|
GOLDEN GLOBE WINNERS 2014Posted on 13 Jan 2014 |
SYNOPSIS: Undercover cop Chan Tze Lung (Donnie Yen) has spent years in the underworld collecting evidence against boss Bear (Collin Chou). After suffering major losses in business, Bear starts to suspect his followers of betrayal putting Chan's safety at risk. Hoping to go back to a normal life, Chan pledges to his supervisor Cheung (Ronald Cheng) that he'll bust the whole operation in one fell swoop and return to his police identity. On the orders of Bear and the poilce, Chan heads to Hainan to meet his former buddy, triad upstart Sunny (Andy On) whom Bear suspects to be the traitor. Chased by a mysterious assassin once he sets foot in China, Chan realises not only can he not conceal his identity, his life is also on the line.
MOVIE REVIEW:
Just when you are rubbing your hands anticipating a gritty, hard-hitting Donnie Yen action flick, Special ID disappointingly turned out to be a dud.
The premise is simple enough as scripted by the late Szeto Kam Yuen. Donnie plays Tze Lung, an undercover cop assigned to collect evidence against a gang boss, Xiong (Collin Chou). After Xiong starts to suspect there’s a mole around him, Tze Lung fearing for her mum (Paw Hee Ching) and his own safety wants out but his supervisor Cheung (Ronald Cheng) has other plans. He wants him to go to Hainan to team up with the local police, Fang Jing (Jing Tian) to take down Xiong’s operations and one of Tze Lung’s ex-followers, Sunny (Andy On).
While SPL and Flash Point are straightforward good cops versus the baddies macho action movies, Special ID tries to thrown in a romantic angle that involves Tze Lung and Fang Jing right in the middle. The treatment in the end is ridiculously stiff and awkward. To make matters worse, the character of Tze Lung is an embarrassing mama’s boy and obviously contradicts with his tough, non-compromising cop persona.
There are simply too many elements, which director Clarence Fok got it wrong even though everything is laid out in plain sight and assembled in front of him. For those who are expecting another showdown between Donnie and Collin after their exhilarating match in Flash Point, it’s better you walk away from this review right now. The character of Xiong is weakly written with Chou being non-existent during most of the screentime. The main villain here happened to be Andy On’s Sunny yet another paper-thin bad guy who randomly walked into the story so that Donnie can have an opponent to spar with. Not forgetting Mainland star Zhang Hanyu (Assembly) has a pointless, forgettable role as an assassin.
Despite all the problems, Donnie Yen who serves as action choreographer delivers the goods after all. I meant the action chops of course. The opening scene in a mahjong parlour has Tze Lung fighting against action veteran star Ken Lo and it looks promising enough. The most impressive sequence comes later on when Tze Lung takes on a number of Sunny’s henchmen in a restaurant equipped with some crazy MMA moves. The prolonged climax, which involved Donnie taking on Andy On end up to be quite a lethargic, repetitive affair with an unnecessary CG, aided car chase thrown in.
You are unlikely convince by Jing Tian’s splendid choreographed kicks or another of Andy On’s generic arrogant baddie role. Special ID entertains purely because of Donnie Yen. Just ignore all the missteps of the plotting, go ahead and root for Donnie.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
Trailer
AUDIO/VISUAL:
The DVD comes with dual Mandarin and Cantonese soundtracks. The grittiness on the visual is intended and the most annoying bit is the accompanied sound effects and music, which sounds either too loud or too muted at times.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD RATING :
Review by Linus Tee
Genre: Thriller/Mystery
Director: David Fincher
Cast: Ben Affleck, Rosamund Pike, Neil Patrick Harris, Tyler Perry, David Clennon, Carrie Coon, Kim Dickens
RunTime: 2 hrs 29 mins
Rating: R21 (Sexual Scenes)
Released By: 20th Century Fox
Official Website: http://www.gonegirlmovie.com
Opening Day: 9 October 2014
Synopsis: GONE GIRL – directed by David Fincher and based upon the global bestseller by Gillian Flynn – unearths the secrets at the heart of a modern marriage. On the occasion of his fifth wedding anniversary, Nick Dunne (Ben Affleck) reports that his beautiful wife, Amy (Rosamund Pike), has gone missing. Under pressure from the police and a growing media frenzy, Nick’s portrait of a blissful union begins to crumble. Soon his lies, deceits and strange behavior have everyone asking the same dark question: Did Nick Dunne kill his wife?
Movie Review:
No one - and nothing - is what it seems in ‘Gone Girl’, a multi-layered suspense thriller which first tantalised in prose form from novelist Gillian Flynn and that has now been realised for the big screen by none other than auteur David Fincher. Yes, those who have read the novel will probably be eager to reveal its twists and turns - particularly one in the middle of the story that changes your entire perspective of the proceedings - but you’ll do yourself a favour not to pre-empt the experience of encountering this gripping mystery on your own.
Here’s what you probably already know - on the day of his fifth wedding anniversary, Nick Dunne (Ben Affleck) goes to the bar he owns, has a drink, and returns home to find his wife Amy (Rosamund Pike) missing. All signs point to an invasion; the front door is open, a glass table has been overturned and smashed, and there are spots of blood around the house. Assigned to the ‘missing persons’ case is detective Rhonda Boney (Kim Dickens) and Jim Gilpin (Patrick Fugit), but even though they harbour suspicion of Nick’s culpability, it isn’t them that Nick has to worry about.
