Genre: Erotic Drama
Director: Eric Khoo
Cast: Josie Ho, Choi Woo Shik, Lawrence Wong, George Young, Koh Boon Pin, Daniel Jenkins, Ian Tan, Nadia Ar, Netnaphad Pulsated, Wasurat Unaprom, Show Nishino, Kkobbi Kim
Runtime: 1 hr 44 mins
Rating: R21 (Sexual Scenes)
Released By: Encore Films and Golden Village Pictures
Official Website:
Opening Day: 25 February 2016
Synopsis: IN THE ROOM deals with love, life and lust. Eric Khoo’s latest film is a tapestry of six stories, all of which unfold in a hotel room over several decades. The common thread is sex. That hotel room is Room 27 at the Singapura Hotel, which started out as a ritzy establishment in the 1940s but has, over the decades, lost its sheen of respectability. In that time, Room 27 has felt and experienced – through the individuals who have passed through its doors and made love on its bed - all facets of the human condition: joy, love, fear, compassion, cruelty, depravity and redemption. It has witnessed beginnings and endings, and everything in between. For some, Room 27 is a nameless numbered room, a place which provides a cloak of anonymity, where one could indulge in indiscretions and the forbidden, where their trespasses will be forgiven once they return the key and sign the bill.
Movie Review:
When we heard that Eric Khoo’s erotic drama would make its local premiere at last year’s Singapore International Film Festival, we were pretty psyched about it. After all, Khoo’s reputation as Singapore’s art house filmmaker has put us on the world map. This is the man who made feature films like Mee Pok Man (1995), 12 Storeys (1997), Be With Me (2005) and My Magic (2008). This doesn’t include his involvement as producer in other acclaimed local works like Royston Tan’s 15: The Movie (2003) and Boo Junfeng’s Sandcastle (2010). Khoo’s films has been screened at international film festivals such as Venice, Berlin, Rotterdamand the highly regarded Cannes.
And that is why we were looking forward to the 50 year old filmmaker’s latest feature film. No, really. We were not excited because it is marketed as an erotic drama stringing six stories set in Room 27 at the fictitious Singapura Hotel. Spanning several decades, the stories include characters from Singapore, Hong Kong, South Koreaand Thailand. No, we were not particularly eager to check out the sex scenes which were reportedly so, ahem, sensual, that the original version cannot be shown in mainstream cinemas.
Apparently, the Media Development Authority did not classify the original version for a commercial release (the film was passed with an R21 rating for its film festival screening in December last year). Then, business happened. Tweaks were made to the film so that its “International Version” could be released in Singaporefor those who did not have the chance to catch the original version. Some scenes which exceeded the film classification guidelines were reworked, but the movie runtime is retained (the powers of editing, indeed).
While most of us prudes would be concerned about what was edited, let’s just say it does not really matter. The marketing angle of how viewers will get to see some of the most erotic scenes ever filmed in a local film should be ashamed – this is Khoo’s “won little tribute to SG50” (as reported in a media interview). Hence, we should be focusing on the stories the film is trying to tell amidst the hot, steamy sex.
Unfortunately, we also feel this is Khoo’s weakest film yet. It is probably to the hype about the attention on the countless lusty sequences in the movie. While we get it that the film is trying to portray the urban loneliness that ironically strings most of us human beings together, the six stories feel somewhat uneven.
There is a British man who tries to persuade his married Chinese male lover to flee Singapore (Daniel Jenkins and Koh Boon Pin’s sequence is the most subdued), a mamasan who is trying to teach her disciples to embrace the power of their sexuality (Josie Ho’s segment is the most fun to watch), a young man who is trying to convince a married Japanese woman to have a future with him (Lawrence Wong and Show Nishino’s sex scenes are the ones you should be looking out for), a transgender Thai woman who is preparing for a sex reassignment surgery after her boyfriend performs a farewell fellatio, a sex crazed Korean girl who is traveling with her virgin school buddy, and the overarching story about a musician who dies of a heroin overdose and becomes a ghost which sticks around to witness the abovementioned tales, while having a bittersweet encounter with a young hotel maid. The last character is a dedication to the late horror writer and musician Damien Sin, who scripted Khoo’s debut feature film Mee Pok Man.
The concept does sound plausible on paper, but the execution fails to engage viewers throughout the film’s 104 minute runtime. Kudos to the production team for gradually turning the film’s look which indicates each segment’s era. There are also nice little touches which work as tributes to Khoo’s earlier films. However, when the film ends (with an out of this world conclusion, if we may add), we just couldn’t get the oomph which we were hoping to experience.
Movie Rating:
(The hype about the steamy sex scenes sure got our attention – but alas, the uneven storytelling does not manage to, ahem, climax on a high)
Review by John Li
Genre: Horror/Thriller
Director: Kelvin Tong
Cast: Elizabeth Rice, Matthew Settle, Adina Herz, Colin Borgonon, Adrian Pang, Jaymeee Ong, Pamelyn Chee, Paul Lucas, Victoria Mintey, Gus Donald
Runtime: 1 hr 35 mins
Rating: NC-16 (Horror)
Released By: Golden Village Pictures
Official Website:
Opening Day: 12 May 2016
Synopsis: Tenacious journalist Jamie Waters travels from Seattle to Singapore to investigate the mysterious suicide of her older sister Anna. Inexplicable events at Anna’s new house and the odd behaviour of her daughter Katie lead Jamie to a string of bizarre suicides involving strange allusions to the Tower of Babel. The supernatural forces arrayed against Jamie intensify when she receives emails from the dead Anna. With the help of her sister’s former husband Sam, Jamie races to solve the mystery of Anna’s death as demonic forces attack Katie and evidence mounts of the Tower of Babel rising once again – in the form of the Internet.
