Genre: Comics/Action
Director: Simon Kinberg
Cast: Sophie Turner, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult, Jessica Chastain, Tye Sheridan, Alexandra Shipp, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Evan Peters
Runtime: 1 hr 54 mins
Rating: PG13 (Violence and Brief Coarse Language)
Released By: 20th Century Fox
Official Website:
Opening Day: 6 June 2019
Synopsis: In DARK PHOENIX, the X-MEN face their most formidable and powerful foe: one of their own, Jean Grey. During a rescue mission in space, Jean is nearly killed when she is hit by a mysterious cosmic force. Once she returns home, this force not only makes her infinitely more powerful, but far more unstable. Wrestling with this entity inside her, Jean unleashes her powers in ways she can neither comprehend nor contain. With Jean spiraling out of control, and hurting the ones she loves most, she begins to unravel the very fabric that holds the X-Men together. Now, with this family falling apart, they must find a way to unite -- not only to save Jean's soul, but to save our very planet from aliens who wish to weaponize this force and rule the galaxy.
Movie Review:
We didn’t much enjoy the last X-Men outing, not least because what was promised as the ‘Apocalypse’ ended up squandering the potential built up over the previous two films – Matthew Vaughn’s 2011 reboot ‘First Class’ and Bryan Singer’s 2014 continuation ‘Days of Future Past’ – in a silly CGI spectacular of emptiness. Even with veteran series writer and producer Simon Kinberg taking the reins of ‘Dark Phoenix’, we didn’t have much, if any, expectation going into what has been billed the culmination of a two-decade (and 12-film) franchise.
And if you, like us, went in expecting little, then you’d probably be at least mildly (pleasantly) surprised by its results. To be sure, ‘Dark Phoenix’ is far, far from the best films of the series (that honour still belongs to ‘X2: X-Men United’ and ‘First Class’), but it is also not the disaster we had feared. We dare say too that it is better than Brett Ratner’s much-reviled ‘The Last Stand’, which it will inevitably be compared against, given how both draw from one of the more memorable plotlines in the Marvel comic book annals – that of Jean Grey, an amber-haired mutant with telekinetic and telepathic abilities who becomes possessed with a powerful, malevolent and all-consuming force which unleashes her dark side.
Jean is unmistakably the focus of this movie, beginning with a prologue that shows her as a eight-year-old girl whose supernatural gifts are responsible for causing a fatal car accident involving her parents. After emerging unscathed, Jean is taken in by Charles X. Xavier (James McAvoy) into his School for Gifted Youngsters, where he encourages her to learn to control her powers and use them for the good of humanity. Flash-forward to 1992, and Jean (Sophie Turner) is now a confident 25-year-old who is part of the squad that Charles dispatches every now and then on missions to save humans in peril, especially when the President picks up his ‘X’ phone in the Oval Office.
In a clear sign that Kinberg’s technique is less character- than plot-driven, there is barely any time for us to acquaint ourselves to young-adult Jean – and for that matter, reacquaint ourselves with the other superheroes in Charles’ team assembled over ‘First Class’. ‘Days of Future Past’ and ‘Apocalypse’, including Hank McCoy/Beast (Nicholas Hoult), Scott Summers/Cyclops (Tye Sheridan) and Raven/Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) – before they are sent into space to rescue a crew of astronauts whose Challenger spacecraft was damaged by a deadly solar flare. They succeed all right, but Jean becomes irradiated with a cosmic energy that she ends up absorbing.
That sheer power makes her stronger than ever, and unwittingly breaks down walls inside her mind which Charles had apparently erected through Cerebro to protect herself from her painful past. You can imagine how things evolve from there: Jean becomes royally pissed that Charles had been messing inside her head, setting her on a quest to discover the truth, leading to a confrontation with the rest of the X-Men that results in an accidental high-profile death (you can probably guess who from watching the trailers), and which therefore splits the unity of the X-Men into those who want her dead and those who think they can still save her from herself.
Oh, and just so they can reunite again against a common enemy, there is a subplot involving a race of alien body snatchers (led by Jessica Chastain) who wants the power within Jean for themselves. As dull as that subplot is, we are thankful that it at least manages to bring back Erik Lehnsherr/Magneto (Michael Fassbender), whose magnetic (no pun intended) dynamic with Charles was quite possibly the best thing the more recent ‘X-Men’ films had going for them. Erik’s motivation of coming out of his seclusion from the agricultural commune he now lives on a remote island with other renegade mutants is vengeance, and you can probably guess that Charles and Erik find themselves at odds with each other once again.
