Genre: Drama/Fantasy
Director: David Yates
Cast: Eddie Redmayne, Katherine Waterston, Dan Fogler, Alison Sudol, Ezra Miller, Zoë Kravitz, Callum Turner, Claudia Kim, William Nadylam, Kevin Guthrie, Poppy Corby-Tuech, Brontis Jodorowsky, Johnny Depp, Jude Law
Runtime: 2 hrs 14 mins
Rating: PG (Some Disturbing Scenes)
Released By: Warner Bros
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 15 November 2018

Synopsis: At the end of the first film, the powerful Dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald (Johnny Depp) was captured by MACUSA (Magical Congress of the United States of America), with the help of Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne). But, making good on his threat, Grindelwald escaped custody and has set about gathering followers, most unsuspecting of his true agenda: to raise pure-blood wizards up to rule over all non-magical beings. In an effort to thwart Grindelwald’s plans, Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law) enlists his former student Newt Scamander, who agrees to help, unaware of the dangers that lie ahead. Lines are drawn as love and loyalty are tested, even among the truest friends and family, in an increasingly divided wizarding world.

Movie Review:

‘Fantastic Beasts’ was J.K. Rowling’s answer to Potterheads who didn’t want the magic to end even after seven books, eight films, a West End stage play and several other in-universe short stories. As gratuitous as that may have sounded, the first of what will be a five-film spinoff series was delightful in its own ways, including the menagerie of magical creatures which resided in magizoologist Newt Scamander’s briefcase, Newt’s ditzy charm and the soup-ed up 1920s New York City supernatural setting. But in this second outing, much of what made its predecessor endearing is either lost or diminished amidst an assortment of unremarkable supporting characters and their equally unnecessary subplots, as well as a hectic and confusing third act which tries to tie too much of past, present and future together.

As is evident from its title, this instalment is all about the evil wizard Gellert Grindelwald (Johnny Depp), who was captured by the Ministry of Magic at the end of the first movie. Apparently deciding that Grindelwald is more fun out than in prison, Rowling opens the movie with his daring mid-air escape amidst transportation by Thestrals-drawn stagecoach from a New York prison to Europe. What could have been a thrilling IMAX-worthy action sequence full of literal highs and lows on a dark stormy night is unfortunately ruined by rapid edits and a consequently confusing sense of perspective throughout, and those hoping for better spectacle should know that this is as spectacular – and therefore disappointing – as it gets. Grindelwald’s escape energises followers of his pure-blood supremacist movement, united by his vision of ruling over the world’s non-magical population (or No-Majs).  

To track him down, the British Ministry of Magic dispatches its Aurors, among them Newt’s more straight-laced and respectable older brother Theseus (Callum Turner) and his one-time love interest Tina Goldstein (Katherine Waterston). Newt himself is enlisted by none other than Hogwarts’ Professor Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law) to go after Grindelwald, although why Albus refuses to pursue Grindelwald himself only becomes clearer much later on. Along for the adventure from the last movie too are Tina’s daffy but loveable sister Queenie (Alison Sudol) and her Muggle boyfriend Jacob (Dan Fogler), whose agreeably eccentric coupling is sadly given short shrift too. Oh yes, Rowling seems more interested here in Newt’s former love and Theseus’ current fiancée Leta Lestrange (Zoe Kravitz), who carries some deep, dark secret that tears at her from the inside.

That’s only the list of people on the good side, and to complement that, we have the return of Credence Barebone (Ezra Miller), who is here accompanied by the sympathetic shapeshifter Nagini (Claudia Kim). Rowling hardly cares that you thought Credence was dead after the first movie, establishing that he had in fact survived with a throwaway line delivered by some inconsequential character to Newt. Grindelwald is after Credence, hoping to harness the Obscurial (otherwise known as a wizard who has repressed his or her magical abilities from young) for his own nefarious plans of world domination. Credence, on the other hand, is driven by a singular sense of purpose – that is, to discover his true identity – and Rowling reserves the biggest reveal at the end of the movie for him (don’t worry, you won’t hear any spoilers from us).

Everything and everyone is linked, and Rowling spends much of the third act revealing whose and whose backstory. The connection between Dumbledore and Grindelwald is intriguing to say the least (especially given the hint of an erotic charge between them), and that between Newt and Leta is rather adorable, but that which binds Leta, Credence and a mysterious French-Senegalese dandy named Yusuf Kama (William Nadylam) is needlessly convoluted and utterly frustrating. It’s no surprise that Newt, Tina, Queenie and Jacob are pretty much wallflowers for this section of the movie, even though she does give let Newt’s loyal green mantis-like Pickett and the duck-like Niffler at least a nominal role every now and then. Depending on how big of a Potterhead you are, you’ll also either lap up the fan-service moments or find them shamelessly manipulative – and if you ask us, we’d say we found the return to Hogwarts and Dumbledore as the Professor of the Dark Arts the former, and the name-drops to McGonagall and Nicholas Flamel the latter.

It is plainly evident that ‘The Crimes of Grindelwald’ finds Rowling still stuck in the world-building stage of the ‘Fantastic Beasts’ canon, adding new characters and finding ways to call back to the ‘Harry Potter’ mythology both for better and for worse. Yet even so, there isn’t much of a compelling story to be had here, which itself suffers from a shocking lack of momentum and pacing. The blame for that falls too on director David Yates, who has perhaps spent too long immersed in both the ‘Harry Potter’ films and now the ‘Fantastic Beasts’ ones, such that his familiarity seems to have clouded his judgment of how to ensure a coherent and engaging film. Rather than act to curb Rowling’s indulgences, Yates gives in fully to them, resulting in a two-and-a-quarter hour episode of a miniseries that packs too much and too little at the same time, disguising its inadequacies with a false sense of urgency.

