Genre: Mystery
Director: Kristoffer Nyholm
Cast: Gerard Butler, Peter Mullan, Connor Swindells, Ólafur Darri Ólafsson, Gary Lewis, Søren Malling
Runtime: 1 hr 47 mins
Rating: NC-16 (Coarse Language and Violence)
Released By: Shaw Organisation
Official Website:
Opening Day: 17 January 2019
Synopsis: From the producers of HACKSAW RIDGE comes THE VANISHING, starring Gerard Butler, Peter Mullan and Connor Swindells; a thrilling tale inspired by a true, unsolved legend, the Flannan Isle mystery... On an uninhabited island, 20 miles from the rugged Scottish coast, three lighthouse keepers arrive for their six-week shift. As they settle into their usual, solitary routines, something unexpected and potentially life-changing occurs – they stumble upon something that isn’t theirs to keep. Where did it come from? Who does it belong to? A boat appears in the distance that might hold the answer to these questions… What follows is a tense battle for survival as personal greed replaces loyalty – and fed by isolation and paranoia, three honest men are led down a path to destruction.
Movie Review:
Originally titled ‘Keepers’, ‘The Vanishing’ is based off the true story of three lighthouse keepers who disappeared from a Scottish isle in 1900. Till today, no one really knows what happened to these three men (although the theories that abound include them being murdered by pirates), so much as it is inspired by real events, this is necessarily a work of fiction.
That starting point could have been ripe for any sort of mystery thriller, but in the hands of writers Celyn Jones and Joe Bone, we are instead served with ‘A Simple Plan-like’ scenario where the unexpected discovery of riches quickly leads to greed, violence and paranoia. Even so, you shouldn’t expect a gripping tale full of twists and turns; instead, it is pretty much a bare-bones melodrama, jazzed up with some nice atmospherics by Danish director Kristoffer Nyholm.
To Nyholm’s credit, he tries to craft a compelling character study of our three protagonists. Thomas (Peter Mullan) is a crusty widower who has lost his wife and children under miserable circumstances, and wears his bereftness on his sleeves. James (Gerard Butler) is an affable family man who needs the work, and whose fatherly instincts make him the guardian of their young apprentice Donald (Conner Swindell). Not only is he new to the trade and therefore needing to learn the ropes, Donald is clearly out of his depth even before things go bad for them.
But after setting up these characters, the circumstances that test these individuals are sadly less than compelling. There is strong promise at the start, when the three men find an apparently dead man and his rowboat washed up in a crevasse the morning after a storm – turns out the man isn’t so dead after all, and after a brief but intense tussle, they retrieve his wooden trunk that they find is filled with gold bars. As David’s murderous act strains him mentally to breaking point, two of the dead man’s shipmates arrive looking for their friend and his treasure, leading to an even bloodier confrontation that leaves all three of them struggling thereafter with the psychological repercussions of their own actions.
Try as he does to build tension and suspense throughout these events, there is only so much Nyholm can do with a script that is frankly too spare for its own good. David’s meltdown is more convincing because of how his character has been set up in the first place, but James’ similar predicament is much less persuasive, especially when we are supposed to be led to believe that he will be traumatised to the point that his fear and distrust gets the better of him. The last act pretty much hinges on us buying into that, and it doesn’t help that the build-up is devoid of much excitement or urgency.
Pity then that the actors do put in great work which makes the best out of the much-to-be-desired characterisation. Mullan effectively underplays his role as their elder leader whose attempts at keeping them together come off to increasingly little avail. Swindell makes a memorable debut playing the callow youth who is the first among them to come apart, but sobers up when James becomes even more unhinged. And last but not least is Butler, who demonstrates his impressive dramatic chops portraying his character’s unravelling at the bloodshed of his own doing. Lest we think Butler is only good for playing the hero in well-made but effectively B-grade action movies, his performance here shows the Scottish actor rising to the occasion when the role calls for it.
Or it could also be the fact that Butler was a lot more committed to this movie than he is to his usual action fare, seeing as how his own production company is behind it. Having grown up in Scotland and heard the tales about Flannan Isle must have inspired him to turn it into a tale of mystery and suspense, but ‘The Vanishing’ ultimately falls short because of its scant plotting. Otherwise, Nyholm does a fine job turning this into a moody and atmospheric piece, complemented by strong performances all around; and for those reasons, we’d say this is still worth a watch before it vanishes (we suspect quickly) from the cinema.
Movie Rating:
(Depending on how patient you are, this based-off-a-true-story crime melodrama is either suspenseful and atmospheric, or slow and ponderous)
Review by Gabriel Chong
SYNOPSIS: When a mysterious force decimates the world’s population, only one thing is certain: if you see it, you take your life. Facing the unknown, Malorie finds love, hope and a new beginning only for it to unravel. Now she must flee with her two children down a treacherous river to the one place left that may offer sanctuary. But to survive, they'll have to undertake the perilous two-day journey blindfolded.
MOVIE REVIEW:
Coming after this spring’s ‘A Quiet Place’, you probably can’t help drawing comparisons between ‘Bird Box’ and its predecessor. Whereas it was sound which drew the aliens in the former, it is sight that does so in the latter, through which the malevolent creatures, that the film reveals little of, control your mind and make you want to kill yourself. Hence, as Sandra Bullock’s single mother Malorie tells the two five-year-olds under her charge at the start of the film, they must never remove their blindfolds if they wish to survive.
