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JOEL SCHUMACHER (1939 - 2020)Posted on 23 Jun 2020 |
SYNOPSIS: Oscar Nominees Maggie Gyllenhaal and Viola Davis lead a stellar cast in this empowering drama inspired by actual events. Hard-working single mom Jamie Fitzpatrick (Gyllenhaal) is concerned that John Adams Elementary is letting her daughter down. Teaming with a caring teacher (Davis) who wants the best future for her own son, she sets out to improve attitudes and elevate the school's academic standards. Despite the odds, with courage, hope and persistence, the women just might prevail in this uplifting film that also stars Rosie Perez and Academy Award Winner Holly Hunter.
MOVIE REVIEW:
Good intentions don’t a good film make, and Daniel Barnz’s ‘Won’t Back Down’ is a prime example of that. Co-written by Brian Hill, Barnz takes on the existing public education quagmire in the United States with a ham-fisted drama that wastes two talented performers in Maggie Gyllenhaal and Viola Davis, as well as a perfectly captivating premise that requires urgent real-life attention and solutions.
With credit to real-life events, Barnz adapts from the ‘parent trigger’ laws that have been passed in California, enabling parents to take control of failing public schools and transform them into ‘charter schools’. The reality is much less ideal, as a critical look at such ‘charter schools’ also reveals an uneven track record and less but no less present bureaucratic politics. School reform is never easy, especially at the national level, and Barnz unfortunately sidesteps complexities for a simplistic portrayal that casts teachers’ unions and education boards as the villains of the process.
Constructed to tug at his audience’s heartstrings, Barnz sets Gyllenhaal as a Pittsburgh working-class mother Jamie who is increasingly frustrated by the standard of education her dyslexic daughter Malia (Emily Alyn Lind) is receiving in the fictional Adams Elementary School. The teacher (Nancy Bach) has tenure and is protected by union rules, so she does the bare minimum for her class; meanwhile, the principal (Bill Nunn) is too resigned to the system to do anything more.
Jamie’s frustration is mirrored by another teacher, Nona Alberts (Davis), whose passion for teaching has dimmed by institutional rigor over the years. Unable to afford a better private school and stuck in two jobs just barely making ends meet, Jamie is forced to rally other concerned parents and teachers in order to activate what the film calls a ‘fail-safe’ manoeuvre, essentially the equivalent of the ‘parent trigger’ laws. Does she succeed in getting past them union controls and the school board? Well, yeah.
No different than a Erin Brockovich for inner-city kids, Gyllenhaal plunges into the role with gusto, delivering the clichéd lines with the utmost conviction she can summon. Davis matches Gyllenhaal with quiet will, a force of stoic perseverance that is imbued with the actress’ mix of dignity and pathos. Gyllenhaal also finds allies on the union and the board, with Holly Hunter and Marianne Jean-Baptiste in strong supporting parts.
Pity then that Barnz paints a by-the-numbers story that skims over the complex issues involved, adds a trite romance for Jamie in the form of an unorthodox hunk of a male teacher Michael (Oscar Isaac), and resolves it all with a happily-ever-after that is clearly manufactured to milk the most of his audience’s sentiments towards the issue. It’s as unsubtle as it gets, and far too banal than a story like this deserves.
In fact, you’ll probably learn more watching Davis Guggenheim’s 2010 documentary ‘Waiting for Superman’ on the same issue, done in a far less didactic and soap opera-ish fashion. We too recall how Barnz made one of the worst movies of 2011, the aptly-titled high-school version of ‘Beauty and the Beast’ called ‘Beastly’, and one laments how a much more compelling movie could certainly be made of the subject matter in the hands of a more dexterous director. As it is, ‘Won’t Back Down’ is a lecture, and a dumbed-down one at that.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
The Dolby Digital 2.0 audio delivers the dialogue adequately, while the visual transfer is serviceable.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD RATING :
Review by Gabriel Chong
SYNOPSIS: Jack the Giant Slayer tells the story of an ancient war that is reignited when a young farmhand unwittingly opens a gateway between our world and a fearsome race of giants. Unleashed on the Earth for the first time in centuries, the giants strive to reclaim the land they once lost, forcing the young man, Jack, into the battle of his life to stop them. Fighting for a kingdom, its people, and the love of a brave princess, he comes face to face with the unstoppable warriors he thought only existed in legend—and gets the chance to become a legend himself.
