which sees Cruella and Peach try to retrieve a guest’s diamond ring inside a toilet bowl with faeces.
For reasons unknown to us, Kok doesn’t seem to be able to develop any of the themes within the story fully. The initial conflict between Cruella and the other regulars at the hotel fizzles out just as quickly as it begins, and what could have been an interesting arc pitting the obsessive-compulsive Peach against Cruella resolves itself even before it is properly developed. Even the scenes with Kok cameoing as a movie director are so tame that they are almost inconsequential, squandering any potential that could have come out of a film-within-a-film idea.
Instead, what we are left with are a bunch of half-hearted romances so insincere that the happy ending feels absolutely tacked on – OK with his good friend Paris (Sit) but with a love complication in the form of his movie idol Marilyn (Karena Ng); Peach and Paris’ uncle Peter Chan (Wong) whose name is a tired riff on Sandra Ng’s real-life husband; and Marilyn’s rival actress Audrey (Lynn Xiong) with country bumpkin Jim (Jim Chim). It’s one thing to keep with tradition – Raymond Wong’s Lunar New Year movies have always ended with big happy weddings – and quite another to actually make an audience care for it; sadly, the nuptials here are just plain cringeworthy to say the least.
With such lacklustre material, not even some of Hong Kong’s best comedians manage to salvage the movie - Ronald overacts as usual; Sandra simply looks bored most of the time; ditto for Teresa; and Chapman doesn’t bother to try too hard. Ironically, Wong is left looking red-faced for half of the movie, and besides being a supposed reaction to some drug, it could perhaps be an indication of how he is indeed feeling for being involved in something as inane and dull as this.
Yet Wong has only himself to blame for what is sure to be a Lunar New Year dud. The writing was on the wall with Kok’s ‘Love Is… Pyjamas’, and once again, Kok demonstrates that he has reached his creative nadir with ‘Hotel Deluxe’. If a movie like this can rarely get a guffaw out of you, then there is really little point to it. Don’t be fooled by the title – this is not a ‘deluxe’ hotel, not even close, and we recommend that you book your spot at some other Lunar New Year movie this season.
Movie Rating:
(Stay away from this Hotel – despite an all-star cast, this bland and uninspired Lunar New Year comedy brings little cheer)
Review by Gabriel Chong
Genre: Romance/Sci-Fi
Director: Juan Solanas
Cast: Jim Sturgess, Kirsten Dunst, Larry Day, Neil Napier, Heidi Hawkins, Don Jordan, Jayne Heitmeyer
RunTime: 1 hr 40 mins
Rating: PG
Released By: Cathay-Keris Films
Official Website:
Opening Day: 14 February 2013
Synopsis: Adam (Sturgess) is an ordinary guy in an extraordinary universe. He lives humbly trying to make ends meet, but his romantic spirit holds on to the memory of a girl he met once upon a time from another world, an inverted affluent world with its own gravity, directly above but beyond reach… a girl named Eden (Dunst). Their childhood flirtation becomes an impossible love. But when he catches a glimpse of grown up Eden on television, nothing will get in the way of getting her back… not even the laws of science.
Movie Review:
The first, rather obvious thing to say would be that Upside Down is visually stunning. The commendable graphics are of a grand scale and quality that can only be matched by a few movies before. The world itself and the universe that the film takes place in has been planned and designed to the very last detail. Computer graphics aside, the production design itself is impeccable. One enhances the other and both come across beautifully on-screen.
Viewers who daunted by the complexity of the universe that Upside Down takes place in have nothing to fear. The mechanics of this world are explained thoroughly this film. Despite how far-fetched it is, the wealth of information that is provided in this movie about the world that it takes place in, from its origins to its physics, enable the audience to be as familier with it as its inhabitents themselves.
Upside Down is a fantasy romance that promises to be a spectacle, as well as a tale that resonates deeply with the audience as it goes on to tell our own story; that of being a small person in a vast landscape riddled with trouble. When it came to the acting, the actors brought a distinct human quality to their roles. The beauty in Upside Down’s characters lies in their vulnerability, and how small they feel in the great landscape of Up There and Down Below. Watching the characters of this film go about their lives, it did come across how every single one of them was but a tiny grain of sand in the grand scheme of things. The world that they inhabit is made so great and magnificent that the very ground that these characters stand on threathens to swallow them up. The actors should be commended for their performances, for neither the graphics, nor the complex camera work overshadowed their prescence in this film.
Timothy Spall is endearing as Bob, the one kindred spirit at Adam can connect to and trust in the huge corporation that is TransWorld. Jim Sturgess in particular, brought every aspect of Adam’s character into each scene. Sturgess built upon the character such that Adam held a remarkable depth. We see layers in Adam; the fear that he holds of him being caught, and the burden that he bears upon his shoulders - that burden being the quest to be accepted into another world so that he can be with the woman he loves. Such a matter is unheard of in the tumultuous histories of Up There and Down Below. In fact, physics would render it impossible and so Adam has to find a way to overcome gravity in order to do it.