Malorie’s speech comes against the backdrop of her daring attempt to undertake a two-day journey by boat to join the inhabitants of a safe haven somewhere in the woods, and that nail-biting expedition set in present day anchors one of two strands of the narrative. The other takes place five years before when she was pregnant, and shows how she managed to survive at the point when the invasion first began. In fact, more of the movie is set in the past, which sees her seeking shelter with a ragtag group of nine other survivors at a large craftsman style house.
As scripted by ‘Arrival’ scribe Eric Heisserer from the 2014 novel of the same name, the film keeps a tight focus on its lead protagonist Malorie, who goes from cynical to despairing to hopeful as she navigates the post-apocalyptic landscape – i.e. she starts off deeply ambivalent about the baby she’s carrying, turns increasingly pessimistic as those around her fall victim to the epidemic, and finally comes to realise just how important it is to remain hopeful despite the circumstances. It’s no small feat managing such a character transition, but Bullock reminds us how she is a genuine movie star who knows how to act and command the screen.
Bullock’s isn’t the only one worth watching; in fact, she is complemented here by several strong supporting acts – including ‘Moonlight’s’ Trevante Rhodes as the former Iraq vet Tom whom Malorie develops a romantic connection with; ‘Patti Cake$’s’ Danielle Macdonald as the timid Olympia who happens to be as pregnant as Malorie; and John Malkovich as the twice-divorced, now recently-widowed Douglas who is as selfish as he is sarcastic. Unlike Malorie however, not all of their characters and/or their interactions are as sharply defined as they should be, so it helps that the ensemble is made up of such uniformly strong and distinctive performances.
Yet it isn’t just Heisserer’s writing which leaves you underwhelmed, but the overall execution by Danish director Susanne Bier. We can count the two set-pieces that truly pop: one, when Malorie first witnesses people around her committing suicide; and two, when a group from the house goes out driving blind to the supermarket for supplies in their blacked-out car. The rest however are perplexingly less well-staged, including an encounter at the supermarket where we see how these invading supernatural entities are able to bend us to their will, that where a late arrival to the house finally confirms our suspicions to possess a much more sinister agenda, and even the climactic scene where Malorie and the two kids come face to face with the entities in the woods while searching for the entrance to the safe-house compound.
And that is truly a pity, because we can see much potential in the premise for a gripping, even white-knuckle, two-hour viewing experience. Yet Bier not only lets the pace go slack at certain points in the movie, she also fails to exploit the elements within fully. We’d have thought that the titular winged creatures, who possess the extra-sensory ability to detect these aliens before they arrive, would have been put to much more effective use. Ditto some of the finer points which are unfortunately glossed over, such as how the insane seem all too willing to serve these entities, or how there are others being exploited by these entities to draw others in like moths to a flame. We can’t help but wonder how the film would have been in the hands of a horror specialist, but we’re quite sure there is room for a lot more suspense.
There has been much hype around ‘Bird Box’ since it was released, what with the memes going around and the #BirdBoxChallenge, so much so that there are two diametric camps of lovers and haters competing to drown each other’s voices out on social media. As is often the case with such reactions, the truth is really somewhere in between: ‘Bird Box’ is certainly not terrible or trash, but neither is it anywhere as effective a horror thriller as ‘A Quiet Place’. Really, the blame for that lies with Bier, who fails to fully wring the tension out of some well-conceived scenarios that even a reader to Josh Malerman’s book can appreciate. Still, it’s solid if not spectacular genre material that will more than make your night if you find yourself in need of a horror fix, and besides, Bullock is always never less than a joy to watch.
MOVIE RATING:
Review by Gabriel Chong
Genre: Drama
Director: Ziad Doueiri
Cast: Adel Karam, Kamel El Basha, Camille Salameh
Runtime: 1 hr 52 mins
Rating: PG13 (Some Coarse Language)
Opening Day: 14 January 2019
Presented by the Middle East Institute at the National University of Singapore, and supported by the Singapore Film Society
Synopsis: In today’s Beirut, an insult blown out of proportion finds Toni, a Lebanese Christian, and Yasser, a Palestinian refugee, in court. From secret wounds to traumatic revelations, the media circus surrounding the case puts Lebanon through a social explosion, forcing Toni and Yasser to reconsider their lives and prejudices. Winner of Best Actor at the Venice Film Festival 2017, and nominated for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film in 2018.
Movie Review:
This reviewer will be upfront to admit that he does not know much about the Lebanese Civil War. Films like Denis Villeneuve’s Incendies (2010) and Ari Folman’s Waltz with Bashir (2008) have given viewers in this part of the world a glimpse into that period not too long ago. The multifaceted unrest which lasted from 1975 to 1990 resulted in an estimated 120,000 deaths. There was also an exodus of almost one million people from Lebanon.
As you’d expect, this is a sombre topic which can bring back many unpleasant memories. And as the cinematic form would have it, there are countless stories to be told.
In this film directed by Ziad Doueiri and co written by Doueiri and Joelle Touma, a Lebanese Christian and a Palestinian refugee face off in court over a civilian dispute in Beirut, the capital and largest city of Lebanon. The two men had gotten into a verbal and physical clash, and their tempers have brought them to the courtroom for a legal showdown. Things get intense in the divided Lebanonwith the media coverage, and the two protagonists are forced to reevaluate their values and beliefs.
On the surface, this film is a courtroom drama. But as any viewer can easily tell, the filmmakers are exploring the aftermath of the Lebanese Civil War. There are biases, stereotypes, ugly feelings and all things hurtful. These are made possible with the utterance of a few words. Yes, malicious words have the power to wound, just like kind words have the ability to comfort.
