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SEE ROBERT DOWNEY JR. AS DOCTOR DOLITTLEPosted on 14 Oct 2019 |
Genre: Adventure/Fantasy
Director: Stephen Gaghan
Cast: Robert Downey Jr., Antonio Banderas, Michael Sheen, Jim Broadbent, Jessie Buckley, John Cena, Harry Collett, Marion Cotillard, Frances de la Tour, Carmen Ejogo, Ralph Fiennes, Selena Gomez, Tom Holland, Rami Malek, Kumail Nanjiani, Craig Robinson, Octavia Spencer, Emma Thompson
Runtime: 1 hr 41 mins
Rating: PG
Released By: UIP
Official Website:
Opening Day: 16 January 2020
Synopsis: After losing his wife seven years earlier, the eccentric Dr. John Dolittle (Robert Downey Jr.), famed doctor and veterinarian of Queen Victoria's England, hermits himself away behind the high walls of Dolittle Manor with only his menagerie of exotic animals for company. But when the young queen (Jessie Buckley, Wild Rose) falls gravely ill, a reluctant Dolittle is forced to set sail on an epic adventure to a mythical island in search of a cure, regaining his wit and courage as he crosses old adversaries and discovers wondrous creatures. The doctor is joined on his quest by a young, self-appointed apprentice (Dunkirk's Harry Collett) and a raucous coterie of animal friends, including an anxious gorilla (Oscar(r) winner Rami Malek), an enthusiastic but bird-brained duck (Oscar(r) winner Octavia Spencer), a bickering duo of a cynical ostrich (The Big Sick's Kumail Nanjiani) and an upbeat polar bear (John Cena, Bumblebee) and a headstrong parrot (Oscar(r) winner Emma Thompson), who serves as Dolittle's most trusted advisor and confidante.
Movie Review:
Stephen Gaghan’s re-imagining of the classic character gifted with the ability to talk to animals brings it back to its storybook origins, where Dolittle is a famed doctor veterinarian in 19th-century Victorian England. Based on the second of Hugh Lofting’s Doctor Dolittle books, ‘The Voyage of Doctor Dolittle’, it follows the doctor on a quest to a mythical island to find a cure for the Queen Victoria (Jessie Buckley), who has been poisoned by the conniving Lord Badgley (Jim Broadbent) and Dolittle’s enemy Doctor Mudfly (Michael Sheen).
That quest is also intended as emotional closure for Dolittle, whom we are told in the animated prologue had secluded himself behind the high walls of Dolittle Manor following the death of his wife Lily (Kasia Smutniak) seven years ago. Not only does Dolittle have to come out of hiding, the mission also requires him to retread Lily’s fateful voyage, before she was lost in a storm out at sea. It also gets personal for Dolittle in other ways, including having to come face to face with Rassoulim (Antonio Banderas) and the ferocious tiger Barry (Ralph Fiennes).
Not that much of it matters; in the hands of director and co-writer Gaghan, ‘Dolittle’ is little more than a series of frantic set-pieces under the guise of a swashbuckling adventure. That freneticism is also as a result of a whole menagerie of animals which Dolittle brings along on his voyage – including an insecure gorilla (Rami Malek), a bouncy polar bear (John Cena), a quarrelsome duck (Octavia Spencer), and a wise macaw (Emma Thompson) – that are constantly fighting for attention and screaming over each other in order to be heard.
Each scene is as messy as you can imagine, with little point except to create enough distraction to keep the younger ones among the audience entertained with the non-stop bickering. Worse, these non-human characters seem to be all over the scene at the same time, often either eclipsing Dolittle or making him seem utterly inconsequential. It doesn’t help that there is little depth to each one of the non-human characters, even with a whole bunch of Hollywood A-listers assembled to give them voice, especially since they are simply given one single defining trait and nothing more.
Much of the blame unfortunately lies with Gaghan. The Oscar-winning writer of such geopolitical fare as ‘Traffic’ and ‘Syriana’ seemed to us an odd choice to direct such a special-effects heavy family movie when he was first attached, and the results prove that he is truly and completely out of his league. Not only are the jokes unfunny, the action is terribly unexciting and uninvolving, and not even the purportedly late salvage attempts by ‘TMNT’ director Jonathan Liebersman and ‘The Lego Movie’ writer Chris McKay can turn around what is essentially a misguided movie from the very start.
