Anything related to The Beatles can’t go that wrong. Not even if your leading man isn’t the most good looking dude, or in this case, the best singer around.

In Danny Boyle’s romantic comedy, Himesh Patel takes on a very important responsibility of performing renditions of The Fab Four’s classics. The 28 year old British actor kicks off this soundtrack album with “Yesterday”, a cue that incorporates dialogue from the film that sets the context: "What if no one remembered The Beatles except this guy?"

The rest of the 56 minute album plays out pleasantly, just like Patel’s on screen personality. Don’t expect powerhouse vocals, just agreeable tunes that you can sing along to. “Let It Be”, “Here Comes The Sun”, “All You Need is Love” and “Hey Jude” are songs that will leave you smiling.

Patel performs better on ballads (his emotions truly come through in the melancholic “The Long and Winding Road”), but has some room to sound gusto during edgier arrangements like “Help!” and “Back in the USSR”. His co star Lily James lends her voice to the merry “I Want to Hold Your Hand”, a track that we have been putting on repeat.

English composer Daniel Pemberton contributes a handful of music tracks which intersperse the songs. “The World is Universal” is a cheeky take on the Universal fanfare, “Strawberries” is aptly engaging despite its less than a minute duration, while “Life Goes On” concludes the album nicely.

This works like a Beatles “Best Of” compilation, and while it doesn’t feature the vocals of The Fab Four you love, it is a satisfying listening experience from beginning to end.  

ALBUM RATING:

Recommended Track: (20) I Want to Hold Your Hand

Review by John Li

Genre: Fantasy/Action
Director: Tony Ching
Cast: Xiao Zhan, Li Qin, Meng Meiqi, Tang Yixin, Qiu Xinzhi, Cecilia Yip, David Chiang, Norman Chui, Bryan Leung, Anthony Bao, Chen Liwei
Runtime: 1 hr 41 mins
Rating: PG13 (Some Violence)
Released By: Clover Films and Golden Village Pictures
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 19 September 2019

Synopsis:  JADE DYNASTY is an upcoming Chinese martial arts fantasy directed by Ching Siu-Tung. The film revolves around a young man raised by monks who learns the truth about the death of his parents and begins to succumb to his anger.

Movie Review:

The only noticeable name on the poster of Jade Dynasty happened to be Tony Ching Siu-Tung. For the uninitiated, he is the man in charge of choreographing the breath-taking action of such classics like A Chinese Ghost Story, Swordsman 2 and New Dragon Inn. After a long hiatus, Ching is back at the directorial chair, helming a fantasy story that is based on a series of eight novels by Xiao Ding and a cast made up of relatively unknowns (in this region). 

Tasked by a master with a blood-sucking bead, Zhang Xiaofan (Sean Xiao) is an orphan adopted by the Qingyun sect after his parents are massacred in a mysterious killing a decade ago. From then on, the happy-go-lucky Xiaofan who is smitten with the beautiful daughter of his master, Ling-er (Tang Yixin), has spent his time in the sect cooking for his fellow elders and master rather than spending time fine-tuning his martial-arts skills; that is until one day, his blood-sucking bead is strangely infused with a soul-sucking stick to become a powerful personal weapon for Xiaofan.

Unknowing to him, the evil Demon King clan has long been looking for the bead and the daughter of the Demon King, Bi Yao (Meng Meiqi), is sent to retrieve the stick for his father. At the same time, Xiaofan is thrown into the sect’s martial-arts tournament and he must fight against the sect’s most powerful disciple, Lu Xueqi (Li Qin). By this point, it is clear that the writers have successfully setup Xiaofan as an interesting protagonist to follow although the villains are somewhat forgotten until much later.

But however, before Jade Dynasty reaches its climax, you need to sit through more than 80 minutes of exposition that includes lame humour and pointless proceedings, stuff that fails to connect the audience to characters like Lu Xueqi and Ling-er. Even the so-called various grand masters of the sect have little screentime other than appearing onscreen to spout laughable one-liners. And probably veterans like Cecilia Yip, David Chiang, Norman Chu and Leung Ka-Yan are simply doing Tony’s a big favour.

For a man whose resume includes many of HK outstanding martial-arts epics, Ching disappointingly uses so much visual effects in Jade Dynasty that all his past superb wireworks are nowhere to be seen. Instead of employing CG to enhance all the gravity-defying old-school moves, the handling of the action choreography is mostly left to the CG department instead. The action is often passionless and displayed without much creativity, grace and often substituted by CG elements. Since it takes Tsui Hark years to perfect his balance of CG, fluid action choreography and storytelling in Detective Dee as compared to his disastrous The Legend of Zu, we must admit we have to go easy on Tony Ching.   

The only memorable and seamlessly well-done sequence has to go to the introduction of the various members of the Demon King sect. The creepy puppet master, the ninja-like warrior who could manipulate his body to suck in his opponents, the wild boar warrior and the Demon King who transformed from a horse carriage to a human are examples of how CG effects and old-school martial-arts should be employed.

