Genre: Comedy/Drama
Director: Tom Tykwer
Cast: Tom Hanks, Sarita Choudhury, Tom Skerritt, Alexander Black, Ben Whishaw
Runtime: 1 hr 38 mins
Rating: M18 (Sexual Scene)
Released By: Shaw
Official Website: http://www.ahologramforthekingfilm.com

Opening Day: 2 June 2016

Synopsis: He lost his job, his wife left him and he cannot pay his daughter’s tuition fees. Alan Clay (54) sets his hopes in the “King Abdullah Economic City”, a shiny, modern metropolis in the Arabian desert. He tries to sell an American IT company’s teleconferencing system to the king. But when Alan arrives for the deal, the king lost his interest in the project, and does not show up. Alan befriends Yousef, a young driver, with whom he gets to know the country and all the contradictions between modern and traditional spirits. On a hospital visit Alan meets Zahra. He ignores Yousef‘s warning, not to get involved with her. In the end, the project does not concern Alan anymore. He is not disappointed, that it failed, because he found happiness. With Zahra, a new professional calling and a new home.

Movie Review:

Few Hollywood actors can claim to be as inherently watchable – or for that matter, inherently likeable – as Tom Hanks, and it is for this reason alone that Tom Tykwer’s shambling and often scattershot adaptation of the 2012 critically acclaimed Dave Eggers novel is engaging. Trading his source material’s elegiac tale for an absurdist farce built on familiar but clichéd culture clashes, Tykwer relies on Hanks to be the movie’s intellectual and emotional centre of gravity as the latter embarks on a career- and possibly life-saving business trip to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (referred to as ‘KSA’) to pitch a holographic IT system to the elusive king.  

It may not bear the name Alan Clay, but Hanks has certainly played the role of the middle-aged man facing his own obsolescence – one good example in point being ‘Larry Crowne’, yet another one of the actor’s Playtone-produced stories of uplifting redemption. A surreal opening scene set to the Talking Heads’ ‘Once in a Lifetime’ sees Hanks walk down a suburban street as images of his “large automobile”, “beautiful house”, and "beautiful wife" disappear in plumes of purple smoke, whose character is broke and reeling from a particularly nasty divorce. In sharp, cutting flashbacks, we further learn of his sad state –unable to pay for his daughter’s college tuition, berated by his father (Tom Skeritt) for outsourcing American jobs to China during his tenure at the Schwinn Bicycle Company, and suffering from occasional anxiety attacks.

A lot is riding on this business pitch, but Clay meets a series of defeating hurdles as soon as he arrives in the Middle East. He misses his shuttle on the first day. By the time he reaches, the king is nowhere to be found, and no one knows just when he will return. His three IT assistants are sequestered in an outdoor tent where the WiFi is patchy and the air-conditioning is unreliable. Worse still, the tent is just steps away from a sleek air-conditioned office building, which he marches up repeatedly to and is stonewalled by a female receptionist who tells him that his “primary contact” will see him the next day and the next. Ennui sets in, defined by repetitive sequences of him greeting the hotel concierge, emptying piles of sand from his shoes and stepping into the shower for a bath.

Though it does make a couple of asides about China’s impact on American businesses both in the States as well as abroad, Tykwer seems really more keen on being an affable fish-out-of-water tale about American provincialism in a globalized world, played out in Clay’s interactions with the locals he encounters – including a good-natured English-speaking driver Hakeem (Dhaffer L'Abidine) who loves Chicago, Elvis Presley and reggae, a randy Danish consultant Hanne (Sidse Babett Knudsen) who offers him booze in an olive oil bottle, and a female Saudi doctor Zahra (Sarita Choudhury) whom he sees about the growth on his back and whom he eventually develops a romantic connection with.

These encounters prove illuminating not so much because of their effect on Clay but rather as interesting case studies of how individuals adapt to and defy custom under the strict laws and rules of the KSA. Hakeem, for instance, is ga-ga over a married woman he texts and talks on the phone from time to time, in spite of the risks that he knows upon his life as well as that of the woman. Hanne’s invitation to Clay to attend a dinner party at the Danish embassy becomes an eye-opener about how Westerners let loose in the country. And most significantly, Clay’s attraction for Zahra becomes a heartening observation of two mature adults who decide to defy society’s conventions not with abandon but with measure and reason as they embrace the stirrings of their own hearts.  