As much as we like RDJ, there is only so much the charismatic actor can do with such an underwritten role. Though the plotting promises a poignant journey for Dolittle coming to terms with the loss of his beloved wife, that proves to be no more than a convenient device in the scheme of the overall narrative, raised only when expedient to remind us that there is more to the man than his eccentricities. Oh yes, it should come as no surprise that RDJ brings his trademark playful yet confident air to the character, but even that is no match for the sheer commotion that follows him around the entire movie, no thanks to the incessant cacophony of his animal companions.
Much bad press has preceded the release of ‘Dolittle’, and unfortunately those rumours aren’t simply speculation. There is frankly little charm to this feverishly chaotic movie, which seems modelled after the ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ series but is hardly able to muster the same idiosyncratic appeal. It is little secret that ‘Dolittle’ aims to create a new franchise for RDJ after ‘Avengers’, but we can’t see why anyone would want to put themselves through this headache-inducing muddle again. As unlikely as it sounds, we’d take the Eddie Murphy movies over this anytime.
Movie Rating:
(Busy, messy and yet utterly uninvolving, this latest imagining of Dolittle is a witless, charmless and soulless 19th-century action adventure that even RDJ's charm cannot save)
Review by Gabriel Chong
SYNOPSIS: Ray Monroe (Sam Worthington), and his wife Joanne (Lily Rabe) rush their daughter to the emergency room of a nearby hospital after she is hurt in an accident. After being sent away for further testing, his wife and daughter vanish and all records of their visit disappear. Ray’s concern turns into a desperate race to find his family and discover the truth of what happened to them.
MOVIE REVIEW:
Fractured is very much similar in terms of plot execution to the 2005 psychological thriller, Flight Plan which starred Jodie Foster. In the latter, Foster’s character loses her daughter while onboard a flight with none of the passengers and crew “remember” her bringing a child along. In Fractured however, it’s Sam Worthington’s turn to lose his love ones.
The movie opens with a family of three inside a car. A man named Ray (Worthington) and his wife, Joanne (Lily Rabe) are urging over a thanksgiving dinner and their conversation hints of a supposedly crumbling relationship. Ray seems to have some issues but at this point, the clues are minimal and we are just plain curious to see what happens next. Before long, their young daughter, Peri has a fall near a convenience store and Ray has to rush her to the nearby hospital.
It took a long while before a certain doctor named Dr Berthram arrives to examine Peri and finally, a CT scan is scheduled for Peri and Joanne is admitted for some checkup. In the meantime, Ray is waiting patiently in the lobby until the next morning, no one in the hospital remember seeing Peri nor Joanne, not even the CCTV footages which kickstarts all the suspense and mystery of Fractured.
Fractured of course is no highbrow detective story or a solid psychological thriller. But Brad Anderson who broke into the scene with Session 9 and The Machinist (which starred an emaciated Christian Bale) together with Alan B. McElroy who wrote Halloween 4 and Wrong Turn certainly knows how to piece up a familiar story on a shoestring budget to keep viewers occupied for 100 minutes. Anything more than that, loopholes are going to pop liked popcorns.
Set in a cold winter, the entire movie is further color correct to deprive of any bright colors and tones. Perhaps this is to foreshadow Ray’s state of mind. Is this all part of Ray’s imagination? Why did he keep mentioning his deceased first wife, Abby? Is the hospital involved in illegal organs harvesting as what he suspects? Could the culprit be the creepy convenience store owner or the hospital receptionist? Fractured easily keeps the guessing game going until the macabre ending.
Again, this is one thriller that is well-worth to watch on the small screen with Sam Worthington’s tense performance successfully delivering some striking moments. Worthington’s big screen presence might have dwindled over the years but there’s always Avatar 2 – 4 to look forward to.