Movie Review:
Rather than wait for Hollywood to knock on our doors, Singapore’s very own Kelvin Tong has decided to show them that we have seen enough classic Tinseltown horror to make one of our very own. Or at least that seems to be his plan, based on his derivative but modestly effective ‘The Faith of Anna Waters’ – otherwise known as ‘The Offering’. Indeed, rather than serving up something original, Tong borrows ideas and even entire scenes from notable genre offerings such as ‘The Exorcist’, ‘The Omen’ and ‘The Conjuring’ to piece together an exorcism thriller that has a Leviathan take possession of a young girl while attempting to resurrect the biblical Tower of Babel via binary code.
If that one-line description made you go ‘what’, know that you are not alone. Tong, who also wrote the film, throws everything but the kitchen sink into a convoluted plot that begins with the suicide of one Anna Waters afflicted with Huntington’s disease and weaves its way through a haunted colonial mansion, devilish anagrams, demonic code and a test of faith for a veteran priest disillusioned by the last rite of exorcism which he performed in Bali ten years ago. Oh yes, there is so much story here that it unfolds largely as two separate narrative tracks – the first led by Chicago-based journalist Jamie Waters (Elizabeth Rice) who travels to Singapore to investigate her suspicion that her sister’s death wasn’t just suicide, and the second led by two Catholic priests (Colin Borgonon and Adrian Pang) who uncover the Leviathan’s unholy plan using the Internet.
Only before the concluding exorcism sequence does Jamie meet Father De Silva (Borgonon), who will show up in the nick of time to save Anna’s estranged husband Sam (Matthew Settle) from committing suicide and thereafter perform the rite to chase the demon away from inside Anna’s daughter Katie (Adina Herz). Just that sequence alone is proof of how Tong seems to be grabbing familiar elements from other better movies – not only does the exorcism take place in the basement like ‘The Conjuring’, the victim does a 180-degree head-spinning effect straight out of ‘The Exorcist’. It still is unnerving all right, but there’s no denying how much it underscores the overarching derivativeness of the entire enterprise, which also ends up undermining the mood of creeping dread that Tong tries assiduously to build throughout its one-half-hour duration.
Fortunately, Tong proves a better director than writer, with at least a few good scares even for the most seasoned viewer. One of the creepiest images is that of a teddy bear bouncing up and down on a trampoline, followed swiftly by that of garments being ripped off an outdoor clothesline by a child-like apparition. Equally effective is a pitch-black deep-sea diving-suit helmet which Jamie first spies in the basement, and which suddenly appears in the living room one day when her colleague Marjorie (Jaymee Ong) comes over to babysit. Within his principal location of a black-and-white bungalow in Stevens Road, Tong constructs a couple of sinister sequences, such as one where Katie encounters the ghosts of a mother and son killed by their husband/ father who first tried to resurrect the Leviathan decades ago and another where the Leviathan sends Katie levitating while seated on her bed. With the help of Wade Muller’s cinematography, Tong largely succeeds in achieving the Gothic feel of period horror fare like ‘The Woman in Black’ right here in Singapore, and it speaks of his competence as a visual stylist that it is quite vastly different than that which he pulled off in ‘The Maid’.
Yet that low-profile horror feels like a more assured piece of filmmaking than ‘The Faith of Anna Waters’, which despite some good atmosphere and slick scares, feels too familiar and uninspired. In particular, Tong’s muddled storytelling and lack of character definition makes his Hollywood film no more than generic genre fare, which is no wonder it is getting only a very limited release in the States. Ironically, it also proves too Westernised for the local audience to truly embrace it as a film made in Singapore, especially since recognisable faces like Pang, Tan Kheng Hua and Janice Koh are relegated to supporting or bit roles. It won’t make you lose faith in Singapore cinema that’s for sure, but maybe just a little in Tong himself.
Movie Rating:
(Kelvin Tong's filmed-in-Singapore Hollywood film is a modestly effective exorcism thriller that is nonetheless too derivative for its own good)
Review by Gabriel Chong
Genre: Stop Motion/Drama
Director: Charlie Kaufman, Duke Johnson
Cast: Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tom Noonan, David Thewlis
Runtime: 1 hr 31 mins
Rating: R21 (Sexual Scene and Nudity)
Released By: UIP
Official Website: http://www.anomalisa.com
Opening Day: 18 February 2016
Synopsis: A man struggles with his inability to connect with other people.
Movie Review:
As masterful as it is, Anomalisa is not one of the easiest movies to watch.
Don’t get me wrong, despite the no-holds-barred approach, the film isn’t in any way, overly offensive. It’s precisely because Anomalisa is such an honest depiction of life and how it can be so robotic and meaningless that it can be scary to watch. You may find yourself relating all too easily to Michael Stone’s seemingly successful jetsetting life as a motivational speaker/customer service guru is a mere guise for a mundane and going-through-the-motions life. Because that can be your life too, especially in our success-driven society where the measure of the success and the degree to which your life is deemed meaningful is tied to how well you conform to the expected phases in life – get a degree, get a well-paying white-collared job, get married, have kids etc etc. Michael’s groupies gush at how ‘cute’ he looks, how intelligent he is but he is living a lie where he urges those in customer service to treat all customers as unique individuals and as “humans” but confesses to not knowing what being human, with all the emotions and aches, means.
Of course, given Charlie Kaufman, the maestro behind such quirky yet deeply thought-provoking movies such as Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Being John Malkovich, you can’t expect him to simply just have Michael Stone’s successful yet meaningless life play out in a conventional (and dare I say boring?) way. Kaufman lives up to expectations and chooses to have Michael’s story unfold via stop-motion animation. Except you easily forget given how life-like the two lead puppet characters, Michael and Lisa, are. Not only do their expressions and voices have twitches and inflections that are typical of normal human beings, they are photorealistic puppets who have the same physical flaws (facial scars, slightly protruding stomachs) as well as insecurities as you and I.
Treatment of the storytelling aside, the story is made more intriguing by the fact that everyone around Michael (save for Lisa) have exactly the same face and same voice regardless of gender, age or ethnicity. The only way you can tell them apart is by their height, gait, hairstyle and overall physique.
