Genre: Drama
Director: Derek Tsang
Cast: Zhou Dongyu, Ma Sichun, Toby Lee, Li Ping, Cai Gang, Meng Tingyi
Runtime: 1 hr 50 mins
Rating: PG
Released By: Golden Village Pictures, Clover Films  
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 10 November 2016

Synopsis: LI ANSHENG is an ordinary 30 year-old working woman. Her quiet life in Shanghai is suddenly disrupted by the publication of a novel, entitled “Qiyue and Ansheng”, a chronicle of her friendship with QIYUE during her youth. Coupled with an accidental encounter with SU JIA-MING, her long repressed memories are unleashed with the force of a tsunami…

Movie Review:

Everyone loves a fresh faced actress, and in Derek Tsang’s first feature film.

Tsang, who is also popular Hong Kong actor Eric’s son, cast actresses Zhou Dongyu and Ma Sichuan in the adaptation of Annie Baby's web novel “Qiyue and Ansheng” – and these two good looking Mainland Chinese actresses will be vying for the coveted Best Actress accolade at the upcoming Golden Horse Awards in November.

We are glad to report that these are well deserved nominations, and it would be nice to see either of them bring back the trophy (they will be competing with The Tag Along’s Hsu Wei Ning, I Am Not Madame Bovary’s Fan Bingbing and The Road to Mandalay’s Ma Sichun).

Zhou (you may remember the 24 year old actress from Zhang Yimou’s The Love of the Hawthorn Tree) and Ma (the most notable role taken on by the 28 year old was Daniel Lee’s adventure caper Time Raiders) deliver emotionally engaging performances as two friends with opposite personalities. One comes from an unhappy family and chooses to wander the world and make do with odd jobs, while the other studies hard, gets a corporate job and is en route to marrying a handsome young man to form a picture perfect family.

Can two people with such different lifestyles be the best of friends in real life? You bet.   

We begin the 110 minute film with Ansheng (Zhou) being tasked by her boss to track down the author of a serialised web novel, which features a story that is progressively being written. It turns out that one of the main characters of this novel is based on Ansheng. From there, we get a glimpse of Ansheng’s lifelong friendship with Qiyue (Ma). We see how the duo start off as childhood friends, before growing up to be attracted to the same guy (Toby Lee, who takes on a role that requires him to be the eye candy of the film). In a most melodramatic manner (not in a bad way, actually), the two ladies are torn apart and eventually brought back together in a heart wrenching finale.

The first thing you will fall in love with is the gorgeous cinematography and the exquisite art direction. You feel like you are growing up with the two protagonists as they transit from one environment to another. You will also hum along to the earworms that the filmmakers incorporated into the storyline: Cui Jian’s (a pioneer in Chinese rock) “Flower Room Girl” and Faye Wong’s “Anxiety”. Wong’s daughter Leah Dou also wrote, composed and performed a new tune “(It’s not a crime) It’s just what we do” which is nominated for Best Original Film Song at the Golden Horse Awards.

The seven nominations garnered by this film also includes Best Director (definitely a morale booster for Tsang), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Makeup & Costume Design and Best Film Editing.

Do not let the film’s marketing angle of being an award bait get to you. The story is a heartfelt one that makes you ponder about what life has in store for you, and possibly that friend whom you thought will be taking the journey with you. Tsang’s sure handed direction helps to move the film along at a steady pace, with the hopes that you will be moved by the story. 

Movie Rating:

(Zhou Dongyu and Ma Sichun’s excellent performances make this melancholic and emotional story about friendship a winner)

Review by John Li

Genre: Comedy
Director: Larry Charles
Cast: Nicolas Cage, Russell Brand, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Denis O'Hare, Rainn Wilson
Runtime: 1 hr 33 mins
Rating: NC16 (Some Coarse Language and Drug Use)
Released By: Shaw  
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 17 November 2016

Synopsis: ARMY OF ONE is the mostly true story of Gary Faulkner, an ex-con, unemployed handyman, and modern day Don Quixote. He is armed with only a single sword of which he purchased from a home-shopping network and the belief that God asked him to do so. He travelled to Pakistan eleven times in order to capture Osama Bin Laden and bring him to justice. By following Gary on his various journeys we will meet a cavalcade of colourful characters - Gary's old friends back home in Colorado, the new friends he makes in Pakistan, the enemies he makes at the CIA - and even God and Osama themselves - who all can't help but be inspired and forever changed by coming in contact with such a force of nature as Gary. ARMY OF ONE is ultimately a celebration of dreaming big and about how one deeply passionate man's dream catapults him from near homelessness to an international superhero.

Movie Review:

It took the United States close to a decade to find and kill Osama bin Laden, and in that time, a frustrated Colorado construction worker and self-proclaimed American patriot apparently received a vision from God to travel to Pakistan and find the man responsible for 9/11 himself. According to the GQ profile by Chris Heath, that man named Gary Faulkner made multiple attempts to do just that – first, by sailboat from San Diego; then by hang-gliding from Israel; and finally by flying directly to Islamabad with no less than a cheap samurai sword that he had bought from TV. Not often do you come across such a real-life tale stranger than fiction, and there’s no doubt that there is an interesting story at the heart of ‘Army of One’ to be told.