MOVIE REVIEW:
As compared to other similar theme movies such as Snow White and the Huntsman and Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, Jack the Giant Slayer didn’t turn out to be much of a fairy tale in terms of box office wise for financers Warner Bros and Legendary Pictures in fact it’s an expensive flop.
With a budget exceeding US$190 million, the effects laden adventure is a reinvention of the children’s tale, Jack and the Beanstalk but in the hands of acclaimed director Bryan Singer (X-Men, The Usual Suspects) and writers Darren Lemke, Dan Studney with a rewrite by his usual collaborator, Christopher McQuarrie, the end result is surprisingly a mere perfunctory blockbuster that caters more to children than reinventing the wheel.
Once upon a time in the legend of Erik, a hoard of evil giants invading Earth is controlled by a king’s magical crown. They are subsequently banished back to their home between Earth and Heaven waiting for the day to wreck havoc on humans once again. Our story begins with a poor farm boy, Jack (Warm Bodies’ Nicholas Hoult) who is offered a bag of beans in exchange for his horse by a strange monk. At the same time, the kingdom’s rebellious Princess Isabelle (Eleanor Tomlinson) opposing an arranged marriage decide to sneak out of the castle and seeks refuge at Jack’s house. Before long, the beans took root and grow into massive beanstalk taking Isabelle to where the giants live. Determined to bring Isabelle back, Jack joins forces with the King’s knights Elmont (Ewan McGregor), Crawe (Eddie Marsan) and the evil Lord Roderick (Stanley Tucci) to bring her back.
There’s little to suggest here that this is a Bryan Singer’s helmed movie. Even though his recent outputs range from mediocre to passable, this one takes the cake as he fares strictly as a director-for-hire. The romance between Jack and Isabelle hardly registers. It’s not entirely the fault of Hoult and Tomlinson as the paper thin plot is more concerned about having the characters escaping from point A to point B. Fortunately we have Ewan McGregor as the swashbuckling knight to save the day and the usually reliable Stanley Tucci hamming up as the movie’s human villain and the one key scene that has the two of them exchanging blows impresses more than all the glittery CG combined.
Talking about the visual effects which were largely handled by Digital Domain, it’s not a surprise that the digital trickery employed to bring the gigantic beanstalks to life is compelling. And that applies to the grotesque looking giants as well especially the leader of the group; a two headed monster voiced by British thespian Bill Nighy. Not forgetting some goofy humor liked Elmont nearly ended up as a sausage roll which is incredibly memorable. There’s an attempt by Singer and company to stage a large scale war sequence, somewhat similar to Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings towards the end. That however turned out to be pretty inconsequential proving ironically Jackson could have done a better job with a quarter of the budget with spare shillings for coffee.
Despite all the nitpickings, Jack the Giant Slayer is a mindless, rousing adventure for the whole family. It’s definitely not as inventive or dark as Snow White and the Huntsman yet the movie offers enough exciting action, CGI spectacle to please the younger ones.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
There are 5 Deleted Scenes mostly with unfinished visual effects and 3 minutes of bloopers aka Gag Reel.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
Dialogue is clear throughout but the most impressive of the whole listening experience got to be the immersive, strong soundfield especially in the action oriented sequences. The effects heavy title is brimming with details and extraordinary beautiful looking CG images.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD RATING :
Review by Linus Tee
Genre: Comedy/Drama
Director: Ken Scott
Cast: Vince Vaughn, Chris Pratt, Cobie Smulders, Britt Robertson, Jack Reynor, Bobby Moynihan
RunTime: 1 hr 45 mins
Rating: PG13 (Some Sexual References)
Released By: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Official Website: https://www.facebook.com/DeliveryManMovie
Opening Day: 1 January 2014
Synopsis: From DreamWorks Pictures comes "Delivery Man," the story of affable underachiever David Wozniak, whose mundane life is turned upside down when he finds out that he fathered 533 children through sperm donations he made twenty years earlier. In debt to the mob, rejected by his pregnant girlfriend, things couldn't look worse for David when he is hit with a lawsuit from 142 of the 533 twenty-somethings who want to know the identity of the donor. As David struggles to decide whether or not he should reveal his true identity, he embarks on a journey that leads him to discover not only his true self but the father he could become as well.
