Genre: Horror/Thriller
Director: Pass Patthanakumjon
Cast: Sedthawut Anusit (Tua), Panida Techasit (Preem), Ekawat Ekudchariya (Best), Latkamon Pinrojkirati (Pim)
Runtime: 1 hr 37 mins
Rating: PG13 (Horror)
Released By: Clover Films, mm2 Entertainment, Shining Entertainment and Shaw Organisation 
Official Website: http://www.fivestarproduction.co.th/en/school-tales/

Opening Day: 12 January 2017

Synopsis: Every school has its tales of horror and mystery… The marching band is staying overnight in school for their annual camp and the members decide to “test” if some of their school’s ghostly tales are for real. Years ago, a fat, slow-witted student was constantly bullied by his classmates and the students called him “Giant”. One day, Giant was tricked into an abandoned building in the school. He panicked, ran and died in a freak accident. After the incident, students avoid going to the building and those who wander near would hear a voice asking “Where are you?”… The library is haunted. It is told that anyone who wants a ghostly encounter should go to the library when it’s empty and disrupt the peace… Pawadee was murdered when practicing flute in the band’s rehearsal room. Her spirit lingers in the rehearsal room and will be summon if one plays a note backward.

Movie Review:

‘School Tales’ is hardly the first Thai horror film to be constructed around schoolyard ghost stories, but it certainly is one of the more effective ones we’ve seen.

The template is a familiar one – a couple of students who happen to be in the school grounds at night decide to find out for themselves whether the stories that they have been hearing about the ghosts in their compound are real. As you may have guessed, these members of the school’s marching band who are staying over for their annual retreat to practise for an upcoming competition would certainly be better off if they had not tempted the unknown.

Among the foolhardy are the pudgy bespectacled Top and the handsome but arrogant Net, who test out the legend of a former schoolboy named Yak that had fallen from the stairs of the old school building and died from a broken neck, such that anyone who gets in the building at night would hear him say ‘where’. Then there is Song and Pete, who aim to call out the ghost in the library that appears when you scream as loud as you can whenever the library is empty, slushing around with one hand across its supposedly hideous face. And last but not least is May and Cream, who head for the old music room at night and blow nine specific notes on a flute in the hopes of summoning the ghost of a former schoolmate cum band member called Pawadee.

Misfortune will befall one member of each respective pair during the course of that fateful night, which their soft-spoken loyal band leader Ohm and his girlfriend Pun will join forces to unravel. Pun is the one who gets to enlighten the rest about the nature of spirits, i.e. that they are mysterious forces created out of fear and people’s beliefs, as well as that of ghost stories, i.e. that they are distortions from the truth which become even more distorted the more that they are told. It is Pun who will lead the rest to find out more about the ghosts which now plague them, with the hope that their quest for truth will allow such spirits to find closure and reconciliation.

To director Pass Patthanakumjon’s credit, there is enough character work done to establish each one of the teenagers in their pairs – Top resents the fact that Net had taken his favourite position in the band and makes him a laughing stock outside of it; May is even more resentful of the fact that Cream has been dating the guy whom she has had a crush on for the longest time, so she decides to take the opportunity to exact sweet revenge on the latter; and last but not least, a couple of late-act twists adds several dimensions to Ohm and Pun, giving them more depth than as the ones explaining to us what is going on and how to interpret those events.

It isn’t surprising that each one of the ghosts has unfulfilled purpose which forms the reason for his or her lingering presence – be it something tangible or intangible that he or she was looking for before he or she died or an inability to let go of the hate and bitterness over the circumstances that led to his or death – and that unravelling the mystery behind their past is part of what the narrative is constructed on. But more than the decently established intrigue, Patthanakumjon extracts pathos from these subplots centred around bullying, social isolation and even simply schoolyard gossip; indeed, more than one of us has been guilty of perpetuating such acts actively or passively, and what resonates is how potentially devastating they may be for the individuals involved, students and staff alike.

Truth be told, ‘School Tales’ never does reach the heights of iconic Thai horrors like ‘Shutter’ and ‘Alone’ – not just because it doesn’t boast as original or inventive a premise as they did, but also because the sequences themselves do not have much by way of build-up and therefore payoff to truly take your breath away. Notwithstanding, those who have seen ‘Dark Flight’, ‘3AM’ and/or ‘Ghost Ship’ will know that the associations with these previous entries immediately sets a different bar for ‘School Tales’ (and by that, we mean one which starts at the bottom). Contrary to such expectations though, it is a whole lot more coherent than its predecessors, and certainly more engaging thanks to sufficiently built rapport among the characters and generally brisk pacing throughout.

If you are among the paradoxical who tend to be scared easily and yet like the adrenaline that comes from being scared, you’ll find ‘School Tales’ has just the right mix of mystery and horror without the latter ever feeling overwhelming; otherwise, die-hard horror fans will probably find this a genre exercise that is passable but ultimately unremarkable. 

Movie Rating:

(Better than you’re probably expecting this entry from the producers of ‘Dark Flight’ and ‘3AM’ to be, ‘School Tales’ has enough intrigue, occasional thrills and some unexpected pathos to keep you engaged throughout)

Review by Gabriel Chong

Genre: Horror/Thriller
Director: Stacy Title
Cast: Doug Jones, Carrie-Anne Moss, Douglas Smith, Cressida Bonas, Lucien Laviscount
Runtime: 1 hr 36 mins
Rating: PG13 (Horror)
Released By: Golden Village Pictures 
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 12 January 2017

Synopsis: People commit unthinkable acts every day. Time and again, we grapple to understand what drives a person to do such terrible things. But what if all of the questions we're asking are wrong? What if the source of all evil is not a matter of what...but who? From the producer of The Strangers and Oculus comes The Bye Bye Man, a chilling horror-thriller that exposes the evil behind the most unspeakable acts committed by man. When three college friends stumble upon the horrific origins of the Bye Bye Man, they discover that there is only one way to avoid his curse: don't think it, don't say it. But once the Bye Bye Man gets inside your head, he takes control. Is there a way to survive his possession?

