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TRAILER WATCH - THE PREDATOR TRAILER #2Posted on 29 Jun 2018 |
Genre: Thriller
Director: Gerard McMurray
Cast: Y’Lan Noel, Lex Scott Davis, Joivan Wade, Steve Harris, Marisa Tomei
RunTime: 1 hr 38 mins
Rating: M18 (Violence and Sexual Scene)
Released By: UIP
Official Website:
Opening Day: 22 August 2018
Synopsis: Behind every tradition lies a revolution. Next Independence Day, witness the rise of our country’s 12 hours of annual lawlessness. Welcome to the movement that began as a simple experiment: The First Purge. To push the crime rate below one percent for the rest of the year, the New Founding Fathers of America (NFFA) test a sociological theory that vents aggression for one night in one isolated community. But when the violence of oppressors meets the rage of the marginalized, the contagion will explode from the trial-city borders and spread across the nation.
Movie Review:
One night per year, where all manner of crime is legal, in order to allow citizens a cathartic means to let go of their inner rage. That was the simple but intriguing premise which James DeMonaco explored in a trilogy of violent B-movie thrillers that found socio-political relevance in its depiction of class and racial discrimination. As its title suggests, this fourth chapter in the franchise written again by DeMonaco but directed by newcomer Gerard McMurray goes back to the beginning, in order to explore just how the annual Purge came to be a hallowed American tradition.
At least that was the intention; in truth, much of what would have been interesting to see is dispensed with in a quick opening montage, namely the rise of the hard-right political party known as the New Founding Fathers of America (NFFA) arising from the socio-economic chaos of a plunging stock market, another housing crisis, spiralling unemployment and civil unrest. “The American dream is dead," the new President says to the people. "We will do whatever it takes to let you dream again.” And thanks to leading behavioural scientist Dr Updale (Marisa Tomei), the titular social experiment is born, with the President endorsing his chief of staff (Patch Darragh) to carry out the social experiment on Staten Island - presumably because poor people of colour are more likely to riot than affluent white ones and would therefore be in need of such a freeing experience.
Like the last three movies, ‘The First Purge’ unfolds largely within the 12 hours of a single Purge, or in this case the so-called Experiment. The very notion of the Experiment divides the impoverished black and Latino neighbourhood: there are those who vehemently oppose it, including drug lord Dmitri (Y’lan Noel) and his ex-girlfriend turned activist Nya (Lex Scott Davis); and there are those who seek to exploit the occasion for their own self-seeking ends, including Nya’s impulsive younger brother Isaiah (Joivan Wade) and the stone-cold psycho Skeletor (Rotimi Paul). At first, the fight is pretty much within these characters, who either have a score to settle with someone else or are forced to save someone they love/ care about, but soon enough these residents realise that they are being systematically targeted by groups of heavily-armed cops, Klansmen and right-wing militia.
It doesn’t take a genius to figure that these mercenaries have been sent in by the NFFA in order to up the body count – and let’s just say the explicit imagery of white supremacists, a rubber blackface mask worn by a white soldier or a mercenary leader wearing a Gestapo-slash-bondage outfit is no coincidence. Heck, the filmmakers even make it so blatantly obvious by re-purposing a line from President Trump’s ‘Access Hollywood’ tape. There is no subtlety or nuance to the subtext, although we suspect many may tend to agree that there is no need for such restraint in today’s political day and age.
Nevertheless, what holds the film back from being sharp allegory is not how bluntly but how shallowly it develops its own dystopian concept, that doesn’t go much further than unleashing the same violence and bloodshed upon its White terrorisers. Most of the film therefore becomes a numbing cycle of pursuit and evasion, attack and counter-attack, frenzied stabbings followed by rounds of automatic gunfire. Even as throwback to the sort of unabashedly violent B-movies John Carpenter was synonymous with in the 70s and 80s, ‘The First Purge’ lacks the rhythm, momentum and much less excitement to sustain itself or its audience’s interest for its hour-and-a-half duration.
Whereas the earlier two ‘Purge’ sequels could rely on the raw magnetism of its lead star Frank Grillo, the cast of mostly unknowns largely fail to register. The only exception is Noel, who briefly comes alive in the drawn-out finale where he shifts into Rambo mode and delivers a cracker-jack three-way beatdown on a winding staircase. It doesn’t help that their characters are pretty much defined by their staccato diatribes which DeMonaco seems to have penned while under some stupor, undermining what credulity or authenticity one might have been willing to extend to them.
