Genre: Thriller
Director: Oxide Pang
Cast: Lee Sinje, Huo Si Yan, Li Zong Han, Kent Cheng, Kenny Wong, Paw Hee Ching, Charlie Young
RunTime: 1 hr 30 mins
Released By: Shaw
Rating: PG
Official Website:
Opening Day: 3 November 2011
Synopsis: Yi (Lee Sinje) is an ordinary woman living a mundane life. Over the years, she has been bothered by a repeated dream, in that dream she stands alone on wasteland with a doubt of the mystery being buried underneath. One day, Yi meets a handsome young man, Eric (Li Zong Han), when he comes to Yi’s garment alteration shop to hire a service. The two lonesomes are quickly drawn together, particularly after Yi shares with Eric about the tortures from those strange dreams. On the other side, Sergeant Au (Huo Si Yan) desperately purses a kidnap-murder case, she never pushed any harder as it is her nephew the missing hostage in this case. Ransom has been paid, but the kid’s whereabouts is still a mystery. Tortured by extreme anxiety, Sgt. Au’s sister Peggy (Charlie Young) turns hysterical, she radically accuses her young sister of her incapability of tracking down the culprit. Their relationship turns bad but Sgt Au sympathizes with her sister and she vows to bring the kidnapper to justice by herself. Eric’s effort still falls short to comfort Yi, the details of Yi’s nightmares are getting more and more sophisticated. Sometimes she finds her bedside is stained with mud in the morning. She can’t help thinking that she would really walk on that wasteland and kill someone there while sleepwalking… Sgt. Au crosses path with Yi when she visits Yi to investigate missing case of Yi’s ex-husband, Ming. Yi is in absolute shock, but she quickly jumps to a conclusion that she kills Ming as from the bottom of heart she hates this unfaithful man. During interrogation, Yi tells all the details and confesses that she would murder in her sleep. Following the clues hidden in Yi’s dream, Sgt. Au leads her team to the crime scene, however, the body claimed to be buried underneath is no where to find…
Movie Review:
Oxide Pang’s latest thriller ‘Sleepwalker’ is yet another example of what happens when you try to shoehorn the sensibilities of a Hong Kong filmmaker into the rules and restrictions of the China film industry. It’s no secret that the growth of the industry in recent years would not have been possible without foreign import, namely actors and directors from Hong Kong who have been lured by the big bucks offered by burgeoning media companies eager for a slice of the moviemaking business.
And for Oxide, that crossover has also come with a hefty compromise- indeed, because the state film authorities prohibit any film with supernatural elements, Oxide has done his best to deliver a thriller with the kind of horror elements his audiences have come to expect from him, just without any references to ghosts. The result is a movie that, with its jump-scares and sudden jarring music, wants so hard to be the next ‘The Eye’ or even ‘The Detective’, but has to contend with being just a neutered version of these far superior films.
Reuniting with his favourite lead actress and lately his wife, Oxide casts ‘The Eye’s’ Angelica Lee in the role of Yi, a recently divorced woman in her mid-30s who has a sleepwalking problem at night. That and the fact that she keeps having the same recurrent dream at night has left her troubled, especially when she gets the distinct feeling that what seems only a nightmare of her digging up a young girl’s body in a forested area could very well be real. After all, how else can she explain her muddied hands and shoes?
Meanwhile, a parallel story thread sees a nerve-wracked mother Peggy (Charlie Young) visiting the police station daily in hopes of any update on her daughter gone missing three months ago. She accuses the police of incompetence, but the detective in charge happens to be her sister Sgt Au (Huo Si Yan), so you can imagine how that strains their sisterly ties. What does this have to do with Peggy’s missing daughter or Yi’s sleepwalking phenomena? Nothing really, but it’s just one example of how the screenplay by Oxide and Wu Meng Zhang goes off-tangent in too many unnecessary directions.
Anyhow, Yi’s ex-husband goes missing and suspicion falls on Yi, which leads Sgt Au to make her acquaintance. Turns out Yi also had a daughter who went missing a year ago and was subsequently found dead- though she has somehow blocked the traumatic incident out of her conscious memory. Au sees a link, and despite her doubts of Yi’s sleepwalking claims, she engages a renowned hypnotist Eric (Li Zong Han) whose wife was left in a coma for the past two years after a car accident to pick Yi’s brains for directions to the place the body may actually be buried.
Wait- what does Eric’s wife have to do with the killings? Nothing, absolutely nothing, but somehow we are forced to endure yet another unnecessary diversion as Eric at first reluctant to help Sgt Au ventilates his frustration at his wife’s condition and then agrees. These detours do not help the story one bit, sapping away what narrative tension the story had going for it. Ditto for Oxide’s indulgent direction, allowing some scenes- like one where Yi befriends a girl at a playground and then insists that the child is her daughter- to go on for longer than needed.
Slack scriptwriting and directing isn’t the end of the film’s woes- as a wannabe psychological thriller, it isn’t as smart or logical as it thinks it is. The notion that Yi’s dreams are linked to that of the killer’s, which is supposed to explain why the killer knows to move the body after Yi sleepwalks to the place, is too much of a stretch. But that’s nothing compared to the role-switch when Eric suddenly plays detective and deduces, to Sgt Au and her team’s enlightenment, that the killer may go to Yi’s house to silence her. Wow, really, they couldn’t have figured that out for themselves? What really takes the cake is how Yi is eventually cleared of her ex-husband’s disappearance, the explanation so laughable it might have been better to leave it hanging.
