SYNOPSIS: Starring Steve Coogan and Hilary Duff, WHAT GOES UP takes a comedic look at life, love and all the chaos in between. Also starring Olivia Thirlby and Josh Peck. When a group of teenage social misfits befriends jaded journalist Campbell Babbitt (Coogan), who's on assignment in their small New Hampshire town, they each find themselves searching for meaning and truth in their crazy, mixed-up lives. But as Babbitt gets to know these eccentric kids better -- their hidden secrets begin to rise to the surface, changing each other's lives forever.
MOVIE REVIEW:
Gifted comedic actor Johnathan Glatzer makes his directorial debut with the quirky dramedy ‘What Goes Up’, but unlike its title, this turgid movie only seems to be headed on a downward course. Indeed, Glatzer’s inexperience as a director is all too apparent, as his film flounders around looking for a narrative course to follow but ends up going in awkward circles.
The lead character is one cynical newspaper journalist Campbell Babbitt (Steve Coogan) whose conscience takes a hit after he fabricates a much celebrated article about a woman whom he calls a real-life saint but in fact had taken her life prior to publication. Babbitt’s latest assignment is to cover the sentiments of a small town, the home of Christa McAuliffe, the teacher-turned-astronaut in the fatal 1986 Challenger mission. There, he meets a group of delinquent misfits, former students of his friend who committed suicide on the day he arrived.
Adapting his own stage play, co-screenwriter Robert Lawson attempts to find some meaning through the exploration of heroism- presumably Babbitt will learn that these teens are real-life ordinary heroes trying to cope with the circumstances of their everyday lives. Nonetheless, Lawson and Glatzer (also credited as screenwriter) defines these characters so poorly that one never really gets to empathise with them. Worse still, in their attempt to be quirky, they have also created characters too weird and distant to be convincing.
And so, we get a student who has apparently been in love and sleeping with the dead teacher, another randy boy who falls in love with a crippled girl after she persuades him to have sex with her, and a peeping Tom who masturbates while standing outside a window watching a mother breastfeed her newborn baby. It’s not that we aren’t sympathetic, but these quirks need to be grounded in well-formed character arcs so that the audience can understand their complexities- otherwise, as with this film, it just becomes too much of a turn-off.
The usually sharp Coogan has been unfortunately neutered by the subpar material, and often seems to be going about the movie in a daze. None of the other teenage stars make much of an impression, and the same goes for former Disney girl Hilary Duff, whose movie career after she outgrew her Lizzie McGuire character has all but disappeared. Even reliable character actor Molly Shannon can’t make her role as a sexually frustrated choir mistress work.
When such a movie forgets its most important element- characters- you know that it is only, like the shuttle it references, going to crash and burn. Slow, plodding and very much unfocused, there is little in this inert movie to recommend.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
The Dolby Digital 5.1 audio is pretty much a front and centre affair, leaving little of the audio for the back speakers. Visuals are unfortunately appear unfocused like the movie, and the transfer lacks the sharpness that should be expected of a DVD.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD RATING :
Review by Gabriel Chong
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UPDATE: "23:59" tops the weekend box office!Posted on 04 Nov 2011 |
If steel robots had a favourite genre of music, it’d probably be…metal? That is probably why the producers of this soundtrack album concocted this lineup of songs to accompany the Shawn Levy movie about a former boxer (played by the ever versatile Hugh Jackman) and a boxing robot named Atom (realistically brought to life by motion capture technology).
The 48 minute album kicks off with “Fast Lane”, the lead single by hip hop duo Bad Meets Evil, a group composed of rapper Royce da 5’9” and everybody’s favourite bad boy Eminem. The four minute track sets the tone for the entire soundtrack with its steroid driven funk. American hip hop trio Beastie Boys, alternative rock band Foo Fighters and rapper 50 Cent follow up with equally earth shattering tunes “Here’s A Little Something For Ya”, “Miss The Misery” and “The Enforcer” respectively.