MOVIE RATING:
Review by Linus Tee
Genre: CG Animation
Director: Tatsuyuki Nagai
Cast: Riho Yoshioka, Ryō Yoshizawa, Shion Wakayama, Atsumi Tanezaki, Fukushi Ochiai, Ken Matsudaira, Yō Taichi
Runtime: 1 hr 47 mins
Rating: PG
Released By: Encore Films and Golden Village Pictures
Official Website:
Opening Day: 12 December 2019
Synopsis: The film's story is set in a town nestled in the mountains. Second-year high school student Aoi Aioi is an aspiring musician Aoi Aioi. Her older sister Akane's ex-boyfriend Shinnosuke Kanomura is a struggling guitarist. Aoi and Akane's parents passed away in an accident 13 years ago, and Akane gave up her ambition of going to Tokyo with Shinnosuke to take care of Aoi. Since then, Aoi has felt indebted to her older sister. One day, she is invited to perform at a music festival as a session musician by a famous enka singer named Dankichi. At the same time, Shinnosuke returns to Aoi and Akane's town after a long time away. Then, Shinno mysteriously appears— who is actually Shinnosuke from 13 years ago after traveling from the past to the present—and Aoi falls in love for the first time.
Movie Review:
The later part of this year seems to be a strong one for anime. First, we have Makoto Shinkai’s highly anticipated Weathering With You, this was followed by Hello World in October, Ride Your Wave in early December and we are going to end the year with Her Blue Sky, a meaningful anime about lost love, teenage angst and the reality of grown-up life.
After the tragic death of her parents, Akane has to learn to take care of her younger sister, then a nursery school child, Aoi. Because of Aoi, Akane has to give up her dreams of following her then boyfriend, Shinnosuke to Tokyo to pursue his dream of being a guitarist. Years later, Aoi has grown up to be a teenager. Obsessed with playing the bass, Aoi hopes to escape from her small hometown to form a band in Tokyo after high school while Akane works for a living at the local tourism board.
One day, Aoi encountered the younger self of Shinnosuke in an abandoned temple. Apparently, he is not a ghost, just a living spirit that is left behind by his physical body and is now trapped in the house although the movie spends no time explaining this odd occurrence. At the same time, the current Shinnosuke returned to his hometown for the local music festival with a travelling band. It’s complex enough for Aoi to deal with two Shinnosuke but the biggest problem lies in Aoi developing a crush on the senior school Shinnosuke.
It’s a bit like Back to the Future but Her Blue Sky is a lot more complex as the past and present actually do meet up together. What begins as a coming-of-age drama between two sisters, Akane and Aoi soon turns into a complicated fantasy tale about human relationships, dreams and love. Shinnosuke in the present world is a weary, burnt out musician. Instead of making it big as a rock singer in a successful band, he is stuck with a small-time travelling band, too embarrassed to return to his hometown and reuniting with Akane. His younger self however is full of positivity and ambitions, a huge disparity considering they are both in fact the same person.
Mari Okada who wrote the script filled the story with believable intense and volatile emotions between Akane and Aoi that this ought to be the true stand out factor. The ever patient and loving Akane who sacrifices her own happiness just for the sake of Aoi will have you sobbing in tears. Aoi on the other hand is the typical resentful teenager who see things only in black and white.
Of course, Shinnosuke is a well-developed character as well as he represents many of us- the mere mortals roaming the earth. The disgruntled ones that lost the desire to realised our dreams once we stepped into the workforce. Are we living a life full of regrets? Are we being unhappy most of the time? It’s a nice life lesson coming out from the younger Shinnosuke.
Though rewarding, it sure going to take a while to warm up to the story of Her Blue Sky. The living spirit is a gimmick that works even though it does stretch itself a little too much near the end. The voice cast and filmmakers of Her Blue Sky handles the material, emotion pretty well and the animation generally combines real-life photos and the hand-drawn animation perfectly.
MOVIE RATING:
(Anime is not just for kids. If you find all the current slate of live-action titles very unappealing, why not catch Her Blue Sky)
Review by Linus Tee
Genre: Horror/Thriller
Director: Justin Dec
Cast: Elizabeth Lail, Ann Winters, Charlie McDermott, Jordan Calloway, Talitha Bateman, Tichina Arnold, P.J. Byrne, Peter Facinelli
Runtime: 1 hr 32 mins
Rating: PG13 (Horror & Some Coarse Language)
Released By: Golden Village Pictures
Official Website:
Opening Day: 31 October 2019
Synopsis: When a nurse downloads an app that claims to predict the moment a person will die, it tells her she only has three days to live. With the clock ticking and a figure haunting her, she must find a way to save her life before time runs out.
