Genre: Drama
Director: François Girard
Cast: Dustin Hoffman, Kathy Bates, Garrett Wareing, Kevin McHale, Eddie Izzard, Josh Lucas, Debra Winger, River Alexander
Runtime: 1 hr 43 mins
Rating: PG13 (Brief Coarse Language)
Released By: Shaw
Official Website:
Opening Day: 12 March 2015
Synopsis: Starring Academy Award® winner Dustin Hoffman and directed by François Girard, visionary director of Cirque Du Soleil and Academy Award® winning The Red Violin, Boychoir discovers that there is brilliance in everyone if only you dare to dream. A recently orphaned 12-year-old boy is sent to a musical boarding school by an anonymous donor – no-one expected this rebellious loner to achieve the standards required to join the Boychoir – a choral band of brothers who travel the world and maintain the school’s famed status.
Movie Review:
This reviewer happens to play in a symphonic band during his younger days in school, and he still remembers the feeling performing music in front of what seemed like tens of thousands of people. Truth is, a concert hall couldn’t possibly hold that huge number, and it’s all in the performer’s mind. The takeaway though, is a somewhat triumphant one, especially for a teenager who thought the arts was a dream worth pursuing. And that is why this writer enjoys watching movies which deal with performing arts – from feel good ones like Billy Elliot (2000) and Chicago(2002), to psychologically disturbing ones like Black Swan (2010) and the recent Whiplash (2014).
French Canadian director Francois Girard (Silk, The Red Violin) goes old school (read: no flashy computer effects, complicated story plots and gimmicky marketing ploys) and makes a film about the titular boy choir which travels the world to perform to crowds of impressed music lovers. Amongst the boys is a troubled and angry 11 year old orphan who joins the group against his will. Of course, as any inspiring stories would go, he has a gift in the form of a heavenly voice. And like any other inspiring story, the kid will play rebel and go against the system, before being pushed to the limit to discover his talent.
Do not be put off by the fact that this 103 minute film has nothing innovative or surprising to offer in the story department. One does not step into the cinema to watch a feel good genre movie like this, and wanting a mind bending script with twists and turns with the package. What you should be expecting instead, is an emotionally engaging drama with likeable characters. Even if there’s an antagonist thrown into the mix, it’s a young boy who is petty and jealous because the limelight is taken away from him – nothing too dramatically evil or out of the world here.
The child actors fare well – Garrett Wareing as the protagonist, alongside other relatively unknown names like Joe West, River Alexander and Grant Venable. These angel voiced young boys sing to their hearts’ content in impressively filmed stage performances taking place in concert halls and cathedrals. As a viewer, you just need to sit back, relax and enjoy these on screen performances.
To draw people into the theatres, it’s necessary that the filmmakers include some established names in the cast. Here, we have the capable Dustin Hoffman (Oscar winner for 1979’s Kramer vs Kramer and 1988’s Rain Man) and Kathy Bates (Oscar winner for 1990’s Misery) playing the demanding choir master with a melancholic past and the pragmatic headmistress with a heart. The 77 year old Hoffman takes on the role effortlessly, portraying a lonely man with an unexplained sadness, albeit one who will bring his troupe to greatness. Bates, who shines with her occasional humourous moments, is another highlight of the film. The adult cast is rounded up by supporting roles played by Edie Izzard (Across the Universe, Valkyrie, Josh Lucas (The Lincoln Lawyer, J Edgar) and Debra Winger (An Officer and a Gentleman, Terms of Endearment).
As the applause fades off after the film’s finale performance, you realise that the arts is about living in the moment. And it’s part of that phase of life known as growing up, a message which this film has aptly brought to life on screen.
Movie Rating:
(Pleasing performances from the cast, especially from the capable Dustin Hoffman and Kathy Bates, make this feel good drama emotionally engaging)
Review by John Li
Genre: Comedy
Director: Ken Scott
Cast: Vince Vaughn, Tom Wilkinson, James Marsden, Nick Frost, Dave Franco, Sienna Miller
Runtime: 1 hr 31 mins
Rating: M18 (Nudity and Sexual Scenes)
Released By: 20th Century Fox
Official Website: http://www.foxmovies.com/movies/unfinished-business
Opening Day: 5 March 2015
Synopsis: A hard-working small business owner (Vince Vaughn) and his two associates (Tom Wilkinson, Dave Franco) travel to Europe to close the most important deal of their lives. But what began as a routine business trip goes off the rails in every imaginable – and unimaginable – way, including unplanned stops at a massive sex fetish event and a global economic summit.
Movie Review:
Teaming up with his Delivery Man helmer, Ken Scott for the second time, Vince Vaughn is back reprising his motormouth, self-assured on-screen persona for the umpteenth times.
Vaughn hasn’t exactly made a good comedy since his decade-old success hits liked Wedding Crashers and Dodgeball. Well, he has tried (sort of) for the last decade and mostly failed. Fred Claus? The Dilemma? Anyone?
For a start, he has got rid of his regular co-stars; Owen Wilson and Ben Stiller are nowhere to be seen here. Replacing them is old-timer Tom Wilkinson (The
Lone Ranger) and Dave Franco (Bad Neighbors). What’s more Vaughn’s character Dan Trunkman is more of a family man than a foul-mouthed cocksure salesman. But the biggest letdown is not from Vaughn himself instead it’s the wavering script from Steve Conrad that snuffed it.
