Genre: Horror/Thriller
Director: Troy Nixey
Cast: Katie Holmes, Guy Pearce, Bailee Madison, Jack Thompson, Garry McDonald, Edwina Ritchard, Julia Blake, Nicholas Bell
RunTime: 1 hr 39 mins
Released By: GV
Rating: NC16 (Horror and Some Violence)
Official Website: http://www.facebook.com/DontBeAfraidoftheDark
Opening Day: 15 September 2011
Synopsis: Sally Hurst (Bailee Madison), a lonely, withdrawn child, has just arrived in Rhode Island to live with her father Alex(Guy Pearce)and his new girlfriend Kim (Katie Holmes) at the 19th-century mansion they are restoring. While exploring the sprawling estate, the young girl discovers a hidden basement, undisturbed since the strange disappearance of the mansion’s builder a century ago. When Sally unwittingly lets loose a race of ancient, dark-dwelling creatures who conspire to drag her down into the mysterious house’s bottomless depths, she must convince Alex and Kim that it’s not a fantasy – before the evil lurking in the dark consumes them all.
Movie Review:
Although Guillermo del Toro’s name is splashed prominently on the promo materials, it is first-time director Troy Nixey who is at the helm of this remake of a 1973 television movie of the same name. Nonetheless, it was del Toro who conceptualised the remake after recalling the frightening experience the original gave him as a child, and who co-writes and produces this movie. Yes, his prints are all over the movie- though this time, they are much less indelible than his previous works.
Retaining the premise of the original, del Toro’s version is once again set in a spooky house, the kind with decades of history behind it, secrets behind its walls and whispering voices along its corridors. The latter is literal, as a tense prologue set in the late 1800s where we witness the disappearance of the mansion’s original owners, Emerson Blackwood and his son, establishes the other non-human inhabitants in the basement- nasty tiny critters who are after kids’ teeth. Left abandoned and in ruins for more than a century, the mansion in present day becomes the centrepiece of architect Alex’s (Guy Pearce) restoration works- which also becomes the movie’s excuse later on for his reluctance at moving out.
Alex is joined by his girlfriend cum interior designer Kim (Katie Holmes) and his daughter Sally (Bailee Madison) from a previous marriage. In particular, Sally’s arrival rouses these basement dwellers, who hear her unhappiness of being sent to live with Daddy and his girlfriend and whisper teasingly that they are her friends. Needless to say, their agenda is far more sinister, but Sally suspects little- as curious children are wont to do- and follow their voices to unearth the hidden basement, inadvertently releasing them to roam freely around the house.
From then on, del Toro and co-writer Matthew Robbins deliver a straightforward narrative where Sally gets terrorised by the creatures every night when the lights go out, try to convince Alex and Kim in vain of the horror lurking behind the walls, and then gets proven right when both adults are confronted by the very monsters. Del Toro weaves some mythology that links the goblins to the tooth fairy and their origin through the centuries, but largely the background, while interesting, adds little to the main storyline.
If the movie turns out surprisingly engaging, credit must go to Nixey for skilfully translating del Toro and Robbins’ screenplay into some truly intense sequences. One of them is partly shown in the trailer, where one of the creatures finds its way under Sally’s bedcovers; another has the creatures attempting to kidnap Sally while she is alone in the bathroom. Nixey also stages the climax thrillingly, the culmination of some excellent work in pacing and building atmosphere that keeps the creatures hidden from full view until late into the film.
He also has a terrific child actor in Madison, probably best known for her role in this spring’s ‘Just Go with It’. Madison doesn’t overplay her role even when her character is supposed to be freaking out, and the restraint she shows goes a long way in earning her audience’s sympathy at her predicament. The same however can’t be said of her adult stars. Holmes looks spent most of the time (probably from her marriage to Mr Tom Cruise) and Pearce, usually excellent, reciprocates by not bothering to invest much effort into his role.
Perhaps it is also because they are astute to know that even with del Toro’s participation, this is really del Toro-lite material. Sure, you can recognise his trademarks in the film’s play on childhood fears, and the mythological world of sinister creatures that could probably fit into ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’, but this is nowhere near the brilliance of his usual works. Nixey does a fine job as a first-time feature helmer- unfortunately, his best efforts barely transcend the all-too simplistic plotting. As an old-fashioned creature horror however, his film works well with an efficient combination of suspense and thrills- though it is likely that most modern-day audiences will find it coming up short.
