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
SYNOPSIS: New York City architect Natalie (Rebel Wilson) works hard to get noticed at her job but is more likely to be asked to deliver coffee and bagels than to design the city’s next skyscraper. And if things weren’t bad enough, Natalie, a lifelong cynic when it comes to love, has an encounter with a mugger that renders her unconscious, waking to discover that her life has suddenly become her worst nightmare—a romantic comedy—and she is the leading lady.
MOVIE REVIEW:
Produced by and starring Rebel Wilson more well-known as Fat Amy from the Pitch Perfect series, Isn’t It Romantic satires and pokes fun at the romantic genre but fails to get away from it in the end. Kind of a missed opportunity to delve into something deeper. Still, it’s an enjoyable PG13 comedy if you yearn for a slightly different rom-com.
Being raised as someone who doesn’t believe in love and happy endings, Natalie (Wilson) leads a cynical life as an architect in New York City and stays in a disheveled tiny apartment with fellow colleague Josh (Adam DeVine) and assistant Whitney (Betty Gilpin) as her best friends. When a mugging incident in a subway station left her waking up in an alternate NYC whereby it smells liked lavender and everything works and looked like a romantic comedy, Natalie finds that a suave billionaire Blake (Liam Hemsworth) has fallen in love with her and her creepy neighbor, Donny (Brandon Scott Jones) has become her gay best friend.
Will Natalie be able to get back to the “real” world or chose to stay happily ever after in a perfect and nice NYC with Blake?
For the first hour or so, Isn’t It Romantic set off a series of fun jabs at all the rom-com tropes and clichés which audiences are familiar with. From the crazy makeover of her apartment and closet to Blake writing down his number on flower petals to Blake taking her for a cruise and dinner, treating her to dessert at an ice-cream parlour and kissing in the middle of the road. It’s often ticklish and witty all thanks to Wilson’s perfect comic timing and chemistry with fellow Aussie, Liam Hemsworth.
Then it starts to spiral down when Isn’t It Romantic begins to turn into the movies which it mercilessly pokes fun of for the past hour. You know the part when you realized your best friend is actually the one you should be with rather than the person he or she is just about to get marry to and a whole of other mumbo jumbo about loving yourself. At least director Todd Strauss-Schulson is smart enough to wrap up everything in less than 90 minutes before it gets worse and predictive.
Except for a theatrical release in the US and Canada, Isn’t It Romantic is strangely relegated to current streaming giant, Netflix in the rest of the world despite featuring both a handsome cast and production values. Overall, this is the kind of enjoyable romantic comedy that is good for at least a single watch with Wilson’s self-deprecating humor and a truckload full of cringy love songs to entertain your other half.
MOVIE RATING:
Review by Linus Tee
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MARVEL-LOUS'S GOTTA WAITPosted on 04 Mar 2019 |
Genre: Drama
Director: Choi Jeong-Yeol
Cast: Ma Dong-Seok, Park Jeong-Min, Jung Hae-In, Yum Jung-A, Choi Sung-Eun
RunTime: 1 hr 42 mins
Rating: PG13 (Some Violence)
Released By: Clover Films and Cathay Cineplexes
Official Website:
Opening Day: 9 January 2020
Synopsis: Claiming he hates school and studying even more, ‘Taek-il’ (PARK Jeong-min) is fast to get hard spikes from his mother (YUM Jung-a). While his best friend ‘Sang-pil’ (JUNG Hae-in) says he wants to make money fast and gets a full-time job, ‘Taek-il’ runs away from home with no set plan. Later, Taek-il comes across Jangpoong Chinese Restaurant and meets ‘Geo-seok’ (MA Dong-seok), the chef with a mysterious appearance and aura. After their intense first meeting, ‘Geo-seok’ and ‘Taek-il’ become rivals in life. Taek-il, a teenager who has no fears, gets a taste of the real world with unimaginable people he meets at the restaurant.
