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STEPHEN CHOW RETURNS WITH HIS LATEST COMEDY "THE MERMAID"Posted on 07 Jan 2016 |
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AWARDS WATCH #1 - GOLDEN GLOBES AWARD WINNERSPosted on 11 Jan 2016 |
Genre: Comedy
Director: Christian Ditter
Cast: Rebel Wilson, Dakota Johnson, Alison Brie, Leslie Mann, Damon Wayans Jr.
Runtime: 1 hr 50 mins
Rating: NC16 (Sexual References)
Released By: Warner Bros
Official Website: http://howtobesinglemovie.com
Opening Day: 18 February 2016
Synopsis: There’s a right way to be single, a wrong way to be single, and then…there’s Alice. And Robin. Lucy. Meg. Tom. David. New York City is full of lonely hearts seeking the right match, be it a love connection, a hook-up, or something in the middle. And somewhere between the teasing texts and one-night stands, what these unmarrieds all have in common is the need to learn how to be single in a world filled with ever-evolving definitions of love. Sleeping around in the city that never sleeps was never so much fun.
Movie Review:
For a movie that seemingly celebrates singlehood, ‘How to be Single’ spends a lot of time in familiar rom-com territory.
Based only so loosely on Liz Tuccillo’s 2008 novel of the same name, it eschews the book’s globetrotting trek in favour of a ‘Sex and the City-like’ setup where four single women attempt to navigate relationships, careers, and one-night-stands in bustling, metropolitan New York City.
Anchoring the quartet is the sweet, idealistic Alice (Dakota Johnson), a recent college grad who decides to take a break from her longtime boyfriend Josh (Nicholas Braun) to explore the single life by moving in with her older sister Meg (Leslie Mann) and getting a job at a law firm. It is at the law firm that she meets Robin (Rebel Wilson), a promiscuous party animal who gives her a crash course in hook-ups and hangover recovery.
Meanwhile, her sister Meg is a career-oriented obstetrician who has a life-changing moment when left to briefly care for an adorable infant; her maternal instincts unleashed, she decides to have a child via an anonymous sperm donor. And rounding out the group is Lucy (Alison Brie), a hyper-intense woman so motivated to find the right one to settle down that she has developed an algorithm to trawl through dating sites in search of eligible men.
The only relation that Lucy bears to the other female players is Tom (Anders Holm), the owner and bartender of a hip neighbourhood watering hole where Alice and Robin go to on a regular basis to pick up guys and where Lucy meets the dates she has shortlisted. Incidentally, Tom is also a believer in casual dating, and is just as happy explaining the rules of the game to Alice as he is being her occasional sexual partner as she flits in and out of a number of unlucky relationships.
Whereas ‘Sex and the City’ had the benefit of multiple seasons to develop its characters, there is no such luxury here; even then, there is little excuse for how thinly defined the ladies are. Not surprisingly, Alice is the most fully formed character of the lot, and she does no better than trying to get over Josh (who has since moved on with a new girl named Michelle), hooking up occasionally with Tom, and dating briefly a single dad (Damon Wayans) she meets at a networking event who hasn’t quite gotten over his ex-wife. Meg, on the other hand, spends her time getting together and then trying to break up with a younger guy Ken (Jake Lucy) who is madly (and persistently) in love with her – and let’s just say that their relationship tug-of-war ends up exactly how you expect it to.
Alas, Robin and Lucy fare even worse. The former is called upon only when the movie needs a comic relief, and the exceptionally funny Wilson is unfortunately criminally wasted as the goofy sidekick who delivers the script’s wittiest zingers and little else. The latter is utterly extraneous to the whole enterprise, a marriage-minded Type A cliché whose presence goes little further than a couple of bad dates at Tom’s Bar before meeting the Right One in the form of the owner of a local bookstore (Jason Mantzoukas) where she has a meltdown while reading to a group of young children.