One aspect of Upside Down worth mentioning is the cinematography, more specifically, the camera work. In most scenes, one or more of the characters present were 180-degrees vertically-opposite to the others. This is due to the opposing gravities in the world that Upside Down takes place in. The placement and orientation of the characters in the movie are not at all distracting therefore, showing a great deal of skill and planning on the part of the filmmakers when it came to shooting the film.
The script has been well-written. There are plenty of underlying messages in this film so attention to detail is encouraged. The dialogues fit well with the plot and help to enhance the telling of the story as a whole. The sexual innuendoes in the conversation between Adam and Eden bring humor to the story. There are references to modern-day society such as in the advertisement for Adam’s anti-aging cream, that seem so in tune with the rest of Upside Down’s world, but yet feel out of place because of how much they resonate with the audience.
This brings up the matter of Upside Down not being a film taking place in an entire other universe altogether, but a mere exaggerated version of the world that we live in.
Watching this movie, one cannot help but to wonder if the inspiration for it has been drawn from the prescence of communism in our world today. Down Below and Up There seem to be representations of North and South Korea, as well as East and West Berlin.
The film juxtaposes capitalism and communism with its portrayal of Up There and Down Below, Down Below being the poor, struggling world of communism while Up There being its rich, capitalist reflection. The movie is a strong commentary, and for the most part, criticism of capitalism and consumerism. There are elements of discrimination, revolution, and the quest for freedom.
Portraying all these themes however, took away from the story. As a Romance, Upside Down fails to be as heartwarming as one would expect for it to be. The ending is the equivelent of a balloon being popped. With all the focus on the worlds that Adam and Eden live in and the turmoil that these places hold, for the ending to merely focus on the two lovers left us with little resolution.
Still, for what it is, Upside Down deserves praise. If not for being a romantic drama, which it sought out to be, then for the landscape that it takes place in. Creating an entire world in fiction is never an easy feat and the makers of this movie have succeeded in doing so.
Movie Rating:
(Upside Down is a fantasy romance that promises to be a spectacle, as well as a tale that resonates deeply with the audience as it goes on to tell our own story; that of being a small person in a vast landscape riddled with trouble)
Review by Nishanthini Ganesan
Genre: Action/Thriller
Director: Phillipp Stölzl
Cast: Aaron Eckhart, Liana Liberato, Olga Kurylenko, Neil Napier, Alexander Fehling, Debbie Wong, Garrick Hagon
Runtime: 1 hr 44 mins
Rating: PG (Violence)
Released By: Cathay-Keris Films
Official Website:
Opening Day: 24 January 2013
Synopsis: Recently widowed Ben Logan (Aaron Eckhart) has quit his job as a top CIA agent and moved to Cologne to raise his teenage daughter, from whom he has been estranged for the past 14 years. While trying to rebuild his relationship with his daughter, he takes a job for a security systems arm of a multi-national corporation, where he is paid to expose weaknesses in their security technology so they can make a better product. Or so he thinks.
When Ben’s colleague points out something strange about a patent number on a security device she is testing, he relays her concern to his supervisor. The next day when Ben arrives at the office it is completely empty. All people and traces of the business are gone. Ben soon learns that the parent corporation never had a security solutions arm, let alone an office in Cologne. As Ben pieces together what has happened, he realizes that he is a marked man running on borrowed time. He and his daughter must learn to trust each other and work together if they are to survive on the run, while also trying to unearth and foil the conspiracy that threatens their lives.
Movie Review:
Made using a typical Hollywood formula and filmed entirely in Belgium, this international co-production star Aaron Eckhart as the expatriate, not the usual suit-up businessmen working and living on foreign soil but an ex-CIA operative agent (now banished as a white collar worker working for a security firm) who finds out that someone is out to terminate him after the company he is working for disappear overnight.
The script by Arash Amel attempts to add a little flavour to the usual crops of action thrillers by focusing much of the characterization and development on Ben Logan (Eckhart) and his estranged daughter, Amy (Liana Liberto). Logan has been an absentee dad for years and his decision to bring Amy over to Belgium to stay with him after her mum passed is difficult for Amy to adjust. Living with a teenager is not easy let alone living with one you have not got in touch in years. Thus over the course of the movie, audience gets to see the bonding of father-and-daughter under unlikely circumstances. To Amel’s credit, it’s a nicely execute sentimental subplot that fairs better than the gist of the story which we will get there shortly.
Most audience is going to complain that “The Expatriate” ripped elements off “The Bourne Trilogy” and “Taken”, indeed at the end of the day, this Aaron Eckhart starrer does have certain similarities to his more famous counterparts. Unfortunately, lacking an enormous budget deter director Philipp Stolzl who is making his first feature debut from carrying out fanciful action sequences. The Bourne series of course offers plenty of them on a large scale while Liam Neeson nearly took out every baddies in Paris while searching for his missing daughter. “The Expatriate” on the other hand has to settle on lots of foot chases and inbetween a couple of amateur shootouts. For a spy thriller, the action quotient is seriously underwhelming and the inclusion of more sequences featuring Logan’s fisticuffs with his opponents would be far satisfying.