Eminem returns in “Till I Collapse”, a song from the 2002 Grammy nominated album The Eminem Show. The song, featuring additional vocals from late rapper Nate Dogg in the chorus, is an infectious tune which will have you bobbing your body to its steady rhythm. Other recognisable names on the album are rapper Timbaland (who performs the synthesizer heavy “Give It a Go”) and rock band Limp Bizkit (who performs the scream fest “Why Try”).
Elsewhere, artistes like Tom Morello, Prodigy and Rival Sons contribute earsplitting songs to the album. That’s why it’s nice to hear Alexi Murdoch performing the calming “All My Days” after all the brouhaha, before the album closes with composer Danny Elfman’s one odd minute score track “Kenton”. We’d have loved to hear more of Elfman’s compositions on the album, and hear how the talented composer come up with music for a science fiction movie set in a futuristic world where humans have been replaced by robots in boxing.
ALBUM RATING:
Recommended Track: (6) ‘Till I Collapse – Eminem featuring Nate Dogg
Review by John Li
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HORROR TABOOPosted on 21 Oct 2011 |
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MEDIACORP RAINTREE PICTURES announces new CNY movie DANCE DANCE DRAGONPosted on 29 Oct 2011 |
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Publicity Clips from The Adventures of TintinPosted on 01 Nov 2011 |
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Female Lead Of Movie Greedy Ghost Unveiled!Posted on 01 Nov 2011 |
Genre: Horror/Thriller
Director: Darren Lynn Bousman
Cast: Timothy Gibb, Michael Landes , Wendy Glenn, Brendan Price, Benjamin Cook, Denis Rafter
RunTime: 1 hr 37 mins
Released By: Cathay-Keris Films
Rating: NC-16
Official Website: http://1111themovie.com/
Opening Day: 11 November 2011
Synopsis: After the tragic death of his wife and child, famed American author Joseph Crone travels from the United States to Barcelona, Spain to reunite with his estranged brother Samuel and dying father, Richard. However, fate has a different plan for Joseph as his life becomes plagued with strange happenings, and the constant sightings of the number 11. Curiosity quickly turns to obsession, and Joseph soon realizes that this number holds a horrific meaning not only to himself but possibly to all of religion. Isolated in a foreign country with only the support of his companion, Sadie, Joseph soon realizes that 11/11/11 is more than just a date, it's a WARNING!
Movie Review:
To most come 11-11-11, it will be a day of celebrations given the auspicious (or rather once in a century) nature of having anniversaries like weddings fall on an easy to remember date, but to creative filmmakers, this spell opportunity to rake in some dollars from the box office especially in the horror and thriller genre, where it's a numbers game being played from 1408 to The Number 23 being fairly recent attempts to up the ante on thrills and spills, but falling flat once the cat is out of the bag. 11-11-11 unfortunately doesn't have much to show for outside of this gimmick, and it became an albatross around its neck that it had to drag around for 90 minutes.
The story follows Joseph Crone (Timothy Gibbs), a bestselling novelist with a disdain for religion since the demise of his wife and kid. It takes quite a while for him to move to Barcelona on the request of his brother Samuel (Michael Landes), a paraplegic pastor who brought news that their father (Denis Rafter) may be seeing the last of his days. So we're brought to the European city, if only for its sexy architecture to pepper the film, and learn that the family business is also going southwards due to dwindling congregation numbers. Joseph also begins to become self-aware of the time 11:11, ranging from shadowy fogs observed through CCTV cameras, and things that go bump in the night occuring just around the same time daily.
11-11-11 doesn't work as a thriller nor a horror film, even though director Darren Lynn Bousman had cut his teeth providing follow up sequels to Saw. After all, those films had firmly put the franchise into what would be torture porn, rarely being inclusive of suspense and anticipation, and being more in your face than subtle. And these shortcomings show in this film, with the inability to build suspense, opting for the usual jump scares that just weren't effective. In fact it was a cliche technique that was overused time and again, on characters from demons to the house nurse, that you'll just laugh at its desperation in trying to make you jump at your seat.