Not that you don’t already know this, but the film takes an honest look at the relationship between the Lebanese Christians and Palestinians are refugees in Lebanon but also participated in wartime massacre. The 112 minute movie doesn’t take sides, and it also doesn’t leave much to your imagination. Words and blows are exchanged, and you see the points of view from both sides. As one character puts it aptly: the war may be over, but it is still going on in the people’s minds.
Besides the heartrending plot (we are sure there are many more stories which can be translated to screenplays), the film also works because of the actors’ powerful performances. Adel Karam portrays the hot headed Lebanese Christian, while Kamel El Basha takes on the role of the Palestinian who finds himself embroiled in legal trouble. For his restrained and emotionally tugging role, the latter was recognised with the Volpi Cup for Best Actor at the 74th Venice International Film Festival. The film was also Lebanon’s entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 90th Academy Awards. It was nominated but the prize went to Chile’s A Fantastic Woman.
Elsewhere, Camille Salameh gets to put up a showy performance as an arrogant lawyer, while the more subdued Diamand Bou Abboud plays her daughter. Most of these actors are unfamiliar in this part of the world, which allows you to better focus on their acting.
While we know it is the right thing to learn from history’s mistakes, we often allow emotions to get the better of us. No matter which part of the world we are from, this is a universal human nature. Hopefully, with more understanding and grace, we can strive towards a more harmonious community.
Movie Rating:
(This is not just a courtroom drama - it is a well-acted film that uses the backdrop of Middle Eastern politics to tell a relatable human story)
Review by John Li at the Middle East Film Festival 2019
Genre: Thriller/Fantasy
Director: Parkpoom Wongpoom
Cast: Teeradon ‘James’ Supapunpinyo, Cherprang Areekul, Suquan Bulakul, Roj Kwantham, Natthasit Kotimanaswanich, Saruda Kiatwarawut, Nopachai Jayanama, Cherman Boonyasak, Thaneth Warakulnukroh, Suda Chuenban, Natthaya Ongsritragul
Runtime: 2 hrs 13 mins
Rating: PG13 (Some Sexual References)
Released By: Golden Village Pictures
Official Website:
Opening Day: 24 January 2019
Synopsis: “You were granted a prize.” A mysterious man who calls himself, the Guardian, (Nopachai Jayanama) told me as we were standing on the outer wall of the hospital building that was turned sideways as if we were defying gravity. Before I could take in what happened, the Guardian grabbed me by my collar, forcing me to listen to him explain about the prize that a stray soul like me was given. I was sent to live again in the body of a high school teenager named Min (Teeradon Supapunpinyo) who was lying dead in the morgue in this hospital. In fact, living in a new body is no different to living in a homestay. It’s temporary and not for free. Within 100 days, I have to find out “who is responsible for Min’s death”. If I fail, I will die and leave this homestay for eternity. Actually, I didn’t think I would enjoy living in this homestay this much. Having a new family and new friends doesn’t make my heart beat as fast as when I met Pi (Cherprang Areekul), Min’s tutoring peer. She is the one who makes me want to extend my stay in this body forever. But, just like time, life and love seem like prizes from heaven that are given to me only temporarily, I have to do whatever it takes to find the answer to the Guardian’s question before my time in this homestay runs out.
Movie Review:
On paper, ‘Homestay’ sounds like a genre disaster.
It starts off like a horror movie, with our lead protagonist Min (Teeradon Supapunpinyo) waking up dazed and confused in a morgue, before encountering a number of spooky characters at the hospital. Then it morphs into a teenage rom-com, as he returns to high school and starts romancing his tutoring peer Pi (Cherpang Areekul) over fireworks on the rooftop during Loi Krathong and other one-on-one dates. Next, it becomes a whydunnit, with Min racing against time to find out why he had committed suicide earlier on. Last but not least, it settles into a poignant drama about coping with life’s imperfections and learning to recognise the positives in life.
Even at a longer-than-usual two-and-a-quarter hour duration, that is a lot of ground for director and co-writer Parkpoom Wongpoom to cover, not to mention the tonal shifts which he has to navigate along the way. It is therefore even more impressive that Wongpoom does so as deftly as he does here, not only ensuring that the various plot elements cohere with one another, but also enabling each to hit its intended emotional beats.
You’ll be intrigued, you’ll swoon, you’ll be captivated, and you’ll be moved by this unexpectedly potent mix of different genres, which Wongpoom and his four co-writers have drawn from Japanese novelist Eto Mori’s ‘Colourful’, even if this is a much more predictable affair than the usual GDH crowd-pleasers.
Central to the film’s premise is the reason(s) for Min’s suicide, which as you can probably guess, are inextricably linked to the identity of the spirit that now inhabits Min’s physical body.
The early scenes explain just how it works: said spirit is told by a body-swapping entity known as the Guardian that he has won the opportunity for a second chance in life, provided that he is able to correctly answer why the person whose body he now lives in had killed himself in the first place. So the spirit goes about assuming and acquainting himself with Min’s life, including a father who had quit his job as a university lecturer to be a multi-level marketer selling supplements, a mother whose work requires that she travel to the distant province of Rayong for stretches, and an older brother Menn who seems to resent his very presence in the family.
Any or every of Min’s close ones – not just his family, but also Pi as well as his best friend Li (Saruda Kiatwarawut) – could have been responsible for Min’s death, and the narrative here touches on themes from the obvious teen suicide to less expected ones like school pressures and family dysfunction.
