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JURASSIC WORLD Back in IMAX 3D!Posted on 26 Aug 2015 |
Genre: Horror/Thriller
Director: Mark Neveldine
Cast: Olivia Taylor Dudley, Michael Peña, Dougray Scott, Djimon Hounsou, Peter Andersson, Kathleen Robertson, John Patrick Amedori
Runtime: 1 hr 31 mins
Rating: NC-16 (Horror and Some Disturbing Scenes)
Released By: Cathay-Keris Films
Official Website:
Opening Day: 23 July 2015
Synopsis: THE VATICAN TAPES follows the ultimate battle between good and evil—God versus Satan. Angela Holmes is ordinary 27-year- old until she begins to have a devastating effect on anyone close, causing serious injury and death. Holmes is examined and possession is suspected, but when the Vatican is called upon to exorcise the demon, the possession proves to be an ancient satanic force more powerful than ever imagined. It’s all up to Father Lozano (MICHAEL PEÑA) to wage war for more than just Angela’s soul, but for the world as we know it.
Movie Review:
More than four decades after William Friedkin’s seminal ‘The Exorcist’, the demonic possession genre has just about reached its creative nadir, so much so that recent entries have had to go the found-footage route in order to turn up some audience interest. Thankfully, Mark Neveldine’s solo directorial debut (better known for his collaborations with Brian Taylor on the ‘Crank’ movies and Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance) has wisely opted not to follow that overdone trend, despite the original intentions of Chris Morgan and Michael C. Martin’s 2009 Black List-selected screenplay; instead, his is a straightforward horror thriller laced with some faux-verite touches, Including footage from the Catholic Church’s top-secret video archives – hence the title of the movie.
According to Djimon Hounsou’s Vatican priest, the Church’s religious officials have been examining incidents of Satanic possession for years, watching out for signs of no less than the Antichrist. His latest victim is 27-year-old Angela (Olivia Taylor Dudley), who is paid a visit by the demon himself on the occasion of her birthday. Literally proving that “cakes are sinful”, Angela’s troubles begin when she cuts her finger while slicing through the birthday cake. That same day, she is attacked on her hand on the bus home by a raven that smashes through the window, and to cap it off, ends up in a car accident that leaves her comatose in hospital for 40 days (which Christians will recognise its significance from the Gospels). Just when she is pronounced for dead, Angela comes back miraculously to life, though we won’t quite say that her miracle is a blessing.
Pulling out every (familiar) trick from the exorcism playbook, Neveldine choreographs the ensuing horror with suitable flair. And so as one may expect, Angela starts vomiting, speaking gutturally in foreign tongues, levitating and even bearing the marks of Christ (i.e. stigmata). She also happens to cough out three eggs (don’t ask), which the veteran Vatican Cardinal Braun (Peter Andersson) explains is meant to represent the Holy Trinity – the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. In addition to Cardinal Braun, Angela also gets some intervention from a friendly ex-military priest named Father Lozano (Michael Pena), who now works at the psychiatric hospital that Angela was sent to after her discharge from hospital and whom is the one that contacts the Vatican for assistance.
As his past works will attest, Neveldine isn’t a filmmaker of subtlety, and sure enough he chooses a raw in-your-face aesthetic to shock his audience into submission, be it Gerardo Madrazo’s Red-camera lensing or his own tracking shots filmed like ‘Crank’ on rollerblades. At a brisk 90 minutes, he also leaves no room for his audience to catch a breather, and the pace is nothing but frenetic from start to finish. Yet, as exploitative as it may be, there is also no denying that it is gripping, especially for those familiar with Catholic symbols, rites and beliefs, which is inverted here to create a thoroughly dreadful atmosphere. In particular, the ending puts a neat twist on the allegory in the Book of Revelation, and nicely sets up a sequel in the process – provided audiences are keen to see the Antichrist walk the earth.
