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Genre: Romance/Drama
Director: Tan Ai Leng
Cast: Tosh Zhang, Cheryl Wee, Jeff Wang, Cora Miao, Yap Chin Fong, Dennis Chew, Tay Ping Hui, Zen Chong, Cherry Ngan, Richard Low
Runtime: 1 hr 32 mins
Rating: PG
Released By: Shaw, mm2 Entertainment
Official Website: https://www.facebook.com/MyLoveSinema/

Opening Day: 8 September 2016

Synopsis: Set in the 1950s, My Love Sinema details one man’s never-ending pursuit of his passion for movies and films. It tells the story of Kheong (Tosh Zhang), a young, starry-eyed 20-year-old who moves to Singapore from a kampung in Malaysia, to train as a film projectionist. There, he meets Lee (Jeff Wang), who becomes his mentor and teaches him about life, girls and dancing. At the cinema, Kheong also encounters Wei (Cheryl Wee), a young Chinese teacher who finds herself torn between her obligation as a dutiful daughter and her feelings towards Kheong. As their affection towards each other grows, they face various obstacles that prevent them from being together. A riveting story of courage and hope, this nostalgic film chronicles life’s triumphs and disappointments and inspiring audiences to stay true to their passions.

Movie Review:

Mostly, it is either filmmakers or film aficionados who look back with dewy eyes on the era of film – as opposed to digital – which makes ‘My Love Sinema’ a hard sell based on the former alone. Oh yes, writer-director Tan Ai Leng’s feature filmmaking debut brims with unabashed love for the by-now (at least in Singapore) by-gone method of cinematic projection, channeled through the enthusiasm of its 20-year-old protagonist Chan Chee Kheong (Tosh Zhang) learning the trade of a film projectionist in the 1950s. In those days, not only did projectionists have to learn to splice separate boxes of film reels together to make one complete feature film screening, they also had to learn to repair them if they were broken, especially after repeated screenings. It is these skills that Ah Kheong pleads Brother Lee (Jeff Wang) to teach him, readily agreeing to buy the latter a gramophone so that Lee will agree to be his ‘shee fu’ (aka master).

Yet, like we said at the beginning, such nostalgia isn’t quite so widely shared with the general public, given how digital projection has delivered cleaner images and crystal-clear sound for what many would say is an overall improved cinematic viewing experience. So, with some influence from her local filmmaking background in ‘That Girl in Pinafore’ (where she was first assistant director) as well as recent period-set box-office hits like ‘You Are the Apple of My Eye’ and ‘Our Times’, Tan has wrapped her love for film around a romance involving Ah Kheong and a sweet young girl named Ho Xiaowei (Cheryl Wee). And because it would be too straightforward to have them simply fall in love and live happily-ever-after, Ah Kheong finds his love for Wei up against the wishes of her well-to-do family and (gasp!) her influential businessman-fiancée Peter Shi (Zen Chong) – thank goodness then that Ah Kheong’s mentor Lee has also been in a similar predicament before and can lend some wise words of advice.

Unfortunately, what is supposed to make it endear to a wider audience is often stilted and unconvincing, no thanks to a contrived story and stiff performances from its leads. The poor-boy rich-girl treatment is hardly new, and what makes the difference between those that work and those that don’t are the situations between the leads, not just the meet-cute encounters between them but also how the conflict between their affair and their families plays out. The former comes off largely ‘blah’, save for one that sees the two come closer to each other than expected while taking down the makeshift screen for a community movie screening; indeed, in order to ensure that the movie remains accessible to the teenage demographic, a supposedly intimate scene between the couple in a small hut in the woods where they take shelter amidst a torrential downpour fades to black all too soon.

