SYNOPSIS: Jack Cunningham (Ben Affleck) once had a life filled with promise. In high school, he was a basketball phenom with a full ride to college, when suddenly, for reasons unknown, he walked away from the game, forfeiting his future. Now years later, Jack is stuck in a meaningless job and drowning in the alcoholism that cost him his marriage and any hope for a better life. When he is asked to coach the basketball team at his alma mater, which has fallen far since his glory days, he reluctantly accepts, surprising no one more than himself. As the boy starts to come together as a team and win, Jack may have finally found a reason to confront the demons that have derailed him. But will it be enough to fill the void, heal the deep wounds of his past, and set him on the road to redemption?
MOVIE REVIEW:
Although the trailers portray The Way Back as sort of a basketball sports movie, it is actually a redemption drama about a man named Jack Cunningham (Ben Affleck) who is trying to find his way back to life after losing his son and separating from the wife he loved.
Jack Cunningham in short is a broken man. He drinks on the way to work, during work and after work. He is basically an alcoholic in desperate need of help until one day he is asked to step in as the basketball coach at his former high school, Bishop Hayes. Despite being a star player in his younger days, the basketball team at Jack’s former school is trailing far behind others. Jack’s mission is to bring his team to the playoffs at the same time, struggles to battle his own inner demons.
Ben Affleck is front, left, right and center in The Way Back. He is extremely solid as an alcoholic probably because of his own real-life’s struggles and rehab (the tabloids will tell you a lot) which make his performance even more relatable and believable. All the anguish, sorrow and pain of Jack Cunningham is well conveyed through the eyes of Affleck marking one of his best on-screen performances of all time.
The plotting of The Way Back however is rather formulaic. The supporting characters like Jack’s ex-wife (Janina Gavankar) feels weak; the same goes for Dan, the assistant coach and a few of Jack’s students. The movie is crammed with subplots that feel predictable, cliché and less compelling compared to Jack’s story arc. Ultimately, Brad Ingelsby's screenplay is hardly refreshing or new, it’s wrapped around Affleck’s performance and that alone carries more weight than the entire movie.
Gavin O’Connor who worked with Affleck in The Accountant delivered a mature, well-made drama despite the rather mediocre material. It should be as emotionally satisfying as his earlier MMA movie, Warrior but unfortunately offers too little surprises. We swear this is a movie that is best watched with Affleck in mind.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
The Way Back: This Sporting Life is a segment that has Affleck, O’Connor and members of the cast talk about the sports film genre.
Every Loss is Another Fight: The Road to Redemption that briefly discussed about alcoholism and Affleck’s own struggles.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
The Dolby True-HD 7.1 soundtrack is an overkill for a movie liked The Way Back. It simply offers a few select scenes of crowd ambience and a barrage of Cunningham’s swearing and cussing. Visual quality is serviceable with the exception of several (maybe intended) low-lit moments. Again, this is not a title to showcase your fancy soundbar or 4K UHD television.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD RATING :
Review by Linus Tee
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KELLY ASBURY (1960 - 2020)Posted on 27 Jun 2020 |
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IAN HOLM (1931 - 2020)Posted on 20 Jun 2020 |
SYNOPSIS: Facing a murder charge, a genius mechanic with a criminal past must track down a missing car containing the proof of his innocence: a single bullet.
MOVIE REVIEW:
Lest we forget that the French don’t just do romantic dramas, ‘Lost Bullet’ is as good a reminder as any that they were behind such solid B-movie staples as ‘Taxi’, ‘Taken’ and ‘District 13’. Co-written and directed by first-timer Guillaume Pierret, it is a lean and unfussy crime thriller that emphasises practical stunts over visual effects, and delivers the action goods in capable and confident fashion over its one-and-a-half hour duration.
Starring former stuntman Alban Lenoir as a former criminal turned mechanic for the French police’s ‘go fast’ task force, the movie has Lenoir’s Lino caught in a cat-and-mouse game with the crooked cops who had framed for a murder he didn’t commit. The only means to clear his name is a bullet which the real culprit Arehad inadvertently left embedded in the dashboard of the victim’s car, a red Renault which will feature prominently in the film’s final chase.