To Kinberg’s credit, there are several interesting themes which could be at play here, especially how Charles’ idealistic desire for humans and mutants to live in harmony with one another manifests itself perversely in manipulative, even self-aggrandising, tendencies. Yet these ideas hardly make a compelling narrative, which unfolds instead at a subdued tempo from start to finish, such that there is little poignancy to the pivotal death midway through the film, or the mourning that follows, or even Jean’s supposedly barely controllable rage. Not only do the stakes feel curiously low, they also come across pretty inconsequential, as if no more than the consequences of a young-adult female with unresolved daddy issues.
The melodrama is only partially alleviated by the action set-pieces, which besides the big finale set aboard a moving train, hardly quickens the pulse. While these sequences are cleanly and clearly shot, there is little imagination to their choreography – in particular, there is too little opportunity for the characters, whether individually or as a team, to showcase their superhero powers, which Kinberg’s predecessors Vaughn and Singer have arguably excelled at. Only the reshot climax (in order to avoid similarities with ‘Captain Marvel’) stands out for its display of teamwork in action, but even so, it is hardly anything to shout about coming after the ‘Avengers’.
As lacklustre as it is, we were honestly expecting worse coming after all that bad press which preceded its release. It is therefore a relief that ‘Dark Phoenix’ does not cause the ‘X-Men’ franchise to go down in flames, although it ranks as probably one of the worse entries. On hindsight, it would probably have been better for the series to go out with a bang five years ago with ‘Days of Future Past’, than prolong it with two middling afterthoughts in ‘Apocalypse’ and ‘Dark Phoenix’. Coming amidst an abundance of superhero films, this original superhero ensemble feels tired, dated and out-of-steam, so unless you, like us, had your expectations way down low, be prepared to be severely underwhelmed.
Movie Rating:
(Bad writing and uninspired action in 'Dark Phoenix' leaves the 'X-Men' franchise with the same ignominous end it was doomed to after the silly mess of 'Apocalypse')
Review by Gabriel Chong
Genre: Drama
Director: Joe Penna
Cast: Mads Mikkelsen, Maria Thelma Smáradóttir
Runtime: 1 hr 38 mins
Rating: PG13
Released By: Shaw Organisation
Official Website:
Opening Day: 14 March 2019
Synopsis: A man stranded in the Arctic is finally about to receive his long-awaited rescue. However, after a tragic accident, his opportunity is lost. He must then decide whether to remain in the relative safety of his camp or to embark on a deadly trek through the unknown for potential salvation.
Movie Review:
Filled with more snow than script, Joe Penna’s Arctic strips the survival film genre to its bare essentials, but bolstering that skeleton with a rich performance from its main character.
Danish Mads Mikkelsen gives his all in his role as Overgard, a pilot stranded in the arctic region after a crash. Presumably. I say that because Arctic is a film full of inference. You don’t see the crash, but you see Overgard staying in a shell of a plane. You know he’s been out there a while because there’s fishing holes rigged up with an inventive alarm made from plane parts. You also know he was not alone because his routine includes cleaning a rock grave nearby. There’s a certain satisfaction to be had, almost like unfolding an origami to see how it was made, as the story opens up its history through these visual cues.
This not only makes Arctic a tour de force piece for the talented Mikkelsen, but also a rare film that doesn’t subject itself to exposition. This admittedly may not sit well with audience grown used to their blockbusters and superhero franchise, but like working out a new set of muscles, it’s a satisfying exercise that has its rewards. Namely, a piece that is very present and believable.
The story takes a turn halfway, when a rescue helicopter who spots Overgard, runs into trouble themselves. It crashes, and Overgard discovers one of the crew still alive. With a severe wound on her (Maria Thelma Smaradottir), our pilot is caught in a bind. Does he venture out to get help, or should he wait for rescue?
A few days pass and the cruel fate becomes apparent. But given Overgard’s skill, we keep our digits crossed for his success as he hauls survival items and the lady to the nearest seasonal station on her map.
This decision steers the film from functionality to ethics, as he makes hard decisions as he struggles to keep themselves alive, battling the harsh cold, treacherous terrain, declining supplies, and even a polar bear. For the viewer, you’ll identify the dilemma at one point or another. Having just returned from Siberia myself, the impact of losing heat from their portable stove was deeply felt, and taking a detour means so much more as well.
But Arctic does strangely feel a little unsatisfying. This may come from the wavering intensity of the motivation, which keeps this title realistic, but it also strings it in limbo. It doesn’t have the drama of a Hollywood plot, but it doesn’t have enough richness in an philosophical way as well. And while Mikkelsen’s acting is at arguably at its finest, there’s an odd lack of urgency that kills the need for emotional investment from our part.
Arctic places a new hand on survival genre titles, opting for visual storytelling and a docu-naturalistic tone, but needs to juice up their characters a little more to propel some emotional traction.