To be sure, it isn’t just their passion that’s lacking; the same can be said of the love rivalry between Ah Kheong and Peter. Played poignantly, their enmity can reinforce just how much Ah Kheong loves Wei and the lengths he is willing to go to be with her; played perfunctorily, it is no more than cliché and worse, laughably cringe-worthy at times. The latter is often the sentiment one gets watching Peter confront Ah Kheong for ‘stealing’ his fiancé, whether through his local policemen proxies who accuse the latter of being an activist or directly at gunpoint after thwarting their attempt to elope to Kuala Lumpur. One gets the sense that Tan can’t quite decide if she should simply go all-out mopey and melodramatic with the soap-opera proceedings or keep them restrained, resulting in an awkward ‘middle ground’ that will satisfy neither the Korean drama-loving crowd or the more arthouse-inclined niche.

Just as clumsy is the narrative structure that Tan has chosen to unfold her period-set romance, told from the perspective of Ah Kheong in his old age to a trio of documentary filmmakers in present day – hence the glorified cameos of Tay Ping Hui, Dennis Chew and Cherry Ngan. Without revealing any spoilers, let’s just say it causes the film to have one unsatisfactory sad ending and another artificially positive one, and for no discernably good reason except to have further cameos from Richard Low and 70s Hong Kong actress Cora Miao. Instead of a coda to link past to present, the movie would have been better served if it had spent more time fleshing out the former, especially in providing a raison d'être why someone from a privileged background such as Wei would associate herself with the anti-colonial student movement to protect the Chinese schools.

As it is, Wei remains a flat character whose inner motivations remain muddled, and it doesn’t help that Wee – who makes her big-screen debut here – is too impassive to embody Wei’s struggle from being trapped in a life subscribed for her by her father. Similarly, Tosh (Zhang) seems unusually subdued in his first leading role, so much so that we hardly feel his passion for movies that first motivates him to leave his village to come to town or his stirrings for the girl who has supposedly captured his heart. Together, Tosh and Wee fall short of being a swoon-worthy couple for us to be enraptured by their love for each other or their determination to be with each other despite the odds. Whereas, it is Taiwanese star Wang who steals the show in a supporting role as the coarse but good-hearted Lee, whether channeling Bruce Lee’s macho mannerisms or stripping to his boxers to dance the cha-cha.

Just as she does for her love of film here in ‘My Love Sinema’, Tan’s message through the journey of her two lead characters is a well-intentioned one to not give up fighting for one’s dreams and ambitions – hence the oft-repeated Chinese proverb ‘kill me, or slay me, I will fight till the end’. Yet both are likely to be lost on her audience, because as sincere as this period romance-drama is, it is told with a certain impassiveness that leaves us unable to identify with the characters or their convictions. That said, its Ipoh-based shooting locations does provide a lush evocative atmosphere for the period setting, and those who lived through the era will no doubt feel more than a tinge of nostalgia for a time when life was simpler and purer. Pity then that the film’s earnestness isn’t quite matched by its competence, which remains an invariable flaw no matter seen in which medium, film or digital.

Movie Rating:

(As well-intentioned and earnest it may be, 'My Love Sinema' flickers due to a stilted romance at its centre, contrived plotting and wooden performances)

Review by Gabriel Chong

TIME RAIDERS Impressive Box Office Results in China

Posted on 16 Aug 2016

Time Raiders the upcoming grave-robbing fantasy-adventure which was released in Mainland China on 5 August has made headlines with its impressive box office results of RMB 861 million and is currently standing at the 3rd spot 12 days into the opening. Anticipation is high for this Daniel Lee’s film featuring a star-studded cast like Lu Han, Jing Boran, Bollywood actress Mallika Sheraw ...

Genre: Drama/Comedy
Director: Todd Phillips
Cast: Jonah Hill, Miles Teller, Ana de Armas, Bradley Cooper, Barry Livingston, Kevin Pollak, JB Blanc, Shaun Toub, Jeff Pierre
Runtime: 1 hr 54 mins
Rating: M18 (Coarse Language and Drug Use)
Released By: Warner Bros
Official Website: https://www.facebook.com/WarDogsMovie/

Opening Day: 1 September 2016

Synopsis: “War Dogs” follows two friends in their early 20s (Hill and Teller) living in Miami Beach during the Iraq War who exploit a little-known government initiative that allows small businesses to bid on U.S. Military contracts. Starting small, they begin raking in big money and are living the high life. But the pair gets in over their heads when they land a 300 million dollar deal to arm the Afghan Military—a deal that puts them in business with some very shady people, not the least of which turns out to be the U.S. Government.