Alas, this latest from ‘Borat’ director Larry Charles is a terrible comic misfire on every single level, so much so that it isn’t just plain unfunny, it is also utterly infuriating to watch. Blame that first and foremost on Nicolas Cage’s grating performance as Faulkner – in portraying the daffy vigilante, Cage puts on a nasal whine and goes on in extended monologues about how great America is and/or how stupid some Americans are not to support their country in their everyday decisions. The first time you hear that voice, you’re probably wondering what Cage is up to; the next and the next and the umpteenth time you do, you’ll just feel like punching Cage in the face. The worst part about it? It is completely fabricated, absolutely untrue-to-life, and no more than an artistic choice by the actor himself to play the man as ‘manic’ and ‘excitable’.

Not only is it a misconceived caricature of a subject who does not need much further embellish, it is also downright annoying to the core. Because of Cage’s affected performance, it is difficult to feel any measure of sympathy for his character, who not only comes across dumb and misinformed but also an extremely self-absorbed individual. Why should we care about his wellbeing, physically or psychologically, when he decides to forgo dialysis in order to obey the mission he thinks God set him out to do? Why should we root for him to come to his senses and settle down with former high-school classmate Marci Mitchell (Wendi McLendon-Covey), probably the only woman who is not intimidated or repulsed by his eccentricity? And for that matter, why should we even bother whether he dies trying on the way to Pakistan – in fact, we’re actually hoping he does, just so we don’t have to put up with any more of his ‘sh*t’?

Compared to Cage, Russell Brand’s personification of God is somewhat less grating, but only because he is in the movie much less than Cage. Oh yes, Brand first appears during one of Faulkner’s dialysis sessions in the form of the people around him but pretty much leaves Faulkner to self-destruct on his own, until the latter seems confused, helpless and/or ready to give up on the so-called quest that God instructs him to carry out. Despite what the poster implies, theirs is no buddy dynamic, given how little they appear in the movie together and how Cage is almost always in anxiety whenever his character appears onscreen next to Brand’s. Those hoping for some comic rapport between the two top-billed co-stars will most certainly be disappointed; indeed, even the chemistry between supporting actors Rainn Wilson and Denis O’Hare in the few scenes as a pair of CIA agents in Islamabad forced to contain Faulkner proves funnier than that between Cage and Brand.

It is as much Charles’ fault as it is that of his screenwriters Rajiv Joseph and Scott Rothman that their ‘Army of One’ is so painfully short on comedy or drama. The scattershot narrative suggests that it was never quite clear what they were trying to portray or where it was they were trying to go, so much so that it takes too long for Faulkner to actually land up in Islamabad and too little eventually to make that wait worthwhile. Truth be told, nothing really happens once Faulkner gets to Pakistan – except a lot of looking lost, occasional screaming, and too many bouts of daydreaming, including one utterly misplaced sequence where Cage meets Amer Chadha-Patel’s bin Laden in a cave and proceeds to engage in a swordfight with him. Charles employs the same faux-documentary approach he did with ‘Borat’ and ‘The Dictator’, giving Cage ample room to improvise as he gave to Sacha Baron Cohen in those earlier movies; but Cage is not the sharp witty comedian Cohen is, such that Charles’ loose direction only ends up amplifying the former’s worst tendencies.

Only at the end do we see a glimpse of the character-driven satire that ‘Army of One’ could have been – watching TV at Marci’s place one day, Faulkner greets with bewilderment and disbelief the announcement by President Obama that bin Laden has been killed and buried at sea. And yet, it is too late for that moment of self-reflection to lend the movie any redemption, simply because it hardly makes up for the terrible experience we’ve had to go through watching Cage play his version of Faulkner. Like we said before, it is one of the most agonising performances we’ve sat through in a long while, and further sounds the death knell on Cage’s floundering career in Hollywood. Unless you’re in a self-flagellating mood, take our advice and save yourself from sitting through this painful trip to nowhere. 

Movie Rating:

(A promising comic premise turns into one of the worst movies of the year, no thanks to an aimless script, unfocused direction and a plain infuriating performance by Nicolas Cage)

Review by Gabriel Chong

Genre: Thriller
Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Cast: James McAvoy, Betty Buckley, Anya Taylor-Joy, Haley Lu Richardson, Maria Breyman, Jessica Sula, Kim Director, Brad William Henke
Runtime: 1 hr 56 mins
Rating: PG13 (Some Mature Content And Violence)
Released By: UIP 
Official Website: http://www.splitmovie.com/

Opening Day: 19 January 2017

Synopsis: While the mental divisions of those with dissociative identity disorder have long fascinated and eluded science, it is believed that some can also manifest unique physical attributes for each personality, a cognitive and physiological prism within a single being. Though Kevin (James McAvoy) has evidenced 23 personalities to his trusted psychiatrist, Dr. Fletcher (Betty Buckley), there remains one still submerged who is set to materialize and dominate all the others. Compelled to abduct three teenage girls led by the willful, observant Casey (Anya Taylor-Joy, The Witch), Kevin reaches a war for survival among all of those contained within him—as well as everyone around him—as the walls between his compartments shatter apart. 