That the scattershot plotting turns out modestly engaging is thanks to the infectious energy of its female cast, who bring some much-needed verve to their limited roles. It’s a familiar routine, but Mann proves that her edgy, self-aware and high-strung act as Meg can still be hysterically amusing, such as when her character is confronted by Ken in a mothers-and-babies department store. Wilson is fearlessly funny playing a sex-ed up version of her ‘Pitch Perfect’ persona with bawdy glee, and it is probably no surprise that she is singlehandedly responsible for the most outrageous moments in the film. Next to two high-energy performances, Johnson admirably holds her own as the sensitive, thoughtful complement, occasionally letting an easy-going offhanded charisma emerge from an otherwise more nuanced act.
So while it does make clear its ambition at the start to subvert the typical rom-com, ‘How to be Single’ seems content to wallow in the same genre tropes most of the time. Only at the end does it actually begin to embrace singlehood as an opportunity for self-discovery, but we suspect by that time that most would have already dismissed it as having pulled a bait-and-switch. That is at the very least mildly disappointing, for there is so much more that its talented cast could have done than play a bunch of stock characters from the rom-com playbook. This isn't about how to be single more than it is about how to find love in New York City - and the irony is that Carrie Bradshaw had already shown us how to do both just as well a long time ago.
Movie Rating:
(Despite an infectiously engaging cast, this supposed celebration of singlehood is no more than a standard-issue rom-com and a poor cousin of 'Sex and the City')
Review by Gabriel Chong
Genre: Sci-Fi/Drama
Director: Jeff Nichols
Cast: Michael Shannon, Joel Edgerton, Kirsten Dunst, Adam Driver, Jaeden Lieberher
Runtime: 1 hr 52 mins
Rating: PG (Some Violence)
Released By: Warner Bros
Official Website: http://www.midnightspecialmovie.com
Opening Day: 21 April 2016
Synopsis: A father (Michael Shannon) goes on the run to protect his young son, Alton (Jaeden Lieberher), and uncover the truth behind the boy’s special powers. What starts as a race from religious extremists and local law enforcement quickly escalates to a nationwide manhunt involving the highest levels of the Federal Government. Ultimately his father risks everything to protect Alton and help fulfill a destiny that could change the world forever, in this genre – defying film as supernatural as it is intimately human.
Movie Review:
The less you know about ‘Midnight Special’, the better. Like a layered mystery, writer-director Jeff Nichols unveils his tale of a boy with supernatural powers slowly, delighting along the way in confounding his audience’s tendency to pigeonhole his movie into any particular genre. And so, as much as it may be tempting to reduce this to a sci-fi chase movie, somewhere within is in fact a road movie, a father-son drama and even a cautionary tale about the powers-that-be, carefully calibrated and confidently directed by a filmmaker who is best known for his taut humane dramas like ‘Mud’ and ‘Take Shelter’ and who takes his craft to a whole different level here.
Setting the plot in motion are TV news reports of an Amber Alert about the abduction of an 8-year-old named Alton Meyer (Jaeden Lieberher), with a certain Roy Tomlin (Michael Shannon) identified as the kidnapper. These reports come from a TV in a motel room, where Alton is holed up hiding beneath a sheet and wearing shooting earmuffs and swimming goggles. Roy is there in the same room, together with a clearly subordinate Lucas (Joel Edgerton), but instead of quivering with fear, Alton seems to take comfort from Roy. In fact, as the three make their way down moonlit Texas backroads in an ancient Chevy shortly, we soon realise that Roy is Alton’s birth father and that he and Lucas are on the run for Alton’s own protection.