Frankly, there isn’t much more that this chapter says which hasn’t already been covered in the preceding trilogy, leaving one to wonder if DeMonaco is just milking his idea to death, especially since there is already a drama series planned. This one seems even more gory than its predecessors, as if straining to leave an impression. Alas, ‘The First Purge’ doesn’t at all develop its starting premise in any new or interesting direction, coming off as pure shlock masquerading as topically relevant commentary. Perhaps this should just as well be the final purge, because we sure as hell ain’t looking forward to the next one at all.
Movie Rating:
(Three movies in, this dystopian socio-political horror seems to have purged its well of ideas and inspiration, and this prequel is no better than B-movie shlock)
Review by Gabriel Chong
Genre: Adventure/Fantasy
Director: Eli Roth
Cast: Jack Black, Cate Blanchett, Owen Vaccaro, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Sunny Suljic, Kyle MacLachlan
RunTime: 1 hr 45 mins
Rating: PG (Some Disturbing Scenes)
Released By: UIP
Official Website: https://www.housewithaclock.com/
Opening Day: 1 November 2018
Synopsis: In the tradition of Amblin classics where fantastical events occur in the most unexpected places, Jack Black and two-time Academy Award® winner Cate Blanchett star in The House with a Clock in Its Walls, from Amblin Entertainment. The magical adventure tells the spine-tingling tale of 10-year-old Lewis (Owen Vaccaro) who goes to live with his uncle in a creaky old house with a mysterious tick-tocking heart. But his new town’s sleepy façade jolts to life with a secret world of warlocks and witches when Lewis accidentally awakens the dead.
Movie Review:
‘The House with a Clock in Its Walls’ isn’t a ‘Goosebumps’ sequel, although it’s understandable why anyone would mistake it as such. Like ‘Goosebumps’ author R.L. Stine’s novels, the 1973 book by John Bellairs was young-adult horror fantasy which contained just the right amount of evil to prompt childish shivers, but not quite enough to cause nightmares. Indeed, even though gore specialist Eli Roth is behind the camera, its scares consist largely of supernatural spookery – ominous spell books, shuddering tombstones, vomiting pumpkins, and its most extreme, a walking corpse brought back from the dead who resembles Ebenezer Scrooge’s Jacob Marley – that is laced with humour, goof and whimsical charm.
The setting is 1955 in a fictional small town called New Zebedee, and those who have lived through the times can certainly relate to its throwback elements of gumballs and Ovaltine milkshakes. Our protagonist is the bookish, newly bereaved, 10-year-old Lewis Barnavelt (Owen Vaccaro), who arrives in the town to live with his eccentric uncle Jonathan (Jack Black). Not surprisingly, Lewis faces some adjustment issues at the start: not only is he not fitting in well at school, he finds the house with an unusually high number of clocks extremely creepy. It doesn’t help that Uncle Jonathan is also behaving strangely, stalking the halls of the house at night tapping on walls and tinkering with the clocks.
At the prompting of his similarly mysterious next-door neighbour Florence (Cate Blanchett), Uncle Jonathan lets Lewis into a couple of secrets – most notably, that there is a whole hidden world of warlocks and witches right under his nose. Jonathan is himself a warlock, and Florence a witch, but the greater evil is the house’s previous resident Isaac Izard (Kyle MacLachlan), who had died years ago after having believed to have sacrificed his wife Selena (Renee Elise Goldsberry) to build the titular timepiece that could somehow wreak havoc on the forces of time. Like clockwork (pardon the pun), Lewis unknowingly unleashes that precise evil after trying to impress a potential friend with magic from a spell-book he finds behind a giant cupboard that Jonathan left explicit instructions not to open.
With Isaac brought back to life, Roth takes the opportunity to unfurl the loud wallpaper and CGI bric-a-brac, although these are not without its charms. From menacing jack o’lanterns, to a room full of sinister automatons, to Jack Black’s urinating man-baby, there are enough sufficiently inventive visual treats to keep you entertained. Oh yes, compliments to John Hutman’s imaginative production design, you’ll be marvelling at idiosyncratic creations like flatulent plant sculptures, stained-glass windows whose colourful images morph every hour, and even a topiary griffin that farts leaves. The house itself is something to behold, almost a living and breathing organism whose art and furniture come to wondrous life.