Movie Review:

If you’ve seen the trailer, you’ll know the surprisingly clear premise of Split - the latest film from M. Night Shyamalan. A mysterious man kidnaps three girls and traps them in an unknown location. As they struggle to escape, it would seem that he has accomplices - except it turns out, “they” are him. It’s all him.

James McAvoy is Kevin, the kidnapper who suffers from Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID). We start the film when he is controlled by the stern and OCD-inflicted “Dennis”, kidnapping Casey (Anya Taylor-Joy), Claire (Haley Lu Richardson) and Marcia (Jessica Sula) for a mysterious reason, with his companion personalities, “Ms Patricia” and “Hedwig”. Together, they are considered “the Horde”; three of twenty-three personalities taking turns to be “in the light” inside Kevin. This only turns more disturbing, as words like “The Beast” and “sacred food” are whispered by the trio, and the girls, naturally panic-stricken, work towards finding their way out of their jail.

It would seem that thirteen is a lucky number for Shyamalan. The 2015 The Visit was his return to form after a string of embarrassing work. He’s always been a good explorer, asking what-ifs that turn subject matter on their heads, ending them with his signature plot twists. After realising this became his Achilles Heel, he has reinvented himself with a refreshed formula, and Split would reinforce that he is succeeding.

With his latest film, he comes at you three ways - the obvious plot of the girls being abducted by a trio of cultish personas that wants to somehow use them to release “the beast”. The second is Casey’s story, that runs parallel in the form of flashbacks, slowly unfurling the reason behind this youth’s unusual behaviour. This explains not only her aloof and uncooperative nature, but also her worldly and calculated maneuvers, relative to the other two girls who are more impulsive.

It is the last that rattles the most, and it lies in the hands of both slayer and savior - the beast’s doctrine that “those who have not suffered are impure” and Kevin’s therapist, Dr. Fletcher (Betty Buckley), who theorised that those suffering from DID are not lesser human beings with damaged minds, but evolved greater beings, with sometimes supernatural traits. Weaving these three arcs seamlessly into Split is a testament to Shyamalan’s persistent skill.

McAvoy is a notable actor, with enough fluidity to make for a fascinating Kevin. As “Dennis”, he is sombre and uptight, crunching brows and fidgeting with object placements. “Ms. Patricia” comes along and he turns poised and deliberate, with arched eyebrows and tightened lips, holding back her delicious secrets. “Hedwig” is the attention-seeking nine-year-old, who we slowly find out has managed to steal “the light” from “Barry” - the usual benign controller of Kevin.

McAvoy does an admirable job, shifting nuances between the personas. But maybe his recent appearances as the bald Charles Xavier has grown too ingrained, and Kevin’s transformations, though laudable, are not as defined as they should be. And though interesting to watch, and sometimes terrifying to decipher (as to who’s in charge), the mental patient he plays does feel cliche and a bit of a caricature.  Maybe Joaquin Phoenix (Shyamalan’s original choice) would have fared better? Unfortunately, we’ll never know.

Though the early scenes of escape were tense and exciting, the ones with Dr. Fletcher made for some of the most engaging watch. Although therapists are roles that tend to be relegated to help with exposition, Fletcher serves to be an equal and compassionate player in the hide-and-seek game, where she susses out who the controller might be. As she figures out that her theory might be more terrifying true than she expected, the audience follows her through her mortification.

Anna Taylor-Joy was a riveting victim. Her startling fragility and angst as Casey gives the movie its most moving moments. Her quick-thinking and measured moves reveals a survivor honed by the past, and as we get fed her history, we become thankful for it, and yet in the most conflicted of ways. Her ending scene and that withering look has us knowing that she’s in for more terrifying stories to run from, and proves to be the most disturbing takeaway of all.

Shyamalan remains a great storyteller, reinforcing the main plot with small vignettes of charm and wit. In the scenes where “Dennis” masquerades as “Barry”, he makes himself overly effete, and over-populates his speech with fashion trivia, when “Barry” was nothing like that, revealing stereotypes even among personas. In another snippet, as Fletcher shares her theory with her elderly neighbour, and calls her patients superior human beings, the old lady rejects her proposal, calling it rubbish, before picking up her phone having succumbed to an infomercial.

Split is so many things, and served up by the skillful editing of Luke Clarrocchi and the magnificently atmospheric score by West Dylan Thordson which swings overhead like a metallic guillotine, explores and represents this old adage the best - whatever doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger.

Movie Rating:

(Great weaving of compelling story arcs and masterful performances by all the main actors makes Split a welcome sophomore return effort by Shyamalan)

Review by Morgan Awyong

BOOK REVIEW #51: REBEL RISING A MEMOIR Posted on 08 Aug 2024 Melanie Elizabeth Bownds or better known as Rebel Wilson or “Fat Amy” earned a combined twenty million US dollars for Pitch Perfect 3, Isn’t It Romantic? and The Hustle. Not bad for the Australian actress who hailed from a Sydney suburb of Balmain. Wilson is a smart lady who noticed the market lacks a plus-sized woman to shake things up. In comes her first appearance in a ... more

Genre: Action/Adventure
Director: Wes Ball
Cast: Dylan O’Brien, Kaya Scodelario, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Giancarlo Espositio, Aidan Gillen, Ki Hong Lee, Barry Pepper, Patricia Clarkson
Runtime: 2 hrs 22 mins
Rating: PG13 (Some Violence)
Released By: 20th Century Fox
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 25 January 2018

Synopsis: In the epic finale to the Maze Runner saga, Thomas leads his group of escaped Gladers on their final and most dangerous mission yet. To save their friends, they must break into the legendary Last City, a WCKD-controlled labyrinth that may turn out to be the deadliest maze of all. Anyone who makes it out alive will get answers to the questions the Gladers have been asking since they first arrived in the maze.

