SYNOPSIS: Tom Hanks portrays Mister Rogers in A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, a timely story of kindness triumphing over cynicism, based on the true story of a real-life friendship between Fred Rogers and journalist Tom Junod. After a jaded magazine writer (Emmy® winner Matthew Rhys, 2018 Best Actor in a Drama Series, The Americans) is assigned a profile of Fred Rogers, he overcomes his skepticism, learning about kindness, love and forgiveness from America’s most beloved neighbor.

MOVIE REVIEW:

In his career spanning over three decades, Tom Hanks has portrayed many real-life characters including astronaut Jim Lovell, congressman Charlie Wilson, Captain Richard Philips, Walt Disney and pilot Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger. In case you are wondering, Forrest Gump is not one of them. In A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood, he plays the late children’s television presenter, Fred Rogers.  

Unlike a conventional biography, A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood is not all about Fred Rogers. In fact, it’s more about journalist Lloyd Vogel (Matthew Rhys) than the man himself. We must say this might be a disappointment factor for some. Anyway, Lloyd is assigned by his editor at Esquire to do a 400 word article on Fred Rogers. What seems to be a simple task turned out to be a life-changing one for Lloyd as he became an intriguing subject for Rogers instead of vice versa. 

Lloyd is a broken, deeply-troubled man, juggling between a newborn son and an estranged father, Jerry (Chris Cooper) who turned up suddenly at his doorstep in an attempt to reconcile with him. Years back, the philandering Jerry has abandoned Lloyd and his sister while their mom was dying in the hospital which resulted in Lloyd’s hatred for him. Remarkably, Fred Rogers end up to be the person aiding Lloyd to let go off his hatred and pain. And this is the story inspired by the relationship between real-life journalist Tom Junod and Rogers.

A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood is a well-thought yet simple but wonderfully executed movie by director Marielle Heller, writers Micah Fitzerman-Blue and Noah Harpster. The pacing might be excruciating slow but trust us, the journey is more than worth it. Even if you don’t know who Fred Rogers is, Heller manages to convince audiences that this is no ordinary man despite his best attempt to tell you he is no saint nor a hero. 

Initially, Lloyd was never convinced of Fred Rogers, sceptical of his off-screen persona and treating him as just a facade. But like what Rogers has imparted him through various meetups, we learnt about Roger’s positivity, never ending enthusiasm to his fans and work and his very own unique way of making the world a better place. 

Everything works right here because Tom Hanks magically captured Rogers’ mannerism, the way he speaks and humility even though he is largely a supporting character (just liked Saving Mr Banks) while Matthew Rhys delivers a deeply affecting performance. Liked Rogers’ soothing voice and the lessons he imparts onscreen, this is a sweet movie that speaks volumes about life lessons. The movie even recreates Rogers’ hand puppets right down to the miniature street scenes. And well, there’s a more detailed documentary on Fred Rogers called Won’t You Be My Neighbour? if you can’t enough of the legendary presenter. 

SPECIAL FEATURES:

Director Marielle Heller and Director of Photography Jody Lee Lipes provides an interesting Audio Commentary which touches on the movie’s various aspects. 

There are a total of roughly 16 minutes of Deleted & Extended Scenes and a minute of Blooper Reel.

Tom Hanks talks about taking on the role in Tom Hanks as Fred Rogers.

Hanks introduces the cast and crew in The People Who Make a Neighborhood: The Making Of. 

Dreaming Big, Building Small: The Puppets & Miniatures takes a look at recreating and performing the puppets.

Daniel Tiger Explains: Practice Makes Perfect is yet another blooper reel. 

AUDIO/VISUAL:

The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack is more than enough to equip the modest movie with a solid dialogue track and lively musical tracks. There are occasional ambient effects but all in all, this is generally a rather quiet title. The visual switches occasional to 4x3 to showcase Roger’s television special and the 1.85:1 presentation is on the whole crisp and sharp. 

MOVIE RATING:

DVD RATING :

Review by Linus Tee

Genre: Romance
Director: Andrew Erwin and Jon Erwin
Cast:  KJ Apa, Britt Robertson, Gary Sinise, Shania Twain  
Runtime: 1 hr 56 mins
Rating: PG
Released By: Clover Films
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 2 April 2020

Synopsis: One love can change your life. One life can change the world. An inspiring love story for the ages. Rediscover the wonder of love in I STILL BELIEVE, based on the real-life story of chart-topping singer Jeremy Camp. The movie chronicle Jeremy Camp’s personal story of his first marriage to Melissa Lynn Henning-Camp, who died of ovarian cancer in 2001, less than a year after they married. Jeremy Camp’s remarkable journey of love and loss proves there is always hope amid tragedy. 