Movie Review:
If the premise of ‘Delivery Man’ sounds familiar to you, that’s because you’ve probably seen it played out in ‘Starbuck’, a French-Canadian farce that has a similar premise. Written and directed by the same filmmaker Ken Scott, it is the high-concept story of a ne'er-do-well who in his stoned-out cash-strapped youth donated sperm anonymously to a fertility clinic and discovers one day that he is the biological father to a horde of 533 children. Pretty jaw-dropping isn’t it - what’s more, 143 of them have filed charges to find out just who their progenitor is.
In Americanising his film, Scott has turned his adult-skewing comedy into a heart-tugging film about fatherhood and family. Only vestiges remain of the dirty jokes that was in the original - such as how its title was the pseudonym of its lead character David Wozniak which arose as the name of a famously fertile Holstein bull; instead, Scott has made a family-friendly studio film for the holidays which relocates the action to Brooklyn but keeps most of the plot twists and sentimentalities intact. We won’t go into comparing which was the better film, but suffice to say that much of the charm and heart of the original remains very much alive here.
At first glance, David seems cut from the same cloth as many of the characters which Vince Vaughn has played - including this summer’s ‘The Internship’ with Owen Wilson. Indeed, his father entrusts him only to drive a truck for his family’s meat delivery business, and he runs a marijuana-growing business on the side to pay off his debts to the mob. Neither does he have much going for him in his relationship with his police officer girlfriend Emma (Cobie Smulders), who has about had it with his flaky non-committal and irresponsible ways. And yet there remains something oddly endearing about the character he plays here, even more so we dare say than the rest of the quintessential man-child types he often portrays.
As such narratives go, you know that David’s newfound fatherly status will force him to grow up. Against the advice of his best buddy cum lawyer Brett (Chris Pratt), David looks inside the dossier containing the faces and profiles on many of his children and searches them out, skulking and sidling alongside them to understand and get involved even in their daily lives - among them, an NBA star, a junkie, a street musician, a lifeguard, an aspiring actor, and a profoundly disabled guy. Like a guardian angel, David helps where he can, lends counsel to others, and realises the meaning of taking responsibility in the process of growing into the role of a father.
Cynical though you may be of the Disney-fied premise, Scott tells the story with good-natured humour and genuine sweetness, making it somewhat impossible to resist the appeal of the promise of naturalistic magic that this juridical fairy tale offers. Vaughn’s interactions with Britt Robertson’s troubled female teenager with a drug problem, Dave Patten's struggling street musician and Adam Chanler-Berat's existentialism-driven goth brim with warmth - though none more so than his wordless ones with a wheelchair-bound Sebastien Rene, guaranteed to be tearjerker. And Vaughn on his part drops all pretense, oozing sincerity and empathy as the titular character going through late life-changing lessons.
Yes, there are so many other ways you could go wrong with a holiday trifle, but this broad comedy that sometimes tries too hard to tug at its audience’s heartstrings at least has its heart in the right place. At the very least, you can be assured that it achieves what a feel-good holiday film should do - making you feel a whole lot better coming out than going in. That, pun intended, is probably enough to say that it has delivered.