But it is also precisely because there is so much going on that Tykwer struggles to do justice to the major themes that arose naturally from Eggers’ prose, primarily the latter’s meditation on globalization and the concomitant demise of the American dream. Indeed, these feel lost – and to use the title’s own metaphor, hollow – amidst a busy serio-comic fable that mixes intimate woes with dark geopolitical undercurrents. And yet, like we said at the start, If what amounts to little actually seems otherwise watching it, that is all credit to Hanks, who despite stepping into yet another familiar middle-aged man role, does it with warmth, empathy, and a wry understated charm. 

Movie Rating:

(Tom Hanks' genial Everyman charm, combined with a down-to-earth warmth and empathy, makes this otherwise shambling and scattershot adaptation of Dave Eggers' novel intermittently engaging and enjoyable)

Review by Gabriel Chong

Genre: Drama
Director: Xin Yukun, Tan Shijie, Sivaroj Kongsakul
Cast: Bolin Chen, Cheng Huan Lin, Jiang Wenli, Yo Yang, Paul Chun
Runtime: 1 hr 48 mins
Rating: PG13 (Brief Nudity)
Released By: Golden Village Pictures
Official Website: https://www.facebook.com/distancemovie2016

Opening Day: 2 June 2016

Synopsis: A conflicted manager on a business trip is intrigued by an elderly worker and investigates his life. A young father receives a letter that brings him to a foreign land, where old emotions come unburied.A visiting professor from overseas sets a student's heart fluttering, while having to deal with his own. Different characters, different relationships, the same humanity; stories about the distances between us and how we live with them.

Movie Review:

Three stories of loss, regret and reconciliation; three different persons, each played by Taiwanese actor Chen Bolin, coming face-to-face with someone they used to be close to but have been separated from for some years now; three up-and-coming young directors making their big-screen debut under the tutelage of executive producer Anthony Chen. That, in a nutshell, summarises the elegantly titled ‘再见，在也不见’ (which literally translated means ‘Goodbye, Not Seeing You’), an anthology which contemplates the theme of distance in relationships that manifests itself geographically, temporally and perhaps most significantly, emotionally.

Opening the triptych is perhaps its most enigmatic short, ‘The Son’, by China’s Xin Yukun, that sees Chen play a manager on a business trip to Guangxi who sees a familiar face in an elderly worker tending the grounds at his company’s shipping terminal. With a poignant supporting turn by veteran Hong Kong actor Paul Chun, this understatedly moving segment finds its emotional centre in an estranged father-son relationship in which the latter learns to come to terms with the years the former has been absent without the sort of confrontation that you would expect from a shrill Taiwanese family drama. Only right at the end does Xin allow Chen’s character to let loose his anguish, and by so doing, also ensures a gut-wrenching end to an otherwise subdued mood piece.

‘The Lake’ by our very own Tan Shijie is next, unfolding as two parallel narratives at two different points in time – the first with Chen’s Chen De Ming as a young father who receives a letter from a teenage friend Lin Ren Zheng (Yo Yang) who is due to be executed in Changi Prison in two days; and the second with De Ming and Ren Zheng (played by Wei Han-Ding and Cheng Huan-Lin respectively) in their teenage years in the Taiwanese countryside where they spend most of their afternoons together by the titular lake. The latter has Zhu Shen-Long playing De Ming’s father, who disapproves of his bookish son hanging out with the roguish Ren Zheng – and if you’re thinking shades of homosexual attraction between the pair, let’s just say that it is precisely what Tan hints at here.

Just as in ‘The Son’, there is a gut-wrenching end here, not by Ren Zheng’s death by hanging which we already expect from the start, but rather the revelation of just what led to the two boys to be cast adrift from each other all those years ago. Whereas the other shorts only hint at the past, Tan’s entry acts out the relationship between the pair of characters before their eventual estrangement, which is also the reason why his is probably the most emotionally compelling. Its final image of De Ming returning to the lake with Ren Zheng’s ashes where their friendship first began also claims the honour of being the most elegiac concluding shot among the rest, so if we’ll have to pick a favourite among the three, this will be it.

The appropriately titled ‘The Goodbye’ by Thailand’s Sivaroj Kongsakul concludes the triptych with Chen playing a Shanghai university professor named Chen Zhi Bin who visits Bangkok to deliver a lecture on modern-day Chinese youth in the Internet era. After he is reacquainted with his former Chinese lecturer (Jiang Wenli) who is now teaching at the same Thai university, Zhi Bin reveals that he only accepted the offer because he wanted to see her again. Their reunion is juxtaposed against a possible romance with Pim (Chayanit Chansangavej), a local Thai-Chinese university student who is assigned to be Zhi Bin’s guide during his time in Bangkok and who develops a crush on the professor.

