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NEW ORIGINAL SONG "MAKING TODAY A PERFECT DAY" FEATURED IN NEW ANIMATED SHORT "FROZEN FEVER"Posted on 13 Mar 2015 |
Genre: Action/Adventure
Director: Roland Joffé
Cast: Josh Hartnett, Bipasha Basu, Tamsin Egerton, Alice Englert
Runtime: 1 hr 50 mins
Rating: PG13 (Some Violence & Coarse Language)
Released By: Shaw
Official Website:
Opening Day: 26 March 2015
Synopsis: After a dangerous dive to save his wife Laura trapped while exploring an 18th century merchant ship wreckage, Jay Fennel, a rugged and attractive marine archaeologist lies brain dead in a Boston hospital. Jay's dream-like coma takes us back in time to Pune, India in 1778. The Brits are invading the palaces and a young British captain named James Stewart (who bears a striking resemblance to Jay) is about to embark on a dangerous mission. Along the way he encounters murder, deceit, betrayal and revenge. He falls deeply in love with an Indian She-warrior named Tulaja, an impossible love which he must fight for. Only the power of a ring can transcend time and save a life.
Movie Review:
Roland Joffe is no stranger to tales of white men in foreign lands, but you won’t be able to tell that from watching ‘The Lovers’. Written and directed by the same person behind far superior films such as ‘The Killing Fields’, ‘The Mission’ and ‘City of Joy’, it strives to be the sort of sweeping historical epic that Hollywood blockbusters were once the stuff of, but fails in such a spectacular manner that you cannot help but wonder just what Joffe had in mind in the first place.
The title refers not just to the fact that it is at its heart a romance but also of the two rings which join a pair of Josh Hartnetts across space and time. The one we first encounter is a marine archaeologist in 2020, who loses consciousness while attempting to save his wife trapped under wreckage and fast running out of air while diving in the Great Barrier Reef. The other is a Scottish officer serving the English crown in colonial India circa 1778, who falls in love with Bollywooy beauty Bipasha Basu, who plays the lady-in-waiting to the rightful queen, in the midst of being entwined in some thorny power struggle within the monarchy.
According to the wise religious man who intones the almighty truth at the start, the two rings which joined to form the shape of a serpent were meant to signify true love, and the lovers united by the rings would be destined to be together forever. Because Hartnett the archaeologist finds one of the two rings before he goes into a coma, it stands to reason – whether as narrative cliché or otherwise – that the key to his survival lies in discovering the other ring. Never mind about how his wife manages to find the other half – how the two Harnetts are linked across time and space is what we are supposed to find out by the end, and yet Joffe never manages to tie the sci-fi elements together.
In line with his imperialist tendencies, Joffe spends an awful lot of screen time delineating the tension among the various factions with vested interests in the palace coup. At first, it is the king’s brother, who murders the king in a desperate bid for power. Then it is the assassins sent by the illegitimate king’s equally power-hungry wife, who go after Hartnett and his men escorting the queen and her lady-in-waiting. And finally, it is the crown’s colonialists, who take advantage of the domestic instability to launch a war just so they can fill their own coffers by establishing a trading empire. Frankly, the tangle of shifting alliances is more silly than intriguing, and no more than a lame excuse for some poorly choreographed battle scenes.
Even more baffling is the central romance between Hartnett and Basu, which unfolds over the course of some of the clunkiest exposition we’ve heard in a while. Joffe is no romantic, that much is clear, and however the other characters try to convince us that theirs is a testament to the eternal qualities of love, there is no emotional resonance to their ill-fated dalliance. To make the unpalatable even more so, the two actors have no chemistry with each other, so much so that it is painful to watch them share the screen together. And really, do not even bother trying to make sense just why the two Hartnetts are even supposed to be linked in the first place, because there is simply no reason offered for why their fates are caught up together at all.
Hartnett’s flaws as an actor only seem more glaringly obvious amidst the film’s other shortcomings. It has been some time since he’s taken lead but that time-off has not done his hollow acting any good. Notwithstanding his bad attempt at an English accent, there is absolutely no depth to his portrayal either as the ill-fated archaeologist or as the equally ill-fated servant of the Company. The fact that he fails to differentiate either role is even more damning of his failures as an actor, and one more reason why the film as a whole is no more than ham-fisted kitsch of the worst kind.
What got over Joffe to even contemplate a project like ‘The Lovers’ is beyond us, but since he is both writer and director of this hot mess, the blame is squarely his to bear. Whether as some sweeping romance or a time-travel sci-fi or as a period piece, it is an abysmal piece of filmmaking that is all but an embarrassment for the once acclaimed English-French director. Unlike the rings its title is meant to represent, this is a film of two inert disjoint halves, neither one compelling in any form, in this time and place or another.