Movie Review:

Next to ‘The Hunger Games’, ‘Maze Runner’ is probably the most successful of the numerous dystopian YA adaptations that have come in the wake of that Katniss phenomenon. Part of its success is its willingness to eschew socio-political allegory for straightforward action, and this final chapter is no different. It could dwell on issues of class injustice between those living within the city of gleaming skyscrapers and those living in the shantytowns below; or it could try to make a political statement by linking the massive, heavily fortified walls that surround the city to the current US President’s pet project; and to some extent, it does flesh out the ethical conundrum of preserving the lives of an innocent few or sacrificing them for the greater good – but first and foremost, this is a thrilling, at times even rousing, action film charged with adrenaline-pumping and heart-wrenching moments.

True to its nature, it begins with a spectacular train rescue indebted to ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’. While resistance fighters Jorge (Giancarlo Esposito) and Brenda (Rosa Salazar) distract the train drivers and their back-up air support, Thomas (Dylan O’Brien) and resistance leader Vince (Barry Pepper) board the train from the back and attempt to de-couple the last five carriages from the rest of the locomotive. As much as they intend to save the young prisoners on board held captive by the evil quasi-governmental agency known as WCKD (pronounced ‘wicked’), Dylan’s motivation is really his previously apprehended comrade Minho (Lee Ki Hong). Alas the latter is not among those they successfully rescue – turns out he is already at WCKD’s imposing headquarters in the middle of the walled-off burg termed ‘The Last City’, where he is subject to psychological experiments aimed at extracting a serum that would slow down a virus which turns its victims into zombies.

Those who recall the previous two chapters will remember that Thomas and his mates had escaped a monster-filled labyrinth known as The Glade, journeyed across a harsh desert wasteland called The Scorch, and had no sooner found reprieve when they were betrayed by one of their own Teresa (Kaya Scodelario). Though she was Thomas’s love interest, Teresa was ultimately convinced by WCKD’s chief scientist Ava Paige’s (Patricia Clarkson) pleadings that these tests on those who have demonstrated immunity to the virus were necessary for the sake of the greater good. Not only has she not changed her mind, Teresa now consciously ignores her inner conscience and participates with Ava in Minho’s torture – and although the story gives her the chance to redeem herself at the end, you’ll still cheer what eventually befalls her (pun intended, for those who have read the book) as just deserts.

Much of the movie revolves around the subsequent daring mission to break Minho out from within The Last City, a protracted expedition that will lead Thomas into the orbit of a gruesomely scarred leader of the infected Lawrence (Walton Goggins) as well as a former Glade frenemy Gally (a delightfully sardonic Will Poulter) earlier presumed dead. What starts off as a low-key operation descends into all-out mayhem as Lawrence himself plans a full-scale revolt which erupts into open warfare even as the WCKD’s soldiers, again led by the smarmy Janson (Aidan Gillen), try to re-capture the Immunes and apprehend Thomas and his fellow Gladers. This last hour goes from one action-packed sequence to another without catching a breath, but visual-effects-supervisor-turned-director Wes Ball stages the fireballs, street battles and close-quarter fisticuffs cum shootouts with clarity, confidence and creativity, so that as relentless as it gets, it is consistently exciting than exhausting to watch.

Including this one, Ball and his screenwriter T.S. Nowlin have shepherded the entire trilogy from print to screen and their affection for the characters is undoubtable and undimmed. Our personal sentiments for Teresa aside, Ball does a neat job setting up her motivations, complexities and uncertainties, leaving you guessing right till the end which side she will choose. He also handles Newt’s arc deftly, and without giving anything away, let’s just say book fans will be pleased by how that emotional turn of events is depicted as well as Brodie-Sangster’s heartfelt portrayal. Ball deserves credit too for extracting a suitably charismatic performance from O’Brien, which makes Thomas a much more interesting lead than the unequivocal martyr-saint-hero he is in the book. But perhaps the most memorable of the teenage characters here is Gally, thanks to Poulter’s perfectly-timed wisecracks, and Ball knows just when to employ him to break up the seriousness of the proceedings with some genuine levity.

So as clichéd as it may sound, ‘The Death Cure’ ends the ‘Maze Runner’ series on a bang – not just in terms of being a wall-to-wall explosive finale from start to finish but also by giving the characters a proper sendoff. Like we said at the start, this isn’t and doesn’t aspire to be the sort of intellectual science-fiction that ‘The Hunger Games’ is, but is in fact all the better for simply being a viscerally exhilarating picture with finely staged action and poignant (male) camaraderie. Unlike the occasionally soporific two-part conclusion of its more acclaimed genre predecessor, this one – to borrow a reference with cheek – indeed does catch fire. 