Unintentional comedy aside, the many red herrings become too obvious, especially when plot loopholes start to rear their ugly head too often, when there's a big reveal involved that made you realize just how wafer thin the plot is, and illogical as well since there are much better ways to get messages and warnings across. As mentioned, subtlety isn't this film's strengths, and through careful listening of its dialogue the regular horror fan will be able to correctly predict just which way the narrative will go from the mid point, which the limited number of characters in the film will just assist in that process of elimination.
While the presentation may be clunky with large intertitles showing the dates inching towards the titular one - as if to build suspense that doomsday is coming - there are some flashes of technical brilliance, albeit in the rarity, such as the flowing camera work that pans around a scene only to show marked developments when it comes full circle, but these were at best cosmetics trying to cover up the weakness in plotting, and other aspects of the modest production design. It tried to pick up pace in the final act and granted that was probably the best payoff in the film if one hasn't already walked out, but was ultimately let down by cheesy costumes and make up.
And it's sad really, because it had an elaborate, carefully masterminded scheme, and a determined purpose in showing just how people can be hoodwinked through the power of the written word, being witnesses to events that unfold and falling victims to a conspiracy of the few. If only it had a more powerful narrative weaved around it that had gone for the jugular rather than trying to be something that it cannot, and came off as nothing more than an empty gloss.
Movie Rating:
(11-11-11, the date this film wished it wasn't released)
Review by Stefan Shih
Genre: Horror/Thriller
Director: Wong Jing, Patrick Kong
Cast: Jennifer Tse, Chrissie Chau, Him Law, Jacquelin Ch’ng, Rose Chan, Charmaine Fong, Harriet Yeung, Stephy Tang, Chau Pak Ho, Kristal Tin
RunTime: 1 hr 38 mins
Released By: Shaw
Rating: PG13 (Some Disturbing Scenes)
Official Website:
Opening Day: 1 December 2011
Synopsis: TRAVEL - Bobo (Chrissie Chau) was killed in a car accident when she travelled to Thailand.
At Bobo’s funeral, Cherryl (Jacquelin Ch’ng), Mindy (Rose Chan), Mon (Charmaine Fong)and Harriet (Harriet Yeung) who were in the same Thailand tour, came to bid farewell to Bobo. As Bobo was an orphan, there were not a lot of visitors, Cherryl and the three others were almost the only ones. While chitchatting, they talked about Bobo’s boyfriend. They remembered Bobo had a big quarrel over the phone with her boyfriend, she even threatened to kill herself. They also suspected Bobo was pregnant, as she vomited all over while having hot pot with them in Thailand.
Meanwhile, a good-looking young man came tothe funeral. He looked very sad, he was Karl, Bobo’s boyfriend. He stayed till the end of the funeral, as if he was reluctant to part with Bobo. With sympathy, the four girls invited Karl to dine with them.
At the dinner, Karl told everyone that he just came back from Hawai ithough he was in his winterclothes. He looked very pale and he did not want to eat at all. He wanted to know everything about Bobo in her Thailand trip and whether she had left anything or words for him. The girls remembered they had seen a photo of Bobo, Karl and another woman, Phoenix (Stephy Tang). Harriet was curious about the relationship of the three, but she did not get any answer, she was stabbed to death by Karl. Cherryl, Mon and Mindy were killed by the poisoned hot pot as well, also done by Karl.
Why did Karl kill everybody? Who is Phoenix? What has happened in Thailand?
CLASSROOM - Teacher Jennifer (Jennifer Tse) got a substitute job at a high school in the suburbs. The first day on the job, she hadbeen assigned to teach the class of Form 4E. The students were really mischievous, except for Don Don (Kimmy Tong) who was relatively quiet, always keptto herself, but befriended Jennifer.
Back at home, while sharing with her parents about the funny incidents at school, Jennifer received an urgent phone call from her ex-boyfriend, Chung (Chau Pak Ho) who begged her to get back together. Chung had a tendency of violence, and when he tried to hit Jennifer for the third time, she firmly decidedto break up with him.