Quite unlike a film of its stature, Neveldine has assembled a surprisingly solid cast to pull in committed performances. In addition to Hounsou and Pena, Dougray Scott plays Angela’s father, forced to endure the psychological torment of watching his daughter become the very epitome of evil. Dudley makes an admirable solid lead here, and whether through the flick of an eyebrow or a change in posture, sustains a veritable sense of dread that something is not quite right with her. And complementing her possession routine is Andersson, who makes a delightfully idiosyncratic cardinal that knows exorcism like the back of his hand from having been possessed himself before.
And surely, you can do much worse if you’re already prepared to sit in for a movie about demonic possession, so while ‘The Vatican Tapes’ doesn’t reinvent the genre, it does perform the familiar tropes competently enough and adds a couple of novel twists along the way. At the very least, it doesn’t milk the found-footage fad except for the tapes in the title, which in and of itself is good enough reason to elevate this generic but nonetheless effective horror above most of its current ilk.
Movie Rating:
(Even if generic and familiar in most parts, this exorcism picture at least avoids the found-footage fad and boasts a few novel twists along the way)
Review by Gabriel Chong
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JAMES HORNER (1953 - 2015)Posted on 23 Jun 2015 |
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SONY PICTURES AND MARVEL STUDIOS FIND THEIR "SPIDER-MAN" STAR AND DIRECTORPosted on 24 Jun 2015 |
Genre: Drama
Director: Antoine Fuqua
Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Rachel McAdams, Forest Whitaker, Naomie Harris, Oona Laurence, Miguel Gomez, 50 Cent, Victor Ortiz, Malcolm M. Mays, Beau Knapp
Runtime: 2 hrs 3 mins
Rating: NC-16 (Coarse Language and Some Violence)
Released By: Golden Village Pictures
Official Website: http://southpawfilm.com
Opening Day: 23 July 2015
Synopsis: From acclaimed director Antoine Fuqua (Training Day) and starring Academy Award nominated Jake Gyllenhaal (Nightcrawler, Brokeback Mountain) comes a story of tragedy, loss and the painful road to redemption... Billy "The Great" Hope (Gyllenhaal) is the reigning Junior Middleweight Champion whose unorthodox stance, the so-called "Southpaw," consists of an ineloquent, though brutal, display of offensive fighting...one fueled by his own feelings of inadequacy and a desperate need for love, money and fame. With a beautiful family, home and financial security, Billy is on top both in and out of the ring until a tragic accident leaves his wife dead and sends him into a downward spiral. His days now an endless haze of alcohol and prescription drugs, his daughter taken by Child Services and his home repossessed by the bank, Billy's fate is all but sealed until a washed up former boxer named Tick agrees to take the bereaved pugilist under his wing so long as he agrees to his strict ethos. Relentless and utterly committed to a fighter that thinks as much as he throws punches, Tick rebuilds Billy into a new man: one that is agile, fearsome and uncompromising in the ring while thoughtful, loving and disciplined outside of it. Now, as he works to regain custody of his daughter and mounts a professional comeback, Billy must face his demons head-on as he learns that, sometimes, your greatest opponent can be yourself.
Movie Review:
At the Weinstein Company’s May presentation in Cannes earlier, Harvey Weinsten unabashedly predicted that Jake Gyllenhaal would get a Best Actor Oscar nomination for his performance in Southpaw, which would serve as sweet “revenge” for his perceived snub this year. While the words of one who can pull the strings at such award presentations cannot be trusted as a gauge of an actor’s performance, it is clear from Gyllenhaal’s performance and amazing physical transformation that Gyllenhaal does deserve that Oscar nomination.
The idea of a master awards strategist like Weinstein speaks of a system that hands out acting awards for reasons that may not be merit-based and the concept of “revenge” are ironic for Southpaw. After all, that the movie puts the protagonist on the path for a fight hyped up by a money-minded boxing empire mogul (portrayed by Curtis “50 cent” Jackson) to be a revenge and redemption ‘deathmatch’ between Billy ‘the Great’ Hope (portrayed by Gyllenhaal) and Miguel Escobar( portrayed by Miguel Gomez), the man who caused his downward spiral and endlessly taunts him.