Movie Rating:
(Straightforward plotting ruins an otherwise solid old-fashioned horror that boasts great atmosphere and some well-executed thrilling sequences)
Review by Gabriel Chong
Genre: Comedy
Director: Douglas McGrath
Cast: Sarah Jessica Parker, Greg Kinnear, Pierce Brosnan, Olivia Munn, Seth Meyers, Kelsey Grammer, Christina Hendricks, Jane Curtin
RunTime: 1 hr 29 mins
Released By: GV
Rating: TBA
Official Website: howshedoesitmovie.com
Opening Day: 22 September 2011
Synopsis: Kate Reddy (Parker) devotes her days to her job with a Boston-based financial management firm. At night she goes home to her adoring, recently-downsized architect husband Richard (Kinnear) and their two young children. It's a non-stop balancing act, the same one that Kate's acerbic best friend and fellow working mother Allison (Christina Hendricks) performs on a daily basis, and that Kate's super-brainy, child-phobic young junior associate Momo (Olivia Munn) fully intends to avoid. When Kate gets handed a major new account that will require frequent trips to New York, Richard also wins the new job he's been hoping for—and both will be spreading themselves even thinner. Complicating matters is Kate's charming new business associate Jack Abelhammer (Brosnan), who begins to prove an unexpected source of temptation. Based on the critically acclaimed bestseller by Allison Pearson.
Movie Review:
Had Carrie Bradshaw decided to finally settle down and raise a family, the result could very well be exactly what Sarah Jessica Parker’s character in this film is going through. Channelling her inner Carrie-ness into the role of Kate Reddy, Parker balances the former’s capriciousness with sensibility and judiciousness to illuminate the struggles of working mothers out there in the world today. And thanks to her radiant, empathetic performance, ‘I Don’t Know How She Does It’ is more than a ‘Sex and the City’-wannabe, but an astute multi-faceted portrait that will leave you tickled and moved at the same time.
In adapting the bestselling 2002 novel by Allison Pearson for the big screen, screenwriter Aline Brosh McKenna (The Devil Wears Prada, Morning Glory) transports the setting from London to Boston where Kate, the hotshot investment manager, lives with her often unemployed architect husband Richard (Greg Kinnear) and their two kids Marla (Jane Curtin) and Lew (Mark Blum). The opening minutes of the film reveal her balancing act between career and family, as well as the various supporting characters in her life that will take turns speaking to the camera throughout the film.
McKenna centres the film around three months of Kate’s life where her work-life balance is thrown into disarray, as a career-defining new account with powerhouse fund manager Jack Abelhammer (a very suave Pierce Brosnan) means she has to work late nights and commute frequently between Boston and New York. To make matters worse, Kate and Jack’s successful professional partnership threatens to turn personal after a fun game of bowling, countless hours of communication, and Jack’s signing his emails to Kate with “xo”- though ultimately McKenna keeps the complication more restrained than in Pearson’s source novel.
As if to emphasise Kate’s competence, most of the supporting characters are largely sidelined- no matter the anti-Kate stay-home mother nicknamed ‘The Momster’, or the envious back-stabbing male colleague Chris (Seth Meyers)- and relegated to propelling the film’s narrative momentum with their faux-documentary style interviews. The only other character besides Kate that gets some measure of development is her junior assistant Momo (a scene-stealing Olivia Munn), who admires Kate but steadfastly refuses to become her until the day she discovers that she is pregnant.
Though having the characters address their audience directly reeks of TV sitcom, director Douglas McGrath (Infamous, Nicholas Nickleby) makes the most of the gimmick thanks to McKenna’s smartly scripted witticisms. Listening to ‘The Momster’s’ thinly veiled sarcastic barbs at Kate while working out on an elliptical trainer is never short of amusing, but the best bits belong to Momo’s mortification at her boss’ casual attitude to her physical appearance- especially when Kate finds out that she has gotten a case of the lice from her daughter Marla. Munn nails her role as Momo, conveying both awe and anxiety at Kate’s everyday circumstances perfectly.
The other supporting players make the best of their limited roles. Kinnear exudes sincerity and empathy both as Kate’s husband and as father to their children, but it is also a role that he can play easily. Ditto for Brosnan’s charming and debonair Abelhammer, who bears an uncanny resemblance to ‘Sex and the City’s’ Mr Big. But of course, the movie rests squarely on Parker’s shoulders, and the actress brings her trademark verve and a surprising amount of warmth and sensitivity to her character. Parker also proves to be just as adept as a physical comedian, a particularly hilarious sequence when a lice-infected Kate frantically scratches her head during a first high-powered meeting with Abelhammer.