Notwithstanding an affecting supporting turn by veteran Chinese actress Jiang, this restrained story of repressed love and unrequited feelings is probably the thinnest of the three, not least because neither Zhi Bin’s previous relationship with Jiang’s Professor Xie Hong or Pim’s attraction for Zhi Bin is satisfactorily fleshed out. Right up to the end, it never builds a convincing enough reason for both to co-exist with each other, especially since the former is mutual and the latter seems to be only one-sided. But, like Xin and Tan’s entries, Kongsakul’s one possesses a rueful grace, only allowing its main character to display the depth of his longing for his former lover right at the end.

As an omnibus, ‘Distance’ is probably the most consistent we have seen, which is both its strength as well as its weakness. Indeed, there’s no denying the filmmaking is artfully polished, and its quietly reflective style deliberate in ensuring that the three shorts are tonally similar. Yet it is also precisely this same quality that makes it a tad boring, so much so that we wonder how much the three individual directors had suppressed their own filmmaking inclinations in favour of a unifying ambience. Regardless, by the time Stephanie Sun’s soulful voice takes over at the end credits for the titular theme song, you’ll probably be thinking about a certain someone in your own life that you used to be close to but have since grown distant from, whether out of choice or circumstance – and that in itself is a testament to how subtly powerful the film has been. 

Movie Rating:

(Often subtly moving and artfully elegiac, this triptych of shorts on loss, regret and reconciliation is an intimate gem)

Review by Gabriel Chong  

YOUNG & FABULOUS Celebrates the Breaking of S$1.2 Million at Box Office after 19 Days Posted on 30 May 2016 The team behind local comedyYOUNG & FABULOUSgathered today for a celebratory luncheon at Ah Yat Abalone to celebrate the film’s recent million dollar box office success. YOUNG & FABULOUS achieved S$1,221,851.56 at the box office after 19 days of its release in Singapore, despite facing strong competition from Hollywood summer holiday blockbusters such as TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTL ... more

Genre: Fantasy/Adventure
Director: James Bobin　
Cast: Johnny Depp, Anne Hathaway, Mia Wasikowska, Helena Bonham Carter, Matt Lucas, Rhys Ifans, Sacha Baron Cohen, Alan Rickman, Stephen Fry, Michael Sheen, Timothy Spall, Matt Vogel, Barbara Windsor, Paul Whitehouse
Runtime: 1 hr 53 mins
Rating: PG
Released By: The Walt Disney Company 
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 6 July 2016

Synopsis: In Disney’s “Alice Through the Looking Glass,” an all-new spectacular adventure featuring the unforgettable characters from Lewis Carroll’s beloved stories, Alice returns to the whimsical world of Underland to save her friend the Mad Hatter. Directed by James Bobin, who brings a unique vision to the spectacular world Tim Burton created on screen in “Alice in Wonderland,” the film is written by Linda Woolverton based on characters created by Lewis Carroll and produced by Joe Roth, Suzanne Todd and Jennifer Todd and Tim Burton with John G. Scotti serving as executive producer. “Alice Through the Looking Glass” reunites the all-star cast from the worldwide blockbuster phenomenon, including: Johnny Depp, Anne Hathaway, Mia Wasikowska, Matt Lucas and Helena Bonham Carter along with the voices of Alan Rickman, Stephen Fry, Michael Sheen and Timothy Spall. We are also introduced to several new characters: Zanik Hightopp (Rhys Ifans), the Mad Hatter’s father and Time himself (Sacha Baron Cohen), a peculiar creature who is part human, part clock. Alice Kingsleigh (Wasikowska) has spent the past three years sailing the high seas. Upon her return to London, she comes across a magical looking glass and returns to the fantastical realm of Underland. Reuniting with her friends the White Rabbit, Absolem, the White Queen and the Cheshire Cat, Alice must save the Hatter and Underland itself, before time runs out.

Movie Review:

When the 2010 movie Alicein Wonderland was released, it seemed like a great idea. Why didn’t anyone think of adapting Lewis Carroll’s creation into a live action adventure earlier? And why did it take so long for someone to come up with the bright idea of employing Tim Burton to direct the movie, with his muse Johnny Depp taking on the leading role of the Mad Hatter? The result was a trippy one, and while it received lukewarm responses from critics, we thought it was at least a refreshing take on the story.

Fast forward six years later, the businessmen at the studios thought it was a great idea to make a sequel. Burton, either busy with other projects or displeased with the so so reviews of the first movie, becomes the producer instead (that won’t stop the marketing folks from plastering his name on publicity materials though). James Bobin, who helmed the wonderful The Muppets (2011) and Muppets Most Wanted (2011), is the director.