Movie Rating:
(The natural style is refreshing, and may even challenge certain viewers, but more character motivation may beef up engagement)
Review by Morgan Awyong
Genre: Action/Thriller
Director: Chad Stahelski
Cast: Keanu Reeves, Halle Berry, Laurence Fishburne, Mark Dacascos, Asia Kate Dillon, Lance Reddick, Saïd Taghmaoui, Jerome Flynn, Jason Mantzoukas, Tobias Segal, Boban Marjanovic, Anjelica Huston, Ian McShane
Runtime: 2 hrs 11 mins
Rating: M18 (Violence)
Released By: Golden Village Pictures
Official Website:
Opening Day: 16 May 2019
Synopsis: In this third installment of the adrenaline-fueled action franchise, super-assassin John Wick (Keanu Reeves) returns with a $14 million price tag on his head and an army of bounty-hunting killers on his trail. After killing a member of the shadowy international assassin’s guild, the High Table, John Wick is excommunicado, but the world’s most ruthless hit men and women await his every turn.
Movie Review:
John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum wastes no time in kickstarting the fate of our nicely-dressed, super assassin John Wick (Keanu Reeves) after he is declared “excommunicado” for killing a crime lord on the sacred ground of The Continental. With an hour head start granted by Winston (Ian McShane), the manager of the Continental Hotel, before his $14 million bounty comes into place, Wick must battle his way out of rain-soaked New York without any help or resources.
And if you remember what Wick promised in John Wick 2 - that is whoever comes, whoever it is, he’ll kill them all - you'll be sure you're going to have yet another exhilarating time.
The world or universe (as the filmmakers call it) of John Wick continues to expand in this third instalment, as we learn that Wick is likely a Russian orphan trained under the watchful eyes of The Director (Angelica Huston) before he left to venture on his own with his very specific skillset. And now, Wick is requesting The Director to help him one last time- smuggling him out to Morocco to look for his equally dog lover friend, Sophia (Halle Berry), so that he can find a way to discuss things with The High Table to change his “excommunicado” status.
In the meantime, an Adjudicator (Asia Kate Dillon) from The High Table arrives to make sure that punishments are being meted out to those who had helped John Wick in his escape. And that includes The Director, The Bowery King (Lawrence Fishburne) and Winston. Assisting the Adjudicator is part-time sushi chef, Zero (Mark Dacascos) and his team of ruthless assassins who is going to take on Wick at the Grand Central Terminal, across the Verrazano Bridge, and lastly at the Continental Hotel.
Original creator and writer Derek Kolstad returns with director Chad Stahelski to pepper the franchise with not just jaw-dropping action sequences but also in their most ambitious and efficient way, slowly building the universe of John Wick to a crazy mysterious level. What is The High Table? I’m afraid the answer will not be fully revealed just yet. Who is The Elder anyway? Other than that it is Saïd Taghmaoui (Wonder Woman) who portrays the character, we have little knowledge of him. Who exactly is Sofia and what did Wick do in the past to protect Sofia’s daughter? We have no answer to that either.
With every new John Wick instalment, there are lots of new questions being raised. It’s like a puzzle that keeps turning up with missing pieces and now it seems it’s entirely up to the audiences to either stick with our favourite anti-hero or “excommunicado” yourself at some point, because for better or worse, John Wick’s mission is not done by the end of Chapter 3.
Probably to raise the stakes even higher than its predecessors, Stahelski and his stunt choreographer Jonathan Eusebio begins the movie with a brief fight at the New York Public Library which sees Wick fighting against towering NBA star Boban Marjanovic with a book (it’s a library after all) as his weapon of choice. Not long after, we are treated to our favourite action sequence of the entire movie, which sees Wick using knives and axes against a bunch of Chinese assassins, the kind that makes you squirm a little I must add. If you think Stahelski and Eusebio is going to stop here, they deliver yet another epic fight in a barn and ends with Wick riding a horse along the streets of New York. And all these happened in just the first 30 minutes of the movie.
Action fans who are here merely to see 54-year-old Reeves in action again will not be disappointed as John Wick serves up dishes after dishes of brutal fun, outrageous body counts and ultra-violence, shooting nearly every opponent at point blank. Non-fans might however find the frequent foot chase, gun fights, fist fights (repeat x3) tiresome, but it is impossible to fault Stahelski and Danish cinematographer Dan Laustsen’s (The Shape of Water) hard work for staging the prolonged finale fight in a glass gallery which is both classy and a beauty to look at.
Without the need for much dialogue and despite his age, Reeves continues to exert his charisma through his hyper violent, swift moves and his character’s grief for his late wife. John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum also welcomes the addition of Cecep Arif Rahman and Yayan Ruhian from The Raid, both given rather substantial screentime in the finale. Though we hope to see more of Halle Berry’s Sofia in the future instalments, Mark Dacascos (Brotherhood of the Wolf) on the other hand puts in a memorable, occasional chuckling performance as a Japanese assassin who ironically idolises Wick despite his best attempt to kill him.
