SYNOPSIS: Inspired by the semi-autobiographical story of a teenager (Nico Parker) who, while caring for her brother along with her audacious mother (Laura Linney), strikes up an unlikely friendship with an eccentric activist (Woody Harrelson) who is protesting one of the most landmark medical cases of all time.
MOVIE REVIEW:
Perhaps owing to coincidence or stroke of luck, Woody Harrelson has the tendency to play an older, wiser man, dispensing nuggets of wisdom to insecure teenagers. Notably, opposite Hailee Steinfeld in Edge of Sixteenth and now Suncoast.
Juggling between school, teenager Doris (Nico Parker) has been taking care of her terminally-ill brother, Max for the past six years. The impending death of Max leads Doris and her mother, Kristine (Laura Linney) into checking into a hospice facility named Suncoast. While the death of Max is inevitable, it’s the tense relationship between mother and daughter that is the focal point of this drama.
Suncoast is a semi-biographical drama written and directed by Laura Chinn. The debut filmmaker wrote this story based on her own experiences with her late brother and her challenges in dealing with grief. Her intention is to make a sad, endearing movie yet funny at the same time liked Little Miss Sunshine and Juno.
Well, the end results speak for itself with Suncoast being more emotional and aching than outright ticklish. A lot of screen time is spent on the tempestuous relationship between Doris and her mother. Kristine spent so much worrying about Max that she literally forgot she has another child.
In likely a quiet protest against her overbearing mother, Doris starts to spend more time socialising in school and inviting her friends to her house for parties. It’s not like Doris is rebelling or turning wayward, she is simply starting to live her life as a “normal" high-school student.
Ironically, it’s always the appearance of Woody Harrelson that lights up the narrative. Playing the role of an eccentric activist who lost his loving wife, Harrelson channels the fun, grief of a man who went through the same path of loneliness and dispensing heartfelt advices to Doris. His role as a surrogate father to Doris is a delight to watch, pity the fact that this spiritual advisor only has limited screen time.
As the daughter of Thandiwe Newton, Nico Parker delivers a compelling performance alongside veterans, Harrelson and Linney. All in all, Suncoast is a serious, moving coming-of-age drama that talks equally on the topic of death and living.
MOVIE RATING:
Review by Linus Tee
Genre: Drama
Director: Todd Haynes
Cast: Natalie Portman, Julianne Moore, Charles Melton, Piper Curda, Jocelyn Shelfo, Cory Michael Smith
Runtime: 1 hr 58 mins
Rating: R21 (Sexual Scene and Some Nudity)
Released By: Shaw Organisation
Official Website:
Opening Day: 22 February 2024
Synopsis: Despite what began as a shocking affair, then 36-year old Gracie (Julianne Moore) and 13-year old Joe (Charles Melton) now lead a seemingly picture-perfect suburban life some 20 years later. Their domestic bliss is disrupted when Elizabeth (Natalie Portman), a famous actress, arrives in their tight-knit community to research her upcoming role as Gracie. As Elizabeth ingratiates herself into the everyday lives of Gracie and Joe, the uncomfortable facts of their scandal unfurl, causing long-dormant emotions to resurface. In May December, director Todd Haynes explores one of the great talents of the human species: our colossal refusal to look at ourselves.
Movie Review:
Fans of Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore rejoice: this is a rare treat where you get not one, but two powerhouse actresses in the same film. And the result is an acting masterclass that unfortunately did not get any love from the Academy members. Plus, the thought provoking themes explored in the story are complex yet sincerely expressed, making this a film you won’t be forgetting anytime soon.
Portman, who has been nominated (and won) countless awards for her memorable performances in titles like Closer (2004), Black Swan (2010) and Jackie (2016), plays Elizabeth, an actress who sets out to study the life of Gracie, a woman who was involved in a scandalous crime more than two decades ago. Gracie is portrayed by Moore, who has been recognised for her luminous work in films like Boogie Nights (1998), The End of the Affair (2000) and Still Alice (2015). What makes Gracie an interesting character is how she is married to a man 23 years younger than her.
