SYNOPSIS: When Mae (Emma Watson) is hired to work for the world’s largest and most powerful tech & social media company, she sees it as an opportunity of a lifetime. As she rises through the ranks, she is encouraged by the company’s founder, Eamon Bailey (Tom Hanks), to engage in a groundbreaking experiment that pushes the boundaries of privacy, ethics and ultimately her personal freedom. Her participation in the experiment, and every decision she makes begin to affect the lives and future of her friends, family and that of humanity.

MOVIE REVIEW:

The Circle is one of those ‘show a lot but tell very little’ kind of tech thrillers to surface yet again in Hollywood. And this time round we have the prestigious, likeable Tom Hanks and the gorgeous Emma Watson in the leading roles.  

Emma ‘Beauty’ Watson plays Mae Holland who works as a customer service officer at The Circle, a tech company which is a cross between Apple and Google. Founded by Eamon Bailey (Hanks) and Tom Stenton (Patton Oswalt), The Circle is on the verge of pioneering a revolutionary software called SeeChange and Mae is selected as a spokesperson for it. When a mysterious co-worker, Ty Lafitte (John Boyega) reveals that there is something sinister lurking behind the company, Mae realized there are always undesirable consequences following transparency and accountability.

Let’s see, there’s mystery, there’s suspense, there’s intrigue and most of all, it features a solid cast for a movie written by Dave Eggers who based it on his own book. Ironically, none of the intended elements fall nicely into place. Take for example, the character of Ty Lafitte, a whistle-blower sort of character that is awkwardly forgotten for most of the screentime. Secondly, the character of Annie Allerton (Karen Gillian), a good friend of Mae who introduced her to the company is given no explanation why she has a sudden meltdown.

Crucial plot developments are sacrificed for unnecessary scenes featuring Mae kayaking and Bailey giving long speeches. We know Watson and Hanks might drew in the crowds but at least give each of them a more sustantial character to work with. Even the late Bill Paxton and Glenne Headly are roped in to play Mae’s parents, token roles that don’t really advance the already weak story structure.

The Circle has a captivating initial setup, raises a lot of interesting questions throughout the process but fails to answer any of them by the time the credits rolled. We hate to say this but The Circle is one hell of a boring movie that given a choice, we rather watch Emma Watson kayaking along the San Francisco Bay for two hours on a “live” video feed.  

SPECIAL FEATURES:

No More Secrets: Completing THE CIRCLE- A four-part making-of documentaries that delved into the production.

The Future Won't Wait: Design and Technologytakes audiences into the design aspect of the movie.

A True Original: Remembering Bill Paxton is a touching 13 minutes feature that is dedicated to the late Bill Paxton who passed away earlier in the year. 

AUDIO/VISUAL:

The Dolby Digital 5.1 provides clear dialogue and deliver excellent surround sound and ambience effects. Images on the whole are detailed and sharp for the DVD version.    

MOVIE RATING:

DVD RATING :

Review by Linus Tee

Genre: Horror/Comedy
Director: Poj Arnon
Cast: Bhuvadol Vejvongsa, Kittipat Samantrakulchai, Korakrit Laotrakul, Worachai Sirikongsuwan, Supakrit Thinjun, Pasakorn Sanrattana, Jutalak Chaweewannamas, Preampiti Umprasirt
Runtime: 1 hr 43 mins
Rating: NC-16 (Violence)
Released By: Encore Films and Cathay-Keris Films
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 17 August 2017

Synopsis: After his parents went missing from a visit to the hospital, Audy (Korakrit Laotrakul) and a group of friends decide to break into the now-quarantined area to find out what happened. They soon discover the horrific truth hidden behind those walls… The hospital is overrun with zombies! Trapped with these brutal beings, Audy rings his brother Lambo (Bhuvadol Vejvongsa) for help, but the conversation gets cut midway. Lambo, accompanied by their dim-witted brother Cooper (Kittipat Samantrakulchai) and friends Auto (Worachai Sirikongsuwan), Krasoon (Supakrit Thinjun) and Bas (Pasakorn Sanrattana), ventures into the hospital to save Audy. Only there did Lambo and gang realise the terrible fate that awaits them, as they encounter hordes of zombies, hungering for their flesh and blood. Fortunately, they are saved by a mysterious woman (Jutalak Chaweewannamas). They learn that a deadly virus outbreak in the hospital years ago turned everyone inside into zombies. The boys must now fight their way out in order to stay alive. Will they survive this impending zombie apocalypse?