Because Amy is the inspiration for a popular series of children’s books named ‘Amazing Amy’ penned by her psychologist parents, her disappearance instantly becomes fodder for tabloid media. Nick is criticised for looking less distraught than he ought to be. The neighbour who claims to be close friends with Amy starts going on national TV talking about their marital woes. It doesn’t help that Nick isn’t likeable in his own right - he is a laid-off New York movie magazine writer whose only business was funded from his wife’s trust fund - and as more details emerge of his financial troubles and domestic disputes, he is instantly fingered by the court of public opinion as the prime suspect for her disappearance.
Like the book, the first hour unfolds in two parallel and separate tracks. The first takes place in the present day and covers pretty much what we had described in the preceding para, while the second goes back in time to recount Nick and Amy’s courtship and marriage as related and narrated by Amy in her diary. The next hour and beyond however becomes quite something else, but there isn’t any more we can say without giving something crucial away; suffices for those who have read the novel to know that Flynn, who adapted and reconfigured her story for the screen, unfurls the narrative in the fractured way to let you in on just what happened to TV’s Golden Girl.
What is perhaps more significant is the fact that Flynn has managed to preserve all the elements which made her book so critically acclaimed and enormously popular at the same time. On one hand, it is a study into a marriage that has broken down, where sex is less making love than satisfying carnal desires, where conversations have turned to silence, and where distance has taken the place of intimacy. On the other, it is a damning critique on today’s television news media, both in its insatiable appetite for gossip and half-truths as well as its glaring absence of any journalistic ethics like truth and objectivity. Flynn’s novel was extraordinary in its varied textures, and her screenplay loses none of that brilliance.
Even as it is an astute - and we may add, excoriating - examination of institutions under stress, it is also a keen character study of two vastly different individuals. Nick may seem the blander character next to Amy, but both are written such that they are perfectly mismatched. And here is where casting plays a big part - Affleck, with his likeable Joe shtick, hits the right note as an affable guy whom you suspect is hiding something beneath a thin veil of concealment; while Pike is truly a revelation portraying a woman who looks serenely cool on the outside and yet manipulative and calculating on the inside. Both Affleck and Pike are smartly cast, and it is no coincidence that both actors are being mentioned for the top acting awards at next year’s Oscars.
And while we are talking about the acting, the exceptional casting choices don’t just stop there. Broadway actress Carrie Coon is masterful as Nick’s wry and compulsively honest twin sister and soulmate, while Tyler Perry (yes, Madea himself) is magnetic playing the hotshot celebrity defense attorney Nick engages to turn the tide that is against him. What also surprised us was Neil Patrick Harris’ sublime turn as someone from Amy’s past who is rich, fastidious and just as twisted as our ‘gone girl’ herself. Anyone’s who seen a David Fincher film should come to accept nothing less from the performances, but it deserves to be said how everyone right down the line is so beautifully chosen.
Love him or hate him, there’s no denying that Fincher has done a magnificent job with the source material. As he had shown with ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’, Fincher knows just how to elevate a potboiler to get under his audience’s skin, and besides the central mystery, he finds deeper meaning in the twin contemporary social phenomenon of marriage and media. It may not be as overtly psychologically dark as ‘Se7en’ or ‘Fight Club’, but there’s no mistaking the darkly funny and sharply caustic tone which he captures with precision here - indeed, he has made a movie more twisted than the novel itself, even more cuttingly incisive in its examination of everyday sociopathology.
Fincher’s obsessive attention to detail is evident in every frame. Every shot by his cinematographer Jeff Cronenweth is lit and lensed to favour shadows and shallow focus to get your close attention. The score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross evokes a pervasively menacing atmosphere of dread and mistrust. And in retaining Flynn’s tricky dual-narrator format, Fincher is especially careful with the transitions from scene to scene, which never for a moment end up disjointed or confusing. He is the modern-day Hitchcock no less, and ‘Gone Girl’ is mesmerising to say the least.
Of course, fans of the book could rest easy the moment Fincher’s name was announced; his entire body of work speaks for how he could make this both an unsettling psychological thriller and a thoroughly captivating procedural. And yet what’s surprising is the dark and devilish humour with which he encourages with a cool and detached hand, guiding everything along at a mercurial pace with a distinctly mystifying mood, so whether you’re discovering the story for the first time or experiencing it again, you’ll find yourself hooked from start to finish.
Movie Rating:
(A class act in mystery, melodrama and social commentary, David Fincher’s adaptation of the Gillian Flynn novel is masterful in its own right, accompanied by brilliant performances from Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike)
Review by Gabriel Chong
Genre: Comedy/Action
Director: Jack Neo
Cast: Chen Tianwen, Eva Cheng, Tosh Zhang, Wang Wei Liang, Noah Yap, Maxi Lim, Charlie Goh, Bao Er Cong, Celyn Liew Zhi Lin, Ngeow Zi Jie
Runtime: 2 hrs 10 mins
Rating: PG
Released By: Shaw
Official Website:
Opening Day: 30 January 2014
Synopsis: Shi Shen (Tosh Zhang) is the top performer in the Tiger Crane Lion Dance Association, but feels restricted by Master Heʼs (Chen Tianwen) traditional mindset. He decides to take a group of disciples and form his own lion dance troupe, which fuses hip hop dancing with lion dance movements. A major Lion Dance Competition is coming up and Mikey (Wang Weiliang) is groomed to be Shi Shen's successor. However, he has a huge fear of heights! The situation worsens when both Mikey and Shi Shen fall for the Tiger Crane master's daughter (Eva Cheng)...
Movie Review:
Jack Neo should never be allowed near a teenage romance. Period. We were convinced of that just five minutes into his depiction of the blossoming love between Shi Shen (Tosh Zhang) and his Master’s adolescent daughter Xiao Yu (Eva Cheng). Indeed, you haven’t quite understood the meaning of cringe-worthy until you see them walking hand in hand to the tune of a sappy Mandarin ballad along the Fullerton bridge and then along the East Coast beach during sunset. So, as a favour to his fans as well as unsuspecting audiences, we urge Neo to lay off the romantic genre, even if it is but part of a larger narrative.