John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum is yet another relentless, spectacular action instalment that continues to expand the JW universe and the hidden agendas of familiar characters. If you ask us, we've already signed up for Chapter 4!
Movie Rating:
(Enjoy your stay at the Continental Hotel! We assure you it’s going to be a bloody worthy experience)
Review by Linus Tee
Genre: Crime/Drama
Director: S. Craig Zahler
Cast: Mel Gibson, Vince Vaughn, Jennifer Carpenter, Laurie Holden, Don Johnson, Michael Jai White, Thomas Kretschmann
Runtime: 2 hrs 39 mins
Rating: M18 (Sexual Scene and Violence)
Released By: Shaw Organisation
Official Website:
Opening Day: 28 March 2019
Synopsis: DRAGGED ACROSS CONCRETE follows two police detectives who find themselves suspended when a video of their strong-arm tactics is leaked to the media. With little money and no options, the embittered policemen descend into the criminal underworld and find more than they wanted waiting in the shadows.
Movie Review:
At close to three hours, ‘Dragged Across Concrete’ can feel deeply excruciating, especially for those expecting cop thrillers with pulsating action. Oh yes, rather than pander to those genre expectations, writer-director S. Craig Zahler subverts them almost entirely with a slow-burn (read: slowww-burn) crime drama that will very certainly test the patience of most mainstream viewers. Heck, it makes no apologies for making you watch Vince Vaughn munch an egg-and-cheese salad sandwich during a stakeout almost in real time, if only to have Mel Gibson remark at the end of it, “A single red ant could have eaten it faster.”
It bears reiterating that the action here has been stripped down to a minimum, so those holding out well into half of the movie for an elaborately staged vehicular chase or firefight later on should simply forgo such anticipation right from the beginning. There is but a protracted standoff between a gang of bank robbers and a pair of embittered cops (played by Gibson and Vaughn) which lasts the whole final third of the movie, but even so, the shootouts within proceed in fits and starts and never do build to anything thrilling. Aside from that standoff, the robbery itself is a non-starter; ditto the raid on a drug trafficker’s apartment, which ends up costing the pair of detectives a six-week suspension from their jobs.
In contrast to the bare-bones action, there are plenty of verbal exchanges in Zahler’s very deliberately-paced procedural. Amidst the detours and drawn-out conversations, the former novelist-turned-filmmaker lets loose his own Quentin Tarantino-esque impulses, indulging in extended stretches of speechifying that are intended for us to get into and under his characters. To be fair to Zahler, he does it better than most acolytes do, so those who enjoy the sort of cool-guys-with-guns dialogue will find much to savour, most of which are delivered with just the right mix of zing and world-weary scorn by Gibson and Vaughn.
It’s not hard to see why Gibson was attracted to the role of a lived-in cop at the end of his rope; as the grizzled police detective Brett Ridgeman, Gibson gives a fascinating performance that nuances the familiar image of rage and contempt from his previous cop roles with a heretofore unseen bone-deep exhaustion. Likewise, it’s clear why Zahler decided to cast his Vaughn next to Gibson; playing Ridgeman’s much younger partner Anthony Lurasetti, Vaughn completes the deprecating buddy-cop pair with deadpan precision. Thanks to the palpable chemistry between them, the long scenes of Gibson and Vaughn together on stakeout or just driving along the interstate come off far less monotonous than they could have been.
That’s not the same as saying that they are fascinating though, and frankly, we’d wish that Zahler had given the proceedings some much-needed momentum. Even with letting things unfold at their own pace, it should not take this long to establish Ridgeman’s disgruntlement (owing to a wife (Laurie Holden) with medical issues and a daughter (Jordyn Ashley Olson) being harassed by neighbourhood thugs) and Lurasetti’s ambivalence (as his moral compass comes into conflict with a fierce loyalty towards his partner). Nor for that matter, should it take its length to set up the former convict Henry Johns (Tory Kittles) as Ridgeman’s complement, who returns to his criminal ways in order to make ends meet for his addicted mother and disabled teenage brother.
Up till that standoff, the narrative holds these two threads distinct from each other. While Ridgeman and Lurasetti spend their time watching a certain Lorentz Vogelmann (Thomas Kretschmann) whom they plan to rob, Johns psyches his childhood pal Biscuit (Michael Jai White) into going through with their latest job that has them acting as getaway drivers for Vogelmann and his two other equally sadistic partners. Suffice to say that it doesn’t end well for most of these characters when their paths do cross, often in bursts of violence that Zahler has made a signature in his films (see ‘Bone Tomahawk’ and ‘Brawl in Cell Block 99’) – as a case in point, one of the aforementioned characters will have his insides pulled out of his chest, in order that one of the bad guys may cut a key he swallowed out of his gut.