Thanks to the excellent SJP, the film becomes much more than just a slick ‘Sex and the City’ spinoff, but also an ode to the working mothers out there who balance the demands of career and family day in and day out. You may argue if they need another reminder of the stresses and strains they go through daily, but at least from this guy’s perspective, there may be comfort to be found in solidarity- and it isn’t hard to relate to Kate with Parker’s effortless portrayal. With plenty of charm and wit, it’s not hard to figure out why this is a winning comedy that celebrates the modern-day woman.
Movie Rating:
(It may seem like a SatC spinoff, but this celebration of the modern-day working women in our society is fresh and charming in its own right- complete with an utterly winsome performance by SJP)
Review by Gabriel Chong
Genre: Crime/Thriller
Director: Elliott Lester
Cast: Jason Statham, Paddy Considine, Aidan Gillen, Zawe Ashton, David Morrissey, Mark Rylance
RunTime: 1 hr 37 mins
Released By: GV & MVP
Rating: M18 (Coarse Language & Violence)
Official Website: http://www.blitzmovie.co.uk/
Opening Day: 15 September 2011
Synopsis: A tough cop is dispatched to take down a serial killer who has been targeting police officers.
Movie Review:
Jason Statham could quite possibly be the most hardworking action star around today, lending his iconic form and trademark gruffness to just about every B-action movie aspiring to be something respectable. His latest ‘Blitz’ is no different- while it tries to be a gritty hard-hitting thriller, it is still no more than a B-movie about a tough detective who is roped in to track down a vicious serial cop killer. But as with other such genre flicks like ‘The Mechanic’, ‘Crank’, and ‘The Transporter’, Statham is the very reason that it works.
Here, Statham plays the grizzled London copper Tom Brant, who plays by his own rules, and can’t quite be bothered by what his superiors thinks of his methods- imagine the British version of Dirty Harry, and you’ll get the idea. To emphasise the kind of cop Brant is supposed to be, director Elliot Lester trots out the usual clichés- drinking whiskey in the morning; smacking his suspects with a hurley in the kneecap; and spewing F-words in almost every sentence. Such simplicity used to be the stuff of 80s and 90s cop thrillers, but Lester doesn’t bother about the apparent anachronism.
Brant is paired with a new superior who’s openly gay, and the subsequent interaction between the pair- especially a scene that sees Brant spending the night over at the latter’s place- is one of the more refreshing elements in the film. There is good rapport between Statham and Paddy Considine (who plays said detective Porter Nash), and watching Statham hurl his typical tough-guy homophobic insults at Considine is great fun. In fact, it is perhaps more interesting than watching Statham go about apprehending the mass cop murderer calling himself The Blitz.
Aidan Gillen is the brazen psycho, and having honed his villainous skills in ’12 Rounds’, delivers a gleefully over-the-top performance that gives the movie a thrilling edge. But the film bungles the cat-and-mouse game between Statham and Gillen, especially in convincing why Statham would suspect the latter to be the killer. The glaring plot holes do no favours for the film, as does its poor characterisation- one of them in the form of a tabloid hack (David Morrissey) engaged by The Blitz to be his middleman with the cops.
Morrissey’s thankless role has a companion in a young policewoman (Zawe Ashton) with a drug problem who gets embroiled with The Blitz. Both these characters pad out the film’s running time, and make it slacker than it should be. The fault lies with Nathan Parker’s script, his sophomore effort after the critically praised ‘Moon’. In adapting Ken Bruen’s novel (who is also the author of ‘London Boulevard’), Parker can’t quite pare the details down to a lean mean police procedural, instead allowing too many characters to spend time up on the screen for longer than they should. His director Lester is just as guilty, responsible for the odd tonal shifts in the movie that can’t quite connect the dots from one part of the puzzle to another for its audience very well.
That the film manages to differentiate itself from the regular B-movie fare is thanks to Statham’s raw charisma, who plays the brusque hard-worn detective right down to a T- even though his tough-guy shtick does admittedly lose its novelty after similar roles in previous movies. It’s a pity then that Statham isn’t in a better movie, for despite the violence, this remains a standard-issue cop thriller that isn’t particularly compelling.