The story of redemption in Southpaw is, at best, formulaic. We see how the life of Billy “the Great” Hope, the defending champion of the light heavyweight boxing title, falls apart after his wife (portrayed by Rachel McAdams who had way too little screen time) dies tragically, the victim of a stray bullet likely meant for Billy. Reeling from this unexpected tragedy, Billy plunges into depression, taking drugs and at one point contemplates taking the life of the one who caused his wife’s death. In his own words, he basically becomes “a terrible mess” and is incapable of looking after himself, his finances and his daughter (because, mirroring couples in real-life, his wife basically takes care of all of these things). He loses his house and his daughter who is placed in the care of family services. And like all predictable redemption stories but not real life, he bounces back thanks to support from his new friend and cleans up his act, regaining his life. The new friend in this case, is his new trainer, Tick Willis (portrayed by Forest Whitaker), who also plays life coach to Billy (which really isn’t that tough when Billy is completely clueless about real life and being sensible).
The movie was originally scripted with the intent of having Eminem take on the role of Billy Hope but Gyllenhaal shows that he is more than capable of filling the shoes that Eminem was too busy to wear. Never have you seen Gyllenhaal look rougher or tougher with his swollen face, perpetually bloodied eye and closely cropped hair. Even his voice sounds different and more gruff with his rumbling, semi-coherent incomplete sentences that are peppered with expletives. Gyllenhaal is such a natural as Billy Hope that he leaves you convinced that there was no transformation and that he is naturally like this, reflecting the amount of effort that went into achieving such a performance. His performance is the highlight of this movie.
That’s not to say that the other actors were terrible. It’s simply that the script and director Antoine Fuqua (whose credits include Training Days andOlympus Has Fallen) doesn’t flesh out the other characters sufficiently and give the actors enough room to flex their acting chops. I would have like to see Billy’s relationship with his daughter, Leila, (portrayed by Oona Laurence) explored more deeply and in a more layered manner rather than just being used crudely as a plot device to manipulate the audience in having empathy for Billy. Laurence was convincing as a precocious young girl grieving for the loss of her mother but who knows she needs to help fill her mother’s role in taking care of her father. Unfortunately, the moments where she becomes a little girl and lashes out at her father comes across as contrived rather that genuine. The banters between Billy and Tick are also great moments in the movie. Whitaker, as a gruff fatherly figure, makes a great foil against Gyllenhaal’s Billy and the exchange of lines will inevitably bring at least a smile, if not a chuckle.
Acting aside, the boxing scenes are cut dynamically as they switch between Billy and his opponent’s points of view, wide shots and tighter shots resembling the view from a ringside seat, drawing the audience into a heart-pumping, adrenaline-filled spectacle. The sets are also convincingly gritty or opulent (without being gaudy) as the production team make use of suitable locations to capture both the squalid and lavish extremes of Billy’s lifestyle, contrasting between the pathetic one-bedder that he rents at his lowest moment and the sprawling mansion and grounds that he owns at the height of his career. The music is also fittingly and ably produced by Eminem, making you understand why he was the original choice for the role of Billy Hope. Thankfully, he turned that down and chose to focus on music, a role he is probably better suited for.
Movie Rating:
(If you are a boxing fan and don’t mind movie clichés, this is the show for you. Just don’t bring the kids along. )
Review by Linus Tee
Genre: Comedy/Sci-Fi
Director: Chris Columbus
Cast: Adam Sandler, Michelle Monaghan, Josh Gad, Kevin James, Jane Krakowski, Peter Dinklage, Brian Cox, Ashley Benson, Sean Bean, James Preston Rogers
Runtime: 1 hr 46 mins
Rating: PG
Released By: Sony Pictures Releasing International
Official Website: http://pixelsmovie.tumblr.com
Opening Day: 13 August 2015
Synopsis: In Pixels, when intergalactic aliens misinterpret video-feeds of classic arcade games as a declaration of war against them, they attack the Earth, using the games as models for their various assaults. President Will Cooper (Kevin James) has to call on his childhood best friend, ’80s video game champion Sam Brenner (Adam Sandler), now a home theater installer, to lead a team of old-school arcaders (Peter Dinklage and Josh Gad) to defeat the aliens and save the planet. Joining them is Lt. Col. Violet Van Patten (Michelle Monaghan), a specialist supplying the arcaders with unique weapons to fight the aliens.