The name of the hotel, Fregoli, hints at Michael suffering from some kind of disorder (go search for Fregoli disorder) and the encounter that he has with the hotel general manager reinforces that belief. However, there are hints that Michael’s own behaviour may be a catalyst, if not impetus, for this strange situation he finds himself in. Although Lisa is initially seen as a ray of hope for him to put himself out of this situation, when his pure unadulterated admiration of her very existence in his life gives way to his desire for her to conform to his standards and his wants, she literally starts to become just like everyone else- bearing the same face and the same voice. Michael’s world and reality may very well be an extreme manifestation of solipsism. His sense of ennui stems from the lack of literal variety in the people in his life and his inability to see them as individuals with whom he can build real bonds. Yet he hungers for real human relationships where he can view them as unique individuals but the irony is that the real cause of his inability to see them as individuals could very well be him, rendering him unable to break out of this horrible world that he may have trapped himself in.
Movie Rating:
(If you like a philosophical and no-holds-barred look at life, then you’ll love Anomalisa)
Review by Katrina Tee
Genre: Comedy
Director: Louis Letterier
Cast: Sacha Baron Cohen, Mark Strong, Isla Fisher, Rebel Wilson, Gabourey Sidibe, Annabelle Wallis, Ian McShane, Scott Adkins, Tamsin Egerton, Penélope Cruz
Runtime: 1 hr 22 mins
Rating: R21 (Sexual Humor)
Released By: Golden Village Pictures
Official Website:
Opening Day: 10 March 2016
Synopsis: This spring, the only thing more dangerous than the world's greatest spy is his brother. Don't miss the hilarious new comedy by Sacha Baron Cohen! Nobby (Sacha Baron Cohen), a sweet but dimwitted English football hooligan, reunites with his long-lost brother Sebastian (Mark Strong), a deadly MI6 agent, to prevent a massive global terror attack and prove that behind every great spy is an embarrassing sibling. Nobby has everything a man from Grimsby could want, including 11 children and the most gorgeous girlfriend in the northeast of England (Rebel Wilson). There’s only one thing missing: his little brother, Sebastian, who Nobby has spent 28 years searching for after they were separated as kids. Nobby sets off to reunite with Sebastian, unaware that not only is his brother MI6’s deadliest assassin, but he’s just uncovered plans for an imminent global terrorist attack. On the run and wrongfully accused, Sebastian realizes that if he is going to save the world, he will need the help of its biggest idiot.
Movie Review:
This reviewer remembers the apprehension when he attended the preview screening of Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (yup, that is the official full title of the 2006 comedy). What is this Sacha Baron Cohen trying to do, all dressed up as a scruffy moustached brute waving a small American flag? Not much was known about the English actor, except that he was quite funny playing Ali G, a stereotype of a white man who imitates rap culture as as well as urban and British Jamaican culture.
Ah, the rude shock this writer was in. Borat was a complete hoot. Although the Oscar nominated film (yes, the controversial film was up for an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay in 2007) contains countless embarrassingly rude moments, it is one of those movies which this columnist would literally LOL (laugh out loud) upon repeated viewings.
Baron Cohen then went on to play Bruno Gehard (a flamboyantly gat Austrian fashion icon) in 2009’s Bruno, Admiral General Aladeen (a childish, tyrannical and sexist politician) in 2012’s The Dictator, and in his most family friendly role - voicing King Julien XIII in the Madagascar movies (2005-2012). Yup, he’s the dude who got the whole “I Like To Move It Move It” movement.
Hmm, after three paragraphs and we’re still not talking about the 44 year old actor’s latest work directed by Louis Leterrier? You see, it is a familiar return to the kind of rude humour that Baron Cohen is (in)famously known for, and there isn't really much we can say without sounding offensive. He plays a man from the English town of Grimsby, which is not a location which the local toursim board would strongly promote) who has spent almost his whole life searching for his younger brother. When a situation brings the two siblings together, they must depend on each other to, ahem, save the world.
As ridiculous as the story written by Phil Johnston, Peter Baynham and Baron Cohen himself sounds, it is difficult to imagine how far fetched the jokes would go. Gosh, you have to watch this yourself to find out. Without giving too much away, let’s just say a biology TV documentary Baron Cohen’s character (Nobby) asks his 11 (yes, you read that right) kids to watch will be linked to one of the outrageously LOL sequences we’ve seen in a while.
Then there are those moments where the filmmakers go step into the sensitive boundaries of race (watch out for a scene featuring Gabourey Sidibe, best known for her Best Actress nominated work in 2009’s Precious), HIV (sorry, Daniel Radcliffe and Donald Trump) and a staple serving of toilet jokes.
Will this go down well with viewers? Without sounding rude, it really depends on your personal taste and tolerance for this genre. This writer had one hell of a time LOL-ing, and he remembers most of the audiences laughing along as well.
It sure helps that the movie directed by Louis Leterrier is kept short and sweet at 82 minutes, and co stars Mark Strong, Isla Fisher, Rebel Wilson, Penelope Cruz and Ian McShane looked like they too, had one hell of a time being involved in the movie. This is the kind of movie that works best if you want to chase away some stress induced blues.
Movie Rating:
(Let go your inhibitions and be prepared for one hell of a LOL movie experience)
Review by John Li
Genre: Drama
Director: Jack Neo
Cast: Aileen Tan, Mark Lee, Wang Lei, Suhaimi Yusof, Ryan Lian, Benjamin Tan, Yan Li Xuan, Ng Suan Loi, Charmaine Sei
Runtime: 2 hrs 1 min
Rating: PG13 (Some Sexual References)
Released By: mm2 Entertainment, Golden Village Pictures, Shaw
Official Website:
Opening Day: 31 March 2016
Synopsis: After the 1969 nationwide floods, Zhao Di takes over her father’s family farm with the help of reformed gangster Ah Long. In 1977, the Government begins expropriating land for redevelopment, forcing villagers from their kampongs. Licensed farmland owners, such as Zhao Di, are financially compensated for their land. Ah Kun, Zhao Di’s greedy brother accuses Zhao Di and Ah Long of having an affair to tarnish her name in front of the family. In the midst of Ah Kun’s persistent accusations, Zhao Di’s health takes a hit. Will Zhao Di be able to keep her hard-earned compensation money? What will become of her family if Zhao Di’s health continues to deteriorate? As people change with time, will the kampong spirit remain?
