Genre: Drama/Comedy
Director: Dan Fogelman
Cast: Al Pacino, Jennifer Garner, Annette Bening, Bobby Cannavale, Christopher Plummer
Runtime: 1 hr 47 mins
Rating: NC16 (Some Drug Use and Nudity)
Released By: Shaw
Official Website:
Opening Day: 23 April 2015
Synopsis: Still riding high on the hits from his heyday, singer Danny Collins (Al Pacino) seems to have it all―money, fame, a new fiancée and arenas packed with adoring fans. But years of hard living, failed relationships and performing the same songs night after night have begun to take their toll on the once wild rocker. So when his longtime manager (Christopher Plummer) presents him with a never-delivered letter written to him 40 years earlier by John Lennon, Danny decides to belatedly heed his idol’s advice and follow his heart. He cancels a sold-out tour and checks into a small-town New Jersey Hilton to try to rediscover his love of music and the family he abandoned on his way to stardom. Inspired by a true story, Danny Collins features an all-star cast and a soundtrack featuring nine classic songs by John Lennon plus original music by Ryan Adams, Don Was, Cairan Gribbin and Greg Agar.
Movie Review:
An ageing superstar who gave up the things that really matters in life – principles, integrity, passion for his work, kinship (aka family) etc- for material enjoyment and meaningless indulgences (aka drugs, booze and women) in life. Said superstar is suddenly jolted from his meaningless and hedonistic life by a bolt from the past and sets out on a journey to redeem himself, make up for lost time and reconnect with the things that truly matter in life.
Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? The plot for Danny Collins is indeed such a familiar one that it borders on being cliché. What makes this film more than palatable is the cast’s fine acting and comic bravado that gives depth to the characters.
Al Pacino’s portrayal of Danny Collins, the flawed superstar mentioned earlier is likeable and someone you can feel for because, as his manager/best friend (portrayed by Christopher Plummer) puts it “he has a good heart, it’s just up his a** half the time”. Pacino succeeds in showing us Danny’s good intentions and the well-meaning though somewhat egoistic and clumsy side of this aging rockstar. This is displayed primarily through his interactions with the other characters.
Plummer pulls in a reliable performance in his portrayal as Danny’s manager and best friend, Frank. Instead of just being a supporting character who serves the purpose of providing convenient actions and lines to move the plot along (i.e. giving Danny the long-lost letter from John Lennon and pointing out to Danny’s estranged son, Tom, Danny’s well-meaning nature), Plummer’s Frank stands on his own and is a delight as a manager and best friend who doesn’t mince his words which are delivered in a caustic manner that only Plummer can pull off. Similarly, Annette Bening delivers a solid and understated performance as Mary, the hotel manager who serves an “age-appropriate love interest” to Danny. Bening’s Mary is believable in the way her initial disgust with a seemingly egoistic aged superstar, who deems himself God’s gift to women, gives way to empathy and possibly more as she sees his human side and connects with him.
Credit also needs to be given to Dan Fogelman (who both directed and scripted this film), for writing sharp dialogue that subtly reveals the depth of friendship between Frank and Danny and the nuanced (at least by today’s standards) flirting between Danny and Mary. For a first-time director, Fogelman does well in teasing out the chemistry between the actors.
Unfortunately for the younger actors (Jennifer Garner and Bobby Canavale), in comparison to these mature and accomplished actors, their performance as Tom, Danny’s estranged son and Samantha, Tom’s wife, can at most, be considered ‘not too bad’. It makes you wonder if Tom and his family are really necessary as plot devices to further Danny’s journey to redeem himself. The insertion of various other contrived issues, such as the potential onset of a fatal disease on one of the characters and how Danny’s drug and alcohol addiction seems to switch on and off whenever he pleases (it’s amazing how he doesn’t suffer any withdrawal syndromes when he just decides to stop taking drugs).
Thankfully the director, Dan Fogelman (who also wrote the script), redeems himself by choosing not to cop out on an unrealistic auto-piloted happy ending. Just as all seems to be going well, Danny’s redemption realistically gets derailed as he caves in to pressure. The ending, where he seems to settle for a middle-ground approach to his life, is a believable one with room to allow audiences looking for a happy ending to choose to think that things will go well henceforth for Danny.
Movie Rating:
(If you are hoping for an expose on the sordid side of the music industry in the vein of Birdman, prepare to be very disappointed. Otherwise, this film (inspired by a true story) makes for an entertaining story that highlights the pitfalls of selling out and losing oneself conforming to society’s definition of success.)
Review by Katrina Tee
Genre: Action/Thriller
Director: George Miller
Cast: Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron, Nicholas Hoult, Zoe Kravitz, Riley Keough, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Hugh Keays-Byrne, Abbey Lee, Megan Gale
Runtime: 2 hrs
Rating: NC16 (Violence)
Released By: Golden Village Pictures
Official Website: https://www.facebook.com/MadMaxSg?brand_redir=1
Opening Day: 14 May 2015
Synopsis: Haunted by his turbulent past, Mad Max believes the best way to survive is to wander alone. Nevertheless, he becomes swept up with a group fleeing across the Wasteland in a War Rig driven by an elite Imperator, Furiosa. They are escaping a Citadel tyrannized by the Immortan Joe, from whom something irreplaceable has been taken. Enraged, the Warlord marshals all his gangs and pursues the rebels ruthlessly in the high-octane Road War that follows.
