Genre: War/Action
Director: Mario Van Peebles
Cast: Nicolas Cage, James Remar, Tom Sizemore, Matt Lanter, Brian Presley, Yutaka Takeuchi, Johnny Wactor, Adam Scott Miller, Cody Walker, Thomas Jane
Runtime: 2 hrs 10 mins
Rating: NC-16 (Some Nudity And Disturbing Scenes)
Released By: Shaw
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 20 October 2016

Synopsis: In the waning days of World War II, the Navy warship USS Indianapolis secretly delivered one of two atomic bombs that would eventually end the war. The Japanese attacked and sank the heavy cruiser. The USS Indianapolis’ mission was so classified it was not reported missing, and no one knew the ship had been attacked until four days later. Of the 1197 crewmembers, nearly 300 went down with the ship. Stranded in the shark-infested waters of the Philippine Sea, the remaining survivors of the USS Indianapolis endured hunger, thirst, heat, delirium, relentless shark attacks and the death of many shipmates.

Movie Review:

If you’ve been wondering what Nicolas Cage has been up to these few years, then ‘USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage’ is as good an answer as any. Oh yes, despite getting the big screen release treatment, this dramatization of the events that befell the ill-fated naval destroyer during World War II is really no better than the dozen or so direct-to-video releases that Cage has unfortunately graced since falling off Hollywood’s A-list after a string of box-office disappointments in the late 2000s. That’s not to say Cage, who plays the ship’s Captain Charles McVay, phones it in; oh no, Cage remains reliably watchable to say the least, but the US$40-million budgeted film comes off like a TV movie with weak characterization, wooden execution and cut-rate CGI that makes its bloated over two hours running time seem like a painfully interminable experience.

To be sure, it needn’t have been the case. Hollywood has for years tried to bring to life the incredible human survival story following the worst Naval disaster in U.S. history, in which only 317 of the 1,197 crewman aboard eventually survived the torpedo that sank the vessel and the five days waiting in shark-infested waters in the Philippine Sea for rescue. In fact, the USS Indianapolis had just completed its mission of delivering parts of the atomic bomb (which would eventually be dropped on Hiroshima) to a naval base in the Pacific, a task so top-secret that the Pentagon chiefs decided that it necessitate the vessel forgo the traditional escort which was essential to defending it against the Japanese submarines in the area in order not to draw attention. Sadly, this adaptation of these larger-than-life circumstances hardly does justice to them, let alone to the real-life heroes who lived or perished.

Blame that first and foremost on the terrible script by Cam Cannon & Richard Rionda Del Castro, which has absolutely no clue what to do with the characters despite having interviewed the few surviving members of the Indianapolis. Knowledge of the ship’s crew and the relationships between them is superficial at best and non-existent at worst – we are told oddly little about the heroic Captain McVay, except that he has a wife named Louise whom he misses and writes letters to; the love triangle that defines two best friends who fall in love with the same debutante is clichéd and absolutely cringe-worthy; the arrogant young officer who uses and abuses his authority over his men is downright hammy even if accurate; the camaraderie that trumps the initial rivalry between a black and white crewman is unconvincing; and last but not least the ship’s engineer McWhorter (Tom Sizemore) is given scant and largely flippant attention.

Except for the abysmal lines, these flaws aren’t quite so obvious in the first hour, which serves primarily as build-up to the extended centerpiece sequence that sees the ship take two direct hits from the Japanese ‘kaitens’ before taking in water, breaking up in half and sinking to its watery grave. And yet right from the start, the film is crippled by its seemingly clueless director, who not only shuffles aimlessly from supporting character to supporting character but too often resorts conveniently to using Captain McVay as a narrating device to tell than show the details. Despite well-regarded work in TV dramas such as ‘Empire’ and the recent History miniseries ‘Roots’, Peebles loses his way in this rare feature-length outing, which also betrays his lack of experience handling CGI-heavy scenes that cannot even match that from more than a decade ago in the similarly themed ‘Pearl Harbour’.

As you can probably guess, it only gets worse in the second hour, which sees the initial survivors get separated into three different groups – one with the two best friends, one with the pompous but cowardly young officer, and the last with Captain McVay and a severely wounded McWhorter. Indeed, it becomes manifestly clear that the character work is severely lacking, so much so that what ensues are random sequences of various indistinguishable crewmen getting attacked by sharks. Not only do these seem incoherent (such that it goes from day to night when the focus shifts from one group to another without proper transition and therefore sense of time), they are also often illogical, especially in how those fortunate enough to not yet get dragged away or chomped to bits by sharks would sit leisurely on the side of their life-raft dangling their legs like bait in the water.

Lost amidst the poorly constructed film is the ignominy suffered by Captain McVay, who was subject to court martial after his rescue for losing his ship to an act of war but was not exonerated until much later, despite the testimony of the very Japanese submarine commander Hashimoto (Yutaka Takeuchi) who had sunk the Indianapolis. The latter is probably one of the few redeeming elements of the film, which refrains from demonizing the Japanese but paints a dignified portrait of Commander Hashimoto as one bound by his mission in that time of war. Amidst the scenes of the survivors stranded at sea are brief interludes where Commander Hashimoto is shown agonizing over calling for help for his so-called American enemies, whom he ultimately regards as no less than fellow men whose very lives were at stake.