After a quarrel with his bitch of a boss, Chuck (Sienna Miller last seen in American Sniper), Dan decides to set up his own company with the recently retrenched Timothy (Wilkinson) and newly-hire Mike (Franco) formerly working at the Foot Locker. Reason why he quit? He hates feet. After a year of struggle, Dan is almost done closing a major deal that is until the appearance of Chuck who might (or might not) jeopardize the perfect plan of Dan.
Unfinished Business sounds like a good opportunity for the filmmakers to pull a hangover since the three business associates have to travel to a foreign land in this case Germany. Culture shock and stuff liked that makes for good material isn’t it? However, Scott and Conrad struggle hard to balance the raunchy quotient, laughs and heartfelt family drama and it shows. The entire premise malfunctioned uncomfortably that they have to keep repeating the joke about Mike’s last name.
Liked mentioned before, Vaughn’s character doesn’t belong to the usual assholes he played. Dan is a faithful husband and responsible father to his two kids. There’s frequent mention of his son being bullied in school and the business contract is supposed to pay for his son’s private school. Sentimental stuff that actually works if not for the awkward cutting to a dick joke or Bobbies shot. There are gags about gay bars, male nudity and reference to the wheelbarrow sex position that are actually sporadically funny. The butt of the joke often points back to the character of Mike and I guess Franco puts in a commendable job as the mentally challenged youngster.
The supporting cast even boasts British comedian Nick Frost (Cuban Fury) and James Marsden (Enchanted) though Frost isn’t given much to do while Marsden is playing that same old smirk character from Anchorman 2.
Unfinished Business is not so much of a raunchy road trip though there are little gems, which this reviewer adores, liked the funny bit about a hotel room turning out to be an art installation piece and Dan’s obsession with running. Vince Vaughn apparently needs help in choosing his next project before he turned into another Adam Sander.
Movie Rating:
(Sadly, it’s just isn’t as R-rated as the trailers make them out to be)
Review by Linus Tee
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Open Auditions for Jack Neo's latest movie "Long Long Time Ago"Posted on 30 Jan 2015 |
Genre: Comedy
Director: Seth MacFarlane
Cast: Seth MacFarlane, Mark Wahlberg, Amanda Seyfried, Morgan Freeman, Jessica Barth
Runtime: 1 hr 56 mins
Rating: M18 (Coarse Language and Some Drug Use)
Released By: UIP
Official Website:
Opening Day: 2 July 2015
Synopsis: Seth MacFarlane returns as writer, director and voice star of Ted 2, Universal and Media Rights Capital’s follow-up to the highest-grossing original R-rated comedy of all time. Joined once again by star Mark Wahlberg and fellow Ted writers Alec Sulkin & Wellesley Wild, MacFarlane produces the live action/CG-animated comedy alongside Bluegrass Films’ Scott Stuber, as well as John Jacobs and Jason Clark.
Movie Review:
What was once fresh has now unfortunately turned stale, and disgustingly offensive. If the latter sounded like an oxymoron, it is not. As much as we could accept the scatological humour in the first ‘Ted’, this sequel pushes the envelope just too far by being plain insulting. How else are we to think of the prompts that the profane, pot-smoking teddy bear yells at an improv comedy club – “9/11,” “Robin Williams” and “Charlie Hebdo” – that the comedians simply respond with unnerved silence? It is one thing to be rude and crude, but quite another to be obnoxious, and director, writer and co-actor Seth McFarlane doesn’t seem to care about the difference.
It is precisely this daftness that has him try to weave a coherent plot built on Ted’s civil rights, in which the titular character goes to the courts to fight for his recognition as person, not property – the latter meaning not only that he and his wife Tami-Lynn (Jessica Barth) aren’t entitled to adopt a baby but also that he cannot be employed or be married in the state of Massachusetts. The gimmick is good on its own, but much, much less so when McFarlane tries to liken Ted’s struggle to that of Kunta Kinte getting whipped in ‘Roots’, or Ferguson, or Dred Scott. Indeed, the parallels that McFarlane tries to draw with America’s freighted history with slavery are clear, but both misguided and distasteful.
It also distracts from what could – and should have – purely been a comedic premise, instead of a dramatically expanded one, based upon Ted’s desire to have a baby in order to save his marriage. Yes, before it gets distracted by trying to be something more substantial, McFarlane sticks to the same lowbrow hijinks that made the originals such a raucous delight. The more memorable ones that come closest to matching the brash and ballsy humour of the original include one where Ted dresses up in yellow rain gear like Paddington the bear to break into Tom Brady’s mansion to milk his sperm, and another at the sperm bank where a playful spat between Ted and his human best friend John (Mark Wahlberg) results in the latter knocking over a shelving unit and splashed with ejaculate.
There are also plenty of random gags which are right in line with the sophomoric humour of the first movie. Ted’s rendition of the ‘Law and Order’ theme song with made-up lyrics is pretty amusing, and so is Liam Neeson’s cameo as a shopper at the supermarket where Ted is working as a cashier who seems unusually paranoid about the box of Trix cereal he looks like he wants to buy. Pop culture references are also aplenty, and besides 80s TV shows like Flash Gordon (whose star Sam Jones cameos once again), there is also a running joke about Samuel L. Jackson being THE “black guy” in any Hollywood movie. And not forgetting of course, the sexual humour, including computer porn, bears making out and even a gay bathroom joke that Jay Leno gamely gets in on.