Movie Review:
To whom it may concern: Watch the film. Seriously, watch the film. Go to your nearest movie theater, grab two tickets for Mad Max: Fury Road (or one, this reviewer doesn’t judge) and watch the film. The newest addition to the Mad Max franchise after three decades, Mad Max: Fury Road reunites older audiences with its iconic post-apocalyptic punk style while introducing newer audiences to what shot George Miller to fame.
Right from the start, Miller wastes no time in establishing the madness inherent in the post-apocalyptic future with the boot-stomping, gecko-eating Max (Tom Hardy). A lone drifter in the barren desert, Max soon finds himself pursued by the War Boys, an army of young monochromatic skinheads under the command of leader and warlord Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne). Found to be a universal donor, Max is imprisoned and forced to perform blood transfusions to ailing War Boy Nux (Nicholar Hoult).
Meanwhile, dependable lieutenant Imperator Furiosa (Charlie Theron) is tasked with driving the glorious War Rig to collect gasoline from the nearby Gas Town. However, the trip to Gas Town does not go as plan when Furiosa drives off course, revealing that she, along with Joe’s five beautiful and healthy wives, are attempting to break free from the horrible clutches of his reign. A cult figure obsessed with eugenics in a world riddled with genetic deformities, Joe calls up all of his War Boys to embark on a chase after Furiosa and his wives.
Not wanting to be left behind but too weak without Max’s transfusions, Nux decides to bring Max along with him on the wild chase. Placed on the front of the car like a fancy ornament, Max ultimately escapes and helps Furiosa and the wives as they drive towards the Green Land; a legendary utopia that promises freedom and hope.
Told with minimal dialogue, Mad Max: Fury Road focuses mainly on the visuals, gifting the audiences with dystopian spectacles rivaling that of many fantasy films. The nature of the world that the characters lived in is fleshed-out especially well: from the long nightmarish fight between Max and the War Boys to the fleeting shot of the milk mothers treated as cows – all were crucial in creating the fantastic dystopia. Action sequences, in particular, were wonderfully choreographed with a thick dash of punk and violence. In fact, watching the punk-inspired War Boys perform suicidal Cirque du Soleil acts adds on to the maniacal nature of the world and the enjoyment of the film.
As per George Miller’s Mad Max films, Mad Max: Fury Road is a film where art and concept far exceeds that of the plot. Not that there is anything wrong or bad with that; the direction of the film is too wonderful for the audience to notice that the titular character seems to be, for a lack of a better word, a chauffeur for the ladies. It is of no surprise then, that the women in the film take center stage. Skilled in weaponry and more humane, the women in Fury Road are better-developed characters than their male counterparts. Despite her occasional dramatic reading of the dialogue, Theron performs well as the strong and silently independent Furiosa. More so than Hardy, it is Theron that provides much of the emotionally charged scenes as the hero of the film.
With Mad Max: Fury Road, George Miller has once again outdone himself. A film that beautifully marries art with action, there is no reason why Fury Road shouldn’t mark Miller as a visionary in the action-post apocalyptic genre.
Movie Rating:
(Violent, punk-inspired and adrenaline pumping, Mad Max: Fury Road is a film that shows you how action post-apocalyptic films should be done)
Review by Leng Mong
SYNOPSIS: Nineteen years ago, the Aquatica project used genetically altered sharks in hopes of developing a cutting-edge cure for Alzheimer's disease. They came close to achieving their goal but an unforeseen tragedy derailed the experiment. Now pharmaceutical billionaire Carl Durant is determined to revive the research of the undersea laboratory. With former Navy seal Trent Slater and scientists Daniel and Leslie Kim already on board, Durant hopes to enlist shark conservationist Misty Calhoun onto the team. But Calhoun is shocked to learn that the company is using unpredictable and highly aggressive bull sharks, the most lethal predators in the sea as its test subjects. Before long, this drug-enhanced sharks led by den mother Bella are growing smarter, quicker and much, much deadlier.
MOVIE REVIEW:
In 1999, Renny Harlin (Die Hard 2, The Long Kiss Good Night) made a trashy shark thriller named Deep Blue Sea which did moderate business but is noted for being selected as one of the greatest shark movies of all time and most of all, the surprise death of one of it’s major cast member.
For whatever reason, Warner decides to produce a direct-to-video sequel that proved there is always worthless entertainment floating around.
Deep Blue Sea 2 involves an eccentric billionaire, Carl Durant (Michael Beach) who has invited a shark conservationist, Misty (Danielle Savre) and newly-weds neurobiologists Leslie and Daniel to his undersea facility for a visit. Unknown to them, Carl is genetically altering the brains of five bull sharks including the alpha shark, Bella and the reason is for the guests to examine why they are behaving strangely liked digging their way out of the underwater fences.
Of course, Deep Blue Sea 2 wastes no time in killing off all those trapped in the undersea facility once Bella and her gang decides to sabotage the place. We don’t see the logic of why Durant chose to breed these potentially vicious bull sharks for medical tests or why he is drinking those genetics-altering liquid except we are told he is paranoid over technology taking over humans. On the other hand, we are quite sure you are not here to listen to Durant’s ranting.
Director Darin Scott manages to pull off a couple of gruesome deaths despite the obvious ultra-low budget and you can’t really blame him for paying tribute to the original, do you? However, that is about the one and only good thing about this flick as it functions neither as an exciting action thriller or a mindless trashy monster movie. For more than half of the movie, you don’t even see the sharks just a few quick scenes featuring lame CGI shark pups that behaved liked piranhas.