Yet that is scant consolation for a film that barely manages to stay afloat despite its intriguing real-life origins, dragged down by muddled plotting, clumsy exposition and overall ham-fisted direction. Cage’s performance is as dignified as can be, but having a movie like ‘USS Indianapolis’ to his name does no favours for his reputation as a washed-out A-lister whose heydays in Hollywood are long over. Among one of the earlier iterations of this movie was a Jaws prequel, but whether as a shark thriller, a bombastic WWII epic or as a stripped-down survival story, there is no disguising the fact that this eventual mish-mash does neither well, and worse injustice to the heroes who have been portrayed as no better than caricatures here. ‘Men of Courage’ may be the subtitle, but there is nothing honorable about this ill-begotten bargain basement production. 

Movie Rating:

(Yet another Nicolas Cage dud, this fact-based WWII survival story is so clumsily written and ineptly directed that it was better off not made)

Review by Gabriel Chong

Genre: CG Animation
Director: Garth Jennings
Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Reese Witherspoon, Seth MacFarlane, Scarlett Johansson, John C. Reilly, Taron Egerton, Tori Kelly, Nick Kroll, Nick Offerman, Leslie Jones
Runtime: 1 hr 48 mins
Rating: PG
Released By: UIP 
Official Website: http://www.singmovie.com/?redirect=off

Opening Day: 8 December 2016

Synopsis: Set in a world like ours but entirely inhabited by animals, Sing stars Buster Moon (Academy Award winner Matthew McConaughey), a dapper Koala who presides over a once-grand theater that has fallen on hard times. Buster is an eternal optimist—okay, maybe a bit of a scoundrel—who loves his theater above all and will do anything to preserve it. Now facing the crumbling of his life’s ambition, he has one final chance to restore his fading jewel to its former glory by producing the world’s greatest singing competition. Five lead contestants emerge: A mouse (Seth MacFarlane) who croons as smoothly as he cons, a timid teenage elephant (Tori Kelly) with an enormous case of stage fright, an overtaxed mother (Academy Award winner Reese Witherspoon) run ragged tending a litter of 25 piglets, a young gangster gorilla (Taron Egerton) looking to break free of his family’s felonies, and a punk-rock porcupine (Scarlett Johansson) struggling to shed her arrogant boyfriend and go solo. Each animal arrives under Buster’s marquee believing that this is their shot to change the course of their life.

Movie Review:

Matthew McConaughey as a koala who plans to save his theatre by organising a singing competition? This we’ve gotta watch.

It doesn’t matter if Illumination Entertainment, the animation film production company owned by Universal Studios can’t stop milking money from the Minions, its borderline irritating mascots. How the characters from the Despicable Me movies continue to make adults go gaga is one of life’s greatest mysteries.

Okay, back to McConaughey playing a koala in this animated feature. The 47 year old Academy Award and Golden Globe winner (Dallas Buyers Club) has such a cool southern accent, we would watch him voice any cartoon character. The actor always seems to be mumbling through his Texasaccent, and it is way too cool for school. We heard McConaughey voicing Beetle in Laika’s beautiful Kubo and the Two Strings a while ago, and he is back headlining another animated film.

Buster Moon (what a name!) is the protagonist here – and he has his father’s life savings in a rundown Broadway style theatre. Fate hasn’t been kind to the koala, and he has to come up with something fast if he doesn’t want the bank to take over the property. Due to an adorable miscommunication with his chameleon assistant, the singing competition he wants to organise promises a grand prize of $10,000 instead of the $1000 he can afford. What happens next? A motley crew of animals come forward enthusiastically to, well, sing.

There’s Reese Whiterspoon’s Rosita, a pig with 25 piglets and an overworked hubby – the housewife performs a mean rendition of Katy Perry’s “Firework”. There’s Scarlett Johansson’s Ash, a porcupine who has been dumped by her boyfriend and channels her angst to her rock guitar. There’s Taron Egerton’s Johnny, a gorilla who wants to lead a different lifestyle from his criminal father – the English actor’s accent is put to good use in his cover of Sam Smith’s “Stay With Me”.

Elsewhere, Tori Kelly is a timid elephant with a big voice, Seth McFarlane is an haughty mouse with a big ego, and Nick Kroll is hilarious as a flamboyant male pig in tights who sings and dances to Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance”.  

The list of recognisable names doesn’t stop there in the ensemble cast. There’s also John C Reilly as a sheep who plays best friend to Buster Moon, Jennifer Saunders as a diva sheep who can’t stand pop culture and Leslie Jones as a kind elephant who gives wise advice to her dejected granddaughter.

Sure, there are smarter animated movies about different animals living in a community (Zootopia, The Wild and the Madagascar franchise come to mind) – but you will love this 108 minute movie because it is fun, breezy and easy to watch. You will hum along to the countless number of songs featured in the musical comedy directed by Garth Jennings. Who wouldn’t say yes to Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe”, Nicki Minaj’s “Anaconda”, Avril Lavigne’s “My Happy Ending” and get ready for this – Seal’s “Kiss from a Rose”?