It isn’t clear whether Oxide is oblivious to these flaws, but he seems to prefer spending his time figuring out how to engineer the next ‘boo’ at his audience. It works most of the time, but these are cheap scares that grow increasingly annoying with every repetition. And of course, because there aren’t supposed to be any ghosts in the movie, even Yi’s daughter’s appearance has to be explained away by the fact that it is just a dream. Oxide too seems to be running out of ideas, and one scene that sees a seemingly vengeful Yi chopping away at a slab of pork ribs just recalls a similar sequence in ‘The Eye 3D’.
The only saving grace is that Angelica is in the lead role, and no matter the leaps in logic, she remains a consummate performer playing the psychologically troubled Yi with conviction. Pity then that the rest of the film is such a letdown- a half-baked thriller cum wannabe horror that just doesn’t cut it either way. What’s more, maybe because Oxide can’t really be his own filmmaker without the supernatural, he’s also gone sloppy- and nowhere is this more evident than in a chase sequence that sees Kent Cheng giving the rest of cops a good workout that is so obviously filmed with a double. By the time Oxide throws in the obligatory in-your-face 3D sequence that frankly is just out-of-place, ‘Sleepwalker’ has long since become a listless exercise that makes you wish you could sleepwalk out of it.
Movie Rating:
(Neither smart nor thrilling enough to be a psychological thriller, this dreadful film also sees Oxide Pang trying too hard to recycle his usual bag of horror tricks)
Review by Gabriel Chong
Genre: Drama/Romance
Director: Woody Allen
Cast: Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Marion Cotillard, Kathy Bates, Carla Bruni, Michael Sheen, Adrien Brody
RunTime: 1 hr 35 mins
Released By: Cathay-Keris Films
Rating: TBA
Official Website: http://www.facebook.com/midnightinparis
Opening Day: 13 October 2011
Synopsis: This is a romantic comedy set in Paris about a family that goes there because of business, and two young people who are engaged to be married in the fall have experiences there that change their lives. It’s about a young man's great love for a city, Paris, and the illusion people have that a life different from theirs would be much better.
Movie Review:
Woody Allen has, in recent years, found inspiration for his films outside his Manhattan comfort zone- and ‘Midnight in Paris’, set in the very city, is no different. Indeed, it sees Allen at his most playful and most confident, setting up a comic fantasy that recalls his earlier ‘The Purple Rose of Cairo’ in its elements of magical realism and time travel. It is also ostensibly Allen’s love letter to the City of Light, showcasing some of the most alluring charms of Paris ure to enchant those (like this reviewer) who have never visited.
Playing the Allen surrogate in this latest is Owen Wilson, a successful hack Hollywood screenwriter named Gil who is looking to redefine himself by writing a first novel. In Paris visiting his soon-to-be parents-in-law with his demanding fiancée Inez (Rachel McAdams), Gil finds himself besotted with the place- though less with her smug Tea Partyist parents (Mimi Kennedy and Kurt Fuller) or her pretentious British professor friend Paul (Michael Sheen). So instead of joining Paul and his wife for some post-dinner dancing one night, Gil decides to take a walk through the city by himself.
Just as the clock strikes midnight, Gil finds himself on the Rue Montagne St. Genevieve, where he meets a bunch of American revellers on a passing antique cab. The vehicle turns out to be some magical means of transport that whisks Gil back in time to the Jazz Age of the 1920s. It is the Paris of Gil’s dreams, the man in love with the City’s culture suddenly in the company of some of the greatest artists of the past century- F. Scott (Tom Hiddleston) and Zelda Fitzgerald (Alison Pill), and not to mention Cole Porter (Yves Heck) on the piano at a cocktail party. That very night, Gil will also meet Ernest Hemingway (a very funny Corey Stoll) who agrees to show his novel to Gertrude Stein (Kathy Bates).
Night after night, Gil will continue on his flight of fancy, rubbing shoulders with literary giants and a who’s who of that era including Pablo Picasso, T.S. Eliot, Luis Bunuel and Salvador Dali (Adrien Brody in a brilliant stroke of casting). Gil will also fall in love with Adriana (Marion Cotillard), who happens to be Picasso’s mistress. This dalliance also allows Allen to go beyond the superficial and achieve some profundity in his film, meditating on the subject of cultural nostalgia.
As Adriana exclaims, “Surely you don’t think the ‘20s is a Golden Age? It’s the present. It’s dull”, Gil is brought to realise how every generation looks upon the past with reverence and longing, romanticising it as if it were superior to what exists in the present. Gil recognises the similarities between his wistful longings of the ‘20s and Adriana’s own of the Belle Epoque, and consequently the self-deceptive fallacy of nostalgia. The ruminations might as well be Allen’s own, the writer/director’s own musical and cultural tastes dating back to the ‘20s and ‘30s.
And truly, while Allen has always placed his own voice into that of the main character in his films, Gil’s lines in this movie are especially personal, insightful and poignant- and as always wittily scripted. As director, Allen is as always concise (his films usually clock in just at an hour and a half), invigorating the proceedings with his usual breezy pace. ‘Paris’ also benefits from an inspired choice for Allen’s surrogate in the form of Owen Wilson, the latter’s own laid-back charm overcoming the neurotic mannerisms that often afflict previous actors/ actresses who have previously stepped into his shoes.