The mostly unknown cast put on their best performances as supper for the sharks. Leading man Rob Mayes’ Trent Slater is a stand-in for the original Thomas Jane’s role. Danielle Savre as an added bonus chipped in an unnecessary shot of her cleavage and where is LL Cool J when you need him. Deep Blue Sea 2 is so bad that you wished Warner should just release The Meg much earlier to compensate for our time.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
Returning to the Deep: Making Deep Blue Sea 2 is a 12 minutes feature that offers a look behind the stunts plus the obligatory cast and crew interviews.
Deep Blue Sea 2: Death by Shark features a closer look at the demise of the characters.
Gag Reel is just 3 minutes of the cast horsing around on set.
There are 4 Deleted Scenes mostly on the characters of Misty and Trent.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
The Dolby Digital 5.1 supplied on the DVD is serviceable enough for a handful of bombastic sequences and the visual on the whole is acceptable for a movie of this budget as a bluray or 4K version of it will betrayed the dull visuals, colours and the often sparse-looking sets.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD RATING :
Review by Linus Tee
Genre: Romance/Drama
Director: Richard LaGravenese
Cast: Anna Kendrick, Jeremy Jordan, Natalie Knepp, Nic Novicki, Alan Simpson, Danijela Duspara, Meg Hudson, Allison Macri
Runtime: 1 hr 34 mins
Rating: NC-16 (Some Sexual References)
Released By: Cathay-Keris Fims
Official Website: http://www.lastfiveyears.com
Opening Day: 9 April 2015
Synopsis: THE LAST FIVE YEARS by Tony award winning composer/lyricist Jason Robert Brown is a musical deconstruction of a love affair and a marriage taking place over a five year period. Jamie Wellerstein is a young, talented up and coming Jewish novelist who falls in love with Cathy Hiatt, a Shiksa Goddess struggling actress. Their story is told almost entirely through songs using an intercutting time line device; all of Cathy’s songs begin at the end of their marriage and move backwards in time to the beginning of their love affair while Jamie’s songs start at the beginning of their affair and move forward to the end of their marriage. They meet in the center when Jamie proposes. Its beautiful pop music score portrays an honest, heartbreaking, often funny, exploration of love and it's consequences on individual identity.
Movie Review:
‘The Last Five Years’ won’t be the first that attempts to depict the ups and downs of a relationship from the guy and the girl’s perspective; as recent as last year, writer-director Ned Benson used the same conceit to portray ‘The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby’. What differentiates Richard LaGravenese’s film is that his is a musical, but not a musical in the sense of ‘Mamma Mia’ where the song-and-dance numbers are interspersed with spoken dialogue; rather, almost every single line here is sung by its lead actors Anna Kendrick and Jeremy Jordan, which essentially falls on the music and lyrics to convey the gamut of emotions that the respective characters Cathy and Jamie are going through.
Adapted by LaGravenese from Jason Robert Brown’s off-Broadway production, it stays extremely faithful to its source material not only for the fact that it remains by and large a two-person show but also because of how its narrative is structured. The beginning is literally the end here, as Cathy sings about how she is ‘Still Hurting’ from the dissolution of her marriage with Jamie. And then a funny thing happens. Switching back and forth between Cathy and Jamie’s musical numbers, it lets Jamie tell his side of the story in chronological order, starting from when they first meet and how he is simply overjoyed to be dating outside his Jewish heritage. On the other hand, it flips Cathy’s side of the story around, so she starts at the end, taking us back through the middle and back to the start when they first move into their apartment in New York City.
Where do the parallel narratives meet? At the point Jamie and Cathy get engaged, and for the first and only time in the musical, share a duet underneath a gazebo in Central Park. The structure may seem unusual at first, but it starts to make complete sense once one gets past the halfway mark. Indeed, the wisdom of this narrative conceit lies in how it lulls one into thinking about the similarities in their respective struggles as an artist – i.e. Cathy as a performer in the theatrical arts and Jamie as a novelist – before letting its audience realise how misaligned their circumstances are in time. Yes, while Jamie quickly finds success after success after his first book is picked up by Random House, Cathy’s search for accomplishment proves just as elusive, leaving the pair more and more mismatched over the years.
Because the whole story is sung, the strength of the narrative lies entirely on the depth of its lyrics. The music may be ho-hum, but Brown’s lyrics are bitingly clever and insightful, offering an honest, raw and witty glimpse into a couple from different backgrounds whose attraction, based on how exotic the other was from his or her own environment, slowly but surely fades as they assimilate into a multicultural Manhattan. Though the stage show was a two-person show, LaGravenese loses none of the intimacy of what is essentially a two-hander chamber drama even as he adds that touch of realism by replacing sets with actual apartments, parties, book readings and even the great outdoors.
But a huge part of that credit goes to Kendrick and, to a slightly lesser extent, Jordan. She does most of the dramatic heavy lifting here as a woman who is trying to find her own success outside her husband’s shadow but inevitably feeling the insecurity of being someone less. And yet, Kendrick never lets her character’s anxieties get the better of her – the actress also nails the comedy in the material, whether singing about her misadventures doing summer stock in Ohio or lamenting about what it is like to audition for the stage (where men are usually gay, staring at their crotch or even at her resume). Oh, and the fact that she has one of the finest singing voices in Hollywood doesn’t hurt too. Next to Kendrick, Jordan matches her voice but less so her ability to inject nuance and vulnerability into his character, so we end up connecting less with Jamie than Cathy.
