Genre: Action/Thriller
Director: Christopher McQuarrie
Cast: Tom Cruise, Henry Cavill, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Ving Rhames, Sean Harris, Angela Bassett, Vanessa Kirby, Michelle Monaghan, Alec Baldwin, Wes Bentley, Frederick Schmidt
RunTime: 2 hr 27 mins
Rating: PG13 (Violence and Brief Coarse Language)
Released By: UIP
Official Website: https://www.facebook.com/MissionImpossibleMovie

Opening Day: 26 July 2018

Synopsis: The best intentions often come back to haunt you. MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - FALLOUT finds Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his IMF team (Alec Baldwin, Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames) along with some familiar allies (Rebecca Ferguson, Michelle Monaghan) in a race against time after a mission gone wrong.

Movie Review:

Wow, just wow. We can’t begin to describe just how blown away we were by ‘Mission Impossible: Fallout’, the sixth instalment of the espionage-action franchise synonymous with Hollywood’s bona fide action star Tom Cruise. The signature elements of any ‘MI’ film are all here – including a twisty narrative that keeps you guessing and Cruise’s death-defying set-pieces – but what truly elevates this latest iteration above all the rest is both how beautifully it is executed by writer-director Christopher McQuarrie and how it finds unexpected poignancy in Hunt’s empathy as well as emotional sacrifices. Oh yes, this one is not just deliriously fun and thrilling, it’s also surprisingly moving, and counts as probably the very best ‘MI’ ever.

A direct sequel – and the first for the ‘MI’ films – to 2015’s ‘Ghost Nation’, ‘Fallout’ finds Cruise’s tireless IMF secret agent Ethan Hunt staring down a new threat by his previous nemesis, namely the half-mad anarchist Solomon Lane (Sean Harris). In fact, it begins with Lane literally haunting Hunt in his dreams, appearing as the priest at Hunt’s wedding to his long-suffering wife Julia (Michelle Monaghan) in a flashback-cum-dream vision. As set out in a lengthy exposition in the scene that follows, two years have passed since Lane’s capture, but the members of his freelance terrorist network have since regrouped as The Apostles, and are attempting through a certain member known as John Lark to procure three plutonium orbs which can be weaponised into atomic bombs.

Hunt’s mission, should he choose to accept it… No seriously, as much as we’ve taken that choice for granted, McQuarrie reminds us just why it is almost Hunt’s second nature to risk life and limb to save the world, but why at the same time when forced to choose between saving the plutonium and his old pal Luther (Ving Rhames), Hunt would in that moment decide to save one man at the risk of endangering millions of others. It is also the consequences of that which Hunt races against time – with the help of course of his trusty sidekicks Luther and Benji (Simon Pegg) – to prevent, the very prospect of nuclear catastrophe at stake if he fails. Straightforward as it may sound, McQuarrie throws in a whole bunch of characters with questionable agendas and allegiances to make the mission a whole lot more complicated.

Besides Lane, former MI6 operative Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson) also returns, although she may or may not have since switched sides. So does Hunt’s IMF chief Alan Hunley (Alec Baldwin), who plays a pivotal role midway into the film as Hunt’s own loyalty is cast into question. The new additions here are moustached CIA brute August Walker (Henry Cavill), assigned by the CIA director Erika Sloane (Angela Bassett) to ensure Hunt makes the right choices the next time he’s put in a tight spot; and the shadowy femme fatale White Widow (Vanessa Kirby), the broker acting as the go-between Lark and the ones holding on to the plutonium. Lark though is no more than a John Doe: one moment he’s a skilled fighter in the form of Liang Yang, one moment he could be Hunt’s alias, and another he could be Walker’s.

It’s probably obvious that the dynamics between Hunt and Walker is key, and indeed McQuarrie plays on their inevitably tense relationship for some great character moments. There is the much-touted HALO (High Altitude Low Opening) jump where Hunt saves Walker from plunging to certain death by giving him his oxygen tank in midair; there is the hand-to-hand brawl in a toilet stall within a nightclub where Hunt and Walker tag-team to subdue Liang Yang; and last but not least, there is Hunt in a helicopter giving chase to Walker over the mountains and valleys of Kashmir. Just as crucial is the relationship between Hunt and Lane, the latter of whom seeks now not only to destroy the world but also to get back at Hunt after being out-played by him – and it is Lane who will make the stakes personal for Hunt by putting the lives of not one, but two of the most important women in his life on the line.

It is most certainly deliberate that we’ve chosen not to talk about Cruise’s insane stunts right at the start, not just because of what’s already been said about the most spectacular of them, but also because they would not mean much without any context of why they are in the movie in the first place. Credit for that belongs to McQuarrie, who doesn’t simply build a flimsy story around the big-deal fights and chases but weaves them seamlessly within the plotting, such that the narrative progresses within and with the action itself. Cruise racing through the picturesque streets of Paris on a BMW R nine T motorcycle, including against the traffic circle of the Arc de Triomphe, is part of a larger, more elaborate, string of double-crosses and triple-crosses. Ditto an extended foot chase along the rooftops around the Tate Modern and ending on its stark 300-foot chimney, which follows after a franchise-altering death that we won’t spoil for you here.

Oh yes, each one of the stunts here – the HALO jump, the Paris motorcycle cum car chase, the London foot chase, and the mid-air helicopter duel – are memorable not only because Cruise gives his 200% to them, but also because McQuarrie makes them matter as part of the story. Still, if there was ever any doubt, we are awe-struck by the commitment that Cruise brings to these astonishments, defying age, logic and gravity whether being T-boned by a car in Paris traffic or wrestling onto the undercarriage of a helicopter in mid-air. Thankfully, McQuarrie respects Cruise’s insane physicality in the best way possible, shooting in long shots with minimal cuts and often keeping him in and out of close-ups so that we’d be able to see without any doubt that it is Cruise in every one of these scenes.