Besides Allen, the rest of the ensemble cast are also uniformly excellent. McAdams plays pushy and argumentative with more likeability than one could expect, and her co-stars in the modern age- Kennedy, Fuller and Sheen- do their darnest with what are arguably caricatured roles. Allen’s love for his characters of the past are all too apparent, and of the veterans, Cotillard’s spirited performance as a beguiling object of desire particularly stands out. That’s also because of Darius Khondji’s cinematography, which knows and evokes beauty both in the individual as well as the Parisian landscape.
Light and whimsical, yet infused with gentle poignancy, ‘Midnight in Paris’ sees Allen at his creative and artistic best in years, the filmmaker continuing his successful reinvention streak through his tour around European cities (London, Barcelona and his next stop, Rome). And in a case of life imitating art, Allen too is aware that he is to his audience a romanticised object of the past, partly inevitable due to the comparisons between his present and his previous works. In ‘Paris’, he has created a film worthy of some of his most celebrated classics, and it is especially befitting considering how deeply personal it is.
Movie Rating:
(Both whimsy and wise, ‘Paris’ finds Allen both playful and insightful, a work of art destined to be one of his classics)
Review by Gabriel Chong
SYNOPSIS: The funniest business trip of all time gets even crazier with the Super-Awesome Edition of Cedar Rapids — more hysterical footage, more outrageous shenanigans and more two-diamond fun! Ed Helms (The Hangover 1 & 2) and John C. Reilly (Step Brothers) lead an all-star cast in the comedy that shows what can happen...when insurance agents go wild! Shy and naive Tim Lippe (Helms) ventures to the “big city” of Cedar Rapids for a convention and ends up crossing paths with the ultimate party animal (Reilly). Before long, Tim is crashing parties, skinny-dipping in the hotel pool and being seduced by a sexy soccer mom. And if Tim can survive the weekend, he might just change his life forever!
MOVIE REVIEW:
Is the face on the DVD cover the same guy who has a missing tooth in “The Hangover”?
Yup no doubt about it, he is Ed Helms if you still can’t remember his name. With the huge success of “The Hangover”, “The Office” regular has been in much demand and here he is, starring and producing this indie comedy which received a limited release in the States earlier in the year.
Helms plays Tim Lippe, an insurance agent who came from a small town in Wisconsin. Naïve might be too strong a word to describe the man who has never left his hometown, a place where everybody knows everyone. Yet when Lippe is assigned by his boss to Cedar Rapids over the weekend to attend an insurance convention, he finds out that the real world isn’t what he perceived it to be.
“Cedar Rapids” plays out like a little dark comedy without much ambition to gross out its audiences despite the raunchy-filled dialogue. The script by newcomer Phil Johnston is both modest and bittersweet at the same time and most importantly it’s an endearing tale of four underdogs namely Lippe, the foul-mouthed Dean (John C. Reilly), Fox (Anne Heche) and Ronald (Isiah Whitlock Jr).
With a story that spanned over a short weekend, director Miguel Arteta (Youth In Revolt) and Johnston did a marvellous job bonding their onscreen characters and establishing clear-cut characteristics for each of them. John C. Reilly especially stood out as a sentimental guy with a dirty mouth. His impromptu one-liners probably makes you chuckle out loud throughout. Troubled actress Anne Heche who has not been in the limelight for years turns in a compelling performance as an open-minded woman looking for a fling. Isiah Whitlock Jr from Law & Order is excellent as the prim-and-proper Ronald.
Of course, “Cedar Rapids” can’t really work without Ed Helms in the leading man role though Helms basically reprises his Dr Stu character from the “The Hangover” series. Lippe and Dr Stu are kind, innocent souls who unwittingly find themselves in absurd situations one after another. Still, Helms left a lasting impression especially with his character’s break-up scene with his primary school teacher, Macy (played by Sigourney Weaver in yet another bit role). Don’t ask why his romantic interest is a woman that is old enough to be his mum.
Except for a drug house scene towards the end that goes a bit flat and a no-frills production setup, “Cedar Rapids” is a little gem that is worth visiting if you are tired of the current wave of big-budgeted crude comedies playing on the big screen.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
There are six short Deleted Scenes and a four minutes Gag Reel that is pretty funny as well.
For that few seconds of onscreen performance, actor Mike O’Malley has to undergo clogging training as seen in this Mike O’Malley – Urban Clogging featurette.
Tweaking in the USA is a six minutes making-of feature that touches on the drug house scene.
Wedding Belles – Crashing a Lesbian Wedding discusses the costumes design and behind the shooting of the lesbian wedding sequence.
Top Notch Commercial is a fake but hilarious insurance commercial featuring Tim Lippe of course.
A Theatrical Trailer round up the disc extras.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
“Cedar Rapids” is a dialogue heavy movie and the Dolby Digital 5.1 purely acts for the occasional ambience sound effects. Picture quality is excellent with no noticeable artefacts.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD RATING :
Review by Linus Tee
SYNOPSIS: "Temple Grandin" paints a picture of a young woman's perseverance and determination while struggling with the isolating challenges of autism at a time when it was still quite unknown. The film chronicles Temple's early diagnosis; her turbulent growth and development during her school years; the enduring support she received from her mother (Ormond), aunt (O'Hara), and her science teacher (Strathairn); and her emergence as a woman with an innate sensitivity and understanding of animal behavior.
