Genre: Drama
Director: Akan Satayevs
Cast: Almira Tursyn, Adil Akhmetov, Erkebulan Dairov 
Runtime: 2 hrs 8 mins
Rating: NC16 (Violence)
Released By: Shaw Organisation
Official Website:

Opening Day: 10 December 2020

Synopsis: Based on historical heroine Queen Tomiris of Massagetae and her cadre of female warriors (the real-life 6th century BCE Amazonians who inspired the mythical tales), The Legend of Tomiris recounts the tale of the nomadic ruler who overcame great personal tragedy to repel the powerful Persian empire and unite the Great Steppe.

Movie Review:

Not always do you get the chance to see a Kazakh film on the big screen, but ‘The Legend of Tomiris’ is as good a reason as it gets for you to seize that opportunity. As its title suggests, the movie tells of the legendary queen of the steppe named Tomiris, a great warrior whose army was believed to have defeated and beheaded the Persian warlord King Cyrus II at a battle near the Syr Darya river.

No effort has been spared to bring this historical opus to life – from the scale of the battles, to the sheer number of extras employed, and right down to the intricacy of the costumes as well as production design, there is no lack of ambition and effort in Kazakh filmmaker Alan Satayev’s twelfth feature. Just as epic is its length, which at more than two hours, feels like a history lesson which should either have been condensed or at least broken up into a couple of episodes in the form of a miniseries.

Indeed, as it stands, the plotting tries to cover too much ground, spanning the treacherous death of her father at a young age at the hands of two of her own people, her acceptance into the Savromats tribe, returning to reclaim her rightful place as queen of the Massagetae people, her marriage to the Dahae chief’s adept son Argun (Adil Akhmetov), and finally facing up to the greatest threat to the freedom of her kingdom and her peoples. The last occupies the third act of the film, so you can imagine just how much ground the storytelling tries to cover before getting to the climax.

Getting to the most thrilling part of the movie however is an exercise in patience. Too many subplots and indistinguishable supporting characters are crammed into the first two acts, with too little focus on elucidating Tomiris’ leading role – besides being motivated to avenge the death of her father, we know little about what else drives her, or how she evolves from vengeance to nobility and ultimately to wisdom. It doesn’t help that Satayev fails to inject momentum into the storytelling, so much so that the first half unfolds with little pace.

Only when King Cyrus comes into the picture does the storytelling move with greater urgency, culminating in a spectacular battle on the steppes which probably is just about the most ambitious sequence ever for the Kazakh film industry. Not only does it look like it was staged with hundreds of extras, the hand-to-hand combat scenes are impressively brutal and realistic, not least because each of the characters seem to be performing their own stunt work – including newcomer Almira Tursyn, a psychologist who picked up lessons in horseriding and archery just to play Tomiris.

Though it does end on a high note, ‘Tomiris’ ultimately suffers from the weight of its own sombreness. Given how it was ordered into production by the Ministry of Culture and Sports, there must have been some restraint on artistic license which the filmmakers could have exercised, and the result is a retelling that could have been a lot less dry than it currently is. Both for novelty and for its action, it is still worth a trip to the cinemas, but here’s fair warning that it does feel as long as it lasts, so those looking for a popcorn blockbuster like ‘Troy’ or ‘Kingdom of Heaven’ will probably be sorely disappointed.

Movie Rating:

(In terms of ambition, scope and battle spectacle, this is undoubtedly an epic, but this over two-hour long film also suffers from monotony due to thin plotting and characterisation)

Review by Gabriel Chong

Genre: Action
Director: Ilya Naishuller
Cast: Bob Odenkirk, Connie Nielsen, RZA, Aleksey Serebryakov, Christopher Lloyd
Runtime: 1 hr 32 mins
Rating: NC16 (Violence and Coarse Language)
Released By: UIP
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 22 April 2021

Synopsis: Sometimes the man you don’t notice is the most dangerous of all. Emmy winner Bob Odenkirk (Better Call Saul, The Post, Nebraska) stars as Hutch Mansell, an underestimated and overlooked dad and husband, taking life’s indignities on the chin and never pushing back. A nobody. When two thieves break into his suburban home one night, Hutch declines to defend himself or his family, hoping to prevent serious violence. His teenage son, Blake (Gage Munroe, The Shack), is disappointed in him and his wife, Becca (Connie Nielsen, Wonder Woman), seems to pull only further away. The aftermath of the incident strikes a match to Hutch’s long-simmering rage, triggering dormant instincts and propelling him on a brutal path that will surface dark secrets and lethal skills. In a barrage of fists, gunfire and squealing tires, Hutch must save his family from a dangerous adversary (famed Russian actor Aleksey Serebryakov, Amazon’s McMafia)—and ensure that he will never be underestimated as a nobody again.