Than get bogged down in exposition, Pierret keeps the set-up simple. The opening tells of how Lino ended up in jail after getting stuck in his jacked-up Renault Clio that has just rammed into the window of a jewellery shop; the next scene shows how Lino is recruited as a mechanic for the ‘go fast’ taskforce by its chief Charas (Ramzy Bedia); and right after a sequence establishing how the said taskforce goes after drugmongers, the following scene shows how Lino is framed for Charas’s murder after going to visit his younger brother Quentin (Rod Paradot) with news of his early release.
From that point on, it is plenty of running, as Lino is picked up by the police, manages to escape, hooks up with Quentin and Charas’s former lieutenant Julia (Stefi Celma) to try to clear his name, and then retrieves the Renault to confront Charas’s killer and his henchmen. Like we said, Pierret’s emphasis is on real effects than CGI, so don’t be expecting the sort of outrageous sequences in the ‘Fast and Furious’ movies; instead, Pierret keeps it down-to-earth and lets Lenoir prove that he has what it takes to be the next Jason Statham.
It is exhilarating stuff all right, especially the piece de resistance set in a police station where Lino executes a him-versus-a-dozen-cops brawl that isn’t as brutal as ‘The Raid’ but intended to be just as heavily physical. Lenoir keeps the pace tight yet measured, and while you’ll have to wait till the very end for the next actual set-piece, there are a number of chases and shootouts shot legibly and edited fluidly that will keep you rooting and cheering for Lino.
On his part, Lenoir carries the part with both low-key charisma and genuine physicality. What he may lack in crowd-pleasingness, Lenoir certainly makes up for in earnestness, such that you’ll be hard-pressed to dismiss his character’s redemption story amidst the chases and fisticuffs. Lenoir had also boarded the project early to design the film’s action next to Pierret, and that collaboration pays off in how the actor ensures that he performs most of the stunts within by himself.
That commitment is part of the reason why ‘Lost Bullet’ ultimately proves highly watchable. It may lack the sort of grandiose action which Hollywood does, but in keeping it real and keeping it tight, this French thriller manages to hold its own in the same way as its other Gallic genre predecessors. Lenoir says the movie was written with sequels in mind; seeing what he and Pierret have pulled off here, we hope it may see the same longevity as the ‘Taxi’ franchise did.
MOVIE RATING:
Review by Gabriel Chong
SYNOPSIS: When aspiring musicians Lars (Will Ferrell) and Sigrit (Rachel McAdams) are given the opportunity of a lifetime to represent their country at the world’s biggest song competition, they finally have a chance to prove that any dream worth having is a dream worth fighting for.
MOVIE REVIEW:
Like ‘Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy’ and ‘Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby’, ‘Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga’ has an equally overstuffed title as well as similar man-child buffoonery. Oh yes, those familiar with Ron and Ricky Bobby will recognise the same traits in Will Ferrell’s Lars Erickssong here, a middle-aged overgrown loser living in the obscure Icelandic fishing village of Húsavík whose dream is to enter and possibly win the Eurovision Song Contest.
Lars is not alone in his dream though; he is joined by fellow dreamer Sigrit Ericksdottir (Rachel McAdams), his childhood friend and partner in song who has been in love with the oblivious Lars since young. Both have written and performed a number of original pop ballads together – including the opening number ‘Volcano Man’, which is both cheesy and catchy at the same time, complete with a Bjork-like music video with dramatic Icelandic vistas – although the local crowd at the bar only wants to hear them play the supposedly traditional folk song (it isn’t) ‘Jaja Ding Dong’.
Unsurprisingly, Lars’ stern fisherman father (Pierce Brosnan) disapproves of his son’s ambition, calling the latter an “idiot” and even going to the extent of selling away his house in order to force Lars to do something more with his life. As fate would have it, the ‘Fire Saga’ duo – as Lars and Sigrit call themselves – are called upon to complete the line-up for Söngvakeppnin, the requisite national pre-selection programme whose organisers already have in mind to choose Katiana (Demi Lovato in Khaleesi cos-play); but after a horrific boat explosion which kills the rest of the contestants, they find themselves on the way to Edinburgh where the contest that year is being held.