Especially in this era of too-many-superhero-movies, ‘Fallout’ stands out as a singular example of true-to-life action done absolutely right. Every shot is done with the utmost respect for realism, and with Cruise at the front and centre of every jump, chase or fight, there is sheer edge-of-your-seat exhilaration no Marvel or DC movie can even begin to imitate. Certainly, Cruise deserves utmost credit for invigorating and reinvigorating the MI films time and time again, but equally this time round, McQuarrie should also be lauded for taking the franchise to new heights of excitement and new depths of emotion. There is class, intelligence, expanse and thrill in McQuarrie’s second ‘MI’ assignment – the only director to have that honour, mind you – and ‘Fallout’ quite simply ranks as one of the best, if not the very best, of the series.  

Movie Rating:

(Combining the signature elements of a twisty narrative and death-defying stunts with an emphasis on moral choices and consequences, this deliriously thrilling and surprisingly poignant entry is easily the very best MI film ever)

Review by Gabriel Chong

Genre: Action/Thriller
Director: Rawson Marshall Thurber
Cast: Dwayne Johnson, Neve Campbell, Pablo Schreiber, Byron Mann, Hannah Quinlivan, Noah Taylor, Roland Møller, Chin Han
RunTime: 1 hr 42 mins
Rating: PG13 (Some Violence and Coarse Language)
Released By: UIP
Official Website: https://www.skyscrapermovie.com

Opening Day: 12 July 2018

Synopsis: Global icon Dwayne Johnson leads the cast of Legendary’s Skyscraper as former FBI Hostage Rescue Team leader and U.S. war veteran Will Ford, who now assesses security for skyscrapers. On assignment in China he finds the tallest, safest building in the world suddenly ablaze, and he’s been framed for it. A wanted man on the run, Will must find those responsible, clear his name and somehow rescue his family who is trapped inside the building...above the fire line.

Movie Review:

Dwayne Johnson is easily the most hardworking actor in Hollywood right now, but let’s face it, he’s pulled his weight – literally and figuratively, mind you – to make what would just otherwise be dumb B-movies a whole lot more enjoyable. In ‘Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle’, his chemistry with Kevin Hart and Jack Black lent the CGI-ed adventure humour and heart; in ‘Rampage’, his buddy pairing with the nine-foot tall albino gorilla named George saved the day and the movie from its own CGI-ed tedium; and in ‘Skyscraper’, his third movie in just seven months, Johnson makes the plainly ludicrous almost believable. Oh yes, there is hardly a semblance of logic or credibility to the stunts in this unabashed cross between ‘Die Hard’ and ‘The Towering Inferno’, but hey as a mindless action movie, you can hardly argue that it does deliver some heart-stopping vertiginous thrills.

As written and directed by his ‘Central Intelligence’ helmer Rawson Marshall Thurber, ‘Skyscraper’ places Johnson’s former FBI hostage team rescue leader-turned-security consultant Will Sawyer in a race-against-time to rescue his wife and two kids from a raging inferno within the world’s tallest building. Thurber can hardly be bothered about why the building is on fire, hence the throwaway premise of some Euro-accented thugs wanting to retrieve a thumb drive from the building’s billionaire owner Zhao Long Ji (Chin Han); instead, he’s a lot more enamoured with the titular structure which Will will have to scale. A fictional 3,500-foot 200-storey edifice, the high-rise named The Pearl boasts a king-size indoor garden complete with a waterfall as well as a giant sphere atop its frame.

Any self-deserving action movie junkie will know right from the start that these two distinct features will be the basis of the film’s major set-pieces – the garden boasts one of its most nail-biting moments where Will fashions a makeshift bridge out of a piece of wood for his wife and son to cross above an entire field of vegetation engulfed in flames; and the sphere is the scene for a virtual reality hall-of-mirrors climax that to Thurber’s credit is actually quite imaginatively designed and executed. Nevertheless, the piece de resistance is arguably Will’s attempt to jump from the arm of wobbly tower crane into an open broken window of the building’s burning 96^th floor. Never mind the physics of that, or the sheer logic-defying precursor of Will scaling a 100 storeys or so on the construction crane within 10 minutes – watching Johnson pull it off is still as stomach-churning, edge-of-your-seat exhilarating and viscerally satisfying as it gets.

Even more incredible is how Will manages to do all that with part of his left leg missing, the consequence of a harrowing operation gone wrong which is also conveniently used to explain how he met his spouse Sarah (Neve Campbell). As manipulative as that bit of prosthetic may be in garnering more sympathy for Will’s circumstances, there is also no doubt that Thurber puts the detail to good use – one sequence has him fighting on a one leg in a mano-a-mano that recalls Johnson’s old wrestling days; another has him detaching the metal in order to hoist himself up from the side of the building; and yet another sees him use it to jam a pair of titanium doors before they close. It’s by far the most nifty uses of a prosthesis that we’ve seen; that, and duct tape actually, which according to the movie’s logic, is sticky enough to help you scale the building’s exterior and handy enough to use as bandage.

Like we said at the start, as incredulous as it all is, Johnson ultimately sells what would have been laughable in the hands of any other star. Of course, Johnson would probably have been better-served with the kind of witty self-deprecating repartee he usually evinces – “if you can’t fix it with duct tape, then you ain’t using enough duct tape’ is as far as Thurber ever gets – but still Johnson’s sheer charisma makes you root for him even through the most absurd moments. Campbell makes a surprisingly solid supporting act, who more than holds her own against the baddies, among them Hannah Quinlivan’s (aka Mrs Jay Chou) dominatrix-styled assassin. Ditto for our very own Chin Han, who brings out some unexpected layers to his underwritten character next to Johnson especially in the final act.

There is yet another accomplishment which should be duly acknowledged – though set in Hong Kong, ‘Skyscraper’ was primarily lensed in Vancouver, which makes the generous exterior shots of The Pearl against the Hong Kong skyline even more impressive. But at the end of the day, this stunt- and CGI-laden vehicle was constructed on Johnson’s very back as an intense thrill-ride with audacious stunts, and on those counts, it succeeds exceedingly well. It’s just the kind of popcorn diversion you’d be looking for in a summer blockbuster – and just as forgettable soon after it’s over – so as long as you’re not looking for smarts or for that matter realism, you’ll probably thoroughly enjoy this slice of Rock-solid action movie escapism.