Movie Rating:
(Josh Hartnett’s hollow acting is but one of the many flaws of this bland and derivative mishmash of a sweeping historical epic and time-travel science-fiction)
Review by Gabriel Chong
Genre: Action/Thriller
Director: Longman Leung and Sunny Lok
Cast: Jacky Cheung, Nick Cheung, Shawn Yue, Chang Chen, Choi Siwon, Ji Jin Hee, Wang Xue Qin, Janice Man
Runtime: 2 hrs
Rating: NC-16 (Violence)
Released By: Clover Films and Golden Village Pictures
Official Website:
Opening Day: 30 April 2015
Synopsis: Helios, a most wanted criminal in the global radar, has stolen the South Korean military’s latest mass destruction weapon: a handheld nuclear device DC8 and 16 uranium spheres. An underground trading of the stolen weapon is due to take place in Hong Kong. Chinese envoy Song An, Hong Kong’s Counter Terrorism Response Unit Chief Inspector Lee Yin-ming and South Korean weapon expert Choi Min Ho are all gathered in Hong Kong on a mission to recover the weapon. Physics professor Siu Chi-yan joins the team as consultant. Beneath the shared goal of recovering the weapon, the three regions’ representatives are all armed with hidden agendas. Choi not only has to capture Helios and recover the weapon but needs to prevent the leaking of national classified information. Song has China’s interests in mind. And on top of resolving the unit’s biggest crisis since its conception, Lee and Siu have to grapple with the tension between the two countries. Although the Hong Kong police manage to capture Helios’s assistant and recover the weapon, a diplomatic dispute between China and South Korea on who owns the confiscated nuclear device is unleashed. Meanwhile, Helios pops up in Macau, determined to reclaim the weapon and avenge his earlier defeat. In the final showdown, no one is safe from the danger and conspiracies that lurk underneath.
Movie Review:
No longer content to play on the domestic stage, writers-directors Longman Leong and Sunny Luk take their unique blend of politics and explosive action to the international arena in their sophomore film. Amidst a terrorist threat with the casualty of nuclear destruction, the duo expound not only on the real-world power dynamics between Hong Kong and China that was a running theme in their critically and commercially acclaimed debut ‘Cold War’ but also relations between China and the rest of the world – and by that, we mean the Koreans whose weapon named DC8 is at the centre of the crisis as well as the US and the UK, who are apparently closely watching how the Chinese deal with terrorist elements on their own soil.
From the very first frame, it is clear that Leong and Luk are playing on a much bigger scale. Whereas an explosion in Mongkok and the disappearance of an EU van heralded the start of the police operation of the same name in ‘Cold War’, it is the aftermath of a plane crash that sets the scene for the events to follow here. Not only is there one less body than the number of people on the passenger manifest, the nuclear WMD on board has been stolen, with CIA and MI5 intel pointing to Interpol’s most wanted criminal Helios (Chang Chen) and his assistant Messenger (Janice Man). That same intel also points to the fact that Helios intends to sell the weapon to an Eastern European buyer in the city of Hong Kong itself, and it is hence on the territory’s soil that the law enforcement agencies of South Korea, China and Hong Kong converge.
Taking charge of the manhunt from Hong Kong is Inspector Eric Lee (Nick Cheung), who recruits a renowned physics professor Siu Chi-yan (Jacky Cheung) to provide the scientific explanations and analysis. Together with Eric’s junior Fan Ka-ming (Shawn Yue), they are joined by weapons expert Colonel Choi Min-ho (Ji Jin-hee) and the National Intelligence Service’s (NIS) top agent Park Woo-cheol (Choi Si-won) from Korea. That alliance is however complicated by the sudden entry of a high-powered Mainland Chinese government official Song An (Wang Xueqi), who invokes Article 13 of the Basic Law to assert the Central Government’s rule over the proceedings.
Uncharacteristic for a film of its genre, the threat is in fact retrieved and neutralised within the first half-hour, so there is no race against time to speak of; instead, the real drama unfolds ironically after the authorities have found and disarmed the bomb. Whereas Chi-yan urges that the DC8 be shipped out of Hong Kong immediately to eliminiate any possible threat to its residents, Song opposes the handover on account of “national security”, asserting the kind of paternalistic authority which has been the subject of much unrest in recent months. For the ingenuous, that may bolster the accusations by the ‘Umbrella Revolution’ that China really does not have Hong Kong’s interests at heart, but despite the similarities with real-life geopolitical realities, you’d be better off just taking it at face value.
Even to a casual observer of world events, Long and Luk’s politics does seem shaky; but no matter its accuracy, the power plays among the various factions make for riveting viewing, especially as each side begins to plot against the other to protect its own vested interest. Unlike in ‘Cold War’, the politicking here is beautifully weaved into the plotting, which in turn generates a certain dramatic momentum that propels the story forward with grace and urgency. Rather than being stuck in ideological impasse therefore, the movie stays firmly in fifth gear as Helios exploits the disunited coalition to regain possession of the DC8 and eliminate those who have crossed him or his assistant along the way – and without revealing any spoilers, let’s just say that the body count builds up unexpectedly fast towards the end.