Movie Review:

Well, where does one quite begin to talk about the movie? Despite the cheesy title and the hackneyed story arc – a haunted house, its terrified new tenants, their discovery of the macabre backstory, the rabid attempts at crisis management – the earlier trailers for the movie did suggest the potential to deliver some solid scares. Disappointingly enough, that’s about it for the fun bits and for the most part of the actual film, insipidity takes over.

Scripted by Jonathan Penner and directed by his wife Stacy Title, the film opens with a scene in a suburban American neighbourhood in Madison, Wisconsin in 1969. A certain man by the name of Larry Redmon (Leigh Whannell) apparently goes berserk, gunning down his family members one by one, before finally killing himself, in an attempt to wipe out all who hold the information to a ghastly secret. Fast forward to present day, college student Elliot (Douglas Smith), his girlfriend Sasha (Cressida Bonas) and his best friend John (Lucien Laviscount) move into a large, run-down house and start to sense strange things happening to and around them. All hell starts to break loose when Elliot discovers some scribblings in the second-hand nightstand in his bedroom: repeated scrawls of “Don’t say it; don’t think it” and subsequently, an ominously-inscribed “Bye Bye Man”. A psychic friend Kim (played by Jenna Kanell, who reminds one of Neve Campbell circa the latter’s horror-flick days in the nineties) joins in the fray and confirms the presence of paranormal forces during a séance with the three lead characters. As the story proceeds, and without giving too much away, the Bye Bye Man works his curse on the minds of his victims, causing them to hallucinate and driving them against each other in ways that end violently.

In terms of delivering the scares, the film sadly (and badly) misses the mark, considering that much more has been done with much less (think modern horror classics like Paranormal Activity and Blair Witch Project that were made with budgets of only five-figure sums; in contrast this film had a budget of over US$7 million). That the titular entity is laughably named the Bye-Bye Man already works against invoking genuine chills in its audiences; it does not help that the moments that are meant to be frightening often do not convey the intended punch and almost always feel too clichéd. Moreover, one too many times, tension is built up, only to be diffused as an anti-climactic joke. One almost wonders if the director-writer team are deliberately not taking themselves too seriously with a tongue-in-cheek take on the genre, but this reviewer often could not decide whether to laugh or groan at these visual antics, which often felt disruptive to the overall flow of the movie.

In addition, apart from the banality of the storyline, the choice of certain recurring motifs that appear during the characters’ hallucinations is not satisfactorily explained in terms of how they relate to the story of the titular demon, and one is left with a poor aftertaste owing what feels like half-hearted storytelling. Arguably the most recognisable and bankable faces play secondary characters with limited screen time: Carrie-Anne Moss (‘Trinity’ of The Matrix fame), who plays a cop investigating the deaths that ensue, and Faye Dunaway (needs little introduction), who plays an old lady filling Elliot in on the details of the backstory in the film’s opening scenes. While Faye Dunaway’s character in particular was a breath of fresh air, neither roles were significant enough to save the film from tanking.

It is worth noting though that the film itself borrows heavily from existing material, being an adaption from a chapter titled “The Bridge to Body Island” in the book “The President’s Vampire”, written by American paranormal author Robert Damon Schneck. As this reviewer has not read the original book, it is difficult to say how much of the weaknesses in the film can be attributed to the constraints inherent in translating the story from print to the big screen, or whether the storytelling flaws are due to the screenwriter tipping the scales in favour of remaining faithful to the original material. Even its basic idea of bad things happening when a certain he-who-shall-not-be-named demon is evoked appears to be a nod to Bernard Rose’s cult classic Candyman (1992); sadly, its own treatment of the premise is bland and uninspired.

That’s not to say the film is without its positives. Douglas Smith actually puts up a credible performance as the protagonist driven to his wits’ end both by the induced hallucinations and by his moralistic struggles in preventing the curse of the Bye Bye Man from spreading to other innocent people. The experience of the director in the genre also manifests itself in elaborate camera actions and decent pacing and editing, although by the time the climax is over, the ending feels like a bit of a let-down, as there were elements that foreshadowed the final outcome. One still wonders if the editing of the ending could have been tighter for a more memorable finale. All things considered, this is one horror flick that seems destined to head straight alongside other forgettable B-grade horror/slasher flicks in the bargain section of the video stores after it finishes its theatrical run.

Movie Rating:

(This horror film suffers from a host of clichés that prevent it from being truly great. If you must, check it out for some cheesy fun rather than the frights, and you might just enjoy the ride a little more)

Review by Tan Yong Chia Gabriel

Genre: Comedy
Director: Kelvin Sng
Cast: Christopher Lee, Li Nan Xing, Mark Lee, Vivian Lai, Xavier Ong, Jazliyana Lee
Runtime: 1 hr 39 mins
Rating: PG (Some Sexual References)
Released By: mm2 Entertainment and Shaw 
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 26 January 2017

Synopsis: A comedy about a fortune god intern sent to do good on Earth. His eagerness to get promoted to a true fortune god leads him to Soh Hock, who works in his brother-in-law, Hao Xing's traditional Chinese bakery. Hao Xing loves his sister but despises Soh Hock, as Soh Hock has been plotting to sell his secret recipe to pay off gambling debts. Soh Hock's wish comes true though mind control; an ability granted by our mischievous fortune god, who has been granting everyone wishes wilfully without a care, causing pain and suffering. That’s until Heaven steps in to prevent a catastrophe.

Movie Review:

You don’t need this reviewer to tell you that Chinese New Year movies are cash grabbers. This year, we are fortunate enough to have a long weekend in Singapore to celebrate the festivities, and what better way to spend time between binging on pineapple tarts, bak kwa and kuehs in the cinemas?

