Genre: Romance/Comedy
Director: Pierre Salvadori
Cast: Audrey Tautou, Nathalie Baye, Sami Bouajila, Stéphanie Lagarde, Judith Chemla
RunTime: 1 hr 45 mins
Released By: GV & Festive Films
Rating: PG (Some Sexual References and Coarse Language)
Official Website: http://www.festivefilms.com/beautifullies
Opening Day: 7 July 2011
Synopsis: A fresh and quirky romantic comedy about a chatty hairdresser who concocts a plan to cheer up her mother who is suffering from a serious case of the blues after having been left by her husband. 30-year-old Emilie (Tautou) runs a hairdressing salon where she provides an endless stream of well-meaning advice to her clients and friends, but the only person she cannot seem to help is her own mother. Jean, a young man who works for Emilie, is secretly in love with her but a pathological shyness prevents him from declaring his feelings. Finally, unable to contain himself, he opens his heart in a passionate anonymous letter, but Emilie has other plans...
Movie Review:
Love seems especially beautiful when it happens in France, doesn’t it? We’ve all imagined ourselves as the beautiful people headlining French movies like Amelie (2001), A Very Long Engagement (2004) and Priceless (2006). Is it just coincidence that the abovementioned movies feature French cinema’s darling Audrey Tautou? Here we have another romantic comedy starring the lovely starlet and her pixie crop.
Tautou plays Emilie (probably paying homage to Amelie, the character which made the French star a household name), an owner of a hairdressing salon who receives a hand written love letter from a shy handyman. She dismisses the passionate letter at first, but when she realises that her mother is still distraught over the betrayal of her father, she decides to resend the letter to cheer the upset woman up. What follows is a series of misunderstandings and an awkward love triangle involving a man caught between two women who are mother and daughter.
This is your usual French charmer, with a tried and test romantic comedy formula. You’d be chuckling instead of roaring in laughter at the setups and the occasional sexual innuendos, you’d be impressed with yourself (yet again) because you could see the ending coming one quarter into the 105 minute movie, and you’d have no problem sitting through this lightweight and accessible production where everyone, well, is a charmer.
We are talking about the caricatured characters here, ranging from Tautou’s smart alec but loveable protagonist, Nathalie Baye’s (Catch Me If You Can) mother character who seems a little too hungry for sex, Sami Bouajia’s (Days of Glory) handsome handyman, and other supporting roles written to provide additional laughs. This isn’t exactly a bad thing though - the people in the world written by scriptwriter Benoit Graffin may lead everyday lives like ours, but there is something particularly charismatic about how they appear on screen. This makes us common folks desire for a lifestyle like theirs, and that’s probably why everyone loves French cinema.
Tautou and her signature bob does nothing new here, but still manages to have you siding with her idiosyncratic and quirky character. Baye steals the show as the mother whose love life is turned upside down after receiving a zealously written love letter. The actress manages to deliver a comical performance which provides the energy for the film. Bouajia isn’t too bad either, as one can only imagine his frustration as he finds himself caught between two women. Supporting characters played by Stephanie Lagarde and Judith Chemla complete the likeable ensemble cast.
As this isn’t a sweeping romance drama, you can expect standard production values (read: simple cinematography and simple art direction) which are more commonly found on TV movies. This, also isn’t a bad thing, because your attention should be on the character’s jesting and bantering.
Director Pierre Salvadori, who also co penned the screenplay, is obviously hoping to repeat the success he enjoyed on Priceless five years ago, which also starred Tautou. A romantic comedy like this will be easily enjoyed by the masses, but it may also be conveniently filed into the category of “one of those” French comedies you’ve watched before.
Movie Rating:
(An accessible and lightweight French comedy featuring everyone’s favourite Audrey Tautou)
Review by John Li
Genre: Drama/Sci-Fi
Director: Terrence Malick
Cast: Brad Pitt, Sean Penn, Jessica Chastain, Tye Sheridan, Fiona Shaw, Laramie Eppler, Will Wallace
RunTime: 2 hrs 18 mins
Released By: Shaw
Rating: PG
Official Website: http://www.foxsearchlight.com/thetreeoflife/
Opening Day: 22 September 2011
Synopsis: From director Terrence Malick ( BADLANDS , DAYS OF HEAVEN, THE THIN RED LINE, THE NEW WORLD) comes a thought provoking film experience. His fifth film, THE TREE OF LIFE, is a hymn to life, excavating answers to the most haunting and personal human questions through a kaleidoscope of the intimate and the cosmic, from the raw emotions of a family in a small Texas town to the wildest, infinite edges of space and time, from a boy's loss of innocence to a man's transforming encounters with awe, wonder and transcendence. An impressionistic story of a Midwestern family in the 1950's, the film follows the life journey of the eldest son, Jack, through the innocence of childhood to his disillusioned adult years as he tries to reconcile a complicated relationship with his father (Brad Pitt). Jack (played as an adult by Sean Penn) finds himself a lost soul in the modern world, seeking answers to the origins and meaning of life while questioning the existence of faith. Through Malick's signature imagery, we see how both brute nature and spiritual grace shape not only our lives as individuals and families, but all life.
