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ANDY LAU and SAMMI CHENG Team Up for BLIND DETECTIVE Theme SongPosted on 14 Jun 2013 |
Genre: Sci-Fi/Thriller
Director: Keishi Ohtomo
Cast: Kazunari Ninomiya, Etsushi Toyokawa, Honami Suzuki, Kiko Mizuhara
Runtime: 2 hrs 14 mins
Rating: PG
Released By: Filmgarde And Encore Films
Official Website:
Opening Day: 23 May 2013
Synopsis: Set in the year 2017, the Japanese government attempts to secretly control the DNA of its people. Ryuhei Kagura (Kazunari Ninomiya) is a top scientist in the field of DNA analysis. He works at the DNA analysis institution run by the National Police Agency. When the inventor of the DNA analysis system is murdered, Ryuhei Kagura's own DNA is found at the murder scene. Ryuhei Kagura becomes the prime suspect and then he becomes a fugitive. Veteran detective Reiji Asama goes in pursuit.
Movie Review:
It is probably not the most original story where you have a movie envisioning that the government develops a cutting edge technology that will have every single civilian under surveillance, having you watched wherever you go. Every crime can be cracked down, as long as a single strand of hair is left at the scene of crime. The DNA code obtained from it will be logged into the system to match the details with the culprit. This is what Platinum Data is about in essence. At the back of your head, you can probably name a few movies titles which work within a similar premise. Despite the relatively lack in originality and possibly predictable plot, Platinum Data is still a characteristically Asian sci-fi thriller movie, which means it has a greater emphasis on the drama as compared to similar movies from the Western part of the world.
Platinum Data is adapted from a novel, so naturally you would expect to see more of what a novel cannot do in the film. In anticipation to people’s expectations on this, the movie attempted to give a shot at everything, which includes jump stunts, car chasing scenes, explosion, etc. It also has a fair bit of time and money invested into CGI and special effects. However, the spread of its resources over all these areas may not be the best idea. The result is having very small scale and thin effects, which obviously cannot match up with many other big budget films of this genre.
Nonetheless, the movie managed to retain some attention with its line-up of actors and actresses, with Kazunari Ninomiya (more affectionately known as Nino) as Ryuhei/Ryu Kaguara and Etsushi Toyokawa as detective Reiji Asama taking the lead. Both actors have vast acting experiences in both television dramas and movies. In particular, Nino has brought his character to life, giving depth and dimension. This movie has set a stage for him to flaunt his outstanding acting skills, where you can see a swing between his characters (yes, he played two roles in the movie), emphasizing his versatility in acting. Nino struck a great balance in his characters, even when they had to overlap.
The remaining supporting cast includes actress Honami Suzuki as a researcher and Kasuhisa Namase as police. Again, these are very known faces on Japanese movies and television dramas. Their support to the film was definitely salient and gave more dynamism to the drama aspect of the film. The cast is probably the key reason why this movie was able to do reasonably well in Japan (it ranked no.2 on its opening week) despite strong competition from international releases in the same week.
All in all, Platinum Data could have scored much better if only the action were made better and more packed. After all, there are movies that can do well even with a clichéd plot, as long as they have other strong selling points and notable differences. Anyway, please DO NOT watch the trailer if you do not want to spoil the story for yourself – essentially it does contain a potential spoiler that may give away the key turning point of the movie. Platinum Data can a rather passable and average movie for the uninitiated, but a definite must-watch for the Kazunari Ninomiya followers.
Movie Rating:
(As a word of caution, please DO NOT watch the trailer if you do not want to spoil your own movie viewing experience. Platinum Data may not be cut out to make a mark on the platinum records, but still worth a watch for the drama and Kazunari Ninomiya!)
Review by Tho Shu Ling
SYNOPSIS: Hundred Stars Hotel is a 5 star hotel but is reputed for its 4-star service. To revamp the image of the hotel, Cruella is appointed as the new Hotel Manager to make major improvements. To raise its reputation, Cruella arranged for a new movie to be filmed at the hotel. Meanwhile, Paris, the daughter of a tycoon is in desperate need to find a candidate to be her husband to hold a fake wedding immediately to inherit her father's inheritance. While the staff is frantically preparing for the wedding of the year, Cruella is on a constant look out for the secret agent who is here to rate the service of the hotel. She suspects that a countryman is the one and tries to please him with over the top service. But it turns out that the real undercover is Mark, the man forced to stand in as the groom for Paris...