In the case of ‘The Lion Men’, that narrative is the rivalry between two closely knit ‘brothers’ - Shi Shen and Mikey (Wang Weiliang) - from the same lion dance troupe called the Tiger Crane Lion Dance Association. Besides finding themselves fighting for the affections of Xiao Yu, Shi Shen and Mikey are also rivals by circumstance precipitated by a difference in opinion between the former and their Master (Chen Tianwen) on the means by which to keep the lion dance movement alive and popular. While Shi Shen believes in modernising the movement by fusing it with hip hop, Master He is a firm traditionalist who views the mix as an insult to the art.
And so against the backdrop of an upcoming lion dance competition, Shi Shen leaves to start his own troupe called The Storm Riders, placing him at odds with his former Master as well as Mikey, whom Master He grooms to take over his place. As cliché goes, Xiao Yu also happens to be the leader of the hip hop dance team which Shi Shen courts both professionally and personally - and viewers familiar to Neo’s style of theatrics should expect nothing less than a histrionic confrontation between father and daughter at some point in the film. Yes, Neo has never been a person of subtlety and one shouldn’t expect any different here.
That said, Neo’s filmmaking here is equivalent to the impact of blunt-force trauma, made even more mind-numbing by the fact that it goes on for an interminable 130 minutes. There is no subtlety in the depiction of the rivalry between Tiger Crane and Black Hawk, which are laughingly portrayed as a bunch of dumb and unreasonable hooligans. Neither is there any subtlety in Mikey’s personal hurdle to overcome his fear of heights, which end up best remembered for yet another pointless use of CGI to bring to life a mechanised lion that is apparently the incarnation of his cute soft toy in his dreams. Ditto for Master He’s own struggle to come to terms with what he perceives as a stab in the back by his protégé as well as his flesh and blood, told by Neo with utterly zero nuance.
Therein lies the problem in Neo’s two-part film – it just doesn’t know what it wants to be. On one hand, it tries to paint a story of brotherhood not unlike ‘Ah Boys to Men’ in the bond shared among the members of the lion dance troupe, especially that between Shi Shen and Mikey, with a romantic triangle thrown in for good measure. On another, it tries to address the relevance of lion dancing in this modern age, with the noble theme of how tradition can stay exciting for a new generation with some degree of innovation. In addition, it also tries to be a heartwarming underdog tale for Mikey. And last but not least, it also wants to be a superhero movie by casting the lion dancers as ‘Lion Men’ (think ‘Iron Man’ or ‘Spiderman’), even to the point of indulging in some pointless CGI sequences with Mikey swinging through the CBD area dressed like a black ‘Spiderman’ like costume. Whereas ‘Ah Boys to Men’ warranted the treatment of a duology by depicting the various stages of BMT, ‘The Lion Men’ demonstrates a complete lack of filmmaking discipline by Neo in being all over the place at the same time.
Compounding the fact that it is overlong and over-indulgent is a surprising lack of humour. Neo’s best movies have always been amusing observations of real-life social issues, but there is none of that here. Sure, the Hokkien bits are still worth a laugh or two, but you get a sense that Neo is running out of ideas when a running joke in the movie has Mikey’s name being mistaken for Monkey.
Absent too is the semblance of characterisation, which besides Shi Shen, Mikey and Master He, is glaringly missing. While Neo bothered to give his supporting acts in ‘Ah Boys to Men’ distinct traits that made them interesting and even memorable, there is none of that here – and as Mikey’s buddies, Noah Yap, Maxi Lim and Charlie Goh from ‘Ah Boys’ are simply forgettable. Even the charismatic Tosh Zhang and Wang Weiliang are given very little to work with this time round, and it is likely that their fans will find their performances underwhelming especially given their earlier stints.
There is but one redeeming bit in the movie, and that is Ma Yuk Sing’s action choreography. The veteran Hong Kong stunt director turns what could have been a run-of-the-mill street brawl between some of Tiger Crane’s disciples with that of Black Hawk’s into a surprisingly exciting kungfu showcase. Ma also enlivens the lion dance performances in the movie, which are essentially the only parts where the film isn’t physically and metaphorically grounded.
But Ma alone cannot quite make up for what will probably go down as one of Jack Neo’s worst movies. It is no secret that he has attempted here to replicate the unexpected success of his ‘Ah Boys to Men’ duology, from casting the same group of young stars to retaining the themes of brotherhood. Yet there's no shaking off the feeling that it is no more than a cash-grab attempt, with Neo content at throwing every whim and caprice on the big screen, so much so that the plot is simultaneously convoluted and underdeveloped and the characters just caricatures that hardly register.
‘Ah Boys to Men’ it certainly is not; indeed, this ‘Lion Men’ should be more appropriately titled ‘The Lame Men’.
Movie Rating:
(Messy, overindulgent and yet underdeveloped, this piss-poor attempt at replicating the success of ‘Ah Boys to Men’ sees Jack Neo at his undisciplined worst as a filmmaker)
Review by Gabriel Chong
Genre: Drama/Romance
Director: Josh Boone
Cast: Shailene Woodley, Ansel Elgort, Laura Dern, Nat Wolff, Sam Trammell, Mike Birbiglia
RunTime: 1 hr 57 mins
Rating: PG13 (Scene of Intimacy and Brief Coarse Language)
Released By: 20th Century Fox
Official Website:
Opening Day: 19 June 2014
Synopsis: Hazel and Gus are two extraordinary teenagers who share an acerbic wit, a disdain for the conventional, and a love that sweeps them -- and us – on an unforgettable journey. Their relationship is all the more miraculous, given that they met and fell in love at a cancer support group. THE FAULT IN OUR STARS, based upon the number-one bestselling novel by John Green, explores the funny, thrilling and tragic business of being alive and in love.
