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SINGAPORE FILM MAKERS URGED TO SUBMIT FILMS, NETWORK AND EXPLORE OPPORTUNITIES IN KUCHING DURING FILM FESTIVAL IN MAY 2017Posted on 11 Mar 2017 |
Genre: Comedy/Action
Director: David Kerr
Cast: Rowan Atkinson, Ben Miller, Olga Kurylenko, Jake Lacy, Emma Thompson
Runtime: 1 hr 29 mins
Rating: PG
Released By: UIP
Official Website:
Opening Day: 20 September 2018
Synopsis: JOHNNY ENGLISH STRIKES AGAIN is the third installment of the Johnny English comedy series, with Rowan Atkinson returning as the much loved accidental secret agent. The new adventure begins when a cyber-attack reveals the identity of all active undercover agents in Britain, leaving Johnny English as the secret service’s last hope. Called out of retirement, English dives head first into action with the mission to find the mastermind hacker. As a man with few skills and analogue methods, Johnny English must overcome the challenges of modern technology to make this mission a success.
Movie Review:
No other comedian is as universally beloved as Rowan Atkinson – especially his slapstick pratfalls and rubbery expressions as Mr Bean – and it was with the aim of capturing some of that appeal which led to the creation of the bumbling English secret agent Johnny English fifteen years ago. Both the 2003 original and its 2011 sequel ‘Johnny English Reborn’ were nowhere near classics, but provided enough diverting entertainment as harmless James Bond parody. It is indeed with that same objective in mind that TV veteran turned first-time feature film director David Kerr and original ‘Johnny English’ writer William Davies have decided to give the character yet another go, and as long as your expectations of this third outing remain the same as the previous two, you’ll find Atkinson’s reprise just as pleasing and delightful as ever.
The throwaway excuse to bring English back into action is a cyber attack on MI7, which compromises the identities of all serving agents. In consultation with Emma Thompson’s frazzled Prime Minister, the head of the intelligence service (Adam James) calls in a bunch of retired agents including English, although an accident with a pen cap that is a stun grenade in disguise causes English to knock out the rest of his counterparts (including cameos by legendary actors Charles Dance and Michael Gambon). English is reunited with his sidekick Bough (Ben Miller) from the first movie, and in decidedly analogue style, chooses a bright red vintage Aston Martin as his vehicle of choice as well as an array of old-fashioned gadgets like exploding Jelly Babies and green/red pills over high-tech ones such as a smart phone.
As is typical of such spoofs, the plot is only in service of the various set-pieces, each of which are executed by Atkinson with sheer aplomb. An early one has English and Bough pretending to be waiters at a fine dining restaurant in the French countryside, where English not only ruins the meal of flambé prawns for an innocent patron but burns down the entire place before the evening is over. Another starts with him activating the shoebox inflatable raft inside their car, and continues with them attracting the wrong sort of attention walking up the side of a luxury yacht with magnetic boots. Yet another sees him deploy a guided missile to take out a bunch of French cyclists blocking his way while on a circuitous mountain chase of a mysterious Russian Bond-named femme fatale Ophelia Bulletova (Olga Kurylenko). Each of these sequences are packed with hijinks and goofy shenanigans, which the filmmakers are all too aware is the point of their film.
We haven’t yet described the three hilarious show-pieces – the first sees English flailing at impressing Ophelia at a hotel bar, before taking to the dance floor on speed while Ophelia tries to take him out; the second has English donning a virtual reality helmet and confusing the real world with the artificial, wrecking havoc on innocent bystanders in a bookstore, a deli and atop an open top London Big Bus; and the third has English trying to stop the villain at a G12 meeting held in an ancient Scottish castle with an exoskeleton body suit and then in a clunky suit of armour. If we haven’t yet mentioned who the bad guy is, that’s because he is pretty much inconsequential; but let’s just say that there happens to be a certain Silicon Valley billionaire (Jake Lacy) who seems all too eager to sell his services to the British government in order to gain access to a treasure trove of data across the public service.