Movie Rating:
(Nothing more - or less - than a feel-good holiday trifle that has Vince Vaughn once again playing his quintessential man-child screen persona)
Review by Gabriel Chong
SYNOPSIS: The clock is ticking as former race car driver Brent Magna (Ethan Hawke) barrels around the streets of Bulgaria to save his abducted wife. Inside a commandeered Ford Shelby GT500 Super Snake, a desperate Brent obeys the anonymous voice coming through the speaker as it sets him and his unwitting passenger Selena Gomez) on a series of increasingly dangerous tasks. If they fail, Brent's wife will die. With every cop in the city in hot pursuit, the two strangers must find a way to flee or fight back against their faceless assailant in this breakneck, heart-pounding race against time.
MOVIE REVIEW:
We always love Ethan Hawke for his constant measured performances on the big screen. We even love cutesy looking former Disney starlet Selena Gomez. This is why we tell ourselves we are not going to miss the duo’s latest movie, Getaway despite being touted as one of the worst flicks of 2013.
Canadian director Courtney Solomon who single-handedly killed the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy tale back in 2000 helmed this silly Fast & Furious wannabe B-movie. The plot-holes riddled movie has Hawke playing an ex racecar driver Brent who must obeyed The Voice (not to be confused with the talent show) in a wired Shelby Mustang in order to save his kidnapped wife. Together with his partner, the kid (Gomez) who happened to be the rich owner of the Mustang, the two must complete the tasks given by The Voice before time runs out for both of them.
Where is Justin Lin when you need him? Getaway is an 80 minutes of nonstop car chases, one after another on the busy streets of Bulgaria. It sounds too good to be true for an action junkie unfortunately the director behind the camera is not Lin. Solomon interlaced the entire experience with cheap POV shots, incoherent editing and awkward camera angles that in the end it never delivers any real thrills or suspense.
The motive of the villain is never properly explained. The reason why Brent is chosen for the job is lame. And we are supposed to believe an iPad can perform wonder in a trapped car. Hawke of course can act but I rather see him in The Purge 2, Sinister 2 or something that doesn’t require him to scream his head off behind the wheels. We understand Gomez wishes to expand her resume; an irritating sidekick simply isn’t an ideal one. Jon Voight fares the worst as he spends his time sipping coffee, typing on his Macbook, and speaking in a wavering European accent for a paycheck.
We are not impressed when the director mentioned he crashed over 130 cars during the filming process. That includes the fact that all the car stunts are executed real not CGI. Getaway has no doubt wasted the efforts of everyone involved. It will be a nice dumb fun flick if it is not ineptly directed.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
Instead of having five separate featurettes: Crash Cams, Destroying a Custom Shelby, Metal and Asphalt, Selena Gomez: On Set and The Train Station, why don’t they just lump them into one?
Each segment runs embarrassingly at one minute or less and they basically showcase interviews with Ethan Hawke, Selena Gomez, director Courtney Solomon and cinematographer Yaron Levy with some B-roll footages thrown in.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
While the movie and visual remains questionable with the latter filled with intended grittiness, the audio roars deeply with loud bass and noisy car effects.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD RATING :
Review by Linus Tee
SYNOPSIS: Precocious doesn't even begin to describe ten year old Henry James Herman, a rabble-rousing boy genius, Henry has his entire world turned upside down when - to the dismay of his single mother - he embarks on a hilarious journey in search of the biological father he's never known.
MOVIE REVIEW:
Channelling his inner Wes Anderson, writer/ director Dennis Lee turns his 2003 short about a test-tube baby with the titular name into a full-length feature film with diminishing returns. The conceit of such a child searching for his biological father may have been cute as an 18-min movie, but Lee struggles too hard to keep his movie eccentric throughout the 90-min runtime, and the end result is an utterly caricatured portrayal of an unconventional family that hardly rings true.