Bobin has almost everything a director could ask for. Big names playing human characters (Johnny Depp, Anne Hathaway, Mia Wasikowska, Helena Bonham Carter, Sacha Baron Cohen, Rhys Ifans, Matt Lucas), more big names voicing animated characters (Alan Rickman, Stephen Fry, Michael Sheen, Timothy Spall), a kingdom of digital artists conjuring countless zany coloured scenes of Underland and most important of all, a hefty $170 million budget to work with.

So why did the 113 minute movie flop when it opened in the United Statesback in late May? Did the news of domestic abuse filed against Depp spoil things for the Walt Disney Pictures release? Were people finally tired of Depp’s tried and tested weirdo performances? Was this an unnecessary sequel out to make some quick bucks at the box office during the summer blockbuster season?

Well, let’s just say this isn’t a movie that you’d walk out of the theatres particularly impressed.

While we were enthralled by Pink’s brooding cover of Jefferson Airplane’s “White Rabbit” when the trailer debuted, we knew something wasn’t right when footage focused on the computer generated effects instead of the potential zaniness the characters could bring along to the story.

Sure - the Mad Hatter (Depp) still has his disturbingly colourful hairdo, the Red Queen (Bonham Carter) still possesses her awkward big head, the White Queen (Hathaway) still moves around like she’s on drugs and Time (Baron Cohen), a new character who is a powerful godlike humanoid who rules over, well, time, is funny enough to hold a few laughs – but you get the sense that these are but superficial, empty coats of distractions to what a substantial story should bring for viewers.

You end up not caring about the story about how Alicesteps into a magical looking glass which brings her back to Underland. You are not too concerned why the Mad Hatter is acting madder than usual. You also aren’t too interested to discover the truth about his family’s fate. When Alicetravels through time and meets friends and foes at different points of their lives, you go along for the ride only to check out how impressive technology can be, without really wanting to be part of Alice’s adventures. Things could be worse, considering how you could have been left entirely bored and disinterested half an hour into the movie. 

Movie Rating:

(Too much computer generated effects overwhelm this unnecessary sequel – but hey, at least you’ll be kept busy with the colourful digitally created sets, costumes and makeup)  

Review by John Li

Genre: CG Animation
Director: Andrew Stanton
Cast: Ellen DeGeneres, Albert Brooks, Ed O'Neill, Kaitlin Olson, Idris Elba, Kate McKinnon, Ty Burrell, Eugene Levy, Diane Keaton, Bill Hader, Dominic West, Kaitlin Olson
Runtime: 1 hr 40 mins
Rating: PG
Released By: The Walt Disney Company
Official Website: http://www.disney.sg

Opening Day: 16 June 2016

Synopsis: Disney•Pixar's “Finding Dory” welcomes back to the big screen everyone’s favorite forgetful blue tang Dory (voice of Ellen DeGeneres), who’s living happily in the reef with Nemo (voice of Hayden Rolence) and Marlin (voice of Albert Brooks). When Dory suddenly remembers that she has a family out there who may be looking for her, the trio takes off on a life-changing adventure across the ocean to California’s prestigious Marine Life Institute, a rehabilitation center and aquarium. In an effort to find her mom (voice of Diane Keaton) and dad (voice of Eugene Levy), Dory enlists the help of three of the MLI’s most intriguing residents: Hank (voice of Ed O’Neill), a cantankerous octopus who frequently gives employees the slip; Bailey (voice of Ty Burrell), a beluga whale who is convinced his echolocation skills are on the fritz; and Destiny (voice of Kaitlin Olson), a nearsighted whale shark. Deftly navigating the complex innerworkings of the MLI, Dory and her friends discover the magic within their flaws, friendships and family.

Movie Review:

To be honest, this writer did take a moment to wonder: 13 years after Finding Nemo, is a sequel really necessary? After all, the 2003 movie about an overprotective clownfish, along with a regal tang suffering from short term memory loss, searching for his abducted son, is one of the most poignant animated films this reviewer has seen. The Oscar winning movie’s message about learning to take risks and coming terms with oneself is a critical and commercial success. The second highest grossing title of 2003 (after Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King) made a total of $867 million worldwide by the end of its initial theatrical run.

And that doesn’t even take into account the money it made from merchandise and home entertainment releases. Could this sequel be an attempt to milk money from 90s babies who have since become more affluent? Were there plans to unleash an avalanche of unnecessary action figures so that 90s babies who have since become parents can buy them for their own kids? Or horrors, was this sequel made so the stars who were involved in the first film could make a comeback?

Shame on this columnist, for having such skeptical thoughts. Did you seriously think that Disney and Pixar would disappoint?