Movie Rating:

(It's a big, loud and dumb action movie all right, but with Dwayne Johnson's unique brand of star charisma and some logic-defying but undeniably exhilarating stunts)

Review by Gabriel Chong

Genre: Action/Fantasy
Director: Tsui Hark
Cast: Mark Chao, Feng Shao Feng, Lin Geng Xin, Ethan Ruan, Sandra Ma, Carina Lau
Runtime: 2 hrs 12 mins
Rating: PG13 (Some Violence)
Released By: Shaw Organisation
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 26 July 2018

Synopsis: Mysterious events keep happening in Luoyang (capital of ancient China Tang Dynasty): warriors wearing totem masks perpetrate crime all around the city; the fox outside the bar begins to speak human language; dragons on the column of the palace come alive; the Heavenly Kings in the temple show its angry face. Dee (Mark Chao, Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon) needs to solve the puzzles behind the mysterious cases, while facing obstacles from Empress Wu (Carina Lau, Detective Dee series).

Movie Review:

Lest there be any doubt, the four heavenly kings which the sub-title refers to the four Buddhist gods, each one of whom watch over one cardinal direction of the world. It is in a temple with towering statues of these four deities that the head of the Tang Dynasty’s Justice Department Yuchi Zhenjin (Feng Shaofeng) retrieves the all-powerful Dragon Taming Mace, but not before a fierce one-on-one with a menacing Taoist fighter wielding a pair of curved blades. That scene is the only reference to the divinities in the movie though, which builds its sleuthing around a treasonous plot to overthrow the Emperor Gaozong (Chien Sheng) and Empress Wu Zetian (Carina Lau) by an ancient sect known as the Wind Warriors.

The second prequel of Tsui Hark’s highly successful series, ‘Detective Dee and the Four Heavenly Kings’ picks up immediately after the events of the previous film, with Mark Chao once again reprising the role of the brilliant Di Renjie. Worried that Di Renjie would use the Mace that he has been bestowed with by the Emperor against her, Empress Wu orders that Yuchi steal the Mace, further assigning a shady quartet of sorcerers to assist him. Besides the aforementioned Spectral Blades, there is the sinister-looking priest Huan Tian, the hunchback witch Night Ghost, the swordsman Smoke Volant, and last but not least the beautiful female assassin Water Moon (Ma Sichun). Though initially tasked to follow Yuchi’s commands, the members of the Clan turn out to have their own designs towards the Mace, and it isn’t long before Empress Wu decides to sideline Yuchi in favour of Huan Tian.

Meanwhile, as Di Renjie and his loyal associate Shatuo (Lin Gengxin) contend with the sorcery of the Mystic Clan, they become wary of an even more malevolent group exploiting the power-hungry and insecure Empress Wu to bring down the kingdom. In signature Hark convolutions, the said Wind Warriors was once from India, helped one of the previous Emperors seize the throne, was subsequently condemned to ignominy, and counts among one of its leaders a certain member known as the Faceless Lord. But most significantly, both the Wind Warriors and the Mystic Clan are masters of sorcery, employing various methods of illusion and delusion to confuse, distract and eliminate their enemies. In time, not only will Shatuo find an unlikely kindred companion in Water Moon, he and Di Renjie will also come to enlist the help of the powerful monk Master Yuan Ce (Ethan Juan) to defeat the Wind Warriors.

Unlike the first two movies, there is no central mystery here, so the narrative is essentially of two halves – the first of which revolves around our heroic trio Di Renjie, Shatuo and Yuchi coming up against the Mystic Clan, and the second of which revolves around them trying to stop the Wind Warriors. Hark, who once again shares story credit with his franchise producer Chen Kuo-fu and screenplay credit with Chang Jia-lu, spins a relatively more protracted story that devotes as much time to Di Renjie’s investigations, as it does to Yuchi’s predicament caught between loyalty to country and obedience to authority as well as to Shatuo’s budding romance with Water Moon. It’s a lot happening at the same time, but Hark is as always a master storyteller, keeping all the moving pieces spinning like clockwork.

Together with his action director Lin Feng, Hark concocts a couple of grand, dazzling set-pieces that are just as, if not more, visually stunning than those in the earlier two films. Besides Yuchi’s battle with Spectral Blades, the other highlights include an ambush for Di Renjie at a local painter’s house where he first comes face to face with the Clan’s Smoke Volant, and a re-awakening of the Palace’s wall’s golden dragon that confirms the arrival of the Wind Warriors. But the piece de resistance is undoubtedly the elaborate finale, which involves a lot of life-sized red tentacles, a towering monster with thousands of eyeballs that can be shot at its enemy, ninja warriors that can transform themselves into flying dragons, and a giant white ape with Yuan Ce riding on its back.

You’ll be hard-pressed to find a more visually imaginative, inventive and idiosyncratic director than Hark – besides the more dramatic creations, there are also frequent displays of creative weaponry, ranging from metallic balls which can release either toxic liquid or poison gas to a circular chime-like device that can transform into metallic tentacles around a person’s head. And just because he feels like it, Hark also injects a peculiar dream sequence where Shatuo receives advice from a giant yellow fish swimming in front of him when visiting Master Yuan Ce’s secluded Sanzang Temple. There is plenty of trademark Hark zaniness here, but thankfully not to the extent where it becomes excessive, or worse self-indulgent.

Alas the three mid-credit sequences at the end border slightly on that, two of which establish Empress Wu’s reign twenty years later and the last of which fills in a pivotal gap about Master Yuan Ce’s nick-of-time appearance in the finale. They border on the unnecessary to say the least, as much as it does signal to fans that Mark Chao’s performance here as Di Renjie might be his last, considering the next sequel probably skips ahead two decades. Nevertheless, if it is, Chao deserves credit for being a lot more credible and compelling than he was in the last movie, even if he does have to share more screen time here with an over-the-top Feng and a charmingly laidback Lin. But the ‘Detective Dee’ series has always been Hark’s show, and his combination of period fantasy, action and intrigue proves to be just as captivating as ever. This is Chinese blockbuster making at its finest and most entertaining, so let yourself go and savour the weirdness, wackiness and wonder on full display here.