If it isn’t yet obvious, ‘Johnny English Strikes Again’ exists for one reason and one reason only – that is, to watch Atkinson stumble from one ridiculous situation to another before finally by some ‘deus ex machina’ manage to save the world from total annihilation. And we are not shy to say that we lapped up every bit of Atkinson’s slapstick routines, his flair for physical comedy just as sharp and alive as before. Sure, Kurylenko adds some sex appeal and Thompson seems to be having a blast as the cluelessly beleaguered Prime Minister, but Atkinson has always and remains the undisputed star of his own show. Really, his appeal is simple, straightforward and yet ageless, so don’t bother trying to find fault with the simplistic plot or the other underdeveloped characters – just sit back, relax and enjoy Atkinson’s comedic stunts, which is more than enough to leave us with a huge grin by the time the credits roll.
Movie Rating:
(As pleasing and delightful as watching Rowan Atkinson's slapstick routines ever was, this third James Bond spoof outing will leave you grinning, laughing and even occasionally splitting your side)
Review by Gabriel Chong
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NATHAN HARTONO STARS IN CAR-RACING-THEMED MOVIEPosted on 13 Mar 2017 |
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mm2 presents slate of regional film productions at Hong Kong FILMART 2017Posted on 14 Mar 2017 |
Genre: Crime/Thriller
Director: Cheng Weihao
Cast: Kaiser Chuang, Tiffany Hsu, Mason Lee, Alice Ko, Christopher Lee
Runtime: 1 hr 57 mins
Rating: M18 (Violence and Sexual Scene)
Released By: Shaw
Official Website:
Opening Day: 30 March 2017
Synopsis: Nine years ago, on a stormy night novice journalist Chi witnessed a car accident on the hill when his car broke down. In that fatal accident, the male driver was killed on the spot, and the female passenger Hsu Ai-ting slipped into a coma when she was rushed to the hospital. In a panic, Chi took photos of the registration number of the hit-and-run vehicle. However, the pictures were so blurry that they could not be used as evidence, and therefore the facts of the accident were never established.
Movie Review:
If you have heard the titular English folk song, you’ll do well to know from the outset that this Taiwanese whodunit has nothing at all to do with the rhyme or its interpretations; and if you have not, then just know that it matters not. At most, the relation is intended to imply how different persons recounting the same crime will have multiple accounts of it, and the fact that each has a vested interest one way or another to conceal their involvement, or worse culpability, means that the truth is often elusive. Indeed, that is how the narrative of Cheng Wei-hao’s sophomore feature film has been structured, i.e. as enactments of events past recounted by so-and-so, which may or may not have been embellished or even completely fabricated. It does therefore demand two hours of its audience’s patience to unravel the entire mystery, but we guarantee it is time well worth spending on a cautionary tale of greed, vengeance and buried sins.
The gist of the story is that of a hotshot journalist Chi (Kaiser Chuang) who decides to look into a hit-and-run that he had personally witnessed nine years ago on a stormy night, after a present-day car accident reveals that the second-hand car he had bought not long ago was in fact the very one involved on that fateful evening. The longer version of that tells of the survivor, Ai-ting (Ko Chai Yen), who had escaped from the hospital not long after being admitted for her injuries and has since gone off the grid – worse, after Chi uses his investigative skills to locate her, she is abducted by someone who had been following Chi without his knowledge. Chi’s initial digging through the newspaper archives also unearths the kidnap of a wealthy businessman’s young daughter at about the same time, which relationship to the persons involved in the accident only becomes clearer much further down the road (pun intended).
Any whodunit is as good as its list of suspects, and there is an intriguing list here – beginning with Chi’s mentor Chung-wen, whom Chi suspects of deleting some photos off his old camera nine years ago of the accident; to Chi’s editor-in-chief Chiu (Christopher Lee), whose previous car’s license plate number is one of the possible matches of the hit-and-run vehicle which Chi makes out in one of the deleted photos he eventually manages to retrieve; to Chi’s mechanic and buddy Ji, whom Chiu claims borrowed his vehicle and was behind the wheel that night; and last but not least to a young unsmiling junior police constable Wei (Mason Lee) who works at the station where Chi’s police contact resides and coincidentally stays in one of the units of the dense housing complex where Ai-ting could be held captive. In case you haven’t realized, there are two related mysteries here – the identity of the hit-and-run driver and Ai-ting’s kidnapper – which may or may not lead to the same culprit(s).