But complicated by the fact that it’s based on eight books/serial novels, Jade Dynasty ends with a cliff-hanger instead of concluding the plight of Xiaofan. Who is Zhang Xiaofan? Is he the guy who is destined to end all evil and reunites the good or is he the ultimate evil demon? Will the box-office of Jade Dynasty be profitable enough to continue the epic story? It's kind of hard to rate this Zu Warriors from the Magic Mountain meets Louis Cha fantasy martial-arts flick at this point. For the most part, it’s drowned in a pool filled with excess visual effects but you can’t deny it does have its merits. We might have to give Tony Ching a chance and adopt a wait-and-see strategy.

Movie Rating:

(Remember this is only Jade Dynasty I)

Review by Linus Tee

Genre: Drama/Comedy
Director: Lulu Wang
Cast: Awkwafina, Tzi Ma, Diana Lin, Zhao Shuzhen, Lu Hong, Jiang Yongbo
Runtime: 1 hr 41 mins
Rating: PG
Released By: Shaw Organisation
Official Website:

Opening Day: 3 October 2019

Synopsis: This critically acclaimed film follows a Chinese family who, when they discover their beloved Grandmother has only a short while left to live, decide to keep her in the dark and schedule an impromptu wedding to gather before she passes. Billi (Awkwafina), feeling like a fish out of water in her home country, struggles with the family’s decision to hide the truth from her grandmother.

Movie Review:

This is a story that may very well happen to a family in Singapore. Based on Asian American director Lulu Wang’s own life experiences, this is a story that Asians will find familiar, while viewers from the Western regions of the world will find exotic. And that is probably why the film received universal acclaim from critics after being screened in the U.S. Dramatic Competition section at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.

The protagonist is Billi, a New Yorker who is trying to find her place in life. The young woman is a writer who hasn’t been best friends with Lady Luck, and when her parents tell her that her grandmother, who lives in China, has been diagnosed with terminal lung cancer, she decides to follow them back to visit. What’s the catch here? Being Asians, they do not want to break the old lady’s heart. So, they hatch a plan to have Billi’s Japanese cousin to hold his wedding in China. That way, the family can visit without rousing suspicions.

You may have heard how your parents, or your grandparents, expressing their wishes to go visit their hometowns in China. This writer had the opportunity to visit his maternal grandparents’ hometown some years back, and certain scenes in this movie struck a chord with him. While some people think that Chinais a run down and backwards place, especially if you are visiting the old towns, the sights and sounds along the expressways are a sight to behold. And that is aptly captured when Billi (played with pure authenticity by rapper Awkwafina) looks out of the window while on her way to visit her grandmother.

The visuals are not the only things that are relatable in this movie. The themes discussed are what you may have come across. At the dining table, family members talk about why they send their kids for overseas education. They talk about being single and migrating for another country’s citizenship. Amidst the familial antagonism, there is a sense of sweetness to the whole thing. People gather at the cemetery to pay respects to a loved one. People smile and play games at the wedding table. People have heart to heart talks about what they really yearn for in life.

Wang’s screenplay feels close to heart, largely because it is a real reflection on life. First publicly discussed as part of her radio story What You Don't Know, this aspect of family ties asks you to think whether it is alright to tell a white lie so a loved one can be happy for a longer time. If put in Billi’s shoes, would you go against everyone’s inclination to tell the truth to your dying grandmother?

While the story takes place in China, this 101 minute film stands out from Mainland Chinese productions with its stylised shots, quirky soundtrack, and the feel of an indie flick. And that is probably another reason why cinephiles are lapping this up.  

The ensemble cast delivers earnest performances. Besides Awkwafina who does a good job of looking like a commoner, she is joined by Tzi Ma and Diana Lin who play her loving parents, and a very likeable Zhao Shuzhen who takes on the role of the darling granny. Other interesting characters include the elder son who never really had a chance to share his feelings with his brother, the Japanese cousin and his wife who look awkwardly out of place, and the grandmother’s sister who has always been at her side to take care of her.

Watching this film is like seeing family events unfold in front of you, and that’s actually a good thing.

Movie Rating:

(Well-acted and relatable, this family drama is worth every minute of your time)   

Review by John Li

Genre: Thriller
Director: Fung Chih-Chiang
Cast: Louis Koo, Louis Cheung, Jessica Hsuan, Cherry Ngan, Philip Keung, Fiona Sit, Patrick Tam, Andy On, Deep Ng, Ling Man Lung, Sam Lee, Annie Liu, Chan Kwok-Pong, Ng Siu Hin
Runtime: 1 hr 44 mins
Rating: NC16 (Some Drug Use and Violence)
Released By: mm2 Entertainment
Official Website:

Opening Day: 17 October 2019

Synopsis: Detective Frank Lam (Louis Cheung) arrives at the scene with his commanding officer Yip Sir (Philip Keung) to find a dead man inside an apartment with a strange noise “Help! Help!” next to its body. Yip Sir is convinced the deceased is killed by his partner in crime, Sunny Wong (Louis Koo) when they had a fight over how to divvy up the loot from an armed robbery a month ago. When confronted by Frank, Sunny denies all allegations and names Yip Sir as the killer. Frank’s only hope in cracking the case lies in sole survivor and eye witness at the crime scene – a parrot!