Movie Review:

As embarrassed as we are to say this, we had plenty of fun watching this utterly violent thriller that sees Bob Odenkirk from the Emmy award-winning series ‘Better Call Saul’ play a mild-mannered accountant who morphs into someone quite very different after a pair of amateur burglars break into his house and cause his young daughter (Paisley Cadorath) to lose her kitty-cat bracelet.

Odenkirk’s Everyman hero Hutch Mansell has been compared to both John Wick and Bryan Mills (aka Liam Neeson’s character in the ‘Taken’ series), but director Ilya Naishuller and writer Derek Kolstad (who also wrote the first ‘John Wick’ movie) give more than enough texture to their supposedly nondescript character here to make him stand apart from either of his two genre predecessors.

For one, unlike John, Hutch is a family man with a wife and two kids, even though his well-kept real estate agent-wife Becca (Connie Nielsen) doesn’t seem to give him much regard in the household anymore, except when he fails to bring out the trash to the curb on time. For another, unlike Mills, he is a lot less self-controlled when unleashed, most prominently when he decides to stand up for a young woman terrorised on a public bus by a bunch of drunk, rowdy Russian thugs.

And to his credit, Odenkirk makes the character very much his own with a wry, nebbish demeanour. Unlike John or Mills, Hutch isn’t imposing by any measure; instead, he is by most counts unremarkable and self-effacing, even while he lets loose his particular set of skills that he has clearly buried from years of being someone entirely different from his current persona. What stands out is Hutch’s wryness, which he lets his enemies have plenty of before disposing of them in brutally efficient ways.

Like Hutch, ‘Nobody’ triumphs on sly humour; not parody mind you, but tongue-in-cheek humour that brings the right touch of levity to lighten up the brutal excesses. There are some well-placed moments of absurdity in between the fighting. There are also some witty one-liners that Odenkirk delivers with perfect timing. And then there are the brilliantly constructed supporting players, including the flamboyant Russian mobster Yulian (Alexey Serebryakov) who loves to work the crowd at his own nightclub, Hutch’s father David (Christopher Lloyd) who lives in a retirement home but clearly has a storied past, and Hutch’s brother Harry (RZA) who serves as his confidant and adviser over the radio.

Undeniably, the plotting feels familiar enough for fans of ‘John Wick’, as Kolstad recycles similar elements whether is it Russian mobsters, shadowy associates assuming choice disguises in plain sight (in this case, someone who goes by the name of ‘The Barber’) or the inclusion of pets (a cat, if you must know); but Naishuller brings his own distinctly offbeat style to the movie, with some vividly choreographed action sequences set to a wacko soundtrack full of ironically selected classics like ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone‘, ‘What A Wonderful World’ and ‘The Impossible Dream’. It’s a blast all right, and Naishuller, a native Russian himself, makes sure that the ride is as entertaining as it gets.

In fact, we dare say that ‘Nobody’ is the most fun we’ve had in the cinema for quite some time – and that’s not just because of the delays in the release calendar wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic. It takes a certain panache to compose such a vigorously  thrilling action movie, so kudos to Naishuller and Odenkirk for a lean, mean ride full of visceral violence and biting humour. Not surprisingly, the ending leaves room for this to be a franchise starter, and believe you me, you’ll be left wanting to see what comes next.

Movie Rating:

(Don't let the title fool you - this ultra-violent and slyly humorous action thriller is as outrageously entertaining as it comes) 

Review by Gabriel Chong

Genre: Drama
Director: Ming Siu Goh, Scott C. Hillyard
Cast: Gerald Chew, Amy J Cheng, Sivakumar Palakrishnan, Rachel Wan, Matthew Loo
Runtime: 1 hr 36 mins
Rating: NC16 (Some Coarse Language and Violence)
Released By: The Projector
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 20 December 2020

Synopsis: 50-year-old Jim (Gerald Chew, "Apprentice", Cannes Film Festival 2016 Un Certain Regard) loses his high-flying job in status-conscious Singapore, but his ego and pride compel him to hide this from his wife (Amy J Cheng, "Crazy Rich Asians") and daughter. His only confidante is his best friend (Sivakumar Palakrishnan, "A Yellow Bird", Cannes Film Festival 2016 Critics' Week). Desperately clinging onto the material symbols of his past success, he unlocks a hibernating malevolent force, with sinister roots in long-buried secrets. As his dream life crumbles around him, worlds collide, the lines between then and now become increasingly blurred, and Jim descends into a waking nightmare… REPOSSESSION is a bold, genre-bending film, with an ever-evolving, haunting soundscape from Golden Horse Award-winning composer Teo Wei Yong (“A Land Imagined”).