Yet, for what it is, there is no doubt that ‘The Last Five Years’ is pretty engaging stuff. To compare it with the conventional Hollywood musical would probably be unfitting, since it is ultimately based upon a play built around just two stage performers singing their hearts out to their audience. All the qualities that have earned the musical its fair share of lovers and haters are similarly on display here, and in making the transition from stage to screen, LaGravenese loses none of the humour or heartbreak that was so original about his source material. It is also a perfect warm-up to get to know Kendrick, just before she brings the house down in this summer’s ‘Pitch Perfect 2’.
Movie Rating:
(Honest, raw, intimate and poignant, this ‘His’ and ‘Her’ depiction of the breakdown of a five-year relationship is an impressive two-hander by Anna Kendrick and Jeremy Jordan)
Review by Gabriel Chong
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MAD MAX: FURY ROAD to be presented at the 68th Cannes Film FestivalPosted on 22 Mar 2015 |
Genre: Drama/Crime
Director: Daniel Espinosa
Cast: Tom Hardy, Noomi Rapace, Gary Oldman, Joel Kinnaman, Jason Clarke, Vincent Cassel, Dev Patel, Paddy Considine
Runtime: 2 hrs 17 mins
Rating: M18 (Sexual Scene and Violence)
Released By: Cathay-Keris Films
Official Website: http://www.child44film.com
Opening Day: 16 April 2015
Synopsis: A politically-charged serial killer thriller set in 1953 Soviet Russia, CHILD 44 chronicles the crisis of conscience for secret police agent Leo Demidov (TOM HARDY), who loses status, power and home when he refuses to denounce his own wife, Raisa (NOOMI RAPACE), as a traitor. Exiled from Moscow to a grim provincial outpost, Leo and Raisa join forces with General Mikhail Nesterov (GARY OLDMAN) to track down a serial killer who preys on young boys. Their quest for justice threatens a system-wide cover-up enforced by Leo’s psychopathic rival Vasili (JOEL KINNAMAN), who insists “There is no crime in Paradise.”
Movie Review:
It’s not exactly a very intelligent thing to tell people, but this reviewer often says to his friends: “What I need to know, I learn from movies.” Yup, that includes history. How did the Titanic sink? Who is Oskar Schindler and why is he considered a saviour to the Jewish? Steven Spielberg’s award winning Schindler’s List (1993) was there if you didn’t want to visit the library. How did the Titanic sink? James Cameron’s three hour epic Titanic (1997) has the answer. What happened during the attack on Pearl Habour in 1941? There’s MichaelBay’s unapologetically loud Pearl Habour (2001) for reference.
While this writer is aware that movies aren’t always the best sources to learn about true events that happened in history, you have to admit that it is so, so much more enjoyable than flipping through the pages of a thick textbook. At the same time, movies can be enjoyable, exciting and even thought provoking at times. And hey, it doesn’t hurt to have scenes playing out on screen for visual learners right?
You see, without this Daniel Espinosa directed film, we wouldn’t have glimpse into what a Joseph Stalin ruled Soviet Unionwas like. Based on British writer Tom Rob Smith’s 2008 novel of the same name, this story’s protagonist is Leo Demidov, an agent with the disgraced Ministry of State Security (MGB) who uncovers a strange and brutal series of child murders. For more on why the Soviet intelligence agency fell from grace, you can, ahem, easily check with the Internet.
The first thing you notice about this American British thriller movie is its cast. Let’s see, who do we have in the mix? We have English actors Tom Hardy (who wonderfully transformed into the towering Bane in 2012’s The Dark Knight Rises) and Gary Oldman (who is always perfect in whatever role he takes on, from Harry Potter’s Sirius Black to The Dark Knight’s James Gordon), Swedish actress Noomi Rapace (the original Lisbeth Salander in the Millennium film series), Swedish American actor Joel Kinnaman (the lead in the 2014 reboot of Robocop), French actor Vincent Cassel (who gave memorable performances in Ocean’s Twelve and Ocean’s Thirteen) and Australian actor Jason Clarke (watch out for him as John Connor in the upcoming Terminator Genisys).
Caught your breath? While the godsend cast list comes from different nations, all of them play Russians and have to speak with Russian accents. While we won’t go into who pulls it off better, it does make you wonder why filmmakers didn’t put together a Russian cast to produce this movie? You see, history may sometimes be a sensitive topic, and that’s probably the reason why Russiaand several former Soviet states are banning the movie. You may also, ahem, want to check with the Internet on the reason.
As a casual movie goer, this 137 minute production may be a challenge to sit through. Those who have no prior knowledge of the history of the Stalin era Soviet Union will have to preserve through the series of events slowly played out in the film helmed by Espinosa (Safe House) – but the slow burning story will reward viewers with a compelling tale of human nature.
It sure helps that the cast delivers compelling portrayals of the characters. Hardy is excellent as a torn military man, Oldman is effortlessly engaging, and although Paddy Cosidine (The Bourne Ultimatum, The World’s End) and Charles Dance (Tywin Lannister in TV’s Game of Thrones) have limited screen time, they make you sit up and pay attention whenever they appear.
Kudos to the production team for creating a dreary, colourless and monotonous mood with the film. You get a depressingly droning feeling of what it might have been to live in that era just by seeing the wardrobe, architecture and art direction depicted in the movie. While this may not be the best way to learn history, it does provide an idea into what the past was like, and may spark interest to read up more by visiting the library, or more likely so, ahem, on the Internet.