Movie Review:

There’s a slew of disposable films coming out these days. They tend to be offsprings from a successful title or copycat formula, and usually ends up a poorer cousin of the original. Zombie Fighters is director Poj Arnon’s latest installment and to reference the earlier metaphor, this would be a one-ply - it’s physically there but functionally useless.

Moving from his trio of ghostly movies (Make Me Shudder, Shudder Me Mae Nak, Make Me Shudder 3), Arnon has decided to switch out spooks for ghouls, and tackle zombies instead. His assembly of teenage pretty boys to battle a horde of undead in a deserted hospital unfortunately ends up trapping the audience instead, in a loop of misfired slapstick antics and a gaping black hole of logic.

A quick scene shows us that soldiers have quarantined a hospital, with the intention to kill all the citizens within, when they get overtaken by zombies. Cut to one year later, a group of boys have taken it upon themselves to venture into the dilapidated building. Why? This was never really made clear until much later, which makes all the screaming and running around really senseless.

When the lead Lamdo (Bhuvadol Vejvongsa) gets a call from his brother Audy (Korakrit Laotrakul) in that group asking for help, he heads down with his entourage, including his mentally-challenged third brother Cooper (Kittipat Samantrakulchai). They join up and eventually locate their dead parents - the reason for this exploring - and try to get out of the hospital.

Zombie Fighteris really bad at keeping things alive. For one thing, the storyline suffers from schizophrenia, as it gets pulled in all directions from the ensemble cast. Should it follow the goofy leader in his rescue? Or maybe we should see how one friend Auto (Worachai Sirikongsuwan) betrays his friends to save his own life? And what about the half-zombie lady Gel (Jutalak Chaweewannamas) who tries to save them from the rampaging horde?

With over 15 characters vying for screen time, the flick quickly becomes incoherent. Worse still, there’s no attempt at logic of any sort.

Cooper for one, will amble around with zombies, teasing them with an intestine thrown at his brother, and yet is pretty much screaming and running away the rest of the time. When one of the friend gets infected early on, he threatons to chomp on one of his friend, but is pulled along when the group is saved, joining them in their escape, only to suddenly try attacking them again when they are safe in a room. It’s pretty obvious Arnon is just trying to keep the screams coming. But it just gets extremely old, extremely quick.

You’ll get scene after scene of the boys running away from zombies, trapping them with gurneys, then running away again. The zombies will in the meantime try their obvious best not to bite any of the actors, just so they can carry on their antics.

Halfway through, having given up on motivation or logic (two separate big groups can enter the hospitable but can’t find their way out), I try to enjoy the film for its cheesy humour but it never lands a laugh.

Right up to the end, when the boys claw against an exit with bright light streaming in when it’s night outside, when a getaway car is clearly shown on the highway but later has two zombies dropping on the roof, and when a video character appears in real life with his team Avengers-style, I was unable to figure out the purpose of this film.

Movie Rating:

(Erratic storyline and unabashed non-logic buries this horror comedy which is neither scary nor funny)

Review by Morgan Awyong

Genre: Thriller
Director: Cho Sun-Ho
Cast: Kim Myung-Min, Byun Yo-Han, Yoo Jae-Myung
Runtime: 1 hr 30 mins
Rating: PG13 (Some Coarse Language)
Released By:  Golden Village Pictures
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 10 August 2017

Synopsis: Returning from a long trip abroad, Jun-young, a skilled doctor, comes across a scene of a car accident on the way to meet his daughter. It turns out that the dead girl hit by a taxi is none other than his beloved daughter, Eun-jung. Then suddenly, everything repeats like déjà vu, Eun-jung getting hit by the taxi and Min-chul, the paramedic, checking on the other victims in the taxi, including his own wife. Lost in repetition, Jun-young notices that he is not the only one trying to save a loved on in the endless time loop. Jun-young and Min-chul decide to work together to redesign the gruesome future.