It might also be good to prepare yourself that ‘Helios’ does conclude on an open note which clearly paves the way for a sequel; even then, it does end with a bang than a whimper thanks to a last-minute twist that we must say is quite jaw-droppingly excellent. Because of that same measure, there is no big action finale to top off a very tense two hours, though the set-pieces in between expertly choreographed by Chin Kar-lok more than make up for it. A raid on a multi-storey indoor car park in Jordan where an arms deal is going down is edge-of-your-seat exhilarating because of the perfect combination of gunplay and vehicular stuntwork; on the other hand, a foot chase along the alleys of Macau’s Vila de Taipa culminates in an exciting MMA-styled brawl between Nick Cheung and Janice Man, the former putting his ‘Unbeatable’ skills to good use. The sequences are not showy in themselves, but this is signature Hong Kong action – gritty, realistic, and most importantly, cleanly shot.
Given how the plot takes centrestage, it is perhaps inevitable that character development does fall by the wayside; that said, you never know less than enough to understand why a particular character is acting the way he or she is. Among the ensemble, Jacky Cheung stands out with his carefully nuanced performance, and we promise that you’ll see the actor in a whole different light by the time the credits roll. Nick Cheung is a reliable supporting part, while veteran Wang brings his usual gravitas to a somewhat underwritten role. Quite pleasantly surprising is how Korean stars Ji and Choi seem right at home in this movie, and you’ll only need to see ‘Dragon Blade’ to know how such a quality should never be taken for granted.
With ‘Helios’, the former award-winning production designer Leung and the well-known assistant director Luk have truly graduated to become filmmakers in their own right. In both storytelling and direction, the duo have learnt from the shortcomings in ‘Cold War’ to deliver a tautly-paced narrative that blends the archetypal Hong Kong thriller with their distinct feel for politics. Even with its pan-Asian element, this is a quintessential Hong Kong action blockbuster – taut, gripping and though without CGI, perfectly capable of setting your pulses racing.
Movie Rating:
(Blending old-school Hong Kong action with their distinct feel for politics, the sophomore film from the writing-directing duo of ‘Cold War’ is a taut, gripping thriller that keeps you guessing)
Review by Gabriel Chong
First, kudos to the album producers for actually releasing this soundtrack on CD format. In an age where almost everything is going digital, it is nice to pop a CD into a drive and hear it spin. Second, we were pleasantly surprised to find about 72 minutes of score material on this Walt Disney Records soundtrack. Most “music from the motion picture” albums these days (in this region, at least) are compilations of radio friendly pop songs and a limited selection of score material at best. So for soundtrack fans, to have more than an hour of grand soaring orchestral music playing in your ears is pure, pure joy.
Scottish film composer Patrick Doyle, a long time collaborator of actor director Kenneth Branagh brings the enchantment of Cinderella to life with his lavish composition. Kicking off the soundtrack is “A Golden Childhood”, a cue that sets the tone with its positively fluttery tone. Things get a little melancholic with “The Great Secret” and “A New Family”, before you get into a classical dance mood with “Life and Laughter”.
Having worked on films like Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005), Thor (2011) and Brave (2012), listeners can expect a classy touch to the action cues here (read: no harsh synthesizers ala Hans Zimmer). The highlight of the album is “The Stag”, a bold and heroic cue that brings to mind a brave prince riding his, well, stag, through lush forests. We also love “Pumpkins and Mice”, “You Shall Go”, “Choose That One” and “Pumpkin Pursuit” for their grand orchestral arrangements.
Doyle has also come up with six waltz and polka cues (“Valse Royale”, “La Valse De L’amour”, “La Valse Champagne”, “La Polka Militaire”, “La Polka De Paris” and “La Polka De Minuit”) which may not be everyone’s cup of tea – but they do add colour to the music selection.
One thing we would love to hear more is “Lavender’s Blue” theme, which we get sporadically of throughout the album. It would have been nice to include the cue performed by Lily James in the movie. Instead, we round off the soundtrack with Sonna Rele’s “Strong” (a commercial decision, definitely) and James’ rendition of the classic “A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes” and Helena Bonham Carter’s “Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo” (interesting covers but all too brief). But, no complaints here because we have been spoilt by the generous dosage of Doyle’s music already.
ALBUM RATING:
Recommended Track: (8) The Stag
Review by John Li
Genre: Romance/Drama
Director: Jake Schreier
Cast: Nat Wolff, Cara Delevingne, Austin Abrams, Halston Sage, Justice Smith, Jaz Sinclair
Runtime: 1 hr 47 mins
Rating: PG13 (Some Sexual References)
Released By: 20th Century Fox
Official Website: http://www.papertownsmovie.com
Opening Day: 23 July 2015
Synopsis: Adapted from the bestselling novel by author John Green ("The Fault in Our Stars"), PAPER TOWNS is a coming-of-age story centering on Quentin and his enigmatic neighbor Margo, who loved mysteries so much she became one. After taking him on an all-night adventure through their hometown, Margo suddenly disappears--leaving behind cryptic clues for Quentin to decipher. The search leads Quentin and his quick-witted friends on an exhilarating adventure that is equal parts hilarious and moving. Ultimately, to track down Margo, Quentin must find a deeper understanding of true friendship--and true love.