Movie Review:

It is convenient to label this local film as a horror flick. The title suggests some sort of paranormal activity, and the poster is drenched in blood red. The trailer is moody and there are sequences where characters go bonkers as if they are, well, possessed.

But this production isn’t what you’d expect from a horror movie from Singapore. What we are familiar with are productions that are littered with jump scares, gory make up and even slapstick humour. This film digs deeper into the darker side of cosmopolitan Singapore and exposes the repressed souls who are facing another dimension of horror on a daily basis.

When the film begins, we see the protagonist is Jim (a painfully relatable performance by Gerald Chew), a middle aged businessman, getting fired from his high paying job. Things aren’t going to be rosy, especially when he is staying in a luxurious apartment with his beautiful wife and smart daughter (Amy Cheng and Rachel Wan). He also has an expensive car which has brought him much convenience over the years.

The only person Jim tells about his plight is his pal (Sivakumar Palakrishnan), who keeps giving him sound advice. But pride has it that Jim stubbornly (and to a certain extent, foolishly) keeps making bad decisions, which lead to one strange (and unfortunate) incident after another.

The 96 minute film explores what’s beneath the façade of success most of us have been seemingly enjoying. Is there a price to be paid, or have we already paid our dues? While it won’t the most enjoyable film to sit through, the experience is a worthy one as the movie may challenge your perspectives on things.

Packaged as a psychological horror movie, there are some plot twists which fans of the genre won’t find too surprising. It is still a notable effort though, considering the overarching theme of the screenplay. Viewers also shouldn’t be expecting a typical Hollywood style of storytelling, or high budget effects that pop out at you from the screen. This is an independent production that scores high on concepts instead of popcorn entertainment.

The ensemble cast delivers commendable performances, and what stands out is the score composed by Golden Horse Award winner Teo Wei Yong (A Land Imagined). The atmospheric soundscape created is especially apt for the film.

Kudos to director Goh Ming Siu for helming the project with co director Scott C Hillyard. The two of them are also writers and producers for the film, which has been screened at various international film festivals and recognised with a handful of accolades. This is quite a feat and honour for local filmmakers during the current pandemic. 

Movie Rating:

(An atmospheric psychological horror that questions the price of success in cosmopolitan Singapore)

Review by John Li

Genre: Fantasy/Action
Director: Paul W.S. Anderson
Cast: Milla Jovovich, Tony Jaa, TI Harris, Meagan Good, Diego Boneta, Josh Helman, Jin Au-Yeung, Ron Perlman
Runtime: 1 hr 44 mins
Rating: PG13 (Some Violence)
Released By: Sony Pictures
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 24 December 2020

Synopsis: Behind our world, there is another: a world of dangerous and powerful monsters that rule their domain with deadly ferocity. When an unexpected sandstorm transports Captain Artemis (Milla Jovovich) and her unit (TI Harris, Meagan Good, Diego Boneta) to a new world, the soldiers are shocked to discover that this hostile and unknown environment is home to enormous and terrifying monsters immune to their firepower. In their desperate battle for survival, the unit encounters the mysterious Hunter (Tony Jaa), whose unique skills allow him to stay one step ahead of the powerful creatures. As Artemis and Hunter slowly build trust, she discovers that he is part of a team led by the Admiral (Ron Perlman). Facing a danger so great it could threaten to destroy their world, the brave warriors combine their unique abilities to band together for the ultimate showdown.

Movie Review:

Paul W.S. Anderson is definitely a brand name that is associated with videogame adaptation to the big screen. Think Mortal Kombat and the supposedly concluded Resident Evil franchise. Not to be confused with Paul Thomas Anderson who also wrote and direct his movies, the works of Paul W.S. Anderson usually received a lukewarm response from critics. Audiences wise, it’s also a mixed bag. So does the latest work from the world’s least pretentious auteur (coined by prolific critic Ignatiy Vishnevetsk) consider another victory to his long-running resume or another loud dud alongside Alien Vs. Predator?

For the uninitiated, Monster Hunter is based on the video game series of the same name by Japanese game developer Capcom. In fact, this is an authorised work with design and story sealed and approved by the original creators. For the game, the player takes on the role of a hunter to take down all sort of gigantic monsters across various landscapes.

In the movie version, the narrative lies in the form of Mrs Anderson aka his frequent collaborator, Milla Jovovich as Captain Artemis. Together with her team of army rangers, they are transported via a portal into a world populated with monsters while searching for the whereabouts of Bravo Team. Of course, most never survive to see the credits roll except Artemis. And then comes the “hunter” played by Thai action star Tony Jaa who joined hands with Artemis to slay the various roaming creatures.