You also don’t need this reviewer to tell you that Chinese New Year movies made in Singapore are the best opportunities for sponsors to throw in product placements – some more hilarious than others. Before the screening of this local fare, this reviewer attempted to count the number of sponsor logos on the movie poster. Let’s just say, there were… many.

With that came the mental preparation that there will be countless mentions of brands or appearances of products in this 99 minute movie.

Directed by Kelvin Sng (Taxi! Taxi!), the movie’s protagonists are a hardworking bakery owner (Li Nanxing), his good for nothing brother in law (Christopher Lee), and an intern God of Fortune (Mark Lee). The latter is a serial gambler who is drowning in debt. He wishes to pawn off the bakery’s secret recipe to save himself. Enter the intern God of Fortune who hopes to get promoted by granting people’s wishes. What is a Chinese New Year movie without things going exaggeratedly chaotic and comedic catastrophes happening?

The marketing angle of this movie is how the filmmakers have gathered three Lees in local showbiz. The three lead actors have great chemistry between them, with Christopher being the most entertaining as a vain man who loves his hairspray. Mark does his usual job of cracking jokes while Nanxing exudes suaveness despite evidently aged. Elsewhere, there are familiar faces like Vivian Lai and Nathan Hartono (in an unnecessary but amusing cameo role) and newcomers like Xavier Ong and Jazliyana Lee.

While the cast members look like they had a lot of fun filming this movie, viewers may not find all gags funny and end up wondering why the characters are laughing a lot more than the audiences. Considering the movie was filmed in 20 days, the production values mean that this comedy can easily pass off as a TV movie.

How can we forget the product placements? If you haven’t already noticed, the stars attached to this project also happens to be brand ambassadors for certain products like bak kwa and green tea. Hence, you can expect these food items to be conveniently incorporated into the storyline.

But hey, it’s the Chinese New Year and you probably aren’t expecting anything more, are you? You can say it’s a uniquely Singaporean feature of local commercial productions, but we are pretty sure there is a group of viewers out there who do not approve of this.

One thing for sure, this is a feel good and light hearted comedy that doesn’t make you feel burdened with heavy themes. The formula seems simple enough these days – put together a few renowned household names, then throw in subject matters which Singaporeans have interest in: food, family, work and ahem, in this case, gambling.

Movie Rating:

(You weren’t expecting more from a Chinese New Year movie made in Singapore, were you?)   

Review by John Li

Genre: Drama
Director: Ted Melfi
Cast: Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, Janelle Monáe, Kirsten Dunst, Jim Parsons Mahershala Ali, Aldis Hodge, Glen Powell, Kevin Costner
Runtime: 2 hrs 7 mins
Rating: PG
Released By: 20th Century Fox
Official Website: http://www.foxmovies.com/movies/hidden-figures

Opening Day: 23 February 2017

Synopsis: HIDDEN FIGURES is the incredible untold story of Katherine Johnson (Taraji P. Henson), Dorothy Vaughn (Octavia Spencer) and Mary Jackson (Janelle Monae)-brilliant African-American women working at NASA, who served as the brains behind one of the greatest operations in history: the launch of astronaut John Glenn into orbit, a stunning achievement that restored the nation's confidence, turned around the Space Race, and galvanized the world. The visionary trio crossed all gender and race lines to inspire generations to dream big.

Movie Review:

“Freedom is not asked. It’s demanded”, hisses the husband of Mary Jackson (Janelle Monae).

In Hidden Figures, freedom is very much needed in segregationist Virginia, 1961. On top of fighting patriarchal battlelines with condescending men, our trio of brainy mathematicians must fight racial discrimination as African-American women working in NASA.

Taraji P. Henson is Katherine G. Johnson - the math prodigy who fast-forwards her way through her education, and ends up as a human computer in NASA’s West Computing Building. Her colleagues are decidedly of the same variety - African American women - as classified by their white colleagues for their ebony skin and natural sass. This microcosm of a work environment reveals the truth of those times, where black people were limited in their access in society, being relegated to seats at the back, specific toilets or entrances, or politely avoided on the streets. Tolerance is a tight facial expression in this film.

Her two closest friends, Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer) and Mary, find support in their friendship, and as talented women in their respective fields, struggle to fight against the bigotry that robs them of their well-earned place at work.

Mary is roped in to help with the engineering of a space capsule’s shell, but is denied her application as a full engineer as she does not meet the required education minimum - conveniently, with accreditation from an all-white school.

Dorothy is the titular superviser, performing all the duties but not given the position and relevant pay. Her direct liaison with her management is a petulant Vivian Mitchell (Kirsten Dunst), who doesn’t hold back on her condescension. Worse off, she and her girls might face unemployment when the new IBM (actual) computer gets hooked up into the system.

When Katherine is promoted to the upper echelon as a computer in the Space Task group, her awe and enthusiasm is quickly doused by her rude supervisor, Paul Stafford (Jim Parsons). As she plows through the many books handed to her for numerical and formula computation, the racism eats away at her. Lines in the books are blacked out because she has no clearance, making her work both impossible and redundant. A new coffee pot is assigned on her second day of work as she’s the only black woman in the room. The nearest toilet she’s allowed to use is half a mile away, straining both her bladder and her boss, Al Harrison’s (Kevin Costner) patience.

As the ways of the world in that era gets played on the screen, it’s not uncommon to hear the occasional gasp or indignance within the audience. Director Theodore Melfi works the film well, as a crowd-pleaser with a statement to make. It’s a feel-good movie with a sure-win formula, of having our heroines win out in the end, through their perseverance, personal strength and smarts. But he also makes sure we are reminded of how insane things used to be - and not too long ago at that.