Movie Review:

‘A Day’ spins a ‘Groundhog Day’ mystery around world-renowned doctor Jun-young (Kim Myung-min), who en route to meet his beloved teenage daughter Eun-jung (Jo Eun-Hyung), comes across the scene of a car accident and discovers to his horror that the pedestrian who has died on the spot is none other than Eun-jung herself. Then, all of a sudden, Jun-young finds himself back on the plane as it prepares to land in Seoul, with the events of that very day repeating like clockwork – an air stewardess who asks for his autograph on the cover of Newsweek; a boy who chokes on his sweet at the arrival terminal; the counter lady at the toll gate who accidentally drops his change while handing some coins back to him; and last but not least, the accident itself where an orange-coloured taxi has crashed into a pile of concrete slabs by the side of the road after hitting Eun-jung. Neither Jun-young nor the film, for that matter, is concerned about the number of times history repeats itself; rather, what matters more to Jun-young is how he can save his daughter and escape from the time loop.

The answer to both lies intertwined with ambulance driver Min-chul (Byun Yo-Han), who happens to be the first paramedic to arrive at the scene. It is Min-chul who first notices that he is not alone in experiencing the time loop; and like Jun-young, the stakes are personal – his wife Mi-kyung (Shin Hye-Sun) is in the back of the cab involved in the accident. Soon enough, Jun-young and Min-chul decide to work together to avert that fateful moment where they lose both their loved ones; whereas Jun-young tries desperately to stop her daughter from crossing the road at the stroke of noon, Min-chul attempts to call his wife whom he just had a quarrel with the night before to stop her from getting into the cab. Over the course of repetition after repetition, we also get to learn more about their respective backstories. As it turns out, Jun-young has been spending the past three years doing volunteer work overseas, inadvertently neglecting Eun-young and therefore straining relations between them. On the other hand, Min-chul has resisted his wife’s desire for them to have a child, insisting that they do not have enough money or resources to do so, which was the subject of their argument and why she refuses to pick up his calls that very morning.  

Although it may seem as if the time loop were for Jun-young and Min-chul to make up with their loved ones, there is much more that director Jo Sun-ho and his co-writer Lee Sang-hak have up their sleeves. Not to worry, we’re not about to reveal any spoilers here; suffices to say that Jun-young and Min-chul’s sins go much further back and are much more severe than that which we have described, and unravelling the tragedy of their present circumstances has something to do with how they atone for the sins of their past. Having not one but two protagonists here allows the film to have each assume the polarities of forgiveness and revenge, and present a compelling lesson on breaking the literal and figurative cycle of suffering, grief and misery at the heart of the film. It also allows for Kim and Byun to evolve into their respective contrasts, and both actors keep their performances sincere and authentic so you’ll feel their desperation, helplessness and eventual resolve.

Unfolding over a relatively brief 90 minutes, Jo maintains a brisk pacing and a tense atmosphere throughout the film, keeping his characters and us on tenterhooks as we figure out why and how they are trapped in the time-travel puzzle. Similarities to Tom Cruise’s recent sci-fi actioner ‘Edge of Tomorrow’ are inevitable, but despite the familiar premise, ‘A Day’ is still a taut thriller that packs a satisfying mystery at its core. Indeed, what makes it even more unique is how it uses the time-loop concept to examine the Buddhist concept of karma and the cycle of rebirth, which at least in our knowledge, has never yet been explored in this manner. And so, even though it may not boast big-name stars as many of the other Korean movies in our cinemas, ‘A Day’ is probably one of the better ones we’ve seen this year, its message of compassion and penance one which will stay with you long after the credits roll. 

Movie Rating:

(The premise may be familiar, but this exploration of karma and the cycle of rebirth using the time-loop concept is intriguing, exciting and heartfelt)

Review by Gabriel Chong

Genre: Comedy
Director: Malcolm Lee
Cast: Regina Hall, Jada Pinkett Smith, Queen Latifah, Larenz Tate
Runtime: 2 hrs 2 mins
Rating: M18 (Sexual Humour and Nudity)
Released By: UIP
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 10 August 2017

Synopsis: Four lifelong friends who travel to New Orleans for the annual Essence Festival and rediscover their sisterhoods and wild sides – enough dancing, drinking, brawling and romancing to make the Big Easy blush.