Anderson is not one filmmaker that is capable of pulling off an award-winning drama for sure but he has a 50% chance of successfully creating a dumbed down blockbuster spectacle for the masses. But first, let’s get all the negativities out before anything else, shall we?

Monster Hunter is completely devoid of compelling human characters. We know nothing about Captain Artemis except she is a kick-ass female soldier and leader with a wedding ring. Tony Jaa is purely here for his kick-ass martial-arts skill. Why is he not blessed with English speaking skill is baffling even though the Hunter’s friend, the Admiral (Ron Perlman) can speak perfect English. In actual fact, Jaa speaks “Jackie Chan” English in real life, just let the man speaks.

T.I Harris’ character on the other hand is not blessed with any kick-ass skills so his fate comes as no surprise. Same goes for Meagan Good (Shazam!) and MC Jin’s whose character is being accused of making a racist remark in China. But never mind.

Because the characters are negligible and the story Anderson concocted is so basic that most of the visuals and narrative are recycled from other familiar fantasy movies. How does Artemis arrive in this dimension and how does Admiral and his gang come to our world? Well easy. It’s via a dark tower like the one you seen in Lord of the Rings. It’s almost laughable that nowadays almost every movie has a far more formidable enemy than a hero. What are the chances of mortal human beings defeating countless of gigantic monsters that never seems to die. Fret not, once again we have the mighty Mrs Anderson to do the job as ridiculous as it sounds.

Even though Tony Jaa is in the movie, his martial arts abilities are hampered by the movie’s frenetic editing and choppy action scenes. Traits which are familiar with any Anderson’s productions. It’s often loud and dizzy though most of the CG monsters and dragons are pretty nicely rendered. This factor alone might appeal to fans of Pacific Rim and King Kong.

There’s a full-sized CG walking cat character which I heard is a nod to the videogame. The movie basically works best when we see Artemis and the hunter battling out with the monsters be it spiders, sand-dune creature and flying dragon. Other than that, there’s nothing particularly interesting maybe perhaps watching the hunter chomping on a bar of Hershey.

Monster Hunter ends with a climax that hint of another sequel with a mid-credit tease as well. Paul W.S. Anderson is one filmmaker that does the same thing all over. If this is yet another hit, his wife and him are going to slay more monsters in the years to come. No more zombies or the undead, it’s monsters this time. Don’t say you are not warned.  

Movie Rating:

(Instead of watching Milla Jovovich slaying zombies, watch her slaying gigantic monsters for a change)

Review by Linus Tee

Genre: Fantasy/Thriller
Director: Yuichiro Hirakawa
Cast: Minami Hamabe, Kairi Jyo, Rihito Itagaki, Keiko Kitagawa, Naomi Watanabe
Runtime: 1 hr 59 mins
Rating: PG (Some Violence)
Released By: Encore Films
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 7 January 2021

Synopsis: The “forbidden” live-action film adaptation based on the extraordinarily suspenseful prison break manga that has sold over 25 million copies worldwide! Grace Field House is a paradisiacal orphanage filled with happiness, where the orphans who live there with their “Mother”, the caretaker, Isabella, all look forward to the day they grow old enough to be adopted. However, when Emma (Minami Hamabe), Ray (Kairi Jyo), and Norman (Rihito Itagaki), stumble upon the orphanage’s dark secret, they realise that everything was all but a fantasy, and set in motion their dangerous and desperate plan to break out of Grace Field House along with their other siblings. 

Movie Review:

Judging from the excited audience at the preview of this movie, we gather that The Promised Neverland is a very, very successful manga series which has earned its right to be adapted into a live action movie. Some quick research shows that the manga had more than 26 million copies in circulation as of December 2020 (including digital versions), and it has won many awards and has enjoyed rave reviews. The anime has also received several accolades. It is only right that there is this movie version, and not surprisingly, an American live action series is in the works.

It’s easy to see why the story is popular. The premise is about a group of children as they plan their escape from an orphanage after they discover a dark secret. At the picture perfect Grace Field House, orphans dressed in white seem to be well taken care of a graceful lady Isabella, who is also affectionately known as “Mother”. As the kids receive news of successful adoption one by one, it is believed that they are going to lead better lives. Alas, there is actually a scary fate which awaits those who leave the orphanage.

The 119 minute movie is easy to sit through as you see how the kids find out about their impending fate, gather the troops to plan an escape, make a few attempts, before the finale where you eagerly anticipate whether they can get away from the evil forces. The fantasy backdrop means there are out of this world characters and storylines. If you aren’t already a fan of the manga and anime series, you can almost imagine how the story is told on print and in animated formats.