The movie is buoyed by great performances. The dynamic lead trio of Henson, Monae and Spencer play their parts well, with trademark sass and class. Henson’s eventual outburst is especially relished. Dunst and Parsons are also delicious “villains”, who are all bark but no bite in their positions as the middleman. Costner gives a wonderful performance as Al, who gradually uncovers and lets Katherine take the reigns in certain operations.

Hidden Figures comes at an appropriate time, when tensions are high because of bigotry and ignorance. This movie reminds us that eventually, no one benefits when lines are drawn. It questions the values we hold close to us, and how they are formed. Even though many of these lines are dissolving, others are being laid out as we speak. Unfortunately, discrimination is a problem usually seen when it comes to our door, and this film shows us how three have outwitted the system. But Hidden Figures also impresses upon us, that we are the system.

Movie Rating:

(This real-life adaptation of racism in 1960s America is a timely tribute; well-acted by an amazing cast and orchestrated to a crowd-pleasing finish by Melfi)

Review by Morgan Awyong

UPCOMING IMAX TITLES 2017 Posted on 06 Mar 2017 If you are a big fan of experiencing movies in large format and state of the art audio, then the list of films that are scheduled for an IMAX release (UPDATED) this year is out for your reference: LOGAN (2017) March 2 Experience it in IMAX In the near future, a weary Logan cares for an ailing Professor X in a hideout on the Mexican border. But Logan's attempts to hide from the w ... more

Genre: Action/Comics
Director: Patty Jenkins
Cast: Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Connie Nielsen, Robin Wright, David Thewlis, Danny Huston
Runtime: 2 hrs 21 mins
Rating: PG (Some Violence)
Released By: Warner Bros
Official Website: http://wonderwomanfilm.net

Opening Day: 31 May 2017

Synopsis: Before she was Wonder Woman, she was Diana, princess of the Amazons, trained to be an unconquerable warrior. Raised on a sheltered island paradise, when an American pilot crashes on their shores and tells of a massive conflict raging in the outside world, Diana leaves her home, convinced she can stop the threat. Fighting alongside man in a war to end all wars, Diana will discover her full powers...and her true destiny.

Movie Review:

Unfortunately for the DC Extended Universe (DCEU), 2008’s ‘The Dark Knight’ set it on a path of grimness, paving the way for a series of bleak superhero tales that never quite found the right balance between darkness and light, seriousness and humour, gravitas and fun which made their crosstown rival Marvel’s adaptations such critical and commercial crowd-pleasers.

Fortunately for the DCEU, ‘Wonder Woman’ is as different from ‘Man of Steel’, ‘Batman v Superman: Man of Steel’ and even ‘Suicide Squad’ as it gets. Unlike her red, blue and black Justice League peers, Diana Prince’s origin story is a superhero movie brimming with hope and humanity. Devoid of phobias, daddy issues and any laboured soul-searching, Diana (Gal Gadot) is most significantly an uncomplicated superhero whose mission and motivation is simply to fight for truth, justice and peace. As the first female big-budget blockbuster devoted to a female superhero, it is not only the most satisfying DCU movie to date but also by far one of the best superhero movies – grand, rousing and perfectly thrilling.

Assembled from the original 1940s William Moulton Marston stories as well as various revisionist updates, it kicks off its first act on the ladies-only island of Themyscira with young Diana as a feisty, rebellious and strong-headed little girl (Lilly Aspell), who insists on training in combat under her aunt Gen. Antiope (Robin Wright) despite the objections of her mother Queen Hippolyta (Connie Nielsen). Hippolyta knows that Diana’s destiny was to resist Ares, the god of war, when he returns, and her fierce objections at the start stem primarily from her protective instinct as a mother – but if she’s going to train, Hippolyta tells her sister, make her the best.

The tranquillity of their island sanctuary is broken by American spy Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) crash-landing into the ocean, pursued by German forces in the heat of World War I. After a session with the lasso of truth, Steve tells the Amazonians of the Great War that now roils the 1918 world, and of his discovery of the Germans’ experimental new weapon: a powerful poison gas developed by the facially scarred chemist Dr Poison (Elena Anaya) and wielded by sadistic General Ludendorff (Danny Huston). Though the rest of his German peers are adamant on reaching an armistice with the Allies to curb their losses, Ludendorff remains defiant to the end, believing firmly that his weapon will turn the tides of victory in their favour. By the end of Steve’s tale, Diana is convinced that the Great War is the work of Ares, and resolves to follow Steve to the front lines to confront the nemesis she was born to conquer.

The bond between mother and daughter gives the Themyscira sequences pathos – more than anyone, Queen Hippolyta knows Diana’s destiny; more than anything, she knows that humans do not deserve Diana; but above all, she knows that Diana will have to choose her own path. But once Diana sets sail with Steve for war-torn London, their adventure takes on a whole different rhythm and poignancy.

On one hand, it is a fish-out-of-water comedy, where she learns not only about the world outside hers (there is a delightful aside where she tries ice cream for the first time and tells the vendor he should be proud of how wonderful it is) but also of its chauvinism. Amidst the politics of British male-dominated military command, the film’s feminist message comes through most clearly and distinctly. And yet, director Patty Jenkins (who, by the way, is the first female at the helm of a major studio superhero picture) is far more adroit than to hit you over the head with its gender politics – at most, she has Diana point out, partly out of her naiveté, the hypocrisy of generals sitting safely behind desks deciding that not to act against Ludendorff for fear of endangering the armistice, even if that inaction costs more lives on both sides.     

On another, it is a love story, where Diana will come to admire Steve’s determination to do what’s right (after failing to convince his superiors, Steve assembles his own motley crew, including Ewen Bremner as a Scottish sniper battling PTSD, Saïd Taghmaoui as a sweet-talking master of disguise, and Eugene Brave Rock as a Native American guide) and fall for his virtue, sincerity and charm. It is through Steve that Diana will come to recognise the goodness that exists within mankind at the same time as she learns of their capacity for evil, and without spoiling anything, let’s just say that it is as beautiful, funny and moving as the best of ‘em romances thanks to the chemistry between Gadot and Pine.