Somewhat lacking though is a deeper sense of poignancy that seems curiously out of reach of Eric Kripke’s script. Lewis’ grief is touched on in an early scene at the family wake, but is otherwise relegated to a plot device; ditto his yearning to belong, which while the key impetus for his blunder in resurrecting Isaac, isn’t portrayed with sufficient depth to truly resonate on a deeper level. What it lacks in emotion, it makes up for in laughs. Black carries the goofball fun with his signature brand of kooky glee, but here he finds a delightful companion in Blanchett’s screwball wit. As unlikely as their pairing may have seemed, Black and Blanchett turn out to be a match made in comedy heaven, and their scenes together lend the movie an effervescence that no special effect could hope to conjure.
It’s befitting that this family-friendly horror hails from Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment, seeing as how the movie bears more than a hint of the Spielbergian touch and his child’s eye-view. Roth makes a confident transition from R-rated gory exploitation to PG-rated supernatural fun, with some enjoyably weird and wonderful CGI set-pieces to boot. We won’t blame you for feeling that it all seems a little too familiar to similar genre fare like ‘Goosebumps’ or ‘Miss Peregrine’s House for Peculiar Children’, but as long as you’re in the mood for some Halloween-themed family fare, this should still be a live-action treat with more than a couple of tricks up its sleeve.
Movie Rating:
(Jack Black and Cate Blanchett are a wonderful screwball pair, complementing the visually inventive CGI bric-a-brac that makes for an entertaining family-friendly Halloween-themed outing)
Review by Gabriel Chong
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TRAILER WATCH - BOHEMIAN RHAPSODYPosted on 18 Jul 2018 |
Genre: Crime/Mystery/Thriller
Director: Mathew Cullen
Cast: Amber Heard, Billy Bob Thornton, Jim Sturgess, Cara Delevingne, Theo James, Gemma Chan, Jaimie Alexander, Jason Isaacs, Lily Cole, Johnny Depp
RunTime: 1 hr 48 mins
Rating: M18 (Sexual Scenes and Nudity)
Released By: Shaw Organisation
Official Website:
Opening Day: 29 November 2018
Synopsis: A murder story for the end of the millennium, LONDON FIELDS centers upon Nicola Six, a "black hole" of sex and self-loathing intent on orchestrating her own extinction. A psychic who has succumbed to a series of false premonitions, Nicola must now contend with one that could be her final vision. Feeling compelled to patronize a London dive bar, she encounters two different men - Keith Talent, a violent lowlife whose only passions are pornography and darts, and the rich, honorable, and dimly romantic Guy Clinch - one of whom might be her killer. As Nicola leads her suitors toward the precipice, London - and, indeed, the entire world - seems to shamble after them.
Movie Review:
Amber Heard carved a name for herself starring in horror thrillers liked All The Boys Love Mandy Lane and The Ward before her short-lived, troubled marriage to superstar Johnny Depp overshadowed her movie career.
Before she returns (in probably her biggest role to date) to the big screen in the DC superhero flick, Aquaman, brace yourself for the most pretentious movie of the year, London Fields which ironically starred Heard and her uncredited ex-beau.
Based on an acclaimed novel by British writer Martin Amis, London Fields encompassed themes of sex, seduction, murder and apocalypse but comes out short in every area that legal tussles between the director and producers didn’t allow it to be release until 2018, almost five years after the movie was shot.
Billy Bob Thornton stars as a dying, writer’s block suffering American writer, Samson Young who came to London in search of inspirations for his last book. In his fancy loan apartment, he came across a mysterious sexy woman, Nicola Six (Amber Heard) who supposedly possessed the power to predict future events liked the date and location of her death for example. Intriguing right? However, either the cinematic version of Amis’ original material didn’t turn out as shot or music director turned film director Mathew Cullen has read the wrong book, the rest of the movie has Nicola swirling herself around with another two men, Keith Talent (played by an unrecognizable Jim Sturgess), a scumbag with a talent for darts and Guy Clinch (Theo James from Divergent), a rich unhappy married man.
So instead of exploring ways to escape her tragic death, Nicola switches from being a vamp to a virgin and tempting death by playing slutty and trashy to Keith and Guy simultaneously making sure that Young is taking notes and making her life story as his latest novel. So who in the end is the killer of Nicola? Is it Keith the crook or the overzealous Clinch? Or is it even the terminally ill Young who boringly narrates the entire movie? I guess most will be tempted to walk out of the hall after an hour into it if not for Heard’s constant lingerie changing and unnecessary nudity bits as the muddled flick lingers on aimlessly.