In what could have been a lazy sequel concept, the plot has the amnesiac Dory embarking on a journey to be reunited with her parents. Along the way, she meets new friends and strengthens relationships with old ones (Nemo, Marlin, Mr Ray, Crush and Squirt shouldn’t be unfamiliar names for those who adored the first movie), and everyone learns what family means.

One thing we can’t run away from is that movie making is essentially a business, and we’re just being realistic when we say that the number of new characters (together with fan favourites) simply means more merchandise. Who would say no to a plush toy of Hank, an ill tempered octopus who lost a tentacle (the reference of him being a “septopus” is hilarious)? Wouldn’t you want adorable key chains of Destiny the whale shark and Bailey the beluga whale? And wait till you see the otters as soft toys, neatly decked on the shelves of department stores – you’ll be a scrooge if you don’t go “awww…”

Being aware of the onslaught of marketing aside, this 103 minute movie directed by Andrew Stanton is a beautiful animated adventure. There is much to look at, from the mesmerising depths of the ocean and the colourful setting of the marine institute, to the murky waters of the sewers and the bustling traffic on the highways, there isn’t a moment you aren’t dazzled by what’s presented on screen. The story moves at a quick pace, and there isn’t a dull moment. There is a nice mix of comedy, action and most importantly, emotions.

The cast must have had a delightful time voicing their characters. Ellen DeGeneres and Albert Brooks return as Dory and Marlin, Ed O’Neill and Ty Burrell channel their characters from the popular TV series Modern Family (Jay Pritchett and Phil Dunphy) into the grumpy “septopus” and the eager to please but slightly edgy beluga whale respectively. Kaitlin Olson, Diane Keaton, Eugene Levy, Idris Elba and Dominic West are some of the other star studded voice actors involved.

And we haven’t started talking about the cameo involvement of big names like Bill Hader, Kate McKinnon, Sigourney Weaver and Willem Dafoe (avoid reading too much content related to the movie if you want to be in a pleasant surprise).

The film is a charm throughout, and we weren’t expecting anything less.    

Movie Rating:

(Delivering charming moments from start to finish - you can rely on a Pixar animated film to do just that)

Review by John Li

FINDING DORY Southeast Asia Exclusive Art Posted on 02 Jun 2016 In line with the global release of the highly anticipated Finding Dory on 16 June, a special series of Southeast Asia exclusive art of the lovable new character, Hank, has been created by Jason Deamer, the character art director at Pixar. Deamer leads a team of artists who work with the film’s director, Andrew Stanton, to design the characters in the movie. The new character, Hank (vo ... more

Genre: Erotic/Thriller
Director: Park Chan-wook
Cast: Kim Min-hee, Kim Tae-ri, Ha Jung-woo, Cho Jin-woong
Runtime: 2 hrs 20 mins
Rating: R21 (Homosexual Content)
Released By: Shaw
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 7 July 2016

Synopsis: Con man Count Fujiwara (Ha Jung-woo) hires a pickpocket named Sook-hee (Kim Tae-ri) to become the maid of a mysterious and fragile heiress Lady Hideko (Kim Min Hee), in an attempt to seize her wealth. But the story takes a twist when the lady falls in love with her maid...

Movie Review:

It is most unfortunate that the version of Park Chan wook’s latest work we are getting in commercial theatres here has about five minutes of explicit sex scenes removed to meet our R21 guidelines. But hey, rules are rules, and we would have to play by them. According to the Media Development Authority (MDA) website, the film contains prolonged and explicit sexual scenes between the two women with details of them in various sexual positions, including oral sex, masturbation and penetration involving foreign objects.

Okay, that gives you an idea what you’d be missing out in the Singaporeversion of the film, which was selected to compete for the highly regarded Palme d Or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival (the award eventually went to Ken Loach’s I, Daniel Blake starring Dave Johns and Hayley Squires).

With that out of the way, we can concentrate on talking about whether the 140 minute film is worth your time and money. Adapted from Welsh writer Sarah Waters’ novel Fingersmith, the story takes place in 1930s South Koreaand Japan(the setting was changed from the Victorian era to Koreaunder the Japanese colonial rule). Without going into details, the story revolves around a noble lady who has inherited a hefty fortune, a swindler who is after this huge amount of riches, a young female pickpocket who is hired by the swindler to achieve his greedy objectives, and the noble lady’s uncle who has some sort of, ahem, fetish.