After a short while at work, Jennifer found the students in her class behaving strangely, with the girls always wearing heavy makeup and dressed provocatively, which led her to suspect that they were working as part-time call-girls. Jennifer tried to talk them out of their “part-time jobs”, but was warned by the gangnot to be too nosy instead.
Jennifer returned to school to talk to the Principal and the Student Officer, Miss Kong (Kristal Tin) about the problems she found with her Class, but Kong reacted with surprise as there was no such class as 4E in the school. Jennifer was astounded, they tried but failed to find the class, Jennifer started to get really scared.
Returning home with fear, Jennifer told Chung of her predicament. Chung then brought Jennifer to meet with Master Wan to seek his advice. The Master gaveJennifer a golden talisman to protect herself. With the talisman, Jennifer slept really well and undisturbed. When she woke up, she received her mother’s call, saying that she was waiting for her at the school with Class 4E students.
The frightened Jennifer hurried to the school, and saw her pupils’ faces changing, gradually transforming to ghostly beings, Jennifer then pulled out the golden talisman to fight against them... When the police arrived, Jennifer had already killed all her students. Shewas totally collapsed and kept mumbling to herself that her whole class of 4E was ghosts.
Does Class 4E really exist? Are they really the ghostly spirits? Who actually is the ghost?
Movie Review:
It’s true- as the movie’s poster states, there hasn’t been a horror movie from Hong Kong in a while. Nonetheless, this dual effort from directors Wong Jing and Patrick Kong to revitalise the genre is only a half-hearted one- and we mean that literally, as this anthology of two horror stories ‘Travel’ and ‘Classroom’ from Kong and Wong respectively is only half-good.
The better half is surprisingly Patrick Kong’s ‘Travel’, the story of four friends and their encounter with their recently deceased travel companion Bobo’s (Chrissie Chau) lover Karl (Him Law) at her funeral. The storytelling is notably Kong's, and those familiar with his frequent musings on love in ‘L for Love, L for Lies’, ‘Marriage with a Liar’ and ‘Love is the Only Answer’ will certainly recognise his oft-used techniques of perspective and flashbacks.
The latter is used recurrently to cut between their fawning over Karl at Bobo’s funeral and their nature of their acquaintance with Bobo during a trip to Thailand. Kong’s scriptwriting here is sharp and satirical, taking frequent jabs at recent Hong Kong celebrity gossip (mostly around TVB actor Raymond Lam) as well as the perennial rivalry between local television stations ATV and TVB. Understandably, these jokes will be lost on those unfamiliar with the local entertainment scene in Hong Kong, but they are witty and entertaining for the initiated.
Kong is also well-served by an energetic quartet in Charmaine Fong, Jacqeuline Chong, Harriet Yeung and Rose Chan, all of whom play Bobo’s travel buddies. Their outright flirtings with a handsome cop Jack (Timmy Hung) on the same tour, as well as their quick and spirited delivery of Kong’s dialogue, are hilarious. They also share great chemistry with one another, especially when bouncing lines off each other. Next to them however, Kong regulars Chrissie and Him pale in comparison, partly also because the nature of their roles afford less room for mirth.
Keeping with genre conventions, Kong injects a twist at the end, which plays deftly with his favourite practice of having multiple perspectives. Here, the story told from Bobo’s point of view reveals much more, and wraps up the mystery nicely. As for the horror, well there is admittedly little that is scary, and what passes for it is merely a nice sense of intrigue. Still, Kong is forgiven for creating a well-paced and unexpectedly entertaining piece of cinema.
The same however cannot be said of Wong Jing’s own ‘Classroom’. Working off a threadbare story of a substitute teacher Miss Yip (Jennifer Tse) whose class of unruly students may or may not be ghosts, Jing seems to be genuinely uninspired to deliver a compelling story or any solid thrills. Instead, his short lurches unevenly between various unconvincing characters such as an abusive ex-boyfriend Chung (Pakho Chow), a quiet loner Don-Don (Kimmy Tong) and (lo-and-behold) a Christian minister who tells Yip to ‘put her faith in God’.