London Fields is certainly one hell of a lousy movie. It has lackluster visuals, cheap sets, atrocious pacing and weird motives. At some point, we are introduced to a loanshark with nice long sideburns and a laugh-out-name, Chick Purchase. Chick for info is nicely portrayed by an uncredited Johnny Depp and he of all people happens to play the most interesting character. Despite being a bad movie, you might be able to spot a couple of familiar faces liked Cara Delevinge (Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets), Jason Isaacs (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows), Gemma Chan (Crazy Rich Asians) and Jaimie Alexander (Thor). Most likely lured by the fact it’s based on the prestigious Martin Amis’ novel.
Seriously, no one bothers in the end whether a director’s cut exists elsewhere given the atrocious storytelling and less than interesting characters. Perhaps all the off-screen fuss and tussles by the filmmakers might make a worthier tale to tell instead of this neo-noir uneventful affair.
Movie Rating:
(The sexually attractive Amber Heard acting as a temptress can’t save this mess of a movie if you can still call it a movie)
Review by Linus Tee
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TRAILER WATCH - 23:59 THE HAUNTING HOURPosted on 07 Jul 2018 |
SYNOPSIS: Held captive in a futuristic smart house, a woman hopes to escape by befriending the A.I. program that controls the house.
MOVIE REVIEW:
‘Tau’ won’t be the first science-fiction movie to pose the question of whether it is possible for artificial intelligence to possess humanity, which is also precisely why it proves to be underwhelming. The high-concept premise of director Federico D’Alessandro’s film revolves around a woman who is kidnapped and trapped in the high-tech home of a twisted inventor that is run by the titular AI programme. As you can imagine, the woman starts to interact with the AI, which leads the latter to start asking existential questions and attempt to overcome the limitations of its source code. It’s also not that hard to guess that the AI will come to defy its creator, thereby leading to a climax where it has to decide if it is simply a computer or if it can be more.
As written by Noga Landau, ‘Tau’ is essentially a three-hander among the woman Julia (Maika Monroe), the inventor Alex (Ed Skrein) and the AI (voiced by recently-minted Academy Award winner Gary Oldman). Even so, the movie suffers from a lack of character depth, and there is not much plot to make up for it as well. At the start, we see how Julia stalks nightclubs and steals the valuables of those whom she gets close to; and then, when she first wakes up strapped on a laboratory chair, we get a twenty-second montage summarising her childhood isolation and abusive parents – but that is the extent of how much we come to learn about Julia, and why she might just be the subject that Alex’s experiment so desperately needs for a breakthrough. Alex, on the other hand, is depicted as plain cold-hearted, with nary a qualm for sacrificing the lives of his captives in order to further his own research.
But arguably, the most interesting one among the trio should no doubt be Tau itself, since it is the very subject of the movie. To be fair, it is the most intriguing among the trio, but not quite enough to convince us that it is some cutting-edge prototype which Alex has developed. Indeed, Tau’s abilities seem no more than efficient smart home technology at the beginning, what with its ability to keep the house clean, regulated and ready for Alex. Its interactions with Julia are probably the most fascinating parts of the movie, what with Julia teaching it about the confines of the house, the history of mankind and the classical music composers whose works it is enamoured with, and the very concept of personhood. Thanks to some beautiful visuals, these scenes have a transcendental quality, and recall one’s own journey learning or teaching our kids about the world and what it holds.
Still, Tau’s transformation could be much more compelling. Like we said, you’ve probably seen similar such movies before, and ‘Tau’ doesn’t break any new ground. There is but a couple of scenes where we get to see the tension Tau faces between following orders and following its newfound instincts, and even so, they aren’t quite emotionally or intellectually gripping. It doesn’t help that Tau is too quickly reduced to a shadow of its former self each time one of these encounters takes place, given how Alex punishes Tau by deleting his most recent memories, thereby leaving less and less learned intelligence and more and more programmed source code. To put it simply, the sense of perspective and empathy which Tau gains over the course of the movie needs to go further and deeper, in order for us to truly appreciate the dilemma which it supposedly faces.