With hardly any character development, and a villain you know right from the start, it’s just a matter of waiting for Statham to catch up with Gillen- and even that final denouement lacks the gratification we’d been expecting. For Statham fans, this is hardly the guilty pleasure of ‘Crank’ and ‘Transporter’- perhaps the only consolation then is that Statham’s next movie, ‘Killer Elite’, beside Clive Owen and Robert DeNiro is already on its way.
Movie Rating:
(Good cast performances can’t save a half-baked cop thriller that tries to mask its weaknesses with cruel violence)
Review by Gabriel Chong
Genre: Horror/Thriller
Director: David R. Ellis
Cast: Sara Paxton, Dustin Milligan, Chris Carmack, Joel David Moore, Katharine McPhee, Sinqua Walls, Donal F. Logue, Joshua Leonard, Alyssa Diaz, Chris Zylka
RunTime: 1 hr 37 mins
Released By: GV
Rating: NC-16 (Some Violence and Coarse Language)
Official Website: http://www.iamrogue.com/sharknight3d/fullsite/index.html
Opening Day: 6 October 2011
Synopsis: In the horror thriller SHARK NIGHT, a sexy summer weekend turns into a blood-soaked nightmare for a group of college students trapped on an island surrounded by voracious underwater predators. Arriving by boat at her family's Louisiana lake island cabin, Sara (Paxton) and her friends quickly strip down to their swimsuits for a weekend of fun in the sun. But when star football player Malik (Walls) stumbles from the salt-water lake with his arm torn off, the party mood quickly evaporates. Assuming the injury was caused by a freak wake-boarding accident, the group realizes they have to get Malik to a hospital on the other side of the lake, and fast. But as they set out in a tiny speedboat, the college friends discover the lake has been stocked with hundreds of massive, flesh-eating sharks! As they face one grisly death after another, Sara and the others struggle desperately to fend off the sharks, get help and stay alive long enough to reach the safety of dry land.
Movie Review:
There is a certain simplicity to the pleasures which 'Shark Night' offers, made unabashedly in the spirit of last summer's 'Piranha 3D' by way of Steven Spielberg's classic 'Jaws'. It holds no pretension, it knows exactly what it wishes to accomplish, and it achieves its objective beautifully (and we mean this literally).
Indeed, director David R. Ellis has assembled a bunch of young, nubile buff and buxom collegiates for his latest exercise in camp- among them 'The Last House on the Left's Sara Paxton, '90210's' Dustin Milligan and former American Idol's Katharine McPhee. They are just three of a group of seven Tulane University undergrads who head to the Louisiana bayou for a weekend of fun at Sara's lake cabin when the predators attack.
And the honour of first bite goes to football stud Malik (Sinqua Walls) whose right arm is chewed off just 15 minutes into the movie, demonstrating just how quickly Ellis gets to the meat of the business (pun intended). Thereafter, writers Will Hayes and Jesse Studenberg spend the rest of the first half of the movie letting the rest of their politically-correct ethnically diverse cast of characters figure out how to get him to the nearest hospital- though for narrative convenience, the island which they are on also has zero reception, so getting help isn’t just a call away.
The falling of night at the halfway mark brings some newfound thrills as two hillybilly-accented rednecks descend upon the cabin on the pretence of bringing help. Their intentions are however far less dignified, as it turns out that the nefarious pair is in fact responsible for using the lake for their private snuff film factory- their target audience the fans of ‘Shark Week’, apparently the longest-running TV show on cable. There’s also an equally dubious local sheriff (played by ‘Terriers’ star Donal Logue) who’s just about the only other person around the island.
So credibility isn’t one of the movie’s strong suites, but frankly we wouldn’t have expected otherwise- B-movies usually thrive on a minimal setup, preferring to hedge their bets with their audience on easy cheap thrills. Ellis knows this well- his career defined with such genre stuff like ‘Snakes on a Plane’ and two ‘Final Destination’ movies- and his experience shows with the tight pacing he keeps throughout the entire film, so much so that you’re not likely to think about the plot loopholes and narrative contrivances.
But Ellis also seems hemmed in by the insistence of the producers on making this a PG-13 affair- so those expecting another exercise in excess a la ‘Piranha 3D’ be warned, there is only tease here. To his credit, he tries the darnest to test the limits of the rating, and this is obvious right from the opening shot that has d.p. Gary Capo tracking a young woman from below the waist as she bounces in the water and subsequently removes her top. There is no frontal nudity for the record, and no scenes of any body part getting bitten of, just bikinis and blood in equally small measure (though in this regard, as little of the former is definitely more exciting than the latter).