MOVIE REVIEW:
There was a time when Hong Kong producer Raymond Wong can do no wrong. But I forgot to add that was the eighties. From Cinema City to Mandarin Film to his current setup, Pegasus Motion Pictures, the multi-tasker has been in recent years relying on the same formulaic crap for his Lunar New Year production. Thus it came as quite a surprise when he pulled off something different with “Hotel Deluxe” instead of another tiresome instalment of “All’s Well End’s Well”.
When I mentioned something different, I meant the cast (sort of) and the setting of the story. Directed by veteran writer, director and occasional actor Vincent Kok (“CJ7” and “Gorgeous”) and co-written by him and three more credited writers, “Hotel Deluxe” revolves around the Hundred Stars Hotel and how its group of oddball staff helps to maintain its five star rating. The oddballs include the hotel manager OK Pao (Ronald Cheng), Bartender Pacino (Chapman To) and Housekeeper Preachy (Sandra Ng) until one day, a no-nonsense high-ranking manager, Cruella (Teresa Mo) is sent to supervise their performance.
The plotting alone contains a number of story arcs with numerous characters appearing unfortunately almost none of them are compelling or in this case, rib-tickling for a feel-good Lunar New Year comedy. Kok ambitiously created dozens of subplots beginning with two rivalry superstars, Audrey (Lynn Xiong) and Marilyn (Karena Ng) checking in to “Hotel Deluxe” at the same time. While you may have expect some laughs and tensions from these two rivals, Kok is satisfied letting his two beautiful stars going their separate ways and without much to do with one another. Then there is the mysterious hotel judge that is supposedly roaming the hotel to check on its facilities and service. Jim Chim has the honor to play the role of the supposedly judge though Kok barely equipped his part with enough juicy laugh to begin with.
There’s a slight sparkle in this otherwise dull piece of cinematic mess, one that has the oddballs, Ronald Cheng, Chapman To, Theresa Mo and Sandra Ng hamming it up as prospective in-laws for Bobo’s (Fiona Sit) false wedding to keep her family inheritance from going to his evil uncle played by Wong himself. Mega stars such as Chow Yun Fat, Stephen Chow and the late Leslie Cheung has the charisma to liven up the material even if it is mediocre and lackluster. But that can’t be said of Cheng and To who despite their perfect comic timing fails to stretch the wafer-thin plotting and mostly unfunny premises to a five star rating.
At the very minimum, you can credit Wong for at least trying to attempt something new this year. If all else fails, he can rope back Donnie Yen and Louis Koo or Cecilia Cheung for another round of “All’s Well End’s Well” next Lunar New Year.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
A Trailer is all you get.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
Audio comes in both Cantonese and Mandarin tracks though I highly recommend the former. Visual is as good as it gets and the on location at Hangzhou is simply breathtaking.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD RATING :
Review by Linus Tee
Genre: Comedy
Director: Gary Mak
Cast: Chapman To, Shawn Yue, Matt Chow, Derek Tsang, Jim Chim, Siu Yam Yam, Simon Lui, Lam Suet, Dada Chan, Liu Anqi, June Lam
RunTime: 1 hr 35 mins
Rating: R21 (Crude Sexual Humour)
Released By: Shaw
Official Website:
Opening Day: 25 July 2013
Synopsis: The Special Duties Unit (SDU) is an elite paramilitary tactical unit of the Hong Kong Police Force and is considered one of the world’s finest in its role. But being the best carries its own burdens. Like everyone else, they go through troubles with love, with family and with their jobs. And sometimes they get horny. This touching story is about Special Duties Unit Team B and their trip to Macau for a weekend of unadulterated debauchery.
Movie Review:
Hong Kong’s answer to ‘The Hangover’ comes in the form of Pang Ho-Cheung’s raucous comedy ‘SDU: Sex Duties Unit’, which essentially chronicles the sexual exploits of a team of four SDU members in Macau over the course of two nights. For the uninitiated, the acronym SDU refers to the territory’s elite paramilitary tactical unit - think the equivalent of the United States’ SWAT or Singapore’s own STAR - which has been epitomised on film by Gordon Chan’s ‘The Final Option’ and its sequel ‘First Option’ back in the 1990s.