Movie Rating:
(The slow burning and well made film requires patience to view, and pays off with an engagingly compelling drama)
Review by John Li
Genre: Action/Crime
Director: Sam Mendes
Cast: Daniel Craig, Lea Seydoux, Ben Whishaw, Naomie Harris, Ralph Fiennes, Dave Bautista, Christoph Waltz, Andrew Scott, Monica Bellucci, Rory Kinnear, Jesper Christensen, Stephanie Sigman
Runtime: 2 hrs 28 mins
Rating: PG13 (Some Violence)
Released By: Sony Pictures Releasing International
Official Website: http://www.007.com
Opening Day: 5 November 2015
Synopsis: A cryptic message from the past sends James Bond on a rogue mission to Mexico City and eventually Rome, where he meets Lucia Sciarra (Monica Bellucci), the beautiful and forbidden widow of an infamous criminal. Bond infiltrates a secret meeting and uncovers the existence of the sinister organisation known as SPECTRE. Meanwhile back in London, Max Denbigh (Andrew Scott), the new head of the Centre for National Security, questions Bond’s actions and challenges the relevance of MI6, led by M (Ralph Fiennes). Bond covertly enlists Moneypenny (Naomie Harris) and Q (Ben Whishaw) to help him seek out Madeleine Swann (Léa Seydoux), the daughter of his old nemesis Mr. White (Jesper Christensen), who may hold the clue to untangling the web of SPECTRE. As the daughter of an assassin, she understands Bond in a way most others cannot. As Bond ventures towards the heart of SPECTRE, he learns of a chilling connection between himself and the enemy he seeks, played by Christoph Waltz.
Movie Review:
If there in fact was any writing on the wall, it would read that ‘Skyfall’ was always going to be a tough act to follow, even if the same creative team – including director Sam Mendes and screenwriters John Logan, Neal Purvis and Robert Wade – were re-assembled. Who better to know this than Mendes himself, so rather than try to top the former’s dramatic gravitas, ‘Spectre’ finds Mendes pay homage to the death-defying franchise’s heritage, shaken and stirred with a mix of playfulness and reverence. And so even though it won’t go down the 007 canon with the same effusive regard, let it also be known that this follow-up is in fact a perfectly enjoyable Bond movie in its own right.
Beginning with a gasp-inducing pre-credits sequence on the Day of the Dead in downtown Mexico City, Mendes shows that he has no intention of letting the emotionally devastated Bond grieve in private after the death of Judi Dench’s M. There to hunt a professional assassin on the late M’s orders, Bond struts the streets in a masked skeleton costume, goes back to a hotel room with a local bombshell, and scales the outside of a building in a dazzling single unbroken take. Oh yes, Mendes isn’t content to rest on his laurels, and as the sequence ends with Bond in a helicopter repeatedly looping the loop over a packed city plaza, there is no doubt that ‘Spectre’ doesn’t intend to play it safe.
True enough, this is but the first of several beautifully executed action setpieces including a gripping car chase pitting an Aston Martin DB10 against a Jaguar C-X75 through the streets of Rome, a stunning rescue attempt involving a twin-propeller plane along the snowy slopes of Austria, an exciting mano-a-mano fistfight between Bond and Dave Bautista’s rival assassin Hinx on board a moving train, and last but not least a race-against-time to evacuate from an abandoned building rigged with explosives. There is pure white-knuckle exhilaration to be had in each one of these sequences, and Hoyte van Hoytema’s crisp cinematography captures every bit of the handsomely mounted action in full unblemished detail.
Forming the narrative glue is a sinister conspiracy involving a shady criminal organisation named SPECTRE, led by the mysterious Franz Oberhauser (Christoph Waltz). It turns out that the same organisation has been behind the events of the last three Bond films from “Casino Royale’, which in turn leads Bond to catch up with his former nemesis White (Jesper Christensen) in a deserted winter cabin and later on seek out, protect and fall in love (not necessarily in that sequence) with White’s daughter Madeleine Swann (Lea Seydoux). Meanwhile, back in London, the new M (Ralph Fiennes) tries to protect Bond and the entire double-O secret agent programme from a bureaucratic threat in the form of MI5 boss Max Denbigh (Andrew Scott), who believes that tux-wearing secret agents are the past and wants to put in its place a global surveillance initiative called ‘Nine Eyes’.
Not since 1971’s ‘Diamonds are Forever’ has a Bond film attempted to string together a collective enemy from its previous romps, and as tantalising as that may sound as treatment, it doesn’t actually play out quite as compellingly. Indeed, it is a little hard to believe that the elusive Oberhauser, who had been hiding behind White and Javier Bardem’s Silva in ‘Skyfall’, would now personally step out of the shadows and confront Bond when he has at his disposal many other assassins who could very well do his bidding. It also doesn’t help that Waltz’s Oberhauser is a less menacing villain than either one of his previous henchmen, so much so that we never get the sense that he is an equal match whether by skill or wit for Bond.
Speaking of Bond, ‘Spectre’ continues in the vein of its predecessor by painting him as an emotionally hollowed individual whose childhood wounds had left deep psychological scars that may not have healed as much as what we can see from the outside. Yet rather than isolating him even further, Bond is offered a lifeline of redemption through the steely yet fragile Madeleine, whom he genuinely has feelings for (unlike say Monica Bellucci’s not-so-grieving widow). And by virtue of that, Mendes’ sophomore Bond outing isn’t as dark as his first; in fact, without giving anything away, let’s just say that it does give Bond a happy ending and the hope of a better tomorrow.