Movie Review:
Of late, Jack Neo’s stories have gotten longer, but in the case of ‘Long Long Time Ago’ at least, we can reassure you that it isn’t because he has gotten more long-winded.
For the uninitiated, the two-part saga of the trials and tribulations of a family living through the early years of Singapore’s independence is Neo’s ode to a bygone era in Singapore’s history.
Zhao Di (Aileen Tan) is the eldest daughter, gentle, restrained yet quietly resilient; while Ah Kun (Mark Lee) is her second brother, an opportunistic good-for-nothing ingrate who not only gambles his time away but is consistently getting himself and his family into trouble. Their conflict was the backbone of the story and character dynamics in the first movie, and comes to a boil here as greed takes hold of Ah Kun.
The trigger here is the Government’s relocation of citizens from ‘kampungs’ to HDB flats, in order to free up land for national development. Along with that move comes the promise of a generous compensation package, depending on the amount of land that would be expropriated as well as the ‘activities’ on that land such as pig farming etc. Though he had never lifted a finger to help Zhao Di turn their barren front yard into a modest pig farm, Ah Kun demands a share of the compensation that would be given in exchange of the ‘pig farming’ licence, and even goes so far as to smear Zhao Di’s good name in order to get their family and extended relatives on his side.
Like we’ve said about the first movie, Tan and Lee are some of the most seasoned local performers and continue to shine in their respective roles. The usually glamourous Tan deftly underplays her uncharacteristically subdued role with nuance and grace, never once stooping to hysterics to win her audience’s sympathy. On the other hand, Lee was born to play the brash, hot-headed lout, and it is to his credit that we end up loathing his character as much as we sympathise with Tan’s. Lee’s scenes with Tan are easily the most engaging in the whole film, and it is also in these scenes that Neo holds back the distractions (think: product placements) to allow these two excellent actors to communicate their characters’ frustrations, disappointments as well as, in the case of Ah Kun, remorse with absolute clarity.
In contrast, the other narrative strands are understandably – but also regrettably – less fleshed out. Ah Hee’s interracial relationship and eventual marriage with Rani (Bharathi Rani) fares best relatively, but Neo treats the potentially controversial subject as comic relief (read: Rani happens to be former health inspector Shamugen’s (Silvarajoo Prakasam) daughter) than any serious-minded discourse on the possible tensions that could arise from differences in culture and language. Ah Long’s (Ryan Lian) budding romance for Zhao Di never quite goes anywhere, but the most severely underdeveloped subplot has to be Osman’s (Suhaimi Yusof) falling out with his teenage son Ahmad after the former smashes the latter’s guitar in a fit of anger.
Juggling the sheer number of characters is no small feat, and inevitably some like Ah Kun’s wife (Charmaine Sei) or Osman’s wife (Nurijah Sahat) will not get much to do at all. Yet as much as one is willing to extend such concessions to the sprawling script by Neo and two of his regular screenwriting collaborators Link Sng and Ivan Ho, it is no less lamentable that Wang Lei’s Si Shu and Osman are almost completely sidelined here, squandering what time and attention had been placed on developing their characters the first time round. Oh yes, Ah Kun’s resentment of Zhao Di’s modest successes is compellingly drawn, but every other detail feels a little undercooked to say the very least.
If there is one consolation, it is that this second part doesn’t strain as much as its predecessor does in trying to fit the iconic moments in Singapore’s history into its narrative. Aside from the passing references to Wang Sa and Ya Fong’s comedy skits on local black-and-white TV, the only milestone which Neo flag-checks here is the relocation of ‘kampong’ dwellers into HDB flats, which in turn allows Neo the time and space to properly acknowledge its significance to the thousands of affected individuals – and we are not just talking about the thrill of riding up and down for the first time in a lift but also the drastic change in one’s living environment and livelihood.
No other director has quite so ambitiously tried to capture such moments in Singapore’s fifty years of phenomenal change, and there is no denying the passion, conviction and commitment that Neo brings to the film as a whole, notwithstanding his persistent weaknesses as a storyteller. Indeed, Neo still cannot resist being didactic at the very end, but there is still a perfectly engrossing family drama to be enjoyed, complete with an exemplification of the oft-mentioned ‘kampong spirit’. ‘Long Long Time Ago 2’ brings Neo’s story of Singapore and Singaporeans to a stronger finish than we would have ever expected, and that alone is reason enough to get your family, your friends, your fellow Singaporeans, your fellow non-Singaporean residents to enjoy, appreciate and discover a uniquely Singaporean slice of history come alive.
Movie Rating:
(Jack Neo's weaknesses as a storyteller still show, but this engrossing family drama set against Singapore's early years is still a thoroughly engaging slice of uniquely Singaporean history)
Review by Gabriel Chong
Genre: Action/Sci-Fi
Director: Robert Schwentke
Cast: Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Octavia Spencer, Naomi Watts, Jeff Daniels, Ray Stevenson, Zoë Kravitz, Miles Teller, Ansel Elgort, Maggie Q
Runtime: 2 hr 1 min
Rating: PG13 (Some Nudity and Violence)
Released By: Golden Village Pictures
Official Website: http://www.thedivergentseries.movie/
Opening Day: 17 March 2016
Synopsis: The third installment of the blockbuster Divergent series franchise, ALLEGIANT takes Tris [Shailene Woodley] and Four [Theo James] into a new world, far more dangerous than ever before. After the earth-shattering revelations of INSURGENT, Tris must escape with Four and go beyond the wall enclosing Chicago. For the first time ever, they will leave the only city and family they have ever known in order to find a peaceful solution for their embroiled city. Once outside, old discoveries are quickly rendered meaningless with the revelation of shocking new truths. Tris and Four must quickly decide who they can trust as a ruthless battle ignites beyond the walls of Chicago which threatens all of humanity. In order to survive, Tris will be forced to make impossible choices about courage, allegiance, sacrifice and love.