Park, who is known for the brutal topics explored in his films, is back on track. After the highly acclaimed trio of works known as The Vengeance Trilogy (2002’s Sympathy for Mr Vengeance, 2003’s Oldboy and 2005’s Lady Vengeance), Park made 2006’s I’m a Cyborg, But That’s OK, (a romantic comedy starring Korean superstar Rain). Then there were his 2013 Hollywoodprojects Stoker and Snowpiercer (which he directed and produced respectively). While these productions were critically lauded, they somewhat lacked a poignancy which his fans fondly remember from his older works.

In this film, Park takes his time to tell a tale of seduction and betrayal. Never thrifty in the style department, the filmmaker holds nothing back as he indulgently frames his protagonists in one elegant shot after another. Scenes of the young maid (Kim Tae ri) deceiving the noble lady (Kim Min hee) into marrying the devious con man (Ha Jung woo) are sensuously captured, with details that will let your mind run wild with imagination (of the kinky kind). Scenes of the wealthy but creepy guardian (Cho Jin woong) involved in high society storytelling sessions (of the kinky kind) are sophisticatedly sinister.

It is convenient to focus on the film’s sexual and sadomasochistic themes, but this is the kind of shock value that viewers yearn for. Beneath the clean and steadfast appearance we uphold, there is an undercurrent of something sensationally grimy. The polite and proper front we put up is but a disguise for the vengeful spirit waiting to explode at the right moments. It’s a disturbing thought, but if you’re in the mood to be provoked (both visually and mentally), then this is the film you’ll want to catch.   

Movie Rating:

(Look past the kinkiness the film is offering, and you’ll find a provoking tale of moral upheaval – something which is poignantly prevalent in today’s society)

Review by John Li

BOUNTY HUNTERS Debuts with Impressive Box Office Results in China Posted on 05 Jul 2016 Bounty Hunters sets box office record of RMB 1 billion within 60 hours of its release in Mainland China! Lee Min Ho has proven his overwhelming popularity yet again as his latest movie, ‘Bounty Hunters’ broke box office records on its opening in China. With strong competition from other Hollywood blockbusters like Independence Day: Resurgence, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out o ... more

Genre: Horror/Thriller
Director: Tod Williams
Cast: John Cusack, Samuel L. Jackson, Isabelle Fuhrman, Stacy Keach, Owen Teague, Joshua Mikel
Runtime: 1 hr 38 mins
Rating: NC-16 (Violence)
Released By: Cathay-Keris Films 
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 7 July 2016

Synopsis: On October 1, artist Clay Riddell (John Cusack) calls his estranged wife, Sharon, from the airport in Boston with some good news: he has just sold video game rights to his graphic novel and wants to come home to her and their young son, Johnny, in New Hampshire. Be- fore she can answer, their call is disconnected. A mysterious pulse begins transmitting across cellular networks, sending everyone who uses a cell phone into a homicidal rage. Chased into the subway by phone-crazies, Clay joins up with the train’s conductor, Tom McCourt (Samuel L. Jackson). Together, they make their way out of the city through the subway tunnels, finally reaching Clay’s apartment, where they encounter another survivor: 17-year-old Alice (Isabelle Fuhrman). As Boston burns, the trio decides to head north in search of Clay’s family. Each step along the way, they must defend themselves from the so-called “phoners,” which con- tinue to evolve at an alarming rate. Finally, the group reaches Clay's house, only to discover that Johnny has been lured into a Phoner trap, and Clay will have to risk everything to save his son.

Movie Review:

‘Cell’ imagines a post-apocalyptic world brought about the transmission of an electromagnetic pulse through the ubiquitous cellphone, which turns its user into a rampaging ‘phoner’ (aka zombie). Lest you dismiss it as yet another technophobic horror, let it be known that the 2006 Stephen King novel was adapted for the big screen by no less than the horror auteur himself, which inevitably raises expectations that his latest print-to-screen may be more promising than say ‘Dreamcatcher’ or ‘1408’. Alas, this parable about our dependence on the mobile device and concomitant ‘horde’ culture in the digital age is unfortunately lost in a by-the-numbers horror thriller that not even the name cast of John Cusack and Samuel L. Jackson can redeem, not least because they too – for the lack of a better word – seem content to be phoning it in.

No matter that Cusack executive produces this long-delayed movie, the once Hollywood indie darling and most recent DTV champion looks utterly uninterested in the role of Clay Riddell, a graphic novelist who happens to be at Boston’s Logan Airport when the ‘Pulse’ strikes. Before his cell phone dies (and therefore sparing him from the epidemic that follows), Clay tries to reconnect with his estranged wife and teenage son in Kent Pond – and it is a no-brainer that he will spend the rest of the movie trying to get to them to make sure that they are safe. On his way, Clay will join forces with MBTA subway driver Tom McCourt (Jackson) whom he meets while escaping from the airport, as well as an upstairs neighbour Alice Maxwell (Isabelle Fuhrmann) whom Clay and Tom meet while holed up in the former’s apartment immediately after.