Yes, in ‘Spectre’, Mendes tries to find a middle ground between the campy, comedic tone of the very first Bond films and the grittier, moodier atmosphere of the last three movies. Faithful Bond fans will recognise the nods, nudges and witty allusions that Mendes has inserted into the movie - an Alpine clinic that recalls the mountaintop retreat in ‘On Her Majesty’s Secret Service’; Oberhauser’s 1948 Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith that echoes Goldfinger’s vintage Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost; Bond’s Aston Martin’s ejector seat and boot-mounted machine guns; and the tussle between Bond and Hinks that recalls a similarly set brawl in ‘The Spy Who Loved Me’ to mention a few. Even more than ‘Skyfall’, ‘Spectre’ is heavy on franchise nostalgia, which has a nice thematic resonance with Bond’s quest to prove himself relevant in an era of drone strikes and the military-industrial surveillance complex.
Holding all these elements together is Daniel Craig, who in his fourth outing as Ian Fleming’s secret agent proves that he is one of the best Bonds and an equal to Sean Connery. Not only does he convey the unflappable air of the character, Craig does it while conveying an emotional vulnerability to Bond that had hereto froth been unseen before this and ‘Skyfall’. It is a mesmerising take on the classic super-spy, one that gives unexpected depth and poignancy where the rest was largely gloss and sheen. Craig also has some nice moments with Seydoux, and while the latter could certainly do with some more screen time, there is genuine spark in the connection between the pair. Bond’s globe-trotting also means he has less time on the people back home, but Naomi Harris's Moneypenny and Ben Whishaw’s Q provide excellent support to Craig when called upon.
And so even though it doesn’t exactly make the sky fall, ‘Spectre’ still ranks as one of the best Bond films ever made in terms of action, intrigue, spectacle and style. Oh yes, Bond is suave and debonair as ever, but the film isn’t just ‘cool’ because of Bond; indeed, it is Mendes who keeps his sophomore Bond outing classy all the way through, one of his best touches is a deliberately extended introduction to Waltz’s big bad that keeps him shrouded in the shadows until the very end. If the rumours are true that this is in fact Craig’s final bow as 007, there is no doubt that the actor departs on a veritable high.
Movie Rating:
(Not quite ‘Skyfall’ great - but ‘Spectre’ is as fine a follow-up as one can expect in terms of action, intrigue, spectacle and style that also proves Daniel Craig is one of the best Bonds ever)
Review by Gabriel Chong
Genre: Comedy/Crime
Director: Lau Ho Leung
Cast: Leo Ku, Francis Ng, Simon Yam, Patrick Tam, Mark Cheng, Philip Keung, Christie Chen, Susan Shaw, Jack Kao
Runtime: 1 hr 43 mins
Rating: PG13
Released By: Golden Village Pictures
Official Website:
Opening Day: 2 April 2015
Synopsis: Big F and his gangsters dress their minibus to resemble a police vehicle, and pose as policemen for a robbery. Police Officer Chui has sensed “criminal intent”. Without police orders, he investigates these gangsters. At the robbery the gangsters engage in a gunfight against the real criminals, who kill randomly. Big F and his men are infuriated. They may wear police costumes and use toy guns, but their passion is real. Sensing their righteous passion, Chui decides to side with the imposters and their 16-passenger EU vehicle. Big F and his men re-discover the bond they felt when they used to battle together. Finally, Chui, Big F and the gang defeat the criminals, showing Chui that anyone can be a hero, and righteousness resides within us all.
Movie Review:
Hong Kong cinema is known for its ‘cops-versus-robbers’ thrillers, but Lau Ho-leung’s directorial debut wisely skewers genre expectations for a darkly funny comic romp. Taking the point of view of the ‘robbers’ rather than the men-in-uniform, Lau tracks the misadventures of a bunch of low-rent ex-cons who reunite for that one final heist, which is to rob a delivery van transporting corpses from across the border that are stuffed with cash. Their grand plan? By disguising a public 16-seater red minibus as a police Emergency Unit vehicle and dressing up as police officers.
However, as Francis Ng’s Big F will tell you right at the start, they are not the only ones who have the same design. A rival gang of criminals (led by Philip Keung) also plan to rob the same van, though with an actual de-commisioned EU vehicle and much bigger firepower. Over the course of one fateful Halloween night, our four anti-heroes will become heroes in their own right, discovering their sense of justice as they not only rescue a young girl from their fellow outlaws but literally live up to their uniforms by taking the law into their own hands. Like we said, this isn’t your straight-forward ‘cops-versus-robbers’ shoot-em-up, but hey that is precisely its gonzo charm.
Like Johnnie To’s ‘The Mission’, the camaraderie between the bunch of loveable oddballs gives the film its own character. Big F has just returned from a sixteen year stint in a Malaysian prison, his mullet quite a spectacular sight to behold. Crazy B (Simon Yam) complements him with a demi-afro, his latest employment as a lowly paid attendant at a bowling alley. Johnnie T is a hair stylist at a back alley, his regular clientele mostly hostesses and prostitutes. And last but not least is East L (Mark Cheng), the most respectably employed of the lot who drives his own minibus – it is riding on East L’s public transport vehicle that Big F gets the idea of playing dress-up after a real EU van pulls up alongside theirs at a traffic junction.
Afraid that his audience may miss the character nuances, Lau gets an eagle-eyed junior officer Tsui (Leo Ku) to describe each one of their distinct personality quirks as he picks up the pieces of their criminal preparations. Big F is brash and a penny-pincher. Crazy B is shrewd and methodical. Johnnie T is slightly OCD. East L is the most loyal of them all. Frankly, Tsui’s voiceovers aren’t necessary, and betray the insecurities of a first-time director. Indeed, he need not have worried - in no small measure due to the effortless chemistry between the veteran male actors, there is much vim and vigour in the interplay between Big F, Crazy B, Johnnie T and East L to convey the same.