Movie Review:
Like ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows’, ‘The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn’ and ‘The Hunger Games: Mockingjay’, the third and last book of Veronica Roth’s ‘Divergent’ series has been split into two separate movies – so despite bearing the same name as the novel, ‘Allegiant’ is really just one half of its story, with the other half titled ‘Ascendant’ due out only next summer. As much as we’d like to believe that such decisions are driven purely by creative motivations, the latter two examples have undoubtedly reinforced cynicism that box-office dollar had something to do with it. The same can be said with ‘Allegiant’, especially for those who have read the book, since there is little reason why Roth’s prose should be told in two parts if ‘Insurgent’ and ‘Divergent’ could be done as one.
True enough, despite director Robert Schwentke’s attempt at keeping a breakneck pace, ‘Allegiant’ lacks a compelling story to justify its two-hour length, even as it takes some liberties with Roth’s prose that is bound to make some fans gasp in surprise. Now that the despotic ruler Jeanine (Kate Winslet) has been assassinated, the class system which separated individuals into five factions based on the personality traits bravery, honesty, intelligence, selflessness and friendliness has all but collapsed. In the ensuing power vaccum, the de-facto leader of the Factionless, Evelyn (Naomi Watts), wages civil war against the remnants of those who used to belong to the factions – so termed the Allegiant – who are now led by former Amity honcho Johanna (Octavia Spencer).
Meanwhile, Tris (Shailene Woodley) and her pals – among them her brother Caleb (Ansel Elgort), her frenemy Peter (Miles Teller) and her friend Christina (Zoë Kravitz) – manage to escape the fortified wall surrounding Chicago, where they discover a post-apocalyptic wasteland that is the result of genetic warfare and a nuclear holocaust. Basically, genetic experimentation by the Government to remove unwanted traits had left most of humanity ‘damaged’, which led to an experiment by the ‘genetically pure’ to dump some of the ‘damaged’ ones in a walled-in city and wait for natural selection to produce a healthy ‘pure’ individual – which, needless to say, so happens to be our female protagonist Tris.
Between the civil war of Chicago and her secret meetings with the Head of the Bureau of Genetic Welfare (Jeff Daniels), Tris finds her romance with Four (Theo James) increasingly strained as the latter becomes increasingly disillusioned with the intentions of the Bureau the deeper he digs. There is never any doubt that David will emerge as the villain of this picture, but more crucially, the trio of new writers – namely Noah Oppenheim, Adam Cooper and Bill Collage – inject just enough divergence into the telling of the story that you cannot help but wonder if they are ultimately gunning for a more fan-friendly ending than the one that provoked much divisiveness among readers. And yet because there is yet another film to fill, those looking for closure will inevitably be frustrated – not simply at having to wait another year but also because this one ends on a whimper rather than a cliffhanger.
More fundamentally, ‘Allegiant’ sidelines our ‘Katniss-like’ heroine Tris, who spends too much of her time in conversations with David that scream idiocy. In fact, the movie belongs instead to Four, who uncovers David’s nefarious intentions regarding a ‘memory serum’ and pretty much saves the day – and Tris as well from David’s sweet-talk. That is as much a function of Roth’s storytelling as a dearth of character development in the film, which favours run-of-the-mill action sequences next to CGI-heavy landscapes that look as if they were stolen from better sci-fi imaginings – David’s protected enclave at the former O’Hare airport looks like it were transplanted from ‘Oblivion’; the irradiated desert outside the walls of Chicago look like a cross between ‘The Martian’ and ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’; and even the blood-coloured acid rain that Tris encounter in the desert seems ripped from one of the arenas from ‘The Hunger Games’.
Amidst the derivativeness, Woodley tries hard to show that she is still just as involved in the franchise, but one gets the sense that she knows she has been given short shrift compared to Jennifer Lawrence in the far superior genre equivalent. Though she is probably a better actor than James, the latter easily upstages her here by having a lot more to do than look pretty like a chic-bourgeois bureaucrat. Even Teller, who has largely sat on the sidelines for the previous two instalments as the consistently unreliable Peter, is more memorable than Woodley thanks to random self-snarky touches of humour that he provides in an otherwise all-too serious enterprise.
Certainly, those who have seen the earlier two movies will probably sit through the last two instalments to find out how it all ends, but ‘Allegiant’ offers little reason in and of itself to pledge your allegiance to a series that has diverged from its themes of stereotypes and class warfare which made it intriguing in the first place. If it was always a poorer cousin to ‘The Hunger Games’, it has over the course of ‘Insurgent’ and now ‘Allegiant’ become an even more distant relative, and without being unfair to the final and concluding chapter of the film series due out next year, let’s just say that ‘Ascendant’ has an even more uphill climb if it aspires to end this dishwater dull YA-series on a high note.