Movie Review:

It’s no secret that Louis Koo is the most hardworking actor in Hong Kong, and if you’re counting, ‘A Witness Out of the Blue’ is his sixth theatrical release in 2019 alone. Yet Koo’s role here as a mentally tortured bank robber is probably one of the more interesting ones among these movies, and also allows him to demonstrate how he’s matured over the years as a character actor. Oh yes, it isn’t the first time he’s playing a bad guy, but Koo brings surprising gravitas to the wanted criminal named Sean Wong here, who is both on the run from the police and on the hunt for the killer(s) behind the murders of his fellow gang members.

Combining the genre elements of a cops-and-robbers actioner with that of a murder mystery, writer/ director Fung Chih Chiang has crafted a taut crime thriller with intriguing psychological undertones. The deceased in question is Sean’s associate (Deep Ng), who like Sean, is wanted by the police for his role in a jewellery heist three months ago. A food delivery man had seen Sean fleeing the scene of the murder just before the former had called the police, leading Senior Inspector Yip (Philip Keung) to conclude that Sean must have been the killer. Yip is also the lead investigator on the robbery, and had lost a colleague that evening in an ensuing shootout, so is understandably bent on bringing Sean and his gang to justice.

On the other hand, his subordinate Lam (Louis Cheung) is not quite as convinced, especially as a string of supposed accidents also claim the lives of the other members of Sean’s gang (played by Sam Lee and Ling Man Lung). Lam also has an early run-in with Sean while pursuing a lead, and Sean asserts during that brief encounter that he is not the murderer. Just as importantly, Lam trusts the words (or more accurately, the squawks) of a parrot which was found at the scene of the earlier murder – and could therefore be the only witness to the crime – which does not point to Sean as the killer; instead, Lam suspects it could be one of the victims of the earlier heist, including the butcher Yiu (Patrick Tam) whose mother died from a heart attack triggered by the shock, the saleswoman Yang (Fiona Sit) now wheelchair-bound due to a spinal injury, and Yang’s boyfriend He (Andy On) who was the guard on duty.

While it is what the movie’s supposed high-concept premise rests on, the aforementioned avian figures little in the narrative itself, and in fact only pops up now and then to lend some offbeat humour. Much of the storytelling is otherwise driven by Sean and Lam’s own investigation of the murder(ers) behind the string of deaths, and let’s just say that Lam’s boss Yip is also among one of the suspects given his disposition for vengeance. To Fung’s credit, the clues do add up convincingly enough to justify the final reveal, and the mystery well-paced from start to finish in order to hold your attention till the very end, even as you’d wish he had been more ambitious to lean in on the more eccentric part of his story (i.e. the parrot) in the first place.

Where it does get interesting is in portraying Sean’s mental state, especially as he races against time – but fails – to save them from the series of methodical killings. There is a subplot that sees Sean forging an emotional bond with his landlord Ding (Jessica Hsuan), which thanks to Koo and Hsuan’s easy chemistry, adds a welcome dose of humanity into the proceedings. Playing the bad guy whose moral compass may not be as crooked after all, and therefore is losing sleep and suffering hallucinations over the deaths of his fellow gang members as well as the fallout from the heist, Koo pulls off a nuanced and compelling performance which elevates the material over what is an otherwise above-average story. It’s a crowded ensemble given the multiple subplots, but Koo’s leading act is never lost amidst the other strong supporting performances.

So even though six movies in a year seriously risks over-exposure, we dare say you will still be captivated by Koo’s commitment to his role here. Certainly, the movie itself is a gripping watch, with screenwriter-turned-director Fung executing what is probably his most confident feature film to date. The whole ‘parrot-as-eyewitness’ premise may come off gimmicky, but Fung is deft enough not to let it turn his movie into caricature, and in fact de-emphasises it to the extent we’d wish he had given it more play in the plot itself. It is though a thoroughly engaging and enjoyable Hong Kong-styled murder mystery cum cops-and-robbers thriller, and we guarantee won’t leave you feeling blue.

Movie Rating:

(Boosted by a surprisingly compelling performance by Louis Koo, this murder mystery cum cops-and-robbers Hong Kong crime thriller is a taut and intriguing watch)

Review by Gabriel Chong

Genre: Martial-arts
Director: Yip Wai Shun
Cast: Donnie Yen, Chan Kwok Kwan, Scott Adkins, Wu Yue, Vanness Wu, Kent Cheng, Pierre Ngo, Chris Collins, Vanda Margraf
Runtime: 1 hr 45 mins
Rating: PG13 (Some Violence)
Released By: Shaw Organisation
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 20 December 2019

Synopsis: Ip Man’s life remains unchanged after his wife’s death, but he and his son are slowly drifting apart. To seek a better future for his son, Ip Man decides to travel to the U.S. only to find the stable, peaceful life abroad is only skin deep. Underneath lies a deep rooted racial discrimination that is far worse than he has expected. Ip Man re-examines his position and ponders on the reason he took up martial arts in the beginning.