If it isn’t yet apparent, ‘Dragged Across Concrete’ is an extremely self-indulgent piece of neo-noir, which will only work for you if you’re prepared to accept its indulgences. The occasional violence is one; and then there are casual bits of racism and sexism, what with both detectives taking potshots at minorities and humiliating a half-naked Latina suspect; and last but most significantly is the storytelling itself, which makes no apologies spending a good 15 minutes introducing us to a female bank employee (Jennifer Carpenter) only to blow her hand away shortly after, or say make us sit through long, talky stakeouts and even longer, talkier car rides. No thanks to Zahler’s extreme genre deceleration, this is slow-burn crime drama at its most deliberate, so unless you’re prepared to sit through close to three hours of talk, you probably want to avoid being metaphorically dragged through this concrete.
Movie Rating:
(Mel Gibson and Vince Vaughn are drily entertaining as a self-deprecating buddy-cop pair, but this extremely deliberately paced crime drama is utter self-indulgence whose flashes of Tarantino-esque wit cannot make up for its sheer tedium)
Review by Gabriel Chong
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TRAILER WATCH - HELLBOYPosted on 02 Mar 2019 |
SYNOPSIS: A petty smuggler from Busan dives headfirst into illicit drug trafficking in the 1970s and rises to become king of narcotics exports to Japan.
MOVIE REVIEW:
For a movie about crack, ‘The Drug King’ could indeed do with some of its own product.
Based on the true story of the infamous drug lord Lee Doo-sam, who grew from a small-time criminal in the contraband business into the head of an enterprise manufacturing and exporting crack, the film takes what could have been a fascinating real-life portrait of crime and corruption and turns it into something dull and trite. How tedious is it? Well, let’s just say it took us about three sittings just to get through this two-and-a-quarter-hour long slog.
Confounding the definition of an epic with length, writer-director Woo Min-ho seems utterly indifferent to pacing right from the start. So the proceedings unfold with little urgency from the moment we first meet Doo-sam lending his expertise in goldwork to a gang of contraband traders smuggling goods between South Korea and Japan, which led to his discovery of a growing market for methamphetamine (or ‘crack’ in street parlance) in Japan. Doo-sam’s subsequent fall-and-rise includes a betrayal by his own boss to the KCIA (or Korea’s National Intelligence Service), a brief stint in prison which proves surprisingly advantageous, and a combination of old and new contacts in order to get his methamphetamine business off the ground.
Though by no means gripping, the first hour is at least moderately engaging, especially watching Doo-sam apply his street smarts to assemble the various parts of the operation. In particular, a certain Professor Baek (Kim Hong-fa) is probably one of the film’s most colourful supporting characters, a renowned chemist who works out of a laboratory inside a pigpen in order to convert the raw materials smuggled from Taiwan into high-quality product that Doo-sam proudly brands ‘Made in Korea’. Alas, rather than picking up momentum, the storytelling only grows more sluggish from that point on, even with the introduction of a key supporting character in Bae Donna’s lobbyist Kim Jeong-ah whom Doo-sam courts to gain favour with high-ranking officials that she has deep connections with.
In fact, it isn’t that the movie is out of ideas. For one, there is the hard-nosed prosecutor Kim In-gook (Jo Jung-suk), whose dogged investigation into Doo-sam’s illicit business could have been a taut game of wits. For another, there is Doo-sam’s relationship with his faithful wife Sook-kyung (Kim So-jin), who stands by him steadfastly during his earlier downfall but whom he betrays by committing adultery with Jeong-ah. And last but not least, there is Doo-sam’s brash cousin Doo-hwan (Kim Dae-myung), who lent a significant hand in helping him build up his business but whose brash personality ultimately becomes his greatest liability.
Yet, even with these parts, the movie cannot seem to muster a decently compelling narrative for its own good; instead, neither of these subplots build up to anything substantive, ambling towards a final confrontation between Doo-sam and law enforcement at his sprawling mansion. To his credit, Woo tries to inject some political context into Doo-sam’s turn of fortunes, as mass government demonstrations in the late 1970s and the assassination of President Park Chung-yee sparked a sea change in the country’s political landscape that also saw many of Doo-sam’s corrupt officials deposed; yet, at well into the third act, that perspective is simply too late to inject much heft into the plotting.