One senses something off right from the beginning when Henry (Jason Spevack) introduces his family. Straddling the line between comedy and tragedy and entirely missing the point, Lee paints a multigenerational portrait that includes his mother Patricia (Toni Collette) setting off an accidental fire on her 10th birthday that kills her mother, his two policemen uncles so engrossed in quarrelling with each other in a squad car that they end up killing themselves, AIDS taking another sibling, and his grandfather Stan (Frank Moore) left in the care of Patricia.
Because Patricia is also a left-wing feminist who wanted a child but not a husband, Henry was conceived with the help of a sperm donor, who may or may not be the academic Dr. Slavkin O'Hara (Michael Sheen). It’s not enough that the precocious Henry has issues of his own; Lee throws in yet another troubled teenager, Slavin’s own daughter Audrey (Samantha Weinstein), who’s been the subject of his experiment in parenting about sexual identity and hence become the stock of her peers’ jeers about her lesbianism.
So Henry wants a father and Audrey hates hers, and the fact that they are both referring to the same person therefore making them half-siblings and bound by blood (at least half) to each other. What’s the point of all this? It isn’t clear even by the time they become one big happy dysfunctional family following the death of Grandpa Stan, even though we suspect that this is supposed to be a lesson about accepting family in the way that they come, gay or straight, artificial or natural.
Little rings true in Lee’s tableaux of corrosive family dynamics. The dialogue seems manufactured in order to sound witty. The hijinks that the characters find themselves in are farcical to say the least. And the tone, oh the tone, veers from tasteless to trite to trying to ultimately off-putting. The only worthy mention here is the cast, both Collette and Sheen such professional actors that they make the best of what little is given to them. Ditto for the young actors Spevack and Weinstein, the latter in particular always arresting delivering barb after barb with a stoic look.
Still, there is a sense of futility to the entire exercise in histrionics and all-too deliberate quirkiness - right down to its intentionally provocative title. Lee is no Wes Anderson, and ‘Jesus Henry Christ’ barely redeems the even more significant misfire that was his feature filmmaking debut ‘Fireflies in the Garden’; unfortunately, his ‘Fireflies’ star Julia Roberts’ hope is hugely misplaced, and this Roberts-produced film is neither funny nor insightful despite aspiring to be both. It is, like Henry, a test-tube of a movie.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
The Dolby Digital 2.0 delivers clear audio, while visuals look slightly over-saturated.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD RATING :
Review by Gabriel Chong
SYNOPSIS: Bachir Lazhar, an Algerian immigrant is hired to replace an elementary school teacher who died tragically. While the class goes through a long healing process, nobody in the school is aware of Bachir's painful former life nor that he is at risk of being deported at any moment. Adapted from Evelyne de la Cheneliere's play, Bachir Lazhar depicts the encounter between two distant worlds and the power of self-expression. Using great sensitivity and humour, Philippe Falardeau follows a humble man who is ready to transcend his own loss in order to accompany children beyond the silence and taboo of death.
MOVIE REVIEW:
There is a suicide at school. And the story develops around how one of the school children might have played a part in this.
This premise forms the backbone of Monsieur Lazhar and it is intriguing enough. It is clear, from the outset, that the film deals a lot with—and often none-too-subtly at that—the topic of death—both children’s and adults’ perceptions of it, and how they differ.
Slowly, the themes of immigration and exile are weaved into this fabric of lessons about death and loss, especially with the arrival of replacement teacher Bachir Lazhar, played by Mohamed Saïd Fellag.
Following the conventional fish-out-of-water narrative thread, there is a general sense that Lazhar is set up to be portrayed as the quirky, Algerian teacher from out-of-town, and who is out-of-place in his new surroundings as a stickler for rules and tradition that doesn’t sit quite comfortably in a French classroom. However, the character, as portrayed by Saïd Fellag, is more bland than quirky, and plainly lacking in charisma.