But despite having the director of the unofficial third movie in that series - ‘The New Option’s’ Gary Mak - on board as helmer, this couldn’t be farther from the spirit or the intention of the earlier three films. There are no heroics to be found here; instead, the team we see is the unequivocal B-team, otherwise acknowledged as the ‘black sheep’ of the Unit - and there’s no better person to make that point than Michael Wong himself, the iconic hero from ‘The Final Option’, ‘First Option’ and ‘The New Option’, who makes a cameo at the beginning as the commander chiding their team leader Keung (Chapman To) for being ineffective and ineffectual.
With tongue firmly in cheek, Pang’s regular collaborator Luk Yee Sum establishes the other members - the US-educated sniper Josh (Shawn Yue) who uses three syllables to say ‘nipple’ in English versus one to do likewise in Mandarin; the randy point man Ka Ho (Matt Chow) who first suggests that the quartet make their way to Macau for some pleasure time; and the timid Dried Shrimp (Derek Tsang) whose nickname was acquired from the time his teammates found him curled up on the ground after confronting a notorious criminal Tao. None of them are hero-material, and none of them will be after the night is over.
Choosing physical over visceral thrills, they decide to give watching England’s World Cup quarter-final match with Portugal (referenced several times throughout the movie) a miss and instead devise a plan to sneak into Macau by speedboat so as to avoid reporting their departure to their senior officers. Popular 90s actor Simon Loui shows up as their illegal boatman Lung, who drops them off on a deserted beach and reminds them to be back before dawn for their ride back home.
Naturally, their planned five hours of debauchery at a glitzy nightclub known as ‘Club Number One’ doesn’t go as expected, no thanks to the unexpected arrival of Macau’s judiciary police (led by ‘3D Sex and Zen’s’ Tony Ho) conducting a routine inspection of the premises. With the consequences of being disciplined for illegal entry fresh on their minds, they decide to go on the run from the authorities; and if the first half of the movie is about their surreptitious journey into Macau, then the latter half sees them trying to find a way out of the place in similar clandestine fashion.
Within that narrative structure, Lee engineers a variety of laugh-out-loud gags that range from the low-brow to the deftly witty. At the crasser end of the spectrum, she and director Mak ensure that their libido-driven male audience will not be disappointed. Oh yes, there are breasts and nipples on display at the nightclub - not to mention plenty of crude male talk about flat-chested women, fat women (otherwise referred to as ‘pork chops’), breast implants, oral sex, initiations, and other tricks of the sexual trade in their mission code-named ‘Sex War’.
But amidst the easy potshots, there are spurts (pardon the pun) of brilliance that enable Mak’s film to rise above mere raunch. A running gag about Dried Shrimp’s perpetual hard-on after having half a bottle of erectile stimulant mistakenly massaged onto his penis morphs into several choice rib-tickling moments about his gay-ness following the team’s discovery of his sexual inclination during the course of the evening, capped beautifully by an unexpected turn of events that allow him to assert his manhood in more ways than one. And in typical Pang fashion, there are numerous references to Hong Kong cinema that fans will lap up - Keung gets offered an exotic package for zoophilia as a clear nod to Pang’s own memorable scene in his previous ‘Vulgaria’; or Keung’s own summary of what ‘calling girls’ entails modelled after Tony Leung’s iconic speech in ‘The Grandmasters’.
There is not a dull moment to be had throughout the movie; though Lee does interrupt the volley of laughter with all-too obvious attempts at trying to get her audience (particularly we think, the female members) to sympathise with her four male characters - Ka Ho tries to break into his estranged father’s house only to have the latter collapse in exasperation; Keung has a run-in with his divorced wife (‘Vulgaria’s’ Dada Chan) now pregnant with child; and Josh admits to a secret that he’s been ashamed of for some time. These melodramatic sojourns are good only for you to catch your breath before the next uproarious gag, so regard them as breathers and no more.