Movie Review:

‘War Dogs’ plays like Todd Phillips’ retort to critics who think that his creativity has stagnated since the first ‘Hangover’ movie seven years ago. Based on a 2011 Rolling Stones article about Efraim Diveroli and David Packouz, two small-time arms dealers who conned their way into a $298 million contract from the Pentagon and were eventually convicted of fraud, Phillips and his co-writers Stephen Chin and Jason Smilovic have fashioned a satirical comedy meant to amuse and trigger our outrage at how the Bush administration had basically placed its keys at the hands of shady personalities like Diveroli and Packouz as well as at the jerks who took the opportunity to profit from the Iraq War. At least that was the intention; the reality is a lot less respectable, and the reason why the movie is unfortunately getting more flak than acclaim.

For that, Phillips only has himself to blame. Oh yes, ‘War Dogs’ is perfectly watchable and rather entertaining in the same ‘bro-y’ way that ‘The Hangover’ trilogy and ‘Old School’ was – except that in this case, the pals Phillips is asking us to cheer on are a pair of gun runners. Instead of scolding it, Phillips seems to be celebrating their dubious money-making operation, what with scenes of the Miami pals getting high, getting drunk, fist-bumping each other while high and drunk and cruising around Miami in luxury cars with matching vanity plates that read ‘GUNS’ and ‘&AMMO’. Even for the purpose of cinematic joy, it is difficult to go with the flow of wallowing in seductive lethal excess from the profits of their morally challenged endeavor. What’s more, Phillips’ portrait of their rise-and-fall also appears to be holding them up as emblems of the American entrepreneurial spirit, when it should be incisive commentary of just how greed and corruption can turn American enterprise hideously awry.

That’s not to say there isn’t an enterprising slant in their rags-to-riches tale; indeed, before he runs into his old yeshiva classmate Efraim (Jonah Hill), David (Miles Teller) was no more than a massage therapist whose idea of selling high-end bedsheets to retirement homes turns out to be a business failure. It is Efraim who brings David into his small-time arms-dealing company he heads named AEY Inc, whose mode of operations involves scouring the government’s FedBizOpps listings for military contracts meant for the Iraq and Afghanisation occupations. It will be David who scores the company’s first major deal – to arm the Iraqi police with Italian-made Berettas, a seemingly simple enough contract that gets unexpectedly complicated when Italy bans arms shipments to Iraq. And it will be both Efraim and David who will therefore personally navigate the treacherous 500-mile road from Amman to Baghdad, unwittingly driving through the infamous ‘Triangle of Death’ in the process.

That instrumental change of fortune however is fabricated; oh yes, in adapting the real-life Diveroli and Packouz's tale for the big screen, Phillips and his co-writers have interlaced fact with fiction. Another important detail that’s also fiction is David’s girlfriend Iz (Ana de Armas), whom he lies up a storm to about his actual job and his actual whereabouts, and it is through Iz’s objections that Phillips seems to obligatorily reflect his story’s moral lessons. Of course, there are also the ostentatious title cards every now and then, which are meant to underscore the lessons of greed and turpitude – but each successive chapter further confirms that Phillips is too much in love with his on-screen ‘bros’, let alone deliver any lacerating insight on his two profiteers.

And that is even as we get to the core of the story – a highly coveted US$300 million deal to supply the US-backed Afghan National Army that they win by outbidding their bigger and more experienced competitors, one that gets them in business with a notorious weapons dealer named Henry Girard (Bradley Cooper) on a terrorist watch-list and which eventually does them in by their blatant act of fraud re-packaging Chinese ammunition to mask their country of origin on which there is an arms embargo. Phillips tries to paint David as a hapless young father dragged into the ethical quicksand of Efraim’s shady business in order to provide for his family, but David is short shrift as the audience surrogate, especially since he only comes to terms with his actions after being pummeled in a parking lot in Albania and having a gun pointed at his face.