Indeed, ‘The Drug King’ leaves you feeling even as you’re watching it that it could have been so, so much more. There is potential here for a taut crime thriller not unlike those which you can also access on Netflix, including ‘Narcos’ and ‘Sicario’; unfortunately, little of that potential is realised in a film that doesn’t quite build itself to anything, or know what it wants to say. Even the usually reliable Song cannot quite seem to get a handle of the titular character, unsure whether to make him a sympathetic figure or someone menacing yet revered. The period setting is rich all right, but that alone cannot sustain a movie that runs more than two hours.
So, like we said at the start, this is a movie that needed more highs and more lows, instead of the monotony that it waddles in.
MOVIE RATING:
Review by Gabriel Chong
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TRAILER WATCH - DETECTIVE PIKACHUPosted on 02 Mar 2019 |
Genre: Horror/Thriller
Director: Nicholas McCarthy
Cast: Taylor Schilling, Jackson Robert Scott, Peter Mooney, Colm Feore
Runtime: 1 hr 32 mins
Rating: NC16 (Some Violence)
Released By: Golden Village Pictures
Official Website:
Opening Day: 7 March 2019
Synopsis: In her much-anticipated foray into the horror-thriller genre, Taylor Schilling stars in THE PRODIGY as Sarah, a mother whose young son Miles' disturbing behavior signals that an evil, possibly supernatural force has overtaken him. Fearing for her family's safety, Sarah must grapple with her maternal instinct to love and protect Miles in favor of investigating what - or who - is causing his dark turn. She is forced to look for answers in the past, taking the audience on a wild ride; one where the line between perception and reality remains blurry.
Movie Review:
As far as evil-child horror thrillers are concerned, ‘The Prodigy’ may not break new ground, but it is surely unsettling enough to unnerve you.
The kid in question is Miles (Jackson Robert Scott), a precocious child born to the happy and attractive married couple Sarah (Taylor Schilling) and John Blume (Peter Mooney). It so happens that Miles is born just moments after a serial killer is gunned down by police, and the latter’s soul decides to take residence in the former’s body.
Like the title implies, Miles is regarded in his early years as somewhat of a genius, having displayed extraordinary cognitive ability in speech, reasoning and science. But there are also signs that something may not be quite right about him, such as how he doesn’t cry during his injections as a baby, or how he grabs a spider and crushes it in his hands, or how he speaks Hungarian in his sleep.
Things really start to go sideways after Miles turns eight. For one, he ambushes the babysitter with a shard of glass on the basement stairs. For another, he hits his fellow classmate who happens to be paired with the girl he wants to partner with on a science project in school. And for another, his Hungarian sleep-talk consists of doing some vile and vulgar words to a woman.
At first, Sarah refuses to believe the soft-spoken doctor Arthur Jacobsen (Colm Feore) when he suggests that another more disturbed consciousness has invaded Miles’ body. When she finds the family dog mutilated and hidden in the basement cupboard, Sarah is finally convinced that the said doctor’s theory about reincarnation might not be so far-fetched after all.
What follows is a race against time to save Miles’ soul before it is completely vanquished by that of the invading spirit, led by none other than his mother Sarah. Oh yes, it isn’t difficult to guess that the ensuing narrative hinges on the bond between mother and son; more specifically, we are kept in suspense just how far will Sarah go in order to save Miles, especially if that could very entail aiding the late serial killer to complete his unfinished business so his soul would depart Miles’ body in peace.
To writer Jeff Buhler’s credit, he does push the plotting to surprising extremes, culminating in an unexpected denouement for both Sarah and Miles that treads into morally ambiguous territory. On his part, director Nicholas McCarthy duly follows his writer’s lead in placing the mother-son relationship at the forefront, hinging on an effectively terrified performance by Schilling to keep us emotionally invested in the twists and turns.
It bears noting too that McCarthy does not resort to jump scares at any point during the film, preferring instead to rely on a genuinely creepy atmosphere to get under your skin. Much of that comes from the mystery (which Miles himself reveals towards the end) of just who is talking through Miles’ body at any point in time, given how Arthur’s hypnosis session brings to light the extent to which the spirit in Miles’ body is a manipulative and cunning liar.
That we are fascinated with Miles is testament to Scott’s amazing ability to switch from sweet and innocent to mean and scary seamlessly, and McCarthy taps into his young star’s utterly convincing portrayal to inject a palpable sense of dread and unease into his film. Aside from Schilling and Scott though, the rest of the cast are largely underused in their supporting roles, but both lead stars thankfully play off each other extremely well and otherwise make up for the parts of the script that are under-developed.
Even if therefore the film doesn’t break new ground in a subgenre dominated by classics like ‘The Bad Seed’, ‘The Omen’ and ‘Children of the Corn’, ‘The Prodigy’ is a reasonably gripping thriller that packs sufficient chills to satisfy those looking for a horror fix. Don’t go in looking for any big scares though, for there are no such sequences here; instead, this is the sort of movie which opts for foreboding, and succeeds at creeping you out.