Movie Review:

Although the male gender kickstarted the most recent wave of R-rated comedies with 2009’s ‘The Hangover’, recent successes and failures at that genre like ‘Bridesmaids’, ‘Bad Moms’ and the upcoming ‘Rough Night’ have shown that the opposite sex can party harder, and perhaps even better. The latest grown-up girls-gone-wild comedy ‘Girls Trip’ from director Malcolm D. Lee reinforces that with just about some of the funniest gags we’ve seen in some time. There is a sexual manoeuvre called the ‘grapefruit technique’ that we guarantee is as memorable as it gets. There is an entire absinthe-fuelled hallucinogenic episode in a nightclub that has one of the characters mounting a lamp she mistakes for a man and another licking a wall she believes is a buff, naked male. And last but not least, there is a shocking gag where two of the characters urinate all over a street crowd below while suspended midair on a zip line. Oh yes, there is outrageous physical humour all right, deliberately orchestrated with maximum raunchiness to prove that girls can do what guys typically do and even make them blush at the same time.

But this ‘Girls Trip’ isn’t just about being dirty; it also packs a sentimental message about friendship amidst its titular reunion of sorts for four college friends who call themselves the ‘Flossy Posse’ that have since grown apart. The leader of the quartet is bestselling self-help author Ryan Pierce (Regina Hall), riding high on the success of her latest bestseller ‘You Can Have It All’ and on the cusp of landing a Martha Stewart-like deal with a fictional retail chain with her football-star husband and business partner Stuart (Mike Colter). You know from the start that she’s clearly set up for a fall, and that her reality is really less than perfect – true enough, she discovers just as they land in New Orleans for the upcoming Essence festival that Stewart is cheating on her with ‘some Instagram ho’, and that paparazzi have incriminating pictures of his indiscretion. As her life unravels, her friendship with the Posse will be affirmed, tested, and finally reaffirmed – there is single mom Lisa (Jada Pinkett Smith), the most clear-headed one amongst them; party girl Dina (Tiffany Hadish), the most hot-headed of them all; and gossip blogger Sasha (Queen Latifah), sitting on top of Ryan’s secret that will be a major scoop for her struggling website if she decides to publish it.

Lee and his screenwriters anchor the character work on Ryan’s coming-to-terms with her less-than-picture-perfect couple life, as well as the simmering awkwardness between Ryan and Sasha that becomes a full-blown girl-on-girl argument before the weekend is over (turns out that the two had been business partners before Ryan decided to go solo, and it doesn’t help that Sasha has been struggling since to make ends meet while Ryan has since become her own self-made success). Notwithstanding, there is deft economy in the way the other personalities are sketched: the foul-mouthed and aggressively sexual Dina is the live wire of the group no matter what shenanigans they find themselves in, including we may add a girls-against-girls dance-off brawl; and the tightly-wound Lisa is looking to break a two-year sexual dry spell with a well-endowed college kid played by Kofi Siriboe. Even as their circumstances grow increasingly chaotic, each one of the principals never break character, which is in itself testament to the sharp writing and directing here.

At slightly over two hours, the pacing does sag between set-pieces – not to mention a by-the-numbers introduction that takes some time to warm up – but the chemistry and harmony between the leads keep up the interest and/or laughs from start to finish. In particular, Haddish shines in a ferociously committed performance that holds nothing back, diving into bouts of physical comedy and woefully inappropriate one-liners with verve and zest. It is no overstatement that she is to the movie what Melissa McCarthy was to ‘Bridesmaids’, and the other actresses graciously complement her fearless comic routine. So even though the setup is formulaic and the characters familiar, ‘Girls Trip’ stands out as an insanely funny, delightful and sweet R-rated comedy. Insofar as its purpose was to shock and amuse, this trip succeeds exceedingly on both counts, and whether with your girlfriends or with your boyfriends, it is a fun, wild ride all the same. 

Movie Rating:

(This wild, raunchy and heartfelt girls-gone-wild comedy is as delightful as 'The Hangover' ever was - and we guarantee you'll never think of a grapefruit in the same way ever again)

Review by Gabriel Chong

TRAILER WATCH - JENNIFER LAWRENCE\'S MOTHER! Posted on 08 Aug 2017 From 'Black Swan' director Darren Aronofsky comes the psychological horror 'MOTHER!'. Jennifer Lawrence and Javier Bardem play a married couple whoserelationship is tested when eerie uninvited guests arrive at their home and disrupt their tranquil existence. “What do they want?” questions a paranoid Lawrence. “They’ve come here to see me,” says ... more