Movie Review:
There’s nothing terribly unpredictable about this - but that might not be a bad thing at all. Like Scream, Final Destination and any franchise with over 5 chapters, formulaic horror has an appeal of its own. Countdown has nothing of a reputation to bank on, but it follows a formulaic model and manages to get a few good scares in the mix.
Anticipation is half the fun, and Countdown gears the audience’s up with the premise of a countdown app that pronounces one’s time of death accurately. But what if you loaded that app to see that you had a few days or hours left to spare? Would you be worried?
Rather than a philosophical spin, director and writer Justin Dec weaves it into a tale of individuals who fight to stay alive against the clock - and possibly a supernatural entity who might be the Grim Reaper himself.
Elizabeth Lail is Quinn, an intern who just earned her badge to be a full-time nurse at the hospitable she’s working for. One of her patients, Evan (Dillon Lane) is more nervy than most others before surgery, and he reveals to Quinn that his girlfriend died tragically at the exact time the app predicted. What was careless dismissal turns into dread, especially when his is lined up just before his surgery.
Of course Quinn dismisses this, and as she shares this story, a small segment of the hospital staff downloads the app to take a peek at their longevity. Bad news for our nurse - she has less than three days on her clock. Although this doesn’t necessarily scare her, it does disturb her a little but she goes about her routine trying to stay cool.
Very soon, she experiences hauntings and sightings that nudges her into a believer. With the app’s authenticity established, the film focuses on her search for a way out, while throwing in side stories about her strained family relationship, and sexual harassment from a doctor at the hospital.
The film is no doubt inspired by our mobile lifestyle, riddled with apps that are as useful as they are insidious. It positions the use of apps as something we become complacent about, and how innocent programs can hide nefarious intentions (remember FaceApp?) and beguile us into releasing permissions we had no idea we were releasing. Very poignant point there. In this case, the poignant point is a demon that has caught up with the times.
Countdown does try to inject some rethinks. Tom Segura as Derek, the mobile store owner that helps to hack the app, is a riot to watch. His deadpan caustic narrative is straight out of Saturday Night Live. A tip - stay a little after the credits roll to see what happens to him.
Not as successful is the geek-hip Father John (P.J. Byrne). He tries to subvert conventions by being somewhat of a street-wise rogue priest, but his one-dimensional lines and calculated twists are more annoying than refreshing.
And lads would mostly like Quinn. Is it possible dear Dec has a thing for Jennifer Lawrence? The answer, is very. Not only does Lail exude JL vibes, Dec also had a short film titled Jennifer Lawrence is Coming in 2013. It’s certainly a pleasant recall.
So yes, if you’re a fan of the tension that comes from seeing people meet their death, then this relatively low key production will surprise you.
Movie Rating:
(Entertaining romp as the bodycount piles up. Will they or won’t they? You never know who might break out the chain, especially when you’re not sure who your enemy might be)
Review by Morgan Awyong
Genre: Romance/Comedy
Director: Paul Feig
Cast: Emilia Clarke, Henry Golding, Michelle Yeoh, Emma Thompson
Runtime: 1 hr 43 mins
Rating: NC-16 (Some Mature Content)
Released By: UIP
Official Website:
Opening Day: 28 November 2019
Synopsis: A romantic comedy inspired by a George Michael beat and written by Academy Award® winner Emma Thompson (Sense and Sensibility, Bridget Jones’s Baby ) and playwright Bryony Kimmings, starring Emilia Clarke (HBO’s Game of Thrones) and Henry Golding (A Simple Favor, Crazy Rich Asians). Kate harumphs around London, a bundle of bad decisions accompanied by the jangle of bells on her shoes, another irritating consequence from her job as an elf in a year- round Christmas shop. Tom seems too good to be true when he walks into her life and starts to see through so many of Kate’s barriers. As London transforms into the most wonderful time of the year, nothing should work for these two. But sometimes, you gotta let the snow fall where it may, you gotta listen to your heart...and you gotta have faith.