Though it isn’t obvious right from the start, Cheng’s technique is to play out each possible suspect’s account of what happened that night, not simply whether those accounts which are genuine and accurate. As confusing as it may be to some, it demands that the audience pay attention to the inconsistencies and contradictions as Chi goes further down the rabbit hole, and trusting that the truth will emerge by the end of the two hours. The reassurance here is that it eventually does – and without ambiguity, we should add – so as much as some of the accounts are mere red herrings, it isn’t that (or because) Chi and his two co-writers doesn’t know where they want the story to lead to. Despite the manifold twists and turns especially in the third and final act, all the pieces do fall into place at the end, and in fact in grimmer and more perverse fashion than we had expected.
Oh yes, those looking for a happy ending best look elsewhere – there is none to be found here by the time the deeds and motivations of each one of the protagonists are laid bare. Not even Chi will emerge unscathed, and it suffices to say that it wasn’t an altruistic pursuit of the truth that triggered his own investigation in the first place. Because each individual is ultimately harbouring some dirty, dark secret that he or she would rather not see the light of day, every one of them is in fact driven by their own self-preservation to one extent or another, the only difference being how far or committed they are to ensuring that their own selfish interests. These qualities are also what defines the characters here, and the actors do a decent job of fleshing them out, savoury or otherwise – of particular mention is our very own Lee, who exudes cold-hearted pragmatism in his portrayal of the grizzled journalism veteran with political ambitions.
Nevertheless, ‘Who Killed Cock Robin’ is admittedly less character-driven than plot-driven, in that its storytelling is based on unravelling what these respective characters were up to that fateful night when their lives collided in unfortunate manner. Even so, it does not sacrifice character consistency for plot surprises, so you can be reassured that none of the characters do stuff that is too illogical with their nature or credibility. Frankly, we were pleasantly surprised by how this crime thriller turned out. The setup is a little rushed at the start, but it settles down quickly to its own pace and rhythm once Chi starts getting into the thick of the mystery. Not that it slackens mind you; in fact, it is quite a gripping watch from start to finish, topped off with an ending that goes right to the darker side of human nature.
Movie Rating:
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(Often intriguing and always gripping, this whodunit that bears no relation to the English folk song of its name is surprisingly dark and twisted)
Review by Gabriel Chong
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MARVEL STUDIOS' AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR - THE ONLY FILM IN SINGAPORE HISTORY TO CROSS THE 14M MARKPosted on 06 Jun 2018 |
Genre: Drama
Director: Stuart Hazeldine
Cast: Sam Worthington, Radha Mitchell, Octavia Spencer, Tim McGraw, Megan Charpentier, Gage Munroe, Amélie Eve, Avraham Aviv Alush, Alice Braga, Graham Greene
Runtime: 2 hrs 13 mins
Rating: PG13 (Some Mature Content)
Released By: Shaw
Official Website: https://www.facebook.com/theshackmovie/
Opening Day: 6 April 2017
Synopsis: Based on the New York Times best-selling novel, The Shack takes us on a father's uplifting spiritual journey. After suffering a family tragedy, Mack Phillips (Sam Worthington) spirals into a deep depression causing him to question his innermost beliefs. Facing a crisis of faith, he receives a mysterious letter urging him to an abandoned shack deep in the Oregon wilderness. Despite his doubts, Mack journeys to the shack and encounters an enigmatic trio of strangers led by a woman named Papa (Octavia Spencer). Through this meeting, Mack finds important truths that will transform his understanding of his tragedy and change his life forever.