Movie Review:  

You should know right from the beginning that ‘I Still Believe’ is a faith-based film, and by that we mean its characters will discuss and re-affirm their belief in God the Almighty. If any mention of God makes you uncomfortable in the first place, then this is not the movie for you; but for those at least willing to accept that our fates are ultimately determined by a higher presence, and that all we should try to discern our purpose in order to live our lives to its fullest, then you’d find inspiration, emotion and even empowerment in this real-life love story.

Adapted from the autobiography of Christian music star Jeremy Camp, the story tells of Jeremy’s journey of love with his college sweetheart Melissa. It begins back in 1999 when Jeremy (KJ Apa) moved from Indiana to Southern California to attend Calvary Chapel Bible College; there, he meets earnest and pretty Melissa (Britt Robertson), a college senior whom he makes an instant connection with at a concert by a Christian rock band called The Kry. Before long, they are going on dates to Melissa’s special place (a planetarium where the ‘sky’ lights up with magical stars) while trying to keep their romance in school under wraps.

What forces them to fundamentally re-examine their commitment to each other is an unexpected diagnosis of Stage III cancer, which leads Melissa to have to drop out of school and undergo chemotherapy. It is no secret that Melissa dies at the end, but this is a story where the focus is on the journey than the destination. In the intervening years, Jeremy will demonstrate his love for Melissa by standing steadfastly by her side despite her occasional emotional outbursts, engage in a simple yet utterly beautiful marriage ceremony by the beach to the sounds of Haley Reinhart’s version of ‘Can’t Help Falling In Love’, and finally be forced to confront the horrible disease yet again.

With the emphasis on the couple, there is understandably less detail on Jeremy’s ascending musical career, which is boosted by the support of The Kry’s lead singer Jean-Luc (Nathan Dean). An alumnus of Calvary Chapel, Jean-Luc recognises Jeremy’s talent right from the beginning, and gives the budding singer opportunity to showcase that during his band’s gigs. There is some early tension between Jeremy and Jean-Luc, given how the latter is also smitten with Melissa, but this is the sort of movie where such conflicts are handled with the utmost nobility and dignity.

Besides giving short shrift to Jeremy’s rise as a singer, the scripting also neglects Jeremy’s parents (played by Gary Sinise and country-music star Shania Twain) who lend physical, moral and spiritual support. In particular, there is an utterly moving scene late in the film that shows beautifully how much of a pillar of strength Jeremy’s father is to him, which will also make you wish there were more prominence to the role his parents had played throughout. Both Sinise and Twain make the most of thinly written parts, but you’d wish they were given more prominence in the first place.

Compared to their earlier crossover box-office hit ‘I Can Only Imagine’, this latest from Andrew Erwin and Jon Erwin (billed collectively as the Erwin Brothers) is less narratively polished; yet what it does have in its favour is earnestness and authenticity. To their credit, there is no attempt by the Erwins to push any sort of religious agenda; instead, they concentrate simply on being as faithful to their real-life subjects as possible, and allow their convictions, both to God and to each other, to emerge naturally from there. They also make little embellishments to the storytelling itself, again trusting the poignancy of the real-life tragedy to shine through on its own.

That the film is as affecting as it is is also credit to Apa and Robertson. The former is magnetic in the role, not just in how he portrays Jeremy’s transformation from bright-eyed college student to clear-minded young adult, but also in his terrific performance of Camp’s compositions; the latter is sparkling in the warmth and strength she brings to Melissa, whether romancing Jeremy or dealing with the curveballs which life throws at her one after another. Both are immensely appealing next to each other, and their charisma makes rooting for them almost effortless.

As much as it is a faith-based film, “I Still Believe’ is not just a story for Christians, but an affirmation of the very definition of love and marriage that is found not in grand or even poetic declarations but rather in the everyday actions and sacrifices that two people in a relationship together are willing to make for each other. It’s a beautiful love story all right, and a tearjerker through and through, so if the references to God do not turn you off, we guarantee that you’ll be won over by this sweet, sincere and stirring tribute to mutual devotion.

Movie Rating:

(Sweet, sincere and stirring, this chronicle of romance in the face of tragedy is a beautiful reminder of what it means to love someone through thick and thin)

Review by Gabriel Chong

Genre: Drama
Director: Peter Cattaneo 
Cast: Kristin Scott Thomas, Sharon Horgan, Emma Lowndes, Teresa Mahoney, Lara Rossi, Amy James-Kelly, Greg Wise, Jason Flemyng
Runtime: 1 hr 52 mins
Rating: PG13 (Some Coarse Language and Sexual References)
Released By: Shaw Organisation
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 20 August 2020

Synopsis: The inspirational story of friendship, love, and support on the home front. A group of women come together as their partners serve in Afghanistan. Together they form the very first military wives choir, helping each other through some of life’s most difficult moments and also becoming a media sensation and global movement in the process. 