For the uninitiated, the Eurovision Song Contest is an actual annual phenomenon; created by the European Broadcasting Union, it pits each country on the continent against one another and counts among its distinguished alumni such successes as ABBA, Lulu and Celine Dion. In fact, the movie is produced by its organisers, which explains how it manages to assemble real-life winners and contestants as John Lundvik, Anna Odobescu, Bilal Hassani, Loreen, Jessy Matador, Alex Ryback and Netta Barzilai into an epic ‘song-along’ blending songs from Madonna, Cher, ABBA, Celine Dion and The Black Eyed Peas.
As co-written by Ferrell and Andrew Steele, the plot follows a familiar underdog narrative, as Lars and Sigrit make their way towards Eurovision glory while contending with distractions like the smug Russian billionaire crooner Alexander Lemtov (Dan Stevens). Misunderstandings, self-doubt and temptations will threaten to tear Lars and Sigrit away from each other just as they need one another the most, but equally, you’ll not expect anything less than a triumphant homecoming for the Fire Saga by the time the credits roll.
But thanks to director David Dobkin, it is still a riotous tale. There are sequences of true inspired lunacy, including a disastrous semi-finals stage performance of the duo’s composition ‘Double Trouble’ comes with wind machines, hamster wheels and a scarf that nearly strangles Sigrit, and Lemtov’s signature operatic number ‘Lion of Love’ that has the over-the-top singer prowling the stage like a zoo cat in heat with nearly naked chorus boys as his backup. It isn’t exaggerated extravagance though, as those familiar with the song contest will attest, but it is to Dobkin’s credit that he successfully channels the mix of glitter and glam into such a vivid approximation.
This isn’t the first time Dobkin and Ferrell have teamed up, and the results here are just as hilarious as their previous ‘Wedding Crashers’. Say what you will, but Ferrell has by now perfected his man-child routine, filling out the role of Lars with such theatricality that you cannot help but be entertained. McAdams proves a surprisingly effective comic foil, providing the perfect counter-balance to Ferrell’s extremes with a sunny and sincere performance which will melt your heart.
Frankly, it’s been a while since we’ve had as much fun with a Ferrell movie as this one, and we dare say this is right up there with some of his best like ‘Anchorman’, ‘Blades of Glory’ and ‘Talladega Nights’. It has uproarious moments, an infectious mix of cheese and cheer, and a delightfully campy spirit true to the Eurovision institution. Those who follow will know that this year’s version to be held in Rotterdam was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic, but this Netflix movie is as timely a substitute as any; indeed, it is a perfect antidote for a world which desperately needs consolation.
MOVIE RATING:
Review by Gabriel Chong
Genre: Horror/ Thriller
Director: Lester Hsi
Cast: Summer Meng, JC Lin, Vera Yen, Ning Chang, Ruby Chan
Runtime: 1 hrs 28 mins
Rating: NC16 (Horror and Some Coarse Language)
Released By: Clover Films
Official Website:
Opening Day: 13 July 2020
Synopsis: In the leap month in 2016, six Tunghu University students, who were running a camp, held a test of courage on the (in)famous Female Ghost Bridge. The Female Ghost Bridge is a forbidden spot on campus since rumor has it that years ago, a girl jumped off the bridge and drowned herself for the man she loved. Ever since then so many ghost stories about the tragedy have been circulating. In order to promote the test of courage, a group of students daringly did a live stream on the bridge late at night. To their astonishment, they caught the female ghost on camera, and it went viral with millions of viewers online. However, the group of students went missing soon afterwards... No one knows what happened, and the ghost stories about the Female Ghost Bridge keep spreading. Exactly four years later, an investigative journalist Lien Shu-yu (played by Summer Meng) comes to the Female Ghost Bridge with a cameraman, trying to find out about the truth. They can never expect that they would stumble upon the hell underneath the bridge, in which several spirits are forever trapped.
Movie Review:
Like ‘The Tag-along’ and ‘The Rope Curse’, this latest Taiwanese horror is based on a real-life legend, which has it that a female ghost haunts the bridge of Taichung’s Tunghai University, such that those who climb the stairs immediately after the bridge at the stroke of midnight will encounter an extra step and go missing if they dare look back before reaching the top. That ghost is apparently of a female student who was supposed to meet her lover at the bridge to elope; but when her lover doesn’t show, she decides to take her own life and drowns in the lake below.