And last but not least, it is a war movie, demonstrating the impact of war not just on the often nameless faces sent to the battle field but also on the civilians often regarded or used as collateral damage. It is precisely that which motivates Diana to step forward onto No Man’s Land in the middle of a trench battle on the Western Front and eventually liberate a small French village just behind enemy lines, and boy oh boy is that a magnificent sight to behold. Because Diana has yet to grasp the full extent of her powers, it is as if we are learning exactly what she can do just as she is discovering her abilities – and watching her deflect machine gun-fire with her gauntlets, flip army tanks with one hand and pummel an entire clock tower is as stunning for her as it is for us. Not since ‘The Matrix’ has slo-mo action looked so cool onscreen, and Jenkins uses that technique not just to emphasise Diana’s moves but also for us to glimpse at her expressions even as she is taking out the bad guys.

Nothing quite tops the exhilaration of that sequence which caps the second act, and as some commentators have rightly pointed out, the third act threatens to be overwhelmed by the same CGI excesses which made its DCEU predecessors frustrating. It is within this climactic battle that Diana comes face to face with Ares just as Steve and his ragtag band of comrades tries to stop Dr Poison from further unleashing her canisters of gas, and the former in particular is guilty of the visual overkill of explosions, mayhem and stodgy spectacle that ultimately generates little excitement. Yet even amidst the misstep, Jenkins doesn’t lose sight of the human-scale moments between Diana and Steve (one in particular, played the first time round with the dialogue muted and another with their exchange will leave you teary-eyed); nor for that matter, does she dilute the film’s intimate and unequivocal focus on Diana, who is confronted with the decision whether to continue fighting for this strange human race that possesses as much vicious depths as redeeming characteristics or stand with Ares against it.

Thrust into her first lead role, Gadot is simply exceptional. That she can convey beauty and sass in equal measure was evident in several of the ‘Fast and Furious’ movies she was probably best known for before this, but over and beyond, she displays great screen presence and sheer magnetism in how she carefully balances the doe-like naiveté and determination of her character. Having done time as a combat trainer in the Israeli army, Gadot certainly possesses the looks, moves and derring-do, but it is how soulful and utterly credible her performance here is that is the real surprise. It is needless to say that he has the somewhat thankless role of playing second fiddle, but the blue-eyed good-looking Pine turns out to be perfectly cast not only for his chemistry, camaraderie and even sexual tension with Gadot, but also as the audience surrogate reacting with amusement and amazement at her strange and remarkable abilities.

Quite simply, ‘Wonder Woman’ is nothing short of wonderful. Like we said at the start, it isn’t grim, glum or self-serious like its DCEU predecessors were, and for the most part, manages to avoid succumbing to the same CGI incoherence. It has honest emotion, spirited humour, breath-taking spectacle and a sincere commitment to its protagonist’s humanitarian ideals. As unlikely as her last big-screen feature 14 years ago may make her seem for a big-budget superhero movie, Jenkins proves to be a wonder herself, combining plot, character and spectacle with nuance and feeling into one of the most stirring entries in recent memory, with touching and powerful moments quite rare for a movie of this kind. Outside of the ‘Dark Knight’ trilogy, it is by far the best DCEU movie, and we dare say one of the best superhero movies we’ve seen. 

Movie Rating:

(Brimming with hope, heart and humanity, ‘Wonder Woman’ is funny, moving and breath-taking all at once, and lives up to the hyperbole of its character’s name by being simply the best DCEU movie by far)

Review by Gabriel Chong

Genre: Drama/Thriller
Director: Andy Goddard
Cast: Patrick Wilson, Jessica Biel, Vincent Kartheiser, Haley Bennett, Eddie Marsan
Runtime: 1 hr 36 mins
Rating: PG13 (Some Coarse Language)
Released By: Shaw
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 2 February 2017

Synopsis: A KIND OF MURDER, set in 1960's New York, is based on Patricia Highsmith's novel, The Blunderer. Walter Stackhouse is rich, successful and unhappily married to the beautiful but damaged Clara. His desire to be free of her feeds his obsession with Kimmel, a man suspected of brutally murdering his own wife. When Walter and Kimmel's lives become dangerously intertwined, a ruthless police detective becomes convinced he has found the murderer. But as the lines blur between innocence and intent, who, in fact, is the real killer?

Movie Review:

The late American author Patricia Highsmith’s psychological thriller novels have been the basis for many critically acclaimed Hollywood adaptations – including but not limited to Alfred Hitchcock’s classic Strangers on a Train (1951), as well as other familiar successes such as Anthony Minghella’s The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999) and Todd Haynes’ Carol (2015). Given the accomplishments of its predecessors, this latest adaptation has much to live up to. Disappointingly, however, it does not, in large due to the unevenness of its storytelling and character development.

It’s a shame because A Kind of Murder is a pretty film. Directed by Andy Goddard (best known for directing several episodes of television’s Downton Abbey), the costume and set designs are stellar, with the production team sparing no effort in exploiting the sartorial aesthetics of the 60’s. The men are decked out in fedoras, suits and trench coats, while the period dresses of the women are a visual treat – often opulent, sometimes understated but never bereft of style. The choice of colours for the costumes and the décor of the sets are deliberate and stark depending on the setting, well complementing Patrick Wilson’s role as debonair architect Walter Stackhouse. As the story progresses, his neurotic wife Clara (played by a morose Jessica Biel) grows suspicious of a new woman who shows up in their lives after a party – a certain Ellie (played by Haley Bennett) who happens to be an archetypally seductive (albeit unwittingly so) lounge singer. As the rift between husband and wife grows, so does Walter’s fascination with the case of Kimmel (played by Eddie Marsan), which he comes across in the newspapers. This leads to Walter paying a visit to the bookstore where Kimmel works; one thing leads to another and Clara eventually meets her own untimely demise. As the film increasingly flits between fleshing out Kimmel’s and Walter’s storylines, the audience are left guessing whether they were responsible for the deaths of their respective spouses. All of this unfolds while the detective Corby (played by Vincent Kartheiser of television’s Mad Men fame) is convinced of their guilt and relentlessly fights to take Kimmel and, later, Walter to task.