Lacking in the pyrotechnics department, Stolzl and Amel compensates by pulling off an unnecessarily complicated story that involves a rogue CIA agent and a huge felony concerning an international company that is shipping illegal arms. It sounds exciting for a while but then it gets tedious and bored when our hero, Ben Logan has nothing interesting on hand to keep us entertained. He didn’t crash through windows nor did he embark on any exhilarating car chases across Belgium unless you crave for a hero who is skilled in DIY explosion, then you have one right here.
Aaron Eckhart is one underrated actor working in Hollywood. His performance is flawless be it in the drama, “Rabbit Hole” or as the action hero in “Battle Los Angeles” and no doubt, Eckhart once again puts up an appealing front as the sufferable hero, Ben Logan. The exotic Olga Kurylenko from “Quantum of Solace” plays the ex-girlfriend of Logan who turns rogue, a character that is underwritten and forgettable given the immerse potential of it which is a pity. Young star Liana Liberto is adept as the rebellious, aghast teenager and Yassine Fadel probably an Islamic Arabic defies the usual stereotyping in Hollywood movies, plays the ally of Logan and Amy.
In the context of globetrotting spy thrillers that paints a far more sinister picture than you imagined, “The Expatriate” is a mild affair to sit through despite the promised plotting. Take heart that the movie often displayed breathtaking shots of the city of Brussels etc and the production scale is genuinely impressive on the whole. “The Expatriate” is an excellent choice for cable viewing however lacks the urgency to catch it on the big screen.
Movie Rating:
(An ambitious plotting bogged down by less than stellar action sequences)
Review by Linus Tee
SYNOPSIS: The future America is an irradiated waste land. On its East Coast, running from Boston to Washington DC, lies Mega City One- a vast, violent metropolis where criminals rule the chaotic streets. The only force of order lies with the urban cops called "Judges" who possess the combined powers of judge, jury and instant executioner. Known and feared throughout the city, Dredd (Karl Urban) is the ultimate Judge, challenged with ridding the city of its latest scourge - a dangerous drug epidemic that has users of "Slo-Mo" experiencing reality at a fraction of its normal speed. During a routine day on the job, Dredd is assigned to train and evaluate Cassandra Anderson (Olivia Thirlby), a rookie with powerful psychic abilities thanks to a genetic mutation. A heinous crime calls them to a neighborhood where fellow Judges rarely dare to venture- a 200 story vertical slum controlled by prostitute turned drug lord Ma-Ma (Lena Headey) and her ruthless clan. When they capture one of the clan's inner circle, Ma-Ma overtakes the compound's control center and wages a dirty, vicious war against the Judges that proves she will stop at nothing to protect her empire. With the body count climbing and no way out, Dredd and Anderson must confront the odds and engage in the relentless battle for their survival.
MOVIE REVIEW:
This reviewer has never in his life read a copy of Judge Dredd the comics and sad to say, the only time he has ever come across this British comic character is the lambasted Sylvester Stallone’s 1995 movie version.
The reboot of Judge Dredd by director Pete Travis (“Vantage Point”) and writer Alex Garland (“The Beach”) has not much of a narrative to begin with. It’s practically a non-stop, bloody violent affair that speaks little to those who crave for something more.
In the distant future of America, crimes have penetrated the whole of Mega City One on the East Coast. Law enforcers known as The Judges are in charge of taking care of the city’s alarming crime rates. One such Judge is Dredd (Karl Urban), a cold, skilful personal who is tasked by his superior to assess a rookie, Anderson (Olivia Thirlby). Anderson is no ordinary girl as she is selected because of her strong psychic powers. The first assignment for the duo happens to be a suicide crime in Peaches Trees. It turns out the crime is carried out by the local powerful clan known as Ma-Ma and they don’t have the intention to let the two Judges walk out of the 200th storey slum tower block alive.
Whether it is coincidence or not, “Dredd” is very similar to the Indonesia’s action fest, “The Raid” where the antagonist and his teammates have to battle numerous villains level by level in a building infested by thugs. Right here, Dredd and Anderson have to battle countless henchmen to take out the ruthless drug lord of the Ma-Ma clan. The generous amount of copious violence is more funny than shocking. Imagine heads and limbs being blown apart like nobody business which reminds one of another movie called “Punisher: War Zone” years ago. Better still, the level of brutality and absurdity went up a notch when a whole level of a building is nearly torn apart by gigantic machine guns.
The constant display of slow-mo sequences as a result of a drug called Slo-Mo delivers some sickening yet poetic tearing of the human anatomy. “Dredd” is one movie that has outstanding visual achievements and the filmmakers indeed setup a whole dreary, gritty environment that reflects the low morality of the society.