Movie Rating:
(An unnecessary penultimate chapter that further confirms 'The Divergent Series' as derivative, middling and worse, dull)
Review by Gabriel Chong
Genre: Biography/Drama
Director: James Vanderbilt
Cast: Cate Blanchett, Topher Grace, Elisabeth Moss, Dennis Quaid, Bruce Greenwood, Stacy Keach, John Benjamin Hickey, David Lyons, Dermot Mulroney, Rachael Blake
Runtime: 2 hrs 6 mins
Rating: M18 (Some Nudity And Coarse Language)
Released By: Shaw
Official Website: http://sonyclassics.com/truth/
Opening Day: 17 March 2016
Synopsis: On the morning of September 9, 2004, veteran CBS News producer MARY MAPES (Cate Blanchett) believed she had every reason to feel proud of a broadcast journalism job well done. By the end of the day, Mapes, CBS News, and the venerable CBS News anchor DAN RATHER (Robert Redford) would be under harsh scrutiny. The evening before, 60 Minutes II had aired an investigative report, produced by Mapes and reported on-air by Rather, that purported to reveal new evidence proving that President George W. Bush had possibly shirked his duty during his service as a Texas Air National Guard pilot from 1968 to 1974. The piece asserted that George W. Bush had not only exploited family connections and political privilege to avoid the Vietnam War by joining the Texas Air National Guard, but he had failed for many months to fulfill his most basic Guard obligation—showing up on base. Mapes and her team of researchers had scrambled under a tight deadline to pull together both onair eyewitness testimony and newly-disclosed documents to make their case, and they felt confident that their story was solid. In the lead-up to the 2004 Bush v. Kerry presidential election, the “Bush-Guard” story could have had profound ramifications. But within days after the story broke, George W. Bush’s military service record was no longer the focus of media and public scrutiny. Instead, it was 60 Minutes, Mapes, and Rather who were under question: the documents supporting their investigation were denounced as forgeries, and the 60 Minutes staff was accused of shoddy journalism or, perhaps worse, accused of being duped. Eventually, Mapes would lose her job and reputation. Dan Rather would step down prematurely as CBS News anchor. How did attention end up focused on the journalists who questioned the official version of the story? How did the minutiae of document typefaces, line breaks, and superscripts become seemingly more important to the national discourse than the question of whether the President had failed to fulfill his military obligations? Have journalistic integrity and independence been fundamentally altered in today’s newsrooms and boardrooms? TRUTH is based on Mary Mapes’ memoir Truth and Duty: The Press, the President, and the Privilege of Power (2005, St. Martin’s Press).
Movie Review:
We were pretty excited when we first saw the trailer of this American political docudrama film. Just look at the cast gathered – Cate Blanchett (Cinderella, Carol), Robert Redford (All is Lost, Captain America: The Winter Soldier), Topher Grace (TV’s That ‘70s Show, Interstellar), Dennis Quaid (What to Expect When You’re Expecting, The Words), Elisabeth Moss (TV’s Mad Men, Meadowlands) and Bruce Greenwood (The Place Beyond the Pines, Star Trek Into Darkness). The number of wins and nominations at the Academy Awards, Golden Globes and other acting accolades is astonishing.
However, much to our surprise, the $9.6 million movie bombed at the box office, only taking in $4.9 million. It didn’t receive much attention here in the local theatres as well, with only one screen amongst the many, many multiplexes available. How is this possible, considering the subject matter explored? The James Vanderbilt directed film focuses on the Killian documents controversy, based on American journalist and television news producer Mary Mapes’ memoir Truth and Duty: The Press, the President and the Privilege of Power.
If you are as uninformed as this reviewer, go check the Internet and you’ll realise how this is kind of a big deal for CBS News in 2004. Without giving away too much, this incident marked the last days of established news anchor Dan Rather and his long time collaborating producer Mapes.
In the months before the US 2004 presidential election, Mapes (Blanchett in a fiercely powerful role) and her crew obtain documents which point to the fact that President George W Bush, then seeking re election, received preferential treatment from officials of the Texas Air National Guard in the early 1970s. A news programme was aired on 60 Minutes Wednesday, with Rather as the anchor. And as the cynical world will have it, the documents were called into question, and a controversy soon surfaces about the documents being forgeries.
What we like about this film are the commanding performances from the ensemble cast, from veterans like Blanchett and Redford, to younger actors like Grace and Moss. It is a pity though, that Quaid’s screen presence is limited (not that it is a very glaring thing about the movie). Greenwood also delivers an anchored performance.
What’s more striking to this reviewer is how the world we live in today is indeed a muddy mess. Considering this incident took place more than 10 years ago, one can only imagine the muddling aftermath of truth and integrity with the advent of social media. As Blanchett’s Mapes rightfully points out in one memorable scene, the emphasis on unimportant things distracts people from focusing on the big picture, the greater point of things. People are always looking out for others’ mistakes, coming up with conspiracy theories, and ever ready to jump on someone else’s wrong doings to show how self righteous they are.
And that is probably why this 125 minute movie didn’t go down well with most people. We may be so cynical in this time and age, that we want to discredit the work done by others. It is not a pretty view, with how we think we are smarter than the system. Gone indeed, are the good old days of appreciating the system. And the negative reception of this movie is a fine example of this phenomenon.
Movie Rating:
(Powerful performances aside, there is some truth in this badly received film - that we often focus on the wrong things and miss out on the bigger picture)
Review by John Li
Genre: Biography/Drama/Sport
Director: Stephen Hopkins
Cast: Stephen James, Jeremy Irons, Jason Sudeikis, William Hurt, Carice van Houten, Eli Goree, Shanice Banton, David Kross, Tony Curran
Runtime: 2 hrs 15 mins
Rating: PG
Released By: Shaw
Official Website: http://www.focusfeatures.com/race
Opening Day: 3 March 2016
Synopsis: Based on the incredible true story of Jesse Owens, the legendary athletic superstar whose quest to become the greatest track and field athlete in history thrusts him onto the world stage of the 1936 Olympics, where he faces off against Adolf Hitler’s vision of Aryan supremacy. Race is an enthralling film about courage, determination, tolerance, and friendship, and an inspiring drama about one man’s fight to become an Olympic legend. Race tracks the journey of James Cleveland “Jesse” Owens (portrayed by Stephan James of Selma). As a student and athlete in Depression-era America, Jesse bears the weight of family expectations, racial tension at his college Ohio State University, and his own high standards for competition. At Ohio State University, Jesse finds a savvy coach and stalwart friend in Larry Snyder (Jason Sudeikis) ? who is unafraid to push the young man to his limits. Bolstered by the love and support of Ruth Solomon (Shanice Banton), with whom he has a young daughter, Jesse’s winning ways in intercollegiate competitions earn him a place on the U.S. Olympics team… …if there is to be a team going to the 1936 Olympics at all; the American Olympic committee weighs a boycott in protest against Hitler with committee president Jeremiah Mahoney (Academy Award winner William Hurt) and millionaire industrialist Avery Brundage (Academy Award winner Jeremy Irons) debating the issue. Once Brundage prevails with the committee and U.S. participation is confirmed, Jesse enters a new racial and political minefield after he arrives in Berlin with his fellow athletes. As filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl (Carice van Houten of Game of Thrones) readies her cameras to record the Games under the steely gaze of Nazi officials, Jesse reaffirms his determination to compete with excellence and honor. With the world watching, he will place in sharp relief his own country’s history of racism as well as the Hitler regime’s oppressiveness. Forever defining what an athlete can accomplish, Jesse Owens races into history as an inspiration to millions, then and now.