Movie Review:
You might be expecting a holiday love story with ‘Last Christmas’, but this is less a romantic comedy than a coming-of-age story about a klutzy twenty-something year-old British female named Kate.
As played by ‘Game of Thrones’ actress Emilia Clarke, Kate starts out as a screw-up who couch surfs at friends’ apartments and hopes to get lucky at auditions for singing gigs. She is barely holding down her menial job hawking tacky Christmas ornaments at a year-round Covent Garden yuletide gift shop, and has an estranged relationship with her family – not only does she engage in arguments with her older sister Marta (Lydia Leonard) whenever they see each other, she also refuses to return her mother’s (Emma Thompson) calls.
And then one day a curious stranger shows up in front of the shop, staring up at a rare bird on a ledge – which coincidentally poops on Kate after she decides to find out who the stranger is. His name is Tom (Henry Golding), and though she doesn’t take to him initially, he seems to keep showing up around her. There is a good reason for that, and we will get to it later, but suffice to say that Tom comes off less charming than bemusing – he keeps telling Kate to “look up” to see the thing she walks by every day; he loves to twirl around her; he doesn’t carry a cell phone; and oh, he volunteers at a homeless shelter.
Kate’s relationship with Tom gets her to re-engage with the people she cares about, as she goes about making amends for her previously careless attitude towards family and friends. She even goes as far as to volunteer at the shelter, although that is as consequence of Tom ‘ghosting’ her.
Oh yes, there will be good reason why Kate or us cannot quite put our finger with Tom – it isn’t that he is too good to be true, but rather that he is not real enough. If you haven’t heard of it yet, there is a big twist embedded within, which goes right to the heart of Tom and Kate’s connection with each other. To say more will be spoiling it, but we warn you that it will take you – and the film itself – out of its comfort zone.
Thompson, who co-wrote the script with playwright Bryony Kimmons from a story by her and her husband Greg Wise, had quite clearly done so with the George Michael song in mind – and indeed we’re quite sure fans of Michael and Wham! will be delighted hearing their idols’ tunes being played throughout the movie. But whether that makes for a compelling narrative is yet another matter, especially since it results in some clearly awkward or illogical moments in the proceedings preceding the twist.
Yet equally, those who are simply looking for a holiday movie will probably lap up the movie’s feel-good syrup, right up till the big singalong at the very end – and to Thompson’s credit, she also tries to weave in a pro-immigrant statement through messages of tolerance and community, what with Kate and her family having migrated from Yugoslavia to London to escape the war. It should also not come as a surprise that director Paul Feig tries to recapture some of the magic of the classic holiday rom-com ‘Love Actually’, though let’s just say we’d take the latter over the former anytime.
Because Tom is a deliberately elusive character, there is little Golding can do or does to make him feel more convincing. Much, if not most, of the film therefore rests on Clarke, who demonstrates a heretofore unseen goofball energy. Clarke is sharp and engaging even as the material isn’t, and is the reason why, if at all, the film wins you over. Thompson brings her trademark warmth to moderate the role of Kate’s overbearing mother, and Yeoh gets to toss some witty lines, but Clarke holds the movie all together with bright, buoyant aplomb.
You should already know if you’re the sort who loves such movies, and if you do, ‘Last Christmas’ probably will do no wrong. The London setting is infectious, and the mood is unquestionably festive, except perhaps when it unveils its pivotal twist. So yeah, if you cannot quite get enough of the George Michael heartbroken holiday classic of the same name on which the movie is based, then you certainly won’t mind this seasonal offering which mixes the sweet and bittersweet into one big Christmas bonbon.