Movie Review:

For the record, Ip Man never went to America, even though his most famous disciple Bruce Lee did. But for fans of the ‘Ip Man’ series, that detail shouldn’t bother, given how the previous films have also played it fast and loose with history while ensuring a dignified representation of the real-life martial artist.

As its title touts, this is supposedly the fourth and final episode, spanning the period following the death of his beloved wife (at the end of ‘Ip Man 3’, if you recall) to his own demise from head and neck cancer. Leveraging his established trait of being fiercely loyal to his family, ‘Ip Man 4’ imagines the eponymous character journeying to San Francisco to find a private school for his tearaway teenage son Ip Ching. There, Ip Man comes face-to-face with anti-Chinese racism from white Americans, and is once again compelled to take to the mat to stand up for Chinese pride.

That should sound mighty familiar to anyone who has seen either of the three earlier movies, since its predecessors had dealt with similar themes, be it during the Japanese occupation in Foshan or during the post-War period in Hong Kong. As if wary that audiences may accuse it of treading familiar ground, ‘Ip Man 4’ amps up the anti-Chinese rhetoric to deafening proportions here, with blatant displays of racism at a secondary school, a United States Marine Corps training base and even right in the heart of Chinatown.

You’ll have to forgive the utter lack of subtlety in its portrayal of Chinese discrimination if you are to enjoy ‘Ip Man 4’, which frankly made us more uncomfortable than we’d expected it to, especially against the current geopolitical backdrop. Yet if you can get that out of the way, you’ll find this concluding chapter a fitting and genuinely moving farewell for what is perhaps the most iconic martial arts series in recent time.

Returning to the helm, director Wilson Yip assembles a compendium of the crowd-pleasing elements from the last three films. There is a standoff between Ip Man and a fellow ‘kung fu’ grandmaster, represented here by the head of the Chinese Benevolent Association Master Wan (Wu Yue); and there are two showdowns between Ip Man and two arrogant Western pugilists, played here by USMC Karate master Colin (Chris Collins) and fellow USMC master sergeant Barton Geddes (Scott Adkins), both of which are played in a military setting.   

Returning too to direct the action is Yuen Wo-ping, who ensures that the fights are beautifully choreographed and thrillingly executed, such that they are fast, fluid and fierce; in fact, the last mano-a-mano between Yen and Adkins is one of the most brutal and bloody of the entire series. Relative to earlier action director Sammo Hung, Yuen has typically favoured grace over ferocity, and the one-arm contest between Ip Man and Master Wan, as well as Ip Man’s style against his foreign adversaries, reflects that. Each of the precisely designed set-pieces is a highlight in and of itself, and you’ll undoubtedly cheer for Ip Man’s expected but no less stirring victories over his challengers.

Besides Yuen, credit to the fights goes of course to the performers themselves. Yen’s mastery of ‘wing chun’ is just as awe-inspiring, but the new additions here are similarly impressive – including Yue’s demonstration of ‘tai chi’, and Collins’ and Adkins’ muscular display of karate techniques. Even though the script makes caricature of Adkins’ character, fans of the action star would be glad to know that he more or less holds his own against Yen, such that the latter’s eventual triumph is ultimately still hard-won. And though Bruce Lee plays no more than than a glorified cameo, Chan Kwok-keung delivers a rousing impersonation of the icon, especially during a back-alley fight which sees him make an egotistical Westerner eat humble pie.

As much as the action is the highlight, Yip retains too the poignancy of the earlier films from Ip Man’s dedication to his family. The interactions between father and son is just as, if not more, affecting than Ip Man’s defence of his race, especially because it is depicted with a lot more subtlety and therefore comes off a lot more realistic. You’ll feel for Ip Man as he struggles to be the sole parent to Ip Ching, and be moved when he learns through his exchanges with Master Wan’s daughter Yonah (Vanda Lee) how to play a more supportive role to his son. It is a deeply moving culmination of the narrative arc from the first movie of Ip Man’s love and commitment to his wife and son, and Yen is brilliantly understated in the role.

Though Ip Man has been played by as many as four actors over the past decade, it is Yen whom you’ll likely associate most indelibly with the character. Of course, Ip Man is also the most definitive role of Yen’s career, and it is absolutely befitting that he has declared this conclusion his final ‘kung fu’ movie. At once humble, stoic and resolute, Yen epitomises the spirit and form of Ip Man wonderfully, and despite its flaws, ‘Ip Man 4’ is a fitting send-off not just for the franchise but for Yen himself. If the spontaneous clapping at the end of the screening we attended is anything to go by, we’re sure you’ll agree wholeheartedly this is as grand and magnificent a way to say goodbye.