Movie Review:
Kudos to John Green for proving that popular young adult fiction need not always be set in dystopia (think ‘Divergent’ or ‘The Hunger Games’) or the supernatural (need we mention ‘Twilight’); rather, his bestselling novel is a love story between two witty, engaging teenagers with cancer, and before you go thinking that this is no more than Nicholas Sparks for a younger crowd, trust us when we say that it is nowhere near that. Instead, as those who have read the book will stridently attest, it is wise, warm, funny and touching all at the same time, and the best thing one could say about this film adaptation is that it retains all these qualities which made the book such a sensation.
Going into a story like this, you know that it is bound to turn mawkish at some point, especially as it deals with the inevitable progression towards death of not one but both of our endearing protagonists. What makes Green’s novel - and by extension, Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber’s screenplay - such a winner is just how it earns each and every drop of your sympathies for the two leads, Hazel Grace Lancaster (Shailene Woodley) and Augustus Waters (Ansel Elgort), so much so that when it does play that tug at your heartstrings, you’ll not begrudge for every tear you shed. And oh yes, unless you’re defective (and we say this with not a single hint of spite), you’ll be moved to tears by this story of dying love.
Preserving Hazel’s narration of the events that follow (and clearly benefiting from the strength of Green’s prose), our first encounter with Hazel is through the thoughts in her head. As a teen, she came perilously close to death, but an experimental treatment has managed to beat back the cancer, and so she goes around these days with a tube inserted into her nostrils that’s tethered to an oxygen tank she lugs around in a trolley bag. It is at a support group for cancer patients that she has her ‘meet-cute’ with the strappingly handsome Augustus, a basketball player whose career was cut short when cancer took his right leg and where a metal support now resides.
Both are immediately taken to each other, and it’s not hard to see why. Not only do they match each other in intelligence, they are just as whip-smart, making an instant connection as they trade barbs with each other - and yes, in case there was ever any doubt, fall in love. Most prominently, they bond over their rejection of the usual ‘cancer story’ sentiments’, finding much to talk about in Hazel’s favourite book ‘An Imperial Affliction’ by the reclusive Dutch-American author Peter Van Houten, which just happens to be about living with cancer. Hazel counts herself as Van Houten’s biggest fan, so Augustus takes a chance and tries to reach out to Van Houten himself, who unexpectedly replies to the latter’s fan mail.
One thing leads to another, and pretty soon Hazel and Augustus are travelling to Amsterdam to meet Van Houten (Willem Dafoe) in person - better still that it is an all-expenses paid trip sponsored by Augustus’ Make-A-Wish type foundation. We won’t spoil the surprise for those unacquainted with the story, but suffice to say that the trip marks a turning point in their relationship not only because it deepens their personal affections but also in how it gives them an unexpected lens by which to re-examine how they have come to terms with their condition. It is a sobering turn of events no doubt, and even more so when you consider on hindsight what happens after.
Does one or both of them die at the end? Well, certainly. Death is pretty much written into a story like this, so in that sense, it is still an unabashed tearjerker. What differentiates this from the rest of the sappy melodramas is its refreshing sense of honesty about the real-life issues it confronts. Yes, it doesn’t sugarcoat the realities it wades into - the disease, mortality, and the impermanence of our temporary existence on this earth - and instead deals with them with insight and self-deprecating humour; in particular, the recurring theme of oblivion makes for a heartbreaking moral search by one of our protagonists to find meaning in suffering.
To his credit, director Josh Boone handles the material with sensitivity and restraint, but he doesn’t add much to the cinematic language that Green’s book was already brimming with. Instead, the real stars here are Woodley and Elgort, who embody the amazing chemistry which Green describes between Hazel and Augustus. This is easily Woodley’s standout role, bringing just the right mix of strength and vulnerability, resistance and acceptance, to make Hazel a living and breathing character that invites her audience to feel her struggle and share in her fate. Her ‘Divergent’ co-star Elgort is confident but stops short of ever becoming cocky, but most importantly makes for an extremely appealing couple with Woodley.
So much attention has been placed on our teenage stars and their respective protagonists that we seem to have forgotten about the other adult characters in the story. Though they only play a supporting role, the character actors playing them make sure that they make quite an impression as well. Laura Dern is absolutely moving as Hazel’s mother hoping for the best each day but also preparing for the worst; and True Blood’s Sam Trammell is just as affecting as her companion in distress. Dafoe makes a suitably quirky presence as Van Houten, sticking out appropriately as the sore thumb in a role which calls him to offer the least assuring perspective to Hazel and Augustus’ circumstances.
The best assurance we can offer to fans of the book is that it remains faithful to Green’s tale, and by that we mean it is equally sharp, funny, and well-observed. It is also a weepie all right, but one that earns its emotional kick with wit and earnestness. At no point does it ask for any pity from its audience; instead, it regards its characters with the respect and dignity that they deserve, acknowledging their everyday struggles and the uncertainties that the disease has on their relationship. It’s not always you get a cancer picture that you get characters saying lines like ‘pain demands to be felt’ or ‘life isn’t a wish-granting factory’, but that is also the reason why ‘The Fault in Our Stars’ rises above the trappings of its genre to become something exuberant, perceptive and genuinely stirring.