Movie Review:
Ask any parent, and he or she will tell you that the thought of losing his or her child is indescribable, the pain immeasurable and perhaps even the torment irreconcilable. Ask any Christian, and the most difficult element of the faith is to overcome personal loss or suffering, especially that of a loved one. How can one hold on to the notion that God is good and all-seeing, when he allows something tragic to happen to someone completely innocent? How can one accept that it was part of God’s plan? How can one continue to trust God? In that sense therefore, Mack Philips’ disillusionment, anger and resentment at God is completely understandable, having lost his youngest daughter Missy (Amelie Eve) while on a camping trip with his three children. Abducted by a serial killer known to the police as the ‘Little Ladykiller’, Missy’s body remains missing, her bloodied red dress found in an abandoned shack in the woods the only sign of what happened to her after she was taken.
Based on the 2007 New York Times bestselling novel by Canadian author William P. Young, ‘The Shack’ follows Mack’s journey of healing at the very shack after receiving a mysterious note in his mailbox signed by someone named ‘Papa’, inviting him to return to the place where Missy was presumed to have been murdered. There, he encounters God in the form of the Trinity – God the Father, or Papa, is portrayed by Octavia Spencer as a figure of maternal warmth; God’s son, Jesus, is played by Israeli actor Avraham Aviv Alush as a friendly guy-next-door; and the Holy Spirit, Sarayu, is personified by Japanese model-actress Sumire as a reserved lady with grace and sublimity. Intentionally structured as a weekend encounter, Mack will spend the next three days engaging in challenging conversations with all three manifestations of the Almighty one by one, joined at one point by God’s wisdom (in the form of Brazilian actress Alice Braga) as a woman he meets in a cave.
Fans of the book will be glad to know that this adaptation by a trio of screenwriters – John Fusco, Andrew Lanham and Destin Daniel Cretton – remains faithful to its source, right down to its prologue that establishes Mack’s traumatic childhood as a Midwestern farm kid who was abused by his alcoholic father, and decided to run away from home at the age of 13 after placing poison into his father’s beer bottles (though it is never clear if that turns fatal). Unfolding as a series of vignettes each intended to help Mack come to terms with the tensions he experiences in respect to either God or the circumstances, there is no plot per se, so those looking for drama in the conventional sense of the word will likely emerge puzzled why nothing really happens to Mack over the course of the movie; rather, this is through and through a series of debates centred around God and the Christian perspective to some of the unfathomable truths of life.
So in succession, Mack will hear from Papa about trust in God and how that trust is paramount in understanding the nature of God; step into a beautiful but messy garden with Sarayu, where he will be challenged about mankind’s judgments of good and evil and see his soul as well as that of his fellow men as being “in process”; demonstrate his faith in God by walking on a lake with Jesus; recognise the difference between God and Man’s judgment of people; and last but not least see the world as God sees in a beautiful spectacle of different lights and colour against a darkened sky. In the process, Mack will also come to realise that God does not endorse the evil that happens in this world but as an inevitable consequence of free will. Finally, Mack will be invited to not only forgive Missy’s killer and let go of the hate and hurt inside of him but also love him in spite of what the latter has done, as God does with each and every one of his creations despite their sinfulness.
Even though ‘The Shack’ is rooted in the understanding of God in the Christian faith, it probably won’t pass muster by strict doctrinal teachings – and indeed, in the decade since the book has been published, it has been accused of being heretical and devoid of Biblical grounding. As much as these points of contention (such as its notion of universal salvation) have been toned down in the movie to avoid controversy even among its target audience, Christian fundamentalists will no doubt still find its ideas discordant with their own deeply held beliefs. Equally, there’s no pretending that atheists and agnostics need not apply, for what it says even about healing and forgiveness will likely be dismissed as Christian hokum. But for the average Christian we suspect, not only will Mack’s crisis of faith be perfectly relatable, so too will be the appreciation of God as friend, comforter and confidante amidst our deepest sorrows.