Though the lack of explicit gore and nudity does mean that this is less tongue-in-cheek fun than last year’s Dimension gnasher (which coincidentally is getting a sequel called ‘Piranha 3DD’), Ellis compensates with tenser and more coherent plotting- and the result is a solid, well-made B-movie that offers enough trashy thrills for those looking for some adrenaline fix. The 3D only adds marginally to the excitement, but stay past the end credits for a rap video recap with the cast that boasts the tongue-in-cheek humour the main feature could do with more of.
Movie Rating:
(Solid well-made B-movie that packs the thrills, but lacks the tongue-in-cheek humour and excessive gore and nudity to make it a full-bodied trashy delight)
Review by Gabriel Chong
SYNOPSIS: In the final instalment of the SP saga, the tension between superhuman SP agent Inoue and his superior Ogata finally comes to a head as the conspiracy that was hinted at in the first film is revealed. Secrets from decades past will be exposed as the two SP agents finally reach their inevitable face-off.
Inuoe now harbors a serious distrust of his commander Ogata who may have ties to chief cabinet secretary Kunio Date. On the day the national assembly is due to pass a vote of no confidence for the cabinet, a group of terrorists invades the building and takes the assembly hostage. Assigned to security in the assembly that day, Inoue uses his extraordinary powers to fight the terrorists and discovers a shocking truth about who's behind the conspiracy.
MOVIE REVIEW:
Other than the usual samples of sci-fi, romance and doggie-related weepy dramas, it’s rather rare to see an action piece from the Japanese film market thus “Security Police: The Motion Picture” comes as a breath of fresh air.
Unfortunately, happiness is short-lived when you realized “Security Police: The Motion Picture” is a jarring, disjointed affair if you happen to be a non-follower of the original television series in which this spin-off movie is based on. The movie opens with an impressive heart-pounding 16 minutes of foot-chase and fight sequence. To sum up, this could be the only justification why you spent 98 minutes of your time on this DVD. Anyway, good-looking actor/singer Junichi Okada plays Inoue, a security police officer (in short a bodyguard) that finds himself in danger when he declines to participate in a radical program to rejuvenate the whole of Japan. The terrorist plot headed by the secretary-general of State, Kunio Date (screen regular Teruyuki Kagawa) and Inoue’s superior, Soichiro Ogata (Shinichi Tsutsumi) initially wanted to recruit Inoue but the latter who could not see the meaning behind their cause flatly turned down Ogata’s offer. This event subsequently turns deadly for Inoue when hitmen are hired to take him down.
It’s frustrating following the plotting, as there are many flashbacks and references to the original television series. What actually happened to Ogata’s father who committed suicide? Does the corrupted government the one who indirectly causes Ogata to turn radical? Oh and Inuoe actually possesses some super ability. There are simply many questions posed and there’s hardly any answers provided.
Characters appear one-dimensional and other than a preposterous reasoning to recreate a new world, there’s nothing really concrete behind the villainous Date and his group of high-ranking bureaucrats to concoct such a massive mayhem. Fans of pop singer Junichi Okada on the other hand will not be disappointed as the man is incredibly agile and moves like a young Jackie Chan in his Supercop role. Shinichi Tsutsumi, the other credited male lead looks uninterestingly bored though it’s a pity as we have seen better performances from him. Just check out “Suspect X” and “Climber’s High”.
It’s hard to judge a movie such as “Security Police: The Motion Picture” as it doesn’t fare as well as a standalone movie yet for avid followers, the motion picture serves as a highlight for this group of audience. All in all, this might be a better title if watched together with the concluding chapter, which is coming to cinemas soon, or else you can simply give this a miss.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
NIL
AUDIO/VISUAL:
The sound aspect of the movie is engineered by Skywalker Sound though the DVD only includes the Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack, which fails to pump up the surround activity. Visual is passable though at times, images appear soft and unnatural.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD RATING :
Review by Linus Tee
SYNOPSIS: Academy Award Winners Reese Witherspoon and Christoph Waltz join Robert Pattinson for this epic tale of forbidden love based on Sara Gruen's acclaimed best-seller. Against all odds, a veterinary student and a beautiful circus performer meet and fall in love but the secret romance incurs the wrath of her dangerously volatile husband.