If the opening scenes have you worried that the movie will be told through shaky cell phone footage, we can reassure you that it isn’t; instead, director Lester Shih mixes first-person recordings with conventional shots to tell an intriguing tale of six university students who tempt fate by holding a ‘test of courage’ on the bridge. Without giving away too much, let’s just say that tragedy befalls two separate groups of students who attempt this foolhardy dare in 2012 and 2016 respectively, the significance of the years being that they do so at midnight on each of the leap days.
Four years after the tragic events of 2016, an investigative journalist Shuyu (Summer Meng) visits the eponymous bridge and its campus with a cameraman in tow in the hope of finding the truth. For the first hour, the plotting would have you believe that she is a mere exposition device, but writers Chang Keng-ming and Hao Po-hsiang pull a sleight-of-hand in the last third that gives her a pivotal role in unravelling just what connects the earlier two groups of students to one another; in fact, just so you don’t dismiss the parts with her around, we would tell you that Shuyu will reveal herself to be the connective tissue from this movie to its (highly likely) sequel.
Though the first hour may seem like standard haunted-school fare, complete with a ghostly female figure in long hair, the late twist will have you regretting if you had not been paying sufficient attention to the earlier two acts. Oh yes, you’d be advised to pay special attention to the desirable Wen De (JC Lin), who had just broken up with Hui Qiao (Ning Chao) and is seeing fellow friend Ru Meng (Vera Yen); for that matter, you should pay attention to each of these three individuals, whose connection with each other and to one another forms the backbone of the unexpectedly intelligent story behind the scares.
Certainly, it’s not often you come across a horror movie that is smart, but ‘The Bridge Curse’ packs a couple of shrewd twists you probably had not seen coming. At the same time, there are also a couple of standout skin-crawling sequences, including one where Ru Meng encounters the ghost in a design workshop lined with mirrors and mannequins, one where a fellow student among the six meets his death in the washroom while taking a dump, and last but not least a reckoning on the bridge itself where Wen De is confronted by Hui Qiao for his supposed indiscretions.
Told over a lean 88 minutes, ‘The Bridge Curse’ takes a real-life legend and turns it into a surprisingly intriguing tale that sets the stage for future instalments. If you enjoyed any of its earlier genre predecessors, you’ll surely take to this as well; in fact, we would argue that the storytelling here triumphs that of ‘The Tag-along’ and ‘The Rope Curse’, especially in how it links what unfolds across three timelines. As far as horror thrillers go, this is one worth making sure you’re mentally prepared for its twists and terrors.
Movie Rating:
(Like 'The Tag-along' and 'The Rope Curse', this Taiwanese horror based on a real-life legend packs a surprisingly smart story alongside an effective line-up of scares)
Review by Gabriel Chong
SYNOPSIS: Based on true events, in this military thriller, a small unit of U.S. soldiers, alone at the remote Combat Outpost Keating, located deep in the valley of three mountains in Afghanistan, battles to defend against an overwhelming force of Taliban fighters in a coordinated attack. The Battle of Kamdesh, as it was known, was the bloodiest American engagement of the Afghan War in 2009 and Bravo Troop 3-61 CAV became one of the most decorated units of the 19-year conflict.
MOVIE REVIEW:
The Outpost might be a little too late to join the “Afghanistan war movies” party but it certainly deserved a watch if you are a fan of contemporary war drama. And don’t worry, it’s definitely not a bad VOD release. Ideally, it should even be watch on the big screen if not for the COVID-19 pandemic.
Based on a 2012 book called “The Outpost: The Untold Story of American Valor” by American journalist Jake Tapper, the movie depicts a platoon of heroic U.S. soldiers who has to battle hundreds of Taliban in a trapped camp base. Combat Outpost Keating is located at the bottom of three mountains and is constantly being attacked by Taliban fighters despite the army’s best intent to engage the locals in community improvement projects.
Rather than viewing it as propaganda material, this in fact is a simple war drama that pays tribute to the brave men who either KIA or survived the brutal attack with consequences in case you are expecting an insightful, historical-based flick. Even though it’s based on a real event, The Outpost never strives to be a great sensationalised drama. It’s more of a celebration of how young American soldiers risked their lives to protect a cause they firmly believed in.