Sure, his moody and often passive demeanour is ultimately attributed to the character’s tormented past, but this is where the characterisation becomes an awkward loophole, as Lazhar’s past makes it hard for him to truly reach out to the school children. He tries to, but his internal conflicts often mar his efforts. And because films about teachers often bank on the strong connection developed between teacher and student, Monsieur Lazhar doesn’t quite have that honesty and warmth achieved in Être et Avoir (2002) nor that level of riotous entertainment value in Les Choristes (2004).
Even the relationship with his “star student”, the precocious Alice L'Écuyer (Sophie Nélise) evolves in a contrived manner. In contrast to the reticence of Saïd’s character, Nélise steals the show as the headstrong, sensitive Alice. But while she is evocative in the scenes that depict the estranged relationship between her character and the character’s mother, her outbursts at school and passive-aggressive altercations with Simon (Émilien Néron)are often over-the-top and overly affected.
The story is sound, and the interweaving ideas often poignant. But something is not quite right with the casting of Monsieur Lazhar.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
NIL
MOVIE RATING:
(A “touch-and-go” film, Monsieur Lazhar has a strangely detached quality and is really not all that moving to warrant the string of awards it has garnered)
Review by Tay Huizhen
Genre: Sci-Fi/Thriller
Director: Alfonso Cuarón
Cast: Sandra Bullock, George Clooney
RunTime: 1 hr 31 mins
Rating: PG13 (Brief Coarse Language And Some Disturbing Images)
Released By: Warner Bros Pictures
Official Website: http://gravitymovie.warnerbros.com/index.html
Opening Day: 10 October 2013
Synopsis: Gravity, from Warner Bros. Pictures, is a heart-pounding thriller that pulls you into the infinite and unforgiving realm of deep space. In the film, Sandra Bullock plays Dr. Ryan Stone, a brilliant medical engineer on her first shuttle mission, with veteran astronaut Matt Kowalsky (George Clooney). But on a seemingly routine spacewalk, disaster strikes. The shuttle is destroyed, leaving Stone and Kowalsky completely alone – tethered to nothing but each other and spiraling out into the blackness. The deafening silence tells them they have lost any link to Earth… and any chance for rescue. As fear turns to panic, every gulp of air eats away at what little oxygen is left. But the only way home may be to go further out into the terrifying expanse of space.
Movie Review:
If you have been reading movie new and reviews online, you’d probably know by now how everyone is raving about the greatness of Mexican filmmaker Alfonso Cuaron’s latest work. This review will tell you the same thing, but instead of gushing about visually stunning it is from the on start, let’s begin by discussing how this writer is actually impressed with female lead Sandra Bullock’s performance – for once.
Don’t get him wrong, this columnist has nothing against the Academy Award winner. His first encounter with the 49 year old actress was in 1994’s Speed, but as anyone would kindly remind you, the attention was on a certain Keanu Reeves. The actress then went on to make a name in movies like Miss Congeniality (2000), Crash (2004) and The Lake House (2006). She finally won an Oscar for her role in The Blind Side (2009), which, with no offence intended, isn’t a particularly outstanding performance, at least in this humble writer’s opinion.
It is with this space thriller that this reviewer is convinced that Bullock is a credible actress. She plays a medical engineer on her first outer space mission with a veteran astronaut. The first shuttle mission goes amok when a seemingly routine spacewalk becomes a disaster, leaving the shuttle destroyed and the two of them completely stranded and alone in outer space.
You’d wonder, how much acting can Bullock showcase when she’s in a space suit most of the time? Some clever scriptwriting will actually have her character out of the suit (in a body fitting tank top, no less) and impressing with her personable and surprisingly poignant performance as a grieving mother whose life is on a brink. We will not be surprised if she picks up acting nominations during the upcoming award season. There’s nothing like giving recognition to the actress who has been working hard in showbiz starring in a hyped up film like this.