Movie Rating:

(Comprised of the crowd-pleasing elements of the earlier films, this fourth and final chapter boasts thrilling action and genuine emotion in spite of some blatant Chinese flag-waving)

Review by Gabriel Chong

Genre: Crime/Drama
Director: Malik Bader
Cast: Liam Hemsworth, Marcus Anderson, Raquel Aurora, Emory Cohen, Diane Guerrero, Zlatko Buric, Suraj Sharma, Nickola Shreli, Mike Moh, Malik Bader
Runtime: 1 hr 53 mins
Rating: M18 (Coarse Language And Sexual Scene)
Released By: Shaw Organisation
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 19 September 2019

Synopsis:  When NYC money launderer Moe Diamond (Liam Hemsworth) wakes up from a car crash, he's left with no memory, millions in stolen cash, and an insane crew of dirty cops hunting him down. With a stranger who says he's his best friend and a fiancee he doesn't remember, Moe must race against the clock to discover his own identity--and escape his past, before it destroys any chance at a future.

Movie Review:

If you like your crime thrillers raw, gritty and violent, then you will surely enjoy the bare-knuckle ride which ‘Killerman’ promises and delivers satisfyingly.

Further establishing himself as a genre specialist following the equally brutal ‘Cash Only’ in 2016, writer-director Malik Bader crafts a suitably pulpy and propulsive film that sees an amnesia-stricken money launderer and his best friend being chased by a bunch of bad cops whom they crossed in a quick-turnover drug deal.

Just the premise alone will already bring to mind the sort of ‘70s/’80s urban crime dramas which Hollywood used to love, and true enough, Bader and his cinematographer Ken Seng prove themselves to be emulating that style right from the beginning by capturing the sort of colours and texture you would shooting New York City’s Manhattan district on 16mm-film.

It is in the heart of that working-class neighbourhood which the jeweller named Moe Diamond (Liam Hemsworth) plies his trade, and over the opening credits, we see how smooth he is running a money laundering operation on the side – turning cash into commodities, and then converting those commodities into a fistful of cashier’s checks for his client. Both he and his buddy Bobby “Skunk” Santos (Emory Cohen) hope to score a million each working for Skunk’s skeevy Uncle Nestor (Zlatko Buric) to pay off politicians for a land deal, but when Nestor unexpectedly hits pause on the assignment, they decide to use the $2 million already on their hands to take on a drug deal.

Inevitably, that deal goes awry when their trade with a group of African drug dealers turns out to be an ambush by some crooked police officers – led by ‘Cash Only’s’ Nickola Shreli. In the midst of the ensuing car chase, Skunk crashes their getaway vehicle and causes Moe to suffer a concussion that causes him to lose all memory about his life and loved ones. To Bader’s credit, the well-worn memory-loss plot device isn’t overplayed; instead, after going through the motion of Moe trying to piece together the parts of his previous life, the latter half of the movie has both Moe and Buddy being pushed to the edge as the cops they crossed grow increasingly desperate at recovering the drugs (which they stole from evidence) and the cash.

Like we said at the start, it does get pretty violent: not only will the cops be torturing Buddy and their other accomplice held inside dog cages, they also prove to have no qualms shooting someone in the face within the confines of a car. Because Moe has presumably no reference of what sort of person he was before, the chain of events causes him to become even more ruthless, and before the movie is over, he’ll be cutting off limbs and heads for revenge. There is also a late twist which, while some may perceive as contrived, is we feel a cool turn-of-events that reinforces the sort of no-holds-barred technique which Bader has clearly adopted, and even manages to make the title of the movie sound less cliched than you may initially think it to be.

As long as you know what you’re in for, and are willing to go along for the ride, ‘Killerman’s’ firm grasp of the pleasures of the crime drama will not disappoint. Coupled with suitably charismatic turns by Hemsworth, Cohen, Buric and Shreli, Bader’s follow-up after his last similar genre effort cements his reputation in such B-movies that often have disregard for restraint, taste or elegance. You can literally feel the grime in every frame of the movie, and the wall-to-wall synthesizer score by composers Julian DeMarre and Heiko Maile further enhances the retro experience. It may be a bit of a superlative to say that it is killer, but ‘Killerman’ definitely cuts deep, both literally and metaphorically.

Movie Rating:

(Pulpy and propulsive, this throwback to the sort of raw, gritty and violent crime dramas from the '70s and '80s offers solid vicarious pleasures for genre fans)

Review by Gabriel Chong

Genre: Thriller
Director: Lai Siu Kwan, Sze Pak Lam, Liu Yongtai
Cast: Nick Cheung, Zhang Han, Kent Cheng, Cheung Siu-fai, Elaine Jin, Paul Chun, Li Shangzheng, Babyjohn Choi, Cecilia So
Runtime: 1 hr 33 mins
Rating: PG13 (Some Violence)
Released By: Shaw Organisation
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 24 October 2019

Synopsis: When a juror on a high-profile case learns that his daughter has been mysteriously kidnapped, he is forced to decide whether to use his special skills to influence the case as the kidnappers demand.