Movie Rating:

(Full of weird, wacky and wonder, Tsui Hark's visually inventive blend of period fantasy, action and intrigue proves as beguiling as ever)

Review by Gabriel Chong

SYNOPSIS: From director Joshua Marston, Come Sunday stars Academy Award-nominee Chiwetel Ejiofor, Lakeith Stanfield, Jason Segel, Condola Rashad, and Martin Sheen. It's the moving story of Bishop Carlton Pearson's personal journey from leading a religious congregation to being labeled a heretic. 

MOVIE REVIEW:

‘Come Sunday’ is a faith-based film, but it is of an entirely different breed compared to say ‘I Can Only Imagine’, ‘The Shack’ or ‘All Saints’, given how it deals not with conversion but with division.

At the heart of the movie is a fundamental schism within the different denominations of the Christian faith – does a person need to be saved in order to go to heaven? If so, does it mean that all those who have not encountered the faith and/or have not professed that they believe in Jesus Christ are doomed to go to hell? Does that mean therefore that the women and children of Africa who have never heard the Gospel are destined for hell? But if not, then what really does accepting the Lord mean? Does it mean that baptism and/or going to Church are inconsequential to whether one’s soul ends up in heaven? Is there then a hell at all for those who have sinned?

That was the conundrum which the high-profile African-American preacher Carlton Pearson (Chiwetel Ejiofor) found himself confronting in the late 1990s and early 2000s, one that would threaten his church, family and future. This was no ordinary minister mind you – the Pentecostal bishop was mentored and groomed by Oral Roberts (here played by Martin Sheen) of Oral Roberts University, had his own television show, filled stadiums, counselled presidents, and had even managed to blur the racial divide by attracting Whites into his congregation. But in the wake of his crisis of faith, Pearson saw his own church lose more than two-thirds its followers, found himself in opposition with his mentor and even the Joint Council of African-American Bishops, and was abandoned by his close friend and assistant Henry (Jason Segel) who subsequently established his own church nearby.

Based on a 2005 episode of NPR’s ‘This American Life’, director Joshua Marston and his screenwriter Marcus Hinchey mount a stirring but never sensational biopic of Pearson’s transformation. There are a couple of truly powerful scenes here – one where Pearson takes the pulpit with the expectation that he would recant his deviant interpretations, before having a 180-degree change of heart and mind and prompting an exodus of his angered flock; and another where Pearson turns the tables on the head of the Council at a tribunal he agrees to appear before to defend his newfound beliefs. But equally, one gets the distinct sense that the filmmakers have opted for restraint (than to be provocative), lest their movie be accused of being prejudicial; so instead of hyping the conflict with the other powerful members of the Evangelical community, the focus here is in fact on the personal toll it exacts on Pearson as well as those closest to him, namely his wife Gina (Condola Rashad) and his church’s gay worship leader Reggie (Lakeith Stanfield).

Largely though, the character study works, thanks to one of the finest performances of Ejiofor’s career. The British actor digs deep and disappears convincingly into the role of a charismatic preacher whose sheer authority and confidence is stripped away as he starts to question what he believes in. Some of his best scenes are with stage performer Rashad, who gives a compelling portrayal of a wife who transforms from quietly disgruntled at being sidelined and neglected to a pillar of strength and support for her husband. Ejiofor also shares a couple of deeply moving scenes with Stanfield, beautifully nuanced as a homosexual struggling to reconcile his own sexuality with his desire to walk the straight and narrow with God. To be sure, the filmmakers know this is yet another lightning rod within the church, but the inclusion of Stanfield’s invented character highlights why new churches preaching inclusivity (and apparently challenging age-old doctrine) have been springing up.

Like we said at the start, ‘Come Sunday’ isn’t your usual faith-based film, but it is also much, much better for it because of that. Granted, it is not an easy movie to sit through for believers and non-believers alike, the former because it may challenge some deeply-held convictions and the latter because it does demand some understanding of Church teachings. Yet it is an important movie that deserves to be seen and discussed, not only because it lays bare some of the hard truths that evangelical and Pentecostal Christians often refuse to acknowledge but also because it highlights the very contradictory nature of Biblical text if taken at face value. Just as how faith needs to be lived every other day including Sunday, this film that tries to reconcile doctrine and reality deserves to be seen any given day.

MOVIE RATING:

Review by Gabriel Chong

Genre: Horror/Thriller
Director: Pascal Laugier
Cast: Crystal Reed, Mylène Farmer, Anastasia Phillips, Kevin Power, Rob Archer
RunTime: 1 hr 31 mins
Rating: NC16 (Violence and Some Nudity)
Released By: Golden Village Pictures
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 17 May 2018

Synopsis: Following her aunt's death, Colleen and her daughters inherit her house. However, during their first night in their new home, murderers enter the home, putting Colleen in a situation where she must fight to save her daughters' lives. When the girls suffer a terrible trauma during the night, their disparate personalities diverge even further. The eldest daughter, Beth, is said to become a famous horror author with a perfect family and life in Los Angeles, while her sister, Vera, can't cope, and loses her mind faced to an unshakeable sense of paranoia. Sixteen years later the daughters and mother reunite at the house where Colleen and Vera continue to reside. It is then that strange events begin to take place.

Movie Review:

[WARNING: MIGHT CONTAIN SPOILERS]

There are some horror films that just make you feel sick and even the thought of reminiscing the scenes just makes you very uncomfortable. Ghostland is one of them.

The film features a family inheriting an abandoned house full of dolls from one of their late relatives, only to be attacked by murderers (who are then revealed slightly later in the plot as psychopaths) and create havoc in the household. That is, despite clear warning signs hinted throughout.