Movie Review:
For those who scoffed at the runaway success of ‘The Fault in Our Stars’, you’ll be glad to know that this latest adaptation of a John Green novel doesn’t boast the former’s tragic overtones. No doubt it’s yet another coming-of-age story for two adolescents, one male and one female, but ‘Paper Towns’ is a much less melancholic affair than its tear-jerking predecessor. Indeed, if you’re looking for a film that beautifully captures the naivety and wistfulness of adolescence, you’ll probably be thoroughly won over by the sweet good-natured charm and wit that director Jake Schreier and his screenwriters Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber bring to the material.
At the centre of Green’s story is Quentin (brilliantly played by Nat Wolff, who was the scene-stealing supporting act in ‘Stars’), a smart slightly-nerdy high-school senior who has had a crush on his next-door neighbour Margo (a luminous Cara Delevingne) since they were kids. As children, they were best friends and partners-in-crime, although that came to a head when they discovered the body of a man who’d committed suicide – while Margo had been keen to go to Sea World to find out why he’d killed himself, Quentin had declined to join her. The years since have since them grow apart, especially since Margo has grown up to become the hot fun-loving girl at school who is usually the centre of attention.
All that changes when Margo turns up one night at Quentin’s window seeking his help to exact revenge on her not-so-loyal friends, including her ex-boyfriend Jase (Griffin Freeman) who cheated on her, her ex-best friend Becca whom Jase was cheating with, and another of her supposed best friends Lacey (Halston Sage) whom Margo resents for not being enough of a good friend. The first act unfolds almost like a thrill ride for Quentin, their pranks leaving him feel more alive than he has ever been. It also establishes the titular reference to the trick that cartographers use to catch others who might steal their works – “it’s a paper town with paper people,” Margo observes, looking out at the city of Orlando on one of the high floors of the SunTrust bank building.
After giving Quentin the night of his life, Margo promptly disappears the next morning. Unfolding like a puzzle, the second act primarily consists of Quentin’s search for Margo, following what he thinks are clues that she has left regarding her whereabouts. Quentin is joined by his band-mates Ben (Austin Abrams), Radar (Justice Smith) and his girlfriend Angela (Jaz Sinclair), as well as Lacey, who worries something might have happened to Margo. At the risk of missing prom, they embark on a road trip up the East Coast, which turns out to be an unexpectedly bittersweet adventure before they head off to university and/or their own separate ways. Margo is pretty much absent from the middle act, but the easygoing chemistry between Quentin and his friends ably captures recalls the sweet/ raunchy spirit of the best teen comedies.
But it is the final act that truly brings it home, which in effect is about who Margo is not. Yes, as Quentin’s wild-goose chase finally comes to an end, it finally dawns on him that the Margo whom he thinks she was is no more than his idealised version of her, an identity he had created based on who he wants her to be. It may not be as drastic as running away, but it is a poignant reminder to those of us who have similarly admired someone popular in school that what we think about who the person is often is quite different from who that person really is – and in a way, rather analogous to the film’s title. That was the heart of Green’s award-winning novel, and Schreier portrays it with heart-arching beauty.
That credit also belongs to his delightful cast, including Wolff as the grounded, sympathetic centre of the show and Delevingne as his mesmerising but enigmatic love interest. There is genuine spark in their onscreen coupling, which goes a long way in convincing us why we would go to such lengths to track her down. As much as this is a romantic mystery, it is also an ode to the joys and anxieties of teenage life on the cusp of transition, where what used to be cheerful insouciance is slowly but surely replaced with the uncertainties of the adult world. Amidst the house parties, cool teen-speak and the heedlessness of youth (including a Confederate flag T-shirt that has unfortunately taken on new meaning with recent events), there is an unmistakable air of disquiet, and it is a sentiment that we suspect will be greeted with familiar nostalgia.
And though it does contain the usual teen movie clichés, ‘Paper Towns’ is a very agreeable coming-of-ager that doesn’t try to present another dystopia in describing the inner emotional struggles of adolescents. It is funny all right, charming without a doubt, and lined with the sort of melancholy that stays with you long after the credits roll. Like ‘Stars’, it also has a hip indie rock soundtrack to boot, many of which are perfectly selected to complement the mood at that particular point of the narrative. Best thing about it? It doesn’t try to be cool for its own good, and instead comes off sincere, earnest and authentic about the teenage experience.
Movie Rating:
(It may not have a tear-jerking twist like 'The Fault in Our Stars', but this part-romantic mystery, part bittersweet road-trip from the same author is also equally winsome, charming and poignant)
Review by Gabriel Chong
Genre: Adventure/Thriller
Director: Brad Peyton
Cast: Dwayne Johnson, Alexandra Daddario, Carla Gugino, Paul Giamatti, Ioan Gruffudd, Colton Haynes, Archie Panjabi, Hugo Johnstone-Burt, Todd Williams, Art Parkinson, Kylie Minogue, Will Yun Lee
Runtime: 1 hr 54 mins
Rating: PG13 (Brief Coarse Language and Intense Sequences)
Released By: Golden Village Pictures
Official Website: http://sanandreasmovie.com
Opening Day: 28 May 2015
Synopsis: After the infamous San Andreas Fault finally gives, triggering a magnitude 9 earthquake in California, a search and rescue helicopter pilot (Dwayne Johnson) and his estranged wife make their way together from Los Angeles to San Francisco to save their only daughter. But their treacherous journey north is only the beginning. And when they think the worst may be over… it’s just getting started.