Movie Review:

Military Wives is a Brit movie tailored for the mature crowd. Although it does feature some good music, it’s not entirely pitch perfect nor Mama Mia! Come on, what do you expect from the director who brought you The Full Monty more than two decades ago.

Based on the real-life story of British women who form a choir while their spouses are off fighting the war in Afghanistan, Military Wives revolves around Kate (Kristin Scott Thomas from The English Patient), the uptight, prim and proper wife of the Colonel who has to join hands with working-class, Lisa (Sharon Hogan) to form a choir to help the spouses kill their time.

Of course, things are definitely not smooth-sailing right from the start. Kate is controlling and more classical inclined while Lisa is more freewheeling and into pop music. Not forgetting the rest of the colourful impromptu choir members at the British military base. Sparks flew, words are traded but in the end you know how everything is going to end happily at the annual military concert at London’s Royal Albert Hall.

It’s a formulaic tale that succeed mainly because of the presence of Kristin Scott Thomas who perfectly captured the essence of Kate. A character so lonely on the inside, still troubled by the death of her only son and the unwanted heavy responsibilities that comes as the wife of the Colonel. Sharon Hogan (Man Up, Game Night) is another fine actress who brought much nuance to a character who struggles being a “single” parent to her rebellious teenage daughter while worrying about the safety of her spouse.

And because of the wondrous performances from the two of them, we get to see some heated conflicts and occasional laughs.

Director Peter Cattaneo directing from a script by Rachel Tunnard and Rosanne Flynn never forget to include some tear-jerking moment in this military based drama as we experienced the pure agony and pain in the form of a newly-wed, Sarah (Amy James-Kelly) who is constantly torment by the thought of someone knocking on her door to deliver bad news. There are of course other cute supporting characters but they are mostly one-dimensional in the end. And depending on how you see it, there’s genuinely not much of a subplot to distract the main core of the story which smells of friendship, love and what else, music.

Military Wives doesn’t take a lot of risks in plotting though it does tackle a bit of grief and drama. As the credits rolled, we are told that there are 74 choirs based across the UK and other military bases around the world as other military spouses have followed suit to spread some needed joy. Mission accomplished. 

Movie Rating:

(Heart-warming but utterly predictable, Military Wives is an upbeat British comedy perfect for this trying times)

Review by Linus Tee

Genre: Sci-Fi/Mystery
Director: Lorcan Finnegan 
Cast: Jesse Eisenberg, Imogen Poots, Jonathan Aris
Runtime: 1 hr 38 mins
Rating: M18 (Sexual Scenes and Some Coarse Language)
Released By: Shaw Organisation
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 23 July 2020

Synopsis: A young woman who, along with her boyfriend, is in desperate search of the perfect starter home. After following a mysterious real estate agent to a new housing development, the couple finds themselves trapped in a constantly changing and yet frustratingly identical suburban neighborhood.

Movie Review:

Given what’s happening in the world now, its plotting of a young couple being confined to their home is no doubt uncanny, but you’d appreciate ‘Vivarium’ a lot more if it actually had something meaningful to say in the first place.

Imogen Poots and Jesse Eisenberg play the aforementioned couple Gemma and Tom,  the former a grade-school teacher and the latter a handyman who are looking for a place to settle down. Their casual house-hunting leads them to an encounter with the queer property agent named Martin (Jonathan Aris), who goads them to visit a new suburban housing development whose location is “near enough and far enough”.

At Yonder (no kidding), Gemma and Tom are met with one identical mint-green house after another, each with a street lamp, a tiny tree and a brick wall in front, and an adjoining fenced-in yard at the back. It is also seemingly endless, stretching out as far as the eye can see under a perfectly sunny sky with candy-floss like clouds.

After giving them a tour of house #9, Martin vanishes without a word. But even more peculiarly, their attempt to drive out of Yonder lead them back to the same house, again and again. There is also no phone or Internet connection, so they are literally cut off from the outside world. There is no other occupant in any of the neighbouring houses, and therefore no one to call for help.

Not long after though, they are presented with a cardboard box on the street in front of house #9; within are supplies of food, such as vacuum-packed shrimp, lamb chops and cardboard boxes of milk. As if it isn’t clear that someone wants them to stay, the next box contains a baby with a message – “raise the child and be released”.

Anyone who has seen a Twilight Zone episode will know that the child is far from normal, and indeed while human in appearance, the baby grows at phenomenal speed to become a young boy (Senan Jennings) of around 10 by about the hundredth day. Though she resists her maternal urges towards the boy at the start, Gemma soon finds herself succumbing to her empathy towards it, especially as Tom becomes obsessed with digging a hole in the front yard to find out what lies beneath.