And nothing beats watching McConaughey’s Buster Moon stripping down to his swimming trunks to wash cars. 

Movie Rating:

(Sing along with the motley crew of animals in this fun and rousing animated movie!)

Review by John Li

Genre: Horror/Thriller
Director: Mike Flanagan
Cast: Henry Thomas, Elizabeth Reaser, Doug Jones, Parker Mack, Sam Anderson, Kate Siegel, Annalise Basso, Lulu Wilson
Runtime: 1 hr 22 mins
Rating: PG13 (Horror)
Released By: UIP  
Official Website: http://ouijamovie.com/

Opening Day: 3 November 2016

Synopsis:  It was never just a game. Inviting audiences again into the lore of the spirit board, Ouija: Origin of Evil tells a terrifying new tale as the follow-up to 2014’s sleeper hit that opened at number one. In 1965 Los Angeles, a widowed mother and her two daughters add a new stunt to bolster their séance scam business and unwittingly invite authentic evil into their home. When the youngest daughter is overtaken by the merciless spirit, this small family confronts unthinkable fears to save her and send her possessor back to the other side.

Movie Review:

 Unlike the obvious doll in The Conjuring, Ouija: Origin of Evil’s child lead Doris Zander, played by the beguiling Lulu Wilson, is truly a haunting vessel for evil. When perky blonde bob and fair-faced child turns to you with milky eyeballs and a gaping mouth, there’s no reason not to recoil in fear. Director Mike Flanagan’s star is on the rise as he steers clear of too many Hollywood cliches to generate some ghoulish good times.

Alice Zander (Elizabeth Reaser) is the struggling single mum working as the local town’s medium. Thing is, she didn’t exactly inherit the family gift and so she resorts to mechanics and theatrics to deliver comfort to ailing hearts. On the hunt for a new performance tool, she picked up the Ouija board. Coincidentally, this is when her youngest, Doris, starts displaying genuine gifts of channeling. Thrilled by the turn of events, Alice conveniently brushes aside the source much to the chagrin of her elder daughter Lina (Annalise Basso).

No surprise when things turn much darker as the family finds out that the messages were not coming from benign spirits. Worse still when they realise Doris might not be herself anymore. So with the possession comes our kindly priest. Father Tom Hogan (Henry Thomas) assists the family through the investigations, leading to a culminating exodus that routes itself to it’s later story, 2014’s Ouija.

The setting in 1965 is perfect, as the era of both innocence and decadence. This throwback in style is convincing, paired well with Michael Fimognari’s understated but effective camera work. Flanagan manages to retain this nostalgic formula in scares too, keeping things simple and straightforward. It’s never dull, worked with an even pacing, with equal measure of build-ups and jump scares, body circusy and haunting images to keep its genre.

Flanagan puts his prize money on the cherubic Wilson, who rewards him with an unnerving performance as possessed child. The child actress steals the scenes she’s in (possessed or not), with none of the robotic stiffness typical in such characters. Her gullibility, when twisted by the malevolent forces, have an unerving effect. Her stares and subtle face twitches are creeping as she hides the army of evil she’s channeling. However, a note to Mike, once you’ve seen the demonic face effect, it exponentially loses its effect in subsequent appearances.

Equally captivating is the firmly present Annalise, who convincingly roots us in her paranoia, all displayed pleadingly through her brilliant blue-green eyes. As the grounded elder daughter, she is the logic mill of the family and responsible for finally getting help. Not so persuasive was mentioned help, as Father Thomas, with his mutterings and dodderings, delivers a flat performance. The only exception was an anticipated scene, where he goes head-to-head with Doris, testing her at the board. The editing for what happens after, made for a tense and thrilling watch.

Circling around the premise like a vulture, Flanagan executed Ouija: Origins of Evil build-up with finesse and suspense. However, as he descended for the kill, there were a few missteps along the way. Motivations seem unconvincing at times, especially when you have a character sewing up the mouth one second, then wanting to save same victim the next. It turns into a spirit possession orgy as you scratch your head wondering who was doing what and why.

Ouija: Origin of Evil is still a good year-end horror, and that rare film that will earn the title of it being a sequel that’s better than the original. With a strong cast and styling, this sophomore effort for the series is spelling out success - just don’t spoil it with a third installment. 

Movie Rating:

(Hasbro’s latest venture has the right hands on deck and got steered well. The planchet on this board will slide quickly to the YES)

Review by Morgan Awyong

Genre: Thriller
Director: Farren Blackburn
Cast: Naomi Watts, Jacob Tremblay, Oliver Platt, Charlie Heaton
Runtime: 1 hr 31 mins
Rating: NC-16 (Some Nudity)
Released By: Cathay-Keris Films
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 17 November 2016

Synopsis: A heart-pounding thriller about a widowed child psychologist who lives in an isolated existence in rural New England. Caught in a deadly winter storm, she must find a way to rescue a young boy before he disappears forever.

Movie Review:

Thriller turns cold with cheap scares and flaky plot

I’m sure it sounded good on paper. This thriller debut by Director Farren Blackburn was to be a tightly wound psychological piece, taking us through the unravelling of a mother’s mind as her family gets snowed in and experience ghostly happenings. But as you probably guessed - it’s not.