Movie Review:
‘2012’ marked a pinnacle of sorts for the natural disaster movie sub-genre, containing in a single picture earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and tsunamis occurring across various cities at the same time. That probably explains why there hasn’t been a big-budget studio movie to that effect since then till now, and also why this latest in a while feels the constant need to up the ante. Indeed, ‘San Andreas’ wears its ambition of being the biggest earthquake movie to date on its sleeve, but unless you haven’t gotten your fix of such VFX-enhanced natural catastrophes, you probably will be left nonplussed.
For the geographically challenged, the title refers to the nearly 800-mile fault line that runs through California. As seismologist Lawrence Hayes (a very grave-looking Paul Giamatti) intones at the beginning, it has been predicted that a big one will happen every 150 years, and we are already almost 100 years into the current interval. And so, as far as the science goes in this movie, a magnitude-7.1 along a previously unknown fault near the Hoover Dam will trigger a “seismic swarm” along the titular San Andreas fault, precipitating a magnitude-9.1 in Southern California and another even more powerful magnitude-9.6 further up north in San Francisco (for context, the 1960 magnitude-9.5 quake off Chile is the current world record holder).
Amidst the toppling buildings, the human tale that emerges is one of a LAFD helicopter pilot Ray (Dwayne Johnson) who flies into downtown Los Angeles to rescue his ex-wife Emma (Carla Gugino) and then, together with Emma, into the heart of San Francisco to rescue their daughter Blake (Alexandra Daddario). Instead of a multi-character narrative, veteran TV writer Carlton Cuse’s screenplay focuses pretty much on Ray’s solo rescue mission, albeit with some tangential cutaways to see Emma’s cowardly boyfriend Daniel (Ioan Gruffudd) get his comeuppance for abandoning Blake earlier on in an underground carpark. Fortunately for Emma, a dashing Brit geek named Ben (Hugo Johnstone-Burt) whom she just meets steps up to free her, and with the latter’s younger brother Ollie (Art Parkinson), the trio travel together to find higher ground to rendezvous with her parents.
It’s a clichéd setup no doubt, and the denouement is to be expected, but Ray’s race-against-time to get to his daughter turns out surprisingly affecting. Instead of establishing every little detail upfront, Cuse’s script keeps us wondering just what led to Ray’s estrangement from his family, which leads to a poignant moment between Ray and Emma at the halfway mark. And instead of reprising another macho action hero role, Dwayne Johnson stays admirably grounded in the role of a father who is driven by equal parts love and grief to make sure that his child is safe. It is probably Johnson’s most nuanced performance, and he gets reliable support from Gugino in their third on-screen collaboration to date.
Leaving Johnson to do the emotional heavy-lifting, Brad Peyton instead concentrates on choreographing the mayhem around him. No stranger to VFX-heavy setpieces, Peyton tops his previous work in ‘Cats and Dogs 2’ and ‘Journey 2: The Mysterious Island’ with some truly jaw-dropping visual spectacle. From the fracturing of the Hoover Dam just ten minutes into the film, Peyton moves on to design the destruction of the entire Los Angeles skyline before moving on to extend the same devastation to the whole San Francisco Bay Area. It is one thing to see skyscrapers like the US Bank Tower and the Citigroup Centre falling and quite another to witness a giant tsunami send a container tanker smack into the Golden Gate Bridge, and let’s just say this is probably as real as it gets next to it happening for real.
Whether it was intended at the start, the choice to cast Ray as a helicopter pilot turns out to be quite the inspired one. With generous help from his cinematographer Steve Yedlin, Peyton toggles between three different perspectives from which to let his audience appreciate the scale of the disaster. There is Emma’s point-of-view from someone on the ground, Ray’s point-of-view from in between the toppling buildings as he tries to retrieve Emma from mid-air, and finally an even more birds-eye point-of-view of the whole earth shaking, buckling, broken, on fire, and inundated with water. The combination of these distinct points-of-view should keep audiences looking for spectacle thoroughly engaged, especially those who can’t quite care more about the unfolding human drama.
And yet, even though it does follow disaster-movie formula to a fault (pun intended), there is no shaking off that feeling of ‘been there done that’. Yes, like we said at the start, there isn’t much more any filmmaker can do to top the Armageddon wrought by Roland Emmerich in ‘2012’, and to be sure, Peyton doesn’t do that. That said, if you’re looking for an earnest reminder just how unpredictable and cataclysmic Mother Nature can be, then you’ll find no fault with ‘San Andreas’. It doesn’t get too sappy or too melodramatic, and even contains some useful PSA tips on just what to do if and when you’re caught in one. It’s a Rock-solid disaster movie, we’ll give you that.