The metaphor should be obvious to those familiar with such science-fiction, but neither director Lorcan Finnegan or writer Garret Shanley seem too interested in Tom’s predicament; instead, the focus is on Gemma, whose relationship with the boy is intended as satire on how draining it is to raise a child, and/or perhaps how that stress takes a toll on young couples (thus exacerbating their first-time homeownership woes), and/or even how domesticity sucks the life out of everyone.

That we are never sure what the film is trying to say speaks of how blunt the allegory ultimately is, so much so that you’ll be left wondering by the end what exactly it is trying to say in the first place. Not only is it less than compelling, the storytelling also turns less and less engaging over the course of the film, especially as the boy settles into a pattern of screaming at random intervals and parroting his parents.

It doesn’t help that there isn’t much attention paid to character development at all, such that we cannot fully appreciate just how the alien child takes a toll on their relationship and even their very sanity. Poots and Eisenberg make the best of their thinly written roles with a clever mix of resignation and desperation, but cannot quite disguise the fact that Gemma and Tom are just too banal for us to root for them. Even as the very point of the movie is intended as metaphor, you’d have needed to know these characters better for this two-hander to work.

Like many of its forgettable genre predecessors therefore, ‘Vivarium’ starts off intriguing but cannot quite build its high-concept premise into something truly gripping. Not only does it fail to fully settle on a single message, it also fails to move beyond synecdoche to tell a story we’d be interested to follow. So despite a strong leading duo and some impressive work by production designer Philip Murphy in creating a vision of dystopian suburbia, you’ll be left wanting by this journey to Yonder.

Movie Rating:

(Too much metaphor and too little development, plot and character-wise, leaves this visit to dystopian suburbia an ultimately underwhelming journey to Yonder)

Review by Gabriel Chong

SYNOPSIS: Convinced they’d be better off raising themselves, the Willoughby children hatch a sneaky plan to send their selfish parents on vacation. The siblings then embark on their own high-flying adventure to find the true meaning of family. 

MOVIE REVIEW:

After the success of Klaus, Netflix has released yet another original animated feature to prove to naysayers they are indeed serious in launching their own original content.

Based on the young adult book by American writer Lois Lowry, The Willoughbys tells the story of the once prestigious Willoughbys family who has since reduced to a shadow of their glorious past. Their patriarch, known only as Father (Martin Short) would rather spend his days indulging in his hobbies and romantic antics with Mother (Jane Krakowski) than caring for their four children, Tim aka Skinny Bones (Will Forte), Jane (Alessia Cara) who loves to sing and a pair of smart, inventive twins, Barnaby.

Things reached a boiling point when Jane suggests to send their parents on a “fake vacation”, hoping the pair will eventually die of natural causes. What they didn’t know was their parents had engaged a cheap nanny, Linda (Maya Rudolph) to take care of them. Soon the kids will realize that the family they always wanted is just right in front of them but not before some zany adventures to the alps and a candy factory run by Commander Melanoff (Terry Crews).

Be prepare for a movie that has no happy ending as warned by the narrator, a tabby cat voiced by Rick Gervais with a storyline that parodied old fashioned story tropes. The Willoughbys is unquestionable in the spirit of Lemony Snicket rather than director Kris Pearn’s debut, Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs 2. Everything in the Willoughbys world is politically incorrect. The Willoughbys each sports an epic twirling moustache regardless of their gender. The parents are selfish, cold and deprived their children of food while their children plot to kill their parents.

The Willoughbys is often dark and offbeat, in a way far more appealing to older kids. Especially for concerned parents who are accustomed to feeding their kids with safer offerings from Disney, the younger ones might not get the full idea of what is satire or the concept of an orphan. Still the animated flick is not all dark and bleak, there are occasional bright spots in the appearance of Commander Melanoff, his adopted child Ruth and the kind-hearted Linda which culminated in an explosion of rainbow colors and also an imaginative vehicle that runs on sugar.

Consider this is the first major outing from Vancouver based BRON animation, the CG is gorgeously rendered with characters, sets wondrously designed. Thor Ragnarok and The Lego Movie composer Mark Mothersbaugh provides the movie zany soundtrack and the catchy theme song “I Choose” by cast member, Alessia Cara. The Willoughbys can be a bit slow at the start, weird at times but as it progresses, you realized it provides some heartwarming moments, occasional laughs and a lesson that family can comes in all shapes and sizes not necessarily always be biological.

MOVIE RATING:

Review by Linus Tee

SYNOPSIS: In the raunchy, buddy-cop comedy Coffee & Kareem, twelve-year-old Kareem Manning hires a criminal to scare his mom's new boyfriend — police officer James Coffee — but it backfires, forcing Coffee and Kareem to team up in order to save themselves from Detroit’s most ruthless drug kingpin. 

MOVIE REVIEW:

Other than being Stuart Price in The Hangover series and as Andy Bernard in The Office, Ed Helms seems to find very little success outside of these two properties.  