Movie Review:
Poor Adam Sandler. This reviewer fears that his latest work might be the final nail in the coffin. The ex Saturday Night Live cast member, who won the hearts of many hopeless romantics in 1998’s The Wedding Singer and made countless Scrooges laugh out loud with his signature goofball humour in comedies like Happy Gilmore (1996), The Waterboy (1998) and Big Daddy (1999), have been receiving some unkind criticisms for his recent movies. After a series of panned movies like Jack and Jill (2011), Blended (2014) and The Cobbler (2014), people were waiting to see how the latest Happy Madison Productions (a film and TV production company Sandler founded in 1999) would fare.
And very unfortunately, reviews have been anything but kind, stating that this is finally “game over” for the 48 year old actor.
Call it biasness, but this writer did not think this title deserved all the flak it’s been receiving. Based on a 2010 short film of the same name, this science fiction comedy sees evil aliens declaring war on human beings after misinterpreting video feeds of classic arcade games like Pac Man, Space Invaders and Tetris.
People were genuinely excited about the premise, especially amongst those born in the 1980s. Arcade games played a very important role in their growing up years, and it wouldn’t have been a monstrous challenge for the older (and not forgetting more affluent) folks to identify with the theme - remember how Disney’s computer animated Wreck It Ralph made nostalgia so cool to embrace?
With a premise that is out of this world as Tim Herlihy and Timothy Dowling’s screenplay, one should just leave logic at the door. That said, the 105 minute movie is a breeze to sit through (what were you expecting, an art film?), with predictable story development and entertaining showdowns between, yup, video game characters and human beings.
The ensemble cast is also something to shout about – Sandler has gathered folks like Kevin “Mall Cop” James, Josh “Olaf” Gad, Peter “Tyrion Lannister” Dinklage and Sean “Ned Stark” Bean to attract fanboys (and maybe some girls) to part with their money to watch this in the theatres. There’s also Michelle Monaghan (Source Code), Brian Cox (X2: X Men United) and a cameo appearance by Dan Ankroyd (Ghostbusters). Somewhere in the mix is tennis player Serena Williams and TV personality Martha Stewart. With such a mix it would be easy to say that the filmmakers have lost focus on the story, and are more concerned earning quick bucks at the box office.
While that is not entirely wrong, this columnist is of the view that a movie like that is meant for pure entertainment. Are there lame jokes which you will chuckle at? Yes. Are the computer effects decent? Yup, it’s quite a visual treat. Are there moments you want the villainous Centipede and Donkey Kong to be destroyed by the good guys? You bet.
And so it is with these factors taken into consideration that the harsh reviews for this title may seem somewhat unwarranted. Although there is nothing surprising about Sandler’s performance anymore (critics are calling him lazy), were you seriously expecting to deliver an Oscar winning performance? Maybe it’s time to take things less seriously and enjoy the popcorn flick for what it is, just like how we were suitably entertained with those old school arcade games.
Movie Rating:
(This may not be the most intelligent movie you’ve watched, but it does its job of providing adequate entertainment for 105 minutes)
Review by John Li
Genre: Sport/Drama
Director: Dante Lam
Cast: Choi Si-won, Eddie Peng, Shawn Dou, Wang Luodan, Andrew Lien, Carlos Chan, OuYang Na-Na
Runtime: 2 hrs 6 mins
Rating: PG13 (Some Coarse Language)
Released By: Golden Village Pictures and Clover Films
Official Website:
Opening Day: 6 August 2015
Synopsis: The domestique forces an opening. The escort and support cover. The sprinter seizes the advantage - strikes To The Fore. A professional cycling team moves with the speed and power of military Special Forces. Each member plays a tactical role, motivated by a single strategy. Victory belongs to the team, not the individual.