Movie Review:
If cinema was a religion then Terrence Malick must be considered one of its most expressive, lyrical prophets. His latest work and some would argue, his magnum opus, "The Tree of Life" is a film of tremendous power and ambition. His vision coheres around the O'Brien (led by a stupendous Brad Pitt) clan in idyll 1950s' Texas suburbia but surrounds itself with the bigger picture, trying to coax answers out of the unfathomable and illuminating the dark corners of our existence long since forgotten. There's a sense that Malick sees the majesty in the littlest speck and in his most perceptive moments, reveals the inconsequence -- harsh, as it might seem to some -- of our individual states of being but finds a miraculous antithesis in humanity's ability to transcend into our shared consciousness of memories, love and faith. Time proceeds in a Moebius strip and the universe is in direct correlation with the O'Briens in Waco -- their experiences here seemingly independent from Malick's most audacious attempt at figuring out a design as grand as the Creation of Life itself.
In the truest essence of Malick and not since the masterwork that is "Days of Heaven", has he created a film that's as lovingly meditative, deeply spiritual and entrancingly dreamlike such as this. The conception of Earth is no less an event than the birth of a newborn, as the sacred events leading up to the evolution of humanity is juxtaposed with the eldest O'Brien child's -- Jack (played by Hunter McCracken) -- own maturation into a man, later played by Senn Penn who fits in the narrative jigsaw through wistful sequences of gentle reminiscence. He regards his father, Mr O'Brien, the enigmatic head of the family of three boys and a beautiful and ethereal mother (Jessica Chastain) as a character with unknowable depth -- at once loving and cruel.
Pitt plays the father character with a degree of complexity that the trajectory of his career has always hinted at but never quite touched on -- until now. Complicated, disciplined and prone to fits of anger and recognitions of affection, Mr O'Brien cuts a familiar figure with many sons. By contrast, the mother is forgiving and kind, protecting her children from the stern hand of the father, leading to question of the evolution of mankind through a simple question of rearing - which of parent shapes a child the most? The love of the father holds one hostage and recalls an Oedipal reverie when a son's inability to understand a paternal ambiguity turns into an intense animosity.
Paralleling these qualities with the pursuit of comprehending the concept of an inscrutable God being as capricious and arbitrary as the undefinable notions of life and death, Malick understands the figure of the Father is one that holds power -- especially in the eyes of children -- and fallibility. His tapestry that involves the boundless continuum of perpetual consciousness expresses a deep sorrow about the irony of mirroring familial experiences that are common and mundane. Malick's most urging conceit seems to tell us that who we are, what we do and where we go do not actually matter in the greater scheme of things.
Malick spins a narrative as discursive and all-consuming as the nature of the time itself as he explores the nuances of living to reflect, not only on the self and life, but also an intrinsic history and interconnectedness with the universe beyond our purview. However, as prefigured in Malick's distinctively evocative narration, the film's inherent story becomes estranged from the purpose of understanding -- the film becomes one that floats in the ether, becoming more than just codified expressions of beauty (filmed by a godly Emmanuel Lubezki) but a sublime study of disarticulated frailty and something that becomes a genuine cinematic experience that transcends the screen and onto our souls.
Movie Rating:
(Philosophical and deeply stirring, Malick's latest film reassures us of the glory of the medium)
Review by Justin Deimen
|
Michelle Chong's directorial debut ALREADY FAMOUS starts filmingPosted on 16 Jun 2011 |
|
HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS PART II Latest TrailerPosted on 17 Jun 2011 |
|
Interview with TWISTED director Chai Yee WeiPosted on 17 Jun 2011 |
|
DVD July ReleasesPosted on 20 Jun 2011 |
|
WU XIA Opens 21st July in Singapore!Posted on 17 Jun 2011 |
SYNOPSIS: The Pool Boys tells the story of Alex Sperling, Harvard-bound valedictorian who loses his summer internship and heads to Los Angeles to work for his charming and successful cousin Roger. Unfortunately Roger isn't quite the accomplished businessman he's made himself to be - he actually dropped out of Harvard and now works as a pool boy. A series of mishaps force Alex and Roger to squat in the stunning mansion of one of Roger's clients where they join forces with Laura, a local escort to start an escort business. The company grows like wildfire as Alex and Roger get caught in more and more hilarious situations from shotgun-wielding celebrities to bar mitzvahs to sadistic lesbian businesswomen, finally culminating in one giant party...but when Alex's parents and their Harvard alumni friends show up, they have to turn the bash into a Harvard event in order to save both the business and Alex's future.