MOVIE REVIEW:
‘People are always looking for the single magic bullet that will totally change everything. There is no single magic bullet.’ – Temple Grandin
Not many people this side of the world may have heard of Temple Grandin, but the lady is probably one of the shining examples of the extraordinary talents that people with autism possess, which are often overlooked simply because we cannot get past what we term their disability. Temple however adapted to our way of relating with people, just so she can champion our understanding of autism, and also show us that these unique individuals can be capable of remarkable achievements through their way of relating and understanding the world around them.
She did this by example, changing the way American treated its beef cattle through the design of humane slaughterhouses which the industry first rejected and subsequently embraced for their cost-savings. It wasn’t an easy journey, made doubly hard by the fact that one, she was a woman in a male-dominated business; and two, she was autistic. But the very fact that she was autistic was also the reason why she managed to make such a breakthrough, her distinctive vision and hypersensitivity allowing her to be attuned to finer animal sensibilities that even the handlers who have spent their whole lives on cattle ranches have ignored.
Hers is a wonderful story of triumph over adversity, and director Mick Jackson as well as his writer Christopher Monger have done an excellent task bringing her true story to the small screen. Yes, we say small screen, because although this has every right to be one of those Oscar-worthy dramas that compete during awards season, it was in fact a HBO Films telemovie which has since gone on to win seven Emmy Awards including the top honour of ‘Outstanding Made for TV Movie’. But this has very bit the big-screen treatment, graced with stars like Claire Danes in the lead role, Julia Ormond as Temple’s mother, Catherine O’Hara as her aunt and David Strathairn as one of Temple’s inspiring mentors.
This is a culmination of some of their finest performances, brought to life by Jackson’s inspired decision at telling the story through Temple’s perspective. In one of the first scenes, we see Temple startled and distressed as she emerges from a plane- the whirr of the propeller, the shouts from the crowd gathered to meet the passengers, and the heat of the Arizona desert overbearing to say the least for her. It’s no secret that autistic people have heightened senses, which make them more sensitive to what are usually ordinary sights and sounds to us, but Jackson allows us to understand it from their perspective through his visual techniques.
His screenwriter Monger has taken liberty of choosing the significant moments in Temple’s life in this biopic- her first brush with animals from visiting her aunt’s ranch where she not only developed an affinity for cows but designed a squeeze machine to provide a calming effect for her; her time at Franklin Pierce College where the disapproval over her ‘squueze device’ led her to pursue her bachelor’s degree in psychology and later on her time at a ranch for her master’s thesis on animal science at Arizona State University. Through these significant milestones, we see the tenacity of a woman fighting against the perception and even disdain of those around her, and the journey is one that proves immensely fulfilling and tremendously affecting.
In the lead role, Danes gives a tour-de-force performance that has appropriately won her the Emmy for ‘Outstanding Actress in a TV movie or Miniseries’. Her pitch-perfect acting here captures Temple’s quirks beautifully, never showy or caricatured but truthful and honest. It is even more remarkable for how effortlessly Danes shows her character’s gradual assurance as she grows from an upset teenager to a more socially perceptive adult. And when Danes stands up at a conference to challenge the prevailing thinking behind autism as a mental disorder, you feel the personal progress her character has made in overcoming her shortcomings imposed by society.
Kudos then to the entire team of cast and crew alike for avoiding schmaltz to deliver a biopic of true dignity and grace worth of the triumphs and achievements of its subject- as well as an eye-opening look at the world through the eyes of people who are ‘different, but not less’ among us. Like Temple’s own work for autism, it is an important film that deserves to be seen that will change the way you look at these individuals. Not all of them will be as remarkable as Temple; nevertheless in Temple’s words ‘we have got to work on keeping these children engaged with the world’.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
There is a standard ‘Making Of’ featurette that has cast and crew talking about what attracted them to the film, as well as how important they think it is. You also get a glimpse of the real Dr Grandin, and just this glimpse is enough to convince you what a remarkable job Danes has done in bringing the character to life.
Don’t however miss out on one of the best Audio Commentaries we have heard, by Dr Grandin, director Mick Jackson and screenwriter Christopher Monger. While Jackson and Monger talk about their creative choices in bringing Temple’s story to screen, Temple’s voiceover gives us an excellent insight into what is being portrayed- even the occasional inaccuracy of how it unfolded.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
The Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track for the feature film puts the back speakers to good use in bringing out the ambient sounds. Otherwise, most of the dialogue is front and centre. Visuals are lush and colourful, and the visual transfer is excellent.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD RATING :
Review by Gabriel Chong
SYNOPSIS: See how it all began in this thrilling first chapter of the X-MEN saga. Before Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr became Professor X and Magneto, they were two young men discovering their powers for the first time. Before they were enemies, they were the closest of friends and gathered an elite team of mutants to form the X-Men in an attempt to prevent World War III.
MOVIE REVIEW:
After years in development hell with rumours of a standalone Magneto movie, the backlash of “X-Men 3” and the release of the disastrous “X-Men Origins: Wolverine”, finally we get a new “X-Men” movie this summer. “X-Men: First Class” is a rushed job by Hollywood standard but definitely not a botched one.
Probably ranked as the best superhero movie of the year 2011, “X-Men” First Class” is a origin story with the focus on the iconic Professor X aka Charles Xavier and Magneto aka Erik Lehnsherr. Though we get a passing glimpse of Magneto’s youth in the first X-Men, here we get a better picture of Charles and Erik in their youth, how they became friends and turn into enemies and of course how the X-Men and Brotherhood of Mutants came to be.