Movie Review:
Start Up is the latest Korean comedy film based on a webcomic series, ‘Shidong’. The story centres on Taek-il, who has dropped out of school against his mother’s wish. He spends his days hanging out with his best friend, Sang-pil, who also does not have any set plan for the future. Taek-il often gets into arguments with his mother because it seems like he is not doing anything good for his own future. Desperate to break out of his circumstances, Taek-il bought a bus ticket with the little money he has to go away to the city, and ended up at Gunsan. He eventually lands a delivery job at a Chinese restaurant, which leads him to cross paths with people who are just like him.
The film opens with Taek-il, showing off his latest buy to Sang-pil. Taek-il displeased his mum again by misusing the money which was intended for his tuition. It quickly establishes the relationship between the three of them, with injections of the classic Korean slapstick humour. The story progresses as the two boys went on their separate ways to deal with their own lives. The movie’s side story arcs play quite an important role in the movie. It cleverly weaves their lives and circumstances together to reveal more than what meets the eye.
One of the anchoring characters in the movie is none other than Geo-seok (played by Ma Dong-seok). He rocked his look in the movie (kudos to the wardrobe team!) with the unique fashion sense for clothes and hair. While his physique is big and macho, he often breaks out in agile moves unexpectedly and that draws lots of laughter. In particular, watch out him dance to his favourite female idol group. The dance was copied to a tee and you’d be impressed by his agility and readiness! As the story progresses, he also showed another side of him that gives more depth to the story.
Here’s one other trivia about the cast: Taek-il and Sang-pil are set to be under 20 in the movie, but the actors are in reality both in their 30s! They actually looked and acted their onscreen ages, and nothing felt strange about it. There must be something right about Korean cosmetic and beauty products!
Overall, Start Up was an entertaining, light-hearted and easy watch. It was paced fairly nicely but there just weren’t any mind-blowing moments. While part of the movie might be exaggerated for entertainment purposes, it’s mostly not overly dramatic. All in all it’s about ordinary people finding ordinary ways to start again and lead ordinary lives.
Movie Rating:
(A feel-good movie about all of the characters seeking for new starts to lead ordinary lives)
Review by Tho Shu Ling
Genre: Romance/Comedy
Director: Sho Tsukikawa
Cast: Ryoma Takeuchi, Minami Hamabe, Taiki Sato, Rina Kawaei, Yua Shinkawa, Yuma Yamoto, Yuki Saso, Riko Fukumoto
RunTime: 1 hr 44 mins
Rating: PG13 (Brief Nudity)
Released By: mm2 Entertainment
Official Website:
Opening Day: 28 February 2019
Synopsis: Based on manga series "Sensei Kunshu" by Momoko Koda, high school student Ayuha Samaru falls for a handsome stranger who pays for her bill at a restaurant. The next day, she realises that this stranger is her new homeroom teacher Yoshitaka Hiromitsu! Convinced that he must be her destined lover, Ayuha Samaru goes all out to win his heart!
Movie Review:
If you do not already know, the Japanese have an insatiable appetite for teacher-student romance. Without even thinking hard, there are at least 5 movies/television dramas that have been released in the 3 years. My Teacher, My Love is yet another romance movie that falls into that league. However, unlike how some which came across as heavy-hearted, this is a fun and bubbly movie that follows high school student Ayuha (played by Hamabe Minami) and her blossoming romance with teacher, Yoshitaka (played by Takeuchi Ryoma).
Ayuha is a cheerful and energetic high school student who decided that she would like to fall in love. In the bid to achieve her goal of being in a relationship, she confesses to one boy to another, but nothing worked out despite her happy disposition. Just when she was going to pay for her meal while she was complaining and getting advice from her best friend, she realised she did not bring enough money. The snaking queue behind her was starting to get annoyed, and that’s when a knight in shining armour came to her rescue. It was love at first sight, and Ayuha became infatuated with a stranger.
The next day back at school, she recounted her fateful encounter to her best friend, getting all lovestruck. When the new relief teacher who will be taking over their class started introducing himself, it caught her by a big surprise as that was exactly the person who saved her from embarrassment the night before! Despite going through 7 rejections in a row, Ayuha is determined to make her teacher reciprocate her feelings...