It doesn’t help that Teller, who had reached a career high with ‘Whiplash’, is much too meek than his role demands. That is particularly so against Hill, who continues with his standout performance in ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ with a brash, edgy and downright intimidating version of Efraim that steals every single scene he is in. Teller hardly matches his co-star’s game, and even the scenes of the couple enjoying the high life after making big on the Beretta deal display a somewhat lack of chemistry between the two actors. The soundtrack of mostly over-exposed classic rock tunes tries to compensate for the flagging energy especially in the second half where Teller has more screen time, but cannot quite mask the listlessness of a dark morality tale which should be much more compelling.

For many reasons therefore, ‘War Dogs’ is a missed opportunity. It is a missed opportunity at unravelling the morally ambiguous world of global arms dealing as well as its personalities. It is a missed opportunity for critique at the legacy of two wars that the United States is still grappling with the consequences of. It is lastly a missed opportunity for Phillips to prove that he can apply the lowbrow comic tradition of his previous movies to a much more serious, topical and grown-up subject. Oh yes, it’s telling that Phillips is in over his head, and his use of title cards and freeze frames remind us of the Scorsese’s movies that he is aping. That this is no ‘Wolf of Wall Street’ is given, just as this is no ‘The Big Short’ – and really, how much you enjoy this political comedy/ thriller depends on how much you are prepared to overlook the fact that the ethical questions that should be raised are simply glossed over. If you’re looking for a satire with bite, then you’ll find ‘War Dogs’ is simply just bark.

Movie Rating:

(All bark and little bite - this satirical comedy of two gun-runner 'bros' misses the mark at being sharp political commentary, coming off no more than yet another variation of 'The Hangover')

Review by Gabriel Chong

Genre: Drama/Biography
Director: Jonathan Jakubowicz
Cast: Robert De Niro, Edgar Ramirez, Usher Raymond, Ana de Armas
Runtime: 1 hr 45 mins
Rating: R21 (Sexual Scenes and Some Coarse Language)
Released By: Golden Village Pictures
Official Website:

Opening Day: 25 August 2016

Synopsis: HANDS OF STONE follows the life of Roberto Duran (Edgar Ramirez), the Panamanian fighter who made his professional debut in 1968 as a 16 year‐old and retired in 2002 at the age of 50. In June 1980, he defeated Sugar Ray Leonard (Usher Raymond) to capture the WBC welterweight title, but shocked the boxing world by returning to his corner in their November rematch, famously saying the words “no mas” (no more).

Movie Review:

There is a great story at the heart of Panamanian boxing legend Roberto Duran’s personal and professional life, but writer-director Jonathan Jakubowicz (Secuestro Express)’s biopic does its prizefighter subject disservice by never quite making up its mind who it wants to be about. Indeed, as much as it begins with Duran as a slum kid from El Chorrillo with a scrappy gift for fighting and ends with him emerging from his personal doldrums to win the WBA junior middleweight title against the then-undefeated Davey Moore in 1983, ‘Hands of Stone’ – which gets its name from the boxer’s sobriquet – also at different points tries to be a movie about his aging trainer Ray Arcel (Robert De Niro) and his most memorable opponent in the ring ‘Sugar’ Ray Leonard (Usher Raymond).

To be sure, both of these supporting characters are interesting in their own right – the former in the span of his 50-year career having trained 18 world champions and having the honour of being the only boxing trainer to be in the Hall of Fame; and the latter a celebrated American icon of boxing who was undefeated save for the grueling 15-rounds he had with Duran in June 1980. But Ray’s troubles with the Mob (as depicted in a couple of scenes with the understated John Turturro) and with a drug-addicted estranged daughter (played by De Niro’s own daughter, Drena) he adopted with his first wife seems to be fighting for a fair share of the limelight with Duran’s life story. Ditto for Sugar Ray’s familial relationship before and during the two landmark fights with Duran – in particular, given how this story is narrated by De Niro’s Ray, why is it we get to see Sugar Ray having sex with his wife?