The young actors are likeable enough for viewers to be invested in what happens to them throughout the two hour runtime. Rihito Itagaki, Minami Hamabe and Kairi Jyo are three main leads playing Norman, Emma and Ray respectively. While we won’t be the best people to comment on their likeness to the manga, the three teenagers do a fine job here. Keiko Kitagawa, with all her demureness, is an apt candidate to play Isabella. She manages to be convincing as a villain who goes berserk when she has to get the kids in order.

In the manga, there is another antagonist Sister Krone who is black. Here, she is portrayed by renowned comedienne and fashion designer Naomi Watanabe. There has been a bit of outcry over the casting, but purely from the viewer’s point of view, we feel that more could have been done with the character who is comically menacing, especially with Watanabe’s terrifyingly maniacal appearance. It’s a shame too that her screen time is limited.

We haven’t heard whether there are future plans for the movie (there is definitely room to expand the story), but as with many other manga or comic movie adaptations, fans may feel often feel that the storytelling is too rushed and important details and nuances have been left out. While we do not feel anything jarring in this movie directed by Yuichiro Hirakawa, we are pretty sure there are purists out there who feel that the escapist tale would have been better appreciated if it stayed within the pages of a manga. 

Movie Rating:

(An enjoyable live action adaptation of a popular manga series that delivers enough thrills to keep you engaged throughout) 

Review by John Li

Genre: Comedy/CG Animation
Director: Tim Story
Cast: Chloë Grace Moretz, Michael Peña, Brian Stepanek, Ken Jeong, Will Forte, Gina Rodriguez
Runtime: 1 hr 41 mins
Rating: PG
Released By: Warner Bros
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 11 February 2021

Synopsis: One of the most beloved rivalries in history is reignited when Jerry moves into New York City’s finest hotel on the eve of “the wedding of the century,” forcing the event’s desperate planner to hire Tom to get rid of him, in director Tim Story's "Tom & Jerry." The ensuing cat and mouse battle threatens to destroy her career, the wedding and possibly the hotel itself. But soon, an even bigger problem arises: a diabolically ambitious staffer conspiring against all three of them.

Movie Review:

There is good reason why the rivalry between a house cat named Tom and a mouse named Jerry has been better known for its animated shorts than feature-length films (there were 14 in total, in case you’re wondering), and this live-action/ animated hybrid from ‘Barbershop’ and ‘Ride Along’ director Tim Story is yet another reminder of that. Despite Story’s valiant efforts at sustaining the hijinks for a good 100 minutes, ‘Tom and Jerry’ runs out of steam pretty early, and ends up being a drag for far too long.

As re-imagined by writer Kevin Costello, the pair find themselves crossing paths in New York City, where their quest to find new residence leads them to the city’s finest hotel known as the Royal Gate. It so happens that the hotel is planning for the ‘wedding of the century’ between two socialites Ben (Colin Jost) and Preeta (Pallavi Sharda), and in order to avoid any bad press about their mouse problem, the hotel manager Mr. DuBros (Rob Delaney) agrees to the unorthodox idea by their latest hire Kayla (Chloe Grace Moretz) to employ Tom to get rid of Jerry.

Cue a string of elaborate pranks, which sees the adroit Jerry outwit Tom almost every step of the way, resulting in the latter becoming flustered, exasperated and yet utterly helpless. The set-pieces here are designed specifically to mirror the animated series, what with Tom, Jerry and Tom’s bulldog nemesis Spike (Bobby Cannavale) churning up a literal ‘animal tornado’ that devastates the magnificent lobby of the hotel and yet another such melee involving elephants, peacocks and a tiger during the very wedding ceremony itself. It’s an odd mix really, especially given how we’re supposed to accept how the cartoony mayhem would lead to real-life destruction.

Like we said at the beginning, it’s one thing to watch a half-hour Saturday cartoon comprising three short sketches and quite another to try to stuff a whole feature-length film full of them. So in between the increasingly exhausting bedlam, we are made to contend with half-baked subplots of Kayla’s dishonesty, resentment between Kayla and the deputy hotel manager Terrance (Michael Pena), and the pre-wedding jitters between the bride and bridegroom. None of these by their own or together add up to anything near compelling, even though to his credit, Story weaves the various threads into as coherent a whole as possible.

It isn’t as if Story doesn’t know he is working on flimsy material here, hence the need to throw in glorified cameos in the form of Ken Jeong as the crusty head chef of the wedding, Jordan Bolger as the hotel bartender who strikes up something with Kayla, and Patsy Ferran as an extremely perceptive bellgirl whom Terrance describes as resembling a wolf. Despite these distractions, the pacing itself is pretty much a slog even for young kids, and you’ll find yourself looking forward to that inevitable happily-ever-after just so you can get yourself out of the cinema.