Movie Rating:
(Bring tissues. A lot of them. This is one smart, witty, and edgy romance that, we warn you, ends in genuinely bittersweet tragedy)
Review by Gabriel Chong
Genre: Animation
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Cast: Hideaki Anno, Miori Takimoto, Hidetoshi Nishijima, Masahiko Nishimura, Steve Alpert, Morio Kazama, Keiko Takeshita, Mirai Shida, Jun Kunimura, Shinobu Otake, Nomura Mansai
RunTime: 2 hrs 6 mins
Rating: PG
Released By: Encore Films
Official Website: http://kazetachinu.jp
Opening Day: 20 March 2014
Synopsis: In The Wind Rises, Jiro ― inspired by the famous Italian aeronautical designer Caproni ― dreams of flying and designing beautiful airplanes. Short-sighted from a young age and thus unable to become a pilot, Jiro joins the aircraft division of a major Japanese engineering company in 1927. His genius is soon recognized, and he grows to become one of the world’s most accomplished airplane designers. The film chronicles much of his life, and depicts key historical events that deeply affected the course of Jiro’s life, including the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, the Great Depression, the tuberculosis epidemic and Japan’s plunge into war. He meets and falls in love with Nahoko, and grows and cherishes his friendship with his colleague Honjo. A brilliant innovator, Jiro leads the aviation world into the future. Miyazaki pays tribute to engineer Jiro Horikoshi and author Tatsuo Hori in his creation of the fictional character Jiro―the center of the epic tale of love, perseverance, the challenges of living and making choices in a turbulent world.
Movie Review:
It saddens this writer just by thinking about it – the world is no longer as magical as it used to be. In his recent memory, he could always rely on the friendly wood spirits in My Neighbour Totoro (1988), the anthropomorphic pig in Porco Rosso (1992) or the silent masked creature in Spirited Away (2001) to brighten up his day whenever things got gloomy. Japanese filmmaker (and also animator, manga artist, illustrator, producer and screenwriter) Hayao Miyazaki has enchanted generations of audiences with his anime feature films. The 73 year old’s internationally acclaimed Studio Ghibli has produced works that bring hope in the darkest moments.
Things are about to get a little sombre with Miyazaki’s latest piece of work. The animated historical drama film adapted from the award winning film director’s own manga of the same name is loosely based on a 1937 short story by Tatsuo Hori, who is a writer, poet and translator from mid 20thcentury Japan. It tells the fictionalised biography of Jiro Horikoshi, designer of the Mitsubishi A5M and its successor, the Mitsubishi A6M Zero. If you have been paying attention during your history lessons, you’d know these two aircraft models were used by Japanduring World War II – and they caused countless tragic deaths.
With a war plane designer as its protagonist, would you be falling in love with this film, like you did with the rest of Miyazaki’s illustrious past works? Would you be able to be swept away by a film about a man who built killing machines? If you look beyond the cynicism and unpleasantness, chances are, you’d be left in melancholic wonder by how a man’s ambition, vision and dream can be realised in such a tragically poetic manner.
That, and of course, how you don’t have imagined magical creatures to liven the mood. Yes, this 126 minute film is true to life, and asks you to come to grips with the harsh reality life has in store for you.
While this is an animated film, do not expect your toddlers to leave the theatre remembering cutesy characters and catchy music. This is one of the most adult non live action works we’ve seen, and kudos to the veteran Miyazakiand his team of visionary filmmakers for affectionately bringing this tale to screen.
The film may move along at a ploddingly slow pace, but leave your impatience at the door and experience this gorgeously made masterpiece. It is only then you can fully appreciate the themes raised in the story: How is a technician different from an artist? How is an engineer different from a dreamer? Does the end always justify the means? And what role does love play in the pursuit of realising one’s dreams? This are adult questions indeed, and while you are enjoying composer Joe Hisaishi’s luscious score and cinematographer Atsushi Okui’s stunning palette of colours, there is no doubt life’s simplest yet most complex issues will be lingering in your mind.
While there is some controversy whether this film promotes violence (would you regard a war plane designer a hero?) and smoking (the protagonists light up countless cigarettes in the film), or whether Miyazaki’s supposedly retirement after the completion of the film is a publicity stunt, one thing is for sure – you can’t deny that this is one affecting film that will leave you coming to terms with life’s most beautiful and ugliest moments.
Movie Rating:
(The legendary Hayao Miyazaki has managed to tell a simply story based on life’s most complex issues with this melancholically beautiful piece of work)
Review by John Li
SYNOPSIS: Evil wizard Gargamel creates a couple of mischievous Smurf-like creatures called the Naughties hoping they will let him harness the magical Smurf-essence. However, he soon discovers that he needs the help of Smurfette, who knows the secret to turning the Naughties into real Smurfs. When Gargamel and his Naughties kidnap Smurfette from Smurf Village and bring her to Paris, it's up to Papa, Clumsy, Grouchy and Vanity to reunite with their human friends, Patrick and Grace Winslow, and rescue her!
MOVIE REVIEW:
Taking place in Paris rather than the Big Apple, there’s nothing drastically different from the first in this hybrid of CG animation and live-action comedy. To start with, it’s not really that terrible (for the younger crowd to be precise); The Smurfs 2 rides on the same formulaic journey for the sequel even though the script went through a rigorous team of five writers.
Captured by one of Gargamel’s (Hank Azaria) naughty creations, Vexy (Christina Ricci), Smurfette (Katy Perry) is extorted by Gargamel to release the secret formula for creating smurfs to him. Enlisting the help of their human allies, Patrick (Neil Patrick Harris), Grace (Jayma Mays) and Patrick’s stepdad Victor (Brendan Gleeson), Papa Smurf (the late Jonathan Winters), Vanity (John Oliver), Grouchy (George Lopez) and Clumsy Smurf (Anton Yelchin) must travel to Paris to rescue Smurfette before the entire Smurfs and human race is conquered by Gargamel.