For what is meant to be the emotional arc of the story, Tom’s search for the wife and son is oddly alienating. King and his co-scripter Adam Alleca (who wrote the remake of ‘The Last House on the Left’) neglect to develop the familial bond between husband and wife or father and son, and worse still leave Tom and his companions to navigate the phoner-infested wasteland without much urgency. Not only does it reduce what should be a race-against-time into a tedious plod, that apathy also infects Cusack’s performance, who doesn’t even seem bothered to convey what should be his character’s anxiety, frustration and eventual despair. Likewise, Jackson looks bored pretty much most of the time, and one can hardly blame him given how his character has nothing to do except follow Tom around.

And yet, for that matter, Jackson needn’t be upset about the state of his character; in fact, the movie itself doesn’t quite know where it wants to go or what it intends to do with the ideas it puts out. One moment we learn that the ‘phoners’ are linked to one another as though they share a singular hivemind, the next we learn that the line they share goes dead at night and makes them go into a deep slumber. One moment we see a Freddy Kreuger-like character in a red-hooded sweatshirt as the author of the catastrophe, the next we are told by Tom that the guy is in fact the same person in Clay’s graphic novel. Neither of these narrative threads go anywhere, and a confusing finale that King had apparently changed from the novel due to fan displeasure just reinforces how frustratingly inconsequential the proceedings have been.

To top it off, ‘Cell’ is utterly humourless, which only makes its stupidity even more obvious. Though we’ll never find out if Eli Roth’s twisted sense of humour might have made a better adaptation, there is no doubt that director Tod Williams (best known for ‘Paranormal Activity 2’) cannot quite appreciate the cheesiness of the premise, struggling too to inject suspense and excitement in the few scenes where he gets to unleash some ‘zombie’ madness. Given how joyless, thrill-less and pointless the entire affair is, it is no wonder that ‘Cell’ is probably one of the worst Stephen King adaptations to date, further substantiating earlier decisions to postpone or even shelve its release altogether. There is no chance this one goes viral, especially since it cannot even get you on the line in the first place. 

Movie Rating:

(No matter that it is adapted by the horror maestro himself, Stephen King’s ‘Cell’ is a joyless, thrill-less and pointless exercise in technophobic horror that deserves to be switched off)

Review by Gabriel Chong 

Genre: War/Action
Director: Lee Jae-Han　
Cast: Lee Jung-Jae, Lee Bum-Soo, Liam Neeson, Jin Se-Yeon
Runtime: 1 hr 50 mins
Rating: NC16 (Violence)
Released By: Clover Films Pte Ltd, mm2 Entertainment Pte Ltd and Golden Village Pictures 
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 15 September 2016

Synopsis: South Korean Navy Special Forces, Captain Jang Hak-soo and his 7 members disguise themselves as a North Korean inspection unit. Their mission directives from General MacArthur are to infiltrate the North Korean army command center in Incheon and secure the mine chart; kidnap ‘Ryu Jang-choon’, the second highest ranking North Korean officer; and on D-Day, light the Palmido lighthouse as a signal to the main UN forces. Despite growing suspicion from the clever tactician Commander Lim Gye-jin of the North Korea’s People’s Army, Jang and his team successfully carry out their mission with the help of an underground information network. Then one day, their true identity is revealed...

Movie Review:

Oh yes, you didn’t see it wrong. That is indeed Liam Neeson in a Korean movie, lending his Hollywood star wattage to the role of US General Douglas MacArthur, whose plan (dubbed ‘Operation Chromite’) to land 75,000 troops amphibiously on the port city of Incheon proved to be the turning point in the Korean War.  It was a risky stratagem no doubt – besides the fact that Incheon was then already firmly in the hands of the Northern army backed by Russia and China, the harbour itself was notorious for its swift currents and tidal surges. His other military chiefs had their reservations, and so did then-US President Harry S. Truman. Yet the fact that the Incheon operation was a success is credit as much to that strategic masterstroke as it is to the groundwork laid by a covert squad of eight Korean Liaison Officers (KLO) who went behind enemy lines to gather military intelligence and ‘light’ the way for over 200 warships.