Movie Review:

Nick Cheung’s latest sees him play a top psychologist named Xu Lisheng, but if you’re expecting the movie to be a psychological thriller, you’ll probably be sorely disappointed; indeed, the psychology here only goes as far as to whether Dr Xu would use his methods of hypnosis on his fellow jurors sequestered in a room to deliberate their judgment of a teenage girl standing trial in a high-profile murder case.

The said defendant (Aimee) has been accused of killing her uncle on board a yacht to inherit the Lin family fortune of HK$8 billion dollars, as well as to take over the lucrative family business, and a group of seven jurors, including Dr Xu, has been convened to assess the facts of the case. Given how Dr Xu is being blackmailed by his daughter’s kidnappers to have the jury deliver a guilty verdict, it should not be any surprise as to whether the defendant is indeed innocent as she claims.

Without giving too much away, let’s just say that Dr Xu’s kidnappers had engaged a crooked cop Deng-sir (Cheung Siu-fai) to coordinate the blackmail – and besides rigging the room to make sure that Dr Xu follows their orders, Deng-sir is also responsible for coordinating the kidnapping with two other henchmen in order to prevent Dr Xu’s brother-in-law Yang Kai (Zhang Han) from rescuing her before Dr Xu does their dirty deed.

That subplot with Yang Kai and his former PLA platoon mate Zheng is engineered just in case you get bored with the courtroom shenanigans, which veteran choreographer Chin Kar-lok barely justifies his paycheck with three unimaginative action sequences – including a vehicular chase that barely raises your pulse, a hide-and-seek in a warehouse filled with barrels of flammable material, and a rooftop fight involving a helicopter dangling over the edge of a skyscraper. Oh yes, if you’re looking for Zhang to wow as he did as in ‘Wolf Warrior 2’, you’re probably better off revisiting that movie.

Yet it’s not difficult to understand why the writing-directing trio of Lai Siu Kwan, Sze Pak Lam and Liu Yongtai decided to throw in a superfluous subplot in order to juice up the proceedings. After all, the mind games which Dr Xu unleashes upon his fellow jurors, centred upon the personal weaknesses of his fellow jurors, are in fact pretty mild – including the wheelchair-bound Fang (Cecilia So) holding a grudge against the defendant’s cocky lawyer (Felix Lok), the nervous May (Jo Koo) who is on the hook for billions of the Lin company’s stock, and the chief juror Liang (Kent Cheng) with a terminally ill teenage daughter.

One by one, Dr Xu plans an aside with each of them to put them under his spell, with only the eagle-eyed Chen (Babyjohn Choi) vigilant enough to realise that Dr Xu has been plotting something; yet even that kink is over all too soon, draining what suspense there may be from the potentially intriguing complication. Given how the corrupt Deng-sir had set Dr Xu a deadline of 90 mins to work his magic, you can almost predict how Dr Xu will go from juror to juror until he is able to get a clear majority to vote guilty, and the all-too straightforward scripting ultimately misses out plenty of opportunities to inject more tension and drama into the narrative.

What the movie lacks in plot, it similarly lacks in character. Cheung sleepwalks through an otherwise underwritten lead character, hardly bothering even to muster much genuine anxiety even as the clock is ticking and his daughter’s life is on the line. The rest of the supporting ensemble are also given little to work with, what with each given only that one or two defining traits which Dr Xu exploits, but the cast of mostly Hong Kong cinema veterans – besides those we’ve mentioned, there’s also Elaine Jin and Li Shangzheng – make the best of what they are given.

And by being utterly mediocre, ‘Guilt by Design’ ends up being bland and even dull. For a movie that lasts 90 minutes, it certainly feels much longer, and that is partly due to the uneven pacing which wastes a good half hour leisurely setting up the background of the court case as well as Dr Xu’s own personal life. This being the first feature-length film of all but one of the writer-directors, these flaws are somewhat understandable; and yet, we wished that they had spent more time scripting a more compelling story in the first place, even done more research on the psychology of hypnosis itself, before assembling this movie on set and (clearly) in the editing room as well. Like we said, this isn’t some gripping psychological thriller, but the even more fundamental crime it is guilty of is that it isn’t even gripping, period.

Movie Rating:

(Nick Cheung sleepwalks through a courtroom drama that is guilty of being anything but thrilling)

Review by Gabriel Chong

Genre: Comedy/Romance
Director: Elise Duran
Cast: Alexandra Daddario, Tyler Hoechlin, Laverne Cox, Kimiko Glenn
Runtime: 1 hr 35 mins
Rating: M18 (Sexual References and Scenes)
Released By: Shaw Organisation
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 19 September 2019

Synopsis:  Based on the New York Times Bestseller by Sophie Kinsella (Confessions of a Shopaholic) comes the new film CAN YOU KEEP A SECRET. Thinking they're about to crash, Emma (Alexandra Daddario) spills her secrets to a stranger on a plane. At least, she thought he was a stranger...Until she later meets Jack (Tyler Hoechlin), her company's young CEO, who now knows every humiliating detail about her…

Movie Review:

“Every single one of us has a secret in the world that we don’t want anyone else to see,” so goes the opening narration, “And we think that if people find out who we really are, they won’t stick around, till we make our way through lives hiding our vulnerabilities.” Unfortunately for young marketing assistant Emma Corrigan (Alexandra Daddario), she has bared her innermost secrets to the stranger (Tyler Hoechlin) sitting beside her on a turbulent flight from Florida to New York, after coming off a disastrous corporate meeting and fearing a crash is imminent.