Not that the cast look like they need any - To, Yue, Chow and Tsang keep the energy high and alive with their infectious buddy chemistry through the hijinks. With neither bod or looks, To gleefully hams it up as the anti-hero, and displays an admirable ability at keeping a straight face while delivering the typical ‘rah-rah’ rallying speeches expected of a team leader but with a twist. Yue is stoic and a nice foil to To; while Chow is suitably sleazy for the part. The scene-stealer we suspect for many female audiences is Tsang (or Eric Tsang’s kid), perfectly cast as the hapless victim who spends most of the movie walking around bent over - no thanks to his erection - and finally comes into his own at the end.
Clearly lapping up the chance to have fun and let loose too are other celebrities like comedian Jim Chim (also a Pang regular), Lam Suet and Susan Shaw; and indeed you are invited to do likewise and join in their sexual misadventures. It’s crude, crass, vulgar, politically incorrect and perhaps even offensive to some; but those are the very reasons we suspect many will find it amusing, hilarious and even rambunctious fun. Like we said at the beginning, it’s Hong Kong’s answer to ‘The Hangover’, and if that appeals to you, then you're in for a wild treat.
Movie Rating:
(With tongue firmly in cheek - and we don't mean a sexual pun here - this crude, crass, vulgar and politically incorrect chronicle of the sexual misadventures of four SDU men is also amusing, hilarious and rambunctious fun)
Review by Gabriel Chong
Genre: Adventure/ Action/ Family
Director: Vincent Kesteloot, Ben Stassen
Cast: Pat Carroll, Carlos McCullers, Cinda Adams, Dino Andrade, Chris Andrew Ciulla, Isabelle Fuhrman, Wesley Johnny
RunTime: 1 hr 33 mins
Rating: G
Released By: Shaw
Official Website: -
Opening Day: 23 May 2013
Synopsis: Sammy and Ray, leatherback turtles and friends forever, are enjoying an atoll's water and sand, shepherding new hatchlings Ricky and Ella out to sea. Suddenly, a poacher swoops in and ships them off to be part of a spectacular aquarium show for tourists in Dubai.
The kingpin of the place, Big D the seahorse, enlists them in his plans for a great escape. But with their new friends Jimbo the bug-eyed blob fish, Lulu the snippy lobster and a whole family of penguins, Sammy and Ray hatch breakout plans of their own. That is when little Ricky and Ella arrive, determined to break in to rescue them.
After a series of thrilling adventures and narrow escapes, our heroes head south to meet up with Shelly, Sammy's first and only love..
Movie Review:
Not unless you are under the age of seven or accompanying one for that matter will you find any reason to catch “Sammy 2”, otherwise known as “Sammy’s Great Escape”, the Belgium-made sequel to an equally pedestrian predecessor that plays like a rip-off of Disney/ Pixar’s classic ‘Finding Nemo’.
As uncomplicated as it gets, the premise has two hatchback turtles - the original’s Sammy and Ray - getting nabbed by poachers and sold off to a huge aquarium show in Dubai. Just as well, two of their hatchlings, Ricky and Ella, also get caught up in the poachers’ nets and become displaced in the great ocean from their family. So, as ‘Finding Nemo’ would have it, Sammy and Ray have to reunite with Ricky and Ella and make their way back home.
The original’s writers, Vincent Kesteloot and Ben Stassen, have returned to assume both writing and directing duties on this one, but seeing how uninspired their previous outing was, one should come to expect little here. Indeed, not only are the main characters bland and dull, the situations they are placed in - involving some other denizens of the aquarium, including a lobster with a split personality, a bug-eyed blob fish and a conniving seahorse - aren’t particularly exciting as well.
The only thing that ‘Sammy 2’ has going for it are its colourful visuals, which are just good enough to captivate the youngest of viewers. Of course, this isn’t at the level of technical mastery one has come to expect from Dreamworks or Disney/ Pixar, but kids are unlikely to be as demanding. Even more so when they view it in the stereoscopic dimension, which despite the additional dollars, should be additionally delightful for the younger crowd - and might we say was much better than what our low expectations had prepared us for.
In short, if you have kids under six that need a harmless distraction, ‘Sammy 2’ is as safe a bet as any with its simple storyline, vivid visuals and snappy soundtrack. Just be sure not to expect the kind of all-round family entertainment that ‘Finding Nemo’ or ‘Happy Feet’ was, though the fact that this is not any challenging fare means you probably won’t have to bother about any questions during or after the movie. .