Similar to Black Hawk Down, The Outpost is yet another team-effort. There’s too little character development to speak of and too many characters walking in and out of every scene. Every marine looks exactly as the one before except their name tags. The picture however is largely told from the viewpoint of Staff Sergeant Clint Romesha (Scott Eastwood) though his character is often surrounded by brave men played by Orlando Bloom, Milo Gibson and Caleb Landry Jones as Specialist Carter (Banshee from X-Men: First Class) who played a bigger, prominent role once the battle starts.
The first hour is kind of a hit-and-miss. Director Rod Lurie (Straw Dogs) attempts to showcase the camaraderie of the brave men in the camp whose daily routines are constantly disrupted by unseen, surprise attacks and half-witted decisions from the top. And there’s the usual messages of missing their partners and families with crude and racism jokes thrown in. It’s not until the last hour or so where the brilliantly staged battle sequence starts to kick in. The fight against terrorism is handled wonderfully by both Lurie and cinematographer Lorenzo Senatore resulting in a visceral, exciting watching experience. The battle might be bloody, harrowing with shots and explosions coming all over but it’s not exactly gruesome if you have a weak tolerance for gratuitous violence.
The Outpost does more than a decent job recreating the Battle of Kamdesh, recounting the bravery and heroics of 53 U.S. soldiers who fought on the fateful day. It’s a solid effort from Lurie and team though it’s quite a pity to catch this on the small screen. Most of the faces might be unfamiliar to audiences but it boasts a cast that are sons and grandsons to famous actors and musician. The movie also ends with heartfelt tributes to the real-life servicemen. It’s a must-watch for fans of this genre.
MOVIE RATING:
Review by Linus Tee
Genre: Thriller
Director: Sohn Won-pyung
Cast: Song Ji-hyo, Kim Moo-yul, Ye Soo-jung, Choi Sang-hoon, Park Min-ha-I, Heo Joon-seok
Runtime: 1 hr 42 mins
Rating: PG13 (Some Violence)
Released By: Clover Films and Golden Village Pictures
Official Website:
Opening Day: 23 July 2020
Synopsis: You-jin (Song Ji-hyo) returns home after going missing 25 years ago. As their family gradually begins to change after her return, her older brother Seo-jin (Kim Moo-yul) grows suspicious and seeks to uncover his sister’s secret, which leads him to a shocking truth.
Movie Review:
If you’re expecting ‘Intruder’ to be “the most intense Korean mystery thriller of 2020”, you’re likely to be sorely disappointed. Not only is it barely intense, film critic and novelist-turned filmmaker Sohn Won-pyung’s debut is laughably ridiculous, especially in the latter half where it veers into the occult.
The premise is intriguing – a recently widowed architect Seo-jin (Kim Moo-yul), still grieving over the loss of his wife and struggling to be parent to his young daughter (Park Min-ha), is confronted by the return of his sister Yu-jin (Song Ji-hyo). Her return revives Seo-jin’s guilt over Yu-jin’s disappearance 25 years ago, when he had failed to look after her while they were visiting a theme park with their devastated mother.
Unsurprisingly, the woman claiming to be Yu-jin isn’t who she says she is. Not only does she replaces the family’s loyal caretaker with her own manservant, Yu-jin slowly places both Seo-jin’s parents under her spell, even as Seo-jin grows increasingly suspicious of her identity and intentions.
To her credit, Sohn does a decent job building up the suspense at the start, unveiling the cracks in Yu-jin’s façade gradually through a mysterious tattoo at the back of her neck and an unexpected encounter with a former acquaintance, as well as Seo-jin’s unsteady mental state through a string of incoherent dreams and angry outbursts. There is also a nice metaphorical twist in line with the film’s title, as Yu-jin slowly displaces Seo-jin as the intruder within the household.
But the plotting soon comes apart with one too many ludicrous turns, mostly to do with the occult, as it tries to dig deeper into just who Yu-jin is and what she wants with the family. There is suddenly a sinister presence at every corner, watching and waiting to thwart Seo-jin’s attempt to unmask her. Worse, the last third of the film sees it overreaching to the point of going off the rails, especially as it tries to tie the events of Yu-jin’s appearance and Seo-jin’s wife’s death together.