As rom-com formula would have it, that stranger happens to be the CEO of Emma’s company, who has re-emerged from a self-imposed hiatus following the death of his co-founder and close friend six months ago to try to reinvigorate the business. Jack’s appearance becomes a trigger for her to re-examine the areas in her life that she is frustrated with, including a boyfriend whose intense love for jazz and other life habits she has been accommodating, and a pretentious co-worker whose spider plant she regularly ‘poisons’ with orange juice; it is also opportunity for her to kindle a new spark to her love life with Jack, especially given how he is single and very much eligible.

Whereas her episodes with soon-to-be ex-boyfriend Connor (David Ebert) and annoying co-worker Artemis (Kate Easton) are played largely for laughs, her relationship with Jack is intended to be both romantic and thoughtful at the same time. What would a romance be like with someone who already knows your deepest secrets? Would that someone know better than to reveal these secrets to others? Would that someone be inclined to share as much about his (or her) own life? It isn’t surprising that it will take a reckoning for Jack to realise that he should be more careful with Emma’s secrets, or for that matter, that he needs to be more open with his own in order for their relationship to be on a more equitable footing.

Thanks to their easygoing charm, the romance between Daddario and Hoechlin’s characters is effortlessly winning. Oh yes, as clearly intended as it may be, you’ll find yourself rooting for Emma and Jack. Between them, it is Emma who proves to be the more interesting one (notwithstanding the fact that you’ll already know all there is to know about her right from the start), simply because Daddario is the more lively performer; compared to Daddario, Hoechlin is a little too cautiously reserved for his own good, and could very well loosen up more to let us warm up more to his character. That is also since their relationship is really pretty straightforward, with much resting on their charisma to give it vim and verve.

Not having read the Sophie Kinsella novel on which the movie is based, we cannot be sure just how faithful screenwriter Peter Hutchings has been to the source material; that said, we wish both him and first-time director Elise Duran had given more plot to the central relationship between Emma and Jack, which unfolds a little too uneventfully. It is telling when Emma’s friendship with her colleague cum coffee buddy Casey (Robert King), or that of her interactions with roommates Lissy (Sunita Mani) and Gemma (Kimiko Glenn), threaten to steal the scene from time to time that there needs to be more happening between our lead couple.

As far as rom-coms go, ‘Can You Keep A Secret’ is therefore at best a pleasing diversion, carried less on the strength of its filmmaking than on the shoulders of its performers. That this is adapted from a chick-lit novel 15 years ago is somewhat telling, given how many individuals bare much more damning stuff on social media than what Emma confesses to Jack on the plane, and how that is barely acknowledged in the movie itself. If anything, you’ll likely take notice of both Daddario and Hoechling, both of whom demonstrate that they are better than their material. Fans of the book may inevitably be curious about how it has crossed from page to screen, but the question for everyone else is: “can you keep your expectations in check?”

Movie Rating:

(As lightweight as chick-lit goes, this adaptation of the Sophie Kinsella bestseller coasts amiably on the charm of its stars, but is otherwise let down by the weakness of its filmmaking)

Review by Gabriel Chong

SYNOPSIS: A young man falls for a heroic general and soon follows her footsteps as humans defend Earth against extraterrestrials seeking a precious energy source. 

MOVIE REVIEW:

Touted as China’s answer to Independence Day, Shanghai Fortress unfortunately opens to disastrous box-office receipts and a heavy amount of flak from audiences resulting in director Teng Huatao having to issue one apology after another that the entire episode is far more entertaining than the movie itself. 

Based on a novel by Jiang Nan, the world we know is invaded by a gigantic Alien mothership and before the opening credits actually shows up, most part of the world has already been destroyed and the only place left on earth is Shanghai. Protected by a shield that is generated by a strange energy source known as xianteng and led by Commander Shao (Leon Shi) and Commander Lin (Shu Qi), Shanghai is also guarded by a group of young brave military men and women which includes the Grey Eagle squad, Jiang Yang (ex-EXO member Lu Han) and his three buddies. 

To be fair to Jiang Nan, we are pretty sure his 2009 novel is not as shallow as the movie adaptation. Yet again, he has a part in scripting the movie so I guess he deserved some blame as well. The plotting of Shanghai Fortress is so bad that even Roland Emmerich’s much maligned Independence Day 2 is far more entertaining. Obviously, director Teng Huatao and Jiang Nan has prioritized on the wrong things in Shanghai Fortress. Instead of focusing on the military and sci-fi aspect of it, much of the movie’s runtime is stuck with the awkward love affair between junior crew member Jiang Yang and his infatuation with the much higher rank Commander Lin.  