That happened 20 minutes into the film and although that was a clear indication that the film might end up being less satisfying than it should be, it was still slightly too early to judge and I proceeded to comprehend the madness further.

Like many horror films, the use of ‘jump scares’, accompanied by shocking music and disturbing scenes is frequent, although not excessive enough to put one off. Viewers would however be terrified (and put off) by the psychopaths’ strange obsessive fetish, consisting of a deranged ogre and a lady who looked like she just came out from some metal band. Viewers will definitely suffer through grotesque scenes of women (read: private parts) and doll obsession and mutation.

Although quite predictable for any horror films, the setting is appropriate and somehow creates intensity and fear in the viewer. A pleasant cast helped to accentuate the genre, although not entirely outstanding.

While the film’s intention of a psycho-thriller slight twist is credible, the multiple disconnected fast paced scenes create too much confusion, leaving viewers baffled and disorientated. It does not take long for one to just give up and watch it as it is.

At most times, the plot feels very aimless, with some parts leaving the viewer very clueless. If logic is to be applied here, it may be recommended not to, as eventually you may not even see the light. Personally, it was only until the end of the film that I actually comprehended the actual story. And that I realised how silly the story was to begin with.

Overall, Ghostland is disturbing and quite thrilling but clueless and unfocussed direction amidst a messy and fragmented plot places the film in a much lower rating.  

Movie Rating:

(A strange horror film that got lost in the wilderness. Not for the faint-hearted and those afraid of dolls)

Review by Ron Tan

SYNOPSIS: Suddenly possessed with supernatural powers, a father sets out to help his estranged daughter who's at risk of losing everything she's lived for.

MOVIE REVIEW:

If Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 is not enough to satisfy your crave for superhero antics this weekend, fret not, Netflix have you cover. Just check out Psychokinesis which comes from Yeon Sang-ho, the director behind the hit zombie flick, Train to Busan. While it’s touted as a superhero movie, it’s actually a touching tale of reconciliation between a pair of estranged father and daughter at its core. 

Due to a loan gone wrong a decade ago, the aimless Seok-heon (Ryu Seung-ryong from Miracle in Cell No.7) left his young daughter, Roo-mi and his wife and the pair is left on their own to operate a small food stall for a livelihood. Though her fried chicken business seems brisk, the now grown-up Roo-mi (Shim Eun-kyung last seen in The Princess and the Matchmaker) is facing another set of problem, the land where their stall sits upon is being ruthlessly acquired by a landlord for redevelopment and they are being harassed by hooligans to move out without any foreseeable compensation. 

In comes Seok-heon, the absence father who suddenly possessed unexplained psychokinetic power via a sip of mountain water. With his ability to fight back every single opponent that comes Roo-mi’s way, Seok-heon finally has the chance to reconnect with Roo-mi. Will Seok-heon and Roo-mi live happily after?  

Like his Train to Busan, Psychokinesis is yet another potent mix of social messages hidden in an easily accessible story of corporate greed and superhero on the surface. Does being super rich allows you to control and manoeuver both the police and the thugs? What happen to the poor and earnest people who are mainly trying to earn a living? Yeon Sang-ho seems to be hinting on the dire situation of his motherland perhaps that’s where the Samsung bribery case comes to mind. Yeon even include a ruthless, psychotic corporate character named Director Hong (played convincingly by Jung Yu-mi) for good measure.  

But if you were to brush aside all the innuendos, Psychokinesis is still jam-packed with comedy and almost flawless CGI action. For instance, when Seok-heon decides to apply a job at the nightclub to perform magic with his newfound power and convincing his frustrated daughter that he has the ability to help her and the rousing finale which sees Seok-heon flying above the sky like Man of Steel or in this case, Hancock to save his daughter from the clutches of the riot police.

While the basic premise of Psychokinesis is nothing new (remember Push and Chronicle?), it’s the obvious talent of Yeon Sang-ho that manages yet again to reinvent a familiar genre into something vigorous. All in all, it’s certainly watchable even on the small screen which to be fair it’s rather unjust consider the awesome production values on display. 

MOVIE RATING:

Review by Linus Tee

Genre: Drama/Biography
Director: Haifaa Al-Mansour
Cast: Elle Fanning, Maisie Williams, Douglas Booth, Bel Powley
RunTime: 2 hrs 1 min
Rating: NC-16
Released By: Shaw Organisation
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 31 May 2018

Synopsis: Mary Shelley tells the story of Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin (Elle Fanning) - author of one of the world's most famous Gothic novels 'Frankenstein' - and her fiery, tempestuous relationship with renowned romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley (Douglas Booth). The pair are two outsiders constrained by polite society but bound together by a natural chemistry and progressive ideas that are beyond the boundaries of their age and time. Mary and Percy declare their love for each other and much to her family's horror, they run away together, joined by Mary's half-sister Claire. In the midst of growing tension within their relationship during their stay at Lord Byron's house at Lake Geneva, the idea of Frankenstein is conceived when a challenge is put to all houseguests to write a ghost story. An incredible character is created, which will loom large in popular culture for centuries to come, but society at the time puts little value in female authors. At the tender age of 18, Mary is forced to challenge these preconceptions, to protect her work and to forge her own identity.

Movie Review:

Chances are if you’re curious about ‘Mary Shelley’, it’s because you know her as the early-19^th century author of one of literature’s most defining and bone-chilling horror novels ‘Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus’. Oh yes, that’s the same Frankenstein who would go on to become a cultural icon of horror films for over a century.

It therefore comes as no surprise that this biopic of her from acclaimed female Saudi director Haifaa al-Mansour would focus on the early years of her life leading up to her creation of one of the most indelible fictional creatures of all time, most notably her scandalous romance with the dashing but married young poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. As al-Mansour and screenwriter Emma Jensen would have you believe, it was as much her upbringing as it was her relationship upheavals that inspired the themes of abandonment, loneliness and disgust that were central to the book.