These are weighty subjects all right, and those expecting the usual verve and comedy from the GDH films should note that their latest is a much less cheerful, even depressing, affair. It is heartbreaking to hear Min’s frustrations that he pens in a suicide note, reflecting the impact of his family’s fracture on him; equally devastating to watch is the extent of Pi’s overachieving tendencies, and the abuse that she is willing to tolerate (as well as the cost of it on her) in order to remain as an elite Olympics student in school.
As convenient as it may be to turn tragedy into melodrama, the movie never does become histrionic or overblown, even during its more emotionally manipulative moments. That is credit in part to Wongpoom’s own restraint, as it is testament to the charm of the teenage stars, who carry the movie confidently with charm, versatility and sincerity.
You’ll probably recognise Supapunpinyo from last summer’s ‘Bad Genius’, and like his debut, he proves magnetic to watch here, particularly as he transforms effortlessly from confused to carefree to repressed over the course of the movie. Areekul, better known as captain of the idol girl group BNK48, is just as fascinating in her big-screen debut – not only does she ooze sweet girl-next-door charm with Supapunpinyo in their early scenes, she convincingly takes her performance to another level later on portraying Pi’s inner disillusionment.
So even if you can probably guess where the movie is going, you’ll still feel keenly the visceral impact of the revelations, which underscore the emotional and psychological struggles of adolescence amidst dysfunction at home and in school. Parents need not worry though; it does end on an uplifting and reassuring note, with an unequivocal message to never give up on oneself, and to find reason for living even amidst one’s darkest days.
If ‘Homestay’ sounds like a curious title for the movie, that’s because it refers to how the spirit is only given 100 days to stay in Min’s body at the first instance, and it is too a metaphor for how our spirits will one day depart our physical selves. Like life itself, the movie is filled with moments of joy, sorrow, disappointment and ultimately hope, and we say that is reason enough for you to make an appointment with it.
Movie Rating:
(It isn't your typical GDH crowd-pleaser, but this ode to the struggles of adolesence in the midst of family and school dysfunction is alternately heart-breaking and heart-warming, yet always heartfelt)
Review by Gabriel Chong
Genre: Action/Comedy
Director: Jack Neo
Cast: Jay Shih, Amber An, Nadow, Gadrick Chin, Apple Chan, Lin Mei-Hsiu, Shin Lung, Ryan Lian, Ricky Davao, Maxi Lim, Jeff Wang
RunTime: 1 hr 50 mins
Rating: PG13 (Some Violence)
Released By: Golden Village Pictures and mm2 Entertainment
Official Website:
Opening Day: 5 February 2019
Synopsis: KILLER NOT STUPID tells the story of two assassins on their way to finish a final mission before ending their careers. Along the way, things get complicated as they are each hunted by their own enemies, making this hilarious adventure a hell of a ride!
Movie Review:
‘Killer Not Stupid’ is billed as Jack Neo’s first action-comedy, and we hope for his sake as well as ours that it is his last.
Neither funny or exciting, it is two hours worth of sheer tedium, consisting of dull jokes, muddled plotting and horrendously executed action scenes. In fact, had Neo’s name not been front and centre on the film’s promotional materials, you’d probably think this was the effort of a first-time writer-director who clearly needed some more years of film school.
The sheer ineptitude on display is evident right from the start, which unfolds along the darkened streets of our very own Duxton area. Two assailants – one played by Maxi Lim and the other named Hornet played by lead star Jay Shih – dressed in black and armed with short curved blade knives exchange a flurry of largely incoherent, sometimes cringe-worthy slo-mo, moves in the rain. The latter is then shot at by a sniper from a nearby HDB block, who is taken out in a terribly CGI-rendered explosion from a drone piloted by his partner-in-crime Mark (Nadow). It is less that such a scenario is unconvincing in low-crime Singapore than the fact that it is so poorly staged you’d wonder if it was shot on the fly.
Those looking for the opportunity to see some based-in-Singapore action will have to settle for that one sequence, for the rest of the movie then shifts to Taichung, where presumably it’ll be ok to bring on the guns, hand grenades and even RPGs. Indeed, the change of location significantly ups the tempo of the action, so much so that the next big action sequence sees Hornet and Mark dodging a barrage of machine gun fire from the building across their hotel room. Yet even with the addition of a gang of hitmen dispatched to take them out from within the hotel itself, as well as an unexpected ally in the form of Apple Chan’s no-nonsense Ira, the lazy and/or uninspired choreography keeps the sequence from ever really coming alive.
Neither for that matter does the comedy, which is just as, if not more, ham-fisted. What passes for a running joke is Gadrick Chin’s lanky Malaysian tourist Sha Bao (aka Dumbo) trying all means and ways to feel like 70s Taiwanese actor Chin Han, including putting on AR glasses that allows him to visualise crooning to a Bridgette Lin-lookalike. And then there’s Amber An’s hyper-bimbotic Talia, who despite being marked, insists on putting on makeup and wearing high heels so she’ll look good like a model. The scenes with Chin exaggerating his Malaysian accent, An acting all ditzy and Chan coming off exasperated with the both of them are draining and repetitive.
Though the opening makes it seem as if Hornet and Mark are the main protagonists, the movie ends up spending disproportionately more time on Ira, Talia and Dumbo as the two groups bicker and banter their way from one messy set-piece to another. In fact, Hornet’s disillusionment with the life of a professional assassin and his consequent decision to quit (which is how both ended up being shot at in Singapore by their former boss in the first place) seems less and less consequential over the course of the movie, which seems a lot more interested in say whether Dumbo and Talia fall in love with each other or if Mark will end up fighting with Dumbo for Talia’s affections.