The first act not only sets up the crime but also the dynamic between the four partners-in-crime, and it is clear from these scenes that despite their petty squabbles, there is a fundamental bond of brotherhood that binds them together. Because they are such great fun to be with, Ku’s sharp-nosed officer almost comes across as an unnecessary distraction – though, to Lau’s credit, he does give the character some shading as a strait-laced man of the law who can’t quite grasp the ambiguities in his profession. Lau also gives Tsui greater purpose in the narrative in the second and third acts, as the latter’s fate becomes intertwined with that of Big F’s crew and the hard-nosed baddies on and around the deserted mountainous terrain of the New Territories.
What ensues pretty much plays out like a cat-and-mouse-game, as Big F and his rival in crime trade barbs, threats and insults while each holding on to something and someone that the other wants – the former with not just the cash that the latter came for but also his girlfriend; and the latter holding Johnnie T hostage at the back of his EU van. Their battle of dimmed wits is told with an offbeat exuberance, with some generous – but still judicious – use of comic-book like split screens, superimposed animation and a jaunty soundtrack to add to its irreverent tone plainly clear from its plentiful use of profane humour (some of which is lost in the Mandarin dubbing, but is still discernible from the subtitles) – and it is just as well then that the CGI, especially in the last standoff, looks just as grungy.
It is perhaps understandable that Lau is a better writer than a director. Unlike Fruit Chan’s equally eccentric ‘The Midnight After’, Lau can’t quite keep the crazy vibe from slacking in the second act. His framing of the mise-en-scene is also at times awkward, especially his occasional reminders of the citywide cockroach infestation which the movie opened with and which remains only tangentially relevant to the main story. From a scripting perspective however, the subtext is somewhat inspired, and one need not read too hard between the lines to see what Lau is trying to say about the local police force or about ‘Mainland corpses bloated with money’. The way the main narrative intersects with the subplots, most notably an ice-cream seller who Big F’s crew rescues from two rapists, could also do with some finesse; as it is, these melodramatic moments are tonally incongruous with the rest of the outlandish plotting.
Indeed, ‘Two Thumbs Up’ has its flaws, and probably would do better with a tighter cut, but there is something inherently delightful and admirable in Lau’s directorial debut in its refusal to succumb to genre stereotypes as well as its amusingly anarchic attitude. It is one of the most original ensemble pieces to come out of Hong Kong cinema in recent years, anchored of course by superb performances from Ng, Yam, Tam and Cheng. At a time when so many Hong Kong films are accused of diluting their identity in order to break into the Mainland market, this comes as a refreshing breath of fresh air, and accordingly deserves a reception worthy of its title.
Movie Rating:
(Quintessentially Hong Kong in both humour and character, this non-conformist take on the typical ‘cops-versus-robbers’ genre is amusingly and exuberantly offbeat)
Review by Gabriel Chong
Genre: Drama/Erotic
Director: Au Cheuk Man
Cast: Dominic Ho, Candy Yuen, Jeana Ho, Hazel Tong, Winnie Leung
Runtime: 1 hr 37 mins
Rating: R21 (Sexual Scenes and Nudity)
Released By: Shaw
Official Website:
Opening Day: 7 May 2015
Synopsis: Fung is a super-heartthrob and was born with a special endowment, making him the high school idol. He was expelled from school when he was caught fighting on campus. When his mom, the sole provider of his family with her poultry business, had to stop working due to her back problems, Fung decides to support his family financially. And from that moment, his life takes on a tumultuous change…. Fung starts out as a janitor at his cousin Hung’s house of male prostitution, but his other services are demanded by regular patron Yoyo. Desperate for money, Fung cannot resist the “$10,000 per night” offer and tries his best, but he makes his share of rookie mistakes and embarrassments. It also doesn’t help that star gigolo Chris tries to jeopardize his career at every turn, causing him shame and frustration…
Movie Review:
There’s no other way to say this – ‘The Gigolo’ is a terrible film.
Its Chinese title may suggest a throwback to the Cat III movies of the 80s and 90s, and at least at the start, that seems to be what writer/ director Au Cheuk-Man was aiming for. Indeed, it would be fine if Au wanted his movie to be no more than a sex farce, but no, halfway through the farce, he decides that he ought to make it some moving drama about how the shy, mild-mannered teenager who overcomes his inhibitions not by choice but by circumstance and becomes the titular ‘King of Gigolos’ is now tragically prevented from falling in love despite having found his soulmate. The result is one of the most ludicrous plot contrivances we’ve seen in a while, enough really to make us go limp, if you catch our drift.
The gigolo at the centre of Au’s film is Ho Kui-Fong (played by ‘Lan Kwai Fong’s’ Dominic Ho), who relates his ‘coming-of-age’ story beginning from his high-school days as a basketball player who crosses path with a gangsterly schoolmate that happens to be in love with the same girl. Their disagreement boils over when that same schoolmate tries but fails to frame his fellow player for drug possession and then demands compensation for it in return; expelled from school, and forced to support his family after his mother hurts her back, he goes to work at his aunt’s (Elena Kong) club as a janitor, where due to his clean-cut looks, he gets some of her regular clientele excited at seeing ‘fresh meat’.