But however true that may be, it needed to be told with a more definitive spark of life than this present monotonous treatment. The opening is promising: we first meet young Mary (Elle Fanning) dawdling by her long-dead mother’s gravesite, her lone place of respite and calm given how she has to contend with a mean stepmother (Joanne Froggart) at home. Like her fiercely independent mother, Mary eschews the conventions of society, preferring to indulge in reading and writing horror stories than literary novels and philosophical thought, and it is hardly any wonder why her own father – philosopher, writer and publisher William Godwin (Stephen Dillane) – disapproves.

Mary sees an ostensible chance at a better life in Percy (Douglas Booth), whom she meets after her father sends her away to a family friend’s home in Scotland. His progressive, romantic declarations of artistic and sexual freedom have her smitten, and despite learning subsequently that he has an estranged wife and child, Mary decides to run away with him, destroying her father and their relationship. Worse still, Mary’s stepsister Claire (Bel Powley) decides to run along for the adventure, caught in the same swirls of adolescent naivety. All this takes place within the first act, which is still fairly interesting and engaging.

Alas the same cannot be said of Mary, Percy and Claire’s subsequent travails, which the film seems to walk through as if it were checking off items from a list: Percy’s precarious financial status, leading the threesome to be frequently on the run from creditors; Percy’s affair with Claire, despite Mary being pregnant with his child; Mary losing the baby shortly after birth, precipitating further depression and resentment towards Percy; and last but not least, their encounter with the appalling Lord Byron (Tom Sturridge). It is at Lord Bryon’s estate however that Mary would give birth to Frankenstein’s monster, taking up his rainy-night challenge after one of their marathon drinking sessions – and besides Mary’s, that same session would also yield the acclaimed ‘The Vampyre’ from another house guest, Dr John Polidori (Ben Hardy).

There is clearly a lot of fantastic material here for an emotionally gripping film, but al-Mansour opts instead for a safe period piece that is content to bask in the rich details of its period setting. It surely is pretty to look at, but much as you’d admire the meticulous cover of its 18^th-century setting, you can’t help but feel how much of a missed opportunity on the part of the filmmakers to paint a more compelling account of a radical woman living a radical life. Not only does it feel like they have reduced her life into that of a typical romantic drama, the plotting seems dull and lethargic, so much so that the film never manages to assemble a satisfying arc for its more promising narrative threads.

That it does have a sparkling performance by Fanning makes it even more of a pity, and indeed you can see onscreen how committed the talented actress is to the role. But the film lets her down, and her co-stars aren’t exactly the best complements, including a capably dashing but otherwise flat Booth and a somewhat clueless Powley. Sturridge steals the scene with his exaggerated portrayal of Lord Byron akin to a debauched ‘70s rock star, and Dillane brings emotional pathos as Mary’s father, but they are not enough to paper over the film’s obvious and glaring flaws.

It’s a cardinal sin for a biopic to be boring, because that either means there wasn’t a story to be told in the first place (which isn’t true in Mary Shelley’s case) or that it’s not done justice to its subject at all. The latter is certainly the reason why ‘Mary Shelley’ fails to satisfy on many levels, perhaps most significantly in diminishing a complex and unconventional woman who was celebrated and controversial at the same time. It may sound clichéd, but this biopic is very much in need of a jolt itself to bring it to life. 

Movie Rating:

(The 18th-century period setting impresses, but this staid treatment of what is supposed to be a radical and unconventional subject is otherwise a lifeless disappointment)

Review by Gabriel Chong

Genre: Drama
Director: Yōjirō Takita
Cast: Sayuri Yoshinaga, Masato Sakai, Ryoko Shinohara, Hiroshi Abe, Koichi Sato, Ittoku Kishibe, Masatoshi Nakamura, Reiko Takashima, Tsurube Shofukutei, Toshiyuki Nagashima, Ken Yasuda, Toru Nomaguchi, Katsuya Maiguma
Runtime: 2 hrs 6 mins
Rating: PG (Some Violence)
Released By: Golden Village Pictures, mm2 Entertainment
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 10 May 2018

Synopsis: Spring of 1945, cherry blossoms flower in southern Sakhalin, a symbol of hope for Tetsu Ezure and her family. But with the Soviet Union’s invasion the following August they flee to Abashiri, Hokkaido, to a life of harsh cold and hunger through which they struggle to survive. 1971, younger son Shujiro, now grown, has returned to Japan where he meets his mother for the first time in fifteen years. The war is over but her post-traumatic stress disorder still remains, and she is at times delusional and makes a nuisance of herself. Then she disappears – not wanting to cause further problems for her successful son, she wishes to go back to Abashiri. Shujiro follows in an effort to reach out, mother and son setting out around the vast plains of Hokkaido on a journey into the past, opening the door to long-buried memories.

Movie Review:

Departures director Yojiro Takita returns with a follow up piece also on family. Unlike the subtle Departures which explores family ties through the Japaneseritual of cleansing a dead body for the funeral, Sakura Guardian in the North comes off as an overripe melodrama that tries a bit too hard. 

Set against the backdrop of wartime upheaval, Sakura Guardian in the North should have more than sufficient material for the director to explore in terms of how the difficulty of surviving in such trying times affect a mother and how she raises her two sons. But rather than simply exploring how the hardship of survival shapes the mother and impacts the family which she now heads because of the war, the movie stretches too far. It complicates things unnecessarily by making the mother, now in her twilight years (played commendably by Sayuri Yoshinaga), a victim trapped by her failed mental facilities. The device of having some scenes presented like a stage play, distances the viewer from the story, running counter to its objective of giving the viewer a peek into the mother’s thoughts and feelings. You feel like you are a mere bystander rather than someone who is actively involved and interested in the characters.

Unlike the touching Departures which draws the viewer in gradually without the viewer even realising how he or she has already become invested in the movie and its characters, Sakura Guardian in the North shamelessly attempts to use the theme of motherly self-sacrifice and relentless endurance in the face of never-ending suffering to extract tears from its viewers. Sakura Guardian in the North never passes up an opportunity to let the mother character sink into abysses of agonies and depths of despair (which leaves little wonder about why the mother goes half-mad in the movie). 