Movie Rating:
(Strictly for distracting the kids - aged six and below)
Review by Gabriel Chong
He has written the score for Puss In Boots and Monsters Vs Aliens; now English composer Henry Jackman is back once again contributing the score for DreamWorks’ animation latest release, Turbo, about an ordinary garden snail turning into the fastest racer.
Six tracks composed by Jackson are heard on this soundtrack. Tracks such as Turbo and Supersnail are plain electronic, synthetic sounds. Loud, unmemorable and sounds right from a generic action movie. If this is the opening theme music for the character Turbo, then I guess good luck. Both Another Day At The Plant and Indianapolis are soothing, sentimental pieces which gets a rousing end; at least there are some nice quiet moments to savour..
Since the movie is meant to be fun and heart-thumping, the rest of the music selections consist of Pitbull’s debut single Krazy, the catchy Here We Come by V12 aka Big Mizz, Latin hip-hop band Ozomatli’s Saturday Night and Run-D.M.C’s It’s Tricky which don’t really sound it was first released back in 1986!
Probably works better in the context of the movie, the strangest inclusion right here is none other than Jackson 5’s Going Back to Indiana and Tom Jones' What’s New Pussycat. They are both great classics on their own but it just doesn’t blend well with the intended audience or the theme of the album. It doesn’t end here as the obligatory Eye of the Tiger gets a Sher Gunn remix.
The only new and standout song goes to rapstar Snoop Dogg’s Let The Bass Go, a completely original song commissioned by DreamWorks’ CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg for the movie. Parents out there fret not as Let The Bass Go definitely has kids-friendly lyrics and Snoop Dogg even voices one of the characters named Smoove Move.
There are too little Jackman’s material here to make a full review of what he has scored for the movie but for a slick, hip-hop oriented soundtrack, Turbo is definitely up to it.
ALBUM RATING:
Recommended Track: (1) Let The Bass Go
Review by Linus Tee
SYNOPSIS: The movie follows the trials and tribulations of a retrenched microbiology scientist, Professor Chua, as he turns to taxi driving after several failed job attempts. Along the way, he befriends (although they didn’t quite start off as friends from the get-go) a veteran taxi driver, Ah Tau. The two men, who appear to be polar opposites of each other in every aspect from educational levels, personalities, attitudes toward life and even the languages that they speak, eventually find themselves interdependent and influencing each other in ways that they probably had never imagined possible. A fish out of water, Professor Chua gradually learns to move out of his comfort zone and sheltered life in the research lab, and adapt to the real world on the streets of Singapore. Yet, his biggest challenge of all, has to be: breaking the truth about his change of profession to his uninformed family – his social-conscious mother-in-law, his elitist son who idolizes his career as a scientist, and his wife whom he vowed to never let her have to worry about the bread and butter issues throughout their marriage. Can he hide it from them forever? And will they still respect him as head of the house if he reveals it to them? Ah Tau, on the other hand, has problems of a different nature. His son, Jia Jia, believes that his absent mother is on a trip around the world, and he has to continuously find ingenious ways to keep the boy’s belief alive, so as not to shatter his hope of seeing her again. Also, badly influenced by his own street Singlish that he uses to communicate with his passengers, Jia Jia spouts Singlish like a typical taxi driver whenever he speaks, and his kindergarten teacher who promotes “Good English” is surely not impressed. A loving father but whose means are limited by his capabilities, can Ah Tau provide what’s best for his son? Bugged by their own individual troubles and initial aversion to each other, the two unlikely buddies soon discover that they can actually help one another out, and show the other what he has never seen from his usual position all along. They finally realize that life’s dead ends can actually turn to passable roads, if you just approach them from a different angle and with a different attitude!
MOVIE REVIEW:
Taxi! Taxi! marks the directorial debut of local filmmaker Kelvin Sng and I like to go on the record to say it’s such an entertaining, genuine piece of work that a lot of so-called veteran’s debut works seem pale in comparison.
Taking his inspiration from blogger Cai Mingjie’s real-life account as a taxi driver, Sng’s movie revolves around the daily lives and relationship of taxi drivers, Ah Tau (Mark Lee) and Professor Chua (Gurmit Singh). Ah Tau is a single father to a cute son (YouTube sensation Dr Jiajia) while Chua is an ex-professor whose job is being taken over by young foreign talents. These two unlikely guys from different world became the best of friends as they encounter individual troubles and helping each other along the way.