Although the movie shifts much-needed gear in the second part after an unbelievable twist, this chiller remains more schizophrenic than scintillating. It’s not a far shot to guess that writer Christina Hodson might have thought of the plot-twist first before working backwards to set it all up. Her arranged hopes of this thriller domino ended fairly early unfortunately.

The luminous Naomi Watts is Mary Portman, a child psychologist who loses her husband in a car accident at the start of the film. As she copes with her crash-surviving stepson Stephen (Charlie Heaton), who is now quadriplegic, she debates on her abilities as a caretaker to the boy. Ironically, a young patient of hers, Tom (Jacob Tremblay) is being taken away from her just as she is making progress. As she finally sends the boy away with a gift of her son’s scarf and beanie, she feels her potential to help snuffed out yet again.

This state of vulnerability and helplessness is meant to be stretched further, cooped starkly in the isolated house in Maine and the impending snowstorm. But even with some polished cinematography from Yves Bélanger and thoughtful simmering at the start, Shut In is simply preposterous.

When Tom later returns unannounced at her doorstep by himself, then within the next moment, disappears, you’re starting to wonder whose story this is about really. Worried for his safety, his disappearance soon takes on a nightmarish toll as it leads to a statewide search. The guilt-ridden Mary starts to experience ghostly footsteps and mysterious creaks, before going full-blown terrified when scratches start appearing on her son’s cheeks.

Her only confidante is her own therapist Dr. Wilson (Oliver Platt), who has been sharing his opinion and deeming the whole episode to be due to parasomnia. At this point, I wasn’t even aware that she was lacking sleep.

Everything that is positioned for a pay-off seems misfired. Mary’s insomnia wasn’t very pronounced, and her nightmares and scares often turn out to be red herrings - often accompanied by a loud aural clanging cue that grew irksome. Tom’s presence as a spirit isn’t very ghostly. And Stephen certainly isn’t going anywhere. Even when the blizzard hits and the environment traps Mary further in her nightmare - real or otherwise - it doesn’t really feel much that way, as Dr. Wilson easily drives up to her house when a situation arises.

After the big reveal midway through the film, it finally becomes a little more bearable as there’s less deliberation and Shut In finally goes straight for a traditional victim-escaping-from-slasher formula. The pacing picks up and though many of her decisions were highly questionable, it at least allowed for some tense moments.

The regular horror viewer must see many parallels to The Shining after the reveal - snow, axe, maniacal killer -  but Nicholson’s axe represented horror, while this only gave us lots of bewilderment. Like a scene where Mary, after hearing noises while she was sleeping, saw Tom’s silhouette. She gasps and turns to look again, only to see the figure gone. As she leans back into bed relieved, a small hand appears to cover her mouth and the screen fades to black. I had no idea what that was about.

Shut In could have been a richly psychological piece supported by great production value, but unfortunately left too many doors open. Hodson’s effort is literally too drafty.

Movie Rating:

(The cast, led by a vulnerable and frosty Watts, gives their best but cannot save a script that tries too hard. Please self-medicate with some believability)

Review by Morgan Awyong 

DIRECTOR DEREK TSANG WILL BE IN TOWN ON 3rd NOVEMBER TO PROMOTE SOUL MATE Posted on 24 Oct 2016 SOUL MATE 《七月与安生》, which receives 7 nominations at the upcoming 53rd Golden Horse Awards, will be hitting the big screens in Singapore on 10th November! Director Derek Tsang, who is nominated for the Best Director Award, will be in town to promote the movie on 3rd November! Directed by Derek Tsang, SOUL MATE is adapted and co-produced by Hong ... more

Genre: Drama
Director: Mick Jackson
Cast: Rachel Weisz, Tom Wilkinson, Timothy Spall, Andrew Scott, Jack Lowden, Caren Pistorius, Alex Jennings, Harriet Walter
Runtime: 1 hr 50 mins
Rating: PG13 (Brief Coarse Language)
Released By: Shaw  
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 17 November 2016

Synopsis: Based on the acclaimed book Denial: Holocaust History on Trial, DENIAL recounts Deborah E. Lipstadt's (Academy Award winner Rachel Weisz) legal battle for historical truth against David Irving (BAFTA nominee Timothy Spall), who accused her of libel when she declared him a Holocaust denier. In the English legal system, in cases of libel, the burden of proof is on the defendant, therefore it was up to Lipstadt and her legal team, led by Richard Rampton (Academy Award nominee Tom Wilkinson), to prove the essential truth that the Holocaust occurred.

Movie Review:

Some of the best reviewed and most moving films are deal with the Holocaust – Schindler’s List (1993), Life Is Beautiful (1997), The Pianist (2002), The Boy in Striped Pyjamas (2008) and Son of Saul (2015) are some titles that come to mind.