So as much as we had looked forward to seeing the beloved Hanna and Barbera characters on the big screen, ‘Tom and Jerry’ will make parents miss the beloved cartoons from their childhood and kids wondering just what the fuss is about these two iconic characters. The fault lies not with Story, or for that matter a valiantly exuberant Moretz, but rather the very concept of stretching what is otherwise best enjoyed in bite-sized 10-minute sketches into a 100-minute feature-length film. At its core, Tom and Jerry was about a not-so-smart cat chasing a much-cleverer mouse, and we cannot quite fathom how anyone can possibly sit through 100 minutes of that sort of chasing round and around.

Movie Rating:

(It's one thing to enjoy Tom chasing after Jerry and Jerry outsmarting Tom in 10-min sketches, and quite another to watch them do it over and over again for 100 minutes)

Review by Gabriel Chong

Genre: Horror/Thriller
Director: Albert Pintó
Cast: Begoña Vargas, Iván Marcos, Bea Segura
Runtime: 1 hr 45 mins
Rating: PG13 (Horror)
Released By: Shaw Organisation
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 31 December 2020

Synopsis: Inspired by true events, Malasaña 32 tells the story of the Olmedos, a family that, in 1976, settles in the neighborhood of Malasaña, in Madrid. Manolo and Candela arrive excited at the apartment they have just bought. They move in with their three children and Grandpa. With their old village left behind, they start a new life in the capital of a country in a transitional period. The family will try to adapt quickly to this new life in the city, but it won’t be easy. They will soon realize nothing about this house is normal; there is something in the house, something supernatural, unknown, that is threatening to finish them off. Amparo, the middle child, suspects that the apparitions and psychic phenomena might be linked to a terrible event that the previous owner experienced. The Olmedos are not alone and their worst nightmare is about to begin.

Movie Review:

The titular address denotes an apartment building where the Olmedo family have purchased a unit that had been abandoned for the past couple of years. Despite being offered at a low price, the family have needed to take a mortgage in order to afford it, which was to be a new start from their rural livelihoods as well as respite from the oppressive fascism of Francisco Franco.

Alas, as the opening scene demonstrates, there is something wrong about that particular unit, although what exactly remains elusive till almost the very end. The 17-year-old Amparo (Begona Vargas) is the first to realise things are amiss – while helping her younger brother Rafael (Iván Renedo) change into his clothes after his bath the very night they move in, she gets locked out of his bedroom and bursts in to find him sitting on the ledge of the window.

To make matters worse, her senile grandfather Fermin (Jose Luis de Madariaga) starts behaving erratically; and after leaving Rafael in the apartment the next day to retrieve Fermin, the boy disappears into the walls of the house. Her father Manolo (Iván Marcos) and mother Candela (Bea Segura) are naturally distraught, but owing to the mortgage, have no choice but to report to work as usual. That leaves Amparo with her teenage brother Pepe (Sergio Castellanos) to find Rafael, whom as they quickly discover, has been kidnapped by the spirits haunting their residence.

Rescuing Rafael is only part of the problem; for reasons which we shall not divulge here, the family soon learn that it isn’t Rafael that the ghosts are really after. Getting to that revelation is an exercise in white-knuckle suspense, as director Albert Pinto demonstrates a firm grasp of mystery and tension in keeping his audience tense and intrigued at the same time. To Pinto’s credit, the storytelling never loses its momentum throughout a well-paced 104-minutes, and there are red herrings aplenty as we try to decipher what exactly is the evil confronting the Olmedos.

There are also a fair number of ‘jump scares’, so those who do not appreciate being jolted in their seats deliberately by things that jump out at you will probably find themselves irritated from time to time. Even so, there’s no quibbling with Vargas’s performance, as she channels keenly both fear and courage confronting the hauntings in the apartment; in fact, we dare say it is because of her as the audience surrogate that we are emotionally invested in the proceedings.

’32 Malasana Street’ may not possess the originality to be a horror classic, but those looking for a genre fix will find this Spanish title a perfectly fine entry. Pinto is familiar with all the usual tricks in the playbook, but equally executes them with sufficient flair and confidence to turn this into an effective haunted house movie. At the very least, it offers a creepy setting, good atmosphere and some choice terrifying moments; so even though it may be formulaic, it still is worth a visit.