Assembled in slipdash fashion, the sloppiness shouldn’t be a surprise to those who have followed Wong Jing’s numerous works through the years- but while this may not be his worst, there is practically nothing redeeming about it. His feeble attempts at horror consists of bad makeup, moving toilet doors, and flying exhaust blades- none of which passes for anything other than cheesy. Even the twist at the end comes off perfunctory, and horror aficionados should have no problem guessing it from a mile away.
Given the disparity in quality between the two, it probably would have been better for Wong Jing to have just left the film up to Patrick Kong, instead of personally taking a stab at a genre that he has little flair for. It also stands to reason that the inspired prologue that sees a bunch of paper dolls coming to life in a funeral parlour and slating the opening of either story probably came from Kong.
So like we said at the start, this latest stab at breathing life into a now-dormant genre in Hong Kong cinema is only half-successful. Watch it only if you’re nostalgic for the campy horror films of yesteryear- otherwise, those looking for any real chills will probably find the air-conditioning in the cinema hall more expedient.
Movie Rating:
(A half-good attempt at revitalising the dormant horror genre in Hong Kong cinema)
Review by Gabriel Chong
Genre: Action/Thriller
Director: Daniel Espinosa
Cast: Denzel Washington, Ryan Reynolds, Brendan Gleeson, Sam Shepard, Vera Farmiga, Fares Fares, Robert Patrick, Nora Arnezeder, Liam Cunningham, Joel Kinnaman, Ruben Blades
Runtime: 1 hr 55 mins
Rating: PG 13 (Violence and some intense sequences)
Released By: UIP
Official Website: www.nooneissafe.com
Opening Day: 9 February 2012
Synopsis: Oscar® winner Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds star in the action-thriller Safe House. Washington plays the most dangerous renegade from the CIA, who comes back onto the grid after a decade on the run. When the South African safe house he’s remanded to is attacked by mercenaries, a rookie operative (Reynolds) escapes with him. Now, the unlikely allies must stay alive long enough to uncover who wants them dead. For the past year, Matt Weston has been frustrated by his inactive, backwater post in Cape Town. A “housekeeper” who aspires to be a full-fledged agent, the loyal company man has been waiting for an opportunity to prove himself. When the first and only occupant he’s had proves to be the most dangerous man he’s ever met, Weston readies for duty. Tobin Frost has eluded capture for almost a decade. One of the best ops men that the CIA’s known, the ex-intelligence officer has given up assets and sold military intel to anyone with cash since he turned. From trading secrets to North Korea to aiding splinter cells, the damage he’s done to the U.S. is immeasurable. And he’s now back on the reservation with a secret. As soon as Frost is brought in for debriefing, mercenaries come and tear apart Weston’s safe house. Barely escaping, the unlikely partners must discover if their attackers have been sent by terrorists or someone on the inside who will kill anyone standing in the way. Now it’s up to Weston to figure out who he can trust before they’re both eliminated from the game.
Movie Review:
You can gauge how enduring a movie has been just by looking at the number of films of the same genre that boast a similar style, and when it comes to CIA espionage thrillers, it’s safe to say that the Bourne trilogy has become something of a cultural touchstone. There are plenty of similarities between Swedish director Daniel Espinosa’s first Hollywood film ‘Safe House’ and the latter two pictures of the Bourne trilogy- and we’re not simply talking about the fact that both of them centre around an expert CIA operative (think the best of the best) gone rogue.
The enigma in this case is a certain Tobin Frost (Denzel Washington), who dropped off the grid nine years ago but has since re-emerged in Cape Town in possession of some sensitive intel courtesy of a contact that he has in MI6. When his contact gets shot and he ends up cornered following an intense foot chase by some armed mercenaries, Tobin checks in at the U.S. Consulate and is immediately picked up by Langley. As the bigwigs (played by a classy trio of Sam Shepard, Vera Farmiga and Brendan Gleeson) scramble from back In Washington behind their computer screens, Tobin is transported to a safe house for interrogation- though as the extraction team led by Robert Patrick’s Daniel Kiefer quickly discovers, their tactics are no match for the man.