Ironically, it is none of these five characters that turn out the most engaging; rather, you’ll probably be most entertained by Taiwanese veterans Lin Mei-Hsiu and Shin Lung, who play Hornet’s ex-boss Mum and her right-hand man Wild Boar respectively. Their bungling attempts at eliminating and/or capturing Hornet and Mark are silly and over-the-top, but both performers have great chemistry hamming it up next to each other. One of the few scenes that is amusing has Mum reprimanding Wild Boar for attracting attention by feasting on braised pork rice while dressed as a monk; and another running joke that works despite being overused sees Wild Boar using his halting command of the English language to communicate with their Filipino client.
Even so, there is little disguising the fact that the character work is sloppy, especially when the frenetic plotting is equally slapdash. What is a simple plot involving information on a powerful Filipino drug lord Adolf’s (Ricky Davao) criminal activities, that is contained in a thumb drive that requires a separate decoder, is made needlessly convoluted – including mention of how it contains the names of said drug lord’s spies across Governments in different countries, and the addition of a rival gang of hitmen (led by Ryan Lian’s brash Grandma) which has been also been hired by Adolf to retrieve the same. Had these criss-crossing encounters been better choreographed, this could have been a killer comedy of mistaken identities and what not, but Neo and his regular co-writer Ivan Ho hardly know how to juggle all the moving pieces they carelessly put into motion at the same time.
So as intriguing as it may be, we’d advise you not to be stupid enough to venture into ‘Killer Not Stupid’. Except for Lin and Lung’s scenes, there is barely any laughs to be had in the shenanigans, which because of their tedium are in fact frustrating to sit through. The action is no better, coming off messy, incoherent and utterly devoid of thrills; in particular, the shootouts are clumsily shot and the fisticuffs look amateurish, not helped by the fact that An, Lian and Chin have little experience in that regard.
Thanks to his ‘I Not Stupid’ movies, Neo has quite a following in Taiwan, which probably explains why this movie (which bears no relation to those movies) is so titled. Rather than regretting a good two hours wasted on such inanity, we advise you to wise up and avoid this misfire that, as we said at the start, is the one and only time we wish Neo is let near an action comedy ever again.
Movie Rating:
(Neither funny or thrilling, Jack Neo's first action comedy - as this is billed - is an utter misfire)
Review by Gabriel Chong
Genre: Crime/Drama
Director: Alan Mak
Cast: Sean Lau, Nick Cheung, Karena Lam, Anita Yuen, Alex Fong, Carlos Chan, Kathy Tang, Michelle Wai
RunTime: 1 hr 54 mins
Rating: PG13 (Some Violence)
Released By: mm2 Entertainment
Official Website:
Opening Day: 7 February 2019
Synopsis: The multi-year ICAC investigation into the Lida Conglomerate is on the brink of collapse after the CEO’s disappearance and the whistleblower’s flight to England. To salvage the case, a top ICAC agent teams with a fellow investigator (who happens to be his estranged wife) and risks their lives to bring the witness back to Hong Kong.
Movie Review:
Despite being billed as hailing from the writing-directing duo of ‘Infernal Affairs’, ‘Integrity’ is – like ‘Project Gutenberg’ – pretty much a solo effort by one-half of the duo. And like the latter, it is only half as good as their seminal trilogy, despite a star-studded cast that includes Sean Lau, Nick Cheung, Karena Lam, Anita Yuen and Alex Fong. Oh yes, even with such solid performances by these Hong Kong veterans, this crime thriller ultimately falls apart, no thanks to some ludicrous narrative twists in the last third that completely undermines whatever measure of suspense the movie had built up before.
To writer-director Alan Mak’s credit, it is a genuinely promising setup for a film meant as the start of a trilogy. Sequestered in a hotel room is the whistle-blower Jack (Cheung), who is the prosecution’s key witness in a high-profile case of tobacco smuggling and bribery. Despite reassurance from the ICAC’s chief investigator King (Lau), Jack is still spooked that his life might be in danger, and flees to Sydney just before he is due to testify in court. So King’s boss Ma (Alex Fong) sends fellow ICAC investigator Shirley (Lam) – who happens to be King’s estranged wife – to Sydney to persuade Jack to return, while asking King to remain in Hong Kong to follow up on a couple of new leads in the same case.
As it turns out, the first defendant Chan has also vanished along with his wife and kids, such that King suspects the entire fiasco may be masterminded by the puppet master code-named Alpha Leader behind the entire illegal operation. To inject some urgency into the proceedings, the presiding judge agrees to postpone the trial only for a week, giving King just seven days to find Chan and Shirley the same to convince Jack to return to Hong Kong. That becomes impetus for King to trick the case’s other defendant Chung (Yuen) into signing a plea agreement to be the prosecution’s witness, in order to extract important information on how the whole smuggling cum money laundering enterprise is run.
At least for the first hour, Mak maintains a taut air of intrigue putting in place the various pieces of the puzzle. How far does Alpha Leader’s reach extend to? Will he get to Chan before King does? Will he get to Jack before he is able to testify? Or is there more to Jack than meets the eye? Will Shirley therefore be in danger as well? It is not easy to set up such an elaborate tease, and Mak juggles all these elements deftly enough for you to be hooked into the mystery. Undeniably, the actors play their parts beautifully too, with Lau as an assertive but ethically questionable leader, Cheung as an indecipherable poker face and Lam as a tough but warm foil to both men.