With at least six credited writers including director Matthew Vaughn and original X-Men’s director/producer Bryan Singer, the action flick moves at a fast-paced yet never loses its footing, along the way allowing several key characters enough screentime to develop and audience to root for them. Among them is fanboys’ favourite Mystique (up-and-coming Jennifer Lawrence) though Lawrence lacks the killer figure of Rebecca Romijn, she compensates with her earnest performance. Not surprisingly, Kevin Bacon especially and January Jones (Mad Men) lights up the flick as two evil power hungry mutants out to unleash war on mankind.
Frankly at the end of the day, it’s James McAvoy (Wanted) and Michael Fassbender (Inglorious Basterds) who stole the show. Guys remember we are talking about Professor X and Magneto. The casting here is flawless. McAvoy on his part brought a whole new game to the all-so-familiar character. Instead of being a pre-Professor X in all his seriousness, Charles Xavier is a funky professor of genetics in the sixties while Fassbender is excellent as a tortured soul who saw his parents killed by Nazi and is out now looking for revenge.
With Xavier and Erik assembling the first class of mutants including Angel (a nightclub dancer with wings), Darwin (a sort of loud hailer mutant), Havok, the younger brother of Cyclops (with plasma blast powers) and the young blue-furry Beast aka Dr Hank McCoy and the father of teleporting Nightcrawler, Azazel making appearances, this is a sweet treat for all X-Men fans and audience alike. Vaughn even throws in a good measure of humour in it. Take note of the amusing cameo of one particular X-Men.
It’s amazing how much material is being squeezed into the 132 minutes runtime. While not exactly a short duration, it’s a superior balanced piece filled with plenty of dazzling CG effects, action sets, not Transformers-style of endless big-bang blast if you are hesitating. You don’t really go into a superhero flick expecting a talky time (Lee Ang’s Hulk is an exception of course) and Vaughn knows that. The occasional fistfights and the massive finale are good examples of how good Vaughn is in handling effective action scenes and in addition the production values liked the set designs, costumes and editing are seriously first class.
Guess I forgot to mention the plotting which involves the JFK administration, cold war era and the Cuban Missile Crisis. Not a clue to all that? Fret not, the priority of “X-Men: First Class” is to build up the brotherly tension and struggles between Charles and Erik and the end product to sum it is one of the best prequels ever created for such a well-known franchise. The rest is plain secondary.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
Band of Brothers is the usual interview feature with the main cast members and crew.
There are 14 minutes worth of Deleted and Extended Scenes, all of them in my humble opinion should have left intact in the original cut for they are mostly addictive and some really rib-tickling as well.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
There isn’t a hint of transfer defects in the visual quality of this DVD and the English Dolby Digital 5.1 is a solid presentation of bombastic sound effects with a balance mix of dialogue.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD RATING :
Review by Linus Tee
SYNOPSIS: Thee decides to leave his old life and move his family to Chiang Mai believing that his wife and two kids will have a happier life at Laddaland, a new housing project with large, beautiful homes. Little does he realise that there will come one evening when a Burmese maid is brutally murdered and found stuffed inside the refrigerator of his neighbour's house. Death is something we all must face soon or later but in Laddaland it's your dead neighbour you must deal with.
MOVIE REVIEW:
We would be stumped if we were Thai filmmakers tasked to produce a horror movie. Just how much more creativity can you inject in a overdone genre which seems to be continually banking on long haired ghouls, loud screams and other similar cheap scares? One of the first tasks of these money minded filmmakers (if the box office earnings of horror flicks are anything to go by, this is probably the main reason why so many of such productions are churned out in a year) is to conceptualise a movie poster for marketing purposes. And come on, would you actually look forward to spending close to two hours of your time to watch this Sophon Sakdaphisit directed movie, just based on the
We know we wouldn’t, if not for the noble duty to tell you whether this 112 minute movie is worth your time. The good news? It isn’t as bad as the cynic would think (seriously, what’s with the female ghost and black cat on the cover art?) The bad news? It doesn’t break any new ground in the horror genre.
The story is notably decent: After years of hard work, a man is finally able to afford the down payment of a nice property for his family to move into. They arrive from Bangkok to join him in Chiang Mai. Not everyone is excited about the new house though – the daughter is upset about leaving her friends in the capital. Otherwise, things seem to be fine, except the increasing deaths in the neighbourhood. Top that off with supernatural sightings and a career downfall.
A happy ending in place? We didn’t think so.
What we like about this film is that it attempts to inject some social issues into its otherwise uncreative scares. We have seen angry disfigured ghosts and mysterious objects moving on their own in other similar movies before, but a family tragedy that actually works? Not so much.
Here, we see how a well meaning family man trying his best to improve his family’s life. When fate turns against him, he becomes even more determined to make things work, albeit a disagreeing mother in law and a rebellious daughter. Meanwhile, his wife tries hard to keep the family together, despite the increasing discomfort and tension growing within the family. Played competently by Saharang Sangkapreecha and Piyathida Woramusik, the central characters of this movie get your attention and have you concerned about their eventual fate.