Thankfully though, the able cast manages to somehow make the characters convincing despite the unconvincing overly-unfortunate times that they have had to go through. Masato Sakai portrays the flawed younger son who, despite being under tremendous social stresses, desires to do something for the mother who has cut him off and is now in dire straits. The sense that he is tightly wound due to the pressures in his life come through even when he smiles, a smile so brittle that it feels like he could snap it in an instant and let all the built-up tension out. 

Yoshinaga shows her mettle and why she is a four-time Japan Academy Best Actress Award winner. She avoids falling into the trap of being overly dramatic as a mother who has been dealt possibly one of the worst lots in life. Instead, she is quietly affecting as the tenacious mother who would sacrifice everything for her children but is herself, slowly being eaten away emotionally at not being able to find closure with the disappearance of her husband. 

Although somewhat too melodramatic with its thinly veiled attempts to get the viewer to cry, Sakura Guardian in the North builds up to a moving ending even as the viewer finds himself or herself connecting with the mother and her younger son on their journey together and in the process, realises the power of familial love. 

Movie Rating:

(Saved primarily by its brilliant cast. Otherwise, this movie would have come across as a sappy, exploitative melodrama)

Review by Katrina Tee

Genre: Sci-Fi/Action
Director: Ron Howard
Cast: Alden Ehrenreich, Woody Harrelson, Emilia Clarke, Donald Glover, Thandie Newton, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Joonas Suotamo, Paul Bettany
RunTime: 2 hrs 15 mins
Rating: PG (Some Violence)
Released By: Walt Disney
Official Website: https://www.starwars.com/films/solo

Opening Day: 24 May 2018

Synopsis: Board the Millennium Falcon and journey to a galaxy far, far away in Solo: A Star Wars Story, an all-new adventure with the most beloved scoundrel in the galaxy. Through a series of daring escapades deep within a dark and dangerous criminal underworld, Han Solo befriends his mighty future copilot Chewbacca and meets the notorious gambler Lando Calrissian, in a journey that will set the course of one of the Star Wars sagas most unlikely heroes.

Movie Review:

Despite being one of the most enigmatic characters in the ‘Star Wars’ universe, we’re not quite sure anyone was looking forward to seeing a origin story on the beloved space scoundrel Hans Solo. And yet following a very publicly-known troubled production that saw a change in directors, here we are with the second so-called ‘anthology’ title of the Disney-driven blockbuster juggernaut. Quite frankly, as much as it is inessential, we’re happy to report that Ron Howard’s ‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’ is nonetheless a delightfully escapist action adventure. It stands on its own as a fast-paced heist movie with a bunch of crooks aiming to pull a job, but yet contains just enough references to the larger ‘Star Wars’ canon to satisfy fans looking for consistency, coherence and continuity with their character favourites.

As conceived by franchise stalwart Lawrence Kasdan and his son Jonathan, the young Han (Alden Ehrenreich) starts off as a street-smart delinquent on a rough child-slave planet called Corellia, where he dreams of a better future with his girlfriend Qi’ra (Emilia Clarke). But a hasty attempt to flee separates Han and Qi’ra, and the former makes it his mission to get a spaceship and rescue Qi’ra from that awful place. That journey will take him from the trenches of the war-torn mud planet Mimban, to the company of a band of marauders led by career criminal Tobias Beckett (Woody Harrelson) and their nasty gangster employer Dryden Vos (Paul Bettany), and last but not least to the very beginnings of a rebellion against the colonising forces of the Imperial Empire sweeping the galaxy. Along the way, it answers the question of how Han met his loyal pal Chewbacca (Joonas Suotamo), comes to pilot and later on own his flagship Millennium Falcon, and even venture upon the famed Kessel Run.

It’s inevitable that some of these developments feel reverse-engineered, but to their credit, the father-son screenwriting duo keep the story lively and slick enough without being burdened by or be wallowing in nostalgia. Like we said earlier, this is by and large a heist movie, so most of the action revolves around Han teaming up with Beckett to steal a lucrative type of fuel known as coaxial, which is not only the basis of Han and Chewbacca’s companionship but also that of Han and original Falcon owner Lando Calrissian’s (Donald Glover) acquaintance. These key moments are established amidst a thrilling raid of a fast-moving train speeding along the wintry hills of an icy planet, an exhilarating robbery within the caverns of the dusty mining planet of Kessel, and a remote desert standoff in between a series of double-crosses, triple-crosses and other duplicities. Each one of these is in itself a fine action sequence, and ever the venerable pro, Howard never lets the pace slack from start to finish.

But what distinguishes his entry from the other recent ‘Star Wars’ movies, including and especially the very first spinoff ‘Rogue One’, is its unabashed sense of breeziness. That is in part an indelible quality of its titular character Han, but also a deliberate creative decision that chooses humour over despair, gloom and sombreness. The operative word here is fun, and that running trait defines the tenor of Han and Chewbacca’s banter, as it does the dynamic between Beckett and his crew Val (Thandie Newton) and the four-armed chimp-like Rio Durant (voiced by Jon Favreau), as it does the back-and-forth between Han and Lando, and even the quirky new supporting character of Lando’s whip-smart female droid L3-37 (voiced by Phoebe Waller-Bridge). Whereas the other films were concerned about the fate of the universe, Han’s primary preoccupation here is staying alive while redeeming the love of his life, which is a marked but altogether welcome contrast.

It is in this vein that the ensemble cast shine in their own right, despite some having big shoes to fill. Notwithstanding the revered legacy of Harrison Ford, Ehrenreich brings the swagger, derring-do, and sigh-guy handsomeness to Han, and it is quite a joy watching him channel Ford’s brash enthusiasm without any middle-age contempt. Harrelson completely owns every single scene he’s in with his mix of mischief and jadedness; former Penn State player Suotamo brings genuine emotion to Chewbacca; and Glover effortlessly carries his predecessor Billy Dee Williams’ suave, cape-wearing charm. Perhaps the most intriguing character relationship here is that between Lando and L3-37, who spar repeatedly over the latter’s fierce determination to free her fellow machines of their servitude, thus unleashing some sort of Gremlin-like mayhem on Kessel.