Race after race, the storied Radiant team, led by the brilliant Korean attacker Zheng Zhiyuan, has become the virtual enemy of all cycling teams. While training, Zheng’s explosive technique and power blow away the rookies Chou Ming and Qiu Tian. They agree to become Zheng’s domestiques to lead the assault on the road for him, creating finish line opportunities. The perfect coordination of the three riders defeats Radiant’s archrival Phantom. When Zheng receives all the accolades of victory for himself, Chou and Qiu realize that there’s only one winner, in spite of their team effort. As domestiques, they’ll never be number one. One year later, Chou and Qiu strike out on their own, each becoming a sprinter, competing head on with Zheng. But because of their own teams’ weak domestiques, they are defeated at each turn. Haunted and trapped between the demons of victory and defeat, the two riders’ paths spiral downward, with no second changes.
After years of aimless wandering, Chou crosses paths with his old teammate Qiu, now down and out, and Radiant’s former team mentor in Taiwan. Their camaraderie rekindles a lost but not forgotten passion for racing. The three form an amateur cycling team, to fight again from the bottom. Chou and Tian no longer compete with each other to be sprinter, instead they rediscover the pleasure and thrill of riding in the old days. When Zheng finds out that Chou and Qiu are competing in a local race, he shows up with his world-class Radiant to wage war on the amateurs, to the shock of the cycling world. The once perfect team of three is once again in competition. This time, however, Chou and Qiu, wiser and more agile than ever, have the ability to alternate between sprinter and domestique, as fighting partners. Can they break down the headwinds and overcome Zheng’s prowess to create a miracle?
Movie Review:
Not unlike the fates of the sportsmen that he attempts to portray in ‘To The Fore’, Dante Lam finds himself in an odd stumble after the successive career highs of ‘Beast Stalker’, ‘The Stool Pigeon’, ‘That Demon Within’ and ‘Unbeatable’. Whereas these critical and commercial hits found the Hong Kong auteur right at home amidst the moral complexities of police work and/ or the turpitudes of life, his latest is really a youth-centric drama that is meant to be romantic, light-hearted and inspirational at the same time, none of which are traits typically associated with Lam or his films – and that ill fit ultimately explains why, though impressive in parts, it is on the whole slightly underwhelming.
One can certainly appreciate why Lam was drawn to the world of professional cycling for his next film after the extremely well-regarded boxing drama ‘Unbeatable’; like the latter sport, the former is very much a test of both endurance and willpower, especially given the extreme physical conditions under which some of the races are held. It is also, as we’ve learnt here, very much an execution of teamwork and strategy, where different members of the same team are assigned roles relative to one’s opponents in order to give the designated sprinter the competitive advantage to burst free from the pack and be the first to cross the finishing line – and indeed, it is not hard to imagine how that can easily turn not only into a clash of egos but also a test of one’s ethics in a race to be number one.
To Lam’s credit, his attention to detail and commitment to authenticity is undeniable. From the continental road races in and around various parts of Taiwan to the international circuit in places as varied as China, Korea and even the Tengger Desert, no effort has been spared to ensure that we feel the ardour and grit of the cyclists in overcoming both the physical and psychological odds during the race as well as the precision and coordination that is crucial for any and every team. Not even in Hollywood have we seen any filmmaker been so single-minded in his zeal to portray the sport of professional cycling as Lam, and the fact that he has not compromised on location and scale is reflected in how immersive and intensive every single race sequence proves to be.
That same credit belongs also to his cast, whose training and preparation for their roles in this film have been well-documented by the press in the past months. Thankfully, their effort and perseverance has not gone to waste; in particular, there is no doubting that the actors themselves are in every intimate close-up or medium shot that Lam’s cinematographer Pakie Chan captures of the numerous road races. Simply put, they look, behave and act every bit like a professional cyclist, and no matter their stardom in real life, each turns in a vanity-free performance that accurately and candidly portrays the spirit and mindset of the sportspeople they are supposed to represent.
As long as the actors and their innumerable extras put their feet to the pedals, the film takes off with unbridled momentum, thrill and sheer exhilaration. But as a work of fiction, there still needs a coherent narrative to string together the fates of these characters played by Eddie Peng, Choi Siwon and Shawn Dou – and that is where Lam falls short. Based on a story by Lam himself, his co-writers Lam Fung and Silver seek to weave a tale of professional rivalry among the bold but cocky Qiu Ming (Peng), the cool-headed but risk-averse Qiu Tian (Dou) and the simply confident Jeon Ji-won (Siwon). Ming and Tian’s rivalry further extend beyond the racing circuit to a mutual love interest in female cyclist Shiyao (Wang Luodan), who is struggling herself to get back into form for competitive racing after a sudden onset of pulmonary embolism.