Movie Review:
‘Race’ is the newest biopic to be released in cinemas. ‘Race’ is based on real life extraordinaire athlete, Jesse Owens. Most biopics nowadays are either hits or misses, with many of the hits being Oscar contenders. Despite its title, ‘Race’ is not trying and has no chance to compete in the Oscar race and as also evident in the release date- weeks after the nominations have been released and too early for the next awards ceremony. However, ‘Race’ offers strong performances and is a truly, uplifting film.
The story of Jesse Owens (Stephan James) is widely known around the world but maybe not as prominently as he once was. During the pre war era of the late 1930s, Jesse was able to overcome the numerous barriers in his life to achieve ultimate success- not only as an athlete, but also as a human being. Partly due to the guidance of his coach, Larry Snyder (Jason Sudeikis), Jesse manages to obtain victory in the 1936 Olympics, where he stood against Adolf Hitler's vision of Aryan supremacy. ‘Race’ not only celebrates Jesse Owens' quest to his accomplishments but also his legacy.
This film is being helmed by director, Stephen Hopkins who previously did films such as, ‘Predator 2’ and ‘Lost in Space’ which were both not well received by critics. However, ‘Race’ shows a significant improvement in his directing abilities. There is no doubt huge passion in the making of the film. Being a performance driven film, Hopkins manages to bring out the utmost out of his actors performances. Shot decisions made by Hopkins not only elevates these performances but also provided a consistent vibe to the characters. This is especially so for the main plot featuring Jesse Owens, which will be further dwelled into later. There is an inspiring resonance from the film’s depiction of Jesse’s story, which the audience can bring home. However, in spite of this, Hopkins falters in the pacing of the film. At a runtimes of 2 hours and 14 minutes, it does feel a little too long. Many subplots felt quite unbalanced and slow as compared to the main narrative and the tone at times feel a little ‘made-for-TV’. One being the romance between him and his wife, Ruth (Shanice Banton), which could have been better executed and had potential to bring more heart into the film.
Joe Shrapnel and Anna Waterhouse wrote the script for ‘Race’. They manage to depict the conflicts in which Jesse was facing at that time perfectly, showing us how he was being judged due to his race and the struggles of the sudden rise to fame. But the aforementioned, few subplots are not handled due to the writing. A particular subplot even felt shoehorned into the script last minute and was very out of place in the film. It is about a political debate over whether America should boycott the Berlin Olympics due to the Nazi ideologies of Germanys’ leaders. Jeremiah Mahoney (William Hurt) and Avery Brundage (Jeremy Irons) are featured in this subplot. Sadly, even with such high caliber actors (Irons and Hurt), this plot point felt very unnecessary to the Jesse Owens’ story.
Speaking of actors, Stephan James’ portrayal of Jesse Owens has award potential. He manages to capture the heart and the essence of the character and also, carry the film. Although Jesse Owens is not relatable for most people due to his incredible talent and majority not being able to feel his struggles in terms of being a minority, it is the inner turmoil Jesse was going through that brings about a wave of emotions. This inner turmoil was due to the conflict of being both a talent and a voice for his people at that time. James manages to express what Jesse felt, dare I say, perfectly. Jason Sudeikis stepped out of his comfort zones and played a serious character, which differs from his usual comedic roles. Many did not know what to expect from his character before going into this film and some were even worried. But surprisingly, Sudeikis did a great job. Coach Larry was a broken character that did his best to train Jesse Owens. As Coach Larry, Sudeikis is both charismatic and likable. His on screen appearance with James is filled with chemistry.
The rest of the performances are solid. Shanice Banton played the love interest well enough and Academy Award winners, Jeremy Irons and William Hurt, did a fine job in showing us the tension that took place behind the scenes. However, all three of them were underutilized that lead to their subplots being a detractor in the film. There were also two standout performances. This comes from the subplot whereby Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels (Barnaby Metschurat) appoints filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl (Carice van Houten) for the filming of the Games and propaganda. Actress Carice van Houten provided a sympathetic touch to her character. The character of Joseph Goebbels steals every scene he is in. Credit to Metschurat for playing the serious role into such dramatic effect. Even though Goebbels had little dialogue in the film, his presence sent chill down audiences’ spine. This allowed the subplot of the disagreement when the filmmaker tries to create her film as honestly as possible while the propaganda minister wants it in favor of the Nazi regime, to become one of the highlights of the film.
The film also features a number of exhilarating sports events. Audiences can feel the intensity before these events through the eyes of Jesse Owens and there is a layer of nervousness as if are about to take part. Initially these events are a feast to the eyes but towards the middle, they start to feel repetitive. The last act’s sport events, which were also the best, really contributed greatly to the story and reemphasize the messages present in the film. This brings me to my next point.
The ending manages to tie up those previously mentioned lose subplots and reiterate its message. Despite the predictable happy ending, ‘Race’ does let viewers know how harsh times were at that time. This is done through text before the credit rolls. This suits the film tone and message; after all it took place before WW2. Although just like in every underdog story where there is the message to believe in yourself, the film manages to not beat you over the head with it. Instead, it is worthy of its duplicitous title; ‘Race’ manages to speak out about issues concerning racial discrimination. In addition, the end of the film includes a message about sportsmanship. ‘Race’ also challenges one to think about one’s moral values and do what is right.
Overall, ‘Race’ has strong messages and themes that will leave audiences with different afterthoughts. It is an inspiring film that is fit for everyone to give it a viewing. ‘Race’ takes place in an important part of history and many can view the film as an educating experience. It is a worthwhile story about Jesse Owens. Despite bringing nothing new and rather paint-by-numbers, ‘Race’ is a solid biopic about a true athlete and an important historical figure.