It doesn’t take long before we find out that Alton is far from an ordinary boy and that the real danger he faces is from a fundamentalist religious cult called the Third Heaven Ranch led by the stony-faced Calvin Meyer (Sam Shepard). Calvin believes that the boy he forcibly adopted is their Messiah – in particular, that the numbers Alton keeps repeating are the co-ordinates and date for an end-of-days event that will save them all. Unbeknownst to them, these numbers also happen to be classified military information, which explains why Alton is simultaneously pursued by the Government – and it doesn’t help that Alton demonstrates that he is able to telepathically pull a satellite out of orbit from space down to Earth, sending its smashed fragments scattering across a rural Louisiana gas station.
There is a rich metaphor here about how different groups interpret something extraordinary and therefore outside their normal realm of understanding, but Nichols doesn’t quite take it far enough for it to be truly meaningful. Instead, Roy and Lucas are joined midway through the film by Sarah (Kirsten Dunst) – whom we learn is in fact Alton’s mother – and the trio continue the cat-and-mouse game with both the authorities as well as a pair of hit men (Bill Camp and Scott Haze) sent by Calvin to retrieve the boy back to the Ranch. It is a somewhat disappointing turn of events to be honest, mainly because it takes the movie down a much more conventional path than what the setup had suggested, right down to the final revelation of just who Alton is and who he has been waiting for all this while.
But even if the last act is a little too literal, it is never less than engaging to watch thanks to some powerfully acted human drama. The emotional anchor here is the strong bond between father and son, led by Shannon and Lieberher’s committed performances. The former, who has appeared in every one of Nichols’ films, conveys quiet strength and heartfelt anxiety in equal measure; while the latter balances innocence, wisdom, vulnerability and enigma in wonderfully low-key fashion. Dunst’s entry in the middle act adds an unexpected tenderness, the actress’ stripped down performance in itself endearingly plain and tender. And though Edgerton and Driver are pretty much complementary to the central relationship with Alton and his family, the actors are solid supporting acts.
Like we said at the start, the best way to appreciate ‘Midnight Special’ is to know as little about it as you can and let it surprise you along the way. It isn’t some ground-breaking genre exercise if that’s what you’re expecting, but there is something deeply enthralling about Nichols’ blend of science, religion and politics that will keep you hooked. And oh if you’re waiting for that classic Credence Clearwater Revival song, just know that Nichols has most appropriately saved that little special for right at the end.
Movie Rating:
(Anchored by stellar performances and a strong central relationship between a father and his extraordinary son, Jeff Nichols' latest is an intriguing sci-fi delight)
Review by Gabriel Chong
How can one not look up to John Williams? The American conductor, conductor and pianist has a career spanning over 60 years, and have given the world some of the most popular movie themes. IndianaJones, JurassicParkand Harry Potter – yup, those tunes you’ve been humming to came from the talented mind of the 84 year old maestro.
What would the cinematic universe be without the Star Wars movies? Williams is the man behind the recognisable film scores as well. One of his Academy Award wins was for his work on the first Star Wars film in 1977. His other four were from Fiddler on the Roof (1971), Jaws (1975), E.T. the Extra Terrestrial (1982) and Schindler’s List (1993).
And with his work on the latest Star Wars movie directed by JJ Abrams, Williams is getting his 50th Oscar nomination. That’s a real feat, if you ask us.
The 77 minute soundtrack album is a must own for any film fan (especially if you already have the CDs from the six other Star Wars movies). Of course, as you’d expect, the album kicks off with the Star Wars’ opening text crawl and its signature fanfare (this is a cultural product, mind you) in “Main Title and The Attack on the JakkuVillage”. Venezuelan conductor and violinist Gustavo Dudamel is listed as a special guest conductor on this opening track – probably a great honour for the 35 year old musician. He is also involved in later cues like “The Starkiller”, “March of the Resistance” and the closing track “The Jedi Steps and Finale”.
Those who are fixated with themes from the previous movies would be eager to pick them out in this soundtrack. While there are hints of earlier music, this is a new composition altogether, and rightfully so. The track that will stick in your head is “Rey’s Theme”, a string and woodwind composition that is heavy with optimism and good feelings.