Frankly put, the magic that was once so gripping in ‘Harry Potter’ and seemed alluring in the first ‘Fantastic Beasts’ movie two years back has arguably faded, so much so that the best the filmmakers could come up with for the climax is a lot, a lot of expensive digital blue flames. Sure, we’re still mildly piqued to see how Dumbledore and Grindelwald will confront each other given their relationship in the past, or how who Grindelwald tells Credence he is unfolds as a potentially fascinating complication. But this movie itself is a letdown, almost feeling as if it were made purely for the sake of stretching the series out as long as it can in order to keep packing them Potterheads into the cinema. It has many crimes of its own mind you, and not as much redeeming qualities, and just so you know where to align your expectations, we’d say this is possibly one of the worst ‘Harry Potter’/ ‘Fantastic Beasts’ films.

Movie Rating:

(Needlessly convoluted, overstuffed and yet under-developed, there is little fantastic about this second chapter of the ‘Harry Potter’ spinoff series that disguises its inadequancies with a false sense of urgency)

Review by Gabriel Chong

Genre: Drama/Fantasy
Director: Kim Yong-hwa
Cast: Ha Jung-woo, Ju Ji-hoon, Kim Hyang-gi, Don Lee, Kim Dong-wook, Lee Jung-jae
RunTime: 2 hrs 21 mins
Rating: PG13 (Some Violence)
Released By: Golden Village Pictures
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 22 August 2018

Synopsis: Su-hong and his 3 Afterlife Guardians journey through 7 hells in order for all them to be reincarnated, while a household god defies all rules to help ordinary people in the living world. And the afterlife guardian’s tragic lives on earth thousand years ago are uncovered one by one during their battle against the god in human world.

Movie Review:

By now, you would have probably heard of this unexpected hit of a South-Korean title. Yes, it already had all the makings of a blockbuster, but it surpassed even projections by pundits. Surpassing 10 million viewers in only 15 days, Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds tripled returns of the US$36 million investment on the 2-parter, and became the second highest-grossing film of all time in Korea.

Most importantly, it will be remembered as “that emotional rollercoaster of a film that kept my waterworks going”.

Given my history with the franchise, I prepared an extra packet of tissues for the viewing of the sequel. But sadly, I hardly used a piece. Although both titles were shot together, Along with the Gods: The Last 49 Days feels like a distant product. It pushed up the sliders on scale and size, but lost the epic in their storytelling and pacing.

What happened, Director Kim Yong-hwa?

The film returns us to hell, and along with the three guardians Gang-lim (Ha Jung-woo), Haewonmak (Ju Ji-hoon) and Lee Deok-choon (Kim Hyang-gi), we now accompany new paragon Kim Soo-hong (Kim Dong-wook) - brother of first episode’s paragon, Kim Ja-hong - through his trials.

While the first chapter had Ja-hong as the plot anchor, The Last 49 Days turns our attention to the 3 guardians and their mysterious past. This, to me, is where the sequel flounders.

It’s not long before we splinter into various story arcs. There’s the main story of the trio’s pasts, retold through increasingly frustrating flashbacks that sometimes last no more than a minute. Then there’s the added task from King Yeomra, which dispatches Haewonmak and Deok-choon to claim a long-overdue soul, Hur Choon-sam (Nam Il-woo).

Turns out the old fellow (who appears briefly in the first film) is protected by his ultra-powerful resident Household God Seongju (Ma Deok-seok). As the two guardians struggle to wrestle the deity into submission, they find out not only his reason for protecting his client, but also that he was an ex-guardian who was there at their own passing - thus a key to retrieving their memories.

Add to that, Gang-lim’s supposed agenda is throwing in all his chips to get Soo-hong reincarnated, Soo-hong’s own unwillingness to do so because he doesn’t want to believe that his friends murdered him, Seongju’s bout with failed investments and helping his actual charge (Choon-sam’s grandson) to find a real guardian, and you have essentially a very diluted film. Even King Yeomra is not spared with his own little twist!

By sowing 49 Days with so much storyline, a deft director might still be able to measure out portions of steer his priorities in the right direction to maintain a strong plot with a moral compass like the first. But Kim dropped the hat on this one. The second episode flickers back and forth stories incoherently, and makes for a frustrating viewing.

Most annoying of all is Soo-hong’s temperamental behaviour. It seems to serve only as a catalyst to drive Gang-lim’s actions, and loses potency because of it. Gang-lim’s own guilt-laden agenda is also slightly unbearable, given how it was obvious halfway what it was really all about.

While the film does still feature gorgeous graphics and settings, it has lost a slight shine from the first film’s reveal. We get to see a new scene for Indolence Hell, but other new segments really raise eyebrows in the wrong way. One word - dinosaurs.

Along with the Gods: The Last 49 Days stays on track in terms of a continuation, but the calibre is far more hollow than the first. You’ll get to enjoy some light sobbing at the end, but this second chapter leaves no lasting impression.

Let’s hope the next episode fares better. And yes, there will be one. 

Movie Rating:

(Great performances still by a cast with good chemistry, but an overstuffed script makes the story empty of substance. This chapter has lost its soul)

Review by Morgan Awyong

Genre: Comedy
Director: Huang Bo
Cast: Huang Bo, Shu Qi, Wang Baoqiang, Zhang Yixing Yu Hewei, Wang Xun, Li Qinin, Li Youlin
RunTime: 2 hrs 13 mins
Rating: PG13 (Some Coarse Language)
Released By: Golden Village Pictures
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 23 August 2018

Synopsis: Working as a low-level employee in the company, Ma Jin has the pipe-dream of winning the lottery and getting the right girl – his colleague Shanshan. During the corporate team building trip, Ma finds out that with a staggering sum of sixty million yuan, he is the latest lottery grand prize winner. This moment of fulfilment is accompanied by an unexpected shipwreck with everybody washes ashore on a desert island...