MOVIE REVIEW:
A movie with a premise like “The Pool Boys” obviously aims to be a raunchy comedy the likes of “American Pie”, but there is good reason why this got dumped on home video instead of receiving even a limited release. Starring Matthew Lillard (best known for his work on the Scooby Doo live-action films as Shaggy), this is a limp excuse of a R-rated comedy that doesn’t offer enough laughs- crude or otherwise- to justify your time.
As a sign of how shallow it really is, the brief 85-min movie has just about as much story as you can read from the synopsis above. Yes, unless you haven’t seen topless girls, femdom girls, or sex toys, there is really little else that will interest you. Writers Julie O’Hara and Justin Ware are behind this farce, and although this is only their first full-length feature, let’s just say it is understandable why they haven’t had another credit to their resume since this movie was completed two years back.
Director J.B. Rogers tries his best to maintain a jaunty pace for the movie, and his experience as assistant director on equally hard R-rated comedies like “There’s Something About Mary”, “American Pie” and even this summer’s “Hall Pass” shows. The movie moves at an amiable enough pace that doesn’t overstay its welcome, which also makes you somewhat inclined to forgive its flaws- yet, there’s no masking the fact that he’s working with extremely thin material here, and that there is hardly any humour in the entire film.
Lillard has clearly aged since the days he played the rowdy supporting character in teen comedies like “She’s All That” and “Senseless” more than a decade ago, and it’s sad that he still has to find the same kind of youthful energy within him for what is essentially a variation of the same role. Brett Davern is however entirely unremarkable as Brett Davern, and it is supporting actress Rachelle Lefevre you’ll recognise from the Twilight series who instead steals the show with a sweet winning performance.
Still, this is scant consolation for a movie that can’t quite justify its existence. If you are in need of some vulgar fun, go check out some other movie instead- there are no shortage of these especially among those that bear the name Judd Apatow on their cover.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
NIL
AUDIO/VISUAL:
The Dolby Digital 2.0 audio reproduces the dialogue clearly. Visuals leave much to be desired, and are hardly sharp enough to be considered DVD quality.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD RATING :
Review by Gabriel Chong
Posted on 1 July 2011
SYNOPSIS: Be heard. Be strong. Be proud. It's time to turn up the music and have some fun with an all-new Disney original movie, starring Bridgit Mendler, and Adam Hicks, and introducing ten awesome new songs. When five ragtag freshman first meet in detention, it seems they have nothing in common. But, through music, they form an unbreakable bond and discover they have the makings of the greatest high school garage band in history! In the face of incredible odds, Olivia, Stella, Wen, Mohini and Charlie find they can make a real difference when they learn to lean on each other and let go of everything holding back their dreams.
MOVIE REVIEW:
Blame it on High School Musical if you must. The slew of Disney Channel Original Movies (television movies premiering on Disney Channel) showcasing a group of happy teens playing music became the rage after the 2006 production starring heartthrobs Zac Efron (the good looking lad has gone far in his Hollywood career ever since) and Vanessa Hudgens (well, she has Sucker Punch and err, Beastly under her belt). Since then, the House of Mouse has produced other similarly themed movies like 2007’s Jump In!, 2008’s Camp Rock (a sequel followed two years later) and the series of movies featuring The Cheetah Girls (the trio of singing girls have been around even before Troy and Gabriella). The latest musical drama movie is this feel good production based on the book of the same name by Mark Peter Hughes.
The Patricia Riggen directed movie tells the story of five high school students (the best characters to target Disney Channel’s demographic) who meet in detention and form a band to stand up for their beliefs. They also bond over individual and collective struggles in their journey of growing up. Oh, did we mention that one cause they fight for is the retention lemonade machines in their school. And did you know that the band’s name is inspired from a lemonade spitting incident?
Lemonade Mouth – a rather, err, awkward name for a band? We thought so too.
But trust the folks at Disney to make this a likable movie, thanks to its successful formula of infusing positive themes in its story. Here, parents will be pleased to know that their kids will learn the values of honest, integrity and self expression from the 107 minute movie. With the importance of family and friendship thrown into the mix, you can bet this will go down well with educators as well.
The music soundtrack grows on you too, if you are a fan of wholesome music (you know you are one if you own all three High School Musical soundtracks). Tap your feet to the catchy melodies and rhythms of tunes like “Turn Up the Music”, “Somebody” and “Determinate”. Next, memorise the inspirational lyrics and work them into your autograph messages. These, our young readers, are what teenage years are all about.