Movie Rating:

(As explosive and rousing a finale as you’d expect from the ‘Maze Runner’ series, this third and final chapter goes out on a literal and figurative bang)

Review by Gabriel Chong

Genre: Comedy
Director: Hero Lin
Cast: Shih Chih Tian, Fion Hong, Toby Lee, Awayne Liu, Eason Huang, Claire Lee, Bright Pu
Runtime: 1 hr 56 mins
Rating: NC16 (Sexual References And Coarse Language)
Released By: Shaw  
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 17 November 2016

Synopsis: An accusation of the boys’ dorm being too messy has caused them to potentially get punished. However, Wang (Shih Chih Tian) thought that the excuse was unjustifiable and believed that the girls’ dorm could possibly be even messier and should not get away with the punishment. Wang decided to gather all the boys in the dorm to create havoc in the girls’ dorm so as to get them punished as well. While the two genders were battling, they found out that the principal has plans of demolishing the dorms…

Movie Review:

Forgive us for being superficial, but we didn’t think much of this movie when we first saw its publicity materials. A cash cow hoping to ride on the success of movies like You Are The Apple of My Eye (2011) and Our Times (2015)? Check. An ensemble cast of young and good looking actors? Check. A story about growing up and the wonderful memories that come along with it? Check.

Then there was the synopsis. How can you take this seriously? A group of boys are accused having messy dorms and decide to created havoc in the girls’ dorms dorm because they believe that theirs are probably messier. With the two camps battling each other, they find out that there are plans to demolish the dorms. Of course, the teeny boppy movie poster doesn’t help. Nope, candy pastel colours do not work for this reviewer’s demographics.

We are glad we were wrong – this is actually a coming of age comedy above average standards.  

Taiwanese filmmaker Hero Lin directs a group of relatively unknowns (they probably have their following in Taiwan) to tell a story of how a group of teenagers met in university, fought over messy dorms, grew up to lead separate lives, and eventually coming together again to bond over lost love. In our humble opinion, that would be a more representative synopsis.

The protagonist is the earnest Wang Ji Le played by 26 year old Shih Chih Tian. He is an architecture student who leads a pack of rowdy boys to stand up for their rights to retain their dorms. There are some truly funny moments in the first half of the movie. Why would you not laugh at the boys’ attempts to use a mobile app to gauge a girl’s assets? And you have to admit: a competition of ego and, ahem, manhood taking place in the male bathroom is always hilarious.

Shih is accompanied by his co stars Fion Hong, Toby Lee, Awayne Liu, Eason Huang, Claire Lee – fresh faced actors who are comfortable in their respective roles. You have the geek who can hack computers, the beefcake who is obsessed about keeping cockroaches as pets, the handsome roommate who has a following of female fans, the leader of the girls’ dorm who is vocal in her thoughts, the shy but kind girl who is secretly in love with the protagonist and the feisty loudspeaker who holds no bars. Familiar faces Bright Pu and Lang Tsu Yun play the dorm supervisor and the principal of the school, and effortlessly show why they are thespians in showbiz.

Just as you thought the film has come to an end after resolving the students’ dorm issue, things take a somewhat unexpected twist and we see how the protagonist’s life turns out as he enters adulthood. The tone of the film becomes melancholic, and steers into melodrama at times. Accompanied by a soundtrack littered with pop tunes, this is what you’d expect from a Taiwanese coming of age movie.

Not that this is a bad thing, because we truly enjoyed the 116 minute movie as we reminisced the good old days when your whole world existed alongside your friends in the dorm.    

Movie Rating:

(A surprisingly enjoyable movie that reminds you of the good old days of growing up)

Review by John Li

THE FORTUNE HANDBOOK (财神爷) COMMENCES FILMING! Posted on 01 Nov 2016 Directed by Kelvin Sng (Taxi! Taxi!) and starring Li Nanxing as Ren Haoxing, Christopher Lee as Su Fu, Mark Lee as Huat God and Vivian Lai, THE FORTUNE HANDBOOK is the story about Su Fu, an unremarkable man obsessed with becoming rich and constantly conniving to get the secret recipe to Hao Xing, his brother-in-law’s famous traditional Chinese pastry. He thinks they’ve got it made w ... more

Genre: Drama
Director: Courtney Hunt
Cast: Keanu Reeves, Renée Zellweger, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Jim Belushi, Gabriel Basso
Runtime: 1 hr 34 mins
Rating: NC16 (Sexual Violence)
Released By: Shaw  
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 24 November 2016

Synopsis: Defending a client in a murder trial is already intense; but for lawyer Richard Ramsay (KEANU REEVES), the stakes are even higher. His client is young Mike Lassiter (GABRIEL BASSO), a 17-year old accused of murdering his father, Boone (JIM BELUSHI). Ramsay has been friendly with the Lassiter family for years, and has sworn to widow Loretta (RENÉE ZELLWEGER) that he will keep Mike out of prison. The problem is that Mike hasn’t said a word since the murder, except to initially confess that he was the one who stabbed his father. Ramsay is a shrewd lawyer, but knows that until his client chooses to speak – even if just to Ramsay himself – he doesn’t have much of a chance. At Ramsey’s side is a new colleague, Janelle (GUGU MBATHA-RAW), who seems to have an unerring knack for seeing through a witness’ lies. As the lawyers play a delicate chess game and manage to get new revelations to come to light – including evidence about just the kind of man that Boone Lassiter was – Ramsay utilizes every scheme in the book to get his client acquitted, while Janelle begins to realize that the whole truth is something that perhaps no one but she will ever recognize.