It is while juggling the parallel storylines that the single biggest problem with the film appears – this reviewer was often left wondering who exactly he should be rooting for. Clearly, the designated protagonist is Walter rather than Kimmel; yet for the longest time in the film, the burden is left on the audience to guess whether or not the former did indeed murder his wife. As a plot device, this doesn’t necessarily work well. If audiences are not privy to the same information that the lead character has, any tension that could have been wrought from a cat-and-mouse game with the detective is quite simply lost. And if the intention was to manufacture suspense, then the film does a fairly poor job of showing it as it struggles to balance the attention on both Kimmel and Walter’s storylines while simultaneously building up to the climax. On the other hand, neither are the audience encouraged to throw their weight behind the supposed purveyor of criminal justice – Corby the detective – who is reduced to that of a secondary role in the film. With his comparative lack of on-screen time as well as his nasty and abrasive persona, Corby’s role winds up being intensely dislikeable.  

Sure, several of the classic film noir elements are in there, based on the screenplay adapted by Susan Boyd: the requisite femme fatale (in the form of Ellie), action that takes place in the shadows (without revealing too much, the climax erupts as a frenzied showdown within dim basement chambers), complex plot involving morally ambiguous characters who commit violence. But these alone are obviously not sufficient to guarantee the genre film works. For example, the femme fatale’s role in the plot feels underdeveloped, with Ellie’s relationship with Walter only being tenuously developed at best. Apart from being an inadvertent catalyst in escalating the rift between Walter and Clara (which could have been caused been anything else really, given their rocky relationship), the character of Ellie does little to propel the storyline forward.

If anything, Marsan does turn in the most commendable performance as Kimmel. With his furrowed brows and steely gaze, he portrays the bookkeeper with admirable nuance as his character’s mounting rage tips him over the edge. Working within the limitations of the material, the performances by the rest of the actors, including Wilson’s Walter, feel somewhat uninspired. Biel’s character as Clara is particularly one-dimensional and almost painful to watch – apart from appearing perpetually depressed and neurotic, she seems incapable of exhibiting other forms of emotion and when she meets her inevitable end in the film, there is little sympathy to be had.

Despite being only 95 minutes long, the film feels much more drawn-out from plodding along too tediously. It reminds one of a glass of fine wine that’s been left out on the bar counter for too long – tantalising on the outside but tasting nothing like it should. 

Movie Rating:

(This kind of murder is ultimately not of the memorable kind – the film is strong on the visuals but ultimately feels somewhat vacuous as a whole, let down by uninteresting characters and an uneven build-up of suspense)

Review by Tan Yong Chia Gabriel

KUNG FU YOGA Singapore Press Conference Posted on 19 Jan 2017 One day, he was lying in a London hospital after an unexpected five-hour operation; the next, he was in Iceland with 60 pounds of weight around his waist plunged into the ice-cold waters of Iceland. Even at the age of 62 and being the worldwide celebrity he is who had just received an honorary Academy Award last year, Jackie Chan was the consummate professional and ‘Big Brother’ ... more

Genre: Drama
Director: Martin Scorsese
Cast: Andrew Garfield, Adam Driver, Liam Neeson, Tadanobu Asano, Ciarán Hinds, Issei Ogata, Shin'ya Tsukamoto, Yoshi Oida, Yosuke Kubozuka
Runtime: 2 hrs 41 mins
Rating: NC16 (Violence)
Released By: Golden Village Pictures
Official Website: http://www.silencemovie.com

Opening Day: 9 February 2017

Synopsis: Martin Scorsese’s SILENCE tells the story of two Christian missionaries (Andrew Garfield and Adam Driver) who face the ultimate test of faith when they travel to Japan in search of their missing mentor (Liam Neeson) – at a time when Christianity was outlawed and their presence forbidden.

Movie Review:

Few directors today are bold or intellectual enough to engage in a serious discourse on the dogmas, riddles and anxieties of religious faith, which in itself makes ‘Silence’ notable. But Martin Scorcese’s adaptation of Shūsaku Endō’s revered 1966 novel isn’t distinguished simply by its rarity; oh no, the greater achievement here is in fact its remarkable depth and complexity, especially for believers of the Christian faith. Drawing no doubt from his own longtime relationship with the Catholic church (not only was he raised in a piously Catholic family, he had once considered becoming a priest), Scorcese approaches the material through his own perspective as a sincere but questioning Catholic, raising deep questions that admittedly at times assume too much of his viewers’ understanding and acceptance of Catholic doctrine.

Co-written with his ‘Gangs of New York’ screenwriter Jay Cocks, Scorcese uses the narrative as device to draw out the conundrums at the heart of his movie. Without going into too much detail therefore, the 17^th-century set story revolves around two Portuguese Roman Catholic missionaries – Jesuit priests Father Sebastian Rodrigues (Andrew Garfield) and Father Francisco Garupe (Adam Driver) – who travel undercover to Japan to search for their missing teacher and mentor, Father Cristóvão Ferreira (Liam Neeson). Christianity had then been outlawed as Japan sought to close itself off from European colonial powers, and word was that Father Ferreira had done the unthinkable of apostasy. Upon landing on the Land of the Rising Sun, Father Rodrigues and Father Garupe find themselves welcomed with desperate adoration by devout peasants who cling onto their faith despite threat of torture, with the hope of entering paradise upon their death.