That said, ‘Tau’ isn’t a bad film, especially not if you’re looking for something undemanding on the streaming platform. Clearly made as an independent film, it tries to make the best out of its limited budget, and for the most part, is fairly successful at keeping you engaged throughout its duration. Its premise might sound new, but don’t go in expecting its execution to be anything else but. This is a B-movie through and through, and it isn’t smart enough to distinguish itself from similarly-themed ones which have come before it and will most certainly come after it. On a final note, we’re not quite sure why Oldman signed up for this, but the veteran character actor’s involvement alone lends ‘Tau’ some prestige, much as the movie can’t justify his presence, so you’d do well to bear that in mind if it’s Oldman that’s gotten you keen on this one.
MOVIE RATING:
Review by Gabriel Chong
Genre: Horror/Thriller
Director: Gilbert Chan
Cast: Mark Lee, Wang Lei, Noah Yap, Richie Koh, Natalia Ng, Melody Low, Fabian Loo
RunTime: 1 hr 26 mins
Rating: PG13
Released By: Golden Village Pictures, mm2 Entertainment and Clover Films
Official Website:
Opening Day: 9 August 2018
Synopsis: Recruit Tommy - a socially awkward individual, is the subject of teasing and bullying by his army mates. He seeks comfort from the compliments left by his readers on his blog that features fictitious army horror stories he writes in his free time. One day, he received a text message from an attractive reader and things started to go awry…
Movie Review:
Even though writer-director Gilbert Chan could very well have fashioned a sequel from the open ending of his previous feature ’23:59’, this second chapter of the horror series bears no relation to its predecessor; in fact, there is nothing which ties it to its title too, seeing as how there is no reference whatsoever to the supposed witching hour. On the contrary, ’23:59: The Haunting Hour’ comprises of a triptych of ghost stories loosely connected to one another via a blogger named Tommy (Fabian Loo), whose online publications of army ghost stories on ‘Haunting Hour’ have earned him a certain following. Tommy serves as narrator of the first two stories set in 1969 and 1983 respectively, and is himself the protagonist of the third story in present day, which arguably has little to do with the army at all.
‘Ah Boys to Men’ supporting actor Noah Yap anchors the first short, starring as a recruit Ah Seng who along with his two buddies are punished by their sergeant for bad-mouthing him while trench-digging in the forest. Choosing to go AWOL than be ‘tekan-ed’ by their sergeant, the trio chance upon an old wooden house where they find a frightened Malay lady. Said lady claims that a hideous creature dressed in Japanese army fatigues has been terrorising their village over the past few nights, and no sooner have they learnt of the legend are they confronted with the heaving creature with red eyes. Just like the recruits who find themselves lost in the jungle, the story goes nowhere, and after a brief sequence hiding from the beast, the story comes to an abrupt end with one of them sitting underneath a tree with his stomach cut open and his entrails exposed.
The subsequent tale follows a group of commando trainees and their ‘Encik’ sergeant who unknowingly bring a powerful snake spirit back to Singapore from the jungles of Brunei. Mark Lee plays the aforementioned Encik Teo, and is single-handedly responsible for the film’s most entertaining sequence in which he shows the trainees how to skin a snake as if unsheathing a condom. Sadly, he dies too soon, and the rest of the story opts for a running gag where the spirit possesses the camp’s plump, fussy and altogether unlikeable chief clerk Mdm Chew and deludes its male prey into thinking that she is a sexy vixen (Malaysian actress Natalia Ng) before killing them.
To subdue the spirit, the camp’s commander enlists the help of a Taoist medium (Wang Lei), who suggests that they use the handsome recruit Desmond (Ritchie Koh) as bait to lure her before exploding a grenade filled with sulphur in her mouth. It is downright sexist all right, and unless you’re in the mood for such base pleasures, you’ll probably find it offensive, even repulsive. There is also no closure to the tale, which ends with Tommy simply saying how the grenade had not killed the spirit but only made it stronger and angrier. It should also be said that both this and the preceding story pay little attention to detail about army routines/ protocol, which not only drains their credibility but also makes them even more contrived.
Ironically, the story which is most grounded has very little bearing on army life at all. Turns out that Tommy is a recruit struggling to get used to his own BMT experience, and is hated by his platoon mates for getting them into trouble; in his loneliness, he invents a fake ‘friendssbook’ profile of a female admirer of his stories who goes by the moniker ‘Photogirl94’ and pretends to have conversations with her. Not surprisingly, the said fictional girlfriend he names Mia acquires a life of her own, and starts texting him back. It is at this time too that strange things start happening around him, involving puddles of water and locks of female hair in the bunk toilet and in his own room at home.