As typical as it may be, My Teacher My Love is adapted from the manga of the same name, and follows the safe formula of having a youthful girl + charming dude combi, then sprinkle in some romance and humour. In fact the teacher, Yoshitaka, is a tsundere character (tsundere is a Japanese slang word composed of ‘tsun tsun’ [cold and curt attitude] and ‘dere dere’ [affectionate]; often used to describe a character, usually female, who is at first distant and cold, then becomes sweet and affectionate afterwards), who never fails to give surprises in his interactions with Ayuha.
Whilst the setup of the movie is fairly simple, what made the movie enjoyable was the cast. Hamabe Minami aced the role of Ayuha with ease, and makes people laugh with her comical and exaggerated feelings, fantasies and tactics to get her teacher’s attention.
The director of the movie, Tsukikawa Sho, has worked on many high school movies, including “My Little Monster (2018)”, “Let me eat your pancreas (2017)” and “Defying Kurosaki-kun (2016)”. He has perfected the ways of capturing the lead male character of the story to make the female audience skip a beat. There were certainly many flattering angles and great shots of Takeuchi Ryoma in the movie. If you consider yourself a fan, get yourself a serving of the fan service and fulfil your own fantasies as well!
Although My Teacher My Love hardly gave any surprise (especially with its rather predictable ending), it was overall a feel-good and cute movie. Coupled with a stellar cast, it’s hard not to leave the cinema with a smile!
Movie Rating:
(A feel-good and absolutely adorable rom-com you never knew you needed!)
Review by Tho Shu Ling
Genre: Action/Crime
Director: Renny Harlin
Cast: Nick Cheung, Richie Jen, Yang Zi, Clara Lee, Feng Jiayi, Carlos Chan, Ma Shuliang, Jin Au-Yeung, Kwok Chun On, Ron Ng, Sonija Kwok, Ming Peng
Runtime: 1 hr 33 mins
Rating: NC16 (Some Violence and Drug Use)
Released By: Golden Village Pictures & Clover Films
Official Website:
Opening Day: 22 August 2019
Synopsis: A cat-and-mouse game unfolds over a single night when three armed criminals barge into a morgue, demanding the forensic doctor and his assistant to hand over a bullet lodged inside a corpse. While the criminals are in a desperate attempt to hide their true identities, the doctor finds himself sinking deeper and deeper into a quagmire as his past inadvertently catches up with him. Each explosive twist soon pushes the characters beyond their limits.
Movie Review:
We haven’t seen such an inventive Hong Kong crime thriller in a while. Granted that recent flicks like Line Walker 2: The Invisible Spy, The White Storm 2: Drug Lords and Chasing the Dragon II: Wild Wild Bunch are decent pieces of work, these sequels are set against the often seen urban backdrops of Hong Kong productions.
Much of this 93 minute movie takes place in a mortuary. Before you start thinking that it is a convenient way for the filmmakers to save on location budget, wait till you see how the story creatively uses the enclosed space to move the engaging story forward.
We see the story unfolding on a stormy Christmas Eve in Hong Kong, as three masked dudes (obviously bad guys, based on their portrayals) charge into a mortuary with the intention of retrieving a bullet from a dead woman’s body. The good guys are a seemingly mild mannered pathologist and his female assistant, who try their best to outsmart the baddies. Expect casualties along the way.
Although the movie is directed by Finnish director Renny Harlin (12 Rounds, Skiptrace), there is still a very strong Hong Kong flavour to it. Not only do the first and last shots of Hong Kong’s skyline serve as stark reminders of the current political situation, the plot twist is essentially a Hong Kongtale that we are familiar with.