Alas anyone hoping for a satisfying answer to any of the aforementioned questions will likely be disappointed. Mak, whose forte is less in writing than in directing, quite absolutely botches the ensuing twists in the story. For reasons not quite unexplained, Alpha Leader’s restraint suddenly turns into ruthlessness, ordering not only Jack’s kidnapping but also the elimination of almost everyone who has anything to do with the case. But most significantly, Mak engineers a personal connection between King and Jack which feels utterly contrived, and is only made worse in the final few moments when that relationship draws in two individuals whom we were led to believe were sent by Alpha Leader to follow Jack.
Without giving any more away, let’s just say that Mak tries too hard to surprise his audience, and with each unfortunate revelation only succeeds in draining his film of whatever goodwill he had built up at the start – which not even the nostalgic sight of both Lau and Cheung in their younger days can quite compensate for. It says a lot when what is supposed to be the tease of the next film leaves us greeting the inevitable next chapter with more trepidation than anticipation, but that is precisely how you’d feel by the time Mak confirms that Jack is as duplicitous as we’d suspected.
Mak is also not quite as skilful a director to overcome his own screenwriting flaws, so much so that the last third comes off both overstuffed and under-developed at the same time. As a result, the pacing also suffers, taking the air out of a tightly wound atmosphere as it careens towards an improbable and unbelievable finish. Not even the two obligatory but superfluous action scenes he stuffs in at this point – including a short vehicular chase inside a carpark and a brief assassination on the slopes of a skiing resort – manages to be distracting enough, seeing as how they are poorly choreographed and hardly exciting.
Frankly, going by both ‘Gutenberg’ and ‘Integrity’, it really wouldn’t hurt for Mak and his other moviemaking half Felix Chong to settle for more straightforward storytelling. Not every movie needs have a bombshell ending, not least if it requires such a substantive leap of logic that it ends up underdoing the whole film. Those looking for a fairly engrossing two hours to spend this Lunar New Year will probably still find this a captivating enough diversion, especially to watch both Lau and Cheung chew up the scenery, but it is no understatement to say that it is no ‘Infernal Affairs’. Like we said, it starts strong but ends with a whimper, so do keep your expectations well in check.
Movie Rating:
(A strong and intriguing setup ultimately undone by some ludicruous narrative twists, 'Integrity' proves the writing-directing duo Alan Mak and Felix Chong are better off together than in solo)
Review by Gabriel Chong
Genre: Thriller
Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Cast: Bruce Willis, James McAvoy, Samuel L. Jackson, Anya Taylor-Joy, Spencer Treat Clark
Runtime: 2 hrs 9 mins
Rating: PG13 (Some Violence)
Released By: Walt Disney Studios
Official Website:
Opening Day: 17 January 2019
Synopsis: M. Night Shyamalan brings together the narratives of two of his standout originals—2000’s Unbreakable, from Touchstone, and 2016’s Split, from Universal—in one explosive, all-new comic-book thriller: Glass. From Unbreakable, Bruce Willis returns as David Dunn as does Samuel L. Jackson as Elijah Price, known also by his pseudonym Mr. Glass. Joining from Split are James McAvoy, reprising his role as Kevin Wendell Crumb and the multiple identities who reside within, and Anya Taylor-Joy as Casey Cooke, the only captive to survive an encounter with The Beast. Following the conclusion of Split, Glass finds Dunn pursuing Crumb’s superhuman figure of The Beast in a series of escalating encounters, while the shadowy presence of Price emerges as an orchestrator who holds secrets critical to both men.
Movie Review:
Far more than being a gripping psychological horror, ‘Split’ will best remembered for its shocking final moments, which revealed it to be a standalone sequel to its writer-director M. Night Shyamalan’s 2000 superhero drama ‘Unbreakable’. Those moments had therefore also set the stage for his latest film, named after the remaining member of the triumvirate yet to have a movie in his reference.
But frankly, if you didn’t already know that, you’ll likely find ‘Glass’ confusing, even frustrating – unlike the last two movies of his interconnected trilogy, this is intended as continuation of both storylines, and Shyamalan makes no apologies for not restating the context leading up to the meeting of these three unique personalities.
At the risk of stating the obvious, these are: Bruce Willis’ David Dunn, the so-called ‘unbreakable’ human who discovered that he possessed superhuman strength and invulnerability; James McAvoy’s Kevin Wendell Crumb, a serial kidnapper with dissociative identity disorder and a couple dozen ‘split’ personalities, including a murderous one known as ‘The Beast’; and last but not least Samuel L. Jackson’s Elijah Price, a devotee of comics literature whose struggle with his rare genetic disorder of osteogenesis imperfecta (i.e. his bones break easily, like ‘glass’) has made him convinced that his place in life is to be the very antithesis of superheroes.
Through the engineering of psychiatrist Dr. Ellie Staple (Sarah Paulson), they find themselves imprisoned at the same institute for the criminally insane. According to Dr. Staple, she has three days to cure what she terms their ‘delusions of grandeur’, failing which they will be trialled and probably put away for life.
Much of the movie therefore takes place within the confines of the hospital where our three leads are locked away, with a good first hour at least spent watching Dr. Staple’s therapy sessions with them. Though the routine isn’t as fresh as before, there’s no denying that watching McAvoy shift abruptly from one persona to another continues to be fascinating, especially how they respond to Dr. Staple’s therapy. In comparison, Willis’ David remains largely subdued, as if both sceptical and hopeful that Dr. Staple will put things right with Kevin; on the other hand, Jackson’s Elijah appears to have regressed into a catatonic state, showing little expression beyond twitching his facial muscles.