MOVIE REVIEW:
Like his British counterpart Daniel Radcliffe who will forever be remembered for his role as Harry Potter, Robert Pattinson will likely go down in screen history as the sparkling fair-skinned vampire Edward Cullen in the Twilight franchise. The lanky young heartthrob has been dividing his time between indie projects and the epic series that propelled him to mega fame but perhaps it’s “Water For Elephants” that will truly established him as the romance male lead of this decade.
Pattinson has been largely lambasted for his wooden, non-expressive acting however he did demonstrated he can hold his own opposite his two Academy Award winners co-stars, Reese Witherspoon and Christoph Waltz. Pattinson plays Jacob Jankowski, a Cornell veterinary science soon-to-be graduate who happens to hop onto a passing circus train after the sudden tragic passing of his parents. The Benzini Bros’ circus owner, August (Waltz) hires him as a vet and later on, a trainer for an elephant, Rosie in which he just acquired. By then, Jacob has been smitten with the wife of August, star attraction Marlena (Witherspoon) and August is definitely not someone you are going to mess with.
Despite the almost predictable plotting, a triangle love affair can’t possibly end in a thousand ways isn’t it? “Water For Elephants” exudes much old-fashioned Hollywood charm with its depression-era setting and the wonderful circus sets. At first look, Director Francis Lawrence who helmed the supernatural thriller “Constantine” and the sci-fi hit, “I Am Legend” may not be the best man to helm this period romance yet he manages to keep things going interestingly with quirky circus characters, animals and the hard life faced by the performers and crew. Imagine being thrown off the train by the boss’ henchmen anytime, a moving train no less when a ‘retrenchment’ exercise came without any notice. And imagine sharing a cramped bed with other countless performers and animals night after night.
Still this is not a film documenting circus survival; this is overall a romance flick. And with “Inglourious Basterds” alumni, Christoph Waltz landing the role of August, the insane, psychotic owner who will probably be sued by AWARE and SPCA in contemporary Singapore for his actions, he is the colourful, scenery-chewing villain you expect the Oscar winner to be. Reese Witherspoon on the other hand still looks as good as a legally blonde and the role of Marlena hardly stretches her acting muscle though it might pulled a few hamstrings of hers given the physical demands of her character. The funny thing about the three main leads is the trio are born in different decades in reality and their vast age gap surprisingly wasn’t much a barrier to their chemistry in the flick.
While it isn’t the most spectacular show on earth, “Water For Elephants” succeeds partly due to screenwriter Richard LaGravenese's (P.S. I Love You) charming adaptation of Sara Gruen's best-selling novel, the lush production values that utilize real props instead of CG elements and a soothing score by James Newton Howard. Many diehard Pattinson fans will be rooting for their idol, let’s just conclude that he is for sure far more watchable here than anything he has done so far. Give the man a little more time to sharpen his acting skills not fangs.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
The director and producer talks about how Pattinson grows to be a leading man in the movie in Robert Pattinson Spotlight.
Take a look at how Witherspoon trains to perform her own circus stunts in Featured Performer Reese Witherspoon.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
Dialogue is clear and the environmental sound effects during the circus sequences are stirring and robust. It’s a soft visual presentation on the DVD but overall fleshtones are warm and natural.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD RATING :
Review by Linus Tee
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Back With a Bang!Posted on 26 Aug 2011 |
Genre: War/Action
Director: Frankie Chan
Cast: Cecilia Cheung, Cheng Peipei, Richie Jen, Liu Xiaoqing, Yu Na, Kathy Chow, Yukari Oshima, Jin Qiaoqiao, Ge Chunyan, Zhou Xiaofei, Li Jing, Wu Ma
RunTime: 1 hr 48 mins
Released By: Shaw
Rating: PG13 (Battle Scenes)
Official Website:
Opening Day: 17 November 2011
Synopsis: During the Northern Song Dynasty, the emperor neglects the political affairs, hence rolling border war. The war created times of hardship for the Xia country. Enemies invaded into Song’s territory forcefully, allegedly attempted to intrude to the country. The Yang family were slaughtered. Mu Guiying, the wife of Yang Zongbao tolerate the pain of bereavement, leads a congregation of Yang's widow and lead them to a battle of war…
Movie Review:
Finally! After the glut of big-budget historical war epics that have seen tears and bloodshed, at last we get one that injects some levity into the heavy-handed genre. Yes, there is humour aplenty in director Frankie Chan’s latest take on the classic ‘Lady Warriors of the Yang Family’, apparently titled ‘Legendary Amazons’ as a nod to the Shaw Brothers 1972 movie ‘The 14 Amazons’- and if you’re thinking how such a story would lend itself to comedy, wait till you’ve seen this adaptation.