Movie Rating:
(To win the gold medal, Jesse Owens had to be fast on the track but ‘Race’ was both fast and occasionally, slow, leading to a flawed but nonetheless engaging biopic)
Review by Celestine Pang
Genre: Fantasy/Adventure
Director: Tim Burton
Cast: Eva Green, Asa Butterfield, Chris O’Dowd, Ella Purnell, Allison Janney, Rupert Everett, Terence Stamp, Judi Dench, Samuel L. Jackson
Runtime: 2 hrs 7 mins
Rating: PG13 (Frightening Scenes)
Released By: 20th Century Fox
Official Website:
Opening Day: 29 September 2016
Synopsis: From visionary director Tim Burton, and based upon the best-selling novel, comes an unforgettable motion picture experience. When his beloved grandfather leaves Jake clues to a mystery that spans different worlds and times, he finds a magical place known as Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. But the mystery and danger deepen as he gets to know the residents and learns about their special powers…and their terrifying enemies. Ultimately, Jake discovers that only his own special “peculiarity” can save his new friends.
Movie Review:
Tim Burton would seem the perfect candidate to direct the big-screen adaptation of Ransom Riggs’ bestselling young-adult novel of the same name – after all, Burton’s beloved creations the likes of Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, Jack Nicholson’s Joker and Johnny Depp’s Ed Wood have each been defined by their respective peculiarities. It is therefore no surprise that the titular kids are an impressively eccentric bunch, including an adorable little girl with a hungry jaw at the back of her head, a brooding teenage boy who can animate non-living objects and dead creatures, another relatively more good-natured teenage boy who stores bees in his stomach, a pair of twins who look like dolls and hide their faces under canvas sacks, and a teenage girl who can control air and wears ornamented lead boots to keep her from floating away into the sky. There is a little Burton in each one of these delightfully quirky individuals, and it is no surprise that they are the primary source of the film’s joy.
Just as delightful is Eva Green’s eponymous headmistress, played with just the right balance of wit, whimsy and lunacy. Her peculiarity is her temperament – flinty and authoritarian when enforcing her insistence on strict punctuality and yet sensitive and motherly when looking after her children’s emotional wellbeing – as well as her abilities – as an ymbrine, she is not only able to transform into a falcon but also manipulate time, the latter of which she uses to create time-loops to protect her ‘peculiars’. Unlike Burton’s go-to actor Johnny Depp, Green steps into her role with delicious relish without sucking up all the air, shining without overshadowing her teenage ensemble. Burton also creates an enchanting villain in the form of shape-shifting, pointy-toothed Barron for the reliably bad-assed Samuel L. Jackson to sink his teeth into, his character one of the bad ‘peculiars’ called a ‘wight’ who feasts on eyeballs and hopes to kidnap Miss Peregrine to steal her temporal powers.
Over the course of his four-decade career, Burton has established himself as one of the rare filmmakers with a clear, distinctive style for artisanal creepiness – and there is no doubt seeing the mix of weird and wonderful that it is well-suited to this material. Even so, Burton has always been a better visual stylist than a storyteller, which is precisely where his latest falters. Like the book, the story unfolds through a 16-year-old teenager named Jake (Asa Butterfield) who lives in present-day Florida, still reeling from the death of his grandfather (Terence Stamp) and obsessed with the stories that the elder had told him about a strange orphanage on an island off the coast of Wales. There is a lot of exposition in the first half-hour to set up Jake’s discovery of the children’s home, and yet curiously not enough to root us to his emotional loss and corresponding desire for closure.
That missing connection becomes even more apparent as Jake struggles to find his place with his newfound company. Should he make a new home with the children at the orphanage, consigning himself to living in a permanent loop of the 24 hours before the bomb by the Germans destroys the home? Or should he return to the life he knows? Before the arrival of the scenery-chewing Barron, Jake’s dilemma pretty much drives the narrative; and yet, the film’s most important ‘peculiar’ (oh yes, there is good reason why Jake should discover the home) is ironically its dreariest, as a consequence not only of dull character work but also of a flat and affectless performance by Butterfield. It also explains why despite the delectable weirdness of Jake’s companions, the movie remains curiously lethargic, especially when it shuffles from past to present to let Jake catch up with his bird-watching dad (played by Chris O’Dowd with a wobbly American accent).
Thankfully, things get considerably more exciting during the last third when Jake steps up to lead the rescue mission to save Miss Peregrine from being devoured by Barron. Their mode of transport is a sunken ship which one of the characters resurfaces from the depths of the ocean by literally blowing the water out of the vessel. The barnacle-encrusted ghost ship eventually docks at Blackpool’s North Pier for the action-packed finale set in present-day, where a series of CG stop-motion battles involving faceless tentacled creatures called ‘hollowgasts’ – including one with an army of Ray Harryhausen skeleton warriors – offer a gloriously wacky yet thrilling finish. The time-travel element does threaten to get unnecessarily twisty at times, but Burton manages to keep it fascinating and end on a charming note with an epilogue that sees Jake travel across continents and time to be with one of the girls from Miss Peregrine’s home whom he fancies from the start.
As a film that bears the Tim Burton name, ‘Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children’ is replete with his twisted touches – not only in terms of grotesquerie (think a platter of eyeballs with their tendrils intact, slurped up like spaghetti and meatballs) but also in singular surreal images (one that stands out is Jake tugging one of the girls down the beach as she floats above him like a balloon on a string). Burton ensures that the production looks great – from cheerfully drab Floridian bungalows to elderflower-and-wisteria-toned monochrome thickets, the sets are terrific and the cinematography by Bruno Delbonnelis lovely. Yet the storytelling is staid where it should be riveting, detached when it needs to be engaging, and conventional when it could be spooky and exciting, which is somewhat to be expected when you look at Burton’s oeuvre and yet inevitably still mildly disappointing.
Movie Rating:
(Tim Burton puts his own delightfully quirky touch on this bestselling Edwardian fairy tale, but is still a much better imaginative visual stylist than compelling storyteller)
Review by Gabriel Chong
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