For cinematic reasoning, it’s simply unworkable for Judge Dredd to keep his helmet on throughout. Many have stated that Stallone shouldn’t have removed his helmet in the 1995 version to be faithful to the original comics but I digress. Karl Urban is excellent as Judge Dredd equipped with a perfect chin and tone of his voice. Throw in a couple more Judges later in the movie and we had a hard time figuring out where is Dredd. Olivia Thirlby (“Juno”) on the other hand is stunning as Anderson, we are fortunate to see her nice locks and face the whole time since a helmet interfere with her psychic powers while Lena Headey (“Game of Thrones”) is scary as the ex-hooker turned drug lord, Ma-Ma. There isn’t much of a backstory or exposition for the main characters, what emerges is simply two insane law enforcers penetrating a drug nest.
If you can’t wait for the reboot of “Robocop”, “Dredd” is a close companion. All bloody and non-apologetic, this is an unpretentious flick that serves to entertain.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
Images appear to be soft, unfocused and dark. Probably it’s an intended choice by the filmmakers. Likewise, the 2.0 soundtrack did not do much justice to the otherwise frequent sonic, powerful explosions and gunfires that is best heard in 5.1 and above. On the whole, the audio and visual aspect is rather dreadful.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD RATING :
Review by Linus Tee
SYNOPSIS: "Lawless" is the true story of the infamous Bondurant Brothers: bootlegging siblings who made a run for the American Dream in Prohibition-era Virginia. In this epic gangster tale, inspired by true-life tales of author Matt Bondurant's family in his novel "The Wettest County in the World", the loyalty of three brothers is put to the test against the backdrop of the nation's most notorious crime wave.
MOVIE REVIEW:
Director John Hillcoat who helmed from Australia likes to throw audience into unsettling places. “The Proposition” and “The Road” are examples of that. With “Lawless”, he again tells an unnerving story set during the Prohibition era in Franklin County, Virginia.
Hillcoat and his frequent collaborator, screenwriter Nick Cave based their movie on a historical novel “The Wettest County in the World” and tell the exploits of three Bondurant brothers, Forrest (Tom Hardy), Jack (Shia LaBeouf) and Howard (Jason Clarke). The Bondurant runs a profitable bootlegging business in the county while maintaining a legitimate gas station and pub until one day, a newly-arrived Special Deputy Agent Charlie Rakes (Guy Pearce) from Chicago wants a cut of their business. His arrival marks the beginning of bloodshed and the brothers’ survivals are put to the test.
“Lawless” pretty much is generic in plotting but to make up for its simplicity, the casting and technical craftsmanship are especially outstanding. As the eldest of the outlaw brothers and donned in a misleading harmless granny’s sweater, Tom Hardy is tough, protective and menacing and seriously do you want to mess with Bane? LaBeouf trying to shake off his “Transformers” image gave a respectable performance as the youngest brother who wants to prove his worth in the family business. The casting even includes one of the hottest actresses in the planet right now, Jessica Chastain as a woman working at the pub and falls in love with Forest. Other familiar names include Mia Wasikowska (Alice In Wonderland) playing Jack’s love interest, Gary Oldman’s cameo as a mobster, Floyd Banner and up-and-coming Dane DeHaan (Chronicle) plays Jack’s buddy, Cricket. The most impressive casting goes to Guy Pearce for his delicious portrayal of Rakes, a ruthless, slight psychotic deputy who is out to get rid of the Bondurants.
The tale is also populated with unflinching violence that will definitely send you queasy; one scene involves the silting of Forrest’s throat (closeup just to make you won’t miss it) for example and you very much got the idea how brutality Hillcoat’s world is. Well despite the violence, Hillcoat never forgets to throw in some unexpected humour as well. Try to think of some body part that can be delicately wrapped in pink paper. Production wise, the nostalgic western era is flawlessly recreated and it reminds one of all those old school John Wayne’s westerns, complete with a Nick Cave’s thumping score, it’s a visual treat to both the ears and eyes.
“Lawless” is not a story of heroes in case you think bootlegging is something encouraging. The Bondurants were mere outlaws striking a living in the prohibition era. Hillcoat’s flick is not gunning for big awards but scores high for casual entertainment just you think it is some arty, inaccessible Western.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
NIL
AUDIO/VISUAL:
Cinematography is filled with a brownish and tanned palette but the overall transfer is excellent. Dialogue clarity is good however the frequent shootouts aren’t bombastic enough to shake up the room. Ambient effects on the other hand fares better.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD RATING :
Review by Linus Tee
Genre: Romance/Comedy
Director: Min Gyoo-dong
Cast: Im Soo-jung, Lee Sun-gyun, Ryoo Seung-ryong, Kwang Soo, Lee Do-ah, Kim Bo-goong
RunTime: 2 hrs 1 min
Rating: NC-16 (Some Scenes of Intimacy and Coarse Language)
Released By: Festive Films & Cathay-Keris Films
Official Website:
Opening Day: 14 February 2013
Synopsis: All About My Wife is a 2012 South Korean romantic comedy directed by Min Kyu-dong, about a timid husband who hires a professional Casanova to seduce his seemingly perfect but fearsome wife, hoping this will make her divorce him.