But there is good reason why the movie is titled after Jackson’s character, so you really should not be surprised when Elijah snaps out of his stupor to put the finishing touches on his nefarious plan. Oh yes, like he revealed at the end of ‘Unbreakable’, Elijah is a master manipulator with his own designs for the world. Whereas his string of terrorist acts were intended in ‘Unbreakable’ at proving the existence of those who were indestructible, Elijah now wants the world to see that superheroes and arch-villains do exist, and sets out to free both David and Kevin so they can duke it out in public.
If you know Shyamalan, you’ll know better than to expect that things are as simple or straightforward than they first seem, so rest assured that we haven’t at all spoiled the movie for you; in fact, we’ll even let you know that there are at least two or three major twists in the second half of the movie alone, leading up to a shocking conclusion that all but sets the stage for an exciting new chapter.
Lest you recoil at the very notion of Shyamalan’s so-called ‘twist ending’, we’d say this – before he turned his own technique into a laughable gimmick, it did actually stand for something, and this one here is as good as that in ‘Signs’ or even ‘The Sixth Sense’. At his best, Shyamalan has proven himself to be a master storyteller, and ‘Glass’ finds him at his world-building best.
Like ‘Unbreakable’, ‘Glass’ finds him deconstructing superhero mythology through Elijah’s obsession with comic book lore; yet beyond drawing parallels between the characters and classic superhero archetypes, his most intriguing conceit here is that of pain as a form of cleansing that opens the door for those who are “broken” to acquire superhuman powers. Sure, the dialogue may tend towards the pedantic at times, but Shyamalan’s singular vision and view of the superhero construct is unmistakably bold and fascinating to behold.
It is also brought to fruition by a trio of excellent actors that highlight their characters’ contrasting nature with alacrity. Call it showboating if you want, but it is no small feat making a showstopper of each one of 23 different personalities – including a nurturing older woman named Patricia, a lisping eternal 9-year-old boy named Hedwig, a pair of Irish twins and even a pompous professor of Japanese cinema – and that is what McAvoy does. Whereas Kevin is violent and unstable, David is strong and sceptical, and Willis continues to underplay the role as he did in ‘Unbreakable’. And then of course there is Jackson, who is deliciously sinister as the delicate but deadly Elijah, a more fully formed villain than most of those in the Marvel or DC movies so far.
Much as we were wowed by ‘Glass’, we’d be naïve not to recognise that there’ll be those who think it pretentiously meta. Lovers or haters aside, Shyamalan has always been a divisive filmmaker, and this is no different. In part, we were half fearing a bomb like ‘After Earth’ or ‘The Happening’ after the deluge of negative critic reviews, so we were pleasantly surprised by how brilliantly clever and original it turned out to be.
We’d also caution you not to expect a typical superhero movie complete with a grand action-packed climax – not only are there enough Marvel and DC movies for that, ‘Glass’ was always intended to be more of a psychological thriller. Yet it is precisely this cerebral quality that sets it apart as a truly original piece from an auteur, and we’re thrilled to see where Shyamalan takes his universe of world-savers and evil-doers to next.
Movie Rating:
(Fascinatingly intriguing and immensely satisfying, this psychological thriller that both deconstructs and reinvents superhero mythology is one of M. Night Shyamalan's best)
Review by Gabriel Chong
Genre: Drama
Director: Neil Burger
Cast: Kevin Hart, Bryan Cranston, Nicole Kidman, Julianna Margulies, Aja Naomi King, Jahi Di’Allo Winston
Runtime: 2 hrs 6 mins
Rating: PG13 (Some Drug & Sexual References)
Released By: Golden Village Pictures
Official Website:
Opening Day: 17 January 2019
Synopsis: The Upside is director Neil Burger’s heartfelt comedy about a recently paroled ex-convict (Kevin Hart) who strikes up an unusual and unlikely friendship with a paralyzed billionaire (Bryan Cranston). Inspired by a true story, The Upside is written by Jon Hartmere, based on the hit 2011 French film The Intouchables.
Movie Review:
A victim of the infamous Weinstein scandal, this remake of the 2011’s French box-office hit, The Intouchables was in the can for nearly two years before seeing the light of day. Nevertheless, the remake by Neil Burger (Divergent, Limitless) is still worth a watch if you have never heard or caught the original.
Breaking Bad’s Bryan Cranston plays a “richer than Jay-Z”, paralyzed billionaire Philip who out of curiosity hires an inexperienced parolee Dell (comedienne Kevin Hart) to be his caregiver much to the dismay of his loyal assistant Yvonne (Nicole Kidman). Philip the quadriplegic is tired of his life after a paragliding accident and the death of his beloved wife while Dell the ex-con is trying to put his life together and get back to his teenage son. Thus The Upside is basically a bromance between two unlikely oddballs who stick through thick and thin and subsequently develop a different perspective on their non-existent lives.
If this sounds mundane, pretentious and clichéd to you, then avoid The Upside at all costs.
Despite a runtime of slightly over two hours, the movie actually works most of the time anyway. And probably it’s because the chemistry between Cranston and Hart is remarkable. Obviously, Cranston can play to perfection in any roles he is given even with the constraints of playing a quadriplegic. The dramatic ability of Mr. Cranston is always a solid A. While some might find Hart’s usual stand-up antics or his comedy outings liked Ride Along, Central Intelligence more irritable than funny, he is actually more than decent in his first major dramatic outing. Kidman last seen in the superb Aquaman is thoroughly underused as Yvonne, the typical secretly in love with her boss female role that appears here and then. Same goes to ER’s Julianna Margulies who appeared in one miserable yet heartbreaking scene.