Movie Rating:

(An effective horror that boasts a creepy setting, strong unsettling atmopshere and some choice terrifying moments to satisfy anyone who needs a genre fix)

Review by Gabriel Chong

SYNOPSIS: It’s been two years since siblings Kate (Darby Camp) and Teddy Pierce (Judah Lewis) saved Christmas, and a lot has changed. Kate, now a cynical teenager, is reluctantly spending Christmas in Cancun with her mom’s new boyfriend and his son Jack (Jahzir Bruno). Unwilling to accept this new version of her family, Kate decides to run away. But when a mysterious, magical troublemaker named Belsnickel threatens to destroy the North Pole and end Christmas for good, Kate and Jack are unexpectedly pulled into a new adventure with Santa Claus (Kurt Russell). 

MOVIE REVIEW:

Kurt Russell has been experiencing quite a career resurgence in recent years with appearances in The Fast & Furious franchise to starring in Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight to having a stint in Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy 2. But young viewers will probably remember Russell years down the road as the charismatic Santa Claus in Netflix’s unexpectedly entertaining The Christmas Chronicles. 

Heavyweight family filmmaker Chris Columbus (Harry Potter, Mrs Doubtfire, Home Alone) not only produced but also directs the sequel to the original making everything seems bigger, louder and tripling the Christmas spirit.

Darby Camp returns from the original as Kate Pierce, the true believer of the Christmas spirit and Santa Claus but has since turned into a cynical pre-teen. Stuck in a snowless Mexico with her family and her mom’s boyfriend, Bob (Tyrese Gibson), Kate decides to sneak back home but ended up being transport back to the North Pole with Bob’s son, Jack. It turned out it’s the doing of a naughty elf, Belsnickel (Julian Dennison). The elf turned human harbours a grudge against Santa and vows to destroy him and Santa village. Thus once again, Santa and Mrs Santa (Goldie Hawn) must enlist the help of Kate with Jack in tow to save the Christmas spirit from the evil mind and hands of Belsnickel.

The theme of the Christmas Chronicles remains very much the same as the first. It’s all about keeping the good old Christmas spirit alive. Just that instead of a smaller scale story, Columbus and his co-writer, Matt Lieberman came up with a sequel that involved more CGI elves than the first. Because CGI elves are cute right? At least, there is a nice sequence that introduces audiences to the magical Santa village and a nice flashback to the St Nicks lore.

For those who complained about not enough Russell’s Santa Claus in the original, fret not, Santa is left, right and center in this one as he busies himself travelling from North Pole to Turkey and to the past where Kate gets to meet a special someone and back to the North Pole. Expectedly, you are going to enjoy a rousing musical number courtesy of Santa himself, this time round in an airport instead of a jail cell.

Russell’s longtime partner, Goldie Hawn is given a much bigger role than a mere walk-in cameo. And this amazing, adoring couple exudes much warmth and pardon for the lack of a better word, magic whenever they are both together on the screen.

No doubt, The Christmas Chronicles 2 is a sweet treat to add on to all the candies and chocolates during this festive season. Chris Columbus sure knows how to fill up a movie with lots of hair-raising adventures and action for the entire family. Not forgetting the good old festive messages to remind you of Santa’s ever presence. And also, immerse yourself in Russell’s charismatic and energetic performance. Merry Christmas!

MOVIE RATING:

Review by Linus Tee

SYNOPSIS: This post-apocalyptic tale follows Augustine (George Clooney), a lonely scientist in the Arctic, as he races to stop Sully (Felicity Jones) and her fellow astronauts from returning home to Earth, where a mysterious global catastrophe has taken place. 

MOVIE REVIEW:

Those expecting a straight-up space epic or apocalyptic action thriller will be sorely disappointed. This is George Clooney we are talking about, the director (not the actor) who is responsible for thinking man movies liked Good Night, Good Luck and The Ides of March. Clooney whose last on-screen appearance (not counting his Nespresso adverts) was the 2016 Money Monster starred and directs this movie adaptation of the book “Good Morning, Midnight” by Lily Brooks-Dalton.

Looking more like a grizzly bear, Clooney plays Augustine Lofthouse, a terminally-ill scientist who chooses to stay put in his base in the Artic after the rest of the crew members decide to evacuate due to an unexplained event which caused the Earth to be inhabitable. Hoping to warn any space mission not to return to earth, Augustine manages to detect an active space craft, Aether but the current signal is too weak to reach out to the space craft. At the same time, Augustine realised a young girl named Iris is left abandoned in the base.

With no one left to take care of Iris, Augustine decides to bring her along on a perilous journey in search of another satellite base equipped with better signal to contact Aether. Aether which is led by Commander Adewole (David Oyelowo) and partner, Sully (Felicity Jones) is also facing problems of their own. With their crew members losing hope of getting in contact with NASA and their family members, the space craft is in perpetual danger of orbiting to nowhere.