That mission, code-named ‘X-Ray’, is in fact the subject of this movie, for which its leader Captain Jang Hak-soo (Lee Jung-jae) is its hero and our main protagonist here. Posing as a Moscow-trained defector from the North, Captain Jang makes contact with the ruthless North Korean commander- in-charge General Lim Gye-jin (Lee Bum-soo) with the intent of acquiring from the latter the locations of all the mines off the coast of Incheon. Alas, the smart and dangerous General Lim suspects that Captain Jang is not who he says he is, refusing therefore to share that piece of classified information with him, leaving Captain Jang little choice but to attempt a daring daytime raid of the former’s premises. What ensues is a cat-and-mouse game between the two nemeses, which plays out in the form of shootouts, car chases and loud explosions over the course of the movie – and to director John H. Lee’s credit, these are often lively, thrilling and well-choreographed.

If it isn’t yet apparent at this point, ‘Operation Chromite’ is less a war movie than an espionage thriller, focusing on the dedication to nation, commitment to their mission and bravery beyond self of the eight men who knew that they were pretty much on a suicide mission. As his previous films (like ‘71: Into the Fire’ and ‘A Moment to Remember’) would have foretold, Lee’s style isn’t one of subtlety or restraint; and sure enough, every single X-Ray team member’s death is portrayed in slo-mo, accompanied by weeping and elegiac music, and celebrated as a shining example of patriotism.  There is no doubt who the good guys are and who the bad ones are, and Lee doesn’t care about in-betweens; the only exception that Lee’s go-to scripter Lee Man-hee offers is that of a hospital nurse Han Chae-seon (Jin Se-yeon), whose loyalty for the Communist party swiftly unravel after watching her uncle executed in cold blood by gunshot at the town square.  

That the deaths of Captain Jang’s men isn’t felt as poignantly as the music obviously wants to make us feel is somewhat inevitable given the poor attention to character development and its lack thereof. Two brief scenes enlighten the motivations of Captain Jang and one other of his men – the former putting his life on the line to protect his mother’s livelihood in Incheon, and the latter for the sake of his wife and baby daughter. Otherwise, there is no attempt to humanise the other characters or establish their dynamics as a team, which is also why the subsequent portrayals of heroic sacrifice often ring hollow. Worse still is the General himself, who is not only reduced to caricature biting his corncob pipe and berating those who question him but is also saddled with some of the most tin-eared lines we’ve heard in a while (read this: ‘Old age may have wrinkled my skin, but when you lose your ideals, it wrinkles your soul’).

Not even an accomplished actor like Neeson can save his character from drowning in cliché, so it must come as a relief that he is not on the screen very often. That’s right – this is in fact Lee Jung-jae’s movie, and the actor best known for his supporting roles in ‘The Thieves’ and ‘Assassination’ brings gravitas and poise to the role of Captain Jang. Jung-jae lays bare his character’s fears, frustrations and convictions, knowing that he is responsible for the lives of his men and the lives of thousands more waiting for his team to pave their way into Incheon. On the other hand, Lee Bum-soo seems to be having great fun chewing up the scenery as the villain, sneering and shooting his way through in order to get at Captain Jang. The two Lees (by that, we mean Jung-jae and Bum-soo) serve as good foils for each other, but their one-on-one confrontation at the end fizzles out before their dramatic tension comes to a boil.

The same can be said of the extended finale in general, which Lee spends most of his US$14 million budget (huge by Korean cinema standards) on. Though early images of the size of the naval deployment by the South are nicely juxtaposed against the size of the troop deployment from the North, Lee denies his audience the pleasure of any visual spectacle watching the North and South clash; instead, the action we do see is how Captain Jang and who is left of his men seize a lighthouse to guide MacArthur’s fleet in the dark of night as well as their subsequent attempt to take out the explosives planted on the shores where MacArthur’s men will land. Not that it isn’t engaging, but there is something underwhelming about the staging of the titular operation which the rest of the movie was building up to.

Ultimately, ‘Operation Chromite’ is a film that is proud to wear its nationalism on its sleeve, which undeniably can be inspiring for a country constantly rattled by its Northern neighbour’s nuclear progress but which also reduces its story of ordinary unsung heroes into pure jingoism. One need only look at last year’s ‘Assassination’ (which also starred Jung-jae) to know that Korean cinema has done and can do much, much better than this, so even if it isn’t a bomb in the figurative sense, it still is a disappointing exercise in mediocrity. And if you’re watching this because of Neeson, let’s just see you needn’t bother, especially not when he doesn’t do much more than walk around in the same boardroom trying to channel MacArthur’s trademark bluster and bravado through god-awful lines of dialogue at his enemies. 

Movie Rating:

(Not nearly a bomb but not quite a success by any measure, this tale of espionage that wears its jingoistic heart on its sleeve is superficially engaging but emotionally hollow)

Review by Gabriel Chong