Movie Review:
Don’t be too quick to dismiss “All About My Wife” as another attempt to replicate the success of the 2001 hit romantic comedy “My Sassy Girl” – even though it does admittedly come off at the start seemingly like a clone, director and co-writer Min Kyu-dong turns it into something much more meaningful by the time it reaches the second act. In fact, we dare say that this is one of the most touching rom-coms for married couples that we have seen in a while, a firm reminder to revisit the love that made the marriage happen in the first place especially when things hit a rough patch.
A remake of the 2008 Argentinean film “A Boyfriend for My Wife”, the premise is essentially a variant of the seven-year itch, except that in this case that itch is more like an irritant. A brief prologue recounts how our two leads – Doo-hyun (Lee Sun-kyun) and Jung-in (Lim Soo-jung) – meet in Japan during an earthquake and fall instantly in love, before fast-forwarding to seven years later where husband is harried and harassed by his wife’s constant nagging. Yet the hen-pecked Doo-hyun is too scared to convey his frustrations to Jung-in, let alone broach the topic of divorce, which he is eagerly contemplating.
The chance of an out-of-town work assignment offers some hope of reprieve, until Jung-in surprises him by turning up at his rented apartment one evening. That proves to be the last straw for Doo-hyun, who comes up with the absurd idea of getting his Casanova of a neighbour - Seong-ki (Ryu Seuong-ryong) – to seduce Jung-in as an excuse for divorcing her. As is to be expected for a Korean rom-com, there is a happily-ever-after ending – thankfully though, Kyu-dong avoids the kind of hackneyed melodrama that similar such movies often relegate to especially in the final act.
Instead, what happens is a much more elegant sleight-of-hand that leads to an important lesson in sustaining a marriage. For pretty much the first half of the movie, we see the circumstances of Doo-hyun and Jung-in’s soured marriage from the former’s point of view, as he is forced to put up with the latter’s incessant nagging and unreasonable demands. Kyu-dong expertly works up his audience’s sympathies for Doo-hyun, so much so that we end up rooting for his ridiculous plan to succeed just so he can be out of his misery.
Unfortunately, that is only one side of the story, which is why the second half shifts its perspective to Jung-in’s point of view, shedding light on just how the sweet and kooky girl Doo-hyun had married seven years earlier became the cantankerous person we now see. Together with the change in perspective is also a change in tone, as the wackier and also more farcical first half gives way to a much more sober and thoughtful second that just about takes the humour out and substitutes it with wistfulness and poignancy.
Not that the movie is worse off for it – in fact, it is all the better, injecting wit and depth into a genre that is not usually known for it. Myu-dong delves into engrossing stuff here, such as how one half often sidesteps talking about difficult issues with the other just to maintain the peace, or the post-marriage complacency that often sets in where either party thinks that he or she already knows all there is to learn about the other. Rather than the lovey-dovey moments that are often marketed of as love these days, the kind of love portrayed here is one that is more realistic and ultimately genuine, based not simply on feeling but needing both time, effort and will to keep alive.
The well-drawn characters are brought into sharp focus by excellent performances by Sun-kyun, Soo-jung and Seuong-ryong. In particular, Soo-jung delivers a multi-layered performance that is utterly beguiling – it is to her credit that the obnoxious personality she portrays in the first half of the movie doesn’t at all stop us from sympathising whole-heartedly with her character at the end. On the other hand, Sun-kyun seems too cartoonish to take seriously at the start; fortunately, he settles into a more comfortable and confident posture later on. And rounding off the ensemble is Seuong-ryong, who deliberately underplays his caddish character at first to ensure that he remains someone with gravitas when the truth behind his current philandering nature is revealed.
It is no surprise that with such well-drawn characters and a surprisingly thought-provoking story that the movie had gone in to become the top-grossing rom-com in its home territory last year. Put aside any bias or preconceptions of what “All About My Wife” might be, and you’ll find here an amusing and affecting love story that probes at love after marriage, often overlooked, often misunderstood but still very much the love that goes deeper than mere words or feelings, a love that deserves to be celebrated every Valentine’s Day.