Obviously aimed at the kiddy market whose attention span can be quite a challenge. Helmer Raja Gosnell keep things moving briskly with characters and backdrop shifting in less than 20 seconds. It’s like everyone is high on sugar and the smurfs just can’t wait to get out of the village for some unnecessary adventure in sophisticated Paris. From a kid’s point of view, there are enough activities to keep them engaged liked Victor turning into a duck and a wonderful aerial tour of Paris midway. And of course Gargamel and his sidekick, Azreal the cat entertains with their countless silly antics including obligatory picturesque shots of the Eiffel Tower and the Notre Dame Cathedral.
The adults meanwhile just have to make do with clichéd dialogue peppered with Smurfs pun and keeping up with exhausting hyper-energetic sequences. I can’t commend anything on the 3D effects (since the DVD does not come with 3D) but technically speaking, the artistry alone is amazing in plain 2D. The human cast especially Neil Patrick Harris continues his thankless task of going on yet another adventure with the smurfs. Frankly speaking when you are in a kiddy movie opposite Hank Azaria hamming it up as a cartoony fumbling wizard, you don’t stand a chance even if you are great at hosting the Tonys.
The Smurfs seriously need more than mere Smurf essence to keep things going. By the end of the movie where everyone ends up happily ever after in Smurf village, you can sense a huge amount of lethargic creeping up your back. And it’s not just Grouchy smurf who is getting grouchy.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
Five short Deleted Scenes are included here.
The director, screenwriters and producer talks about the origin and the character of Smurfette in Daddy’s Little Girl: The Journey of Smurfette.
A quick look at using VFX to recreate a digital cat in Animating Azreal.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
The Smurfs 2 DVD has an immersive, robust soundtrack and the images are superb, sharp looking. A high quality disc for an average movie.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD RATING :
Review by Linus Tee
SYNOPSIS: Inventor Flint Lockwood thought he saved the world when he destroyed his most famous invention - a machine that turned water into food causing cheeseburger rain and spaghetti tornadoes. But Flint soon learns that his invention survived and is now combining food and animals to create "foodimals!" Flint and his friends embark on an adventurously mouth-watering mission to battle hungry tacodiles, shrimpanzees, hippotatomuses, cheesepiders and other foodimals to save the world - again!
MOVIE REVIEW:
With Phil Lord and Christopher Miller jumping ship to do The Lego Movie, the directorial baton for the sequel is passed to Cody Cameron and Kris Pearn, both who have done significant work in the animation field.
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 picks up where the first has left off. Young inventor Flint Lockwood (Bill Hader) has just saved his town, Swallow Falls from the food storm as the result of his FLDSMDFR going haywire. When super inventor Chester V (Will Forte) invites Flint to join his company, Live Corp, Flint jumps at the chance. Unbeknownst to him, Chester V has a hidden agenda of his own. He is making use of Flint to retrieve back the FLDSMDFR so that he can perfect his own food invention.
The animation is a delight all thanks to some of the best animation work ever seen on screen (and a very brisk pacing does help). When Flint, his dad Tim (James Caan), Sam (Anna Faris), Office Earl (Terry Crews), Manny the cameraman (Benjamin Bratt) and Brent (Andy Samberg) goes back to their hometown, this is where cinematic magic and adventure begins. The gorgeous Jurassic Park feel is undeniable as we watch a revealing Swallow Falls being populated by Foodimals of all sizes– mutated species between food and animals. The hugely imaginative named Shrimpanzee, Mosquitoast, Cheespider, Bananostrich, Watermelophant, Tacodile Supreme and many more will leave you chuckling for more. There’s even a cute heroic strawberry named Barry.
The overall striking images and colours by Sony Imageworks add to all the brilliance. In a lot of aspects, it’s almost as good as its predecessor if you can forgive the all too many food puns and silly parody. Is it me who thinks Chester V resembles the late Apple CEO Steve Jobs? Is the punch line “There’s a leek in the boat” so funny that they need to repeat it twice. It’s this silly treatment that diminishes the charm of the animation but in the end how can you hate a meaningful animation filled with deliciously cute characters. Though lacking the obvious wittiness and some heartfelt moments of the first, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 is still generally good enough to make a grown man cry.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
Directors Cody Cameron and Kris Pearn team up for the Filmmaker Commentary providing an engaging, pleasant listening experience as the duo discusses the various aspects of making the animation.
Join the cast, directors and visual artists as they discuss the foodimals characters in Anatomy of a Foodimal.
The art designers, directors and producers talk about the visual aspect, character design and the story in Production Design: Back in the Kitchen.
We take a look at the awesome seldom-used puppeteering and stop-motion technology in making the movie’s end credits in Awesome End Credits.
The directors and the many main cast members such as Bill Hader, Anna Faris, Terry Crews, Andy Samberg talk about their digital counterparts in Cloudy Café: Who’s on the Menu?
Building the Foodimals is an interesting feature that has the animation supervisor talks about how they came up with the weird and innovative looking creatures.
If you haven’t notice, there’s an Easter egg-like creature called Sasquash in the movie. The Mysterious Sasquash tells you where to look for it.
The production designer talks about creating the visual appearance and style in Delicious Production Design.