Enough about Bullock for now, so what’s in it for viewers who are interested in, to put simply, a good movie? Lots, apparently. You may have heard how this is the best space movie ever made, how this will leave you terrified and awed at the same time, and how it immerses you in an unforgettable viewing experience. Truth is, the statements are all spot on. Without sounding like a fan boy, we’ll encourage you to experience this movie yourself. Although we didn’t watch the film in
Does Cuaron’s (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Children of Men) cinematic masterpiece have emotionally affecting moments? While movies with characters reflecting on life whilst staring at death in the face are aplenty, this one works, probably due to the commendable performance by the leads.
Yup, there is another cast member acting alongside Bullock, and he comes in the form of the irresistible George Clooney. While he plays a supporting character, you cannot deny the actor’s screen presence. His every line in the movie will leave you assured that he is one dude you’d want at your party.
And oh, do watch out for the sequence with floating tear drops. Trust us, they are even more awesome in 3D.
Movie Rating:
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(Everything you heard about this space thriller is true – it is a great piece of cinematic work)
Review by John Li
Genre: Drama/Biography
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Cast: Michael Douglas, Matt Damon, Scott Bakula, Eric Zuckerman, Debbie Reynolds, Dan Aykroyd, Rob Lowe
RunTime: 1 hr 58 mins
Rating: R21 (Homosexual Theme)
Released By: Shaw
Official Website: http://www.hbo.com/#/movies/behind-the-candelabra
Opening Day: 15 August 2013
Synopsis: Directed by acclaimed filmmaker Steven Soderbergh and executive produced by Jerry Weintraub, this highly promotable drama recreates the glittering private world of Liberace (Michael Douglas), the flamboyant, phenomenally successful entertainer whose extravagant costumes, trademark candelabra, and elaborate stage shows made him the most bankable entertainer of his time. The story focuses on Liberace’s tempestuous relationship with Scott Thorson (Matt Damon) in Las Vegas from 1977 to 1982 - a time when Liberace was at the peak of his popularity but remained closeted as a homosexual. Featuring a pair of electrifying performances by Douglas and Damon, Behind the Candelabra captures the essence of Liberace’s appeal while reminding viewers how different attitudes were at the time, as few high-profile entertainers (including Liberace) could admit they were gay, at least in front of the public which made them stars..
Movie Review:
Just how gay is gay? Steven Soderbergh’s supposedly directorial work is apparently so gay, no major film studio wanted to be involved in the production of the movie. Yes, there are two Academy Award winners Michael Douglas and Matt Damon headlining this movie, but nope, this isn’t enough to convince financiers to pump in money for the production.
It’s good to know that our friends from the regulatory board have allowed this film to be screened in
Based on Thorson’s 1998 memoir “Behind the Cadelabra: My Life with Liberace”, the 118 minute movie chronicles the last 10 years of Liberace’s life, and like any other great artist, the flamboyant pianist had his ups and downs - mostly emotional, of course. We see how Liberace got to know Thorson, how the two of them became the loveliest gay couple, and eventually falling apart with things getting a tad ugly.While we do not know about much about Liberace (mainly because we aren’t that informed about the entertainment industry in the 1950s to 1970s), we can tell he is quite a character from this movie.
While we have entertainers like Elton John, Madonna and Lady Gaga, there was Liberace. Michael Douglas plays the character with affection, and while you may be giggling embarrassedly when he first appears, you gradually get to know him as a person who is keeping up with expectations, all the while struggling with his true self. This is the first time we have seen the 68 year old actor tackling a gay character, and we are hoping that he will be nominated for a Best Actor Oscar. The problem is, this movie was aired on TV channel HBO in May, which means it probably does not abide by the Academy’s regulations. Looks like his accolades will have to come from other TV awards then.
Matt Damon’s performance is top notch here as well. We have seen him playing serious roles, goofing around on Jimmy Kimmel’s talk show, and this performance is a nice contrast to the leaner and meaner character he plays in Neill Blomkamp’s Elysium. Here, he first gives the impression of a quintessential toy boy, before transforming into a character you want to care about. The 42 year old actor goes through some transformations in the film, and you have to give it to the filmmakers for making them believable enough for you to exclaim in wonder.