Award winning actor Nick Cheung (Helios, The Trough) takes on the role of the pathologist who has to think on his feet to outwit the antagonists who have broken into his workplace. Expectedly, he manages to portray a character that you root for from beginning to end. Taiwanese singer and actor Richie Jen has come a long way since he starred in tear jerking romance flicks like Fly Me to Polaris (1999) and breezy comedies like Summer I Love You (2002). His efforts in highly lauded dramas like Life Without Principle (2011) and Trivisa (2015) have been well received. Jen may play a bad guy in his latest film project, but his empathetic portrayal will have you appreciating the actor’s hard work over the years. Yang Zi tries her best to stand out from her two male co leads, but can’t do much to make her character a memorable one.
There are also interesting supporting characters in the forms of a security guard who loves donuts, and a cleaner who has his headphones on all the time. Familiar TVB actors Kwok Chun On and Ron Ng also make cameo appearances.
The best thing about this movie is how it keeps the pace taut, so viewers won’t lose their interest and attention. There is something to be engaged by every moment. Where is the good guy hiding in the room full of zipped body bags? Are the bad guys turning against each other? How will the good guys escape the vicious baddies and not allow them to get their hands on the bullet? Although the finale is over the top (clue: there are computer generated explosions and fires), the enjoyable movie benefits from its ensemble cast’s good performances, tight pacing and inventive plot.
Movie Rating:
(A highly enjoyable and inventive Hong Kong crime thriller)
Review by John Li
Genre: Thriller
Director: Kim Nguyen
Cast: Jesse Eisenberg, Alexander Skarsgård, Salma Hayek, Michael Mando, Johan Heldenbergh, Ayisha Issa
RunTime: 1 hr 51 mins
Rating: NC-16 (Coarse Language)
Released By: Shaw Organisation
Official Website:
Opening Day: 21 March 2019
Synopsis: In this modern epic, Kim Nguyen exposes the ruthless edge of our increasingly digital world. Cousins from New York, Vincent (Academy Award nominee Jesse Eisenberg) and Anton (Alexander Skarsgård) are players in the high-stakes game of High-Frequency Trading, where winning is measured in milliseconds. Their dream? To build a straight fiber-optic cable line between Kansas and New Jersey, making them millions. But nothing is straightforward for this flawed pair. Anton is the brains, Vincent is the hustler, and together they push each other and everyone around them to the breaking point with their quixotic adventure. Constantly breathing down their necks is their old boss Eva Torres (Academy Award nominee Salma Hayek), a powerful, intoxicating and manipulative trader who will stop at nothing to come between them and beat them at their own game. No matter what the cost, Vincent and Anton are determined to cut through America, only to find redemption at the end of their line, not through money, but through family and reconnecting to the land.
Movie Review:
Jesse Eisenberg first caught our attention with his portrayal of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg in David Fincher’s The Social Network (2010). The 35 year old actor has since taken on several roles of nerds, and he’s so good at playing them. Be it Now You See Me (2013) and its 2016 sequel, or American Ultra (2015), Eisenberg has aced the characters he plays. And who would have thought that Lex Luthor would be a socially inept tech nerd mogul?
Depending on how you see it, this typecasting may be a good or bad thing for the actor’s career. In this film, he plays an overconfident nerd who cooks up a brilliant business plan with his mathematical genius cousin. The two men bid farewell to their jobs and aim to build a fibre optic line between Kansas and New Jersey that promises high frequency trading. We aren’t experts in this area, but the imagery put forth by the film gives you an idea: where you win or lose in the game is largely dependent on a time frame of milliseconds, which is the time taken for a hummingbird to flap its wing.
With that in mind, our two protagonists are seen trying to convince investors and losing sleep over mathematical formulas in this 111 minute drama thriller. To director Kim Nguyen’s credit, the somewhat dry topic is well treated and you will be kept engaged as you become concerned over the characters’ fate. As most moralistic tales would tell you, trying to play dirty in the game of business won’t give you happy endings.
Eisenberg does what he does best, speed talking while showing signs of distress. You take your hats off someone who continues to pursue his dream despite being hit with stomach cancer. In one strangely heartbreaking scene, he walks into a massage parlour, asks whether it is a sex shop, and goes for a therapeutic massage to presumably offload the stress he has been faced with. As the masseuse’s hands rub through his shoulders, he breaks down and cries.