Nor does it seem that Jakubowicz is sure what he wants his movie to be, ultimately trying and failing to be both a character study about the brilliant but reckless boxing phenom as well as a portrait of Duran as a hero of his time for Latinos in general and especially Panamanians. Because it fails to truly get into Duran, it is difficult for us to truly empathise with the character’s ups and downs, most notably the period in between his two bouts with Sugar Ray where he began indulging in a life of excess and found himself exploited as a pawn by his chief financier Carlos Eleta (Ruben Blades) who agrees to the rematch behind Duran’s back for a jaw-dropping 10 million dollars. It also fails to portray with enough conviction how Duran became a symbol for his homeland amidst tensions between the United States and Panama over control of the Panama canal or how he subsequently fell out of favour by ‘giving up’ during his rematch.

Notwithstanding, what it does do well is in showing the life-changing relationship between Duran and Arcel – beginning with how the former overcomes his biases against ‘gringos’ to agree to train with Arcel, how the latter impresses and convinces the former to combine both strategy and technique in his game, the bond that builds between trainer and fighter during coaching, and the instrumental role that Arcel plays during each one of his fights literally and metaphorically grooming Duran in the right mental and physical state. Ramirez and De Niro, who were quarrelling former in-laws in ‘Joy’, have a natural chemistry that gives the film an intimately winning charm. More than with his wife Felicidad (Ana de Armas), it is the father-son war-of-wills between Duran and Arcel that is the movie’s emotional core.

If it remains engaging despite its messiness, that’s because the film also boasts excellent performances from each one of its cast members. Ramirez plays Duran as a miniature study of machismo, capturing the boxer’s deep-seated hunger, resentment, pride and eventual coming-of-age from his teens to his 30s working his way up the welterweight division. Though the 39-year-old actor can’t quite pass off as Duran in his teens (especially in an early sequence where he woos and pursues his wife Felicidad along the sidewalks of Panama City), there is crudity, ferocity and pathos in his acting, and Ramirez switches effortlessly between subtlety and brutality to give a richly textured performance. His commitment is matched by De Niro, beautifully understated as Duran’s centre of gravity and a perfect counter-point of solace, focus and restraint over the latter’s more primitive instincts.

De Niro also provides the best moments during the frantically edited fights, combing Duran’s hair between rounds as a means of psyching out his opponents with groomed freshness. In truth, the bar for boxing movies has been set staggeringly high with recent genre predecessors such as ‘The Fighter’, ‘Warrior’ and last year’s Rocky Balboa spinoff ‘Creed’, so much so that the capably shot fight sequences often come off underwhelming. Such is the general feeling one has watching ‘Hands of Stone’ too, a competent but ultimately forgettable entry that not only is too generic for its own good, but also fails to do justice to its subject’s colour, heart, triumph and controversy. Its title reveals that it may have had ambition to hit as hard as Duran’s fists of fury, but there’s no doubt it ends up punching far below its weight.

Movie Rating:

(Considering the gripping life story it had to work on, this biopic of legendary Panamanian boxer Roberto Duran is by being only competent also disappointingly generic and too distracted for its own good)

Review by Gabriel Chong

Genre: Action/Crime
Director: David Lam
Cast: Louis Koo, Julian Cheung, Vic Chou, Ada Choi, Bowie Lam, Dada Chan, Janelle Sing, Shek Sau, Hoi-Pang Lo, Jacky Cai, Kwok Cheung Tsang
Runtime: 1 hr 35 mins
Rating: NC-16 (Violence)
Released By: Shaw
Official Website:

Opening Day: 15 September 2016

Synopsis: S Storm follows a handsome ICAC officer, played by Louis Koo, and Julian Cheung who plays a senior policeman on a mission to break an anti-corruption case. As frenemies, both of them have never gotten along well but they managed to complete the task as one...