Production values of this movie aren’t too shoddy either. Expect show stopping (by TV movie standards, at least) sequences where cast members Bridgit Mendler, Adam Hicks, Hayley Kiyoko, Naomi Scott, Blake Michael and Nick Roux belt out their songs. When the movie ends with a finale taking place in a performance in Madison Square Garden, you’d be cheering the young ones along and wishing that your younger days were as illustrious as these photogenic kids.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
This Code 3
AUDIO/VISUAL:
There is nothing to complain about the visual transfer of the movie. You can choose to watch it in English, Spanish or Portuguese Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD RATING :
Review by John Li
SYNOPSIS: The Cyrano Agency consists of four people from a theater troupe who offers a unique cupid service for lovelorn clients. The company intricately devises and implements schemes, custom tailored to match the interests of their intended target, for the ultimate goal of obtaining romance for their client. The boss and mastermind behind the agency is Byung-Hoon (Eom Tae-Woong). Things take a strange twist at the Cyrano Agency when a new client named Sang-Yong (Daniel Choi) enters their office. Sang-Yong is a straight-laced financial trader who is rather inept with personal relationships. He has fallen for a free spirited woman named Hee-Joong (Lee Min-Jung) and seeks out the Cyrano Agency's help. The boss for the Cyrano Agency, Byung-Hoon, then notices that Hee-Joong is his ex-girlfriend with whom he has really never gotten over...
MOVIE REVIEW:
Those of us who are single will know that we could sometimes use a little help in the dating department- and in fact, those of us who are attached can probably recall that time when we were single and needed said help as well. Director Kim Hyun-seok’s breezy rom-com “Cyrano Agency: The Dating Guru” works on this very premise, centred as it is on the idea of a dating agency whose help you can enlist to fall in love with the one you have a crush on.
In the film’s extended opening, we see just how the quartet of stage actors led by Byung Hoon (Uhm Tae-Woong) behind the agency help a hapless soccer enthusiast fall in love with a girl who works at a Starbucks-like coffee joint. Every gesture and every word perfectly calculated, it isn’t hard to see why the girl wouldn’t fall in love with the guy- after all, if life is a stage, wouldn’t we naturally wish for the most romantic kind of love affair to happen to us? And of course, a little atmosphere (e.g. rainy evenings) wouldn’t hurt either.
Trafficking in the same kind of glossy high-concept entertainment that Hollywood is fond of, Hyun-seok has fashioned a highly entertaining if ultimately shallow rom-com that works on a pure wish-fulfilment level. That is even if its central story seems keen to explore the very ethical questions of inventing a whole new persona just to fool someone to fall in love with you. Hyun-seok, who also wrote the screenplay, however sidesteps these difficult questions in favour of more tried-and-tested rom-com formulas.
So while the Agency’s next case is that of a successful fund manager Sang-yong (Daniel Choi) whose target Hee-jeong (Lee Min-Jung) just happens to be an old flame of Byung Hoon, the movie instead focuses its attention on Byung Hoon’s dilemma between putting his personal feelings aside or using them as an opportunity to win back Hee-jeong’s affections. It’s no secret what the movie’s inclinations are, and more discerning viewers could certainly take offense with its rather one-sided sympathies for Byung Hoon to rekindle his love for Hee-jeong.
Yet it is to Hyun-seok’s credit that he manages to conjure enough romantic and comedic distractions to divert your attention away from the tricky questions it avoids answering. Indeed, Sang-yong’s first encounter with Hee-jeong which left him starstruck is undoubtedly amusing, and one of the plans to dress him up as Che Guevara and stand up against the boring preacher at his and Hee-jeong’s Sunday church service in an attempt to get her attention is laugh-out-loud hilarious.
Though the much funnier first half does eventually give way to a less fleet-footed later half, there is enough chemistry among the cast to hold your attention throughout the film. Tae-woong has great screen charisma as the dashing Byung-hoon, but he is almost upstaged by Daniel’s goofy and utterly endearing portrayal of the clueless lover who has a penchant for ad-libbing and improvising off the script. Min-jung has an almost ethereal beauty about her, which works naturally to her advantage in convincing you how both Byung-hoon and Sang-yong would go gaga over her.
And thanks to their enchanting performances, even the contrived denouement can’t derail this from being one of the more entertaining Korean rom-coms of late- though there is the distinct feel that this was made for an audience with a palette for sleek Hollywood products. Nevertheless, Hyun-seok’s confident direction, together with some inspired gags, combines to make this a delightfully charming date movie that both guy and girl alike can enjoy.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
Just the trailer and a Music Video.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
The Dolby Digital audio is pristine and boasts a surprisingly strong bass. Pity though that the picture is presented in 4x3 standard TV format, and is less sharp than you would expect from a quality DVD.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD RATING :
Review by Gabriel Chong
Posted on 28 June 2011
| « Prev | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | Next » |
Most Viewed
No content.