The script by prolific writer and director Boris Boo and two other credited writers cleverly mixed comedy and social commentary into it. Though to be fair, the movie scratches only the surface of sensitive social issues since this is a MDA co-funded affair after all. Still, it has been a long time since we watched a reasonable well-written storyline by Boo. Thus it comes as a welcome surprise that the humour of Taxi! Taxi! on the whole is spot-on and bears strikingly similar to Jack Neo’s earlier movies minus the long-windedness and preachiness fortunately.
The casting of comedians Mark Lee and Gurmit Singh is a godsend. Lee is more than just convincing portraying an ah beng taxi driver with a heart of gold and Gurmit proves he can act beyond Phua Chu Kang opposite ex-Mediacorp actress Jazreel Low who plays his onscreen wife. The chemistry between the both is electrifying, fed with some hilarious lines (some I suspect improvised by the duo) and most of the gags are simply rib-tickling to the core.
The story did have its heartwarming moments, the sequence where Tau and Chua shared a conversation over a beer turned from laughter to anger for example is one of the movie’s highlights. While the movie did turn a bit mushy and clichéd towards the end with one character attempting suicide on a rooftop, the development still has a nice payoff. Veteran Malaysia actress Lai Meng once again plays a dementia character and the cutesy-looking Gan Mei Yan plays Ah Tau’s tenant and love interest not forgetting a whole bunch of local talents popping in for cameo appearances especially a very amusing Chua Enlai.
Despite some less than flattering CG, Taxi! Taxi! scores high for its sincerity and entertainment values. Not bad for a first time effort.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
The Making Of lasts 23 minutes and it’s more of an interview piece with the director and various cast members.
Behind The Scenes has the cast cracking jokes and having fun on set.
The DVD also consists of a Music Video and Trailer.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
Image details are fine while a couple of night shots tend to be a little grainy. The Dolby Digital 2.0 offers an insignificant but pleasant listening experience.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD RATING :
Review by Linus Tee
Genre: Drama
Director: Henry Alex Rubin
Cast: Jason Bateman, Frank Grillo, Paula Patton, Andrea Riseborough, Alexander Skarsgard, Hope Davis, Michael Nyqvist, Max Thieriot, Colin Ford
RunTime: 1 hr 55 mins
Rating: M18 (Mature Theme And Nudity)
Released By: Cathay-Keris Films
Official Website: http://www.disconnectthemovie.com/
Opening Day: 25 July 2013
Synopsis: A hard-working lawyer, attached to his cell phone, can't find the time to communicate with his family. An estranged couple uses the internet as a means to escape from their lifeless marriage. A widowed ex-cop struggles to raise a mischievous son who cyber-bullies a classmate. An ambitious journalist sees a career-making story in a teen that performs on an adult-only site. They are strangers, neighbours and colleagues and their stories collide in this compelling drama about ordinary people desperate for a human connection.
Movie Review:
In this day and age, the ability of modern communication technology to connect people across vast distances while driving people apart has never been truer. This message is the central theme of ‘Disconnect’, and it is showcased through the use of different stories – a workaholic father who neglects his family, a widowed private detective trying to discipline his mischievous son, a couple trying to cope with the loss of their son and a journalist trying to get her big break.
‘Disconnect’ is director Henry Alex Rubin’s first full-length feature film. Rubin’s previous experiences of directing documentaries might have contributed to the factual tone of film, as the storytelling was muted. However, the lack of drama suits the storyline, as the characters are shown leading mundane lives, with an underlying current of dissatisfaction in the monotony, both causing and an effect of their reliance on communication technology.
The director’s previous outings in the documentary genre might also have influenced the lengthy explanation of the characters’ motivations and backstories. While this allows for character development, the story becomes slow-paced and dreary at times. At the end, however, the director attempts to change the pace through the more frequent cuts between the slow-motion fight scenes that happen concurrently. The strategy backfires as the sudden change in tempo is awkward and the fights verge on being over-dramatic. The story’s meandering progress also makes the ending abrupt and unsatisfying – how can the characters suddenly reconcile their differences after drifting apart for most of the movie?