Anyone familiar with Lam’s oeuvre should know that romance has never been his thing, and the scenes chronicling the love triangle between Ming, Tian and Shiyao filmed MTV-style and featuring some cringe-worthy goofing around by Peng and Dou pretty much demonstrate why that is a genre he should steer clear of. Perhaps more inexcusably, Lam also fails to set up any compelling character drama for each one of his key male cast, such that neither Ming’s relationship with his estranged alcoholic mother, or Tian’s descent from mediocrity to ignominy thanks to illegal performance-enhancing drugs, or Ji-won’s test of ethics after a match-rigging bid by his manager (Carl Ng) fail to build into anything genuinely compelling.
Whereas Lam managed to turn a somewhat conventional story of redemption into something truly poignant in ‘Unbeatable’, he fails to do likewise here, and it is no wonder why we don’t empathise for these characters as much as we should. In fact, the one character which survives caricature turns out to be a supporting one, i.e. Shiyao, whose tenacity and resolve to overcome her physical limitations is probably the only truly moving character arc. The rest is no better than TV-melodrama, and it doesn’t help that his young actors lack similar gravitas as Nick Cheung.
And yet, given the hard work that has gone into prepping, planning and shooting each and every one of the amazing racing sequences, it seems almost petty to pick on the obvious storytelling flaws in the film. Yes, Lam’s achievement as well as those of his cast and crew in these sequences is unequivocal, not least because it demonstrates their unwavering dedication to realism. Unfortunately, the whole is not much more impressive than the sum of these individually impressive parts, and there is no denying too that the film pretty much crawls to a halt when its key players are off the track. And perhaps that is to be expected, for Lam has always done well with everything related to testosterone but not quite so well when it comes to anything else in between.
Movie Rating:
(Great racing, not-so-great everything else - that about sums up Dante Lam's impressively filmed sports (melo)drama)
Review by Gabriel Chong
Genre: Horror/Thriller
Director: Gregory Plotkin
Cast: Chris J. Murray, Brit Shaw, Olivia Taylor Dudley, Dan Gill, Ivy George, Jessica Brown, Chloe Csengery, Don McManus, Hallie Foote, Cara Pifko
Runtime: 1 hr 24 mins
Rating: NC16 (Horror and Coarse Language)
Released By: UIP
Official Website: https://www.facebook.com/paranormalactivity
Opening Day: 29 October 2015
Synopsis: For the first time, see the unseen in Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension – the horrifying conclusion to the Paranormal Activity films.
Movie Review:
So here we are, at the inevitable end of a veritable horror franchise that re-defined the found footage format and established the micro-budget formula for the genre. The sixth instalment in the series, ‘Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension’ is the supposedly final chapter that is meant to tie up the loose ends from its predecessors – like, who the demon Toby is or just how the children ‘claimed’ by Toby including Katie from the first movie and Hunter from the second tie in with the coven of witches seen in the later movies – and provide much-overdue closure to loyal fans who have dutifully attended each one of the previous five entries over the last eight years.
Alas those expecting longtime series editor Gregory Plotkin, who makes his directorial debut here, to conclude on a bang will be sorely disappointed, for he and his small phalanx of screenwriters (four, according to the official count) are largely content to stick with formula established by their predecessors. And so, we get yet another young family settling into their new suburban home – Ryan (Chris J. Murray), his wife Emily (Brit Shaw), and their seven year-old daughter Leila (Ivy George) – who sense an otherworldly presence in the house and are perplexed by some increasingly peculiar occurrences.