In Coffee & Kareem in which he also produced, Helms stars as James Coffee, a Detroit cop who is dating Vanessa (Taraji P. Henson) the mum of a 12-year-old troublemaker, Kareem. But after stumbling on the pair of lovebirds making love, Kareem vows to break off Coffee’s relationship with his mom. However, a surprise witnessing of the death of a corrupt cop, Kareem and Coffee is forced to go on the run. In order to save Vanessa and Kareem from a trio of fumbling trigger happy drug dealers, Coffee must first grow some balls or risk losing everything.  

Coffee & Kareem is a raunchy comedy filled with expletives from start to finish. F-bombs, homophobic jokes and racial gags filled the entire script. There are some laughs of course, mostly from Kareem interaction with the inept Coffee though it’s not engaging enough to sustain a full-length feature. Even a late sequence featuring a man-to-man chat at a strip club didn’t deliver any heartening talk.

Terence Little Gardenhigh is game as the foul-mouthed young chap but his character is far from likeable in fact he is so irritable at times that you need to reach for the control to lower the volume. Helms continues to portray the loser, harmless character that he plays so often. Betty Gilpin on the other hand gets the sizzling chance to portray a hyper-edgy detective while Taraji P. Henson is shockingly relegated to a small supporting role.

Michael Dowse who did last year mismatched buddy type action comedy, Stuber recycles much of the proceedings to Coffee & Kareem. Given the obvious limited budget, Dowse makes good use of it by introducing a few over the top action sequences to cushion the annoying proceedings. Every scene is setup to evoke laughs though beware none of it makes a lot of sense but who cares if there’s a few shootouts, a crazy car chase and an ultra-violent explosion to liven things up.  

Despite all the negativity, Coffee & Kareem makes a good flick on Netflix, the current streaming giant. It’s a lame, zany action comedy that doesn’t actually cost you much money or time. If you love a haphazard collection of R-rated jokes, then go ahead and take a sip of Coffee & Kareem. 

MOVIE RATING:

Review by Linus Tee

SYNOPSIS: In snow-swept Norway, a damaged star detective follows a trail of dead bodies and sinister snowmen in search of a serial killer. 

MOVIE REVIEW:

Based on the novel by renowned Norwegian novelist Jo Nesbø,The Snowman is a psychological crime thriller that looks absolutely gorgeous to the eyes but fails to deliver anything beyond that. 

Harry Hole (Michael Fassbender) is an insomniac, shabby looking detective who has a son with his ex-girlfriend, Rakel (Charlotte Gainsbourg) who is now attached to a successful plastic surgeon, Mathias (Jonas Karlsson). Besides that, Harry clearly has a troubled past but it’s not explicitly stated except the fact that he was actually quite a decorated police officer. Anyway, he is paired up shortly with a new partner from Bergen, Katrine (Rebecca Ferguson) to investigate a series of missing persons and grisly deaths. 

As the deaths piled, the clues lead the duo to a business tycoon, Arve Stop (J.K. Simmons) and a certain doctor Vetlesen. As Hole slowly discovers, all the cases have only one single similarity: the presence of a snowman and ultimately, it could also be a link to Katrine’s past. 

The Snowman started quite intriguingly with a prologue that involved a mother committing suicide leaving his young son an orphan. Then it opens with Harry Hole, a character that bizarrely behaves he is in deep depression than investigating murders that deal with decapitation and bloody suicides. Fassbender is a talented actor for sure but his portrayal of Hole simply lacks any enthusiasm to cheer for his character.   

The biggest problem of course is the script which is completely muddled, dreary and unnecessarily confusing. Character liked Arve Stop acts nothing to the final product. The same goes to the appearances of Val Kilmer and Toby Jones as fellow detectives who has very little screentime to make an impact. 

Spoilers ahead! Chloe Sevigny plays a chicken farmer who also has a twin sister and meets a grisly death five minutes later. It’s definitely more or less a redundant move or probably liked what director Tomas Alfredson (Let The Right One In, Tinker Tailor Sailor Spy) mentioned, it’s a rushed production resulting in parts of the script being unfilmed. Perhaps Sevigny’s character is an accomplice of the killer after all. Just saying.  

Let’s not even delve into the in-depth motive of the killer when the twist is finally revealed in the end. Lacking any real thrill and suspense, The Snowman just feels meh. At least Seven was both haunting and captivating on every account. The Nordic icy landscapes which are a rare sight in Hollywood movies is a small bonus however.

MOVIE RATING:

Review by Linus Tee

SYNOPSIS: A man reflects on the lost love of his youth and his long-ago journey from Taiwan to America as he begins to reconnect with his estranged daughter.