If you don’t already know, the Holocaust is a genocide that took place from 1941 to 1945, and about six million Jews were kllled by Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany and its collaborators. The victims included 1.5 million children and represented about two-thirds of the nine million Jews who had resided in Europe. The persecution and genocide were carried out in stages, culminating in what Nazis termed the “die Endlösung der Judenfrage” ("Final Solution to the Jewish Question"), an agenda to exterminate Jews in Europe. One can only imagine the countless number of real life stories which haven’t been told on the big screen.

The latest one to reach our protected shores is this British American drama based on Deborah Lipstadt’s 2005 book History on Trial: My Day in Court with a Holocaust Denier. The real life event saw Lipstadt and her publisher Penguin Books being sued by Holocaust denier David Irving for libel for characterising some of his writings and public statements as Holocaust denial in her earlier book Denying the Holocaust (1995).

Holocaust denial involves someone refuting the fact that that Nazi Germany's Final Solution did not include the extermination of Jews, that Nazi authorities did not use extermination camps and gas chambers to mass murder Jews; and that the actual number of Jews killed was lower than the historically accepted figure of 5 to 6 million.

This 110 minute film will please fans of courtroom dramas. You see how the protagonist, together with her legal defence team go through how the English legal system works, debate opinions at lengthy hearings, and eventually proving that the antagonist specifically knew that he was lying in claiming that the Holocaust did not occur.

Mike Jackson (The Bodyguard, Volcano) directs the film from David Hare’s (The Hours, The Reader) screenplay, and the result is a sensitive and respectful take on the somber events that took place less than 20 years ago. Viewers who are interested in history and have strong views about the atrocities of the Holocaust will appreciate the plot development, while those who prefer their movies loud, action packed and CGIladen may want to give this a miss. Oh, if you’re feeling exhausted after a long day, the many scenes of characters conversing with each other may induce the sleeping bug.

Rachel Weisz gives a committed performance as Lipstadt, a woman who does not give in to the system without fighting back. She faces off with Timothy Spall, who plays Irvingwith a human touch. When the film ends, you wonder whether the man was right in sticking with his views. The supporting cast delivers solid performances as well – from Tom Wilkinson’s hard hitting libel lawyer (Richard Rampton) to Andrew Scott’s vocal solicitor (Anthony Julius) – this is a showcase of powerful acting. 

Movie Rating:

(This courtroom drama featuring solid performances is a sensitive and respectful take on real life events)

Review by John Li

Genre: Animation
Director: Makoto Shinkai
Cast: Ryunosuke Kamiki, Mone Kamishiraishi, Masami Nagasawa, Etsuko Ishihara, Kanon Tani
Runtime: 1 hr 47 mins
Rating: PG
Released By: Golden Village Pictures  
Official Website: http://www.kiminona.com/index.html

Opening Day: 3 November 2016

Synopsis: Taki wakes from what seemed like a very important dream. But in an unfamiliar room and not in his body…but that of a girl! On the other hand, Mitsuha, a teen girl, is tired of living in a mountain village. She pleads to God “Please, let me be a handsome Tokyo boy in my next life!” The next morning, Mitsuha awakens as a high school male. Based on information around her, she learns whose body she inhabits. His name is Taki. The two have switched places! When they wake up again, they’ve returned to their former selves. But sleep brings the body swap again and again. Mysteriously, the pattern continues daily. The two fumble about, unaccustomed to each other’s bodies, but start communicating by memo. As they awkwardly overcome one challenge after another, a bond develops between the two- one that evolves into something more romantic. However, there’s something they still don’t know… The unexpected is about to be revealed.

Movie Review:

Half of the readers who clicked on this review would probably have heard of this movie’s achievements at the box office. *Your Name* topped the Japanese weekend box office for seven consecutive weeks; it was the first non-Studio Ghibli animation film that grossed more than 10 billion yen in the Japanese box office; and is currently the highest earning domestic film in Japan this year. If you already knew of all this and are wondering if the film is worth the hype, go forth and book your tickets now.

But for the rest of the people who somehow decided to click on this link and need some convincing, be warned, this is no Studio Ghibli movie. But more on the comparisons between *Your Name* and Studio Ghibli’s works later.

Director Shinkai Makoto’s sixth full-length animation feature film, *Your Name*, was based on Shinkai’s novel of the same name. The story is deceptively simple – boy meets girl… or rather, girl’s wish comes true and she becomes boy, while boy becomes girl. Which admittedly sounds like a coming-of-age movie that involves some kind of awkward sexual awakening and self-discovery… This movie is very much not so. Miyamizu Mitsuha (voiced by Kamishiraishi Mone), whose family manages the shrine in Itomori, longs to escape her town. Her wish is granted when she wakes up in the body of Tachibana Taki (Kamiki Ryunosuke), and vice versa. As this event repeats itself seemingly at random, the two high schoolers start learning more about each other and inevitably, fall in love. If this sounds too cheesy and cliché, please still give the movie a chance and read on.

Unlike what most summaries might lead their readers to believe, Mitsuha is not a spoilt brat whining about Tokyo and Taki is far from the snobbish Tokyolite – both somewhat common tropes in manga/anime. Both characters are somewhat well-liked and sensible high schoolers. The way Mitsuha and Taki dealt with their body-switching tendencies were also portrayed with relative realism, leaving notes for each other to act more like their actual selves (hooray for technology), while not being able to resist the urge to sabotage the other. The characters’ likeability, as well as the way their body switching experiences were portrayed, draws in and convinces the audience to empathize with Mitsuha and Taki’s circumstance, while also creating the willing suspension of disbelief for the plot, setting the stage for the second part of the film.