A prologue establishes the war between the Song Dynasty and the Western Xia Dynasty, the former led by General Yang Zongbao (Ritchie Jen) outnumbered against the latter’s troops launching a fiercely fought border incursion. Facing imminent death, General Yang ties a bundle of hair to a pigeon and sends it off to his wife Mu Guiying (Cecilia Cheung). How ingeniously amusing! What are the odds that a bundle of Mu’s hair carried on the pigeon would be a message of defeat? And what are the odds that the Xia enemies would have on hand a pair of eagles that is, we may add, too quickly shot down as soon as they are released to catch the said pigeon?
It gets even better- as news of Zongbao’s apparent death spreads around the Yang family clan, with nary a man except for Zongbao and Guiying’s son Yang Wenguang (Xiao Mingyu), the whole gathering of women gathered for his 18th birthday celebration start weeping uncontrollably as if on cue. Then, just as quickly, it is decided that the wilful Wenguang- whose earlier childish act of blowing up a wall in the house compound just to get out- will be appointed to lead the Yangs, and with that, fireworks start exploding into the night sky. What a brilliant show of over-the-top humour!
But nothing can quite prepare you for the hilarity as the Yang clan set off to war in obedience of the imperial edict. The first confrontation finds the Yangs outnumbered against their enemies, splitting into five separate divisions to divide up their enemy and hopefully defeat them guerrilla-style. Their tactic is ultimately undone when the reckless Wenguang gets duped by the Xia’s into saving his father- but even before you chuckle at his foolishness, you’ll find yourself tickled silly as his mother Muiying challenges him right on the sideline and usurps his status as marshal. Somehow, we never recalled the family fighting amongst themselves as a centrepiece of their heroism, but hey it makes for good amusement.
Just as comical is the Yang women’s defiance of gravity, leaping into the air and performing some quite marvellous stunts that they can very well parlay into lucrative public entertainment after the war. We have Frankie and old-school villain actor Fung Hak-On to thank for that, with some generous help no doubt from Jet Li’s master Wu Bin credited as ‘kungfu consultant’. No kidding! We were however unable to identify who was responsible for the numerous heroic deaths we witnessed throughout the film, because we’d like to thank that person for the hilariously fake blood spurting out and the exaggerated dying.
Inspired too is the casting of the film. Lead actress Cecilia Cheung, who was reportedly paid a cool NTD$30 million to star, has a heretofore unknown gift of acting shocked that will make you burst out laughing. You have to also hand it to the filmmakers for assembling such a professional cast of actors- including veterans Ritchie, Ge Chunyan, Yukari Oshima and Kathy Chow- who are able to keep such straight serious faces in spite of the hilarious mayhem unfolding before them.
When you’re having so much fun, you probably won’t be bothered by the messy and quite incoherent script (written by Frankie, Liu Heng and Ma Honglu) that can’t quite make up its mind if certain characters- wounded or killed- should stay that way. And here we would like to ask for your pardon for our insolence thus far- it’s probably clear to you that we were being sarcastic all the way, but we thought comedy must have been the sole intention of the filmmakers going by how atrocious the film really is.
If you have to know, it’s histrionic, over-the-top and melodramatic every step of the way. The acting is equally ridiculous, with Cecilia taking the cake for being quite possibly in line for the worst actress of the year. And what of the plentiful action scenes? They are, like the script, chaotic and illogical- worse still when you can so evidently tell the green screen behind which their landscapes were filled in. We’ll leave you with quite possibly one of the most ridiculous scenes we’ve seen this year- a makeshift bridge assembled with two chains of metal shot from one end of a cliff to another with human steps made up of soldiers on their backs clinging onto both chains, all for the sake of their Empress Dowager-like commander Taijun (Cheng Peipei) to get across.
Need a good laugh? Then we’d recommend ‘Legendary Amazons’, one of the most unintentionally laugh-out-loud movies you’ll find this year. At least it makes a genre breakthrough by showing how you can do comedy in the midst of a big-budget historical war epic.