It is really no use measuring ‘The Shack’ against conventional yardsticks of good moviemaking; at its core, this is simply a visualisation of the bestselling novel of the same name. On director Stuart Hazeldine’s part, he has casted the movie well (especially with Octavia Spencer as Papa) and turned Mack’s retreat into a lush Edenic paradise. On actor Sam Worthington’s part, he captures somewhat just adequately the pain, grief and anguish of a parent who has lost his child. But really, ‘The Shack’ is best appreciated as an invitation for Christian believers to renew their faith just before Easter, especially for those who are going through some personal suffering that has resulted in distance or alienation from God. More than other Christian-themed movies like ‘Courageous’ or ‘Facing the Giants’, it is a lot more straightforward in confronting the hard truths of the faith – and to the extent that it acknowledges without dismissing the difference between what man perceives and how God works, makes it potentially more transformative and uplifting.
Movie Rating:
(Intended for Christian believers, this series of conversations between a grieving parent and the Trinities of God about suffering, trust and the essence of faith itself is honest, comforting and uplifting)
Review by Gabriel Chong
Genre: Drama
Director: Kirsten Tan
Cast: Bong as Popeye, Thaneth Warakulnukroh, Penpak Sirikul, Dee Chaiwat Khumdee, Jenny Yukontorn Sukkijja, Peak Narong Pongpab
Runtime: 1 hr 42 mins
Rating: M18 (Sexual Scenes)
Released By: Golden Village Pictures
Official Website:
Opening Day: 13 April 2017
Synopsis: A delightful mix of drama, heartache and humour, POP AYE tells the story of a washed-out architect Thana (played by Thaneth Warkulnukroh) who on a chance encounter bumps into his long-lost elephant Pop Aye (played by Bong the elephant) on the streets of Bangkok. Excited and a bit sick of the big city life, he takes his elephant on an outrageous road-trip across rural Thailand, running into some truly wacky characters - in search of the farm where they grew up together.
Movie Review:
One scene in this movie struck a chord with this writer. The protagonist, a middle aged man tells an elephant: “You’re just like me – old, fat and homeless.”
For someone who is feeling somewhat lethargic at a supposed crossroads of his life, this columnist can relate to how the leading man is feeling. Once renowned as the architect of a 90s landmark high rise building in Bangkok, things take a turn for Thana (the wonderful Thaneth Warakulnukroh) when his boss’s son takes over the company to construct a swanky suite dripping with hipster-ism. Evidently someone from the last generation, he looks out of place in the office and at home. In short, our hero is displaced from life.
Then comes an encounter with an old elephant whom he recognises as the titular Pop Aye, a childhood friend from the yesteryears. Thus begins a journey from the cosmopolitan Bangkok back to his hometown in the village, where he hopes his uncle can care for the animal.
It is really one of things you do on impulse: if you think about it, bringing the elephant back home does nothing much, except to go on a road trip which may or may not improve Thana’s spiritual well being. Is it like one of those things in life we do because ‘the heart tells us so’? You bet.
This is Singaporean writer director Kirsten Tan’s debut feature. Based in New York, Tan has reportedly lived in Bangkok in her early 20s, giving her the ability to communicate with her cast and crew during the production of this film. Tan has masterfully narrated a tale of how a man, who is out of sorts, is attempting to find his place in life (fun fact: this reviewer studied in the same secondary school as Tan, making her film about an urbanite embarking on an offbeat journey especially poignant).
The 102 minute film follows Thana and Pop Aye as they come across a number of characters who may or may not mean anything in their lives. Whether it is the long haired hippie looking after an abandoned gas station, the transgender who is past her prime or the two police officers who want to take Thana into custody for violating urban tidiness, you will feel some sort of solace and comfort ‘knowing’ these supporting characters.
With Anthony Chen taking on the role of executive producer, the film took home the Special Jury award in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition for its screenplay at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival. It was the first time a Singaporean had won this award at Sundance. The highly recommended film also also won the VPRO Big Screen Award at the International Film Festival Rotterdam in the Netherlands, a first for a Singaporean film at Rotterdam.
This is a universal film with a touch of surrealism (the cinematography featuring the soothing rural landscape is almost therapeutic), with a story that will speak the world weary crowd. Without giving too much away, the last scene of the film will leave anyone who has felt disheartened in life (this flabby and frequently unkempt writer included) with a vulnerable yet calming sense of comfort.