WOLF WARRIOR 2 IS NOW THE HIGHEST GROSSING FILM IN CHINA EVER Posted on 08 Aug 2017 After just 12 days in release, 'Wolf Warrior 2' has become the highest-grossing film ever at the Chinese box office. Directed by and starring Wu Jing, it gunned through RMB 3.4B Monday night, besting the previous RMB 3.39B record set by Stephen Chow’s The Mermaid in 2016. Per today's rates however,The Mermaidwould have racked up US$527M versus WW2's US$507M, but it is ... more

Genre: Action/Horror/Fantasy
Director: Kentaro Hagiwara
Cast: Masataka Kubota, Fumika Shimizu, Yu Aoi, Nobuyuki Suzuki, Yo Oizumi
Runtime: 2 hrs
Rating: NC-16 (Violence)
Released By: Encore Films & Golden Village Pictures
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 24 August 2017

Synopsis: In Tokyo, man-eating monsters called “ghouls” run rampant. The city is shaken with fear, as these mysterious creatures disguise themselves among people. Ordinary university student Kaneki (Masataka Kubota) meets a girl Rize (Yu Aoi) one day at café Antique that he frequents, unaware that the encounter will drastically alter the course of his destiny. He finds out later that the same café harbours secrets darker than he could ever imagine… Between the conflicting worlds of man and ghoul, Kaneki will soon get entangled in a web of events that will determine on which side he will stand. What does the future hold for him, who struggles with his own humanity and his curiosity regarding the existence of these creatures that take the lives of humans to ensure their own survival?

Movie Review:

In recent years, there has been a focus in bringing popular manga titles onto the silver screens in Japan. This year, one of the most anticipated titles is adapted from a popular dark fantasy manga series, Tokyo Ghoul. Similar to titles like Parasyte and Attack on Titan, it is centered around dystopian themes and has strong cult following. Naturally, critiques are waiting on to pass their judgment on whether it has done justice to the original manga series.

Whilst there has been a mix of reviews on Tokyo Ghoul, it seems that it has won over most of the fans. The narrative of the movie is not drastically different from the original manga, and has succeeded in preserving the integrity of the manga. In particular, it has also realistically illustrated how Tokyo would be like if ghouls and humans were to live together.

As this movie was mainly about the tension between ghouls (the man-eating creatures) and humans, the action sequences are one of the movie’s key charm points. The showdown between the CCG (Commission of Counter Ghoul; a federal agency tasked into dealing with crimes related to ghouls) and the ghouls was visually arresting to say the least. As part of the fantasy, the ghouls use ‘Kagune’ (a bright red predatory organ which function as a weapon and/or claw) in their fights. Each of the ghoul possess a different kind of Kagune, and the computer-generated effects did work rather seamlessly with the film.

Without a doubt, what’s most outstanding in the entire film would be Masataka Kubota’s performance. He anchors the role of the lead character, Kaneki. After a near death experience, Kaneki became half ghoul and experienced lots of conflicted moments in swinging back and forth his identities. Masataka brought the character to so much life and moved the audience with his performance. He nailed not only at the action scenes, but also in bringing out the complexities in the emotions that Kaneki experienced. A late bloomer if you will, Masataka came into spotlight only in 2015, when he received a breakthrough award for his lead roles played in Death Note and N no Tame Ni (both are Japanese television dramas).

Despite not having the luxury of a big budget, Tokyo Ghoul was a rather satisfying watch with commendable cinematography. Although the story and pacing could have been paced a little faster, the context of the dystopian reality was nicely set and was still engaging overall.

P.S. Fun fact! The official theme song of the movie is performed by illion, the solo project of the talented lead singer of RADWIMPS, Yojiro Noda. He wrote the entire soundtrack of the smash hit movie, Your Name (2016).

https://youtu.be/cBCgmkTeZmQ

Movie Rating:

(Contrary to first impressions, Tokyo Ghoul is not as gory and intimidating. A must-watch for a Japanese pop fan)

Review by Tho Shu Ling

Genre: Comedy
Director: Steven Soderbergh 　
Cast: Daniel Craig, Adam Driver, Channing Tatum, Sebastian Stan, Hillary Swank, Katie Holmes, Katherine Waterston
Runtime: 1 hr 59 mins
Rating: PG13
Released By: Shaw 
Official Website:

Opening Day: 7 September 2017

Synopsis: In this turbocharged heist comedy from Academy Award(r)-winning director Steven Soderbergh, West Virginia family man Jimmy Logan (Channing Tatum) leads his one-armed brother Clyde (Adam Driver) and hairdresser sister Mellie (Riley Keough) in an elaborate scheme to rob North Carolina's Charlotte Motor Speedway. To help them break into the track's underground cash-handling system, Jimmy recruits volatile demolition expert Joe Bang (Daniel Craig). Further complicating the already risky plan, a scheduling mix-up forces the thieves to execute the job during the Coca-Cola 600, the track's most popular NASCAR event of the year. As they attempt to pull off the ambitious robbery, the down-on-their-luck Logans face a final hurdle when a relentless FBI agent (Hilary Swank) begins investigating the case. Also starring Seth MacFarlane, Katie Holmes, Katherine Waterson, Dwight Yoakam, Sebastian Stan, Brian Gleeson and Jack Quaid.

Movie Review:

There are many things happening in Steven Soderbergh’s latest film. Yet, they seem to come nicely together under Soderbergh’s masterful direction to form a piece of coherent work.

There’s Channing Tatum’s (The Hateful Eight) Jimmy Logan, a hardworking labourer who just got sacked from his job. A loving father whose daughter is about to enter a beauty pageant, he formulates a plan to steal money from the company that fired him. Then there’s Adam Driver’s (Silence) Clyde, a bartender with a prosthetic hand. He happens to be Jimmy’s brother, and the two agree to collaborate on the heist. Riley Keough’s (Mad Max: Fury Road) Mellie is the third member of the gang, and the fiery woman is the two men’s sister.

Next, we have Daniel Craig’s (Spectre) Joe Bang, a safecracker who is behind bars. The crude man has two brothers Sam and Fish (played hilariously by Brian Gleeson and Jack Quaid), who aren’t the smartest human beings you’d meet. And there you have it, three more members are added to the motley crew.

Elsewhere, there is Katherine Waterson’s (Alien: Covenant) Sylvia Harrison who runs a mobile clinic surviving on donations, Katie Holmes’ (The Giver) Bobbie Jo Chapman who is Jimmy’s ex wife, Seth MacFarlane’s (Sing) Max Chiblain who is an obnoxious businessman, Sebastian Stan’s (The Martian) Dayton White who is a pretentious racer using the media for a comeback, and Hilary Swank’s (New Year’s Eve) Sarah Grayson who is a FBI agent hell bent on catching the thieves.

Confused by the number of characters and their personalities already? Just go along for the ride and experience Rebecca Blunt’s story unfold in two hours. Nicely paced and smartly developed, the comedy doesn’t take its viewers for granted. You will be expected to follow Soderbergh’s nimble tempo of putting different threads together. The 54 year old filmmaker will not spoon feed you with the obvious – and that is why you will feel a sense of satisfaction when you realise how the story is being pieced.

Without giving away too much, here are some other components of the film that will leave you impressed with the filmmakers’ storytelling skills. There is a “cauliflower” code word, a fleet of coloured cockroaches, a My Little Pony plaster, gummy bear candies, dietary salt substitutes, an energy drink sponsorship deal and a heartfelt rendition of the song “Take Me Home, Country Roads”.

Did we also mention that the 119 minute movie features cameo appearances by NASCAR drivers and broadcast commentators?

Back in 2013, Soderbergh had announced in several interviews that he plans to retire from making feature films. After promoting 2013’s Side Effects, he announced his departure and stated that “movies don’t matter anymore.” The man who delivered those fun moments in Ocean’s Eleven (2001), Ocean’s Twelve (2004) and Ocean’s Thirteen (2007) was taking a break.

Whatever made Soderbergh return to making films, we are glad that there is this freshness at the cinemas because the number of superhero movies, novel adaptations and convenient sequels are beginning to feel tiresome.    

Movie Rating:

(This heist comedy would have been a mess if it was left in the hands of a less capable director – welcome back to filmmaking, Steven Soderbergh!)

Review by John Li

Genre: Comedy
Director: Lucia Aniello　
Cast: Scarlett Johansson, Kate McKinnon, Jillian Bell, Ilana Glazer, and Zoë Kravitz, Ty Burrell, Demi Moore, Ryan Cooper, Paul W. Downs
Runtime: 1 hr 42 mins
Rating: R21 (Mature Content)
Released By: Sony Pictures Releasing International 
Official Website: https://www.facebook.com/RoughNightMovie

Opening Day: 24 August 2017

Synopsis: In Rough Night, five best friends from college reunite 10 years later for a wild bachelorette weekend in Miami. Their hard partying takes a hilariously dark turn when they accidentally kill a male stripper. Amidst the craziness of trying to cover it up, they're ultimately brought closer together when it matters most.