Movie Review:

So goes a quote: “Comedy is simply a funny way of being serious”. How true that is of Huang Bo’s directorial debut ‘The Island’, a survivalist dramedy which adapts the familiar premise of ‘Lord of the Flies’ for a thoughtful study on social hierarchy. Huang himself co-writes the story of a company of white-collar workers who are shipwrecked on a deserted island while on a teambuilding adventure, after encountering a giant tsunami ostensibly unleashed by a meteorite passing dangerously close to Earth. It is no coincidence that these twenty or so members are colleagues; after all, there is invariably a chain of command established among them, which is all but upended when the company boss Zhang (Yu Hewei) proves utterly clueless about what they need to do in order to survive in the wilderness.

Oh yes, it is deliberate irony that the least among the group should emerge as their leader, but hey at least their bus guide Dicky Wang (Wang Baoqiang) knows how to gather fruits, fresh water and fish, so it isn’t surprising that the rest choose to submit to the Army veteran and former circus monkey trainer than to Zhang under those circumstances. Though at first reluctant, Dicky begins to relish being in charge, and pretty soon resorts to force and intimidation to get others to work for him. No one likes to be oppressed, especially not someone used to being the authority, and so in time Zhang will establish a breakaway faction in an overturned freighter beached on another corner of the island. Instead of Dicky’s communist-style dictatorship, Zhang runs his little fiefdom by capitalist means, with playing cards as the currency to exchange for goods and food.

Amidst the establishment of these two diametrically opposite centres of governance is Huang’s middle-aged sad-sack worker Ma Jin, who is on his own desperate quest to get off the island within 90 days in order to claim the 60 million RMB lottery prize he had just discovered that he won before the fateful tsunami. Ma also pines hopelessly for the affections of his fellow co-worker Shan Shan (Shu Qi), but takes for granted the loyalty of his childhood buddy Xing (Zhang Yixin). Ma and Xing have a brief falling out when the latter inadvertently learns of Ma’s real motivation for risking their lives to leave; notwithstanding, the tightly-knit pair stick with each other as they go from Dicky’s faction to Zhang’s faction to forging their own survival within a broken helicopter next to a shallow riverbed.

In time, Ma will be forced to abandon his dreams of ever cashing in his winnings, but it is also at that time a freak occurrence will turn his despair into hope. Without revealing too much, it suffices to say that Ma and Xing will hatch a plan to reunite the two rival factions so as to establish lasting peace among the community at large, and in the process Ma will win Shan’s respect and regard. But with a running time of close to two and a half hours, you’ll be mistaken to assume that the film is done; in fact, the third and final act explores just how far both Ma and Xing are willing to go in order to safeguard the kind of life they had built up on the island, especially if that entails withholding the truth from the rest of the group. Both have no illusions just how insignificant they will otherwise be in the real world, and it is this fear that ends up perverting their actions.  

Oh yes, it’s not hard to see that Huang intends a cautionary lesson on how easily power corrupts even the most unassuming of us – whether is it the lowly service staff Dicky who has leadership suddenly thrust upon him, or the meek and modest Xing who had seemed just days ago perfectly content to simply follow in Ma’s footsteps, or the self-effacing Ma who assumed the mantle of leader with no more than the noble intention of healing the rift between his warring colleagues. Besides a critical examination of authority, the film also portrays keenly how communities develop and thrive by simple supply and demand of valuable commodities like food, water and other resources. As artificial as the set-up may be, there is little artifice in how the characters respond to the changing circumstances, and this demonstration of social behaviour is captivating to watch.

As an actor-turned-director, Huang ensures that the performances of his ensemble cast are not lost amidst the allegory. Huang himself brings nuance to his role as a debt-ridden loser looking for a break in life, while giving space for the sort of broad laughs that he is known for in his pairings with Wang. Though in just a supporting role, Shu Qi offers a welcome human touch from time to time in her scenes with Huang, especially when the rest of the proceedings threaten to get a little shrill. Huang also proves to be a visually imaginative director, and some of the more outstanding images on display include a life-or-death shave with a massive cargo freighter during the tsunami, the upside-down shipwreck where Zhang sets up his camp and a tree with hundreds of fish hung from its branches to dry.

It’s an impressive debut for Huang no doubt, and even though it does go on for too long, ‘The Island’ establishes his distinctive voice as a social commentator with comedy as his vehicle. Like our opening quote, there may be outrageous moments of humour within, but that absurdity really underlines the very farcical nature of human behaviour in society. Those familiar with Chinese society will certainly read deeper into its portraits of class differentiation, yet its theme will resonate with anyone who’s ever wondered about his or her place on the social ladder. ‘The Island’ also comes at a particular time in Chinese cinema driven by social allegories, and it is a perfect example of a new consciousness seeping into the mainstream as well as popular culture.

Movie Rating:

(A shrewd repurposing of the "Lord of the Flies' premise for a thoughtful and incisive commentary on social hierarchy, 'The Island' is an impressive debut for actor-turned-director Huang Bo)

Review by Gabriel Chong

Genre: Crime/Drama
Director: Felix Chong
Cast: Aaron Kwok, Chow Yun Fatt, Zhang Jinchu, Joyce Feng Wenjuan, Liu Kai-chi, Catherine Chau, David Wang, Alex Fong, Jack Kao, Xing Jiadong, Dominic Lam, Alien Sun
RunTime: 2 hrs 10 mins
Rating: PG13 (Some Violence)
Released By: mm2 Entertainment
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 4 October 2018

Synopsis: The Hong Kong police are hunting a counterfeiting gang led by a mastermind code-named "Painter" (Chow Yun-fat). The scope of their criminal activities extends globally and attracts the attention of the police. In order to crack the true identity of "Painter", the police recruits gang member Lee Man (Aaron Kwok) unmask "Painter's" secret identity.