Here's the catch – the abovementioned crime took place in 1992 and saw Gracie, who was 36 years old then, being caught having sex with Joe, a 13 year old teenager. She was subsequently sent to prison and gave birth to Joe’s child during her jail term. Fast forward to 2015, the couple have three children and living in the suburbs where things seem to be fine, although they still receive the occasional unpleasant parcel which contain excrement. While Joe (Charles Melton) looks like the eldest child of the family, he tries his best to play the father role. With Elizabeth showing up in Gracie and Joe’s lives, things are going to get uncomfortably messy.
The story by Samy Burch and Alex Mechanik (earning the film its only nomination in the Best Original Screenplay category at the 96th Academy Awards) is loosely inspired by a real life scandal where a 34 year old woman pleaded guilty in 1997 to two counts of felony second degree rape of a child, who was 12 years old when the incident happened. The film has taken creative liberties to dramatise the relationships between its three lead characters, and the dynamics are deliciously played out. Portman, Moore and Melton are excellent in their roles, with director Todd Haynes confidently and successfully navigating through difficult themes with ease.
Does Elizabeth really mean it when she says she want her upcoming film to shed some truth to Gracie and Joe’s lives, and what lengths will she go to in the name of art? Why is Gracie so welcoming to Elizabeth, and how does she manage her marriage with a much younger man who may not be emotionally mature enough to handle the hard truths in life? And how is Joe exactly coping with being a husband and a father, and will there ever be an opportunity for him to take another stab at life? Through a series of events and wickedly played out plot developments, these questions and more will rush through your head, making you ponder how human emotions are manipulated.
Movie Rating:
(The topics explored in this film may be less than pleasant, but director Todd Haynes handles them with wicked humour and ease, making the powerful performances from Natalie Portman, Julianne Moore and Charles Melton even more compelling)
Review by John Li
Genre: Horror/Thriller
Director: Mitesh Patel
Cast: Meredith Vancuyk, Joey Heyworth, Sean Dillingham, George Nelson
Runtime: 1 hr 41 mins
Rating: PG13 (Horror)
Released By: mm2 Entertainment
Official Website:
Opening Day: 22 February 2024
Synopsis: A young woman rents a house in America's largest ghost town, Jerome, Arizona for a business trip, but soon discovers that the house is cursed and traps any woman who enters it. The house transforms into a maze, making it impossible for the woman to escape. Will she be able to break the curse and escape the maze before it's too late? or will she become the next victim of the cursed house?
Movie Review:
There’s no other way to say it – ‘Woman in the Maze’ is absolutely awful.
Directed and cowritten by Mitesh Kumar Patel, the movie follows real estate agent Gabbi Reynolds (Meredith VanCuyk) who is sent to the town of Jerome, Arizona to check out a list of properties that local realtor Owen Bannister (Joey Heyworth) is offering. Gabbi books herself a stay at the Hannah House, which turns out to be the titular maze that she finds herself inadvertently trapped in.
What secrets does the House hold? Who is behind the opening and closing of hidden doors within the House, or for that matter, the random visions Gabbi has been having while she sleeps? Who are the spirits trying to warn Gabbi to leave the house? As intriguing as that might sound, especially seeing as how it is based on the real-life legends of Jerome, you’d probably lose interest after the first half hour – and let’s just say after sticking around for the rest of the movie, you’ll be wishing you did something else with the last hour of your life.
Clearly deluded that he could mount a character-driven horror, Patel takes half the movie to unleash the House’s true horrors on Gabbi. That wait though is an utter drag, as we wait with growing impatience watching a self-absorbed Gabbi reject a well-intentioned Owen who clearly had feelings for her from the get-go but makes a somewhat inexplicable decision to turn up unannounced at the House late one night to check on her – just in case you’re wondering though, as much as you hope for it to be so, the movie isn’t smart enough to involve Owen in the hauntings.