MOVIE REVIEW:

It’s a particularly difficult time to be an Asian in America right now, which makes ‘Tigertail’ all the more resonant.

Written and directed by ‘Master of None’ co-creator Alan Yang, the deeply personal drama criss-crosses between present day New York City and the 1950s/1960s in Taiwan.

The latter opens the film, describing how the lead protagonist Pin Jui had met his childhood sweetheart Yuan while staying with his grandmother in the countryside, and had reunited with her when they are in their early twenties. Alas, fate had a different destiny for Pin Jui, who is offered the opportunity by his factory boss to relocate to America in search of a better life, but only if Ping Jui brings the boss’ daughter Zhenzhen (Li Kunjue) along with him.

Yang doesn’t linger too much on the inevitable breakup between Ping Jui and Yuan; instead, he focuses the section set in the past on their marriage of convenience, showing how the couple started out distant and never managed to bridge that gulf in their relationship. Despite having two kids together, Ping Jui and Zhenzhen eventually separate after their children are old enough to leave home.

That pivotal scene halfway into the film explains why we never see Ping Jui’s daughter Angela (Christine Ko) with both her parents, though it isn’t why their father-daughter relationship is strained. Besides how work has consumed Angela, Ping Jui disagrees with Angela’s choices in life, especially her boyfriend Eric; on the other hand, Angela resents her father’s disapproval, begrudging him for never being supportive of her.

The beauty in Yang’s tale is how he lets the pieces of the story fall in place to connect past and present. Ping Jui was willing to give up his one true love in order to come to America, hoping that the move will allow him to give his mother a comfortable retirement. Yet his mother never decided to move over after all, leaving him stuck in an loveless marriage with Zhenzhen. Those regrets have in turn resulted in his present-day stoicism, preventing him from being emotionally present to Angela.

There is both an individual and collective level to appreciate the narrative. On an individual level, Ping Jui’s marriage with Zhenzhen reflects the pragmatic attitude of East Asian societies towards matrimony; and Ping Jui’s dispassionate relationship with his daughter is emblematic of how Asian fathers tend to regard their children. At the collective level, Ping Jui’s experience is no different from the thousands, even millions, of immigrants searching for the American dream, their hopes eventually drained by the reality of a life of labour.

Drawing from his dad’s own relocation and assimilation into American life, Yang isn’t however out to make a political statement; rather, it is first and foremost an intimate story, focused on Ping Jui as he reconciles with his past (who returns in the form of Joan Chen) in order to make peace with his present. It is therefore also an excellent showcase for Tzi Ma, the veteran actor delivering a wonderfully nuanced portrayal of a man living with regrets.

Credit also goes to the excellent production team Yang has assembled, ensuring not just that rural Taiwan feels texturally authentic, but also that New York is depicted in all its scuzziness. These landscapes come alive in their own right in the movie, and their disparity makes it all the more real just what Ping Jui (and many others like him) had experienced in their acclimation and disenchantment.

Like we said at the start, there is even greater resonance seeing how the Covid-19 pandemic has stirred a wave of anti-Asian sentiment in the United States. Yet as the movie shows, these individuals made their own sacrifices to start a new life in a distant land in the past, and deserve not the sort of vitriol they have had to endure in recent weeks. And together with the inevitable homecoming at the end of the movie, you’ll discover the significance of the title of the film moving and utterly poignant.

MOVIE RATING:

Review by Gabriel Chong

Genre: Action/Thriller
Director: Christopher Nolan
Cast: John David Washington, Robert Pattinson, Elizabeth Debicki, Kenneth Branagh, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Clémence Poésy, Himesh Patel, Dimple Kapadia, Martin Donovan, Yuri Kolokolnikov, Michael Caine
Runtime: 2 hrs 30 mins
Rating: PG13 (Brief Coarse Language and Some Violence)
Released By: Warner Bros
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 27 August 2020

Synopsis: John David Washington is the new Protagonist in Christopher Nolan’s original sci-fi action spectacle “Tenet.” Armed with only one word—Tenet—and fighting for the survival of the entire world, the Protagonist journeys through a twilight world of international espionage on a mission that will unfold in something beyond real time. Not time travel. Inversion.

Movie Review:

You won’t find a more closely guarded yet eagerly anticipated movie this year than ‘Tenet’, described as writer-director Christopher Nolan’s most ambitious yet. Little has been revealed about its plot, except that it has to do with a secret agent – known only in the movie as The Protagonist (John David Washington) – who is recruited by a shadowy Government organisation to prevent World War III from being wrought by time inversion.

Time has always fascinated Nolan, right from his crime thriller ‘Memento’ from two decades ago, to his heist movie ‘Inception’ a decade ago, and even to his last World War II movie ‘Dunkirk’. Here, Nolan goes even further than all his earlier films, suggesting that time can not only be reversed but also co-exist simultaneously between past and present, such that people can move backwards and forwards through time at the same time.