Movie Review:

You have probably, like us, lost count of how many movies Louis Koo has appeared in this year. The 45 year old actor, who doesn’t seem to have an issue with maintaining a ‘two movies every month’ schedule (in the last few months, we have already seen him in Johnnie To’s Three, Koan Xu’s League of Gods, Jazz Boon’s Linewalker and Benny Chan’s Call of Heroes) he is spoiling his fans again with this sequel to 2014’s Z Storm.

While Z Storm's intention was to remind viewers how Hong Kong’s film industry is capable of producing gripping and taut crime thriller with its plot (who wouldn’t love a shady tale of how the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) uncovers a biggest financial fraud disguised as a charity fund), it was more notable for its stellar lineup. Together with Koo, there was Lam Ka Tung, Michael Wong, Lo Hoi Pang and Felix Lok, just to list a few familiar names.

In this installment, viewers are brought behind the scenes of how football matches are betted on at a jockey club. Enter Koo’s Investigaor Luk and his all knowing team to uncover the truth. Adding spice to the story is the impulsive Detective Lau (played by the much missed Julian Cheung), who obviously has differences with the cool headed Koo. And to please movie goers who are suckers for big names further, there is a quiet assassin (portrayed rather blandly by Vic Chou, who needs to learn that not emoting doesn’t equate to serious acting), a capable ICAC female officer (the very underused Ada Choi), a former ICAC officer (Bowie Lam, whom we wished had more screen time) and many other capable actors from the industry.

The premise set up by scriptwriter Wong Ho Wa is enticing enough – there are slickly shot and edited sequences where the cast throw menacing looks at each other (with all those movies under his belt, you wouldn’t expect anything less from Koo), engage in shootouts and car chases, as well as spout the obligatory quotable quotes.

There are also depictions of some truly moving relationships between the characters: Koo and Cheung learn to put their differences aside to form a convincing bro mance; Koo and Lam are ex colleagues who have taken on very different paths in life but have that mutual respect for each other’s capabilities; Cheung and his on screen sister (Dada Chan) share a troubled past. These are universal themes the casual viewer can relate to, and will appreciate.

Unfortunately, director David Lam seems to be pressured by the studios to cram as many elements as possible into the 95 minute action movie. Characters are not properly fleshed out, and despite the impressive performances delivered by individual actors, they are let down by a frenzy of plot developments and awkward insertions of romance elements (between Chou’s mysterious killer with a tragic past and Chan’s suffering bartender with a similarly tragic past).

But hey, if the formula for the first movie worked, there is no reason why viewers won’t be flocking to the theatres to catch this sequel. As for Koo, he is probably waiting for his next movie to be released – there is a reason why is the good looker is the highest earning actor in Hong Kong with 236 million HKD in 2013, 2014 with 300 million HKD and 2015 with 400 million HKD.

Movie Rating:

(The cast delivers gripping performances, but are bogged down by a frenzy of unnecessary plot developments)

Review by John Li

SYNOPSIS: An Elite Squad of Mercenaries Just Met Their Deadliest Target. Sergeant Leng Feng (Jacky Wu), top marksman of the Chinese Special Forces, is jailed under court martial for disobeying orders. But he's just the kind of fighter the Wolf Warriors are looking for. Silent. Stealthy. Deadly. The Wolves bring Feng into their pack, honing his skills to a knife's edge. But another team has Feng on their radar: a group of corrupt blades-for-hire, seeking revenge for the drug lord's murder.

MOVIE REVIEW:

In his second directorial outing, action star Wu Jing (SPL, Legendary Assassin) decides to compose a love song for the People’s Liberation Army, PLA for short. And to mildly put it, it’s horrendously cheesy and out of tune.

Wu Jing co-writes and directs Wolf Warrior and also stars in the lead role as Leng Feng, an army sniper with superb marksmanship and kickass moves. But when a drug-busting mission goes awry, Feng is transferred to the Special Forces unit also known as Wolf Warrior under its female commander, Long Xiaoyun (The Expendables 2).