Movie Review:

On paper, it may have sounded like a good idea to cross ‘Bridesmaids’ with ‘The Hangover’ and add a smattering of indie comedy a la ‘Weekend at Bernie’s’ and ‘Very Bad Things’. Yet ‘Rough Night’ is a lot less funny than it wants or promises to be. Sure, you get plenty of raunchy sight gags, filthy dialogue and drunken debauchery, but ‘Broad City’ alums Lucia Aniello and Paul W. Downs struggle to wring humour out of its rather twisted premise – that is, of five longtime college friends reuniting for a Miami bachelorette party weekend committing unwitting manslaughter on the male stripper they hired for the occasion, and then scrambling to find ways of disposing his corpse.

Leading the quintet is Scarlett Johansson’s aspiring state-senator candidate Jess, who is about to get married to her sweet fiancé Peter (Downs). Jess is joined for the weekend by her brassy, possessive best friend Alice (Jillian Bell), who has planned the weekend down to penis-nose eyeglasses and penis-shaped pasta; lesbian social activist Frankie (Ilana Glazer); her one-time lover Blair (Zoe Kravitz), now a chic business executive in the middle of a custody battle; and last but not least Jess’ Australian-exchange student chum Pippa (Kate McKinnon), whose presence immediately rouses Alice’s jealousy. For the first half-hour, the fivesome seem out to prove that they can behave just as badly, if not more so, than the opposite sex, whether is it out-drinking them or out-snorting them in one bar or club after another around Miami Beach. Other than being utterly irresponsible though, there is nothing as outrageous as say Jada Pinkett Smith peeing onto a street crowd below while suspended midair on zipline, so those who have seen this summer’s far superior ‘Girls Trip’ may be underwhelmed by the shenanigans on display here. 

The night really begins after they return to the plush beach house they have rented for the weekend and the requisite male stripper (Ryan Cooper) turns up but lands up dead. It’s not a murder to be sure; rather, in her excitement, Alice jumps on his lap, causing him to fall backwards and hit his head fatally on the fireplace. As you’d probably expect, some collective mayhem ensues, including a debate over whether they are guilty of involuntary manslaughter, followed by a subsequent game of hide-the-body. If you’ve seen the trailers, you would have seen that the girls will at some point place the dead stripper atop a sex swing and stick on a pair of joke glasses with a penis nose on him. Besides that, the only other amusing gag has Blair engaging in a bit of seduction with a pair of randy swingers next door played by Ty Burrell and Demi Moore. Oh yes, despite the sheer energy of Bell and McKinnon, the comedy goes limp very quickly, and not even a couple of late third-act twists can redeem an otherwise monotonous trudge towards the obligatory happily-ever-after.

At the risk of being called sexist, the girls’ high-pitched antics get increasingly wearisome as the night progresses, whereas Peter’s all-night-long drive to Miami to salvage his impending nuptials turns out more interesting – especially an episode at a gas station that sees him exploit his masculinity to procure gas money from two closeted male motorists. That the part of the sweet, romantic lover goes to Peter is no coincidence, but rather an intentional gender reversal which simultaneously allows the girls to get the typically male-driven sexual jokes; and whether deliberate or not, it also means that our sympathies often lie with Peter than with any of the loud, brash and sometimes even plainly dumb girls.

That’s not the fault of any of the actresses though, who do give their thinly written roles their best. Bell and McKinnon are the live-wires here – the former digs deep into her character’s neuroses, and delivers lines like ‘I can’t just go to jail! I couldn’t even make it through the first episode of ‘Orange Is the New Black’ with comic aplomb; and the latter has a blast putting up a fake Aussie accent and rubbing up against Bell’s character’s deeper insecurities. Next to them, Glazer and Kravitz make a cute couple, the one with spunk making occasional but not quite so casual passes at the playfully alluring other. Last but not least, Johannsson makes the best out of an essentially ‘straight-man’ role, but is unfortunately overshadowed by her more unhinged co-stars/ characters; it also doesn’t help that her character Jess often comes across as the one where things happen around her than to her or because of her.