Movie Review:

Lest there be any doubt, ‘Project Gutenberg’ bears no relation to the volunteer effort to digitise and archive cultural works; rather, as conceived by one-half of the ‘Infernal Affairs’ and ‘Overheard’ writing duo, it revolves around the counterfeit artist Lee Man (Aaron Kwok), who is recruited by the Hong Kong Police to take down the mastermind  of the syndicate he used to work for. That charming, temperamental and ruthless criminal goes by the name of ‘Painter’ (Chow Yun Fat), has thus far not been identified by the authorities, and is apparently responsible for a series of murders. Though at first fearful of Painter’s reprisal, Lee Man is eventually persuaded by his old flame Yuen Man (Zhang Jingchu), who agrees to bail him out provided he help the Police apprehend the same man that had murdered her fiancé.

So on the basis of a recorded statement, Lee Man recounts how Painter had recruited him back when he was just a struggling artist, how he worked together with Painter and the other members of Painter’s crew to manufacture the perfect replica of a US$100 bill, how he grew disillusioned with Painter’s brutal methods, and last but not least how they eventually fell out that led to his downfall and subsequent arrest. Oh yes, it is a sprawling account all right, stretching from Vancouver to Hong Kong to Poland to Laos and finally to Thailand over the span of about two decades. And at slightly more than two hours, it also feels its length – comprising an all-too leisurely first act that lacks momentum; followed by a much more engaging second act of vendettas, ultimatums and showdowns; and a last-minute twist that deliberately unravels everything the movie had wanted us to assume about Painter and Lee Man.

This is only Chong’s second solo outing as both writer and director (the first was the underwhelming gangster spoof ‘Once A Gangster’), and his greenness is obvious. Too much time is spent in the first half-hour on details that don’t matter: Lee Man’s time in a Thai prison where he scrapes paint off the cell walls to forge stamps; his subsequent transfer into the hands of the Hong Kong Police led by Inspector Ho (Catherine Chau); Ho’s attempt to frame him for the murders in a bid to get him to cooperate; the Deputy Commissioner (Alex Fong), who happens to be Ho’s father, standing up to Yuen Man’s legal representative demanding that Lee be released. We couldn’t agree more with Inspector Ho’s utterance at the end of that half-hour to bring Painter into the picture already, and even that is after Lee describes his romantic past with Yuen Man, including how he had intentionally broken up with her in order not to hold her back from her potential as a professional artist.

Things do get briefly more exciting when Painter finally shows up, offering Lee a job in his lucrative family business of replicas (not counterfeits, mind you). Yet the pace slackens again when Chong, enamoured with the ins and outs of printing counterfeit banknotes, puts us through the step-by-step process of how Painter develops his technique. Scene after scene demonstrates how to get the image of the banknote right, how to reproduce the watermark, how to get the correct thickness and material of the plating, the method of intaglio printing, where to source for starch-free paper, and how to obtain the colour-shifting ink required. Granted, no other film in our memory has so intricately laid out these details, but aside from bringing us on a globe-trotting adventure to procure the equipment and materials needed, the next half-hour that Painter sets up his operation doesn’t make for very compelling cinema at all.

The same can be said of Painter’s relationship with Lee Man up till this point; it isn’t clear to what extent Lee Man is taken with Painter, be it Painter’s exhortation for Lee Man to step up to the occasion to be the “leading man” or Painter’s debonairness basking in that very position. Even less defined are the dynamics among Painter’s crew, who are largely relegated to standing around filling the background; the only exception in this regard is plating specialist Uncle Yam (Liu Kai Chi), who worked with Painter’s father before the latter was brutally murdered and who is respected as an ‘elder’ in the team. It is only halfway through the movie that there is clarity just how their relationship will end up being, but without first establishing the camaraderie between Painter and Lee Man, their subsequent falling out isn’t quite as gripping.

Notwithstanding, their unravelling still makes an interesting watch, as Lee Man grows increasingly traumatised by Painter’s violent streak – angered by a guard who wounds him in the shoulder, Lee Man pumps him dead with multiple bullets; bent on avenging his father, Painter takes the fight to a Laotian general’s (Jack Kao) base camp within the Golden Triangle; and during a meeting with a Canadian Federal Police officer disguised as a potential client, Painter eventually shoots the officer dead right in front of Lee Man. As Painter, Chow is as magnetic as ever, oozing charisma, menace and viciousness in equal measure; on the other hand, Kwok doesn’t seem quite know what to make of his character, so from scene to scene and over the course of the movie, sticks to the monotony of portraying Lee Man as timid, faint-hearted and utterly uncomfortable with the criminal world Painter has sucked him into.

There has been some hype about Chow returning to his action-hero glory days in ‘Project Gutenberg’, but if you’re harbouring such expectations, we’d advise you to cast them aside. There are just three big action sequences to speak of – a robbery on an open stretch of road in the countryside; the surprise guerrilla-like attack that Painter and his crew launch on the Laotian General’s base; and a shootout in close quarters within a hotel room – and even then, only the first two genuinely qualify as showpieces. But despite an assist from Li Chung-chi as action director, neither is particularly thrilling, not least because they seem haphazardly filmed and pieced together, therefore lacking sense of continuity in between shots. There is one particular image of Chow firing two machine guns slung on both shoulders that is clearly intended as a money shot, but it is ultimately lost amidst a flurry of other shots messily stitched together.