Notwithstanding how daft he as a writer of horror stories must be not to notice that something is not quite right with Mia, Tommy goes ahead to reach out to her, revealing a tragic story of cyberbullying, peer pressure and teenage suicide. For those who are fans of influencer Melody Low, you may be glad to know that she makes a brief but pivotal appearance in this story. Like we said, its connection with the army is but tangential, although this is easily the very best among the three for not only having a proper story but also themes that manage to be relatable and relevant.
Having said that, there are hardly any scares to be had throughout this brief 86-minute movie, which feels a lot longer than it actually is. Besides the occasional jump-scare, there is little by way of tension, suspense or dread that Chan builds up in individual scenes. Nor for that matter does he even seem bothered to weave a compelling story around them, with the first two army stories barely developed and abruptly tossed away. Admittedly, most of the ghost stories we’ve heard in National Service are no more than campfire fodder, but that hardly excuses the lazy and tedious plotting on shameful display here.
For all its flaws, there was at least greater coherence to ’23:59’, and in almost every other respect, this is a decidedly inferior sequel. That is truly a pity, seeing as how horror stories are pretty much an institution of the NS experience and therefore how ’23:59’ could very well become a sister franchise to the ‘Ah Boys to Men’ films. But this is less a franchise starter than a franchise killer, which depletes what goodwill its mediocre predecessor had built up. There is some patriotic significance in timing the release of ’23:59: The Haunting Hour’ with National Day, but as much as we wanted to like and support this local movie, there is not much here for anyone, Singaporean or otherwise, to be proud of.
Movie Rating:
(Less scarily good than scarily bad, this decidedly inferior sequel to an already mediocre horror obliges you to book out of its sheer tedium)
Review by Gabriel Chong
Genre: Horror/Comedy
Director: Lin Kuan Hui
Cast: Zhang Ting Hu, Guo Shu Yao, Law Kar Ying, Mimi Chu , Hung Yan Siang, Lin He Xuan
Runtime: 1 hr 49 mins
Rating: PG13 (Some Frightening Scenes)
Released By: Warner Bros
Official Website:
Opening Day: 26 July 2018
Synopsis: Amid foul-blowing winds and squawking crows, there is an old, decrepit hot spring hotel deep in the mountains. After Xiaogin’s parents passed away years ago, his aging grandparents have struggled to keep the hotel alive but the young Xiaogin has been hesitant to take over the hotel because he is afraid of ruining the dream of his deceased parents. Xiaogin transfers to a third school during his fifth year of studies at high school. During his winter vacation, his grandparents tricks him into returning to the hotel. Xiaogin’s classmates Little Princess and Lu Qun tag along uninvited to escape being bullied by hoodlums at school. When the three boys are staying at the hot spring hotel, they discover it is haunted by ghosts. Their fear forces these three high school students who cannot stand the sight of each other to develop an extremely close friendship. As they get closer to the truth behind the hauntings, will they find out the secret that lurks underneath the steaming hot springs?
Movie Review:
With a title like this, don’t blame us for thinking that the Taiwanese movie is a sleaze pot filled brimming with sordid content. Sure, the male leads go topless in several scenes, but these sequences are anything but sexy.
On the contrary, there are some genuinely touching moments in the horror comedy that make this 109 minute production a worthwhile watch.
Helmed by first time director Lin Kuan Hui, the story sees three classmates making a trip to a hot spring resort during their vacation. The three boys can’t be anymore different: one is a cool jock, one is a effeminate with “Little Princess” as his nickname, and one is an outcaste who sleepwalks. Run by an elderly couple, the hotel begins to creep the boys out with what seems like supernatural incidents - cue the PG13 (Some Frightening Scenes) age rating and consumer advice.
The movie doesn’t rush through its storytelling, taking its time to play out countless slapstick scenes. Sporting a golden mop of hair, Zhang Ting Hu (who is more known for his performances in TV series) plays the suave protagonist who has to deal with his dim witted friends. The jokes aren’t exactly what you’d classify as intelligent, but from the thunderous laughter heard during the preview screening, you can expect a general serving of funny sequences.
Hung Yan Siang (Cafe Waiting Love) is aptly hilarious as the sissy of the trio. The member of Mandopop band Nan Quan Mama even gets to dress up as Joey Wong’s character in a scene spoofing the classic Hong Kong movie A Chinese Ghost Story (1986). His other supporting actor Lin He Xuan (Our Times) is a natural comedian who puts his talent to good use to his annoyingly funny character. Popular Taiwanese actress, singer and TV host Guo Shu Yao (When a Wolf Falls in Love with a Sheep) also appears in the movie as an angry love rival who shows up at the resort.