Movie Rating:
(As artificial as such holiday movies come, 'Last Christmas' mixes the sweet and the bittersweet into a familiar yet effective Christmas confectionery)
Review by Gabriel Chong
Genre: Horror/Comedy
Director: Ruben Fleischer
Cast: Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone, Abigail Breslin, Zoey Deutch, Rosario Dawson, Luke Wilson, Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray
Runtime: 1 hr 39 mins
Rating: M18 (Violence and Gore)
Released By: Sony Pictures
Official Website:
Opening Day: 31 October 2019
Synopsis: A decade after Zombieland became a hit film and a cult classic, the lead cast (Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Abigail Breslin, and Emma Stone) have reunited with director Ruben Fleischer (Venom) and writers Rhett Reese & Paul Wernick (Deadpool) for Zombieland 2. In the sequel, through comic mayhem that stretches from the White House and through the heartland, these four slayers must face off against the many new kinds of zombies that have evolved since the first movie, as well as some new human survivors. But most of all, they have to face the growing pains of their own snarky, makeshift family.
Movie Review:
Sequels have it hard. Zombieland raked in commercial and critical success for taking the audience off-guard in a period of zombie titles, so what can Zombieland: Double Tap bring to the table? The answer is - plenty.
The franchise capitalises on three things: astute witticisms, irreverent self-awareness and unabashed caricultures. With that, the sequel has unleashed new characters to join the dynamic quartet, ten years after the first film - and boy are you in for a ride.
Zombieland: Double Tap may flicker at parts from overmilking a trope, but director Rubin Fleischer keeps his post-apocalyptic machine running just fine, finessing an admirable sequel that’s just as good as the first.
It’s been ten years since we’ve last seen our survivors, and following real-time, they update us with their decade of zombie hunting, with naming conventions for all types of zombies. Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg) narrates this with his geeky enthusiasm, sharing Homers and Ninjas and Hawkings with seasoned glee.
And while he and Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson) find comfort in their new base at The White House - a setting itself that gave birth to many cutting and funny comments - Wichita (Emma Stone) and Little Rock (Abigail Basin) gets increasingly restless. This situation tips when Columbus proposes to Wichita, and the girls escape that very night from their overbearing guardians.
A heartbroken Columbus mopes, until Madison (Zoey Deutch) appears at a mall. The poor girl has survived by living in cold storage and as air-headed as she is, is a refreshing change from the surly Wichita. To Tallahassee’s ire, Columbus invites Madison to their base.
As luck would have it, that is the time when Witchita reappears. She reports that Little Rock has eloped with a hippie musician, Berkely (Avan Jogia), and with rumours of a new toughed zombie rampaging through the countryside, Wichita is worried for the safety of her little sister. The new foursome then set out to find the youngest member before a T-800 (a Terminator reference Columbus coins of course) does.
Zombieland: Double Tap is exceptionally structured, with brilliant segments following one another like a running stand-up collection. Between Columbus and Wichita, you’ll get doses of acerbic quarrelling. Between Tallahassee and the rest, there’s enough politically incorrect banter to launch a class-action lawsuit. And when Luke Wilson and Thomas Middleditch perform as doppelgangers (I won’t elaborate here to keep the fun), the episode turns itself inside out with a riveting sequence.
But you can reserve your best chuckles for Madison because that character knocked it out of the zombie park. Deutch has somehow performed a Valley Girl stereotype to, like, pitch perfection, then used it to invigorate every scene she’s in (minus that predictable ending). Rarely have I seen such a lovable airhead (though there’s the untouchable Anna Faris in The House Bunny) and every mannerism and moment with this girl is flawlessly funny. I certainly couldn’t contain my giggles with our unstoppable fluffy pink heroine.
While the curse of the sequel may put you off visiting an old classic, Zombieland: Double Tap is every bit as enjoyable and clever as the first, with enough new material to keep fans, both old and new, happy. If the world needs to end with zombies, I would pick this ending.