If that sounds a lot like the first ‘Ted’, it does, but what it sorely lacks is the sweet centre that was the enduring friendship between Ted and John. Sure, there are traces of it here – like how Ted and John continue to do bong hits together on the latter’s living room couch – but all in all, there is too little of the buddy comedy that was epitomised in the ‘thunder buddies’ song. Instead, the latter half in particular gets especially bogged down by melodramatic courtroom proceedings and a needlessly frenetic chase at New York’s Comic-Con, where Giovanni Ribisi’s erstwhile stalker Danny returns to seize the bear and cut open its stitching in order to find out just what makes Ted talk and walk.
Thankfully, Wahlberg and McFarlane’s chemistry is still spot on, the former once again demonstrating his impeccable timing for comedy that we don’t quite see enough of and the latter delivering Ted’s zingers with a thick Boston accent perfectly. We hardly see enough of them this time round (especially since John is pretty much relegated to the back where the general public is seated once the trial begin proper), and Amanda Seyfried’s bong-smoking lawyer Samantha proves to be a more subdued – and also more boring – substitute for Mila Kunis, the only cast member in the original who does not return and whose character we are told gets divorced from John just six months after their nuptials.
But as much as ‘Ted 2’ is overall less funny than its predecessor, what truly stands out about this sequel is how dumb its political incorrectness is. Like we said at the start, even with the thresholds that we are accept how hostile, puerile and graphically gross McFarlane is willing to go, it is simply appalling to hear how cavalier he treats real-life tragedies like 9/11 and Charlie Hebdo. Yeah, we all do need to have a bigger sense of humour sometimes, but this teddy bear doesn’t deserve to be a person if it doesn’t even know what not to make fun of. No wonder then that ‘Ted 2’ finds him fighting to be seen as person, not property, for he doesn't quite seem to know that it takes more than being potty-mouthed and pot-smoking to prove that he has got a soul.
Movie Rating:
(Ted is still as vulgar and puerile as ever, but this sequel replaces the heart and empathy of its predecessor with a disgusting offensiveness that thinks 9/11 and Charlie Hebdo should be the stuff of jokes)
Review by Gabriel Chong
Genre: Action/Thriller
Director: James Wan
Cast: Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Dwayne Johnson, Michelle Rodriguez, Jordana Brewster, Tyrese Gibson, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, Elsa Pataky, Lucas Black, Jason Statham, Djimon Hounsou, Tony Jaa, Ronda Rousey, Kurt Russell
Runtime: 2 hrs 14 mins
Rating: PG13 (Violence)
Released By: UIP
Official Website: https://www.facebook.com/FastandFurious
Opening Day: 2 April 2015
Synopsis: Continuing the global exploits in the unstoppable franchise built on speed, Vin Diesel, Paul Walker and Dwayne Johnson lead the returning cast of Fast & Furious 7. James Wan directs this chapter of the hugely successful series that also welcomes back favorites Michelle Rodriguez, Jordana Brewster, Tyrese Gibson, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, Elsa Pataky and Lucas Black. They are joined by international action stars new to the franchise including Jason Statham, Djimon Hounsou, Tony Jaa, Ronda Rousey and Kurt Russell. Neal H. Moritz, Vin Diesel and Michael Fottrell return to produce the film written by Chris Morgan.
Movie Review:
Vin Diesel may have been the most indelible trademark of the ‘Fast and Furious’ franchise, but its late star Paul Walker has consistently been the Yang to Diesel’s Yin. Beginning on opposite sides of the law, Diesel’s Dominic Toretto and Walker’s Brian O’Connor became unlikely allies and then both family and partners-in-crime over six successive entries, the former’s hot-headedness perfectly counter-balanced by the latter’s sense of measure and reason. It is no secret that ‘Furious 7’ is Walker’s final performance, an inevitable consequence of his untimely death in a car wreck last year while filming on this latest instalment was underway. It is therefore inevitable that one steps into the movie wondering just how the filmmakers would give his character a send-off, fearing at each death-defying turn that it would simply be his end.
All we will say is that its writer Chris Morgan has given him as dignified a farewell as we can expect, and as the epilogue made up of footage from each one of the movies past echoed Diesel’s personal message of brotherhood and family, be prepared for perhaps the series’ most poignant moment ever. This however we will say – Walker is front and centre in each and every one of the action setpieces that Morgan and its new director James Wan conceive for a solid but otherwise unspectacular entry which can’t quite match the fun, excitement and adrenaline kicks of Justin Lin’s two earlier chapters. Oh yes, the filmmakers have pushed the boundaries of logic and gravity to try to top the over-the-top thrills of its two predecessors, but ironically the strain of their effort is more apparent than ever.
Indeed, it is telling when a car chase along the streets of Los Angeles no longer gets our pulse racing in the same way that the first movie did – and there is one in particular between Dominic and his arch-nemesis here Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham) that is particularly nostalgic. Rather, it will take parachuting Mustangs chasing after a rogue paramilitary unit up in the Caucasus mountains led by Djimon Hounsou’s terrorist Jakande to get us to truly sit up, but let us reassure you that this sequence teased in the trailer ranks among the finest that this muscle-car franchise has offered. It takes close to an hour to get to this point, as Morgan sets up the vendetta between Deckard and Dominic (and as his crew) and sets in motion the pieces for their latest adventure.