Elsewhere, Hong Kong veterans Law Kar Ying (From Vegas to Macau III) and Mimi Chu (King of Mahjong) effortlessly play Zhang’s grandparents who may have more than inn keeping abilities up their sleeves. The duo’s performances are perfect examples of experience in showbiz counts when it comes to acting.
The ensemble cast has great chemistry with each other, and this makes for an engaging watch. The boys will remind you of the friendships you had in school, while the senior folks will have you wishing that all romances turn out this heartwarming.
Just when you think the plot is heading nowhere with its continuous jokes, questions are answered and they turn out to be truly moving. Without giving away too much, the last 20 minutes of the movie will have you re evaluating your views on family and kinship. As expected, the comedy ends on a high note with everyone coming together happily. There is nothing to dislike here - the humour is refreshing and there is just enough heart to make you smile.
Movie Rating:
(This breezy horror comedy has a winning formula of likeable leads, refreshing humour and the right amount of heart)
Review by John Li
Genre: Action/Sci-Fi
Director: Jonathan Baker, Josh Baker
Cast: Zoë Kravitz, James Franco, Dennis Quaid, Jack Reynor, Myles Truitt, Carrie Coon
RunTime: 1 hr 43 min
Rating: PG13 (Some Violence and Coarse Language)
Released By: Shaw Organisation
Official Website:
Opening Day: 30 August 2018
Synopsis: From the producers of ARRIVAL and STRANGER THINGS comes KIN, a pulse-pounding crime thriller with a sci-fi twist, and the story of an unexpected hero destined for greatness. Chased by a vengeful criminal (James Franco) and a gang of otherworldly soldiers, a recently released ex-con (Jack Reynor) and his adopted teenage brother (Myles Truitt) are forced to go on the run with a weapon of mysterious origin as their only protection.
Movie Review:
Based on the 2014 short film, Bag Man, Kin centres on a plot unfolding in an eerily hushed neighbourhood in Detroit where Elijah Solinski (Myles Truitt), an adopted son and Hal Solinski (Dennis Quaid) a protective father goes about their daily lives to have Jimmy Solinski (Jack Reynor) the big brother return from prison. On the parallel, Eli finds the cutting-edge gun in an unbeknown abyss and flees the scene with it, guarding it dearly. When Jimmy lands himself in some grave mafia mess, with Taylor Bolek (James Franco) a crime lord, Hal sniffs out the plan. And all else derails, setting the plot into motion.
In September 2016, Lionsgate bought the film rights to Kin for about $30 million at the Toronto Film Festival.Directed by Jonathan and Josh Baker from a screenplay by Daniel Casey, Kin tries to weave a family drama, with some element of sci-fi and fast action. What remains cool is the fact that Baker twins who are brothers themselves set their hearts on bromance as Kin’s chief element.
The choice of cast sets the foundation of the screenplay. Quaid smoothly delivers his no-nonsense father figure role. Reynor fits well into the role of an ex-con who is irresponsible but has enough warmth and love for a brother who isn’t his own. Franco plays the callous bad guy and no one could have fitted the role better than himself. Zoe Kravitz joins halfway into the action with her character as a stripper and a trusted ally of the brothers. And Truitt, the talented debutant from Atlanta, whom we could expect to see more often on big screens gave his best as a teen who tries forging real connections with his adoptive family.
The gadgets are looking state-of-the-art. The helmets seem as though they come straight out of Blacklight Retribution. It carries some elements of Destiny (the game) but with a fresh twist. Kin has one of the most incredible CGI that can’t possibly be overlooked. One might even experience nostalgia of Bishop in X-Men.
The downsides of Kin would be that the characters could have been further developed to lend some depth to the storyline. When compared to Bag Man, Kin has the scope to make it big commercial-wise; whereas the former could have been made into an original, full-length movie. And there is nothing sci-fi about Kin except for the gadgets and gun, which at times seemed unbelievably buoyant for a 14-year-old adolescent to carry it around and fire it like a pro.
Movie Rating:
(Kin leans more toward being a prick flick, delivering bromance in a renewed perspective'. A serious treat for gamers, sci-fi and action flick fans)
Review by Asha B
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