On hindsight, that ‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’ had much less fan baggage is one of the fundamental reasons why it has managed to distinguish itself as no more and no less than a solidly entertaining rollicking action adventure. Sure, it has to pay its dues to the ‘Star Wars’ brand, which it does dutifully though in ways occasionally clumsy (don’t ask just how Solo got his name) and surprising (a late appearance by a certain member of the Sith will certainly get fans talking). Yet with humour, exuberance and thrill, ‘Solo’ turns itself from a movie you never asked for into one you’d enjoy with unbridled glee, and for that reason, will certainly resonate with those who grew up with the original trilogy as well as kids who are just about discovering the franchise. It may have gone a little Solo from its extended family, but this fun, kinetic romp is all the better for it.

Movie Rating:

(Devoid of the despair, gloom and weightiness of the recent 'Star Wars' movies, this kinetic, fun-filled romp is a rollicking heist flick that harks back to the spirit of the original trilogy)

Review by Gabriel Chong

Genre: Comics/Action
Director: Peyton Reed
Cast: Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Pena, Walton Goggins, Bobby Cannavale, Judy Greer, Tip “T.I.” Harris, David Dastmalchian, Hannah John-Kamen, Abby Ryder-Fortson, Randall Park, Michelle Pfeiffer, Laurence Fishburne, Michael Douglas
RunTime: 1 hr 58 mins
Rating: PG (Some Violence)
Released By: Walt Disney
Official Website: https://www.facebook.com/MarvelSingapore

Opening Day: 5 July 2018

Synopsis: From the Marvel Cinematic Universe comes “Ant Man and The Wasp,” a new chapter featuring heroes with the astonishing ability to shrink. In the aftermath of “Captain America: Civil War,” Scott Lang grapples with the consequences of his choices as both a Super Hero and a father. As he struggles to rebalance his home life with his responsibilities as Ant-Man, he’s confronted by Hope van Dyne and Dr. Hank Pym with an urgent new mission. Scott must once again put on the suit and learn to fight alongside The Wasp as the team works together to uncover secrets from the past.

Movie Review:

Ant-Man and The Wasp is one of the few sequels that is actually better than the original movie. It is an entertaining comedy with a heartfelt storyline examining the relationships between parent and child. Peyton Reed (who directed the first Ant-Man) successfully balances heart and humour with the hypnotic action scenes.

With superheroes whose key superpower is to shrink or enlarge at will, it is easy for the audience to be lost and lose the heroes in action sequences where the heroes battle their enemies through a dizzying array of size changes. While Ant-Man and the Wasp has action sequences that run at breakneck speed in which random objects, like a Hello Kitty Pez dispenser or a Hot Wheels car, shrink and grow on highways, the combat doesn’t overwhelm. They are masterfully spaced out and the change in sizes is logical rather than random. This shows early on in the first real fight scene where Hope Van Dyne/ The Wasp (played by Evangeline Lilly) battles a pack of goons in a kitchen and weaves in and out of the way of the goons and their weapons while artfully landing punches and kicks on them.

As the first female co-headliner of a Marvel Comic Universe movie, Hope is more than simply a girlfriend/ex-girlfriend of the male superhero (unlike Pepper Potts in the Iron-Man franchise). She gets a way cooler suit than Ant-Man, something which the hero acknowledges when he quizzes Dr Hank Pym (played by Michael Douglas) about the additional wings that Pym has given the Wasp but not Ant-Man who has to rely on summoning flying ants as rides that are in constant peril of being eaten by larger animals.

The emotional plotline is about her finding her mother, the original Wasp (played by a suitably wistful and gentle Michelle Pfeiffer) who has been lost in the Quantum Realm for thirty years after sacrificially reducing herself to sub-atomic size to save the world. The exploration of parent-child dynamics serve as the emotional anchor for the two main characters. While Hope is pining for and trying her best to save her mother, Scott Lang/Ant-Man (played by Paul Rudd) tries his best to be a good father to his daughter, Cassie (played by an endearing Abby Ryder Forston) who ends up giving him sagely advice on choosing between friends or freedom. That the two sets of parent-child relations are parallels is acknowledged by the characters where at one point, Scott assures Hope that he knows that her mother is still alive and has kept going because of Hope, from his own experience of having kept going on because of Cassie.

The writers also succeed in somehow balancing three groups of people, the FBI led by frenemy Jimmy Woo (played by Randall Park), a blackmarket tech lynchpin (played by Walter Goggins) and a troubled desperado Ghost (played by Hannah John-Kamen) going after Dr Pym and his lab/technology. At various points, the three groups succeed in making use of each other to further their goals.  Unfortunately, with three sets of semi-villians, two of them end up as stereotypes – Woo as the socially inept yet effable Asian cop and the blackmarket tech lynchpin as a greedy sleazehound. There is some success in fleshing Ghost out as a frightened young woman who is desperate to relieve herself of the pain and threat to her life that comes with the powers she did not asked for.

While Reed succeeds in balancing most of the elements of the movie despite having so much going on, what would make this movie perfect would probably be a reduction in the number of characters. Supporting characters like Michael Peña’s Luis and Forston’s Cassie, only have a few scenes which they steal quite easily. In particular, Peña plays on the defining characteristic of his character’s fast-talking, superfluous nature to good effect in one scene that will have you in stitches and clinging on to every inane word that comes out in that machine-gun like sequence.

All in all, Ant-Man and the Wasp is a two hours movie that never overwhelms nor tries too hard to be bigger than what it is. A third Ant-Man movie would likely be on the cards after this.

Movie Rating:

(Tiny sized superheroes, giant fun)

Review by Katrina Tee