Frankly, the plot exists only as the narrative glue for the various stunts meant to be the highlight of any ‘Fast and Furious’ movie. There is no point questioning just why Kurt Russell’s shadowy Government agent would entrust a supposedly time-critical mission of retrieving an all-seeing surveillance programme known as the ‘God’s Eye’ and its creator (Nathalie Emmanuel's Ramsey) to Dominic and his men without so much as having his own team to stand by. Ditto for why Dominic would even agree to put his men in such danger despite being promised that they could use the said device to track down Deckard, in particular since the latter seems to show up on his own accord at every turn to foil their plans. We get that the franchise needs to shift gears in order to stay fresh (like how the fifth movie reinvented itself into a heist caper), but this detour into international espionage is far less convincing to say the least.
It also explains why we were not quite taken by the sojourn into the United Arab Emirates capital of Abu Dhabi, compared to say the favelas of Rio de Janeiro in ‘Fast Five’ or the streets of London in ‘Furious 6’. Yes, it does provide the opportunity for Dominic to crash a Lykan HyperSport out through one of the upper floors of the Etihad Towers, float across the Abu Dhabi sky while Deckard fires grenades at him, then smash through a window of a neighbouring tower, and finally skid past a small deployment of Terracotta Warriors – but it is so ridiculous even by ‘Mission Impossible’ standards that one cannot help but react with bemusement than wide-eyed awe. That leaves an overblown finale in the most literal sense of the word, which sees Jakande strike up a convenient alliance with Deckard in order to unleash war on Dominic and his men in the heart of downtown Los Angeles. Between Jakande’s unmanned drone and his military helicopter, the urban warfare cannot quite match the white knuckle suspense and exhilaration of a massive bank vault dragged through Rio or an assembly of race cars taking down an airplane as it prepares to take off.
Certainly, Wan had big shoes to fill with Lin’s departure, but the helmer (better known for ‘Saw’, ‘Insidious’ and ‘The Conjuring’) who has never taken on a project of this scale misses the mark on several counts. Not only is the action more ‘meh’ than ‘wow’, there is too little of the camaraderie between Dominic and his crew which gave the last two films an added ‘zing’. Notwithstanding that Sung Kang’s Han and Gal Gadot’s Gisele are gone, there is too little emphasis on the rapport among Dominic, Brian, Dominic’s still-amnesiac squeeze Letty (Michelle Rodriguez), droll techie Tej (Ludacris), and flashy motor-mouth Roman (Tyrese Gibson) to ring home the concept of ‘family’ that Dominic keeps going on about. Just as sorely missed is the dynamic between Diesel and Dwayne Johnson’s Federal Agent Hobbs, the latter of which pretty much sits out the whole movie after being injured by Deckard in one of the early scenes – and despite what promise it may have shown, the mano-a-mano showdown between Diesel and Statham cannot quite live up to that between Diesel and Johnson in ‘Fast Five’.
After the dizzying heights of the immediate last two movies, it seems inevitable that ‘Furious 7’ will be at least slightly underwhelming – and if not for the beautiful sendoff for Paul Walker at the end, it would be even more disappointing. To prove that there is still juice left in the tank, this chapter has taken our street racers and turned them into international operatives, but that transition is awkward and quite unbelievable. Besides the centrepiece up in Azerbaijan, the rest of the action is equally preposterous. It is also less entertaining as an ensemble piece, replacing Johnson’s effortless charisma for an all-too-stoic Statham. At this point, the franchise seems to be its own enemy, and if we weren’t quite so taken by ‘Furious 7’, that’s because we knew from ‘Fast Five’ and ‘Furious 6’ that it could have been much better.
Movie Rating:
(It hasn’t quite run on fumes, but besides a dignified farewell for Paul Walker, this seventh entry doesn’t match the fun, excitement and adrenaline rush of its two immediate predecessors)
Review by Gabriel Chong
Genre: CG Animation
Director: Kyle Balda, Pierre Coffin
Cast: Sandra Bullock, Michael Keaton, Jon Hamm, Steve Coogan, Hiroyuki Sanada, Allison Janney, Katy Mixon, Dave Rosenbaum, Pierre Coffin, Chris Renaud
Runtime: 1 hr 31 mins
Rating: PG
Released By: UIP
Official Website: https://www.facebook.com/minions
Opening Day: 18 June 2015
Synopsis: The story of Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment’s Minions begins at the dawn of time. Starting as single-celled yellow organisms, Minions evolve through the ages, perpetually serving the most despicable of masters. Continuously unsuccessful at keeping these masters—from T. rex to Napoleon—the Minions find themselves without someone to serve and fall into a deep depression. But one Minion named Kevin has a plan, and he—alongside teenage rebel Stuart and lovable little Bob—ventures out into the world to find a new evil boss for his brethren to follow. The trio embarks upon a thrilling journey that ultimately leads them to their next potential master, Scarlet Overkill (Academy Award® winner Sandra Bullock), the world’s first-ever female super-villain. They travel from frigid Antarctica to 1960s New York City, ending in mod London, where they must face their biggest challenge to date: saving all of Minionkind...from annihilation.
Movie Review:
It has come to this – we are giggling ourselves silly at some yellow blobs which speak gibberish.
If we had to be the ones to jog your memory, here goes. In 2010’s Despicable Me and its 2013 sequel, the protagonists were Gru (voiced by the ever reliable Steve Carell) and his three adopted daughters Margo, Edith and Agnes. How many would actually remember the names of these characters? What you probably brought home were memories of the yellow minions, which, to be fair, are adorable in their blabberish ways.