Despite the engaging storyline and characters, fans of Shinkai Makoto would probably argue that the main draw of his films are the visuals. *Your Name* does not disappoint in the category, providing a visual feast of both big city and small town imagery, which might make Japanophiles have an irrational desire to book your air ticket back to Japan pronto. For first time viewers of a Shinkai Makoto film, like this member of the audience, there is an urge to go watch all of his past films, just to look at the moving pictures on the screen.

In fact, it is the imagery in Shinkai’s works that made movie critics compare them with that of Studio Ghibli’s. In addition, it probably did not help that *Your Name* also features relatively youthful protagonists in a half-fantastical setting. Studio Ghibli has tasted success internationally, and both domestic and international audiences already have high expectations for Studio Ghibli’s works, be it in terms of the animation, characterization, or themes featured. In contrast, Shinkai is a relative unknown, and can afford to not appeal to an international audience. That is also arguably Shinkai’s greatest selling point over Studio Ghibli – being able to feature a localized setting rooted in (a somewhat idealized) everyday life in Japan – squeezing inside an overcrowded, peak hour train, eating lunch on the school rooftop, having a part time job in high school. Things that the Japanese audience, and people who have been exposed to the Japanese culture, can appreciate and relate to.

Japanese rock band RADWIMPS’ movie soundtrack was also fantasic. interspersed at meaningful sequences and scenes, the songs with lyrics come with Englsh subtitles for the mostly non-Japanese speaking audience, allowing the audience to appreciate how the lyrics reflects what is happening on screen. While the instrumentals/ background music might not be as obvious, they were also well-placed, and had much to play in building a coherent whole movie.

In all, the movie starts off with a shoujo storyline and shounen pacing in the first half of the movie, before things escalated pretty quickly to a more seinen and josei ending that keeps the viewer guessing until the last second. Just by looking at the title of the movie, this viewer expected the movie to be more like Shakespeare’s “a rose by any other name”-esque, instead of Mencius’ butterfly dream philosophy. These are horrible summaries of the movie, just like the awkwardly worded one at the top. Just go watch *Your Name*; it will give you feels.

Movie Rating:

(A visceral, sentimental, and beautiful film. Watch it.)

Review by Goh Yan Hui

Genre: Action/Comedy
Director: Pan Anzi
Cast: Kenny Lin, Zhang Jingchu, Tengger, Liu Xiaoqing, Vivian Dawson, Kenneth Tsang
Runtime: 1 hr 55 mins
Rating: NC-16 (Violence)
Released By: mm2 Entertainment, Clover Films, Cathay-Keris Films  
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 21 July 2016

Synopsis: Con man (Kenny Lin) pairs up with a beautiful gunfighter (Zhang Jingchu) to stop the Japanese military from stealing a Chinese national treasure. Along their quest, they cross paths with a couple (Tengger and Liu Xiaoqing) who turn out to be infamous treasure thieves. Together, the four form an unlikely alliance and race against time in search for the coveted national treasure.

Movie Review:

For a few bucks, you might probably be entertained by this nonsensical flick directed and written by Pan Anzi and stars the up-and-coming Kenny Lin Gengxin (Black & White 2) and Zhang Jingchu (Protégé).

Kenny Lin plays Xiao Zhuang, a small-time hustler who dreams of taking over the legendary hustler himself, Shi Fuo (Tengger) not knowing he is hidden among the commoners. But when a precious Imperial seal is stolen and eyed by the Japanese army, Xiao Zhuang and Shi Fuo are reluctantly roped in by a special agent, Ruo Yan played by Zhang to retrieve the seal from the hands of the enemies.

It’s not the first time Pan Anzi has flirted with the action comedy genre, a few years back he already did Scheme With Me with Richie Jen. This time round, he seems to push things even further despite the fact his story remained paper-thin. The movie however moved at a lightning speed shifting from one scene to another liked a Looney Tunes cartoon. In this manner, I guess it’s hard to tell apart if the setup actually makes sense or logic because your eyes are too fixed on the screen.    

The action adventure first took place in an Arabian-like setting before moving on to a plane which crash in the desert with all onboard miraculously surviving and then to a fight ontop a speeding steam train before the finale which took place on a gigantic cruise ship resembling Titanic. It’s all the while loud and rowdy with Xiao Zhuang, Ruo Yan and Shi Fuo constantly bickering and getting themselves into one fight after another with the enemies. As the action sequences get bigger, the CGI and gags get cheesier.   

As expected, Pan Anzi introduced some clichéd Japanese killers along the way since this is an era set near to World War II. There’s a pair of psychotic-looking couple and a powerful phantom soldier that should have exist in another movie. And Pan even finds time to mock the Koreans and Americans before wrapping up his adventure tale in the most ridiculous way ever.