Character development is zilch, the jokes are both sexist and corny with the overall story so subpar that you thought it was written by Wong Jing. This is how bad Wolf Warrior is. And to make matters even worse, it features even more gunfire and explosions than hand-to-hand combat sequences and you thought it’s a typical Wu Jing action flick.

By the way, didn’t we see someone by the name of Scott Edward Atkins (The Expendables 2, The Legend of Hercules) being credited on the cover as well? A pity considering his role is a mere glorified cameo. Scott Atkins as he commonly known plays a ruthless foreign mercenary, Tom Cat who is being hired by a drug lord, Ming Deng (Ni Dahong) to avenge his brother’s death. The plan is simple enough that is to take out Leng Feng during his battalion exercise. War games turned real and deadly as Leng Feng and his platoon mates have to take on Tom Cat and friends mid way while Leng Feng’s supposedly love interest, Xiaoyun stands in front of greenscreen and talks to wireless mic the whole time.

Wolf Warrior is akin to The Expendables and Sammo Hung’s superb Eastern Condors thrown into a blender. Unfortunately, it doesn’t really expand on the good work established by the two. The plotting is so full of bullet holes and head scratching that you will seriously find hard to digest. For example, there’s some heated competition between Long and a senior male commander that goes nowhere. Second, camaraderie between Leng and his mates are hardly touches upon; followed by an unnecessary horrible CGI wolves attack sequence that would have meant much more if Liam Neeson were in it. Worst of all, it features plenty of generic running and gunplay in the forest that you wonder why Wu Jing would hire a talented fighter liked Atkins in the first place.

The long anticipated face off between Leng Feng and Tom Cat came towards the end and it lasted for a mere minute or so. A few campy moves here and there, blink your eyes a little and it’s all over. Wolf Warrior actually did pretty well in China that Wu Jing is prepping for Part 2 with Frank Grillo and the fight coordinator of Captain America: Civil War joining the production. To be frank, Wu Jing actually got lucky with Wolf Warrior. It’s so bad and pointless that true action fans probably won’t bother rewatching it. Why embark on material that Hollywood can do so much better.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

The DVD only comes with a Trailer and Previews.

AUDIO/VISUAL:

For a movie that features generous doses of gunshots and explosions, the Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track is loud and dynamic. Visually, the movie simply looks flat and hardly impressive.

MOVIE RATING:

DVD RATING :

Review by Linus Tee

SHIN GODZILLA: First Japanese Blockbuster To Be Released in IMAX in Singapore

Posted on 22 Aug 2016

Opening on 25 August 2016, SHIN GODZILLA is the first ever Japanese blockbuster in Singapore to be released in IMAX. SHIN GODZILLA will al-so be available to audiences in 2D and D-Box. Managing Director of Encore Films, Joyce Lee, said: “We’re delighted to present SHIN GODZILLA in IMAX to our local audiences. This is the first Japanese blockbuster to be re-leased in IMAX in Sing ...

THE TENANTS DOWNSTAIRS BREAKS $100 MILLION MARK IN TAIWAN!

Posted on 25 Aug 2016

THE TENANTS DOWNSTAIRS (樓下的房客) has grossed over TWD$100 million in less than 2 weeks, setting a new box office record for restricted films in Taiwan. Jointly produced by Amazing Film Studio, Star Ritz and mm2 Entertainment (a wholly -owned subsidiary of mm2 Asia Ltd.). Starring Simon Yam, Lee Kang-sheng, Kaiser Chuang and Shao Yu-Wei, a landlord inheriting ...