Oh, you also brought home lots of merchandise (admit it: you have an irresistible urge to join the long queues to own every one of those plastic yellow fast food toys), and boasted to your friends how much you love the minions. As a lead up to this prequel and spin off to the original movies, have you collected all three limited edition yellow cases containing banana flavoured candy?
Ah, the power of marketing, cuteness and gibberish.
So what’s in store for viewers in terms of, well, story development? It’s sort of like Batman Begins, actually (we kid you not!) because it explains the origins of these yellow creatures. History has it that minions have existed since the beginning of time, evolving from one single celled organisms. They only have one purpose in life: to serve the villainous masters. You probably didn’t know T Rex, Genghis Khan, Napoleon and Dracula were served by these creatures, and had their lives destroyed by them too.
The brief but cheeky introduction is really the best bit of the 91 minute movie. Sad thing is, you probably have watched the scenes in the marketing trailers. Moving forward, the minions fell into depression and over the centuries, they managed to remain cute, but never managed to pick up a proper language. Before long, three of them (you can be sure viewers will remember their names long after the credits roll: Kevin, Stuart and Bob) find themselves in New Yorkto serve the world’s first female super villain, Scarlet Overkill. Their adventures begin, crossing paths with Queen Elizabeth II and her crown, as well as the mythical Excalibur from the tale Sword in the Stone.
Sounds like a whole lot of fun? For the kids, that’s a guaranteed yes. The misadventures of the minions are funnier than the humour from your average weekend morning cartoons. The minions, needless to say, continue to spout nonsensical blabber, and that should have viewers chuckling too.
It is evident that this movie is a money milking cash cow when you see stars like Sandra Bullock voicing Scarlet Overkill (nothing particularly spectacular here, by the way), Jon Hamm as her inventor hubby (his character is a little more fun to watch), and Michael Keaton and Allison Janney as a rather underused bank robbing couple. Geoffrey Rush narrates the story of how the minions have travelled through time, while co director Pierre Coffin is the best voice actor of them all, providing the countless gabbling lines (listen out for something close to home towards the end of the movie!) to entertain his viewers. Big Hollywoodnames and colourful animation should get the adults’ attention, if they aren’t already going gaga over the cuteness of the minions already.
Movie Rating:
(The minions have their spin off movie, and with it, lots of moolah from massive merchandising)
Review by John Li
Genre: Drama/Crime
Director: Jodi Scurfield
Cast: John Travolta, Katheryn Winnick, Jennifer Esposito, James Remar, Matthew Modine, Kellan Lutz, Tom Sizemore
RunTime: 1 hr 42 mins
Rating: NC-16 (Some Coarse Language and Violence)
Released By: Shaw Organisation
Official Website:
Opening Day: 22 November 2018
Synopsis: SPEED KILLS tells the story of Ben Aronoff (Academy Award winner John Travolta) as he suddenly relocates his family from New Jersey and settles in sunny Miami Beach, Florida. Once there, he falls in love with off-shore powerboat racing, wins multiple championships, and even builds the boats and sells them to high-powered clientele. But his long-established mob ties catch up with him when Meyer Lansky forces him to build boats for his drug-running operations. Desperate to free himself of mob obligations, he makes a bid to go completely legit. But the more he tries to wrestle free of Lansky’s grip, the more trapped he finds himself, and soon becomes the subject of the DEA’s investigation into drug smuggling. Caught in the middle, he decides, once again, to run…but it may be too late.
Movie Review:
Just how dreadful you find ‘Speed Kills’ depends on whether you’ve seen John Travolta’s previous mob-related biopic – if you’ve seen ‘Gotti’, chances are that you’ll find his latest a lot more coherent; but if you haven’t, then well you might still be appalled at how low this former Hollywood A-lister has sunk.
Arguably, much of the blame belongs to the novice filmmakers who, for reasons we cannot quite figure out, were attached to direct these movies. In the case of ‘Gotti’, that was Kevin Connolly (yes, ‘E’ from HBO’s ‘Entourage’); and in this case, it is a certain Jodi Scurfield, who is making his directorial debut with this movie. That inexperience is blatantly visible right from the get-go – from the abrupt smash-cut edits, to the poorly choreographed and photographed motorboat racing scenes, and down to the voiceover narration that rushes viewers through key plot points.
Amidst a failure to grasp even the basics of filmmaking 101, you can still see that there is a story worth telling. Based on a true-crime book of the same name, the movie fictionalises the real-life entrepreneur Don Aronow as Ben Aronoff, a New Jersey construction contractor who moves to Miami and earns his success as a builder and seller of high-end speedboats, while becoming a competitive motorboat racer himself. Don was gunned down in 1987 in a presumed contract hit that went unsolved for many years, although it was always suspected that he had ran afoul of the mob.
Presumably to avoid legal ramifications, the film would have us believe that Ben was a reluctant player in the organised crime business; more specifically, Ben is coerced by no less than Meyer Lansky (James Remar) to launder the latter’s drug money in the Cayman Islands, and upon Meyer’s death, would continue to be harassed by Meyer’s even more irascible nephew Robbie Reemer (Kellan Lutz). Their day of reckoning would come with then-President Ronald Reagan’s war on organised crime, but before the law can catch up to Ben, Robbie would have ordered a bunch of guys (including one played by Tom Sizemore) to take Ben out instead.