Movie Review:

There was a time back in the 1990s when courtroom dramas were the rage, so much so that studios were falling over each other trying to acquire the film rights to each and every John Grisham novel they could get their hands on. But ever since dramas like ‘Law and Order’, ‘Boston Legal’ and ‘The Practice’ introduced us to lawyers and paralegals we ended up falling in love with, that genre has all but disappeared from the big screen, which therefore makes us a release like ‘The Whole Truth’ even more curious. And at least for a good hour, it does seem that director Courtney Hunt’s first film since her 2008 Oscar-nominated ‘Frozen River’ packs a compelling mystery behind the murder of the piggish high-powered lawyer Boone Lassiter (James Belushi), whose son Mike (Gabriel Basso) is on trial for after having his prints found on the knife of the stabbed body.

What was supposed to be an open-and-shut case of patricide – as Mike’s defense attorney Richard Ramsay (Keanu Reeves) tells us in a pseudo-hardboiled voiceover at the beginning – has turned out anything but, as various witnesses on the stand paint not only a more textured picture of Boone and his relationships with his wife Loretta (Renee Zellweger) and only son but also a less than complete account of the truth that they have sworn to tell. The latter is revealed niftily enough, as each witness’ testimony comes accompanied with a flashback suggesting that what he or she is saying on the stand may not reveal everything or may even be a blatant lie. Detecting that is also the task of Ramsay’s fresh colleague Janelle (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), whom Ramsay recruits to join him on the case on account of her sterling ‘bullshit detector’ skills as well as to provide ‘mixed-race window dressing’.

There is the air stewardess (Nicole Barre) who served regularly on Boone’s private chartered flights, including the very last one Boone and Mike were on just before they got home where the latter had apparently then killed his father. There is the next-door neighbor (Jim Klock) who used to be close with the Lassiters until a house party some years back where he had reportedly stepped in to intervene when Boone openly humiliated his wife in plain sight of all the other guests. And last but not least there is the policewoman who first arrived at the scene of the crime after Loretta had dialed 911, who claims that Mike had said ‘I should have done this earlier’. Not entirely consistent as they may be, the combination of these testimonies collectively suggest Loretta as a victim of physical abuse and repeated infidelity, which pretty much suggests that she could very well be the killer instead of Mike and that the latter is standing for trial to protect her.

That suspicion which Rafael Jackson’s screenplay assiduously plants in the mind of the viewer is reinforced by Mike’s refusal to speak to anyone since being arrested – and that includes Richard, who in turn refuses to mount any robust cross-examination of the prosecution’s witnesses until Mike talks to him. Though not as clearly fleshed out as it should be, Mike really is a sharp legal mind in his own thanks to his father’s upbringing from young, which also means that his deliberate silence is less out of obstinacy than ingenuity. Not to worry though; there are no spoilers to be found here, but you get the idea that there is an intriguing whodunit built up from testimonies, flashbacks and backstories in the first hour – which only makes the ‘whole truth’ when it is finally revealed underwhelming and ultimately disappointing.

And for a movie that is pretty much built entirely on plot, the fact that its climax lands with a thud makes the whole experience feel wasted. That is Hunt’s fault too, given how her film makes no attempt to develop its characters beyond their relation to the trial. Despite the material though, the ensemble cast bring their A-game, whether Reeves as the seasoned yet cynical lawyer whose motives only become clearer at the end or Zellweger as the twitchy widow watching from the back in a state of confusion and anxiety or supporting players Mbatha-Raw and Belushi who each do their best with the thinly written roles that they have been given. Even Hunt, who was trained as a lawyer and has done episodes of ‘Law and Order: Special Victims Unit’, has done better in her directorial debut, not least in painting a vivid backdrop of the Louisiana community which the characters inhabit.

Given its flaws and its modest ambitions, it is a wonder why ‘The Whole Truth’ wasn’t simply made for the small screen, or for that matter, left its plot to an episode of the next TV legal drama. Notwithstanding that the two household-name leads are no longer the stars they were before, both Reeves and Zellweger deserve much better than this ho-hum courtroom drama. There are interesting details here about trial strategy (such as picking apart a police statement or selecting the right balance of jurors to play to their sympathies), but these merits are lost amidst a case that really is much, much weaker, than it presents itself to be. You’re better off watching a re-run of ‘A Time to Kill’ or ‘The Firm’ than this flimsy procedural that won’t stand up to any form of scrutiny. 