Ryan suspects that it may have something to do with the cache of old videos left by previous occupants, on which is recorded handheld footage from some twenty over years ago when Katie (Chloe Csengery) and her sister Kristi (Jessica Brown) were just kids – one of the recurring scenes is that of Katie in a trance-like state projecting herself into a different dimension, which Ryan comes to suspect later on is that of Leila’s bedroom in the present day. Besides watching past footage, Ryan and his moustachioed brother Mike (Dan Gill) are invited to discover the activity for themselves with the help of a special camera in the same box as the VHS tapes that is fitted with a special lens which allows spirits to show up as spectral movements.
As cool as that may sound, it actually is much less exciting to watch. Whereas earlier instalments had at least tried to find new ways to deliver old scares with the wandering ‘pool cam’, the oscillating ‘fan-cam’ or the use of Skype, this new spin on the use of lo-fi video pretty much sucks away the dread and tension that previous films had tried so assiduously to build in each and every frame by revealing where the ghost is coming from. Indeed, even before any one of the characters is thrown aside in typical ‘Paranormal Activity’ fashion or meets his or her end swiftly and unexpectedly, you can already see the apparition building up as an amorphous black mass around the impending victim. Notwithstanding that it does augment the 3D experience (can you believe this is the first to take advantage of the, ahem, extra dimension?), the fact that it takes away the element of surprise unfortunately makes the ‘spirit-cam’ a mood killer.
But more crucially, Plotkin’s film is devoid of the well-executed sequences of previous chapters. Most of the activity this time round takes place within Leila’s bedroom, which as the first movie showed, isn’t a constraint in and of itself – unless all you do within that space is to show the demon waking Leila up at odd hours of the night and whooshing past any other adult who happens to be in the room with her. There is also the fundamental logical conundrum why any parent would let their child sleep alone in the same room night after night knowing full well of the danger that she may be in – and in fact, it is only very late into the film when Ryan and Emily decide to move out of the house that Leila is removed from the epicentre of the activity.
That last-mile also sees the arrival of a Roman Catholic priest (Michael Krawic), who informs the Fleeges that he will perform an “extermination, not an exorcism”; as you can probably guess, that feeble attempt of capturing Toby by dousing him by salt and throwing a wet bedsheet over him doesn’t turn out all so well for both the priest as well as the family. That it has to resort to one of the most conventional tropes of calling in a man of the cloth is yet another sign that the franchise has run out of ideas, and not even an extended finale which tries furiously to link Leila with Katie and the fiendish plan that the witches had started in ‘PA4’ and ‘PA5: The Marked Ones’ will convince you otherwise.
And so what started as a low-budget sensation out of Slamdance and became a Halloween staple has not only become par for the course but also by and large run its course. There is still some kick to be had with its basic conceit of capturing paranormal activity on home video within the confines of one’s own home, but every subsequent instalment saw that concept grow more and more tired. That is something not even a special camera with the ability to ‘see ghosts’ can reverse, and once one looks beyond that gimmick, there is nothing new that this sixth and hopefully final instalment adds to the franchise. As clichéd as it may be, there is no activity left here, only the sorry spectre of a once potent force of terror.
Movie Rating:
(Even with the additional gimmick of 'seeing the activity', this supposedly final instalment is no more than a tired retread of the same concept and hardly satisfactory even as closure for the most loyal of fans)
Review by Gabriel Chong
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INDEPENDENCE DAY RESURGENCEPosted on 25 Jun 2015 |
Genre: Romance/Drama
Director: James Yuen
Cast: Louis Koo, Amber Kuo Tsai-Chieh, Alex Fong, Janice Man, Jeremy Jones Tsui, Hu Jing, Candy Liu
Runtime: 1 hr 54 mins
Rating: PG
Released By: Cathay-Keris Films and Clover Films
Official Website:
Opening Day: 13 August 2015
Synopsis: Kit leaves Hong Kong for Paris with a broken heart, to start a new page of life and venturing into the wine business. Through real estate agent, Lau Chung, he finds a shared apartment with a weird tenant, Man, a desperate artist going through a bad breakup. Man hates men after a devastating breakup, in order to get along with Man under the same roof, Kit pretends to be gay. At the beginning, Man’s eccentric and insane behavior gets onto Kit’s nerve, but after knowing Man’s heartbreaking past by chance, Kit decides to stay and teaches Man how to get over a failed relationship, as this is exactly what he has encountered in the past. Kit also helps Man ignites her passion for drawing, which allows Man to regain her confidence and balance in life. Soon, the two get closer and falls for each other. One day, Man bumps into her ex-fiancé Fai, she is shocked but surprised that she no longer felt any pain - she has really overcome the past relationship with the help and support of Kit. Meanwhile, when Kit and Man are going to move a step forward, Kit’s ex-girlfriend comes to Paris causing misunderstandings which takes a toll on the relationship.