That said, Rubin is able to hold the audience’s attention for most of the film through his suspenseful storytelling. This is especially so in the cyberbullying story arc, where Mike Dixon’s (Frank Gillo) rebellious son and his friend create a fake Facebook account to prank a archetypal school outcast. While the audience is slowly filled with dread, we are unable to look away as the prank turns ugly and spirals out of control, leading to its tragic outcome.
From the ensemble cast, Alexander Skarsgård stands out as Derek Hull, an ex-Marine facing a mid-life crisis – a role extremely different from the manipulative vampire he plays in the TV series ‘True Blood’. Distanced from his wife after the death of their baby son, Hull turns to online gambling for respite. As the story develops, Hull is driven from being passive to becoming the aggressor. Skarsgård is convincing in his role, contributing a tense sense of unpredictability as he becomes more dangerous and crazed.
The younger actors, particularly Colin Ford, Jonah Bobo and Max Thieroit, also shine in their roles, achieving a good balance of vulnerability and youthful recklessness. Although the audience knows that they must take up some amount of responsibility for their actions, we cannot help but place a larger part of the blame on the adults, whose negligence and obsession with their personal goals indirectly lead to the teenagers’ plight.
The reliance on the Internet and other communication technologies contributes to the degeneration of personal relationships, but it ultimately boils down to the willingness of each individual to forsake the relationship. ‘Disconnect’ uses the examples from the lack of human effort to drive home the point that human relationships are irreplaceable in this rapidly computerized world. The film also serves as a warning to the audience of the possible consequences if we let this reliance on technology subconsciously take over our lives.
Movie Rating:
(‘Disconnect’ is a compelling cautionary tale on the pitfalls of technology, which lapses into being preachy at times)
Review by Goh Yan Hui
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Check Out FAST & FURIOUS 6 Behind-The-Scenes FeaturettesPosted on 22 May 2013 |
SYNOPSIS: In 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:
Someone at the old MGM probably thought it’s a good idea to dust off one of their catalog titles, hire a bunch of new faces, tweak the script the little and call it a remake.
The original Red Dawn has the late Patrick Swayze leading a band of teenagers against invading Russian forces. That was back in the 80’s and during the cold war era. Fast forward to the year 2013 and the audience are supposed to believe the North Koreans are attacking the United States of America and taking control of their homeland in this remake by stunt coordinator turned director, Dan Bradley.
The rather loose narrative sets up what’s to come within a span of ten minutes. Jed played by a pre-Thor, Chris Hemsworth is a Marine who is back home visiting his brother Matt (Josh Peck) and cop father. The brothers are awaken the next morning by loud noises and they are shocked to see paratroopers dropping down from the sky with aerial bombers everywhere as well. Escaping from the invaders with his brother and a couple of friends, they decide to wall up in their country’s home but it’s not before long, the enemies found their whereabouts and the teenagers led by Jed have to fight back in order to survive and take back their country.
The story on the whole struggles to hold up and for the most part touches on the estranged relationship between Jed and Matt and the rescue of Matt’s girlfriend, Erica (Isabel Lucas) and of course, the main villain of the movie, a certain Captain Cho (Will Yu Lee) with hardly a line of dialogue representing the North Koreans. The most obvious problem of them all is not the those described above, it’s how earth North Koreans invade a country as big as the United States or is it just a small town in Washington we are talking about. As ridiculous as it sounds, the entire U.S. network is crippled by some strange electromagnetic pulse weapon. Since this low-budgeted action flick is unable to cough up more plausible explanations, we are supposed to buy it. Then what happen to the country’s countless Marines and weaponry?
You will find yourself asking more questions as the plot moves forward but Bradley is adept at throwing rounds and rounds of ammunition, gunfire and bloodless violence that you will instantly forget the ludicrous premise. Hemsworth is lucky to land the role of the Marvel character else his acting career might just go belly up liked MGM. Thor for sure will smash this to pieces if he lays his hand on this.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
The DVD presentation is excellent. Images are pristine, colours remain accurate and natural. The Dolby Digital 5.1 is strong with its generous display of gunfire, explosions and clear dialogue.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD RATING :
Review by Linus Tee
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