Here’s when things start to get tricky. Either you are going to switch to another flick on the streamer because the pacing is too slow for your liking or continue to stick with Augustine to see if Iris and him is going to make it alive to their final destination. The Midnight Sky is slow, brooding for the most of the running time except for two marginally exciting scenes, one involving the sudden melting of the ice bed and a meteor shower. It’s a cross between last year’s Ad Astra and the Clooney-starring Solaris, both science-fiction titles that lacked the grandiose of typical sci-fi adventures. Essentially, it’s a drama that deals with lost human connections than anything else.

In short, it’s a heartfelt drama that talks about humanity not about the end of the world or the discovery of whatever habitable planets there are out there. Despite the more than generous budget from Netflix which explains the gorgeous visuals and on location shooting in Iceland, the latest directorial outing from Clooney is at heart a small scale, intimate drama. He is very much a creative focusing more on storytelling than coming up with empty spectacle.

Besides Clooney who puts in a rather good performance, the rest of the cast members are filled up by capable performers liked Felicity Jones, David Oyelowo, Mexican actor Demian Bichir, Tiffany Boone and Kyle Chandler. The Midnight Sky is no Gravity for sure. It’s an enjoyable movie if you watch it with the right kind of mindset, preferably of no knowledge about the twist in the last act as well. It’s also not a flick that has a satisfying payoff which of course pulled down the overall score. Clooney’s seventh full-length directorial effort might not be on top of the list but certainly not among his worst.  

MOVIE RATING:

Review by Linus Tee

Genre: Romance/Drama
Director: Zhou Nan
Cast: Angelababy, Lee Hongchi, Denny Huang, Wang Jiajia, Liu Weisen, Li Siheng, Sun Jia
Runtime: 1 hr 40 mins
Rating: PG
Released By: Clover Films and Golden Village Pictures
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 31 December 2021

Synopsis: Li is a 30-year-old IT specialist, who is often overlooked by his co-workers except when he’s needed to resolve computer issues. Li had a crush on Zhao Ximan, a girl from the business department, but he only kept the feeling to himself. The company went on a year-end trip to Finland. At the end of the trip, Ximan found out that her secret boyfriend betrayed her. She went to ski alone and accidentally fell. The next day when she woke up in the hospital, temporary amnesia caused a loss of her memory for one day. As for Li, this is an unexpected chance, he made Ximan believe that they were in love. Before Ximan could recall all the memory, Li had one day to get close to her.

Movie Review:

We seem to have seen this somewhere before. An ordinary guy whom no one notices is head over heels over a beautiful girl. During a trip, she gets temporary amnesia and he takes the opportunity to make her believe that they are a couple. The two of them spend very happy times together, but he knows this will end when she regains her memory the next day. Is there anything he can do at all to make sure the moments last?

This is the kind of movie that couples in love should enjoy watching together, reminding each other that love is about spending time with each other. There’s also no harm for single viewers to watch this with their potential partners, hoping that he or she will say yes to official courtship after the movie ends.

For viewers like this writer who do not belong to the abovementioned categories, it is best to embrace the romantic drama as a travelogue of sorts, as the plot does not really go any further than a Cinderella story where the male lead trying to live out his dreams before the magic disappears. Otherwise, you can also enjoy the eye candy in the form of the very pretty Angelababy.

Li Hongchi portrays Fei Li, a wholesome character which is extremely different from his previous roles (we know him from gritty movies like Thanatos, Drunk and Cities of Last Things). He plays a shy IT technician who describes himself as a “tool man” – someone who gets called on and appreciated when he after fixing something, but conveniently forgotten shortly after. Enter Ximan, the new girl in the office (Angelababy) who is not only beautiful and kind - she remembers Fei Li’s name and makes him feel seen, making her the perfect girl in Fei Li’s world.

What happens next is somewhat bizarre (but sweet to the die-hard romantics). The two go on a company trip to Finlandand Ximan gets into an accident. Having wished that he can be Ximan’s boyfriend even if it was just a day, Fei Li works his way into Ximan’s heart during her temporary memory loss. They spend time at picturesque spots (she really wants to see the Northen Lights), have fun with a group of Santa Clauses, and share some romantic moments in the snow.

Of course, the 100 minute runtime also includes how the two characters deal with the consequences after Ximan regains her memory. Emotional viewers may tear up a few times, but there’s nothing a mid credit scene can’t fix. To the cynical audiences, the plot development is predictable. But if you can find joy in seeing the breathtaking sights of Finlandon the big screen (especially during this pandemic when there are travel bans), this is an agreeable movie to catch. Just don’t start questioning how Angelababy can still look that dazzling after all the mishaps along the trip.

Movie Rating:

(A movie for die-hard romantics, people who want to see Finland on the big screen, and fans of the dazzling Angelababy)

Review by John Li