Movie Rating:
(Feeling disheartened about life? A road trip with a world weary middle-aged architect and his elephant may be what you need)
Review by John Li
Genre: Comedy
Director: Adrian Teh
Cast: Ian Fang, Hoon Mei Sim, Lim Yi Xin, Anjoe Koh, Huang Phoebe, Lex Pun, Tan Li Yang; Jack Lim, Verna Jian; Liu Wei Zheng, Cliff Chan, He Wen Hui, Ilham Anas
Runtime: 1 hr 45 mins
Rating: PG13 (Some Sexual References)
Released By: Golden Village Pictures
Official Website:
Opening Day: 30 March 2017
Synopsis: Yi Bai, a middle-aged nobody with a lot of regrets attended the wedding of Xiao Wei, his high school crush. He got drunk and made a fool of his wife. Angry, she chased him with a knife, forcing Yi Bai to hide in the washroom. When he emerged, he found himself in another dimension – he travelled back in time to 1999! Yi Bai is a high school student again and he can re-live his life, allowing him to fix any mistakes he made and achieve all the fame and success he missed out on the first time around. He records hit songs long before the original artists and makes lots of money, but the more successful he becomes, the more he realizes that people around him are just making use of him and his wealth. Will he find anyone who is truly genuine?
Movie Review:
Goodbye Mr Loser is the Malaysian remake of the China sleeper hit movie of the same name. It tells a story of Yi Bai (Ian Fang), a worthless middle-aged man, living life full of regrets. On an occasion when he attended the wedding of his high school crush, Xiao Wei (Anjoe Koh), he reunited with some of his classmates. That triggered him thinking how life could have been if he had done things differently when he was younger. With a turn of events, he was transported back to the past and given the chance to ‘re-do’ his life.
It was a love at first sight for Malaysian director Adrian Teh. When he first watched the Chinese film on an airplane, he knew he had to do the movie. Likewise, when he went through more than 100 casting videos, he instinctively knew Ian Fang is the ‘right one’ for the lead male character. According to Adrian, Ian just worked out fine in subsequent follow-up videos and he had the flair and flavor for the lead male character. And indeed, Ian Fang managed to achieve a breakthrough. Although he is often casted as the evil antagonist and portrayed as bratty, spoilt and cocky. Yet, he proved he could also take on comedic roles like Yi Bai, showing the wide range of characters he can take on.
Further, it is already not Malaysian director Adrian Teh first attempt at a comedy. In fact, his experience goes back to year 2010 and he has built a considerable reputation and profile for the works he does. As such, there were appropriate contextualized jokes and laughing points that surely entertained the audiences. Due to a tight production budget, the ‘famous people’ starred in the movie were mainly impersonators. Even though that could be seen as the ‘cheaper alternatives and the washed out versions of the original personalities, it strangely gave an uplift to the comedic effect.
In terms of the plot and storyline, it is definitely not one of the most original. Especially after the immense theatrical success of “You Are the Apple of My Eye (2011)”, high school dramas as such has been more than common. While the jokes are more relatable and closer at heart as compared to movies produced for Taiwanese and Chinese markets, it still did not stand out from the crowd too much, which is quite a pity.
Nonetheless, Adrian Teh has done well in this film from casting the right people to the right roles to building the chemistry in the team of actors. Despite being from different places – Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan – they certainly didn’t have any awkwardness in their interactions and the atmosphere they had was one that was fun and amiable.
The resolution of the movie was not a spectacular one – but it certainly warms the heart and gives a nice closure to the movie. Overall, the great selection of nostalgic tunes (including Mayday’s songs!) coupled with the humour, put together a movie that entertains fairly well.
Movie Rating:
(Limpeh kali kong: it’s a heartwarming movie of nostalgia and good taste)
Review by Tho Shu Ling
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Shots from the GOODBYE MR.LOSER Singapore Gala PremierePosted on 28 Mar 2017 |
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