When it does get to unveiling the titular maze, the anti-climax is disappointing to the point of being infuriating. Is the maze really just Gabbi running repeatedly into a room she cannot escape from? Or a basement she somehow falls into to find a corpse and a flashback that is conveniently inserted to tell of the curse that lies upon the House? Or really just a random collection of scenes that have no coherence, including the sudden and laughable appearance of Gabbi’s replicant who tries to get out into the real world to replace the real Gabbi?
If the movie is so devoid of logic, there is hardly any reason it deserves respect for being spoiler-free. That the movie was made on a shoestring budget isn’t excuse for how lazy and unimaginative it is, throwing everything but the kitchen sink from the genre playbook into a disjointed mish-mash that insults the intelligence of its viewers. It isn’t just silly all right; it is downright offensive how the movie thinks it can get away with such hogwash. And much as we are sympathetic to VanCuyk for trying to hold the movie together, it is also difficult not to blame her for taking us for a ride.
We’re not sure why anyone who has seen it would have cared to give it a release, let alone a cinematic one, but here, ‘Woman in the Maze’ is getting a limited run that hopefully is as short-lived as possible. You’d do well to avoid getting into this maze at all, because far from being captivated, you’ll find yourself frustrated for no good reason. So leave the woman in the maze and save yourself – you’ll be doing yourself and everyone else involved in the making of this embarrassment a favour.
Movie Rating:
(Lazy, unimaginative and often incoherent, the horror here is not the titular maze, but how much of a mess this movie is)
Review by Gabriel Chong
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BOOK REVIEW #49: RED CARPET: HOLLYWOOD, CHINA AND THE GLOBAL BATTLE FOR CULTURAL SUPREMACY Book ReviewPosted on 21 Feb 2024 |
Genre: Drama/Comedy
Director: Kelvin Sng
Cast: Dawn Yeoh, Ryan Lian, Hugo Ng, Liu Ling Ling, Collin Chee, Mimi Chu, Asher Su, Gini Chang, Kimson Tan, Anita Chui, Moses Cheng, Das
Runtime: 1 hr 59 mins
Rating: PG13 (Some Sexual References)
Released By: mm2 Entertainment
Official Website:
Opening Day: 22 February 2024
Synopsis: Nala is a newly divorced ex-wife of a second generation rich playboy, who learns to restart her life by returning to her humble beginnings at the hawker centre she grew up in: her family-run Bak Chor Mee stall. When the government decides to relocate all hawkers from the hawker centre to a newly set-up location, many, including Nala, are apprehensive. The situation is made worse when a multinational company organises the “King of Hawkers” competition, pitching their top chef against the hawkers to see who can come up with the best-tasting hawker cuisine, all in an attempt to ultimately buy over their recipes and businesses. Will Nala and her fellow hawkers emerge winners to retain their legacy? Or will their legacy take another form beyond what they perceive?
Movie Review:
Singapore’s hawker culture is something that we as locals are proud of. It is a vibrant and integral part of our culinary landscape, and walking into a hawker centre (note: not an air conditioned food court) will have you realise how much it reflects our diverse heritage and multicultural society. You may feel it’s a caricature, but this movie’s decision to put beloved dishes like the chilli crab, bak chor mee, satay, roti prata, bak kut teh and chicken rice in the spotlight is really the most straightforward and authentic way to show our shared love for good food.
With countless close up shots of the wide variety of dishes and flavours you can find in a hawker centre, it is almost guaranteed that you will get a positive reaction from audiences (this writer started craving for bak chor mee half an hour into the movie), so the next element the filmmakers need is a story. In this movie directed by local filmmaker Kelvin Sng (Taxi! Taxi!, The Fortune Handbook), the protagonist is Nala (Dawn Yeoh), a Singaporean woman who has been living in Hong Kong for many years. She finds out that her husband (Collin Chee) is having an affair, and decides to returns to Singapore with her daughter (Gini Chang). Back home, she finds herself in a quest to revive her mother’s (Liu Ling Ling) bak chor mee stall.