The other leading man is played by Alexander Skarsgård. Forget the hunk that you knew in TV’s True Blood and The Legend of Tarzan (2016) – the Swedish actor puts on a bald wig to portray a brainy man who is handling more than what his mental capacity can take. It is a role that shouts for attention, but the award winning actor doesn’t take it too far by being too showy. As a result, this is another flawed character that you will feel for.
Elsewhere, Michael Mondo (Spider Man: Homecoming) plays a contractor involved in the project and Salma Hayek (The Hitman’s Bodyguard) puts her menacing look and Mexican accent to good use by threateningly hissing at the two male leads.
As the film progresses, you see heavy construction destroying the peace and quiet in forests, while serene farmland owners are approached to give way to technology. The movie has a social message to convey, and amidst the decent performances, you think about the price we commoners have paid to be connected to the fast moving digital world.
Movie Rating:
(Jesse Eisenberg and Alexander Skarsgård are well cast in this movie which asks a familiar question: what have we given up for speed in the digital world?)
Review by John Li
SYNOPSIS: Make no mistake, this is not a military operation. See Ben Affleck, Oscar Isaac, Charlie Hunnam, Garrett Hedlund and Pedro Pascal attempt to rob one of the world’s most violent cartels in Triple Frontier.
MOVIE REVIEW:
Dumped by Paramount and bought over by Netflix, Triple Frontier was a troubled production right from the start. Still it has no issues attracting a bunch of famous grizzly faces to come together and deliver a half-baked thinking’s man action movie in the end. So beware if you are expecting an easy-peasy Expendables sort of outing because this is not the case.
In a story co-written by Mark Boal of Zero Dark Thirty and director J.C. Chandor (A Most Violent Year), Oscar Isaac plays Pope, a private military contractor who decides to rope in his ex-special forces friends to rob an elusive drug lord, Lorea on the pretext of a legitimate reconnaissance mission. Even though their ex-Captain, Redfly (Ben Affleck) is hesitant at first, Pope manages to convince him along with Ironhead (Charlie Hunnam), his younger brother Ben (Garrett Hedlund) and pilot Catfish (Pedro Pascal).
The heist is simple enough. The guys will storm into Lorea’s heavily guarded house, kills him and take his money while his family members are out to church. But since Danny Ocean is not the one who planned it, things start to go downhill when they realised the loot is far more than they expected. In fact the walls are filled with money from Lorea and his partners. A happy problem you might say?
When greed overcomes Redfly who insist on taking all of the $250 million onboard the helicopter causing it to malfunction and crashes onto a village, that’s when the real issues and cracks start to appear. And that’s where Triple Frontier starts to fumble as well.
It’s admirable for Chandor to take his time to develop his characters showcasing the bonding, their current lives and why they desperately want the loot. Is it because of pure greed or is it because of the fact that they have been left behind by the country while spending the best times of their lives fighting for it? Redfly is divorced and stuck with a realtor job which he hates. Ironhead is reduced to giving endless pep talks to leaving army personnel. Ben is making a living as a MMA fighter, Catfish is grounded from flying as a result of a drug problem and Pope is hoping to retire for good after suffering countless injuries.
They are for sure a bunch of interesting troubled characters but somehow only Redfly has the most exposure while people liked Ben and Catfish is relegated to mere talking cardboards. So if you are going in for some solid action, you need to first sit through a talky first act though it really pays off with some brief but tense action bits later on especially some cool gunplay in the house. Whether it’s the rainy jungle terrain or the snowy mountains, the cinematography by Roman Vasyanov (Fury) looks gorgeous despite being made for the small screen.
Unfortunately, both Chandor and Boal seems to run out of steam during the third act. Triple Frontier turned out to be a movie that attempts to be a cool actioner with touches on human behaviour involving greed, morality and a whole lot of facial hair that it’s too unsatisfying by the time they played another Metallica song during the closing credits. Watch it for the stars.