Movie Rating:

(Unless you're in dire need of a courtroom drama fix, this ho-hum procedural with an intriguing start but underwhelming finish ultimately makes too flimsy a case for your attention)

Review by Gabriel Chong

Genre: Drama
Director: Ang Lee
Cast: Joe Alwyn, Kristen Stewart, Chris Tucker, Garrett Hedlund, Vin Diesel, Steve Martin, Tim Blake Nelson
Runtime: 1 hr 50 mins
Rating: M18 (Sexual Scene & Coarse Language)
Released By: Sony Pictures Releasing International
Official Website: https://www.facebook.com/BillyLynnMovie/

Opening Day: 10 November 2016

Synopsis: Two-time Academy Award® winner Ang Lee brings his extraordinary vision to Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, based on the widely-acclaimed, bestselling novel. The film is told from the point of view of 19-year-old private Billy Lynn (newcomer Joe Alwyn) who, along with his fellow soldiers in Bravo Squad, becomes a hero after a harrowing Iraq battle and is brought home temporarily for a victory tour. Through flashbacks, culminating at the spectacular halftime show of the Thanksgiving Day football game, the film reveals what really happened to the squad – contrasting the realities of the war with America’s perceptions.

Movie Review:

When we heard that Ang Lee’s latest work was going to make its world premiere at the New York Film Festival in a theatre that will showcase the film shot in 4K, native 3D at the ultra high rate of 120 frames per second, we got excited.

After all, this is the award winning director who brought us 2012’s Life of Pi, which many have thought to be unfilmable. To our pleasant surprise, Yann Martel’s story was brought to life on screen and remains one of the most touching films to date.

Lee may have challenged himself to visualise American novelist Ben Fountain’s 2012 novel by pushing the technological envelope, but we do not have the fortune to sit through the unprecedented movie going experience here.

The 110 minute movie’s protagonist is Billy Lynn, a 19 year old army private who returns home to the United Statesfrom the Iraq War. With his squad members, the group of army men is going on a series of victory tours The film centres on their appearance at a Thanksgiving Day football game’s halftime show, and how Billy’s story is progressively told in flashbacks.

Viewers here would just have to imagine what the experience would be like if we had the version presented in 3D and 4K resolution here. We will probably be closer to the action – the colourful pyrotechnics and large LED screens at the halftime show, the exhilarating showdowns in Iraq, as well as the extreme close ups of the characters can only figments of our imagination as we see Billy’s heartwrenching tale unfold.

Without the hyper real look that Lee wanted to show to the world, we are stripped down to the story. Trust the 62 year old to produce a slow burner (those familiar with his earlier works Pushing Hands and Eat Drink Man Woman would know) that takes its time to explore the repressed emotions hidden in Billy.

Newcomer Joe Alwyn plays the titular character – he is believable as a young man who is thrown in the middle of the unkind world outside the war zone, straight after a harrowing battle in Iraq. Garret Hedlund (Inside Llewyn Davis, Pan) is his steadfast squad leader, Chris Tucker (the Rush Hour franchise, Silver Linings Playbook) puts his fast talking skills to work as the guy who is trying to make a movie deal, Steve Martin takes on a serious role (It’s Complicated, Love the Coopers) as an opportunistic businessman, Kristen Stewart (the Twilight franchise, Café Society) is Billy’s anxious sister and VIn Diesel (the Fast and the Furious franchise, The Last Witch Hunter) is Billy’s sergeant who also makes time to give a philosophical talk involving Indian culture – which works because it is nicely handled by Lee.

In this day and age, the story is a relevant one. What lies behind the glitz and glamour which are painstakingly put together to celebrate war heroes? What happens before an inspiring movie about real life heroes is made? What are the deepest fears one goes through after experiencing the worst day in his life? This is a film that asks questions, and not necessarily providing ready answers for its viewers.  

Movie Rating:

(We may not get to watch the film in 3D and 4K resolution, but there is still a story in this film that asks reflective questions relevant to today’s state of things)

Review by John LI

Genre: Action/Thriller
Director: D. J. Caruso
Cast: Vin Diesel, Deepika Padukone, Donnie Yen, Tony Jaa, Nina Dobrev, Rory McCann, Ruby Rose, Conor McGregor, Tony Gonzalez, Samuel L. Jackson
Runtime: 1 hr 47 mins
Rating: PG13 (Some Violence and Coarse Language)
Released By: UIP 
Official Website: http://www.returnofxandercage.com

Opening Day: 19 January 2017

Synopsis: The third explosive chapter of the blockbuster franchise that redefined the spy thriller finds extreme athlete turned government operative Xander Cage (Vin Diesel) coming out of self-imposed exile and on a collision course with deadly alpha warrior Xiang and his team in a race to recover a sinister and seemingly unstoppable weapon known as Pandora’s Box. Recruiting an all-new group of thrill-seeking cohorts, Xander finds himself enmeshed in a deadly conspiracy that points to collusion at the highest levels of world governments. Packed with the series’ signature deadpan wit and bad-ass attitude, “xXx:RETURN OF XANDER CAGE” will raise the bar on extreme action with some of the most mind-blowing stunts to ever be caught on film.