Elsewhere, there are action sequences like “Follow Me”, “The Falcon” and “Scherzo for X Wings’ which will set your pulses running. The baddie of this movie Kylo Ren doesn’t get Darth Vader treatment, but the ominous theme in “Kylo Ren Arrives at the Battle” does signify his bad ass attitude. Following that is “The Abduction”, a cue that is also aptly moody for the tortured villain.
Perhaps, the question most people have is whether this score is worthy of an Oscar win? Let’s just say, with Williams’ reputation in the film industry (check out the Internet to find out the countless American Film Institute, BAFTA. Emmy, Golden Globe and Emmy awards he has clinched), it doesn’t really matter any more.
ALBUM RATING:
Recommended Track: (6) Rey's Theme
Review by John Li
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Teaser Trailer Revealed for VALERIAN AND THE CITY OF A THOUSAND PLANETSPosted on 11 Nov 2016 |
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ALAN RICKMAN (1946 - 2016)Posted on 14 Jan 2016 |
Genre: Sci-Fi/Thriller
Director: Dan Trachtenberg
Cast: John Goodman, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, John Gallagher Jr.
Runtime: 1 hr 43 mins
Rating: PG13 (Some Violence)
Released By: UIP
Official Website:
Opening Day: 7 April 2016
Synopsis: A young woman wakes up after a terrible accident to find that she's locked in a cellar with a doomsday prepper, who insists that he saved her life and that the world outside is uninhabitable following an apocalyptic catastrophe. Uncertain what to believe, the woman soon determines that she must escape at any cost.
Movie Review:
We never liked ‘Cloverfield’. As well-acclaimed as that little 2008 monster movie was, we hated its nausea-inducing found footage aesthetic, not to mention its annoying repetitiveness of people shouting ‘Oh, my God!’ over and over again and running away from something we never quite see until the very end. It is therefore not with anticipation, but with a sure measure of dread, that we learn of ’10 Cloverfield Lane’, a film that was not conceived as bearing any relation to ‘Cloverfield’ – that is, until its producer J.J. Abrams seized upon an opportunity to turn into a spiritual successor to its now-titular predecessor. Yet it is also precisely because first-time director Dan Trachtenberg’s film is not like that gimmicky excuse of a film that it proves much, much more compelling, whether as a standalone movie or as one that shares the earlier film’s post-apocalyptic world overrun by aliens.
Consider that as fair warning to those who are expecting the monster mayhem of the original film; only in the third act do we get a glimpse of them creatures which had last overran Manhattan. Oh yes, ’10 Cloverfield Lane’ unfolds pretty much entirely within the confines of an underground bunker, where a trio of uneasy dwellers are trying to hide out from an unspecified above-ground chemical attack that has apparently decimated the world. John Goodman’s survivalist Howard is the patriarch of this little family, which also consists of his handyman neighbour Emmett (John Gallagher Jr.) and Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), a young woman running from a bad romance who awakens from a car crash to find herself handcuffed to a pipe in the subterranean lair.
That Michelle would doubt Howard’s claim that he is keeping her inside for her own good given how the attack has made the air outside toxic and uninhabitable is inevitable, and the script by relative newbies Josh Campbell and Matthew Stuecken (with an assist from Whiplash’s Damien Chazelle) plays deftly with her suspicions with regard to Howard’s intentions. Without spoiling any of the delightfully unexpected turns that the story takes, let us just say that Howard is and is not a saviour at the same time, a contradiction which Trachtenberg unspools to surprisingly claustrophobic and suspenseful effect within the shelter’s tight quarters. It is a taut and tense three-character chamber piece all right, anchored by a trio of top-notch performances.