Egged on by his aunt, Fung decides to make his maiden foray into the skin trade but ends up humiliating himself by ‘cumming’ too early in front of Yoyo (Hazel Tong) and seasoned veteran Chris (TVB star Ronan Pak). That forms his resolve to seek out Absom, who has a reputation for being ‘king of the gigolos’ and which he eventually does. In one of its most self-aware moments, the filmmakers have cast former Cat III actor Pal Sin as Absom, whose training of Fung includes getting the latter to lick a coin against a mirror so quickly that it stays on the surface and using his fingers against a woman’s body as if he were playing the piano. These scenes are arguably the most entertaining bits of the movie, but their pleasures are not new – fans of Hong Kong Cat III sex comedies will recognise the similarities with Chapman To’s ‘Naked Ambition II’, where he received similar training under veteran Japanese AV actor Taka Kato.
Whereas To’s earlier film was a self-aware parody of the well-established Japanese AV industry, Au's own chronicle of one man’s rise to fame (pun intended) is entirely self-serious, so much so that any hint of humour is in fact unintentional. Unfortunately for its sake, it actually is funny, but only because it is jaw-droppingly daft without knowing it. Why should a bunch of thugs out to collect a debt end up hacking their debtor to death, while leaving the debtor’s family member right next to him virtually unscathed? What are the odds that one of Fung’s regular clients, Michelle (Candy Yuen), turns out to be the stepmother of his girlfriend Chloe (Jeana Ho)? What are the odds that Fung’s aunt happens to be in debt as well, such that she would hand over a personal video of Fung at work in her club servicing her clients to Michelle so that the latter can wreck her stepdaughter’s relationship with her gigolo?
We get that plot isn’t necessarily one of the strong suites of a movie like this, but Au’s intention to draw sympathy for Fung and his awkward predicament having ‘f**ked’ both his girlfriend and her stepmother is simply hilarious. That doesn’t even begin to describe the finale, which is so ludicrous it deserves an award of its own. Besides a jealous husband and an equally envious stepmother, there is also a vindictive step-daughter and rape and murder thrown in for good measure. It is utterly absurd to say the very least, and the worse part is that it is only just icing on the cake – or to be more accurate, the hovering fly on top of the stinking pile of turd that this maudlin and woefully filmed drama is.
Since character is just as inconsequential here, the acting is just as forgettable; instead, what you’re probably interested to know is how much skin each actor or actress shows. Like what you’ve already heard, Candy Yuen goes topless for a number of sex scenes in the movie, but don’t count on the former Miss Hong Kong contestant to set your pulse racing. On the other hand, Jeana Ho is all tease and no show, so those looking for her to follow in the footsteps of Yuen might as well banish that thought. Females however will likely get a kick out of seeing Dominic Ho bare (almost) all for the camera, and it doesn’t hurt that he does look great in the role.
And yet, as the saying goes, beauty is just skin deep, so if you’re looking for skin and nothing else, then yes you’ll get some of that in ‘The Gigolo’. Even so, to sit through one and a half hours of tedium just to get to those scenes is hardly worth the while, and it is not even as if the wait can be called foreplay to begin with. Rather than turn this into some melodrama about the plight of a reluctant teenager turned professional gigolo, Au would have done his film and himself a favour by making a straightforward comedy instead of one that ends up being unintentionally so. No wonder then that even Wong Jing himself stepped away from making this farce of a farce after all – yes, it really is that bad.
Movie Rating:
(Neither an amusing riff on the genre nor the affecting melodrama it wants to be, this terrible excuse for a Cat III film will leave you limp and wanting)
Review by Gabriel Chong
SYNOPSIS: A young American couple falls into severe debt while renovating a home in London. When they discover the tenant in the apartment below them was murdered and left $400,000 cash stashed in the ceiling, the couple thinks all of their problems are solved. but that’s when very bad things start happening to good people.
MOVIE REVIEW:
A movie liked Good People exists for two reasons. One, to vaguely convey across a limp message of how a moment of greed can get two good people into serious shit and two, to fill up the numerous cable slots.
The ever-prolific James Franco and the once-prolific Kate Hudson pairs up for the first time as a financially struggling couple living in London. When their strange tenant turned up death with a stash of roughly $300,000 hidden, the Wrights thought it’s the end of their money issues. What they don’t know is it’s just the beginning of their problems.
Given that the helmer is a Danish by the name of Henrik Ruben Genz, you probably expect something along the line of Drive or at least anything that resembles an Avant-grade thriller. Alas, Good People is just forgettable mundane material that crumbles to dust in your memory by the time it ends.
Good People absurdly turned into an adult version of Home Alone in the final act when everything simply culminates in an old house. A drug kingpin, Khan (Omar Sy) and local gangster Jack (Sam Spruell) turned up conveniently to settle their score with the Wrights after an hour of threat and empty talk. Hey, it’s all about the loot and honor after all. While the Wrights have the help of a veteran Detective John (Tom Wilkinson), he actually has an agenda of his own.
Franco and Hudson are at least believable as a couple that struggles for a better life in a foreign country despite the less than stellar narrative. At the very least, you get to see both stars naked behind the shower curtain. Tom Wilkinson as always adds a welcome presence to a production though he is too old to be cast in a Liam Neeson role. Surely with a blessed cast liked this, a better story is deserved. Too bad this is not the case.
Action fanatics who crave for some thrills and spills will likely get their wish in the climax. To avoid further spoilers, let’s just say that a nail gun is a good substitute when you can’t find a pistol.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
NIL
AUDIO/VISUAL:
The no-frills DVD comes with serviceable visual output and decent audio track.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD RATING :
Review by Linus Tee
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