But Chong deserves credit for mounting such an ambitious crime thriller in the first place, especially since the subject of currency counterfeiting has not yet been developed in such scale or scope in Hong Kong or Chinese cinema. ‘Project Gutenberg’ should therefore be celebrated as a milestone in itself, and while it would have benefited from a tighter narrative and sharper characterisation, it certainly has enough novelty, inspiration and intrigue to hold your attention for most of its duration. Of course, there is also the satisfaction of watching Chow Yun Fat on the big screen, which never fails to remind us just why he is a bona fide movie star. It doesn’t reach the gold standard of ‘Infernal Affairs’, but it is on the whole as good as any of the ‘Overheard’ movies, so consider that our assessment of whether you should give this Project a pass.

Movie Rating:

(What should be a tighter narrative and sharper characterisation diminishes what is otherwise an ambitious crime thriller whose pleasures are novel, inventive and intriguing, as well as a magnetic performance by Chow Yun Fat)

Review by Gabriel Chong

SYNOPSIS: A father has a recurring dream of losing his family. His nightmare turns into reality when the planet is invaded by a force bent on destruction. Now, fighting for their lives, he comes to realize an unknown strength to keep them safe from harm.

MOVIE REVIEW:

Like ‘The Cloverfield Paradox’, ‘Extinction’ was a movie that was intended to be released in theatres before the studio involved decided to sell it to Netflix – and like its predecessor, it’s not difficult to understand why once you’ve seen the film.

On its surface, this is yet another alien invasion film, albeit centred on Michael Pena and Lizzy Caplan as a couple in a strained marriage with two kids who try to keep their family alive during the mysterious attack. The source of their marital troubles is Pena’s nightmares of the attack before it happens, which causes him to be disoriented and distracted from his family, friends and work. Though his wife urges him to seek help, he seems reluctant to do so, more willing to believe that these dreams portend something dangerous to come than just delusions.

Unsurprisingly, Peter’s (Pena) visions will come true, and slightly less than half an hour into the movie, he and Alice (Caplan) will find themselves face to face with an advanced race descended from the skies intent on wiping them and every other similar living being from the face of the Earth. Indeed, seeing as how these aliens seem interested only in exercising use of their sophisticated weaponry, Peter soon deduces that his dreams were meant to prepare him for the only recourse available – that is, to fight back against the invasion, using the aliens’ own weaponry against them.

It doesn’t take long for you to realise that there is something not quite right about how things are being portrayed. For one, the context in which the proceedings unfold feels frustratingly undefined. Is it some point in the future? If so, what sort of future is it and why does it feel so much like present day? For another, the very people whose fates we are supposed to care about seem curiously distant. Why do none of the characters, whether Peter or Alice or their two daughters, seem likeable or sympathetic? Why do Pena and Caplan seem so disengaged? And last but not least, the pace at which the invasion takes place just seems incredulous. One moment, the aliens are descending in spaceships from the sky; and another, they seem to be everywhere and anywhere, going through the city’s buildings in order to kill off every single living thing in just a matter of minutes.

At this point, we should tell you that there is a major twist at the start of the last act, although we’re not going to spoil it for you here. It does immediately change your perspective of what had happened, and though not quite as clever as that of co-writer Eric Heisserer’s Oscar-nominated ‘Arrival’, still is pretty ingenious. That twist does clear away some of the narrative gaps we mentioned earlier, but not quite enough for you to overlook the script’s obvious logic loopholes and weak characterisation. The same could also be said of Ben Young’s middling direction, which fails to build a world compelling enough for us to believe in or invest emotionally within. Notwithstanding, it is undeniable that the twist comes with it some intriguing moral and ethical questions about a future where AI will no doubt be omnipresent, and how humans and synthetic humans will co-exist.

Ultimately, ‘Extinction’ is a movie with a clever idea in need of much better execution. Had it been released in theatres, it would probably have died an unceremonious death from bad reviews and poor word-of-mouth; yet seen from the comfort of one’s own home, it still manages to be a mildly interesting watch. Like we said earlier, if you’re able to get past the first hour, it does get better from then on, and you may even like it enough to recommend it to a friend as well.

MOVIE RATING:

Review by Gabriel Chong

SYNOPSIS: When her husband suddenly dumps her, longtime dedicated housewife Deanna (McCarthy) turns regret into re-set by going back to college…landing in the same class and school as her daughter, who’s not entirely sold on the idea. Plunging headlong into the campus experience, the increasingly outspoken Deanna—now Dee Rock—embraces freedom, fun and frat boys on her own terms, finding her true self in a senior year no one ever expected.

MOVIE REVIEW:

Melissa McCarthy can be ridiculously hilarious as a supporting/co-star. Just check out Bridesmaids, The Heat and personal favourite, Spy. But when left to headline an entire movie on her own, it’s another matter altogether. Remember Tammy and The Boss? 

McCarthy reunites with her actor-director husband, Ben Falcone for the third time in Life of the Party in which they also co-wrote the story. Well, third time’s a charm, right? 

Sad to say, Life of the Party smells as bad as a cup of overnight coffee. Deprived of any decent humor and gags, it dreadfully plods along for close to two hours with McCarthy obviously failing to salvage a flimsy script about mid-life crisis and female empowerment. 

As Deanna (McCarthy) and her husband, Dan (Matt Walsh) is dropping their only daughter to university, Deanna is informed by Dan that he wants a divorce as he has fallen for somebody else. Instead of feeling depressed, she decides to go on living her life by earning a degree in archaeology, enrolling in the same university as her daughter. While at the university, Deanna begins to find value in her once monotonous life again by being a mentor to the friends of her daughter and hooking up with a much attractive younger man.   

Life of the Party in short is a mellow version of a rowdy slapstick college comedy. It attempts to be cool and informative but turned out short at every corner. There are hardly any significant plot developments and simply too much repetitive jokes about Deanna making out with her new-found boyfriend and rivalry with a couple of mean girls although there’s a pretty funny dinner scene when Deanna bumped into her ex and his new partner. 