MOVIE RATING:
Review by Linus Tee
Genre: Thriller
Director: Jordan Peele
Cast: Lupita Nyong’o, Winston Duke, Elisabeth Moss, Tim Heidecker, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Anna Diop, Evan Alex, ShahadiWright Joseph, Madison Curry, Cali Sheldon, Noelle Sheldon
RunTime: 1 hr 56 mins
Rating: NC-16 (Violence and Coarse Language)
Released By: UIP
Official Website: https://www.facebook.com/UsMovie/
Opening Day: 21 March 2019
Synopsis: Set in present day along the iconic Northern California coastline, Us, from Monkeypaw Productions, stars Oscar®winner Lupita Nyong’o as Adelaide Wilson, a woman returning to her beachside childhood home with her husband, Gabe (Black Panther’s Winston Duke), and their two children (Shahadi Wright Joseph, Evan Alex) for an idyllic summer getaway. Haunted by an unexplainable and unresolved trauma from her past and compounded by a string of eerie coincidences, Adelaide feels her paranoia elevateto high-alert as she grows increasingly certain that something bad is going to befall her family. After spending a tense beach day with their friends, the Tylers (Emmywinner Elisabeth Moss, Tim Heidecker, Cali Sheldon, Noelle Sheldon), Adelaide and her family return to their vacation home. When darkness falls, the Wilsons discover the silhouette of four figures holding hands as they stand in the driveway. Us pits an endearing American family against a terrifying and uncanny opponent: doppelgängers of themselves.
Movie Review:
We may never know what Jordan Peele wants to say in his second feature film. But that’s exactly the beauty of this horror movie.
In the phenomenal Get Out (2017) penned and directed by Peele, the message beneath the horror flick is racism and how white people are supreme psychological terrorists. The smart satire won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. With a predominantly African American cast, one would think that Peele’s sophomore project will deal with race, but it seems to be more ambitious than that.
In the spotlight time are the Wilsons, a middle class African American family of four (Winston Duke, Lupita Nyong'o, Evan Alex and Shahadi Wright Joseph) who are on vacation at their beach house. One night, another family of four dressed in red suits shows up. What’s creepy is that these folks are doppelgangers of each member of the Wilsonfamily. A nightmare involving scissors, rabbits and a terrifying childhood incident ensues, and yes, there will be blood.
While the concept of doppelgangers isn't a new thing in movies, this 116 minute movie uses them to such great effect, the result is gleefully frightening. Spooky makeup isn’t required to create scary characters, and having the same actors play the mirror versions of themselves is a brilliant move. The beady eyes, soulless body language and weird groans may keep the timid wide awake at night.
Needless to say, the ensemble cast delivers memorable performances. Each of them gets to portray to personalities: Nyong'o (12 Years a Slave) is both a courageous mother and a vengeful monster, while her Black Panther co star Winston Duke is believable as wannabe cool Dad and a blockhead zombie. Wright Joseph plays their teenage daughter, and Alex takes on the challenging role of a socially awkward son. Elsewhere, Elisabeth Moss (The Old Man & the Gun) and Tim Heidecker (Ant Man and the Wasp) portray the family’s privileged white friends. Without giving away too much, the duo gets their share of fun as well.
Peele shows that he is not a one hit wonder with the thought provoking themes explored in this film. Class, religion and memories are some of some of the obvious ones that viewers will discuss after the movie ends. There are many things to decipher if you enjoy reading into a movie’s subtext – film students will have a field day unfolding the layers of social commentary, symbols and visual mise en scene. In one scene, a doppelganger grins with a smirk: “We’re Americans”. In another, someone asks whether they should escape to Mexico. And in a spectacular sequence, we see characters mimicking the 1986 Hands Across America charity campaign where about 6.5 million people held hands along a path across the country.
It is obvious that Peele had more budget to work with for this film. With that, he gives viewers more exciting action sequences and more entertaining exchanges. Hence, there’s no need to worry if you are not in the mood to appreciate dark and deep story themes, because there is enough entertainment to keep you at the edge of your seat.
Movie Rating:
(Jordan Peele’s sophomore effort is big, bold and creepily beautiful)
Review by John Li
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