It is an audacious proposition no doubt; but as straightforward as it might sound on paper, you’ll know if you’ve seen any one of Nolan’s previous works that it is a lot more complex in practice. True enough, we must admit that we found ourselves rather perplexed by its concepts, comprising algorithms, the Manhattan project and the grandfather paradox among others. Even with a generous amount of exposition delivered by Clémence Poésy, Michael Caine and Hindi legend Dimple Kapadia, we doubt anyone would be able to keep it with its multiple narrative loops at first viewing.

That doesn’t mean it isn’t entertaining; indeed, even as you might end up befuddled, even frustrated, at its physics and logic, there’s no denying that you’ll be thoroughly hooked from the get-go by Nolan’s James Bond-equivalent. Without naming his Protagonist, Nolan has fashioned a Bond-style espionage thriller, with some time-twisting science-fiction thrown in to up the stakes.

Within its two-and-a-half hour runtime, ‘Tenet’ brings its audience on a dizzying globe-trotting adventure – beginning in Kiev with a terrorist attack on a packed opera house; to Mumbai to meet the enigmatic wife (Kapadia) of an arms dealer; to Oslo for a jaw-dropping raid on a vault on the airside of an airport; and to the Mediterranean coast where the film’s villain Andrei Sator (Kenneth Branagh) makes his home on board a luxurious yacht. It’s as expansive as you can imagine, and that’s not even counting the other stopover locations such as the cliffs of Italy’s Amalfi Coast or the spare Nysted Wind Farm in Denmark.

At least Washington has for company Robert Pattinson’s intelligence officer Neil, who proves an invaluable ally in each one of his daring missions; the chemistry between Washington and Pattinson is understated, but their sheer charisma breathes humanity into the otherwise coolly calculated proceedings. Ditto for Elizabeth Debicki, as Andrei’s estranged wife Kat; while it would have been all-too easy to paint her as a Bond girl, Nolan’s writing gives her character more depth and purpose than you would expect, especially in relation to Branagh’s effectively unsubtle villain.

Yet more so than any of his other movies. ‘Tenet’ is propelled by its spectacular action set pieces, most of it done practically without the help of any CGI; among the most impressive include a freight plane that Neil’s crew hijacks on the tarmac and crashes into one of the nearby cargo buildings, a freeway car chase with vehicles moving in both directions simultaneously, and a military-style invasion of a private underground complex with explosions happening in reverse. Like we said, even if you do not quite grasp the logic behind it, you can surely appreciate the tentpole artistry in applying ‘temporal inversion’ to the non-stop action.

That almost singular focus on science and kinetics comes at the expense of emotion, and if that is one glaring flaw in ‘Tenet’, it is that it fails to develop its characters in any meaningful way. The closest one comes to appreciating any of the ensemble is Kat‘s longing to be reunited with her young son Max, part of the psychological abuse which she endures being in a joyless marriage with Andrei. Yet those looking for the sort of emotional anchor as that which Leonardo DiCaprio’s character had with his wife in ‘Inception’ will come off sorely disappointed, because it isn’t clear what Washington is driven by other than to prevent Armageddon.

Certainly, those eagerly awaiting the sort of big-scale cinematic spectacle that Nolan is known for since ‘The Dark Knight’ trilogy will love every minute of ‘Tenet’. His blockbuster has been touted as the reason to head back to the cinemas, and let’s just say it fully lives up to that promise. What it demands in return is that you embrace its convoluted machinations, including time travel paradoxes, quantum physics and “temporal pincer movements” that feed into a palindromic narrative concept; even if you go ‘WTF’, know that it is part of the experience, an experience which Nolan warns through a character – “Don’t try to understand it, feel it.”

Movie Rating:

(Big, bold and electrifying, ‘Tenet’ is Christopher Nolan’s cocktail of James Bond with science-fiction, as confounding as it is astonishing)

Review by Gabriel Chong

Genre: Action/Comics
Director: Patty Jenkins
Cast: Gal Gadot, Kristen Wiig, Connie Nielsen, Chris Pine, Robin Wright, Pedro Pascal
Runtime: 2 hrs 31 mins
Rating: PG (Some Violence)
Released By: Warner Bros
Official Website: http://www.wonderwoman1984.net

Opening Day: 17 December 2020

Synopsis: Fast forward to the 1980s as Wonder Woman’s next big screen adventure finds her facing two all-new foes: Max Lord and The Cheetah.