Little is particularly inspired in David Guggenheim’s story, but if there is one thing that he gets right, it is turning this CIA thriller into an odd-couple pairing. So at the safe house, Tobin will meet rookie agent Matt Weston, a low-level “housekeeper” who can hardly wait for his Langley boss David Barlow (Gleeson) to transfer him into the field. The encounter between the grizzled veteran Tobin and the naïve newbie Matt turns out something like Denzel’s Academy-Award winning movie ‘Training Day’, and Matt quickly learns over the course of one harried day that things aren’t always as simple as they seem.
Their initial mutual distrust makes for gripping viewing, as Espinosa keeps his audience on tenterhooks wondering when and how the wily Tobin will give his captor the slip. That waiting pays off immensely when Tobin finally pulls the rug from under Matt at a crowded Green Point Stadium (one of the Cape Town’s landmarks on account that it hosted the 2008 World Cup) in a thrillingly-choreographed sequence that is quite simply the highlight of the entire film.
But every subsequent skirmish with the same band of mercenaries who raided Matt’s safe house for Tobin leads Matt to question if there might be some truth in Tobin’s accusations of corruption at the highest level, especially since their assailants always seem to be one step ahead of them. It’s no secret how it turns out, and indeed when the big reveal comes, it’s probably safe to say that you would have already guessed it.
In place of a plot with little surprises, Espinosa has opted to emphasise Matt’s transformation from fresh-eyed agent to disillusioned operative, pausing for effect during some crucial scenes for his audience to appreciate Matt’s predicament. His efforts at character development are only half-successful- not only is there little time in between the exploding mayhem, the lacklustre script that possesses none of the dramatic heft compared to ‘Training Day’ does it no favours as well.
Worse still, the intriguing psychological interplay between the two characters is replaced halfway through the movie by an altogether more straightforward cat-and-mouse game as both men team up to stay ahead of the mercenaries. The action after this point is relentless, exploiting the locations in and around Cape Town for maximum thrills- and while action junkies may find good reason to cheer at the non-stop onscreen bombast, others looking for the smarts and flair of the Bourne series will likely be disappointed.
That doesn’t mean that it doesn’t try hard to emulate the franchise; besides being shot in the same shaky-cam style (right down to having the same d.p. Oliver Wood), the action design- from Denzel’s fighting style to the use of locations (a chase along the rooftops of a shantytown outside the city is particularly reminiscent of ‘The Bourne Ultimatum’) also hews closely to that in the trilogy. It still manages to get your adrenaline pumping all right- especially given Espinosa’s keen sense of pacing- but the sense of déjà vu that one gets after watching this film is unmistakable.
There’s also no mistaking Washington’s distinctive presence- though the 57-year-old actor can’t match the physical agility of Matt Damon, he looks just as formidable and commanding with his signature poise. From critically-acclaimed dramas in the 1990s, Washington has in recent years- under the stewardship of Tony Scott- redefined himself as a compelling man of action, and this latest performance looks set to cement that reputation. Reynolds is on the other hand too nondescript to make much of an impression, his blandness even more pronounced next to Washington- though admittedly there is at least a watchable chemistry between the two stars.
Pity then that with such a gifted actor like Washington, this isn’t the thinking man’s action movie that it aspires to be no thanks to lazy formulaic scriptwriting. It is nonetheless an assured Hollywood debut from Espinosa following his critically-acclaimed Swedish hit ‘Snabba Cash’ (or ‘Easy Money’), and more than offers tense thrilling action for those in need of an adrenaline fix. The next Bourne it definitely is not, despite its obvious attempts at trying to be so, and this remains safely in the territory of slick action thrillers with more style than substance.
Movie Rating:
(The high-octane action it packs from start to finish promises a thrilling, adrenaline-pumping ride- but this is no Bourne despite its ambitions at being so)
Review by Gabriel Chong
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