In terms of production value, this flick delivers nothing more than what is already in the market. You can expect the usual scares and screams. We just wished there would be something more unique to elevate this average horror movie up a notch.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
NIL
AUDIO/VISUAL:
We have nothing to complain about \the movie's visual transfer. It is presented in its original Thai Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD RATING :
Review by John Li
Genre: Fantasy
Director: Gordon Chan
Cast: Deng Chao, Sun Li, Collin Chou, Yan Ni, Andy On, Monica Mok, Eric Tsang
RunTime: -
Released By: Cathay-Keris Films & Homerun Asia
Rating: TBA
Official Website: http://huabi.ent.sina.com.cn/index.html
Opening Day: 13 October 2011
Synopsis: Adapted from a Liao Zhai story by the same title, ‘Mural’ tells of three men who chance upon an enchanted world through a mural, and believe it to be paradise until the darker and uglier side of that world begins to emerge.
This is an enchanted world that seems to promise satisfaction for every man’s desire on the surface, but brewing beneath it is the Queen’s vindictiveness and deep hatred for men.
Movie Review:
We can tell you this much about Gordon Chan after watching almost twenty years of his films- the guy is an action man, and despite his attempts at dabbling in other genres, it is his action movies like Jet Li’s ‘Fist of Legend’, Jackie Chan’s ‘Thunderbolt’ and the Michael Wong SDU films ‘Final Option’, ‘First Option’ and ‘Option Zero’ that have truly been outstanding. We say this also because ‘Mural’ is Gordon’s attempt at a fantasy romance, and like his other non-action genre forays, it is ultimately disappointing.
In all fairness, this is not the first time that he has tried his hand at something similar. Gordon was also at the helm of 2008’s surprise hit ‘Painted Skin’, adapted as well from a Liaozhai story by author Pu Songling, and it was the success of that earlier movie (whose Chinese title bears remarkable resemblance both written and pronounced) which led to the genesis of ‘Mural’. But whereas that movie had a strong lead action star in Donnie Yen and therefore could boast some decent action sequences, ‘Mural’ has Mainland actor Deng Chao in the lead, and let’s just say that he is no Donnie Yen.
Deng plays the righteous young scholar Zhu Xiaolian who lands up in the Land of Ten Thousand Blossoms after getting distracted en route to his imperial exams by a mural depicting some beautiful women. Needless to say, Xiaolian will find love- and so too will some of the women in the kingdom who have been taught by their evil Fairy Godmother (Yan Ni) that men are all scumbags and love is strictly forbidden. But despite the complications that follow, Deng’s role as the virtuous idealist fighting for his right to love is essentially dull and simplistic, not helped by the actor’s straightforward delivery.
The same could be said of his other two male companions- the timorous servant Hou Xia (played by a whiny and annoying Baobeier), and the mountain bandit Meng Longtan (Collin Chou) whom Xiaolian and Hou Xia were in pursuit of right before ending up in the temple with the titular painting. Both these supporting characters are given little development in the story- Hou Xia gets to show his caring side by taking in a woman rejected by Meng as his wife, while Meng has a change of heart when he sees Xiaolian’s sacrificial love- and the same can be said of the bevy of Chinese actresses each contributing nothing more than their looks as the other fairies in the Land.
The fault lies with the slackly written story credited to Frankie Tam, Maria Wong, Lau Ho-Leung and Gordon Chan (the latter two also behind ‘Painted Skin’). The first half of the movie fumbles with little direction, with the writers and director Chan content on letting the characters wander about CGI-ed vistas, leaving the second half struggling for some dramatic focus on the love story between Xiaolian and Shaoyao (played by Deng’s wife in real life Sun Li). But with too much time spent on Zhu’s apparent obsession with another fairy- the soft-spoken and honest Mudan (Taiwanese TV presenter Liu Yang playing against type)- and his quest to rescue her at the hands of the Queen, even the romance between Xiaolian and Shaoyao never quite convinces.
That the intended love story lacks any genuine emotion is also because Deng Chao and Sun Li share little on-screen chemistry. Sun Li plays her character icy and distant, and the consequence is that we end up rooting for Xiaolian and Mudan- instead of Shaoyao- to get together. The other couplings also don’t have much emotional heft, so what should have been a touching supernatural fantasy romance ends up bland and uninspiring. More unforgivable is the miscasting of Collin Chou, the action star best known for playing ‘The Matrix’s’ Seraph out of place in a romantic movie.
Ditto for fellow action maestro Andy On (think the baddie in ‘True Legend’), who has a bit part as the Queen’s bodyguard with obvious affections for Shaoyao. Not only is his role sorely underdeveloped (the film hints at a love triangle between him, Xiaolian and Shaoyao but never quite gets there), he and Collin get short shrift in the poorly choreographed, wire-ful action sequences that would have ended up as outtakes in their other action films. There is also plenty of CGI, and while they are impressive, it’s perplexing why a film with perfectly good martial arts stars would waste them while trying to better their Hollywood counterparts in the visual effects department.
But yes- we’ll be fair to praise the team behind the CG graphics of the movie, which is probably one of the best ever done for a China-Hong Kong movie. Deserving of praise too are Cyrus Ho’s beautiful set design and Bobo Ng’s lavish colourful costumes- pity then that their efforts are wasted on a story that could have done with more plotting and a film that should have been done with tighter direction. Coming after the disastrous ‘King of Fighters’, ‘Mural’ once again finds the talented Gordon Chan out of his league- and fans of his earlier action movies should probably steer clear of this, since it will only make you long for the kind of films he used to make.