And even though McCarthy is surrounded by a bunch of funny bit players liked Walsh and Maya Rudolph who played her best friend, the comedy simply doesn’t work in the first place. Either McCarthy needs to ditch her husband or she needs to find a better script, this for sure isn’t the life of the party. 

SPECIAL FEATURES:

Cast and crew talks about the movie’s party scene in 80’s Party. 

AUDIO/VISUAL:

The English 5.1 surround sound gets the job done with a decent mix of music, dialogue and effects. Colours and skin tones are natural for a DVD presentation.

MOVIE RATING:

DVD RATING :

Review by Linus Tee

Genre: Action/Thriller
Director: Antoine Fuqua
Cast: Denzel Washington, Pedro Pascal, Ashton Sanders, Bill Pullman, Melissa Leo
RunTime: 2 hrs 1 min
Rating: NC16 (Violence And Some Coarse Language)
Released By: Sony Pictures
Official Website: http://www.facebook.com/SonyPicturesSG

Opening Day: 30 August 2018

Synopsis: Denzel Washington returns to one of his signature roles in the first sequel of his career. Robert McCall serves an unflinching justice for the exploited and oppressed – but how far will he go when that is someone he loves?

Movie Review:

In The Equalizer 2, Denzel Washington appears in his first sequel of his decades-long acting career, reteaming with director Antoine Fuqua (Training Day, The Magnificent Seven) for the fourth time. 

Based loosely on the 1980s TV series, the first Equalizer is sort of a guilty pleasure for action fanatics. Washington’s Robert McCall is a ghost-like, ex-CIA secret operative who has a penchant to dispense justice in his free time to those who need it, like the teenage prostitute who is controlled by the Russian mob. The entire flick works because Washington is, as always, a charmer, and the story is an efficient, action-driven thriller that wastes no bullets and no time in establishing McCall as a man no one should attempt to meddle with. 

Richard Wenk returns as well to write the story, with the sequel attempting to replicate the original formula while adding a bit more to the script. However instead of building a far more interesting movie, it is filled with too much unnecessary subplots and mostly, loses the momentum that helps to keep things going. 

Since he is no longer able to work in the home improvement store, McCall is now a Lyft (think Uber and Grab) driver in Boston, Massachusetts while continuing his work as a secret vigilante, like beating the crap out of several office workers who had just sexually assaulted an intern and travelling all the way to Istanbul to rescue a kidnapped child. Not forgetting trying to reconcile a Holocaust survivor with his long-lost sister and helping a talented troubled young man, Miles (Moonlight’s Ashton Sanders) who is on the verge of joining a gang. 

There are so much subplots crammed into one movie that Wenk’s script frequently detracts from the main storyline, which has McCall trying to avenge the death of his best friend, former CIA operative Susan Plummer (Melissa Leo) who was mysteriously killed while investigating a murder-suicide case in Brussels. And wait, there’s also McCall’s past teammate, Dave (Pedro Pascal whom earlier portrays sort of a similar character in Kingsman: The Golden Circle) who might be hiding a dark agenda of his own. 

As mentioned, the biggest gripe happens to be the weak story that fails to establish the main motive of the killings. For an action movie, the pacing is also embarrassingly leisure. The first Equalizer surprised audiences with an ultra-violent close combat fight sequence in the office of the Russian thugs, but nothing even comes close to it in the sequel. The action choreography while swift and equipped with gallons of fake blood and bone-crunching sound effects are hampered by too much close-ups and incoherent editing.  

While it’s nice of Fuqua and Wenk to set the climatic finale in the middle of a raging storm in the hometown of McCall, there’s again none of the creative killings and adrenaline seen in the first one. Definitely it’s a treat to see an actor likeWashington reprising the character of McCall, but without unleashing any excitement or further insight into the world of Robert McCall, The Equalizer 2 just seems as a lazy excuse on the filmmakers’ part to squeeze out more sequels (see Taken). Apparently, only the trigger-happy and pencil expert John Wick got things right.  

Movie Rating:

(Washington is still very much a charmer in this so-so action sequel)

Review by Linus Tee

SYNOPSIS: After their buddy suffers an unfortunate accident during spring break, four pals risk everything -- including their dignity -- to make him whole again.

MOVIE REVIEW:

‘The Package’ was formerly known as ‘The Eggplant Emoji’, which is a mildly more accurate representation of where this teen comedy goes. Briefly put, this ridiculous, raunchy but uproarious romp sees five teenagers head into the wilderness for a spring break camping trip, only to have one of them in his state of inebriation accidentally slice his penis off with his own butterfly knife while taking a piss. From that basic premise, director Jake Szymanski and co-writers Kevin Burrows and Matt Mider concoct a series of rapidly escalating hijinks as his friends rush against time to reunite the severed appendange with its hospitalised owner, before the window to surgically re-attach it closes for good.

Said victim is Jeremy (Eduardo Franco), a happy-go-lucky Indian American who resembles Pocahontas (we’re not being racist, mind you, we’re just quoting someone in the movie) and has a twin sister named Becky (Geraldine Viswanathan). To celebrate their nice-guy buddy Sean’s (Daniel Doheny) return from overseas studies in Germany, Jeremy had planned a guys-only trip with their neurotic pal Donnie (Luke Spencer Roberts). Alas Jeremy’s parents insist that he bring Becky along after she had abruptly broken up with her boyfriend, and Becky’s best friend Sarah (Sadie Calvano), whom Donnie used to be dating before, end up coming along for the journey. Oh and did we mention that Sean has a big crush on Becky, although he previously blew his chance to get together with her after suffering an unexpected ‘boner’.