Movie Review:
Paris Holiday marks a collaboration between a prolific filmmaker and possibly the world’s most prolific actor.
Veteran HK screenwriter and director James Yuen helmed and co-wrote this romance drama which is set in picturesque Paris. Hardly a stretch when you think of it as the location itself is already a bigger star than any of the cast involved. Still a romcom needs a pair of good-looking people (subjective though) to work and right here, we have the pairing of Louis Koo and up-and-coming Taiwanese actress Amber Kuo (Tiny Times, Triumph in the Sky) in the arena.
Koo plays Kit, a heartbroken guy who has just relocated to Paris from HK to take on a new job as a wine dealer. At his current rented flat, he has to share the place with the unit’s previous tenant, Xiao-Min (Amber Kuo) who is currently in a terrible state of mind after being dumped by her fiancé. For whatever reason, Kit becomes Xiao-Min’s gay BFF all because of a little white lie by housing agent, Michael (Alex Fong). Slowly, Xiao-Min begins to get back on the right track with Kit’s constant encouragement, nuggets of wisdom and being the household’s handyman. Predictably, you should know how it’s gonna end. Kit and Xiao-Min is going to end up happily together or one of them is going to end up dead and the agony spills to Paris Holiday 2. As a responsible reviewer, I’m not spoiling it for you so you have to watch it yourself.
While the pairing of Louis Koo and Amber Kuo makes for a fresh, comfortable watch, Paris Holiday happened to be a pale product compared to Yuen’s much superior classic, He’s a Woman, She’s a Man. Inconsequential, mostly eye candy and diabetically sweet. It’s a forgettable commercial title in the league of his past fluffy comedies liked My Sassy Hubby and Look for a Star. None of the plot developments are particularly outstanding and Yuen has to turn to Amber Kuo for some silly antics to set up the story in the first half because honestly she is still cute as a button at the ripe age of 29. Koo at the age of 44 still looks as dashing as ever even though his best attempt at portraying a fake gay friend is hardly convincing. Neat hair, neat suit, LV wallet. That’s not gay, that’s stereotyping.
As the story starts to unravel, the audience gets a deeper look behind Kit and Xiao-Min characters via flashbacks and voiceover. Apparently, both has a sad story to tell and it’s up to viewers to decide whose version is more melancholic. It turned out in the end that Kit is not always the wise confident man he is now. He has a much successful girlfriend in terms of career and he thinks he should not hold her back. In Xiao-Min’s case, her ex-boyfriend and her were once university classmates, vow to complete their education and stick together through thick and thin. That of course didn’t work out.
Yuen tried hard to make the story arc of Kit confessing to Xiao-min he is not gay interesting but that only came out awkward and half-hearted. At the very least, Yuen and his team didn’t forget to include two subplots to prolong the running time simply there’s only so much to showcase between two lovelorn people getting back into the love game. The first subplot involves Alex Fong’s womanising character, an assumed flawed character that is later revealed to be in love with the wife of his deceased buddy. The other story involved a pair of estranged father and daughter played by Janice Man and Anthony Chan. Even both never get much exposition in the end but somehow they are far more compelling than the main plotting.
Unsurprising, Paris Holiday is filled to the brim with scenic breath-taking shots of Effiel Tower, Notre Dame, a lush vineyard and Arc de Triomphe (obligatory locations I must add) just to name a few. Accompanied by Lincoln Lo’s Parisian-theme music score, the entire movie experience runs liked a visually arresting music video. Technicalities are perfect though that can’t be said of the overall drama.
Movie Rating:
(Paris Holiday makes you crave for a vacation in the French capital and nothing else)
Review by Linus Tee
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