Movie Rating:
(Like a beautiful painting, ‘Mural’ looks every bit gorgeous; but with poorly developed story and characters, as well as loose direction, it is ultimately as interesting as watching paint dry)
Review by Gabriel Chong
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Go up close with TOM CRUISE this December!Posted on 05 Oct 2011 |
Genre: Drama
Director: Herman Yau
Cast: Huang Yi, Anthony Wong, Dennis To, Kevin Cheng, Lam Suet, Pat Ha
RunTime: 1 hr 55 mins
Released By: Cathay-Keris Films & InnoForm Media
Rating: TBA
Official Website:
Opening Day: 20 October 2011
Synopsis: From the director of Ip Man: The Legend is Born. Nicknamed the Woman Knight of Mirror Lake, Qiu Jin was an early feminist, revolutionist and poet in the late Qing Dynasty. Advocating equality between men and women, Qiu Jin felt that a better future for women came under a Western-type government instead of the corrupt Manchu government. Appreciating the Japanese culture after the Meiji Restoration, she went to study in Japan in 1904. Qiu Jin was beheaded after a failed uprising against the Manchu government and is considered a heroine in China's anti-feudalist cause.
Movie Review:
The story of Qiu Jin is ripe fruit for cinematic picking especially for the rapidly growing China film industry, which has in recent years displayed a penchant for turning the country’s own rich history into lavish spectacle. Here is a woman ahead of her time, who grew up questioning the unequal treatment of men and women, who fought for her right to an equal education, and who later on fought against the corrupt Manchu government to her death.
Attempting the dramatization of Qiu Jin’s life is the production team behind ‘Ip Man: The Legend is Born’, and though the poster boasts of these credentials, those who have seen the earlier film will likely agree that the reference doesn’t inspire much confidence. Surprisingly then, director Herman Yau and his screenwriter Erica Li have done an excellent job adapting the many facets of her life into a rich, stirring and poignant movie, one that easily stands out as the best among the recent bumper crop of historical epics.
Beginning with the last and definitive fight that would lead to her execution, we first see Qiu Jin’s (Huang Yi) arrest following a fierce showdown with Qing military commander Ao Feng (veteran Xiong Xin Xin). Qiu Jin was then headmaster of the Daitong College, the first mixed-gender school whose mission was to give women the chance to receive an education. It was also a training ground for the fomenting revolutionary movement against the Manchu authorities, and that fateful day of 14th July 1907 was meant to be the fall of their Shaoxing province.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be, and Qiu Jin is subsequently interrogated by both the outgoing Provincial Governor Gui Fu (Lam Suet) and the incoming Li Zhong-yue (Anthony Wong). Her refusal to give up the names of her compatriots leads to her torture and finally her execution, sealing her status as a martyr for the People’s Republic of China. Filling in the blanks of the formative years of her life leading up to her revolutionary status are numerous flashbacks, which go all the way back to when she was only a little girl about to have her feet bound.
Yau makes excellent use of these early years to paint Jin as a determined and passionate woman not afraid to defy tradition- as a teenager growing into a young adult,Qiu Jin would ransom her jewels for the freedom of a child bride taken into slavery, who later becomes her loyal companion Fusheng (Rose Chan). Even after her arranged marriage to Ting-jun (Kevin Cheng), Qiu Jin refused to be subordinated as a wife, instead forcing her husband to buy a position in Beijing in the hopes that their proximity to the echelons of power can make it easier to engineer change in the Qing government.
The depiction of their marriage deserves special mention, for Yau and Li are careful not to allow Ting-jun just to be a caricatured husband figure in a feminist-driven movie. Instead, the filmmakers use Ting-jun to illustrate the mentality of those who quietly desire for change but resist being part of the process- and Ting-jun’s plea for Qiu Jin to stop projecting her aspirations upon him ends up unexpectedly moving. Rare are such well-drawn supporting roles in films, and the attention Yau pays to Ting-jun is a nice surprise.
And in fact Ting-jun isn’t the only one- the unofficial leader of the revolution Xu Xilin (Ip Man’s Dennis To) is also similarly well-delineated, whom Qiu Jin meets while studying in Japan after quietly leaving Ting-jun and their two kids behind. There is considerable sizzle as Qiu Jin finds an intellectual equal in Xilin, and their scenes together hum with considerable vim and vigour. Xilin also becomes a catalyst in Qiu Jin’s decision to join their Restoration Society and take up arms for the cause, their plans finally taking shape in the form of successive planned uprisings in Anhui and Shaoxing.
It therefore takes more than an hour before the action kicks in proper, but those looking for the kind of heroics in ‘Ip Man’ will likely come off disappointed. Standing in once again for Donnie Yen is kungfu champion Dennis To, but despite his title, To has a lot more to catch up with Yen. His extended fight scene with Xiong Xin Xin comes off choreographed, lacking the spontaneity de rigueur in any action sequence worth its salt. Xin Xin is also pitted against Huang Yi, but while the actress pulls off the fighting sequences convincingly, there is little in Leung Siu-hung’s choreography that truly stands out. But of course, this biography of Qiu Jin isn’t meant to spotlight her martial arts however brilliant they may have been in real life, but to celebrate her heroic achievements both as a feminist and as a revolutionary.
Appropriately then, the dramatic aspects of the film are the parts that stand out, brought to life by a stellar cast. Huang Yi isn’t always as expressive as she should be, but she does a fine job bringing across Qiu Jin’s steeliness fighting for her ideals and her insecurities worrying for her family. As the two most important men in Qiu Jin’s life, Kevin Cheng and Dennis To have a nice rapport with Huang Yi as the head of the household and the head of the revolutionaries respectively. And as always, Anthony Wong makes the best of a small supporting role as the sympathetic Governor powerless to prevent the beheading of someone he greatly respects.