Again, this is not a movie that delves deep into the seriousness of being a quadriplegic, you know the emotional struggles and pain of a paralyzed patient. Again this is not a movie that shed light on the drastic income disparity of America nor the touchy racial divides between the suffering Blacks and privileged Whites. The Upside is content in delivering slapstick comedy courtesy of Dell’s joke about using a catheter and fumbling with Philip’s fancy shower kit for example and lots of light bantering between Philip and Dell about passion, art and a little about Dell’s future.
And if you believe switching hobbies can turned your lives around, Dell introduced Philip to smoking weed, hooker and Aretha Franklin while Philip introduced Dell into the world of art and opera and best of all, allowing him to drive his garage full of fancy cars. It’s strictly at times fantasy all right but Hollywood wants viewers to believe this is based on a true story.
We are not going into detail how good the original was because The Upside is actually not that bad for a Hollywood remake. It’s just that the story could potentially go further than merely scratching the surface especially the last act which sees Philip sinking deep into depression. There’re no real surprises pulled in the end just a hasty nice wrap up.
Movie Rating:
(The downside is it’s too safe and predictable otherwise it’s just another feel-good movie outing for the masses)
Review by Linus Tee
Genre: Comedy
Director: Shinichiro Ueda
Cast: Takayuki Hamatsu, Mao, Harumi Syuhama, Kazuaki Nagaya
Runtime: 1 hr 36 mins
Rating: NC16 (Some Coarse Language)
Released By: Shaw Organisation
Official Website:
Opening Day: 24 January 2019
Synopsis: The film opens in a run-down, abandoned warehouse where a film crew are making a zombie film... Yet, this is no ordinary warehouse. It's been said that it's the site of where military experiments took place... Out of nowhere, real zombies arrive and terrorize the crew! This may sound like the plot of a clichéd zombie film, but One Cut of the Dead is something completely different! Starting off with a non-stop one-take 37-minute shot, the film then completely switches direction and turns the zombie genre completely upside down into a charming, audience-friendly comedy!
Movie Review:
Arriving more than a year later after its initial one-week theatrical run in a Tokyo arthouse cinema, writer-director Shinchiro Ueda’s zombie comedy ‘One Cut of the Dead’ is already a cult classic, after touring film festivals around the world and a subsequent wider re-release in its own home territory that propelled it to become the eighth-highest grossing local film last year.
Even so, we assiduously avoided reading too much about the movie before stepping into it, and we advise that you do likewise in order not to diminish how much fun you’ll have with it; just as well, let us reassure you that we have been careful here not to give away any of the delightful surprises that the film springs at you.
With that in mind, here’s what we will say – it begins, as most articles will tell you, with a single 37-minute long take of a small film crew shooting a lo-fi zombie movie encountering real zombies in a disused water filtration plant, where legend has it that the Japanese army had experimented with re-animating the dead back in World War II.
Notwithstanding the technical achievement, you’ll probably be less than impressed with the take itself. The footage is grainy, and the acoustics are bad. It also isn’t terribly engaging, going from one extended chase scene to another and padded with close-ups that sometimes go on for just way long. Neither too are the zombies or the carnage convincing, the former in part due to the cheap prosthetics and the latter due to the copious amounts of patently fake blood.
But don’t dismiss the movie just yet, because you’ll come to marvel at the brilliance of Ueda’s concept and execution if you stick with it till the finish.
Following that gimmicky first act, we are brought back one month earlier to the genesis of the film-within-a-film, which was in fact intended as a live television broadcast for an all-zombie channel.
Bit by bit, layer by layer, we learn of how that production was assembled, acquaint ourselves with the idiosyncrasies of its cast and crew, and realise how the final product we saw at the start was as much scripted as it was improvised on the set itself, owing to unforeseen circumstances that include traffic jams, inebriation and delicate bowels.
That is probably all you should know going into this meta-fictional movie, which eschews the usual metaphor and/or satire of such zombie comedies and instead embraces the ups and downs of budget filmmaking.
From managing the demands of name actors, to compromises on artistic integrity, to constraints on budget, and right down to on-set boo-boos, Ueda lays it all out in the next two acts that cover both pre-production and the actual shoot. The latter in particular celebrates the ingenuity and quick-wittedness of the cast and crew, so much so that you’ll come to appreciate what had seemed off in the first act in an entirely different light, especially in the context of the heroic on-the-spot rescues that ultimately prevented the cock-ups from sinking the whole effort.
By the time we reach the gleeful conclusion and come to see how that crane shot was accomplished, you’ll very likely be won over by the heart and humour of the onscreen cast and crew which made it happen, as well as by Ueda’s playful sense of chaos in conceptualising and executing one of the most original zombie comedies we’ve seen in a very long while. It’s mighty clever all right, and a delightful ode to the craziness and exhilaration of filmmaking on a tight miniscule budget.
Like we said, don’t go spoiling it for yourself by reading too much about it at all; just know that it all pays off handsomely by the end, and hang on all the way for an infectiously entertaining meta-experience that will surely win you over.
Movie Rating:
(One of the most original and inventive movies you'll see this year, this film-within-a-zombie-film comedy is a delightful ode to the ups and downs of indie filmmaking)
Review by Gabriel Chong
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JOHN WICK FACES OFF ASSASSINS ON HIS BOUNTY IN 'JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 3 - PARABELLUM'Posted on 18 Jan 2019 |
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