Movie Rating:
(It doesn't break new ground, but this evil-child horror thriller that packs some powerful mother-son emotion will quite surely unnerve you)
Review by Gabriel Chong
Genre: Drama/Romance
Director: Justin Baldoni
Cast: Haley Lu Richardson, Cole Sprouse, Moises Arias, Kimberly Hébert Gregory, Paraminder Nagra, Claire Forlani
RunTime: 1 hr 56 mins
Rating: PG13 (Some Coarse Language)
Released By: Golden Village Pictures
Official Website:
Opening Day: 21 March 2019
Synopsis: Stella Grant (Haley Lu Richardson) is every bit a seventeen-year-old: she’s attached to her laptop and loves her best friends. But unlike most teenagers, she spends much of her time living in a hospital as a cystic fibrosis patient. Her life is full of routines, boundaries and self-control -- all of which is put to the test when she meets an impossibly charming fellow CF patient named Will Newman (Cole Sprouse). There’s an instant flirtation, though restrictions dictate that they must maintain a safe distance between them. As their connection intensifies, so does the temptation to throw the rules out the window and embrace that attraction. Further complicating matters is Will’s potentially dangerous rebellion against his ongoing medical treatment. Stella gradually inspires Will to live life to the fullest, but can she ultimately save the person she loves when even a single touch is off limits?
Movie Review:
It’s an almost unshakeable formula - a doomed romance featuring a character with a chronic disease is sure to turn the taps on. So, I guess if having one character doomed to die makes viewers bawl, imagine two!
In the line of terminal romance tear-fests like A Walk to Remember, Midnight Sun, and (most similarly) The Fault in Our Stars, Five Feet Apart calibrates the plot to include two patients with cystic fibrosis (shortened as CF) who fall for each other during their hospital treatment residency.
With such a trajectory, we know how things are going to go. The specific obstacles are not all that apparent initially, but because we get the drift pretty soon in the game, it works against the film’s favour when they continue to drum it in later in the film. Five Feet Apart does not reinvent the wheel, but allots a disproportionate time trying to remind the audience of their sell - that CF patients cannot get within six feet of each other for fear of an infectious bacterial exchange. As our rebellious male lead Will (Cole Sprouse) says with fitting exasperation in one scene, “Six feet apart. Got it.”
So this fatalistic scenario is pushed upon the audience to ad nauseum, with almost every scene and every character reminding us of the potential complications if our couple touch. So after a particular sobering scold by nurse Barbara (Kimberly Hebert Gregory), Will backs off from Stella (Haley Lu). In somewhat of an anti-climactic proclamation, she announces on in her Youtube broadcast that she is “stealing one foot back” from CF. This only makes sense philosophically, so don’t tax yourself too much on how that makes logical sense, but it helps to give rise to the film’s title.
Remember that saying about the greatest distance being when two are near but they can’t touch? There’s plenty of visual representations in Five Feet Apart. From the hospital doors, a billiard cue (which measures 5 feet long), and of course, healthy doses of longinging looks through glass panes, the film milks this cow for all its worth. But like MSG and pepper, this should have been done in moderation. The novelty of the cue wears off quickly, and even the use of it at a pool scene goes awkwardly Shades of Grey.
And even CF advocates have been a little wary of this portrayal. While they are glad for some representation, they fear that the scenes where the main characters touch each other’s medications and walking together without masks, may mislead some members of the public. This idealistic creative license may have far-reaching consequences if not handled right.
While Lu and Sprouse both do a decent job of giving nuance to their characters, their supporting family and nurses feel too functional within the writing to extend the story beyond the two. Maybe Barbara playing a harsher well-intentioned nurse could have given the film the grit it badly needs when dealing with such a serious condition, making things more fragile. Only Moises Arias stands out for his tender portrayal as Stella’s best friend, Poe, and his storyline works well to relief the storyline and guide it organically.
Five Feet Apart aims high but plays it way too safe, and doesn’t give the medical conditions the gravity and urgency it needs, to become something deeper. While it will still invariably tug at heartstrings, it won’t be making significant impact as a film.
Movie Rating:
(Nothing new here, but fans of these engineered terminal romance flicks will no doubt get their money’s worth in tears)
Review by Morgan Awyong
Genre: Comedy
Director: Lee Min-Jae
Cast: Jung Jae-Young, Kim Nam-Gil, Um Ji-Won, Lee Soo-Kyung, Jung Ga-Ram, Park In-Hwan
RunTime: 1 hr 50 mins
Rating: TBA
Released By: Clover Films
Official Website:
Opening Day: 14 March 2019
Synopsis: Human Bio, the biggest pharmaceutical company in Korea conducts illegal experiments on humans. One day, a test goes wrong and results in the creation of a zombie. Soon, in the remote countryside, the oddball PARK family makes their acquaintance with the zombie in question, Hyun-woo. Rather than being afraid of this strange creature, the Park family plots to make money out of him, especially after realizing Father-Park has his virility restored after a bite by the zombie. Only the youngest daughter Hae-gul takes a liking to Hyun-woo, and nicknames him ‘Zzongbie, the pet’. Will Zzongbie makes a home with his ‘weirder than zombie’ family?