It doesn’t help that Seo-jin’s behaviour is illogically erratic, so much so that you feel less sympathy than annoyance at his plight. Ditto the rest of the supporting characters, including a police detective investigating Seo-jin’s wife’s death who ends up being frustratingly gullible and a psychologist whom Seo-jin sees that is probably one of the most utterly unconvincing practitioners we’ve seen. In turn, Kim seems lost trying to get a grip at what Seo-jin ought to be like, while Song’s performance gets more and more excessively theatrical.
We’d like to embrace ‘Intruder’ a lot more, but in trying to be smarter than its audience, the movie ends up being a lot sillier. What is a decent set-up is eventually squandered in implausible revelations that are contrived at best and cringe-inducing at worst, leading up to an unsatisfactory finish which is strangely anticlimactic. ‘Intruder’ has gotten some buzz for being the first commercial release in South Korea following the reopening of cinemas there, but that is probably the only distinction this poorly conceived thriller is ultimately worthy of.
Movie Rating:
(Too many ludicruous turns squander an otherwise decently intriguing set-up for a home invasion thriller, so don't go in expecting "the most intense Korean mystery thriller of 2020")
Review by Gabriel Chong
Genre: Drama/Thriller
Director: Agnieszka Holland
Cast: James Norton, Vanessa Kirby, Peter Sarsgaard, Joseph Mawle, Kenneth Cranham, Celyn Jones, Krzysztof Pieczynski, Beata Pozniak
Runtime: 1 hr 59 mins
Rating: M18
Released By: Shaw Organisation
Official Website:
Opening Day: 13 July 2020
Synopsis: Academy Award® nominee Agnieszka Holland (Europa Europa, Spoor, In Darkness) brings to the screen the extraordinary untold story of Gareth Jones, an ambitious young Welsh journalist who travelled to the Soviet Union in 1933 and uncovered the appalling truth behind the Soviet “utopia” and Stalin’s regime. Initially a regular news investigation, Jones’ quest quickly turned into a life-or-death journey… helping inspire George Orwell’s famous allegory Animal Farm.
Movie Review:
If you haven’t yet heard of the Holodomor, we urge you to Google it. While much has been said about Adolf Hitler, far less has been told about Josef Stalin’s horrific misdeed in engineering a famine which starved millions in Ukraine by taking their grain to sell abroad to stuff Soviet coffers. That was how Stalin managed to achieve economic expansion even amidst global recession in the early 1930s, which earned the admiration of Western nations – notably, that of former British prime minister David Lloyd George and his cabinet ministers.
‘Mr Jones’ is the real-life story of foreign advisor-turned-journalist Gareth Jones (James Norton), who had journeyed to Moscow in a bid to interview Stalin and find the truth behind the Soviet Union’s purported economic vitality. There, he senses the reality may be far less rosy than what the world believes, and eventually decides to make a daring escape to Ukraine, where he encounters the mass starvation that had been hidden from the global community. Jones’ expose of Soviet atrocities would pit him against the New York Times’ Pulitzer Prize winning bureau chief Walter Duranty (Peter Sarsgaard), but more significantly, cost him his life before the age of 30.
There is a compelling tale to tell here, but it takes about an hour before the film finds its focus. Oh yes, the first half is somewhat wasted in scattershot fashion, beginning with an introduction by English author Eric Blair (better known as George Orwell) writing his allegorical novella ‘Animal Farm’ and then later on with sequences of Jones’ encounter with Russian bureaucracy; in particular, while the latter introduces us to the duplicitous Duranty, it also serves up an unnecessary distraction in the form of circumspect British journalist Ada Brooks (Vanessa Kirby), whose personal and professional relationship with Jones never builds to anything substantive.
Thankfully, director Agnieszka Holland finds her footing once Jones gets to Ukraine. Holland, who has handled such Oscar-nominated wartime dramas as ‘Europa, Europa’ and ‘In Darkness’, portrays the bleakness of the brutality starkly – among the standout scenes include one where Jones is surrounded by five children singing about their loyalty to Stalin amidst their cold and hunger, before robbing Jones of what food he had brought along for the trip; another has Jones quelling his hunger with tree bark, which is what most of the Ukrainians had for food; and another sees Jones repulsing in horror over the supper he had shared with a family of three children. It is haunting all right, and given a searing yet sobering showing by Holland.