Movie Rating:
(The sequel might have gotten stuck during production, but it has lost none of its momentum. A sharp script, an on-point Fleischer, and an eyewatering-ly funny performance from Deutch makes the return a welcome one)
Review by Morgan Awyong
Genre: Drama/War
Director: Dan Krauss
Cast: Alexander Skarsgård, Nat Wolff, Adam Long, Jonathan Whitesell, Brian Marc, Osy Ikhile, Rob Morrow, Anna Francolini, Oliver Ritchie
Runtime: 1 hr 38 mins
Rating: NC16 (Coarse Language and Some Drug Use)
Released By: Shaw Organisation
Official Website:
Opening Day: 24 October 2019
Synopsis: 2017 Academy Award nominated director Dan Krauss adapts his acclaimed documentary THE KILL TEAM into a taut, provocative thriller reminiscent of such classics as THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR, THE CONVERSATION, and ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN. Based on dramatic true events, THE KILL TEAM tells the story of a young American soldier trapped between his conscience and his survival when members of his platoon carry out a murderous scheme in the desolate wasteland of Southern Afghanistan.
Movie Review:
Everyone knows wars won’t bring happy endings, but why are they still happening around the world? The movie industry has churned out countless war films over the decades, and most of them remind us that wars not only bring about destruction, they can seriously damage the human soul.
In 2013, American filmmaker Dan Krauss directed The Kill Team, a documentary about the Maywand District murders during the War in Afghanistan. The killings took place over a year from June 2009 to June 2010, and at least three Afghan civilians were murdered by a group of US Army soldiers who referred to themselves as the “Kill Team”. Five members of the platoon were eventually charged for the murders and collecting their body parts as trophies. There were seven others who were charged for other crimes, including attacking the whistleblower.
The powerful feature documentary which explored the controversial topic took home the Independent Spirit Awards' Truer than Fiction Prize and Grand Jury Prize at the Tribeca Film Festival.
Krauss returns five years later with a fictionalised adaptation of events based on his award winning work. This approach will appeal to viewers who are adverse to the storytelling style of documentaries. That, and the inclusion of familiar faces will draw a certain group of audiences deeper into the story – although some may argue that this takes away the authenticity of the actual real life events.
Whatever the case, Krauss has managed to tell a captivating story of how an individual’s morals are put to the test, no thanks to the effects of war. Private Andrew Briggman (a very convincingly worried looking Nat Wolff) becomes torn when his platoon mates take part in killing civilians in Afghanistan, under the ‘guidance’ of the charismatic Sergeant Deeks (Alexander Skarsgård putting his good looks and hot bod to good use). When the idealistic solider wonders whether he should report this to the authorities, he begins to realise the danger he is in when the people around him begin suspecting his loyalties.
The 98 minute movie starts off with Briggman getting all excited being able to serve his country. He heeds advice and inspiration from his father played by Rob Marrow, who effortlessly displays dignity as a respectable figure. When things get rough out in the battlefield (it doesn’t help that the leader of the platoon is killed tragically early in the movie by an explosion), Deeks becomes a figure of authority whom young men look up to. This very much reminds us of the drowning incident which took place last year in a local fire station. What really went on behind the scenes? And how do seniors in a military unit influence the young ones?
Back to this film – the grittiness of the story is well captured through the cinematography, and the looming sense of desperation and helplessness will make you reflect on the horrors of war. Are humans built to withstand undergo this trial of passage? What defines morals, and are the stressful conditions of war justifiable for some appalling actions? These are difficult questions to answer, but essential for reflection.
Movie Rating:
(The compelling movie reminds you that the horrors of war are real, and may still be ongoing in this day and age)
Review by John Li
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BOOK REVIEW #30: STRANGER THINGS: WORLDS TURNED UPSIDE DOWNPosted on 18 Oct 2019 |
Genre: Action/Comedy
Director: Elizabeth Banks
Cast: Kristen Stewart, Naomi Scott, Ella Balinska, Elizabeth Banks, Djimon Hounsou, Noah Centineo, Sam Claflin, Patrick Stewart
Runtime: 1 hr 59 mins
Rating: PG13 (Some Violence and Coarse Language)
Released By: Sony Pictures
Official Website:
Opening Day: 14 November 2019
Synopsis: Director Elizabeth Banks takes the helm as the next generation of fearless Charlie’s Angels take flight. In Banks’ bold vision, Kristen Stewart, Naomi Scott, and Ella Balinska are working for the mysterious Charles Townsend, whose security and investigative agency has expanded internationally. With the world’s smartest, bravest, and most highly trained women all over the globe, there are now teams of Angels guided by multiple Bosleys taking on the toughest jobs everywhere.