As you can imagine, these relationships define the back-and-forth which goes on among the group throughout the movie, and it is not hard to imagine that Sean and Becky will finally hit it off, or that Donnie will eventually patch things up with Sarah. Before you think that Jeremy is the sad-sack who gets left out of a romantic arc, he actually claims to have a hot online girlfriend named Kendall Jenners, although it’s clear why his friends think he’s simply catfishing and that there is no such person with that name. To the credit of each one of these teen actors, they do an admirably consistent job staying in character throughout the film, which goes a long way in getting us to root for them while they sort out their respective complications along the route.

But of course, the highlights here are the numerous gross-out gags, most of which unsurprisingly revolve around the penis – one of these has Sean ‘sucking out the venom’ from where a snake has bitten the penis; another sees the teenagers whip out a penis in front of a foul-mouthed young boy who asks to see Becky and Sarah ‘scissor’ in exchange for a favour; yet another involves an army-veteran-turned-shopkeeper clinically cleaning the penis for who he assumes is a fellow army vet; and last but not least there is a bit of a mix-up with a cheating guy whose psychotic girlfriend had deliberately snipped off his penis after tying him up in bed. The jokes veer from the verbal to the physical over the course of the movie, and the set-pieces get ever more outrageous as the teenagers try to locate just which hospital Jeremy is in.

That’s not counting the occasions when the titular package inadvertently pops out of the cooler in full view, and let’s just say the number of times that happens suggests the filmmakers were absolutely proud of their prop. Notwithstanding, there is just enough aw-shucks sentimentality to balance the grossness of it all, and Szymanski succeeds fairly well in sustaining the pace and momentum of the hijinks slightly over an hour and a half. We’re ashamed to say that we enjoyed ‘The Package’ a lot more than we expected ourselves to, in part because we went into it with little to no expectation; gather a couple of buddies, grab a couple of beers, and you might just find too that this package indeed delivers.

MOVIE RATING:

Review by Gabriel Chong

Genre: Action/Thriller
Director: Brian A. Miller
Cast: Bruce Willis, Frank Grillo, Johnathon Schaech, Olivia Culpo
Runtime: 1 hr 29 mins
Rating: NC-16
Released By: Shaw Organisation
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 6 September 2018

Synopsis: This gritty, action-packed crime thriller pairs action legends Bruce Willis (Die Hard) and Frank Grillo (Captain America series) in a chilling tale of justice and revenge. After surviving a brutal bank robbery, Jacob (Grillo) teams with his ex-cop neighbor (Willis) to track down the ruthless thief and avenge the assault. Desperate for cash to help treat his diabetic daughter, Jacob plans to take advantage of the situation, but in doing so, puts his family in the crosshairs of a killer...

Movie Review:

Halfway into the climactic shootout between bank manager Jacob (Frank Grillo) and criminal mastermind Gabriel (Jonathon Schaech) in a public park, Bruce Willis’ retired ex-cop James arrives on the scene and proceeds immediately into an ambulance where Jacob’s daughter (Natalie Sophie Butler) is being tended to by the paramedics after suffering a diabetic shock. “You have to go!” Jacob’s wife (Olivia Culpo) pleads with James, urging him to go help Jacob.

We couldn’t agree more – what on earth is James doing whispering words of reassurance to Jacob’s daughter when his skills would be better served helping Jacob out in the line of fire? In fact, we’d already had wanted to say that almost an hour ago, seeing as how Willis is pretty much confined within the walls of his living room for most of his scenes, ostensibly helping Jacob figure out just how to track down Gabriel after the latter had robbed the bank he managed and disrupted his career and sanity in the process. No one goes to see Bruce Willis in an action movie talk, even if he is playing a supporting role, but that is precisely what his involvement in ‘Reprisal’ consists.

Still, that would probably just be a gripe if this miserable excuse of a thriller were more exciting; instead, it is yet another embarrassment in director Brian A. Miller’s decidedly B-movie oeuvre, and his third one with Bruce Willis at that. At first, it does seem as if ‘Reprisal’ would be better than their previous two collaborations ‘The Prince’ and ‘Vice’, especially given the opening act that sees Gabriel execute the robbery by himself with precision, muscle and wit. Alas, the proceedings come to a thudding halt right after, as writer Bryce Hammons struggles to bring any sort of logical sequence to Jacob’s own investigation of the incident.

Oh yes, perhaps the most laughable scenes are that with Jacob and James standing around in the latter’s house trying to make sense of Gabriel’s methods and patterns in order to follow him to his next heist. Little in their disjointed dialogue – no thanks to Ryan Dufrene’s random edits – suggests how they could have identified where Gabriel’s hideout or his next target could be, but hey after some of the dumbest detective work we’ve seen on screen, Jacob magically narrows the search down to a couple of abandoned warehouses and proceeds to stake these out. But lo and behold, as if he were wearing some ankle bracelet that forbade him from going out, James stays back at the house to give Jacob the sort of common-sense advice you wouldn’t need a cop to deliver.

To add frustration to annoyance, Grillo is utterly wasted in a role which seems content to suppress his action-movie credentials. Not only is he only really part of the action in the final shootout, he avoids any sort of physical confrontation with Gabriel right up to that point. Why cast Grillo if all Jacob’s character proves to be is a devoted family man to his wife and daughter? Or for that matter, why cast Grillo and then have him crouching in the corner or on the ground? Ironically, Grillo is even more compelling as the baddie in Wu Jing’s ‘Wolf Warrior 2’ than he is here playing the hapless victim whose titular retaliation is calling the cops when Jacob next robs an armoured car.

As such similar low-budget movies often do, the action is largely confined to a couple of sequences, and there are three here which matter – the bank robbery, the aforementioned armoured car heist, and the gunfight at the end. These are respectably exciting by B-movie standards, but Miller himself undercuts these scenes with some restless camerawork that can get distracting, even dizzying, to watch. It is almost as if Miller isn’t confident that the action is engaging in and of itself, and has therefore decided to enhance the shots with a sense of verite by having the camera move about and around the figures in the scenes.