Yet theirs is no ordinary suffering – either rolled in straw mats and burned alive, or lashed to crosses and smashed by waves for days on end, or suspended upside down into pits with cuts above their ears that allow blood to drain drop by agonizing drop – so it is no wonder that witnessing these unspeakable acts shakes both priests to the core. Whereas Father Garupe remains unmoved in his faith, Father Rodrigues is left wavering – and not surprisingly, it is Father Rodrigues who becomes the film’s focus. Taken prisoner by the notorious inquisitor Inoue (Issey Ogata), Father Rodrigues is given the choice to end the suffering against his fellow Christians by committing apostasy himself – that is, stepping on a fumi-e, or a small plaque bearing the likeness of Christ. As Inoue explains earlier on when Father Rodrigues begs the former to take his life instead, his Japanese captors have since learnt that killing priests only ends up strengthening the faith of their believers.

Initially, as he is taught to do, Father Rodrigues turns to prayer, asking God to intercede for his faithful. When those prayers are met with apparent ‘silence’ from God, Father Rodrigues laments: “Why does God remain silent in the face of torment?” That is perhaps the most difficult leap of faith for all Christians, priests and lay people alike – if God is all-powerful, if He is a God of compassion and mercy, if He sent his only Son to deliver us out of suffering, why then does He allow His children to suffer such injustices? Father Rodrigues’ crisis of faith goes even further. Should he steadfastly uphold his faith, even if he means others will die? Or, given that he has the power, should he renounce Jesus publicly in order to save the lives of His innocent flock, while still holding God within his heart – after all, in Father Ferreira’s own words, ‘there are some things more important than the judgment of the Church’?

On a deeper, and perhaps even more fundamental level, Scorcese invites us to ponder on the very nature of faith, and by extension, the intention of proselytization. As easy as it may be to demonise the Japanese, Scorcese makes it clear that their drive to eradicate Christianity stems from their utter disdain of the European outsiders who have imported it into their lands, encroaching on their Buddhist beliefs with outright arrogance and even contempt. In the eyes of the Japanese, Christianity is simply antithetical, which itself begs the question of what end its proselytization seeks to accomplish in the first place. In claiming that ours is the true God, are we also saying that theirs are false Gods? Isn’t such moral superciliousness or superiority the reason why religious wars are fought? And didn’t Jesus himself tell his apostles in preaching the faith to ‘leave that home or town and shake the dust off their feet’ if anyone does not welcome them or listen to their words?

There are no easy answers here, and indeed it would be irresponsible for Scorcese to suggest otherwise. Though God shows the way, believers of any religion will probably agree that an individual’s faith journey has to be forged on his or her own to truly become one’s convictions – or else ending up like the film’s most frustrating yet human character, a Judas-like figure named Kichijiro (Yōsuke Kubozuka) who vacillates between apostasy and confession depending on which is more convenient at that point of time. At two hours and forty minutes, Scorcese’s ‘Silence’ may seem ponderously long, yet the filmmaker who hints at the start that this is nothing like his hyperactive ‘Wolf of Wall Street’ offers his viewers space, time and quietness to think about the difficult but significant questions within. There is both poetry and sublimity in Scorcese’s method, enhanced by stunning cinematography by the great Rodrigo Prieto in his use of light, shadow and colour.

It is no secret that this is Scorcese’s passion project, and the 28 years he has fought to bring the material to the big screen is itself reminiscent of a pilgrim’s journey. Some great actors who were once attached include Daniel Day-Lewis, Benicio del Toro and Gael Garcia Bernal, and one wonders if they would have been more compelling than Andrew Garfield is in the central role of Father Rodrigues. His is a performance searching for more gravitas and viscerality, sometimes outshone by that of his Japanese peers, including Yoshi Oida and Shinya Tsukamoto as two staunch Christian village elders, Tadanobu Asano as Rodrigues’ coolly menacing interpreter and Issey Ogata as the charmingly eccentric but viciously punishing inquisitor. Convenient as it may be to consider it as the completion of Scorcese’s unofficial trilogy on the subject of faith after ‘The Last Temptation of Christ’ and ‘Kunlun’, ‘Silence’ deserves to be recognized in its own right - a masterpiece complex, mesmerizing and immensely profound, and nothing less than the career summation of Scorcese’s legacy. 

Movie Rating:

(One of Martin Scorcese’s best works, this complex, mesmerizing and profound exploration of the Christian faith that offers deep questions without easy answers is a thought-provoking but ultimately deeply rewarding watch)

Review by Gabriel Chong

Genre: Comedy
Director: Ivan Ho
Cast: Ryan Lian, Wang Lei, Mark Lee, Maxi Lim, Gadrick Chen, Chen Tian Wen, Henry Thia, Kenny Theng, Charmaine Sei, Dennis Chew, Shawn Ho
Runtime: 1 hr 48 mins
Rating: PG13 (Some Coarse Language)
Released By:  J Team Productions, mm2 Entertainment and Golden Village Pictures 
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 26 January 2017

Synopsis: On a venture to turn over a new leaf and break away from their past misdemeanours, Ah Hu and his 3 other cell mates set up a new F&B venture selling Japanese ramen. But being ex-convicts hinder their success and their inability to fit in with society lands them in numerous comical situations. Their clumsiness ultimately causes the business to flounder. Unwilling to give up the good fight and believing that change will bring about a solution, the four friends come up with a new idea; a 3-in-1 tuition center for students that also provides F&B and massage services for their parents. Good times don’t last when Ah Hu’s nemesis, Di Tie kidnaps his estranged son. Having sworn never to fall back to the path of wrongdoing, it’s down to Ah Hu and his friends to save his son without weapons, alerting the cops, and breaking the law. So begins a daring yet entertaining rescue mission.