Goodman isn’t quite someone you’d readily associate with a film like this, but the veteran actor switches effortlessly between an uptight controlling persona with barely suppressed rage and a more likeable, even hospitable, veneer that makes for a chillingly disconcerting watch. Just when you think you’ve got him figured out, Goodman hints at something more, and that ambiguity works beautifully for a character whose motives is supposed to keep us guessing. On the other hand, Winstead avoids the cliché of the tanktop-wearing heroine in distress (despite being in one most of the time) by a calculated and measured turn as the frightened yet resourceful heroine who relies on her own smarts and quick-thinking to make good on her determination not to be a passive victim.
Tonally, the change-up from a trim Hitchcockian thriller to a conventional sci-fi movie in the last act feels jarring to say the least, but Winstead carries the role with total commitment, and it is in rooting for her character’s survival that we remain emotionally invested. Those looking for some answers to the questions posed – but never really resolved – in the 2008 movie will likely be disappointed, because like its so-called ‘blood relative’, ’10 Cloverfield Lane’ similarly leaves you guessing just where these monsters are from and what they want from Earth. So even though it does open up franchise opportunities for one of the most profitable films from Abrams’ Bad Robot stable, it isn’t quite so clear that the creative decision to link the two movies was in fact an inspired one.
In fact, it is pretty obvious that this genre mashup is a much, much better film when it plays as its own gripping psychodrama than when it tries to grow the connective and thematic tissue with the earlier found-footage monster mash. Though an early shot of Winstead waking up in a windowless basement chained to the wall does make one wonder if it will go the way of ‘Saw’, there is no intention of replicating the same exploitative thrills; rather, it builds mystery teasing its audience to guess whether Howard is a psychopath holding Michelle captive towards his own degenerate ends or a saviour who has rescued her from Armageddon. Let’s just say the fun is in being knocked off balance more than once at what you think you know, and even if its conclusion does its smarter and wittier build-up no favours, this is one mystery box well worth your time unravelling.
Movie Rating:
(Better as a three-character psychodrama chamber piece than as a ‘spiritual successor’ to the 2008 found-footage monster mash, ’10 Cloverfield Lane’ is – when at its best – a taut and tense Hitchcockian thriller)
Review by Gabriel Chong
Genre: Comedy
Director: Nicholas Stoller
Cast: Seth Rogen, Zac Efron, Rose Byrne, Chloë Grace Moretz, Ike Barinholtz, Dave Franco, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Selena Gomez, Lisa Kudrow
Runtime: 1 hr 33 mins
Rating: R21 (Sexual Content And Drug Use)
Released By: UIP
Official Website:
Opening Day: 5 May 2016
Synopsis: Returning stars Seth Rogen, Zac Efron and Rose Byrne are joined by Chloë Grace Moretz for Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising, the follow-up to 2014’s most popular original comedy. Nicholas Stoller again directs in a film that follows what happens when the will of parenthood goes against the bonds of sisterhood. Now that Mac (Rogen) and Kelly Radner (Byrne) have a second baby on the way, they are ready to make the final move into adulthood: the suburbs. But just as they thought they’d reclaimed the neighborhood and were safe to sell, they learn that the new occupants next door are a sorority even more out of control than Teddy (Efron) and his brothers ever dreamed of being.
Movie Review:
Sequels often seem too eager to reprise the (winning) formula of their predecessor, without realising that the same jokes ain’t quite so funny the second time around; and yet those who try to reinvent the wheel also risk falling out of favour with fans of the original, who are ultimately expect a fresh, yet familiar, helping of the same. Accomplishing that balance isn’t quite so easy, which is just one reason why ‘Neighbours 2’ is a surprising achievement. While reprising the template of the original in having middle-aged Seth Rogen and Rose Bryne’s homeowners/ newfound parents take on loud, obnoxious teenagers right next door, this sequel that manages to be just as, if not more, raucous and outrageous is even funnier, more poignant and we dare say, even better than the original.