Movie Rating:
(If you're in need for a disaster-movie fix, 'San Andreas' is a Rock-solid bet)
Review by Gabriel Chong
Genre: Drama/Comedy
Director: Noah Baumbach
Cast: Ben Stiller, Naomi Watts, Adam Driver, Amanda Seyfried, Charles Grodin, Adam Horovitz
Runtime: 1 hr 37 mins
Rating: NC16 (Some Coarse Language)
Released By: Shaw
Official Website:
Opening Day: 2 April 2015
Synopsis: Ben Stiller and Naomi Watts are Josh and Cornelia Srebnick, happily married middle-aged members of New York's creative class. They tried to start a family and were unable to — and have decided they’re okay with that. But as Josh labors over the umpteenth edit of his cerebral new film, it’s plain that he has hit a dry patch and that something is still missing. Enter Jamie (Adam Driver) and Darby (Amanda Seyfried), a free-spirited young couple, who are spontaneous and untethered, ready to drop everything in pursuit of their next passion — retro board games one day, acquiring a pet chicken the next. For Josh, it’s as if a door has opened back to his youth — or a youth he wishes he once had. It’s not long before the restless forty-somethings, Josh and Cornelia, throw aside friends their own age — including Beastie Boy Adam Horovitz in a sly supporting role — to trail after these young hipsters who seem so plugged in, so uninhibited, so Brooklyn cool. “Before we met,” Josh admits to Jamie, “the only two feelings I had left were wistful and disdainful.” But is this new inspiration enough to sustain collaboration and friendship with a couple twenty years their junior?
Movie Review:
The realisation was all too sudden – this reviewer was going through his Facebook newsfeed one sunny weekend when it dawned upon him that most of his peers have not been posting updates for a while. He then launched his Instagram app and another moment of truth came: most of his peers do not even have Instagram accounts. The people who have been posting heavily filtered photos are much, much younger. And these pictures scream H-I-P-S-T-E-R (read: coffee art, vintage bicycles and vinyl records amongst others)
And let’s not even get started on the ridiculously viral concept of hashtagging your social media posts.
This is probably why this film written, produced and directed by Noah Baumbach spoke to this writer so much. The protagonist of the comedy drama is a 40 something documentary filmmaker played by Ben Stiller coming to grips with middle age. Together with his wife (Naomi Watts), they find their lives and marriage being overturned when they begin hanging out with a couple in their 20s (Adam Driver and Amanda Seyfried).
Most viewers may not be familiar with Baumbach’s films (if our memory serves us right, only his 2010 work Greenberg, also starring Stiller, made it to theatres here), but do you may want to do yourself a favour by checking out highly recommended titles like The Squid and the Whale (2005), Margot at the Wedding (2007) and Frances Ha (2012). The 45 year old American filmmaker has a keen eye at portraying life in a shrewd and poignant manner.
Cinephiles will tell you this is Baumbach’s most accessible and commercial work yet, and we think of that as a good thing. Despite setting the story in New York City, the story is one that is relatable to anyone who, well, feels that he is going through mid life crisis. Relevant questions are asked. What is success? What is happiness? And what do these different things mean to us at different stages of our lives?
Stiller, who has delivered some impressive performances in films like Tropic Thunder (2008) and The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013), personifies someone who belongs to the “purist” era – an idealist who believes that he had everything planned well in the best possible intentions. When society changes, he tries his best to adapt (smart phone and Netflix, anyone?), but the experience is one that can be a breeze or a chore, depending on one’s perspective.
His bromance with Driver’s (This Is Where I Leave You) character affectingly brings out the relationships between two people from clearly generations. Is Stiller envying Driver’s youth that he once had? Is Driver looking up to Stiller because of his respectable reputation as a documentary filmmaker? These questions do not have clear answers, but this is the very fact why the interesting dynamics between the two are the best thing about the film.
Watts (Birdman) and Seyfried (A Million Ways to Die in the West) fill the female counterparts of this friendship, while supporting characters are well played by Charles Grodin (Rosemary’s Baby), Maria Dizzia (Captain Phillips) and hip hop group Beastie Boys’ Adam Horovitz.
While this reviewer is "only" in his 30s, he can already feel for Stiller and Watts’ characters in the story. Is impulsive hipster culture the way to go (if you don’t know what “YOLO” means, shame on you)? Is he spending less time with friends his own age? Does he not find common topics to discuss with his peers (family, career, future) because he is lacking behind in life? Will these questions, and more, plague him for weekends? This highly recommended film may not have the solution for him, but it sure provides a timely outlook.
Movie Rating:
(A poignant and timely reminder to anyone who’s trying to figure out what life at different points in time means to the individual)
Review by John Li
SYNOPSIS: April, 1945. As the Allies make their final push in the European Theatre, a battle-hardened army sergeant named Wardaddy (Brad Pitt) commands a Sherman tank and her five-man crew on a deadly mission behind enemy lines. Outnumbered and outgunned, and with a rookie soldier thrust into their platoon, Wardaddy and his men face overwhelming odds in their heroic attempts to strike at the heart of Nazi Germany.