There’s also a brief Cody Simpson “La Da Dee” Music Video & Making of in the extras.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
Texture, detailing and colours are brimming at every scene making this animation DVD a must-have in terms of technicality. Dialogue is clear; environmental sound is sonic and active at all channels.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD RATING :
Review by Linus Tee
Genre: Comedy
Director: Vincent Kok
Cast: Raymond Wong, Sandra Ng, Eric Tsang, Ronald Cheng, Fiona Sit, Lynn Hung, Karena Ng, Yu Bo, Alex Lam
Runtime: 1 hr 34 mins
Rating: PG13 (Sexual References)
Released By: Cathay-Keris Films and Scorpio East Pictures
Official Website:
Opening Day: 30 January 2014
Synopsis: Written and directed by Vincent Kok, Hello Babies will tell how members of the older generation, eager for the arrival of a grandson on whom to dote, find ways to urge the younger generation to bear children. Lei Ming (Raymond Wong Pak Ming), a Malaysian businessman, is disappointed to discover that his sworn enemy, Yang Awei (Eric Tsang), is expecting a grandson. As a result, Lei Ming pushes his grand-nephew to carry on the family line, threatening to cut off his living funds if there is no progress. He even hires a “superstar midwife” (Sandra Ng) to supervise the couple’s love life. Hello Babies will feature Karena as a young, pregnant mother, marking the first time she has taken on such a role. To the surprise of many, her character is married not to Raymond Lam, but to singer-actor Alex Lam ), who is playing Yang Awei’s son. Lei Ming’s unfortunate grand-nephew and grand-niece-in-law will be portrayed by Ronald Cheng and Fiona Sit.
Movie Review:
Three years after they became Lunar New Year rivals by going head to head with their ‘he sui pians’, top Hong Kong comedians Raymond Wong and Eric Tsang are teaming up for the first time in the Vincent Kok scripted and directed ‘Hello Babies’. Even though it does not bear the ‘All’s Well Ends Well’ brand name, this could very well be yet another chapter of the series - not only does it revolve around the perennial themes of family and familial joy, it also boasts a cast largely drawn from the stars who have been regulars of the franchise since Raymond Wong revived it back in 2009.
In a nod to their supposed real-life personas, Wong and Tsang play Lei Ming and Yang Awei respectively, sworn rivals from the same Malaysian village in Ipoh who have been competing with each other since young. Their latest brush has to do with lineage, or more specifically, whom among them will be the first to have a grandson. When Lei Ming hears that Yang Awei’s son Alex (Alex Lam) is expecting a son with his wife Shan (Karena Ng), he immediately video-conferences his son Scallop (Ronald Cheng) and daughter-in-law Cher (Fiona Sit) to give him a grandson.
Unfortunately for Lei Ming, it isn’t that simple - Scallop and Cher have lost that ‘lovin feeling’, so much so that Scallop sees his wife Cher as no different from a best friend, which explains why he keeps calling her Vincent after his best friend (coincidentally played by the director Vincent Kok). So into the proceedings enters Gong San (Sandra Ng), whose role is to assist the couple in rekindling their passion and ensure a smooth pregnancy for Cher thereafter - her therapy including employing a yoga instructor (Jan Lamb in a cameo) to get Cher in compromising positions so Scallop will get jealous.
With Ronald Cheng, Fiona Sit and Sandra Ng in the picture, Kok seems to have forgotten about the rest of his stars. Indeed, a good part of the movie is spent with the trio, as Gong San’s welcome presence soon becomes frustrating with her intrusive checking-ins on Scallop and Cher. Despite the chemistry between the three stars, there’s no masking the plain and simple fact that what passes for comedy here isn’t really funny in the first place; instead, Kok and his co-writers (Anselm Chan, Poon Jun-Lam and Cheung Wai-Kei) are content to go for the lowest common denominator, and that includes passing off an extended farting exercise between husband and wife as humour.
Only slightly better are the shenanigans that Kok’s favourite trio get up to with Alex and Shan in order to deceive Lei Ming, consisting of two - one less so and another more so - elaborate ruses at the hospital to placate the Alzheimer’s stricken patriarch; indeed, the final switcheroo is probably the most inspired sequence, which frankly comes too late to redeem the film from its own tedium. But what really puzzles is why, after setting up and teasing its audience with a match-up between Raymond Wong and Eric Tsang, that Kok decides to abandon it almost entirely as if it were simply an afterthought.
Only at the start and right at the end do Wong and Tsang share the screen together, and even then, it is as part of an ensemble rather than just the two of them. It is a pity that the script does not develop their so-called enmity, and therefore accord the two veteran comedians the rare opportunity of facing off with each other. For that matter, Wong and Tsang have simply too little screen time whether together or apart - and that is especially true for Tsang, who despite getting top billing here, has really no more than a glorified supporting part.
Worse still, the best that Kok can come up with for Tsang is to have him play an irresponsible grandfather who is first openly disappointed that his grandchild is a girl and then in just one sequence show off his philandering tendencies trying to go after a middle-aged woman (Miriam Yeung). It is little consolation that Tsang gets to show off some of his ‘Wing Chun’ moves in a lame parody of ‘The Grandmasters’, in which Tsang gets to pose with Sandra’s ‘bagua’ moves with a train in the background for good measure. Coming off the ‘I Love Hong Kong’ series, the material here simply does Tsang little justice, and one wonders why he had bothered with joining Raymond Wong’s film in the first place.
Yes, ‘Hello Babies’ may have sold itself as a Raymond Wong - Eric Tsang pairing after their annual rivalry over the past consecutive three years, but what potential that premise might have held is squandered considering not just how little time they get in the movie, but also how little of that time they spend together. There is also little fun to be had with the other characters in the movie, chiefly because there just isn’t much comedic juice in the first place. Sure, there are parts that are fitfully amusing, but yet again, this marks the third in a string of Vincent Kok duds which includes the even more unfunny ‘Hotel Deluxe’ this same time last year and the more recent ‘Love Is… Pyjamas’.