As the eponymous character, Newton brings his A-game to the film, giving the role generous passionate commitment. His character pretty much carries the movie from start to finish, and it is testament to his muscular performance that we remain engaged and invested throughout. Sarsgaard is at his slithery best as Duranty, but Kirby is otherwise wasted in a role that is fictional in the first place and too thinly written to be of any consequence. That is among one of the flaws of first-time writer Andrea Chalupa’s script, whose best intentions of bringing her grandfather’s ordeal to the screen is somewhat dulled by a distracted narrative.
Still, the potency of Jones’ struggle for the truth as well as the very horror of the Holomodor itself makes this a worthwhile film. The contemporary relevance in how both an autocracy and the ‘fake news’ media aimed to quash a fearless crusader’s account only makes it even more resonant, reinforcing the emotional impact of a flawed but nonetheless powerful biopic. There is a Lean-ian sweep to the way it uses images than dialogue to convey meaning, and ‘Mr Jones’ is a poignant witness of the brutality that millions of Ukrainians were forced to live through.
Movie Rating:
(Despite a somewhat unfocused narrative in the first hour, 'Mr Jones' rides a compelling real-life story to deliver a poignant biopic of its titular character, as well as bear searing witness to the Holomodor)
Review by Gabriel Chong
SYNOPSIS: Theo Conroy (Bacon) is a successful middle-aged man whose marriage to his much younger actress wife, Susanna (Seyfried), is shredding at the seams, frayed by her secretiveness, his jealousy, and the shadow of his past. In an effort to repair their relationship, Theo and Susanna book a vacation at a stunning, remote modern home in the Welsh countryside for themselves and their six-year-old daughter, Ella (Avery Essex). What at first seems like a perfect retreat distorts into a perfect nightmare when Theo's grasp on reality begins to unravel and he suspects that a sinister force within the house knows more than he or Susanna have revealed, even to each other.
MOVIE REVIEW:
Another casualty of the Covid-19 pandemic and originally scheduled for a theatrical release, You Should Have Left comes from acclaimed screenwriter, director David Koepp and horror outfit, Blumhouse. While all three are based on novellas, You Should Have Left is closer to Secret Window than Stir of Echoes in terms of watching experience.
Koepp reunites for the second time with his Stir of Echoes star Kevin Bacon. Bacon plays a successful former banker, Theo Conroy who is now remarried with a young daughter, Ella after the unfortunate passing of his first wife. The much older Theo is seen suffering from nightmares and acting edgy right from the start. Could it be an underlying medical condition? Or just outright jealousy and suspicious at his much younger wife, Susanna (Amanda Seyfried) who happens to be a Hollywood actress?
Anyway the Conroys decide to go for a short vacation in the outskirts of Wales staying in a spacious modern villa. There’s definitely no serial killer lurking around except the house comes equipped with some terrifying dreams-within-dreams nightmares and mysterious manifestations which constantly torment the sanity of Theo and the safety of Ella.
You Should Have Left is filled to the brim with loud jump scares and plenty of shadowy camera work if you are a big fan of this sort of gimmicks. Koepp however is no James Wan when you compare this to a similar possessed house horror thriller liked The Conjuring. There’s no particularly memorable scene nor a specific worthy scare that makes this flick stands out from the rest. While Koepp certainly knows how to do things the old school way, planting creepy town folks to add on to the mystery aura of the house still it doesn’t add up to anything decent in the end.
Koepp could be too busy behind the camera to notice the lack of substance and compelling elements in his script despite Bacon giving a serviceable performance as Theo Conroy, a character that struggles to differentiate between what is real and what is in his dreams just liked the audiences. Amanda Seyfried on the other hand needs a better agent or script because Susanna is not a role to showcase her talent. In fact, Ella or the child actress plays a more prominent role than her.
You Should Have Left is an unremarkable mystery horror thriller (whichever you want to call it). It’s a slow boiler that doesn’t contain a satisfying payoff despite the talents involved. All the while, the story seems to be hinting of something more sinister and supernatural. Eventually, it’s just a disappointing stay.
Should I stay or should I leave?
You Should Have Left.
MOVIE RATING:
Review by Linus Tee
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