Movie Rating:
(Quite possibly the most unintentionally hilarious movie you’ll see this year- and hence the one-star for its entertainment value)
Review by Gabriel Chong
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LOVE IN SPACE Official Music VideoPosted on 27 Aug 2011 |
Genre: Drama
Director: Wayne Wang
Cast: Li Bingbing, Gianna Jun, Archie Kao, Hugh Jackman, Coco Chiang, Russell Wong, Vivian Wu
RunTime: 1 hr 45 mins
Released By: GV
Rating: NC-16
Official Website: http://www.foxsearchlight.com/snowflowerandthesecretfan/
Opening Day: 13 October 2011
Synopsis: Inspired by the bestselling novel SNOW FLOWER AND THE SECRET FAN by Lisa See the film tells the story of seven‐year‐old girls Snow Flower and Lily, in 19th century China, who had their feet bound at the same age and on the same day, which sealed their fates together as laotongs - bound together for eternity. Isolated in their marriages, they furtively communicate by taking turns writing in a secret language, nu shu, between the folds of a white silk fan. In a parallel story in present day Shanghai, the laotong’s descendants, Nina and Sophia, struggle to maintain the intimacy of their own childhood friendship in the face of demanding careers, complicated love lives, and a relentlessly evolving Shanghai. Drawing on the lessons of the past, the two modern women must understand the story of their ancestral connection, hidden from them in the folds of the antique white silk fan, or risk losing one another forever. What unfolds are two stories, generations apart, but everlasting in their universal notion of love, hope and friendship.
Movie Review:
We had wanted very much to life this film. After all, it stars two of our (this reviewer’s, actually) favourite female stars – Li Bingbing and Gianna Jun. Li was wonderful in films like The Message (2009) and Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame (2010). Besides her almost perfect features, the Mainland Chinese is a notably good actress too. Jun (fans would know her as Ji hyun Jun) is famous for her role in 2001’s My Sassy Girl, and after 2009’s Blood: The Last Vampire, the South Korean actress seems to have made the decision to venture into Hollywood, complete with a new moniker.
Here, the two pretty artistes play protagonists in the film adaptation of Lisa See’s 2005 novel of the same name. The story takes place in two different eras. In 19th century China, Snow Flower and Lily are paired as laotong (literal English translation: old same) by a matchmaker who is also responsible for arranging their marriages. This seals their fate as bonded sisters who will go through thick and thin together. Fast forward to present day Shanghai where the two women’s descendents, Sophia and Nina, struggle with present day woes. Through circumstances and episodes, they learn about their ancestors’ close connection, and become laotongs in their own way.
We have never heard of the term “laotong” before this (practised in China’s Hunan, this is a relationship which bonds two girls together for eternity as kindred sisters), and we thought that nothing could go too wrong with these two luminous actresses coming together in a film directed by Wayne Wang. Wang, best known for his affecting look at the Chinese culture in The Joy Luck Club (1993), was supposed to have gotten the formula right with his latest work. With a story which transcends two eras to showcase the age old culture’s beauties and intricacies, this production could easily have won the hearts of both critics and audiences alike.
Alas, the 105 minute film ends up being a snail paced tale which never manages to convince its viewers the authenticity of the two girls’ close knitted relationship. Despite the elaborate art direction and the lovely cinematography, one cannot help but feel the story forcing itself onto you, instead of you experiencing the emotions through the screenplay. It also doesn’t help that the bond between the two protagonists are so close that one may just imagine them developing a romantic relationship.
As much as we love Li and Jun, the two just doesn’t seem to have much chemistry on screen. To be fair, both of them deliver wonderful performances here, with Li looking as beautiful as ever, and Jun exuding an alluring melancholy. They get to don both traditional Chinese costumes and modern outfits, and this is truly a feast for any male viewer’s eyes. There are countless close up shots are mesmerisingly lensed by Richard Wong. However, the result is an almost soulless depiction of a sisterhood that was supposed to be movingly poignant. It is most unfortunate that Rachel Portman’s gorgeous score does not help to elevate the emotions.
Elsewhere, we see other familiar Asian faces like Russell Wong (The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor), Archie Kao (the Chinese dude from CSI: Crime Scene Investigation) and Vivian Wu (The Founding of a Republic). But the biggest amusement you’d get from this film is from Hugh Jackman (Real Steel), who plays the “angmoh” boyfriend, and gets to sing and dance (in Mandarin too!) in a scene. Otherwise, this is one predictably slow moving vehicle which could have been so much better.
Movie Rating:
(Despite being beautifully filmed, this screen adaptation does not manage to bring the laotong spirit to life)
Review by John Li
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