Movie Rating:
(Not just a “My Sassy Girl” clone, this amusing and affecting rom-com about love after marriage packs a powerfully poignant lesson for all married couples)
Review by Gabriel Chong
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JOHN CHENG (1961 - 2013)Posted on 22 Jan 2013 |
Genre: Thriller/Action
Director: Taylor Hackford
Cast: Jason Statham, Jennifer Lopez, Michael Chiklis, Nick Nolte, Wendell Pierce, Clifton Collins Jr., Patti LuPone, Emma Booth
Runtime: 1 hr 58 mins
Rating: M18 (Coarse Language & Violence)
Released By: Golden Village Pictures
Official Website: http://www.parkermovie.com/
Opening Day: 14 February 2013
Synopsis: A thief with a unique code of professional ethics is double-crossed by his crew and left for dead. Assuming a new disguise and forming an unlikely alliance with a woman on the inside, he looks to hijack the score of the crew's latest heist.
Movie Review:
If there were an award for the most hardworking action star in Hollywood right now, British actor Jason Statham would win it hands down. The past five or six years has seen at least two movies each year with his marquee name, though we wonder whether it is for that reason too that some of his more recent films haven’t exactly received the recognition that they deserve from critics and audiences alike. His latest, “Parker”, based on the character from a series of Donald E. Westlake novels, is an excellent case in point.
Made on a modest budget of $30 million (which is important to bear in mind so you don’t have unrealistic expectations about what the filmmakers would be able to achieve), it has Statham playing the iconic criminal with a righteous code, i.e. no stealing from the rich, no hurting innocent people and most important of all, no dishonouring thy word. Certainly it’s idealistic to expect honour amongst thieves, and it is upholding this principle which others have violated that drives the narrative adapted from Westlake’s book “Flashfire”.
The premise is relatively straightforward – after successfully robbing the Ohio State Fair in the film’s protracted but consistently exciting opening act, Parker is shot and left for dead by the quartet with whom he had teamed up on when he refuses its leader Melander’s (Michael Chiklis) offer to collaborate on another bigger score. Any other ordinary thief might have gone into hiding, but Parker insists on making things right, and instead follows their tracks to Palm Beach to exact payback.
Along the way, Parker picks up Jennifer Lopez’s supporting act Leslie, a local real-estate agent whom he enlists to help track down the location where Melander and his gang might be hiding out. There is sizzle between Parker and Leslie no doubt, but anyone expecting more than sparks would likely be sorely disappointed – like we said earlier, Parker’s a man of principle, and that includes not sleeping with anyone else besides his girlfriend Claire (Emma Booth), whose father Hurley (Nick Nolte) was the one that brought Parker and Melander together in the first place.
In all fairness, scripter John J. McLaughlin (who also wrote “Black Swan” and this month’s “Hitchcock”) could have woven a more complex story with better fleshed out characters for the ensemble cast of supporting players, including Nolte, Patti LuPone as Leslie’s cranky mother, Wendell Peirce and Clifton Collins Jr as Melander’s partners-in-crime, and Bobby Carnavale as a local cop with an eye for Leslie. Nonetheless, McLaughlin opts for a much more pared-down plot, with its focus squarely and unflinchingly on Parker.
At least for Parker, both McLaughlin and director Taylor Hackford get it right. Due emphasis is placed on Parker’s conflicting traits as an upright thief, and despite the thin materal, he remains an engaging anti-hero throughout. Of course, that is also Statham’s credit, who has an inimitable knack for playing the brawny yet taciturn type, which suits Parker just fine. Statham’s penchant for close-quarter brawls also works splendidly for Parker, here given a raw physical edge that previous screen incarnations of the character lacked.
Never mind that Jennifer Lopez only turns up in the second half of the movie, their scenes together are one of the highlights of the movie. Though into her early forties, Lopez is still sexy as ever, and a scene with both stars oozing magnetism is that where Statham gets Lopez to strip down to her undergarments in order to check if she is wearing a wire. Yet even with more clothes on, Statham and Lopez share good chemistry with each other, the former’s gruff physicality perfectly complementing the latter’s sultriness.
What persuaded veteran director Hackford to step into the director’s chair for this movie isn’t quite evident, but on his part, he demonstrates an assuredness in his direction that keeps the movie humming along at a steady pace. There is clear momentum in how the scenes unfold – in particular, the opening caper and the closing heist crackle with tension, just as two hand-to-hand combat scenes with Parker are gripping for their sheer intensity and ferocity. It won’t be remembered among one of his defining works, but “Parker” is a great example of how a good director can make a whole lot of difference to a movie, even one that was set out to be no more than a solid B-grade actioner.
And we’d like to dedicate these last words of our review to its lead star Jason Statham, whom some may be quick to dismiss. There is really much more to the actor than just brawn – even if he has played the brooding male hero many times before. “Parker” is one of those movies that you could not imagine a better actor in, simply because Statham just looks so cool and charismatic doing what he does – and we might add, what he does best.
Movie Rating:
(Jason Statham's brand of cool charisma enervates this otherwise generically plotted action thriller that still manages to pack some exciting action sequences)
Review by Gabriel Chong
Genre: Comedy
Director: Chung Shu Kai
Cast: Alan Tam, Veronica Yip, Nat Chan, Stanley Fung, Bosco Wong, Michael Tse, Kate Tsui, Joyce Cheng
RunTime: 1 hr 38 mins
Rating: PG13 (Some Sexual References)
Released By: Clover Films & Cathay-Keris Films
Official Website:
Opening Day: 7 February 2013
Synopsis: Hong Kong of the 1970s - a place bustling with opportunities and riches!