Instead of Zac Efron’s perfectly ripped Teddy Sanders and his other Delta Psi frat-boys, Mac (Rogen) and Kelly (Bryne) find themselves up against a sorority led by Shelby (Chloe Grace Moretz) and her similarly non-conformist new friends Beth (Kiersey Clemons) and Nora (Beanie Feldstein). Irked by the rule that sororities on campus are not allowed to host parties and appalled by the ‘rape culture’ at misogynistic frat parties, Shelby decides to search for a house outside of the university grounds to start a new sorority she eventually names ‘Kappa Nu’, a search that brings her to the very house where Delta Psi used to reside. Their timing however couldn’t be more unfortunate – in anticipation of their second child, Mac and Kelly have just sold their house to a mixed-race couple, who have a 30-day escrow period to make sure the place is in order before confirming their purchase.
Shelby finds an unexpected ally in Teddy, whom we learn has been struggling to adjust to life after college. Not only does he find that his abs have become no longer relevant at Abercrombie & Fitch where he works, his best friend and roommate Pete (Dave Franco) wants him to move out after coming out of the closet by announcing that he is about to get married to a man. Teddy’s still sore about the previous confrontation with Mac and Kelly – not least because it left him with a criminal record that has made it difficult for him to find employment – and finds purpose assisting Shelby work out the sums to pay rent by showing them how to run a party to also attract more like-minded females to join Kappa Nu. It is also Teddy who coaxes Shelby not to acquiesce to a 30-day truce which Mac proposes.
And so just like that, the battle lines have been drawn between the two houses yet again, though Teddy will switch sides halfway when the Kappa Nus hold an executive meeting over Instant Messaging (IM) and oust him for being “an old person”. Somewhat surprisingly, the gags you probably already know about – including that of the Kappa Nus dressed in bikinis throwing themselves on top of Mac’s car – are as brief as they have been glimpsed in the trailers. Indeed, there is more up the sleeves of returning director Nicholas Stoller and his team of screenwriters (including original scribes Andrew Jay Cohen and Brendan O'Brien, and Rogen and Evan Goldberg) than you would expect, ranging from a marijuana heist at a tailgate party to an iPhone sabotage that leads to a series of misplaced texts and false alarms.
Just as amusing as these high-farce set pieces are the high-profile cameos by Lisa Kudrow and Kelsey Grammar, the former as a hard-assed college principal whom Kelly makes the mistake of trying to bribe with a couple of dollars and coins and the latter as Shelby’s dad whom Mac and Kelly call in to rein in his ‘wayward’ daughter. That ‘Neighbours 2’ turns out more engaging than the sum of these parts is credit to the attention and detail that Stoller pays to each one of the key characters – namely, Mac, Kelly, Teddy and Shelby – none of whom he conveniently fits into the mould of hero or villain. In fact, you’ll be pleasantly amazed at how your sympathies shift during the course of the movie, so much so that you’d wish that they could all just put aside their differences and get along with each other at the end of the day.
Amidst the laughs, there is also a thoughtful and sometimes thought-provoking lesson on sexism. On the surface, the very establishment of Kappa Nu seems like a modern-day feminist movement, its genesis rooted in the rebellion against the archaic rules of the Greek system that persist till today. And yet, along the way, Stoller and his eminently male screenwriting team call out the hypocritical pitfalls of such empowerments, especially as Kudrow’s college dean points out to Mac that ‘there is no such thing as reverse sexism’. The subtext here is a little less straightforward, but those looking for a more forthright comedy of low-brow pleasure will find much to laugh and holler at in this authentically ribald sequel. Oh yes, fans of the original will be glad to know that even though the gender is different, the gross-out sensibilities remain intact, and this is as perfect a sequel as you would expect.
Movie Rating:
(As gross and low-brow as its predecessor, this sequel tops the original with better character work and a surprisingly pointed message on female empowerment)
Review by Gabriel Chong
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AWARDS WATCH #3 - 'SPOTLIGHT' TAKES BEST PICTURE, MAD MAX: FURY ROAD TAKES BEST ACTION MOVIEPosted on 18 Jan 2016 |
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