Of course, things wouldn’t be so simple. Nala meets many other characters in the hawker centre, including the owner of a chilli crab stall Ah Lau (Hugo Ng), who runs the business with his son (Asher Su) and grandson (Kimson Tan). There are other stall owners selling our favourite hawker food, and also Ah Dong (Ryan Lian), who has been tending to the bak chor mee stall since Nala’s mother was diagnosed with dementia. Drama ensues when a Hong Kong chef Gao Teng (Moses Cheng) shows up and challenges the hawkers to a cooking competition, and if our humble heroes lose the battle, the hawker centre will be bought over by a conglomerate.
While the story is what you’d expect from a TV series, the 119 minute movie manages to keep the pace going and have you rooting for the good guys right till the end. This isn’t the most original movie you’ve seen, with a number of over the top and melodramatic scenes that many local mainstream productions seem to be fond of. With scenes shot on location at Sims Vista Market & Food Centre, the sights and sounds of the movie are pleasantly familiar. The strongest performance comes from Ng as he goes about hurling abuses at his son and trying to preserve the integrity of his family owned stall. Yeoh is aptly cast as a young mother who is determined to save her mother’s stall, and in turn regain her trust.
The movie was probably made to coincide with the Lunar New Year season (we aren’t sure why it was only released towards the end of the 15 day celebration though), and you can expect a happy ending. At this juncture, you are reminded again that Singapore is multicultural society, with a festive celebration sequence backed up by rhythmic music performed by various ethnic instruments.
Movie Rating:
(Our shared love for hawker food comes through in this movie about the significance of Singapore's hawker culture)
Review by John Li
Genre: Comedy/Sci-Fi
Director: Marc Turtletaub
Cast: Ben Kingsley, Harriet Sansom Harris, Jane Curtin, Zoe Winters, Jade Quon
Runtime: 1 hr 27 mins
Rating: NC16 (Some Mature Content)
Released By: Shaw Organisation
Official Website:
Opening Day: 7 March 2024
Synopsis: Milton (Academy Award-winner Sir Ben Kingsley) is a small-town senior with a fading memory who leads a quiet life of routine in western Pennsylvania. He finds that an extraterrestrial spacecraft has crash landed in his backyard, destroying his bird bath and stranding its alien pilot. Milton invites the alien (Jade Quon) into his home, and the two—each one isolated in their own way—begin to develop a rapport. Soon Milton’s neighbors Sandy (Harriet Sansom Harris) and Joyce (Jane Curtin) discover the visitor whom they’ve nicknamed “Jules,” and together the trio conspire to keep Jules’ presence a secret from the town and from the government that is furiously searching for the mysterious craft.
Movie Review:
A sweet but slight fable that is better suited for home viewing than in the cinema, ‘Jules’ tells of how the sudden appearance of an alien whose spaceship crashes in his backyard changes the life of a 78-year-old retiree Milton (Ben Kingsley).
When we first meet him, Milton is in a bit of a funk. His routine hardly goes beyond turning up at the town council meetings, reiterating the need for more crosswalks or why the town’s motto should be “a great place to refer to as home” instead of “a great place to call home”. He brushes aside his daughter’s concern about his sporadic forgetfulness, though it is clear to us that he is suffering from early-onset dementia.
Milton’s life gets an unexpected lift with the arrival of a little gray man he names Jules. Emerging naked and injured from the spaceship, Jules rejects everything Milton offers except apples and water, and it is on this diet that Milton slowly nurses Jules back to health. Initially ignorant about how others would react to such an occurrence, Milton reports it to the town council, which thankfully dismisses it as a sign of his deteriorating mental state.
Jules’ predicament however doesn’t escape the attention of two of his neighbours, Sandy (Harriet Sansom Harris) and Judy (Jane Curtin) – and while the somewhat bitter Judy, who lives with an ancient cat and is constantly reminiscing of her glory days in Pittsburgh, threatens at first to divulge the alien to the authorities, she comes to enjoy the company that the trio forge with the creature.
Evidently made with a lot of heart and a lot less budget, director Marc Turteltaub keeps the story focused on the kinship forged amongst his elderly characters. To their credit, each of the actors inject his or her respective characters with plenty of dignity, even as they ultimately yearn for companionship in their twilight years. The empathy they inspire therefore is well-earned, especially as we feel how the isolation in their old age has made each of them cling to what little they have left.