It’s a complete waste of time watching the much capable Shu Qi being stuck in a pointless role that requires nothing but close-up of her staring blankly into nowhere or green screen. And Lu Han of course is wrongly cast as the male lead. Perhaps an actor liked Leon Lai or Feng Shaofeng fits the stature better. Even the relationship between the four buddies are hardly emphasized on before they are thrown into war and predictably sacrificed for the greater good.   

Completed by effects companies in both Beijing and Korea, the action and CGI in general ranges from mediocre to serviceable. While the CGI displayed is nothing to shout about, Shanghai Fortress does feature several worthy action sequences (which convincingly featured Shanghai being blown to pieces) if you don’t mind the inserted glaring patriotic messages. 

Shanghai Fortress is basically a wasted opportunity considering how good The Wandering Earth is. It does serve its purpose as a popcorn, no-brainer B movie in the end. But for audiences who grew up watching aliens blowing up big cities, this half-baked sci-fi effort is no longer adequate to draw in the crowd.  

MOVIE RATING:

Review by Linus Tee

Genre: Crime/Thriller
Director: Andrea Di Stefano
Cast: Joel Kinnaman, Rosamund Pike, Common, Ana de Armas, Clive Owen
Runtime: 1 hr 53 mins
Rating: M18 (Coarse Language & Some Violence)
Released By: Golden Village Pictures
Official Website: https://www.theinformerfilm.com

Opening Day: 26 September 2019

Synopsis:  Recruited by the FBI, ex-con and former special operations soldier Pete Koslow uses his covert skills to try and take down the General -- the most powerful crime boss in New York. When a sting results in the death of an undercover cop, Pete suddenly finds himself caught in the crossfire between the mob and the FBI. Forced to return to prison, Koslow must now come up with a plan to escape from the clutches of the law and the General to save himself and his family.

Movie Review:

The subject of being a snitch, an undercover or an informer is consider as bread-and-butter for many screenwriters in Hong Kong and Hollywood. It’s a theme that is not going anytime soon and given that Infernal Affairs managed to turn itself into the Oscar worthy, The Departed under the hands of Martin Scorsese, it’s here to stay for good.

The Informer is yet another gritty, depressing thriller that detailed the exploits of ex-army veteran, Pete Koslow (Joel Kinnaman from Suicide Squad), a man who was sentenced to more than a decade in prison for ironically protecting his wife from an assault. But Koslow is given a chance to relive his life with his wife (Ana de Armas) and young daughter if he agrees to work with the FBI to put a Polish drug lord dubbed “The General” into jail. However, when an NYPD cop is killed in a stakeout, Koslow is given a choice to either go back to jail to be a drugs supplier and be an informer or risked the lives of his family.

You know things are not going to be simple for a man liked Pete Koslow. For a start, there is an awful lot of characterizations, plot development and lots of talking in the first part of the movie. Rosamund Pike plays Koslow’s FBI handler, Wilcox, the authority figure who promises the safety of his family only to have it back out in the end by her nasty boss played by Clive Owen. Then there is a cool veteran cop, Grens (played by rapper actor Common) who is hot on the case of the murdered cop.

The crime thriller keeps itself busy and twisty making sure that the audiences are preoccupied in guessing who is actually the good guy. We know Koslow for one is definitely the good guy in the wrong place. What about Wilcox? And what is Grens’ motive? Director Andrea Di Stefano and his co-writers who based the story on a Swedish novel by crime writers Anders Roslund and Borge Hellstrom relies heavily on dialogue to meticulously establish the fate of Koslow although it can’t escape the clichés found in other similar themed crime thrillers.

The story to be frank hardly surprises. In fact it’s so convoluted and confusing at times that you wish Di Stefano should just jump straight into the action. Fortunately, it has enough energy and a wretched performance from Joel Kinnaman to keep you glued. You simply can’t help rooting for a helpless man. Even the gore and violence factors are pretty restrained, it’s only when Koslow’s life is in danger in his cell that the action starts to unfold and strangely very little body count for a movie liked The Informer.

The talents assembled here are overall outstanding besides Kinnaman. As the sympathetic Wilcox, Pike is as usual her excellent self and opposite the always reliable Clive Owens, the pairing is contagious to watch. Common also puts in an awesome performance though Ana de Armas (Blade Runner 2049) lacks enough screentime to make a lasting presence.

The Informer hardly qualifies as masterful or gun-toting exhilarating no doubt it’s still a well-written, well-acted crime drama. Just when you think Koslow is ready to take his sniper skills on the mobsters who want him dead, the story ends very much liked John Wick 2 in the iconic New York central park. Though this time round instead of John Wick making his way to safety, we doubt we will ever see Pete Koslow again on the big screen. Netflix, Amazon Prime or Apple+ TV? Perhaps.  

Movie Rating:

(If you don’t mind the movie took a while to find its rhythm but nevertheless, a well-made crime thriller that showcases worthy performances. Biggest fault? The ending.)

Review by Linus Tee