So like we said at the start, it may have seemed like ingenuity to do a ‘Bridesmaids’ rehash ‘Hangover-style’, but the result is a lot less inspired than it may have intended to be. By this point, simply watching girls behaving as badly or as wildly as guys just isn’t as fresh or refreshing as it used to be when ‘Bridesmaids’ first came out, and it shows in the way that Aiello strains to push the laughs in farcical, situational and over-the-top ways. Unlike its inevitable companion comparison ‘Girls Trip’ too, the obligatory conflict between and among the girls isn’t as fleshed out as it needs to be, such that the eventual re-affirmation of their friendship isn’t as sweet or heartwarming too. As a late-summer filler though, there are still some broad laughs to be had, so if you’re willing to go along for a bumpy ride as the title hints, then you might just find yourself enjoying this diverting but ultimately forgettable bachelorette-party-from-hell thriller comedy. 

Movie Rating:

(Not quite as fresh or refreshing as its 'Hangover' done 'Bridesmaids'-style premise may suggest, 'Rough Night' offers some laughs for a late-summer filler but nothing more)

Review by Gabriel Chong

SYNOPSIS: In this epic crime caper based on real-life events, an out-of-luck gold prospector and a willing geologist pull off a brazen scam. Falsely claiming to have located a major gold deposit in Indonesia, the duo proceeds to hoodwink the experts.

MOVIE REVIEW:

“Alright, alright, alright”. The post-Oscar career of Matthew McConaughey has been pretty interesting. Aside from his recent miscalculated appearance in The Dark Tower, the Texan has dabbled in animation, portraying a civil war soldier and a time-travelling astronaut to a scene-stealing cameo in The Wolf of Wall Street. And it’s probably the latter that got McConaughey into a movie liked Gold.

McConaughey plays Kenny Wells who works in his father’s (Craig T. Nelson in a brief scene) prospecting company. But with the death of his father, Kenny finds it hard to keep the company going and is resort to running his business at his girlfriend’s (Bryce Dallas Howard) workplace, a shady bar. Determined to make his late father proud, Kenny flys to Indonesia to meet up with a geologist, Michael (Edgar Ramirez) to go deep into the jungle of Indonesia to find gold. Shortly after suffering a bout of terrible malaria, the two partners manage to uncover a gold mine. Money it seems is no longer a worry for the two men as one by one, Wall Street and the rich and famous comes knocking. Is it a fairy tale that finally comes true or is that nothing but pure greed behind all the commotion? 

In the style of The Wolf of Wall Street and The Big Short, Gold (mostly) delivers an affecting tale of smart men being blinded by greed and promises of endless riches. Kenny Wells may not even be a man that is after all the gold but a man so bent on carrying on his father and grandfather’s legacy that his continual optimism is the ultimate cause of his downfall.

Apart from the obvious lack of flashy treatment of the material which is based on a true fraud case in Canada, Stephen Gaghan who hasn’t made a theatrical movie since Syriana actually made a feature that is more watchable than the usual crop of stuff in cinemas. There’s no sex, no drugs, no frontal nudity except watching Kenny Wells chain-smoking and talking for most of the running time. Neverthless, Gold is entertaining on many aspects including a surprise twist in the end.

Of course, the biggest compliment goes to Matthew McConaughey who channeled Christian Bale in American Hustle with a combover and potbelly, a far cry from his romcom days. He has managed to successfully transform himself in Dallas Buyers Club and in Gold, he has proved The McConaissance is not going to be over anytime soon. Give this underrated title a chance and see for yourself if McConaughey isn’t the heart and soul of it.  

SPECIAL FEATURES:

Director Stephen Gaghan provides a solid Audio Commentary which touches on the technical aspects, story, cast performances and much more. The 4 minutes feature, The Origins of Gold reveals how the project took off. Another 4 minutes feature, The Locations of Gold talks about how Thailand stood in for Indonesia. Matthew McConaughey as Kenny Wells focuses on the actor’s performance. There’s also a 5 minutes Deleted Sequence.

AUDIO/VISUAL:

With the exception of those scenes that took place in foresty Indonesia (lush ambient sound effects), the rest of the audio track is mere rich, clear dialogue. Colours are strong and fine imaging are seen throughout for a movie that is shot on film. A rarity these days. 

MOVIE RATING:

DVD RATING :

Review by Linus Tee