It isn’t easy to condense a multi-decade saga into the span of a feature-length movie, but even so, writers David Aaron Cohen and John Lussenhop fail spectacularly. How Ben picks up the ropes of competitive racing is given such cursory treatment you’d think it’s no harder than breaking an egg; ditto his speedboat business, which seems to take off as naturally as the rising and setting of the sun. It doesn’t help that Ben’s success in the sport is portrayed here through a series of old news footage featuring the real Don Aronow, but intercut with pseudo-interviews of Travolta playing a smug and self-satisfied Ben.
Just as, if not more, problematic is the film’s handling of the less savoury aspects of Ben’s character. As it turns out, Ben is quite the skirt-chaser, and while touring the world competing in international races, neglects not just his business but also his family. Not only are the scenes of Travolta ogling and groping much younger women uncomfortable to watch, the movie suggests that all is right after he gifts his estranged son Andy (Charlie Gillespie), following his paralysis from a car wreck, a horse farm that the newly wheelchair-bound teen can run. The throwaway manner in which the film treats Ben’s first wife Kathy (Jennifer Esposito) suggests that Ben’s behaviour is to be forgiven and even condoned, especially since he proceeds soon after to leer at another woman Emily (Kathryn Winnick) whom he will make his second wife.
It isn’t just about how shallow its portrayal of Ben or his relationships with the people around him is; it is also about how these relationships are even depicted in the first place. Worse still, Travolta plays Ben as if his character’s hubris is to be embraced and celebrated, because hey winning is more important than anything else. There is little nuance in Travolta’s performance, and like ‘Gotti’, this almost seems like a vanity project for the 64-year-old star than anything else.
Like we said, the only consolation is that it is more watchable than ‘Gotti’, especially during its last third when it becomes no worse than a DTV movie. Notwithstanding, it is on the whole still a rather terrible film that doesn’t know what it wants to say about its key character or how downright sexist it comes off, which makes one even less forgiving of its clunky dialogue and clumsy direction. As far as we know, ‘Speed Kills’ could very well be a career-killing move for Travolta, and given his executive producer credit on this as well as ‘Gotti’, he has only himself to blame.
Movie Rating:
(There is no depth, no nuance and ultimately no point to this fact-based mob biopic, that with reference to its title, is probably the cause of death of John Travolta's acting career more than anything else)
Review by Gabriel Chong
Genre: Sci-Fi/Action
Director: Alan Taylor
Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jason Clarke, Emilia Clarke, Jai Courtney, J. K. Simmons, Dayo Okeniyi, Matthew Smith, Courtney B. Vance, Byung-Hun Lee
Runtime: 2 hrs 6 mins
Rating: PG13 (Violence & Brief Coarse Language)
Released By: UIP
Official Website: https://www.facebook.com/TerminatorGenisys
Opening Day: 25 June 2015
Synopsis: When John Connor (Jason Clarke), leader of the human resistance, sends Sgt. Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney) back to 1984 to protect Sarah Connor (Emilia Clarke) and safeguard the future, an unexpected turn of events creates a fractured timeline. Now, Sgt. Reese finds himself in a new and unfamiliar version of the past, where he is faced with unlikely allies, including the Guardian (Arnold Schwarzenegger), dangerous new enemies, and an unexpected new mission: To reset the future…
Movie Review:
Three sequels and thirty-one years after James Cameron’s seminal man-versus-machine science-fiction, ‘Terminator Genisys’ attempts to make the franchise relevant for a whole new generation by re-setting the clock. Yes, if you’re a die-hard purist, you will likely chaff at how John Connor is not mankind’s saviour but its very destroyer, or how the T-800 is a father figure to John’s mother Sarah after her parents were murdered by a T-100 whom she calls ‘Pops’. So here is as much advice as warning to fans – you’ll do well not to cling too stubbornly to what you already know if you are going to appreciate the liberties which the filmmakers have taken in order to invigorate this aging series.
Notwithstanding the initial fan uproar, we have to say that the screenwriting duo of Laeta Kalogridis and Patrick Lussier have concocted an impressive scenario that balances a deep respect for the first two Cameron films and the need for new creative possibilities beyond the original Connor genealogy. How much of its predecessors to keep in mind is laid out in the prologue, which tells of the death of three billion people on Judgement Day itself and the resistance led by John Connor some thirty years thereafter. It is at that same fateful moment that Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney) steps into the time machine to go back in time to protect Sarah that another Terminator from the future (played by Doctor Who’s Matt Smith) attacks John, establishing a whole new chain of events while leaving Kyle with fractured memories from both parallel timelines.
Indeed, though this Kyle arrives stark naked in the same dark and grungy alley of Cameron’s first movie, the 1984 which he finds himself in is vastly different. For one, the T-100 which Skynet had sent to kill Sarah is upon its arrival greeted and terminated by a T-800, which as we earlier mentioned, has been no less than Sarah’s guardian. For another, Sarah is no longer hapless and confused but a tough warrior who has been resisting the Terminators since her childhood days. And instead of Robert Patrick’s T-1000, Kyle is welcomed by Lee Byung-hun’s sleek, mercury-like killing machine, the choice to cast an Asian no doubt informed by modern-day blockbuster sensibilities.
To its credit, the film does reflect the inevitable bewilderment of its fans in Kyle’s struggle to reconcile the past he knows with flashbacks that he gained from the time jump – and for those who are wondering what the science behind it may be, Sarah’s T-800 does offer some intellectual mumbo-jumbo in the form of a “nexus point”. That same logic is also used to justify the new date for Judgment Day, which is now scheduled to take place in 2017 via an omnipresent operating system known as Genisys. Just as the original tapped into the zeitgeist’s fears of technology, this reboot retains the same paranoia but updates it for the smartphone era of interconnected devices.