MOVIE REVIEW:
Superstar Brad Pitt returns in his second military feature after Inglourious Basterds to deliver an Oscar worthy performance as Wardaddy.
It’s near the end of World War II, staff sergeant Wardaddy and his battle-weary crew, Bible the gunner (Shia LeBeouf), Gordo the driver (Michael Pena), Coon-Ass the mechanic (Jon Bernthal) and a typist turned assistant gunner, Norman (Logan Lerman) is assigned to the front line to hold a vital crossroads on their Sherman tank. Outnumbered and outgunned, will the five soldiers survive the mission?
David Ayer who makes his mark scribing and directing crime thrillers such as Training Day and End of Watch, Fury is undeniably Ayer’s most ambitious project to date. Rather than a straight-forward attempt at unleashing heavy artillery, Fury ends up being overshadowed by poorly-developed dramatic arcs, lots of talking and covering more themes than a 134 minutes feature can contained.
Don’t get me wrong however. Fury is still very much a compelling war movie, it’s just that Steven Spielberg set the standard so high with Saving Private Ryan and Ridley Scott with Black Hawk Down. Like the mentioned titles, Ayer’s tale went to painstaking lengths to bring out the relationships and struggles between the men and the performances generally speaking were almost flawless. Even haters of Shia will agree this is definitely his best effort onscreen. However, Logan’s character of an unwilling soldier is strangely predictable and it never reaches the gravitas that it intended especially with the bulk of the story focusing on him.
Our 30 tons star, the Sherman tank gets a few moments to showcase its brutality and power though I must add except for an exhilarating mid-sequence battle scene, our heavy weight star received too little screentime especially for war fanatics expecting generous servings of serious damage. Having said that, Ayer’s frequent collaborator, cinematographer Roman Vasyanov did a fantastic job capturing the anguish and friendship of the men as they spent most of their time in the innards of the tank.
Perhaps too much initial expectations are lay on a war movie that features tanks. Truly, it’s not an exceptional watch but there are enough reasons to spend time with the five male actors who put in their finest performances in addition to some convincingly staged battle sequences employing vintage tanks.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
NIL
AUDIO/VISUAL:
The DVD visual is fine with no major compression issues though the disc lacked the more superior 5.1 soundtrack.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD RATING :
Review by Linus Tee
SYNOPSIS: When estranged twins Maggie and Milo feel that they're at the end of their ropes, an unexpected reunion forces them to confront why their lives went so wrong. As the twins reconnect, they realise the key to fixing their lives may just lie in repairing their relationship.
MOVIE REVIEW:
Putting two renowned comedians in a grim drama can be a risky decision. But rest assured, Kristen Wiig (Bridesmaids) and Bill Hader (Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs) managed to pull it off beautifully in the end.
After ten years without any contact, Milo Dean (Hader) and his twin sister, Maggie (Wiig) manages to reunite at the unlikeliest place- the hospital where Milo is recuperating from his apparent suicide. Maggie offers her place for Milo to stay despite their past quibbles and what happened next are a series of events that threaten their fragile relationship and the unleashing of their skeletons from their closets.
The Skeleton Twins opens with our two leads committing suicide on the same day though at different locations. Not exactly the kind of movie you usually associate Wiig and Hader with. Yet Hader provides the character of Milo with such tenderness and a delicate amount of heartbreaking hopelessness that you can’t help rooting for the guy who couldn’t make it big in life and still sadly holding on to an unrequited relationship with his ex-English teacher, Rich (Ty Burrell).
Like his brother, Maggie is also a damaged soul. She simply can’t say no to casual sex despite being married to a loving husband, Lance (Luke Wilson). And Wiig easily nailed the character of the troubled Maggie, demonstrating she possesses enough acting chops for the next mainstream drama.
Ultimately, it’s the performance of our two co-stars that make us believe in their sufferings. Suicidal issues are dark and emotionally draining but you won’t exactly find the perfect answers right here. The story co-written by director Craig Johnson and Mark Heyman (Black Swan) lacked the insight and punch to allow the audiences to fully grasp the tough issue on hand. Perhaps Wiig and Hader shouldn’t be allow to improvise on their own too much as a couple of dramatic instances end up too goofy to be engaging.
Nevertheless, this indie drama, which took seven years to materialize, is an unusual drama about tormented people, dysfunctional souls and sibling rivalry. Anchored by the sizzling rapport between Wiig and Hader, The Skeleton Twins is one intimate drama worth more than a peek.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
Commentary with Director/Co-writer Craig Johnson, Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader is an enjoyable piece especially when you have Wiig and Hader onboard clowning around.
Commentary with Director/Co-writer Craig Johnson, Co-writer Mark Heyman and Producer/Editor Jennifer Lee is the more businesslike with the filmmakers discussing the story aspects and the process of making the film.
To Whom It May Concern: Making The Skeleton Twins is a 15 minutes making of feature that has the cast and crew talking about the tone of the story and casting
Sweet Moves mostly assembled the footages of Bill Hader dancing.