Those hoping for some action will probably come off disappointed – notwithstanding the looming threat of being discovered by men in black from the National Security Centre, there is never any real danger or urgency to it, even when these agents finally catch up to Jules, in order to drive a logical conclusion to the proceedings. Like we said at the beginning, this is a sweet but slight fable, and it stays true to that description.
For that reason too, the movie will inevitably come off too inconsequential to be seen on the big screen. As one of its tagline says, ‘Jules’ is about the close encounters of the lonely kind, which explains its sentimental and folksy nature. Truth be told, we cannot deny that we had hoped that it were more, though we do feel a little guilty for saying that about a film this earnest and sincere; that said, if you don’t mind a bittersweet tale about aging and regret, then ‘Jules’ might just strike a heartfelt chord.
Movie Rating:
(Sweet but slight, this fable about aging and regret strikes a bittersweet but heartfelt chord)
Review by Gabriel Chong
Genre: Horror/Mystery
Director: Jang Jae-hyun
Cast: Choi Min-shik, Kim Go-eun, Yoo Hae-jin, Lee Do-hyun, Jeon Jin-ki
Runtime: 2 hr 13 mins
Rating: NC16 (Some Violence & Disturbing Scenes)
Released By: Golden Village Pictures
Official Website:
Opening Day: 14 March 2024
Synopsis: A wealthy family living in Los Angeles calls on a pair of young shaman, played by Kim Go-eun and Lee Do-hyun, to save their newborn child after they are visited by a series of paranormal events. The shaman duo senses that the dark shadow of an ancestor has latched on the family, a so-called ‘Grave’s Calling’. In order to exhume the grave and relieve the ancestor, they seek help from a leading geomancer, portrayed by Choi, and a mortician (portrayed by Yoo Hai-jin). To their dismay, the four find the grave at a shady location in a remote village in Korea. The exhumation is carried out, but unleashes a malevolent force buried beneath.
Movie Review:
On its surface, ‘Exhuma’ is about two shamans, Hwa-rim (Kim Go-eun) and Bong-gil (Lee Do-hyun), who in order to lift an ancestral curse surrounding the members of an enigmatic Korean household living in Los Angeles, employ a geomancer Sang-duk (Choi Min-sik) and a mortician Young-geun (Yoo Hai-jin) to relocate the grave of the family’s great-grandfather. Not surprisingly, things go awry – we won’t say what happens so as not to give away anything – and the said late relative escapes from the coffin to wreck havoc and vengeance upon his ungrateful descendants.
And indeed, over a tense first hour, writer-director Jang Jae-hyun establishes a vise-like grip over his audience as he lays out in three chapters the malevolence hanging over the remote mountain peak at which the grave sits, the odd tombstone that bears no name but only a number of coordinates, and the immediate and extended family whose reticence suggests a deeper, darker secret. Like all good horrors, most of it is implied – here, largely through the elements – although there is absolutely no doubt when the ancestor’s vengeful spirit is finally let loose.
It is absolutely fascinating to say the least. Jang pays careful attention in his depictions of the various rituals, not just Sang-duk’s exhumations but also Hwa-rim’s ‘daesal gut’ ceremony (in which a shaman performs an intoxicating dance with animal sacrifice to distract evil spirits); in particular, the details are intriguing to behold, like how Sang-duk tastes the dirt in a grave to determine the quality of the land or how Bong-gil tattoos scriptures on his body to ward off vile entities from possessing him. Especially for the uninitiated, it is spellbinding to witness how in today’s modern civilisations such traditionalism still prevails.
Part of the intrigue also comes from discovering our idiosyncratic quartet and their respective motivations. As seasoned as he is, Sang-duk proves to be an extremely cautious man, wary of the forces he can only seek to tame, but not control. On the other hand, though steeped in shamanism, Hwa-rim is driven by a strong capitalist instinct, and despite Sang-duk’s reservations, decides to press on with the exhumation. Bong-gil says little throughout the film, but we find out later on that his path to become a shaman is one of personal redemption. And last but not least, Young-geun is revealed to be a Christian by faith, and it is humbling to see him resort to prayer when confronted by evil.