Kenny Lin’s character is a cross between Indiana Jones and Ethan Hunt and he did a decent job hamming it up the entire time and ripping off latex masks a la mission impossible. Zhang Jingchu who was briefly seen in the last Mission Impossible is totally wasted as the love interest and sidekick while HK veteran Kenneth Tsang appears as a villainous Japanese general. Another veteran Liu Xiaoqing has a small role as the wife of Shi Fuo and half Singaporean Vivian Dawson is as stiff as a log in his second villainous outing after Double Trouble.

For A Few Bullets is definitely a B movie with not much of an ambition to impress except to entertain audiences with the lowest expectations. The action is disheveled, the CGI embarrassing and you can forget about the plotting. End of the day, you can take home the fact that Zhang Jingchu is pretty cool as the heroine. 

Movie Rating:

(Sloppy caper that recycles all the action and fun from famous Hollywood movies)

Review by Linus Tee

Genre: Action/Sci-Fi
Director: Stewart Hendler
Cast: Ben Winchell, Maria Bello, Ana Villafane, Josh Brener, Mike Doyle, Andy Garcia
Runtime: 1 hr 32 mins
Rating: PG (Some Violence)
Released By: Golden Village Pictures  
Official Website: http://www.maxsteelfilm.com

Opening Day: 27 October 2016

Synopsis: 16-year old MAX MCGRATH has just moved to a new town—and is desperately trying to fit in—when he discovers his body can generate the universe's most powerful energy. Unbeknown to Max, a slightly rebellious and hilarious techno-organic extraterrestrial named Steel has been keeping an eye on him, hungry for his super-human energy. When they finally meet, they discover that together they form MAX STEEL, a superhero possessing powerful strength beyond anything in our world. These two unlikely friends soon find themselves hunted by sinister forces who want to control Max's powers, as well as an unstoppable enemy from another galaxy.

Movie Review:

At the peak of his career, Twilight star Taylor Lautner was approached for the leading role of Max Steel though he dropped out in the end for another toy based movie, Stretch Armstrong. In the end the latter never penned out and Max Steel was aborted as well. Anyway, who remember Lautner these days? Despite all the missteps, Mattel and Dolphin Films decide to go ahead and here we have the dud of a superhero and toy movie of 2016.  

Max Steel for the uninitiated is a line of action figures produced by Mattel back in 1997 to present. Maybe the success of their rival properties Transformers and G.I. Joe has given Mattel the confidence to produce a live-action movie but the company has forgotten that majority of the audience today actually grew up on transforming cars and cool military soldiers instead of a teenager who fight alongside an alienbot. 

This origin story written by Christopher Yost (writer of the Thor franchise and many other superhero cartoon features) is very much a predictable affair and reruns of Iron Man and Sam Raimi’s Spider-man most likely inspired Yost’s writings. Max McGrath (the relatively unknown Ben Winchell) is an ordinary high school kid who somehow possessed the ability to emit liquid energy. His mum (Maria Bello) and him apparently shift a lot before settling back to their old home after the mysterious death of his scientist father 16 years ago. Before long, powerful forces known as Ultralinks aka alien beings that are capable of destructive power are on the hunt for Max. With the help of an annoying alienbot Steel, Max is determined to find out the truth behind his special power and the death of his father.

Given the modest budget, the CGI seen here is consistently pretty good from Max’s sidekick, the little mobile orb Steel to the ripples of the translucent energy flow and Max’s suit. What’s truly annoying is the entire affair took too long to develop. There’s a forgettable love interest in the form of Sofia (Ana Villafane) whose only purpose in the movie is to get Max from one point to another using her truck. Appearing in every scene looking either gloom or distressed, Maria Bello is wasted as Max’s mum and lastly, you don’t need to be a genius to sense that something is wrong with Andy Garcia’s Dr. Miles Edwards character.  

There are hints to more of what Max can accomplished with his combined powers with Steel such as turning himself to stealth mode, fly and shooting laser beams though I can assured you that you won’t see much of it right here. Even the unexplained evil forces, which came in the form of tornadoes, disappear as quickly as they come. There’s so much potential in churning out a silly entertaining superhero based on a plastic action figure but Mattel practically blew its only chance. Max Steel just comes across as too draggy, drab and serious to attract even the fans of the toy and animated series. 

Movie Rating:

(More liked Max Stale)

Review by Linus Tee

Genre: Documentary
Director: Ron Howard
Cast: Paul McCartney, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, George Harrison
Runtime: 2 hrs 18 mins
Rating: TBA
Released By: Shaw  
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 3 November 2016

Synopsis: After their now-legendary North American debut on “The Ed Sullivan Show” in 1964, The Beatles transfixed the U.S. and the tremors were felt worldwide, transforming music and pop culture forever with their records and television appearances. The Beatles’ extraordinary musicianship and charisma also made them one of the greatest live bands of all time. In The Beatles: Eight Days a Week – The Touring Years, Oscar®-winning director Ron Howard (A Beautiful Mind, Apollo 13) explores the history of The Beatles through the lens of the group’s concert performances, from their early days playing small clubs in Liverpool and Hamburg to their unprecedented world tours in packed stadiums around the globe from New York to Melbourne to Tokyo. The first feature-length documentary authorized by The Beatles since the band’s breakup in 1970, Eight Days a Week features rare and never-before-seen archival footage of shows and interviews, plus new interviews with Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and numerous prominent observers. The film captures the exhilaration of The Beatles’ phenomenal rise to fame as well as the toll it eventually took on the band members, prompting them to stop touring altogether in August 1966 and devote their prodigious musical energy to the series of ground-breaking studio recordings for which they are best known today.