Movie Rating:
(Fitfully amusing but never quite as entertaining or engaging as you want it to be, ‘Hello Babies’ is an unremarkable CNY comedy that is also utterly inconsequential)
Review by Gabriel Chong
Genre: Drama/Adventure
Director: J.C. Chandor
Cast: Robert Redford
RunTime: 1 hr 46 mins
Rating: PG13 (Brief Coarse Language)
Released By: UIP
Official Website: http://www.allislostfilm.com
Opening Day: 20 February 2014
Synopsis: Deep into a solo voyage in the Indian Ocean, an unnamed man (Redford) wakes to find his 39-foot yacht taking on water after a collision with a shipping container left floating on the high seas. With his navigation equipment and radio disabled, the man sails unknowingly into the path of a violent storm. Despite his success in patching the breached hull, his mariner's intuition and a strength that belies his age, the man barely survives the tempest. Using only a sextant and nautical maps to chart his progress, he is forced to rely on ocean currents to carry him into a shipping lane in hopes of hailing a passing vessel. But with the sun unrelenting, sharks circling and his meager supplies dwindling, the ever-resourceful sailor soon finds himself staring his mortality in the face.
Movie Review:
One man. Eight days. Adrift in a 39-foot sailboat in the middle of the Indian Ocean. You can’t get more minimalist than writer/ director J.C. Chandor’s sophomore feature ‘All is Lost’, a Hemingwaysque story that is diametrically different from his critically acclaimed debut ‘Margin Call’ as can be. Whereas the latter was a chatty Wall Street-set ensemble drama, there is just one nameless character here with virtually no dialogue who is cast away with no hint of human civilisation in sight.
Right at the start, we hear the Man’s voiceover, beginning with an apology no doubt intended for a family we never learn more of, attesting that he has strived in his life to love, to be good and to be right, and concluding that he had fought to the end. Cut back to a day and a week before, and we see Hollywood icon Robert Redford alone on board the Virginia Jean with a big problem. A shipping container floating in the open sea has rammed into the side of his yacht, flooding the cabin and short-circuiting the controls.
He doesn’t panic; rather, for the first 20 minutes, he goes about trying to free his yacht from the container and then steers around to get a better look at the object that is the cause of his calamity. Later on, he does a makeshift patch job, but even to the untrained eye, we know that it will hardly hold. His electronic equipment is ruined, so that means he can’t call for any help. And to make matters worse, a huge storm is brewing, the force of the wind and waves flipping the boat upside down and then up again as waters start pouring into the cabin from every conceivable direction.
Slowly but surely, we, like Redford’s character, recognise the futility of his circumstance as one by one, every possible line of hope or means of survival is lost. Following the storm, he has no choice but to abandon his wrecked ship for an inflatable life raft - alas, with no fresh water, dwindling rations and just a never-used, old-fashioned mariner’s sextant, there is only so much he can do against the considerable odds. And no, unlike Piscine Patel in ‘Life of Pi’ or Chuck Noland in ‘Cast Away’, he has neither a tiger nor Wilson the volleyball for companionship.
That is also precisely what differentiates Chandor’s movie from other similar survival-at-sea tales. In its stripped down state, it brings into sharp focus the true nature of the human condition - not just in its solitude, but in its exercise of wit, ingenuity and skill in order simply to live. Many may try to find something allegorical, metaphorical or (and especially after the ‘Life of Pi’) spiritual in the story, but we urge you to put aside such baggage and appreciate in its simplicity the intensity of a solitary hero’s perseverance against the sheer indomitable force of nature despite being weak wet and storm-battered.
And Chandor could not have found a better performer for this hero than Redford. Savvily tapping on his audience’s familiarity with Redford’s identity as the American golden boy of such classics as ‘Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid’ and ‘All the President’s Men’, Chandor taps on his one and only actor’s characteristic restraint and translates that into a showcase of virtuoso acting. Even though he only gets a smattering of words, there is no doubt ever about his character’s thoughts and emotions, written ever so clearly on his aged weary face. Every wince, every scowl, every frown and every squint is part and parcel of Redford’s superb performance, a one-man master class in the art of screen acting that is the multi-hyphenate’s best work in many years.
On his part, Chandor demonstrates an assuredness and clarity in his direction that ensures the proceedings never go aimless. With the help of his cinematographer Frank G. DeMarco, he keeps the camera trained squarely on Redford even within close quarters, losing none of his actor’s gripping acting triumph of pure behaviour and facial expression. It is to Chandor’s credit that the film never hits a false note - in fact, it feels so realistic that even Alex Ebert’s gentle score feels intrusive.
Yet this austere nature is also likely to win a fair share of critics, who will probably scoff at the movie as no more than an excuse to give Redford yet another acting accolade. There’s no denying that it is a movie that floats or sinks on the shoulders of one man and one man alone, but there is also no doubt that Redford carries the weight of the entire movie with intelligence and nuance. There is no grand drama to be found here; it is austere and spare, a model of pure existential cinema, a bold cinematic experiment that pays off tremendously. As unlikely as it may seem about the story of a man, a boat and the sea, we guarantee that ‘All is Lost’ will transfix you.
Movie Rating:
(A master class in existential filmmaking, this near wordless survival-at-sea tale built entirely around a single character is also Robert Redford’s finest hour as an actor of sheer magnetism)
Review by Gabriel Chong
| « Prev | 173 | 174 | 175 | 176 | 177 | 178 | 179 | 180 | 181 | 182 | 183 | Next » |
Most Viewed
No content.