The earnest Song (starring Bosco Wong) befriended the crafty Ha (starring Michael Tse) and the latter also helped Song found his first job: a waiter at a Chinese Teahouse. The boss of the Teahouse is a kind man, who has an array of quirky characters as his staff. The colorful characters attracted an interesting patronage, making it a happening place for the community.
Fate has it that both Song and Ha fell for the same girl: May (starring Kate Tsui) who is from a well-to-do family. It’s face off between the geek and the smooth-talker. While romance is blossoming between May and Song, May’s best friend Yuen (starring Joyce Cheng) is a gutsy girl who insisted that bad boys are attractive and only have eyes for Ha.
Decades past and Song weathered many changing times: crash of stock market; era of mass-migration and more… While Song remained steadfast, guarding the teahouse, continuing to serve his loyal patrons and providing jobs for his long-serving staff, the fast-thinking Ha now owns a business empire and is back to create chaos.
Facing the challenges of keeping the Teahouse afloat, Song decided to seek extreme measures, which resulted in him meeting an Angel (starring Eric Tsang)... will the Angel provide sound advice that solve Song’s woes? Or will the unity of Song and his loyal patrons and staff be the solution?
Movie Review:
An annual affair since 2011, this latest entry into the ‘I Love Hong Kong’ Lunar New Year comedy series from director Chung Shu Kai, producer Eric Tsang and the whole stable of TVB stars proves that the third time indeed is the charm. Boasting a much stronger narrative, crisp direction and well-tuned performances, it is by far the most enjoyable ‘I Love Hong Kong’ movie and we dare say a gold standard for ‘he sui pians’.
Often criticised for relying on audience goodwill to get away with convenient laughs, ‘I Love Hong Kong 2013’ demonstrates that even with keeping with the subgenre’s formula of an all-star ensemble cast and a happily-ever-after-ending, there is still much room for a fully-realised movie to emerge. Such an accomplishment is first and foremost the credit of a quartet of writers (Peter Chik, Kwok Kin Lok, Yan Pak Wing and Chiu Sin Hang), who decide to opt for a less slapstick and a more character-driven approach to the storytelling.
Rather than a smorgasbord of thinly defined characters, there is a clear lead here in Song Chi Hung (Alan Tam), the owner of a traditional Chinese teahouse restaurant called Da Tuan Yuan (which literally means ‘big reunion’). When we first meet him in present day, he is saddled with financial woes, and thus owes both the bank as well as his employees. His family is no help – rather than lending him money to cover his debts, they instead ask him for more and insist that he sell his teahouse business.
But Chi Hung clings onto it for sentimental value, until his old buddy Ha Shek Sum (Nat Chan) tricks him into placing his thumbprint on a contract. Just as he contemplates suicide on the roof of a highrise building, an angel appears in the form of Eric Tsang and engages him to reminisce about the past. And just like its predecessors – though with much more finesse – the movie flashes back to a Hong Kong in the 1970s and 1980s, which surprisingly takes up most of the entire movie.
Recollecting Chi Hung’s past as a lowly-skilled immigrant who gets a job at the teahouse run by Lung Kwat (Stanley Fung) no thanks to Shek Sum’s craftily unorthodox way which gives new meaning to working your meal’s worth, the movie charts the fates of the pair of buddies (played by Bosco Wong and Michael Tse), whose nature could not be more different despite their close friendship. While Chi Hung is honest, down-to-earth and loyal, Shek Sum is egotistical, deceitful and ultimately self-serving. It’s no surprise that their paths will diverge, and turn from friends to foes.
Yet to be sure, that is not because of what could have been their romantic rivalry, as Chi Hung ends up falling for, and falling in love with, the girl whom Shek Sum had a crush on. Yeung Yeung (Kate Tsui) is the daughter of a rich businessman (Benz Hui), who opposes their budding relationship based on the pair’s relative social status. But Yeung Yeung would have none of that, and in what is one of the film’s definite highlights, gets married to Chi Hung in a quirky church wedding sequence complete with an exuberant song and dance set to a popular Sam Hui tune whose title unfortunately escapes us.
The addition of song and dance hitherto not seen in the franchise is an inspired move, with the aforementioned sequence and yet another earlier one that sees Chi Hung attempt to convince Lung Kwat that he has some talent the rest of the employees do not have equally delightful to watch. There are a lot more funny bits in the movie, and one particularly effective running gag is Chi Hung’s learning of the English language, which he does by stringing together totally unrelated but similarly sounding Cantonese phrases.