As we are soon told, Genisys is no more than a cover for Skynet to unleash global annihilation with the help of none other than John Connor himself, who has undergone a “machine phase matter” evolution to become a Terminator. If there is one conceit on which this new premise rests on, it is the complete reinvention of John Connor’s revolutionary leader, and Jason Clarke does an excellent job of making the character fearsome and formidable. His John Connor makes a perfect foil to Courtney’s Kyle Reese, whose fresh-faced earnestness makes him an endearingly empathetic hero. Somewhat less convincing is Emilia Clarke’s portrayal of a hardened Sarah Connor, especially when one recalls how compelling Cameron’s ex-wife Linda Hamilton was in the role. In contrast, the Sarah here lacks Hamilton’s combination of grit and vulnerability, which also in turn weakens the connection that she is supposed to develop with Kyle notwithstanding that we are foretold they are meant to fall in love and “mate” with each other.
On the other hand, the franchise’s most iconic star Arnold Schwarzenegger gets a pleasantly surprising breath of ‘Terminator’ roles with the parallel timelines – not only as the T-100 and T-800 we’ve seen him as, but also a much more visibly aged T-800 and a spiffy new upgrade right at the end. Schwarzenegger is still having fun turning his character’s utter humourlessness into deadpan comedy – and besides trying to add new catchphrases like “bite me” and “I’m old…not obsolete” into the lexicon, also has a field day trying to look friendlier by putting on a robotic smile. Much as Schwarzenegger is top-billed, he doesn’t hog the limelight, allowing his much younger co-stars to take centre stage in many of the scenes and playing back-up in case they need some metal-to-metal resistance against John Connor. Still, Schwarzenegger is pretty much synonymous with the franchise, and no one quite delivers them one-liners and catchphrases like he does.
Though he isn’t quite Cameron, Alan Taylor does a fine job keeping all the moving pieces together. As he did with ‘Thor: The Dark World’, Taylor demonstrates a workmanlike proficiency in summer blockbuster-making, alternating between deafening action sequences and obligatory exposition while interspersing the proceedings with cheeky self-aware humour and moments of obligatory poignancy. Unlike the entirely dour ‘Terminator Salvation’, Taylor pretty much keeps to the tone of the first two Cameron movies, so much so that his rendition feels familiar and fresh at the same time. Except for a massive vehicular smash-up on the Golden Gate Bridge that culminates in a school bus dangling over its edge, there are no standout sequences here, but Taylor maintains a brisk pace throughout so you’ll never get bored.
At this point in the franchise, it is perhaps too tall an order for any filmmaker to reclaim the aura of Cameron’s groundbreaking originals, but ‘Terminator Genisys’ comes the closest of the three sequels since to their spirit. Even if it isn’t outstanding, it is a fine piece of popcorn entertainment that is as good an introduction as any to the franchise as much as it will be nostalgia for fans, provided they can accept that the timeline they knew will be no more. And at thirty-one years (or sixty-seven for Schwarzenegger), one could certainly say that the Terminator is old, but as this sequel cum reboot shows, age does not necessarily make one obsolete.
Movie Rating:
(If you can accept a revisionist sequel of the Terminator franchise, you’ll enjoy this fine piece of summer popcorn entertainment that perfectly captures the spirit and tone of the James Cameron originals)
Review by Gabriel Chong
Genre: Horror/Thriller
Director: Tom Harper
Cast: Jeremy Irvine, Helen McCrory, Phoebe Fox, Oaklee Pendergast
Runtime: 1 hr 38 mins
Rating: PG13 (Horror and Disturbing Images)
Released By: Shaw
Official Website: http://www.hammerfilms.com/ourwork/77/the-woman-in-black-angel-of-death
Opening Day: 15 January 2015
Synopsis: As bombs rain down on London during the Blitz of World War II, a group of school children are evacuated with Eve, their young and beautiful school teacher, to the safety of the English countryside. Taken to an old and empty estate, cut-off by a causeway from the mainland, they are left at Eel Marsh House. One by one the children begin acting strangely and Eve, with the help of local military commander Harry, discovers that the group has awoken a dark force even more terrifying and evil than the city’s air raids. Eve must now confront her own demons to save the children and survive THE WOMAN IN BLACK.
Movie Review:
When The Woman in Black was released in 2012, people were eager to find out how everyone's favourite boy wizard from Hogwarts would fare in a horror movie. People flocked to the cinemas, making the James Watkins directed film the highest grossing British horror movie in 20 years. As of June that year, the production already took home more than $127 million worldwide. Not bad for a movie based on a novel of the same name (by Susan Hill) which had nothing fanciful to boast about except its leading man Daniel Radcliffe (the all grown up young man has gone on to play the Devil in last year's Horns).
So it makes perfect sense to churn out a sequel which has no direct link to the first story except for the titular Woman in Black, of course. Tom Harper (The Borrowers, Peaky Blinders) takes over the director's chair and helms this lackluster sequel which, yes you've guessed it, does not have Radcliffe's involvement.
The victims of the vengeful Angel of Death this time round are a group of orphaned school children. When bombs begin falling on London during the Blitz of World War II, two women evacuate the kids to the countryside town of Crythin Gifford. They are eventually taken to the Eel Marsh House where Radcliffe's lawyer character was haunted in the first movie. As you would expect, strange things begin happening. Supernatural occurrences are littered throughout the film, and you get of sudden scares, wide eyed kids and scarily made up faces.