Movie Review:

So much has been said about the Beatles and Beatlemania that you wonder ‘what else is there to say’, and indeed, there is nothing groundbreaking to be found here in Ron Howard’s documentary on the Fab Four. Yet by mixing archival footage of concert performances and news footage with new interviews of Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr and previously taped encounters of John Lennon and George Harrison, Howard successfully captures the zeitgeist of that point in the 60s when the Beatles were at their zenith and Beatlemania was all the rage. Oh yes, Howard’s focus (like its title implies) is on the early years between June 1962 and August 1966 – where the band toured 90 cities in 15 different countries and performed 815 times – until the exhaustion led them to abandon the road, concentrate on making music in the studio and the production of perhaps their most acclaimed studio album ‘Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band’.

For those who had not lived through that period, it will feel like a very different time – and it was. From civil rights demonstrations to President Kennedy’s assassination to the University of Texas sniper, there was plenty of tumult going around in the United States where the bulk of the Beatles’ concerts outside of their native United Kingdom were played. Both through black-and-white images of these events and through an extensive interview with broadcast journalist Larry Kane (who had the honour of accompanying the Beatles on every date of their first two US tours), Howard makes sure that you’ll appreciate that things weren’t simpler then. But for a while at least, it seemed that way for the Beatles, who rode on the rise of international teen culture during the time when the gigantic Post-World War II baby-boom generation was under 20 – after all, which other musician than the Beatles could have gotten away with racial mixing during that incendiary time in the United States?

Following the mantra of McCartney’s remark that ‘by the end, it became quite complicated; but at the beginning, things were really simple’, Howard juxtaposes context with the Beatles’ meteoric and unprecedented rise to fame in the United States –their landing at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport, the press conferences, their hysteria-making American television debut on ‘The Ed Sullivan Show’, and last but not least the storied Shea Stadium concert. Howard puts his audience right back into the centre of that cultural revolution which the Beatles were a centrifugal part of, how they suddenly mattered more than anything else happening in popular culture and how that took place on such a global scale. To do so, Howard has assembled notable celebrities such as Whoopi Goldberg, Sigourney Weaver and Elvis Costello to share their own Beatles-related anecdotes, with Goldberg’s story of how her mother surprised her with a Shea Stadium ticket probably the best.

Whereas these conversations add intimate insight to the younger generation who may know the music but not the era, they will no doubt resonate even more with those who grew up with the Beatles, for whom can relate personally to Weaver’s sentiment watching the group perform at the Hollywood Bowl in August 1964 that ‘I felt as much as a girl can feel’. But really, what better way to reminisce than the music itself, for which Howard’s film takes full advantage of being authorized by the group (the first in fact since their break-up in 1970); and make no mistake, there is plenty of delightful classic Beatles music here, mostly in the form of performance footage from a dozen concerts around the world featuring such familiar tunes as ‘She Loves You’ and ‘I Saw Her Standing There’. Even better is the roughly half-hour of restored bonus footage of the Shea Stadium concert in New York on Aug. 15, 1965, that sounds absolutely fantastic.

Because Howard has McCartney and Starr, there is no need for others to be talking about the members themselves. And through their talking heads, we hear of how the cheeky quartet from Liverpool had first seen their sudden (and somewhat unexpected) stardom as a game, how they reveled in that for some years, how that became a tidal wave which threatened to overwhelm them, how the endless touring soured the Beatles, as well as how Lennon’s controversial remark that they were ‘more popular than Jesus’ marked a turning point of the world’s love for them and for themselves. To be sure, there is no dirt here – meaning that you’ll won’t find McCartney or Starr saying anything bad about Lennon or Harrison and also that you’ll get the rock-n-roll without the ‘sex and drugs’ – but there is really nothing like hearing from the two surviving members themselves about how the band kept it together all those years by constantly coming back time and again to remind themselves about what was most important, i.e. the music.

Surely, that will likely also be first and foremost if you’re watching this Beatles documentary. Truth be told, it is somewhat disappointing that Howard doesn’t try to go deeper into the phenomenon, or tease out the dynamics between the Fab Four that would most certainly have changed during the touring years. Nevertheless, the music is key and the fact that Howard keeps coming back to it and the band’s delight in making it will make this a joy to watch for new and old fans of the Beatles alike. McCartney says in his interview: “By the end, it became quite complicated. But at the beginning, things were really simple”. How true that Beatlemania would have never been if not for the music at the heart of it – lest we forget, all these four teenagers from Liverpool wanted was to make great music, and that, no one can doubt they have accomplished supremely. 

Movie Rating:

(Notwithstanding that there isn't anything groundbreaking, Ron Howard's documentary on the Beatles is as good an opportunity as any to relive the great tunes and reminisce the cultural impact that their music had on the world)

Review by Gabriel Chong