Indeed, both the cast and the filmmakers are aware that these characters- whether Qiu Jin or the supporting members- are not mere fiction, but people with names etched in history. So while this is a film that honours Qiu Jin, director Herman Yau is also wise enough not to vilify her enemies. With Yau’s assured restraint and confident grasp, the film doesn’t remain as a stodgy recount of historical events, but rather a moving and inspirational tale of the first woman revolutionary in China’s history. So don’t let the other lesser films of its genre that have come before it dissuade you, ‘The Woman Knight of Mirror Lake’ stands high above its ilk, a shining example of history come alive.
Movie Rating:
(Richly drawn portrait of the first woman revolutionary in China that is gripping, poignant and inspiring)
Review by Gabriel Chong
Genre: CG Animation
Director: Sarah Smith
Cast: James McAvoy, Hugh Laurie, Jill Broadbent, Bill Nighy, Imelda Staunton, Ashley Jensen
RunTime: 1 hr 40 mins
Released By: Sony Pictures Releasing International
Rating: G
Official Website: http://www.arthurchristmas.com/
Opening Day: 1 December 2011
Synopsis: The 3D, CG-animated family comedy Arthur Christmas, an Aardman production for Sony Pictures Animation, at last reveals the incredible, never-before seen answer to every child's question: 'So how does Santa deliver all those presents in one night?' The answer: Santa's exhilarating, ultra-high-tech operation hidden beneath the North Pole. But at the heart of the film is a story with the ingredients of a Christmas classic - a family in a state of comic dysfunction and an unlikely hero, Arthur, with an urgent mission that must be completed before Christmas morning dawns.
Movie Review:
There are numerous Christmas related films lined up every year once the season is round the corner, and this also spells familiarity with the respective family friendly themes that such films will inevitably touch upon. From comedies to animated films, you would think that you had seen them all, until such time when something brilliant like this Sony Pictures Animation and Aardman Animations collaboration that blows its contemporary peers out of the water.
Most of us will be familiar with the level of wit that a typical Aardman Animations film contains, being better known for its Wallace & Gromit stop motion films that are personally a joy to behold. Ventures into animation for the big screen isn't something new since it had dabbled with the medium through Chicken Run and Flushed Away, with this Sarah Smith directed movie being that first venture with Sony Pictures Animation that showcased its capability very convincingly, in blending what seemed to be tired themes dealing with family ties, perseverance and doing what is right, with a boost of modern day technical sensibilities to produce a smart narrative to entertain adults, and keeping children entertained through its vivid animation.
James McAvoy voices the titular character Arthur, the clumsy son of the current Father Christmas Malcolm, who had spent the last 70 years delivering presents to children all over the world in under 12 hours. But being the son of Santa Claus (Jim Broadbent) doesn't automatically mean a cushy job in the North Pole. Arthur gets mail room responsibilities replying to letters on Santa's behalf thanks to his innocence and earnestness, with his simpleton ways seen seen as a hindrance to the largest parcel delivery operations in the world, automated and drilled by his brother Steve (Hugh Laurie) to a perfectly rock solid, seamless outfit consisting thousands of elves under his command from mission control, to outfield troops, making Santa himself in a way, quite redundant and nothing more than a figurehead.
I have to tip my hat to the filmmakers for the fantastic introduction in the first act showing just how worldwide delivery is remotely possible with Santa's helpers running the critical operations, as well as owning a state of the art, never before seen Santa 1 space craft that has to be seen to be believed for its sheer capability alone. So now you know the secret how Santa Claus manages to get everyone's presents to the respective deserving kid in an on time, guaranteed fashion, and expecting to take over the helm with his father's retirement, Steve is only left to be disappointed when he gets overlooked for the job since, well frankly, he made it all too easy now.
The crux of the story deals with how technology is prone to that occasional lapse no thanks to human side error, and it's left to humans still having common-sensical values and basic decency to pick up from that failure, and make the necessary correction rather than to accept mediocrity and to sweep failures under the carpet. A stray undelivered bicycle becomes the object of obsession for Arthur and Grandsanta (Bill Nighy) to get to Gwen (Ramona Marquez) in a small English town before she wakes up in less than 2 hours, in an unauthorized mission accompanied by Grandsanta's aged old reindeer and gift wrapping elf Bryony (Ashley Jensen) who always threaten to steal the show right from everyone's noses. Needless to say most of the minutes spent in this film gets focused on this rag-tag group in their adventures on an iconic sleigh pulled by reindeers the traditional way, and slowly exposing just how everyone jumped onboard with their own agenda, only to
realize that Christmas itself is larger than any of their selfish reasons.
While there are plenty of sight gags and wordplay to tickle your funny bone, the A-list voice cast also played crucial roles in fleshing out and providing real world emotions to their animated characters. Peter Baynham and Sarah Smith's story nailed the moral education values of this film with the right amount of balance without feeling forced, emphasizing that arrogance tend to lead to complacency, and the losing track of what actually mattered in the first place, as seen in those whose tasking on Christmas day is made easy through technological advancement, compared to those who prefer to continue keeping the day itself memorable for kids everywhere, and have to tackle insurmountable odds and dangers to get things right.
Arthur Christmas has that strength of heart which makes it stand out, and entertaining family friendly films will find this a tough nut to crack this holiday season. Highly recommended!
Movie Rating:
(Arthur Christmas shows us why 'tis the season to be jolly)
Review by Stefan Shih
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