Movie Review:
Lest we be accused of being sexist, let it be known that we had really wanted to like this latest reboot of ‘Charlie’s Angels’. Scripted and directed by Elizabeth Banks, it is a genuinely earnest attempt at reinventing a franchise which had been less about female empowerment than about male escapism. Yet despite her best intentions as zeitgeist of the current #MeToo social milieu, it is a plodding, thuddingly dull, effort with few laughs and even fewer thrills, and likely to leave you feeling utterly indifferent.
To Banks’ credit, she has made a couple of nifty upgrades to the series template. Instead of simply being the second-in-command to Charlie in the Townsend Agency, Bosley is now a rank for the highest-in-charge of the bureaus which the Agency has established all over the world (hence opening the door for future spin-offs), thus setting the stage for what would be a crucial element in the plot involving the retirement of the previous Bosley (Patrick Stewart). In his place is Banks’ herself, who chooses not only to guide the action from behind-the-scenes but also in front of it.
As a former Angel-turned-Bosley, Banks leads a team comprising Sabina (Kristen Stewart), a Park Avenue rich kid who did not want to be fated to the life she had been given, and Jane (British newcomer Ella Balinska), a former MI-6 agent who decided she no longer wanted to work for the Government. Their mission is to protect the brilliant young scientist Elena (Naomie Scott), who is motivated by her conscience to expose the deadly potential of her company’s latest invention named Calisto – which she discovers, can be weaponised to generate an electro-magnetic pulse enough to kill a person within close range.
Not only does her snivelling boss (Nat Faxon) not want that disclosed to their company’s chief investor Alexander Brok (Sam Claflin), he is more than willing to sell the device(s) to a mysterious buyer, who has in turn engaged a professional hitman (Jonathan Tucker) that will put the Angels’ ass-kicking training to good use. Their cat-and-mouse game brings them from Rio to Hamburg to Berlin to Istanbul and finally to London, ensuring that the globe-trotting element in such espionage films remains very much intact. And thankfully too – for the change in location actually compensates somewhat for the underwhelming action.
In fact, that description is already being kind to how lifeless the action is. Right from the opening act where Sabina and a fellow Angel go up against the bodyguards of a rich and powerful embezzler in a sting operation, it is apparent that the choreography needs more work, the cinematography doesn’t quite know how to bring the audience into the scene, and the editing is just all over the place. These same faults perpetuate throughout each and every one of the film’s subsequent set pieces, all of which suffer from varying degrees of incoherence, monotony and sheer tedium.
It doesn’t help that the humour, which is intended to fizz up the action, also falls way short of being witty. You can tell that Banks had intended to go for a tone that is fairly light, yet serious enough in its portrayal of ‘girl power’ to ensure we take it seriously, but the jokes are simply too forced or too arcane (like its ‘Birdman of Alcatraz’ joke which many, like Elena in the movie, will struggle to comprehend). At least the two earlier McG movies didn’t try to pretend that they were anything more than frivolous entertainment; here, the strain of trying to be pulpy yet compelling shows, and Banks never quite finds the right balance to make it work both ways.
Perhaps the only thing she does get right is in casting Stewart, Balinska and Scott as the next-generation of Angels. Stewart gives her best shot at the comic asides and drive-by zingers, and manages an endearingly goofy presence despite the script doing little justice to her character. Together though, there is palpable chemistry among the trio, and their raw energy compensates for the material’s lack thereof, both in terms of plotting and execution.
So indeed, we had much wanted to like this latest version of ‘Charlie’s Angels’, but we were honestly left deeply wanting. You’ll wish Banks had a better handle on the comedy, the action, and the balance between them; you’ll wish she’d figured out how to make the characters more than caricatures of empowerment; and you’ll even wish she’d tone down the flag-waving on feminism, as much as that is her objective. And with flavourless pop songs as well as in-your-face product placement, we’d much prefer the trashy pleasures of the earlier McG movies than this bland, boring and bumbling misfire.
Movie Rating:
(Aside from the casting, there is little else in this feminist-driven reboot of 'Charlie's Angels' that works)
Review by Gabriel Chong
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