Movie Review:

No one had asked for a sequel to ‘xXx: State of the Union’, but given the phenomenal success in rebooting the ‘Fast and Furious’ series, this modest Vin Diesel franchise has been dusted off the shelves for a third instalment. If you don’t already know, the somewhat dubious-sounding title is really the name of a National Security Agency’s covert-spy programme run by one burn-scarred Augustus Gibbons (Samuel L. Jackson), whose maiden recruit was the thrill-seeking extreme sports enthusiast Xander Cage and counts among its legacy ex-con Darius Stone (Ice Cube). As Augustus would have you and Brazilian pro-footballer Neymar know in his wry tongue-in-cheek opening, the ‘Triple X’ programme has been very much alive in the decade since Ice Cube’s Stone took over Vin Diesel’s Cage for the underwhelming follow-up back in 2005.

Before Santos manages to tell Augustus if he wants into ‘Triple X’, a satellite from space comes crashing down on them, brought down by a device known as ‘Pandora’s Box’ that can be used to turn satellites into missiles. Ah, what perfect excuse to lure Xander back from self-imposed exile in the Dominican Republic, which forms the backdrop for an over-the-top introduction that sees him ski down a tall broadcasting tower and skateboard his way through bendy mountain roads with a transformer in order to give the humble local folks free football coverage. The obligatory Government suit here is Toni Collette’s humorless Jane Marke, who tracks him down and hands him an assignment to track down a team of four equally adrenaline-pumped (and therefore deemed highly dangerous) terrorists who have stolen the aforementioned device from right under her nose at the CIA’s New York City office.

Given that it is Donnie Yen’s Xiang who breaks into the said security by leaping off an adjacent building and through the facility’s glass roof, ‘xXx: Return of Xander Cage’ teases a potential showdown between Vin Diesel and series newcomer Donnie Yen – which we’d be honest was as exciting as waiting for the one-on-one between Vin Diesel and Dwayne Johnson in ‘Fast and Furious 5’. Yet, for the benefit of those harbouring similar expectations, that promise is never quite fulfilled, not least because of a mid-act twist by writer F. Scott Franzier that effectively takes the sting out of their supposed rivalry. Without spoiling anything, let’s just say that neither Cage’s other team members – sharpshooter Adele Wolff (Ruby Rose), professional ‘demolition’ driver Tennyson (Rory McCann), IT expert and deejay Nicks Zhou (Kris Wu) – nor Xiang’s – Serena Unger (Deepika Padukone), Hawk (Michael Bisping) and Talon (Tony Jaa) – end up being memorably at odds with one another.

Oh yes, if you haven’t already guessed, this instalment is really a thinly disguised reboot of the franchise as an ensemble – and so much like how Diesel’s Dominic Toretto was the de-facto leader of the team in the more recent ‘Fast and Furious’ additions, his Xander Cage assumes a similar role rallying his ‘Triple X’ cohorts together against a bunch of hawkish insurgents within the US Government who want the device as their own ‘nuclear football’. If their rapport isn’t quite as infectious, it is partly because the supporting cast isn’t quite as charismatic in their own right as that in ‘Fast and Furious’ (there’s no one here that even comes close to the sheer comic relief of Tyrese Gibson and Chris ‘Ludacris’ Bridges) and partly because there is hardly enough narrative space for each side character to define his or her own personality. As it is, most of the attention is spent developing the pseudo tension between Cage and Xiang and the genuine sexual tension between Cage and Serena.

Not that each does not offer up its own unique pleasures – especially during the final act, Diesel and Yen have great rapport between them, which to fans of the latter (us included) is reassurance that he is not simply some token big-name Asian inclusion; in fact, it is Yen’s lightning-quick gongfu moves (marred by some hyperactive editing) that steals the spotlight from Diesel’s showy but ultimately unrealistic daredevil stunts. Padukone’s fans too can rest easy; not only is the actress never asked to justify for speaking in her native English accent, she pretty much holds her own next to Diesel when it comes to butt-kicking. On the other hand, Jaa is lost amidst the noise and fury, and even more so than in ‘Furious 7’ gets a thankless bit role with his hair dyed blond and little more than a cheeky demeanor to show for. It should also be said that Ice Cube’s cameo is milked for as much as it is worth, showing up at a critical moment that will surely have you cheering.

And indeed, there is no reason you should expect ‘xXx: Return of Xander Cage’ to be any more than big, loud and dumb fun – nor for that matter does it have any ambition to be anything else but. The stunts are intentionally ridiculous – who knew motorbikes could transform into jet skis on water and survive after being completely submerged – and excessive, conceived and performed with an utter disregard for physics or simple commonsense logic. The lines are unapologetically cheesy – ‘I’m XXX,’ says Cage when asked if he is a rebel or a tyrant – and with every pun intended – ‘Under cover,’ Cage answers when asked to describe his method of bedding a posse of women to uncover the identities of Xiang and his crew. Last but not least, the story is unashamedly shallow and derivative. Yet insofar as being fast food for the action movie crowd, this is as Gibbons describes – ‘kicks some ass, gets the girls, and looks dope while doing it’. 

Movie Rating:

(Over-the-top action, unapologetically cheesy dialogue and a barely servicable story - and with a game cast of Vin Diesel, Donnie Yen and Deepika Padukone among others, this reboot of 'xXx' is comfort food for action movie junkies)

Review by Gabriel Chong