Movie Review:

‘WW84’ begins breathtakingly with a young Diana Prince (a returning Lilly Aspell) competing in an Amazonian gladiator-style arena tournament on the paradise island of Themyscira, presided over by her commanding mother Hippolyta (Connie Nielsen) and fierce aunt Antiope (Robin Wright). It is a thrilling opening sequence by any measure, delightful not just because of its sheer imaginativeness and propulsive energy, but also because of the joy of returning to a world so wondrously designed by director Patty Jenkins in the first movie; and perhaps just as significantly, it ends on a poignant note with a stern reminder by Antiope that ‘no true hero is born from lies’.

The reason why Jenkins – who returns to direct and is also a co-writer on the sequel with DC Films honcho Geoff Johns and Dave Callaham – chooses to open with such an elaborate introduction becomes clearer later on, but the value of truth and the courage to face up to it is a beautifully played theme that runs throughout the entire movie. No longer bound by the trappings of an origin story, ‘WW84’ is a much more ambitious movie than its predecessor, choosing to be more expansive in terms of scope (covering even Middle East and US-Soviet Union politics) and concomitantly more complex in its treatment of the choices and dilemmas facing our titular heroine as well as the villains she has to save the world from.

Like the first movie, there is still magic involved – this time, in the form of an ancient gemstone with magical wish-granting powers – but the true villainy here is our own flawed human nature. That affliction is what drives both the film’s baddies: a sleazy oil tycoon Maxwell Lord (Pedro Pascal) running a Ponzi scheme who wants the gemstone’s powers in order to turn his fortunes around; and a nerdy, soft-spoken gemologist Barbera Minerva (Kristen Wiig) whose inferiority complex fuels her desire to be as “cool, sexy, special” as Diana. It is no coincidence that Lord is a TV personality who appeals to people’s basest instincts for his own personal gain, or that Minerva is a woman crushed by the everyday pressures society brings to bear on the female gender, and between them, Jenkins weaves a story that threatens no less than a full-blown nuclear apocalypse.

That is the equivalent of the stakes of World War I for this 1984-set movie, a time of capitalist excess amidst an oil glut (as an exclamatory New York Times article puts it) which finds Diana being the equivalent of Peter Parker’s ‘friendly neighbourhood Spiderman’ to the people of Washington D.C. For all that she gives to the human race, she has only one yearning, and it is precisely that which the gemstone exploits to test how much of a superhero she is willing to be. It is also a convenient plotting device to bring back Steve Trevor (Chris Pine), whose dynamic with Diana remains as jubilant and effervescent as before; indeed, while there is fun to be had in having Diana and Steve switch roles as the fish-out-of-the water (and therefore watching Pine marvelling at the strange new world of the 1980s), what is truly gratifying to see is how both continue to bring out the best in each other.

The focus on characters and character interplay means the movie moves at a deliberate pace in its first half, so those expecting the narrative to be built around a couple of big action set-pieces will probably be disappointed. Indeed, though running at about two-and-a-half hours long, the sort of blockbuster action only kicks in the latter half. A convoy battle on the roads outside Cairo sees Diana take on trucks, tanks and machine guns, while trying to chase down Lord. A battle royale between Diana and Minerva-turned-Cheetah within the corridors of the White House sets up a showdown between them outside a secluded military facility at the edge of the ocean, and for the better of it avoids transforming Lord into some sort of superhuman just so he can duel with Diana. We’ll admit it will come across underwhelming if you compare against other recent Marvel/DC entries, so you’ll best be advised to keep your expectations in check.

But for what it lacks in blockbuster spectacle, ‘WW84’ makes up for in buckets of heart and humanity. Gal Gadot continues to be perfect for the role, exuding grace and goodness unparalleled in any other superhero incarnation, whether DC or Marvel. She is magnetic onscreen, and the screwball rhythms she builds with Pine makes her even more endearing. Pine is essentially in a supporting role this time round, but like we said earlier, is there to represent the best of both god and human on an intimate, personal level. Pascal may seem to take the role over-the-top by hamming it up as a megalomaniac, but when the time comes, he adds a heartbreaking touch to the character that proves his casting was just as brilliant. Wiig is hilarious, yet grounded, and works wonders in her evolution from ordinary nerd to predatory opponent.

And thanks to the ensemble, ‘WW84’ proves deeply winning. Granted, the storytelling is a little messy around the edges, and could do with tighter pacing and editing. Yet there is a sincerity in the filmmaking that is the heart and soul of this sequel as it was for its predecessor, and despite its flaws, Diana’s second outing is just as uplifting, meaningful and inspiring as before. Especially at this time when our world and our peoples are feeling broken and dispirited, ‘WW84’ is a rallying call for us to find strength in our collective frailties, and to believe that truth, courage and perseverance will triumph over lies, fear and despair. That is what ultimately makes ‘WW84’ an embodiment of its title: wondrous.

Movie Rating:

(More ambitious, expansive and complex than its predecessor, 'WW84' retains the grace and goodness of our beloved heroine in a glorious sequel that speaks to our broken humanity)

Review by Gabriel Chong