Movie Review:

‘Take 2’ weaves a story of four ex-cons struggling to reintegrate into society – Ryan Lian’s Tiger is a former gangster who took the rap for his boss Blackie (Henry Thia); Wang Lei’s Mad Dog is a serial criminal who has apparently been convicted of every single offence in the Penal Code except for ‘unnatural sex’; Gadrick Chen’s Panther was betrayed by his partner during a robbery attempt; while Maxi Lim’s Jian Ren was a soon-to-be groom convicted of sex with an underage prostitute during his bachelor’s night party – and Tiger’s voiceover at the beginning sums up their collective willingness to turn over a new leaf following their most recent prison stints. It was just last year that K. Rajagopal’s ‘A Yellow Bird’ dwelt on similar themes, and slightly more than a decade ago that Jack Neo had done likewise with ‘One More Chance’, but ‘Take 2’ is intended less as a serious drama on new beginnings and second chances than as a light-hearted dramedy with the same subject matter for the Chinese New Year season.

Co-written with his ‘Ah Boys to Men’ director Neo, Ivan Ho (who also makes his directorial debut here) himself struggles to strike the right balance between humour and seriousness, exacerbated by the blatant repetition of casting a cross-dressing Dennis Chew in a variety of bit roles. There is Dennis Chew as an egotistical ‘auntie’ whose car Panther had leased for use as a private taxi; there is Dennis Chew as the owner of a tuition centre who offers Jian Ren a teaching position without knowing of his past conviction; there is Dennis Chew as the female boss of a ‘bak chor mee’ stall whose quarrel with Mad Dog goes viral; and there is Dennis Chew as a beggar who bursts into church with face shrouded in shadow looking like Jesus Christ, right after Jian Ren rails to God about how his prayers of starting anew seem to have fallen on deaf ears. As much as Chew doesn’t attempt to steal the limelight in each one of these scenes, his presence alone ultimately distracts from the intended message of the stigmatization that these ex-cons face while trying to get back on their feet, even at times trivializing their very predicaments.

Among the quartet, only Tiger emerges as a fully enough formed character that we come to empathise with, especially as he tries in vain to get through to his estranged teenage son Guang (newcomer Shawn Ho) who appears to be following in his younger day’s footsteps. Whereas, Panther and Mad Dog’s presences seem to go not much further than as comic sidekicks, and Jian Ren is (well) almost completely sidelined. It should also come as no surprise that, among them, Lian’s performance is easily the most gripping, injecting some much-needed gravitas into a film that would otherwise come off too lightweight for its own good. Graduating from his scene-stealing supporting part in Neo’s epic period drama ‘Long Long Time Ago’ into the leading role here, Lian also holds his own against veteran actor Chen Tianwen, who sheds his ‘Mr Unbelievable’ persona for a truly menacing villainous part named Di Tie with his own score to settle with Tiger.

Oh yes, as formula would have it, Di Tie (meaning ‘MRT’ in Chinese) – so nicknamed because the scars on his back resemble a map of our MRT lines and because his brain, like our public rail transport, is often wonky – represents the past that comes back to haunt our four flawed heroes. This is just as they are about to make a breakthrough with a new business venture, which combines Tiger’s cooking talent with Jian Ren’s excellent Maths teaching skills and Panther’s entrepreneurial instincts - bearing the film’s titular name, the three-in-one establishment offers tuition services for kids with food and beverage options and massage services for their waiting parents. Indeed, that promising restart threatens to be derailed by Di Tie, who not only exploits Mad Dog (who owes him money he borrowed to feed his gambling habit) to spike the establishment’s water on its opening day but also Guang to frame his father for drug possession, thus culminating in a showdown at a warehouse pier that you’ve probably seen the trailers teased.

Whereas the earlier two acts alternated between comedy and drama, the last adds action into the mix – what with Mad Dog dusting off his former ‘choppers’ inscribed with his former nickname ‘Geylang Mad Dog’ (prompting one of the genuinely funny quips from Blackie that he had ORD-ed from gangster-hood without ‘returning his arms’) and Panther packing a fire extinguisher, a washing basin, a pair of nanchucks and rope to stage an ambush on MRT and his gang. The ensuing mishmash is as discordant as it sounds, vacillating between melodramatic scenes of Tiger fending off MRT’s brutal attack for the sake of Guang and amusing scenes of nerdy Jian Ren transforming into a ‘nanchucks’ expert as well as Panther channeling his inner Bruce Lee. And yet, there is undeniably a scrappy charm to the proceedings, driven by the chemistry between Lian, Wang and Chen that translates into a palpable sense of brotherhood between their characters onscreen.

That ‘Take 2’ proves to be somewhat rough around the edges is perhaps to be expected, given how this is only Ho’s maiden outing behind the camera. His background as a writer no doubt makes his debut feature a lot more narratively coherent than some of Neo’s earlier works, but as a director, Ho seems to have adopted his mentor’s sitcom-ish style despite trying to infuse a more urbane flair with the use of Latin tunes like Gabriel Saientz’s ‘Te Quiero’. As far as inspiring its audience to give ex-cons in society a ‘take two’, ‘Take 2’ isn’t nearly as moving or poignant as it needs to be; but as comedy fare for the Chinese New Year season, there is enough humour, wit and even sheer nuttiness to keep you engaged, if not entertained. Just as how it is not realistic for ex-cons to keep their old ways while starting over, ‘Take 2’ cannot be both goofy and compelling at the same time, so it is no surprise that it ultimately comes off more of the former and much less of the latter. 

Movie Rating:

(Struggling to balance comedy with drama, 'Take 2' ultimately comes off more the former than the latter, but with enough humour, wit and scrappy charm to keep you entertained)

Review by Gabriel Chong