Like we said, having its biggest action star do little more than talk isn’t the movie’s only woes, and it is for these other reasons that ‘Reprisal’ remains a strictly routine direct-to-video title you shouldn’t be paying good money to see in the cinema. But equally, as much as we recognise that age is catching up to Willis, we’d hate to see him waste the goodwill of his fans away by simply cashing in the pay-check from these thankless supporting roles. As this film’s title suggests, there is only so much humiliation we’re willing to take before we’d respond in reprisal – that is, by simply sitting out his films, just as how he seems perfectly content to sit out the action here.

Movie Rating:

(Yet another of Bruce Willis' embarrassing direct-to-video titles, the poorly scripted and clumsily directed 'Reprisal' lets Willis sit out most of the action - and for that matter Frank Grillo too)

Review by Gabriel Chong

Genre: Action/ Adventure
Director: Albert Hughes
Cast: Kodi Smit-McPhee, Jóhannes Haukur Johannesson
RunTime: 1 hr 37 mins
Rating: PG (Some Intense Sequences)
Released By: Sony Pictures Releasing
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 16August 2018

Synopsis: An epic adventure set in the last Ice Age. Europe, 20,000 years ago. While on his first hunt with his tribe’s most elite group, a young man is injured and left for dead. Awakening to find himself broken and alone -- he must learn to survive and navigate the harsh and unforgiving wilderness. Reluctantly taming a lone wolf abandoned by its pack, the pair learn to rely on each other and become unlikely allies, enduring countless dangers and overwhelming odds in order to find their way home before the deadly winter arrives.

Movie Review:

‘Alpha’ is so named because it is about how the bond between man and dog came to be forged some 20,000 years ago, but those expecting a compelling yarn would probably be left cold.

As envisioned by its director Albert Hughes, this history lesson is also a coming-of-age Ice Age survival story which sees a young hunter stranded in the wilderness befriend a wolf that becomes his loyal companion and defender.

It is an awfully simple, even simplistic, story, jazzed up by stunning vistas of craggy cliffs, lightning-split skylines, endless snowy tundras, impossibly green forests and eye-popping auroras. Oh yes, you’d be forgiven for thinking that you’re watching a National Geographic documentary, not least because the stunning landscapes are much more captivating than the narrative, which feels as drawn-out as the hunter’s trek back to his tribe itself.

Ironically, it starts off with probably its most exciting sequence: a row of hunters crawling on all fours towards a herd of bison grazing on a plain, who on command, charge ahead towards the herd, throw their spears to form a fence, and spread out towards the ends to corner its confused and scattered members. It is during this annual great hunt that our young protagonist Keda (Kodi Smit-McPhee) is thrown off a cliff by one of the angry bison, and duty towards the other members of his tribe compels that Keda’s father Tau (Jóhannes Haukur Jóhanneson) leave Keda for dead on the ledge thousands of feet above ground.

At that point, the movie rewinds one week earlier to offer some backstory on Keda. Having proven his skill at making spear points, his father Tau thinks he may be ready to join the adult males for the annual bison hunt before the winter. Keda’s mother is doubtful. “He leads with his heart, not his spear,” she says. True enough, on the trek, Keda proves unable to finish off a wounded animal. That same hesitation is also why he ends up being gored by one of the stampeding bison in the opening hunt.

By the time we return to Keda in the present, it is already a good half-hour into the movie, so those expecting to see the titular character should know that it does take a while to show up. When it eventually does, it is with his hungry pack, and Keda knifes the alpha in order to force the others to disperse.

Instead of simply leaving the abandoned wolf or killing it, Keda decides to nurse it back to health, and in so doing, begins a symbiotic relationship between the pair that is demonstrated over a couple of ensuing scenes: chasing away random wild animals, fishing in lakes, and hunting for food. There is at least some rhythm to these early scenes, including one where Keda teaches Alpha how to share food, another where they tag-team to hunt their prey and another where Alpha unconsciously demonstrates the game of ‘fetch’.

Alas, as the journey between man and wolf progresses, it gets gradually jumpier, messier and more random. As riveting as it may be to watch Alpha jump in slo-mo over the ice while Keda uses his knife to pierce the surface from underneath, that scene calculated more for spectacle than for any genuine narrative purpose; and the same can be said of another in a iridescent cave where they are suddenly attacked by a giant bear.

It is clear by the hour-mark that Hughes and his screenwriter Daniele Sebastian Wiedenhaupt don’t quite know how to sustain a feature-length film with what is essentially a straightforward tale of devoted companionship and mutual support. And that in turn is reflected in McPhee’s indistinct performance, which hardly brings out just how his character’s arduous journey back to his own tribe becomes a life-changing event for himself. What does Alpha teach Keda about himself? How does the bond between Alpha and Keda change Keda? These remain frustratingly ambiguous by the time the movie concludes with the silhouettes of Alpha and Keda.  

So really as pretty as the movie looks, ‘Alpha’ is disappointingly dull and monotonous. Once the bond between Alpha and Keda is established, the movie just becomes a tedious slog to that inevitable happily-ever-after finish. Worse, as minimal as the dialogue of invented early European language may be, the subtitles suggest that it is corny as hell, comprised of the sort of vague aphorisms about how life is for the strong and needs to be earned. Ultimately, it is a middling story of the bond between man and dog, and even if you’re a sucker for such tales, there are much better ones out there you should seek out.. 

Movie Rating:

(Unless you're looking to watch a NatGeo doc of the prehistoric Ice Age on the big screen, the epic vistas won't quite make up for a less than compelling tale of man and dog's first bond)

Review by Gabriel Chong