Publicity stunt or not, Steven Soderbergh’s claim that the film didn’t get any support form major film studios does not influence the fact that this well made movie is one that is highly recommended. It is a story about people, and the ups and downs most of us may identify with. Fret not that there are raunchy scenes in the movie, because there isn’t anything offensive here (we are talking about Michael Douglas and Matt Damon, remember?). Go enjoy the movie and indulge in the entertaining flamboyance the film has to offer alongside some affectionate plotlines.
Movie Rating:
(Steven Soderbergh’s take on Liberace’s flamboyant life in this recommended movie is an entertaining and heartfelt one)
Review by John Li
SYNOPSIS: A mother moves with her old daughter and younger daughter to a large home in the countryside. The older daughter suffers from a lung ailment and her doctor advised her to move out into the countryside. The home is provided by Ji-Tae, the son of a business partner who worked with their deceased father. While the family gets acclimated to their new surroundings, the older daughter makes a remarkable discovery. Within a locked room in the barn lives a wild boy. The family takes him in believing he is just an orphan with little social skills. The boy with little social skills begins to take an interest in the oldest daughter. Meanwhile, Ji-Tae has his own plans in marrying the oldest daughter. What's the secret behind the wild boy?
MOVIE REVIEW:
With the central story involving a werewolf boy, one would easily assume this Korean production is riding on the success of Twilight. Instead, it’s an original touching romance that is a much superior work than all the six instalments combined.
The movie opens with an elderly woman, Suni whom 46 years earlier has befriend a werewolf boy in her country house. The boy nicknamed Cheol-Su by Suni’s mum behaves liked an untrained beast initially but under the ‘training’ of Suni with the help of a dog manual, Cheol-Su becomes tamer yet the mysterious boy also possesses superhuman strength and speed much to the surprise of Suni and her family. Liked a dog or werewolf, the boy becomes agitated when provoked. The real beast in him however is only revealed when Ji-Tae, the son of Suni’s late father’s business partner threatens the well-being of Suni and her family triggering a series of events that put Cheol-Su’s presence at risk.
The movie paints an incredible friendship between Suni and Cheol-Su, one that started from dislike to eventual affection. It’s hard to justify their relationship as love even though both enjoyed the company of each other. Suni’s affection towards Cheol-Su functions more like a dog owner, gently giving out pats to Cheol-Su whenever he has performed well, be it at the dining table or practicing his writing and Cheol-Su on the other hand responds liked an obedient, oversized mutt. This treatment actually goes the opposite way of a typical young adult romance though most females will tend to be mesmerised by the performance of Song Joong-ki (A Frozen Flower) as the poor lost boy anyway.
While the existence of Cheol-Su is never fully explained, director and writer Jo Sung-hee cleverly mixes political satire and some unbelievable tales into his origin. Through a certain Professor Park, we are told that Cheol-Su might be an aborted experiment for the creation of a super soldier for the army. Wolf, super soldier, orphans from the war, it doesn’t matter in this context in the end. Jo managed to tell a warm story without resorting much to theatrics and unnecessary subplots. The incredibly goofy gags in the beginning liked Suni dressing Cheol-Su up and the gag involving the latter nearly killed by a falling metal beam established the innocence of the character. The introduction of Ji-Tae’s jealousy towards Cheol-Su in the later part sends the movie into a frantic mode, the unfortunate aspect being the shoddily rendered CG effects which is a stark contrast to the rest of the big-budgeted local titles.
Very much a restrained fantasy piece, A Werewolf Boy is not the cup of tea for audience looking for a good scare. The ending which is best described as tragically poetic will leave many with misty eyes.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
NIL
AUDIO/VISUAL:
With the exception of some poorly presented black levels, the visual on the whole is passable. The Korean 2.0 soundtrack is sufficient for the mostly dialogue based movie though two aggressive scenes involving Cheol-Su’s transformation fare poorer in comparison.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD RATING :
Review by Linus Tee
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