Genre: Mystery/Fantasy
Director: Adam Tsuei　
Cast: Simon Yam, Ivy Shao, Kaiser Chuang, Lee Kang Sheng, Li Xing, Yu An Shun, Hou Yan Xi, Bernard Sen Jun, Angel Ho, Kurt Chou, Fung Kai, Aiko Chen
Runtime: 116 minutes
Rating: R21 (Sexual Scenes, Violence And Some Homosexual Content)
Released By: mm2 Entertainment & Shaw
Official Website: https://www.facebook.com/TheTenantsDownstairs

Opening Day: 13 October 2016

Synopsis: A landlord (Simon Yam) gratifies his desire by peeping the darkest aspects of his tenants: Chang (Kaiser Chuang) , a lusty gymnastics teacher with a criminal record of domestic violence; Boyan (Hou Yan Xi), a college geek; Wang (Yu An Shun), a divorced father with his angel-like young daughter (Angel Ho); Yingru (Ivy Shao), a mysterious lady; the couple, Guo Li (Lee Kang Sheng) and Linghu (Bernard Sen Jun); and Miss Chen (Li Xing), a sexy office lady drowning in the endless forbidden love and affairs. A tale of incredibly perversion, breathless confusion and the lusty chaos of these eight tenants and their landlord.

Movie Review:

Not everything is warm and fuzzy with Taiwanese writer Giddens Ko’s stories. The 38 year old, who has completed about 60 books, writes under the pseudonym of “Jiu Ba Dao” (which literally means “nine knives”).

Most of us may know how his “You Are the Apple of My Eye” (2011) and “Café. Waiting. Love” (2014) - which were adapted into successful romantic films - boasts eye candy ensembles and radio friendly soundtracks.

Things take an unexpected twist in his latest book turned movie: we are brought into the dark realms of human nature. Voyeurism, paedophilia, torture and murder are things no one is proud of, but are there if we look hard enough.

Adam Tsuei, who was the former president of Sony Music Entertainment in the Greater China Region, is the director responsible for bringing this tale to the big screen. A powerful personality in entertainment industry (he successfully marketed Ko’s previous film adaptations, as well as the Mainland Chinese hits Tiny Times and its sequel (2013). You wouldn’t expect anything less from the person who brought superstars like Jay Chow, Leehom Wang, F4 and Jolin Tsai to the music industry.

Tsuei has a huge challenge here: Ko’s story has a landlord (the ever reliable Simon Yam) in its spotlight. He runs an apartment resided by people you wish weren’t your neighbours. There are secret cameras placed in each quarter, allowing the landlord to pry into the tenants’ lives. There is a young man obsessed with online gaming and teleportation, an introvert gay teacher and student couple, a sexy office lady who has countless affairs with different men, a divorced gym teacher who turned violent with his ex wife, a pretty but mysterious girl always dressed in white, and a single father who lives alone with his young daughter. Seeing how these motley crew’s lives are bordering on boring, the landlord decides to play a part in spicing up their existence.

Rated R21 for sexual scenes, violence and some homosexual content, you wouldn’t think this is a family friendly drama – there are various kinds of sex acts, lots of blood and, ahem, other bodily fluids. We are pretty sure this kind of movie appeals to a selected group of viewers who take pleasure in such indulgent scenes where people are victimised by their own nightmares.

Amidst the bad things that happen in this twisted story of betrayals, addictions and seduction, there is a weird sense of humour that lingers throughout its 116 minute runtime. You giggle nervously as you see the various characters’ lives fall apart (we are not proud of that either), and you wish things will become increasingly sadistic to satisfy your darkest urges. It is also at this point you realise there is a lack of social analysis, as much can be discussed about the dynamics of human nature during the most trying circumstances.

Yam is accompanied by an ensemble cast with varying standards of performances. Li Xing stands out (rightfully so) as the woman engaging in infidelity, earning her a Best Supporting Actress nomination at the upcoming Golden Horse Awards. Lee Kang Sheng pairs up with Bernard Sen Jun as the gay couple, with the younger actor showing his lack of experience in acting). Kaiser Chuang displays his fury and lust adequately as the gym teacher, while Hou Yan Xi is aptly entertaining as the college student who believes he can teleport.

This movie is a mixed bag of theatrics, but a darkly entertaining one (the high production value is a major plus point) if you are keen to explore the discomforting extent the human mind is capable of venturing into.

Movie Rating:

(This dark, twisted and sometimes funny movie has lots of nudity, sex and blood – if these are not your cup of tea, steer clear!)

Review by John Li