Gag Reel and Outtakes basically shows us the incredible improvisation talents of Wiig, Hader and Wilson.
13 scenes which didn’t make to the final cut including an extended ending are discussed by Johnson in Deleted Scenes with Optional Commentary by Director/Co-writer Craig Johnson.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
This digitally shot indie title looks soft with plenty of natural lighting, images are clear even though most of the scenes are set indoors. Dialogue and music tracks are strong though this is not a title to showcase an active surround soundtrack.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD RATING :
Review by Linus Tee
Genre: Drama/Comedy
Director: Thomas McCarthy
Cast: Adam Sandler, Cliff ‘Method Man’ Smith, Steve Buscemi, Dustin Hoffman, Dan Steven, Ellen Barkin, Dascha Polanco, Melonie Diaz
Runtime: 1 hr 38 mins
Rating: NC16 (Some Nudity and Violence)
Released By: Shaw
Official Website:
Opening Day: 30 April 2015
Synopsis: Max Simkin (Adam Sandler) repairs shoes in the same New York shop that has been in his family for generations. Disenchanted with the grind of daily life, Max stumbles upon an heirloom that allows him to step into the lives of his customers and see the world in a new way. Sometimes walking in another man's shoes is the only way to find out who you really are.
Movie Review:
Adam Sandler may be better known for his crass humour, but the comedian has of late been consciously developing a more dramatic oeuvre with acclaimed filmmakers such as Judd Apatow, P.T. Anderson and Jason Reitman. And so, the fact that ‘The Cobbler’ is co-written and directed by Thomas McCarthy, the respected indie filmmaker of mild-mannered comedy-dramas like ‘The Station Agent’, ‘The Visitor’ and ‘Win Win’, might suggest that this belongs more to the latter category of Sandler’s films; alas, while it does boast of a surprisingly nuanced performance from the man, ‘The Cobbler’ isn’t particularly amusing, interesting, or affecting.
Those who have seen Sandler’s more family-friendly works ‘Click’ and ‘Bedtime Stories’ will likely recognise a similar fabulist streak in McCarthy’s premise, which he developed with Paul Sado. Playing the titular fourth-generation shoe repair man on New York’s Lower East Side, Sandler’s Max Simkin discovers that he can transform into its owner if he uses his great-grandpa’s old sewing machine to stitch up any pair of shoes; and by that we mean looking like someone of a different age (including one that is ostensibly dead), or different race, or different gender or even different gender orientation. A Yiddish-language prologue set in 1903 gives some context of where that magic came from, but is otherwise irrelevant.
There’s no denying that Max’s gimmick is mildly amusing at the start, especially seeing how Sandler uses his newfound gift to play some harmless mischief on the barber next door (Steve Buscemi) and get away without paying at a fancy restaurant. But the joke quickly wears thin and McCarthy has few ideas how to sustain it. Having Max impersonate his estranged father (Dustin Hoffman) in order to offer his mother reconciliation before she passes away may seem like a poignant way to go, but McCarthy pays it scant attention; instead, he indulges in a dumb crime-caper story involving a local gangster named Ludlow (Method Man) who intimidates local businesses and physically abuses his girlfriend.
Ludlow is but one of the vignettes that collectively revolve around Max’s encounters with the rest of his denizens of the Lower East Side of New York, and McCarthy tries to bring these various loose threads together with an underdog story that sees Max help an activist (Melonie Diaz) save a tenement resident from being evicted by a criminal slumlord (Ellen Barkin). Not only does it feel haphazard, the sum of all these little parts does not make for anything more compelling; indeed, one never quite gets what the point of Max’s family heirloom is or how his discovery of its magical ability is supposed to be some coming-of-age process for him. That is also why we can scarcely believe the coda, which is supposed to be some poignant twist about where Max’s dad has been all this while, but which only manages to come off baffling at best.
Against such a creaky setup, Sandler tries to make the best out of an uninspiring character. Granted that Sandler has a knack for playing the Everyman that we can easily identify with, but the very premise has the effect of sidelining his character, and by extension himself, by letting other actors try to play Max. That clearly isn’t the same as getting Sandler to play a variety of different persona, which we suspect his fans (us included) would be much, much more, entertained watching him do. None of the other supporting actors make any impression – not even Barkin, whose villainous role is one-note and caricatured, or Hoffman, who could very well do the extended cameo in his sleep.
Clearly, McCarthy had aimed at something whimsical with this magical-realist fable, but ‘The Cobbler’ is a misstep that will neither satisfy his fans or that of Sandler’s. There is no real magic beyond its basic conceit of a cobbler who is able to see the world in the shoes of others, its charms too slight whether as a modern-day fairytale or a drama about finding one’s place in life (you know, what they say about ‘if the shoe fits’). As it turns out, this is an ill-conceived fit for an A-list comedian as well as an indie director, a patchwork that is cobbled together without much inspiration or coherence.
Movie Rating:
(Neither a moving coming-of-age drama nor a whimsical modern-day fairytale, this magical-realist fable about a cobbler who can literally step into the shoes of others is only ever so slightly amusing)
Review by Gabriel Chong
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