Movie Review:
Three years after it was bitten by the zombie bug on a ‘Train to Busan’, South Korean cinema has found creative ways to keep the ‘infection’ very much alive, including mixing it up with their signature period political drama in ‘Rampant’ and Netflix’s ‘Kingdom’.
Their latest entry into the genre sees first-time writer-director Lee Min-jae mix the typical zombie survivalist thriller with an oddball family comedy, and the results though uneven, are surprisingly delightful and winning.
As the title suggests, the story has something to do with the eccentric Park family crossing paths with a zombie and exploiting him to lucrative ends. No, it isn’t as convenient as turning him into some sort of perverted attraction for everyone to see; rather, as the head of the family Man-deok (Park In-hwan) discovers for himself, a bite from the zombie can restore one’s virility. Oh yes, not only does Man-deok look younger after being bitten, he becomes fitter and stronger, confounding both his family and his fellow elderly villagers.
If you could regain your youth just by being bitten by a zombie, would you opt for the treatment? The answer, to the aging denizens in Man-deok’s peaceful country village, is an unequivocal yes. And hence from devising ‘accidents’ so that they can earn from repairs at their auto shop from those driving by their village, Man-deok’s oldest son Joon-gul (Jung Jae-young) and his stern wife Nam-joo (Uhm Ji-won) decide to open a business exploiting the zombie’s apparent rejuvenating powers, which gets roaring from day one.
The first hour of the film is as offbeat as that set-up sounds, making the most of the Park family’s confusion, caution and craftiness. Oh yes, the zombie’s arrival is first met with plenty of confusion, with the Parks wondering how something straight out of a zombie movie could have ended up in the room – heck, they even turn to ‘Train to Busan’ to try and figure out how to handle a zombie. And no thanks to that tutorial, Nam-joo decides to err on the side of caution by pulling out all the zombie’s teeth. That is of course before they realise that they can in fact exploit the side effects of the zombie’s bite right out of their garage, even seasoning their customers’ forearm with ketchup so that the zombie will be tempted.
In between that show of entrepreneurship, there is even time for a budding relationship between the Parks’ youngest member Hae-gul (Lee Soo-kyung) and the zombie she nicknames ‘Zzongbie’. Not only does she care for it by feeding it its favourite cabbage, she also grooms it by taking it for a haircut, and subsequently even brings it around town as if the two were on a date. It doesn’t hurt that Zzongbie is quite a handsome-looking young dude if you look past his current form, and over time, her affection for him lets him rediscover surprising depths of human emotion.
Given the creative direction that writer-director Lee had taken with the material, it is more than a little disappointing that the second half unfolds more or less like how you would expect a zombie epidemic to turn out. Without giving too much away, let’s just say that the youthfulness which Zzongbie bestows on those he has bitten unfortunately doesn’t last forever. Ironically, the film is better at being unconventional than it is being mainstream, and the extended showdown between the Parks and the horde of zombies gathered at their residence isn’t quite as engaging as watching them get up close and personal with Zzongbie.
Still, the somewhat underwhelming finale is saved by an unexpected twist at the end, which we dare say is quite the perfect finish by not only bringing the earlier events full circle, but also serving as a witty metaphor of how one’s actions can come back to bite you. Lee also has his cast to thank for carrying the movie to a rousing finish, in particular Park as the family’s endearing patriarch and Uhm as the take-no-prisoners daughter-in-law. Oh yes, they may not be household names or faces, but each member of the ensemble plays his or her character with plenty of distinctive personality.
So though ‘The Odd Family: Zombie On Sale’ follows in the footsteps of ‘Train to Busan’ and ‘Rampant’, it is bold enough to define its own style, and is in turn better off for it. To be sure, this isn’t blockbuster filmmaking on the scale of its predecessors, but a more intimate, quirky and even wacky take on the zombie genre that mirrors the sort of indie comedy Hollywood is known for. It could do with more conviction to its own eccentric rhythm in the second half, but otherwise, there is still enough inventive wit here to guarantee an agreeably zany time.
Movie Rating:
(An offbeat zombie comedy that turns the genre on its head, this weird and wacky South Korean entry into the genre proves delightful and winning)
Review by Gabriel Chong
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