These are things that do not send chills down you spines in this day and age (you can probably tell how scary this movie is by its PG13 rating). The filmmakers know better than to take recycled ideas, turning them into half hearted scares which have the unfortunate effect of dragging the film's already slow pace further. Given that the listed runtime of the movie is 98 minutes, you may end up fidgeting in your seats because of the sheer dreariness of the production, which doesn't seem to be going anywhere in its meddling development.
It sure doesn't help that we in this part of the world are not familiar with stars like Phoebe Fox and Helen McCrory, who play the two kind women who escort the kids to the countryside. Some viewers may remember seeing Jeremy Irvine in 2011's War Horse and 2013's The Railway Man. Irvine plays a dashing pilot who is stationed at an airfield near the countryside. Let's just say this character isn't anything that would particularly stick in our minds once the credits start rolling.
Credit has to be given to the art direction though, because one cannot deny that the film looks good. Cinematographer George Steel brings a looming feel (sometimes more looming than it should be) to the movie, and the sets are atmospherically created to evoke a sense of dread. The score by Marco Beltrami, Brandon Roberts and Marcus Trumpp are also creepily played out, though unmemorable as it may be. The result is a far from superior horror movie that is better off played at home on a boring weekend afternoon.
Movie Rating:
( A dull and dreary horror sequel that will only interest viewers who are mega fans of the first movie (you do know that Harry Potter is not in this one, right?)
Review by John Li
Genre: Romance/Drama
Director: Glenn Ficarra, John Requa
Cast: Will Smith, Margot Robbie, Rodrigo Santoro, BD Wong, Robert Taylor, Adrian Martinez
Runtime: 1 hr 45 mins
Rating: NC-16 (Scene of Intimacy and Coarse Language)
Released By: Warner Bros
Official Website: http://focusmovie.com
Opening Day: 26 February 2015
Synopsis: Will Smith stars as Nicky, a seasoned master of misdirection who becomes romantically involved with novice con artist Jess (Margot Robbie). As he’s teaching her the tricks of the trade, she gets too close for comfort and he abruptly breaks it off. Three years later, the former flame—now an accomplished femme fatale—shows up in Buenos Aires in the middle of the high-stakes racecar circuit. In the midst of Nicky’s latest, very dangerous scheme, she throws his plans for a loop… and the consummate con man off his game.
Movie Review:
What exactly did the poster designers had in mind when they designed the poster for Focus? That the film is a cool as **** film staring an equally slick as **** protagonist? This reviewer cannot decide if it’s the way Margot Robbie had her hand in Will Smith’s suit or the whole “staring-into-the-distance” look that fostered that vibe.
Luckily, Focus sort of, kind of, meets that expectation.
A film that provides an introductory lesson into the heists that professional con-rings run to scam suckers like you and this reviewer, Focus stars Will Smith as veteran conman Nicky Spurgeon and Margot Robbie as Jesse Barrett, an amateur con-artist who hopes to learn the tricks of the trade. Mutual attraction soon follows, and Jesse finds herself in a relationship with the measured and charismatic Nicky. However, things take a turn when Nicky leaves Jesse abruptly after successfully completing a major heist. The film would have ended at the 45 minutes mark, but alas, fast-forward to three years later and the couple meet again. This time however, Nicky’s client is none other than Jesse’s love interest: billionaire racecar owner Garriga (Rodrigo Santoro).
From the get-go, it is clear that the role of Nicky Spurgeon was created specifically with Smith in mind. In fact, judging from the scenes flaunting Smith’s hot body and witty comebacks, Focus seemes to describe the Fresh Prince’s fate had he not turn up at the Bel-air mansion. Robbie, on the other hand, appears to have received the short end of the stick playing the wide-eyed and oh-so-bubbly Jesse. As beautiful and redundant as an ornamental vase, Jesse serves no purpose other than being Nicky’s love interest. It is noted with much irony that Jesse’s character is limited to her role as the innocent bystander in major heists. Relegated to the position of an innocent bystander, Jesse’s oblivion to Nicky’s scams and her genuine reaction to the con endorses the authenticity of the situation.
Character development aside, the story and plot are another gripes that this reviewer has with the film. In particular, the three-year time skip at the mid-point is especially annoying. There is the sense that the film had been “restarted”, making time seemed more stretched out than usual. Luckily for Focus, Adrian Martinez’s comedic role as the IT-savy conman Farhard and the film’s wonderfully jazzy soundtrack are enough to keep the audiences focused on the later part of the film.
With famous sleight-of-hand artist Apollo Robbins as consultant, it is no wonder that Focus delivers an impressive and detailed analysis of cons. The many sleight-of-hand tricks seen in Jesse’s interview are particularly entertaining. Privy to the con-rings’s operation, it is good fun watching Jesse and colleagues outwitting their victims right under their very noses. There is also a certain intellectual depth to the heists in the film, as seen in Nicky’s use of priming and the exploitation of medical knowledge in the final heist. Like multiple cherries on top of a Four Leaves Black Forest cake, the major heists in Focus were written and executed superbly, providing the audience with “ohhhhhhh!” moments that are deeply satisfying.
Movie Rating:
(Better than expected, Focus is a film you can invest your Chinese New Year red packets on)
Review by Leng Mong
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