But more than just the jokes, what also comes through is a nostalgic portrait of a time when life was simpler and people as a whole were more altruistic. While a late twist involving some multi-level marketing scheme might be criticised as mere narrative convenience so Lung Kwat can share the same dilemma in the past as Chi Hung in present day, it does help bring across a strong affirming message about loyalty, mutual support and the importance of family. Not too veiledly, the message is also meant to bear relevance to the current state of Hong Kong’s society, especially in how self-centredness and the accumulation of wealth has displaced good old values of empathy, perseverance and conscientiousness.
Of course, both director Chung and producer Tsang know better than to adopt a didactic tone. Instead, they focus on telling a surprisingly coherent story with well-delineated characters, led by amusing performances by both Bosco Wong and Michael Tse. Contrary to what the billing on the poster might suggest, the two are undoubtedly the stars of the show, with Wong’s unpretentious act as a the pouty-lipped and simple-minded Chi Hung a perfect complement for Tse’s arrogant and brash Shek Sum. The much-touted return to the big screen for Veronica Yip turns out to be no more than an extended cameo at best (though we do get to see her wriggle her hips to a Bollywood dance in a brief sequence), and the same can be said of Alan Tam.
Yet the limited screen time of these stalwarts thankfully do not diminish the film, which cruises on good scripting, confident directing and just as assured acting from TVB’s stars. If you’re looking for a consistently amusing and occasionally uproarious Lunar New Year-themed movie, we can guarantee that you’ll find in ‘I Love Hong Kong 2013’ the festive cheer you are looking for – complete with a heartwarming message about the ties that bind and the values that matter.
Movie Rating:
(If you're ‘I Love Hong Kong 2013’ is just the Lunar New Year ‘he sui pian’ to bring on the festive cheer)
Review by Gabriel Chong
Genre: Comedy
Director: Seth Gordon
Cast: Jason Bateman, Melissa McCarthy, Jon Favreau, Amanda Peet, Tip “T.I.” Harris, Genesis Rodriguez, Morris Chestnut, John Cho, Robert Patrick, Eric Stonestreet, Jon Favreau, Ben Falcone
RunTime: 1 hr 52 mins
Rating: M18 (Sexual Scenes and Coarse Language)
Released By: UIP
Official Website: http://www.identitythiefmovie.com/
Opening Day: 1 May 2013
Synopsis: Horrible Bosses’ Jason Bateman and Bridesmaids’ Melissa McCarthy lead the cast of IDENTITY THIEF, an all-star comedy in which a regular guy is forced to extreme measures to clear his name. With everything to lose after his identity is stolen, he’ll find out how crazed you can get trying to settle a bad credit score.
Movie Review:
We remember laughing in stitches whenever American actress Melissa McCarthy appeared on screen in the hilarious comedy Bridesmaids (2011). Come on, who wouldn’t break a chuckle seeing a big sized lady emptying her bowels? For that, McCarthy received an Oscar nomination. We also remember sniggering at the poor dude played by American actor Jason Bateman in the black comedy Horrible Bosses (2011). Seeing how the advertising executive was manipulated into jumping through hoops just to get a promotion his boss never intended to give evoked, well, a sense of empathy.
The story’s protagonist is mild mannered businessman Sandy Patterson, who takes the effort to travel from Denverto Miamito confront a deceptively harmless looking (may we add, chubby) woman who has been living a luxurious life, thanks to Sandy’s credit card. He is determined to get his identity back, and what ensues is a listlessly lethargic road movie which lasted half an hour too long.
We can’t really blame McCarthy and Bateman for the movie’s misfiring, because the casting of these two fine actors may be the only right thing about this otherwise dispensable production. McCarthy, as usual, has the perfect comic timing to pull of the most mundane of lines. Her screen presence isn’t just limited to her humongous size, but also her larger than life personality which resonates with the audience. Bateman doesn’t pull any surprises here as the executive hell bent on getting justice, but it is not difficult to side with the poor guy after all the trouble flying in his face.
It is most unfortunate then, that the two leads do not have enough chemistry between them to sustain the entire movie. They may not be the prettiest eye candy in Hollywood these days, but their individual charisma stand out nicely, but sadly do not complement each other in this misguided screenplay written by Craig Mazin, whose credits include Scary Movie 3 (and 4!), as well as The Hangover: Part II. Well, you go figure how clever this script based on real life events is.
Jon Favreau, Amanda Peet, Robert Patrick and John Cho are some of the familiar faces that appear as supporting roles. While each of their acting is commendable, the characters they play seem trivially undeveloped.
Director Seth Gordon (Four Christmases) allows the story to meander, leaving audiences occasionally frustrated by how the characters seem to be simply killing time by involving themselves in pointless tactics. The tried and tested method of chasing your antagonist whilst meeting with obstacles that will leave you less than glam seems tiresome in this comedy. The result is a comedy which tries, unsuccessfully, to be a serious and moralistic comedy.
Movie Rating:
(A dispensable comedy which you should watch only because for Melissa McCarthy larger than life personality)
Review by John Li
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