You’ll do well to take note though that the narrative switches gears in the second half, and as much as we embraced Jang’s sleight of hand, we will say it is not hard to see why others may not. This much we will say – it isn’t about the family at the start anymore, or to a large extent, their great grand-father; rather, it delves into a specific period in Korean history when it was ruled by Japan, and an even more powerful evil force which had been preserved over the centuries. The link between the two inter-dependent but separate story arcs is clear as crystal, but it is quite a different supernatural entity that our quartet finds themselves up against.
We’d say too that, compared to the first hour, the second is a lot denser for many reasons. For one, not many would be familiar with the history of the Korean peninsula, and perhaps appreciate references like how ‘the fox broke the tiger’s waist’. For another, it goes much deeper into certain mythologies, in particular the five elements of ‘feng shui’ – namely, wood, fire, earth, metal and water – and how they work to reinforce or balance out one another. We have no doubt such references come across intuitively to Jang’s native home audience, but the rest of us not quite steeped in them will probably need to do some homework after to better understand the logic within.
As divisive as its third act may be, ‘Exhuma’ still remains a compelling horror thriller throughout, thanks to the conviction of its storytelling, direction and character work. Since his 2015 debut ‘The Priests’, Jang has demonstrated a gift for fashioning thrillers based on faith, religion and the supernatural, and ‘Exhuma’ sees Jang at his most ambitious and confident to date. Despite its slightly over two hour duration, there is never a dull moment within, in part because of a wry cast whose performances brim with understated charisma. Keep an open mind, and you will probably, like us, be pleasantly delighted at what secrets ‘Exhuma’ has hidden under its surface.
Movie Rating:
(Packed with intrigue, suspense and even sheer ominousness, this blend of the occult, supernatural and Korean history is a gripping watch from start to finish)
Review by Gabriel Chong
Genre: Drama/Musical
Director: Blitz Bazawule
Cast: Taraji P. Henson, Danielle Brooks, Colman Domingo, Corey Hawkins, H.E.R., Halle Bailey, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Fantasia Barrino
Runtime: 2 hr 24 mins
Rating: M18 (Some Mature Content)
Released By: Warner Bros
Official Website: https://www.thecolorpurple.com.sg
Opening Day: 7 March 2024
Synopsis: A story of love and resilience based on the novel and the Broadway musical, The Color Purple is a decades-spanning tale of one woman’s journey to independence. Celie faces many hardships in her life, but ultimately finds extraordinary strength and hope in the unbreakable bonds of sisterhood.
Movie Review:
We think it’s pretty clear that this movie directed by Ghanaian filmmaker Blitz Bazawule was meant to be an Oscar bait. The musical film is based on the stage musical of the same name, which is based on a novel of the same name.
The novel by Alice Walker which won the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the National Book Award for Fiction is a feminist work about an abused and uneducated African American woman's struggle for empowerment. Such themes often resonate with film award juries, and when you include big names like Oprah Winfrey, Steven Spielberg and Quincy Jones (as producers), you’d think that the movie would get recognised in several categories.
Furthermore, the main lead is Fantasia Barrino who is set to impress audiences in her film debut. She is accompanied by Danielle Brooks in a supporting role. The two women reprise their roles from the productions of the stage musical, and you’d think they would be attending countless film awards and bringing home some trophies.
Alas, the 144 minute movie is only nominated in the Best Supporting Actress category at the 96th Academy Awards. Another notable point is how the previous film adaptation helmed by Spielberg in 1985 went home with no trophies despite being nominated in 11 categories at the 58th Academy Awards.
This makes us think about the business model like behind film awards, because this movie showcasing heartfelt performances from its ensemble cast is a sincere production that is thoughtful and enjoyable at the same time. The story’s protagonist is Celie, a poor African-American girl who lives in rural Georgia in the early 1900s. The film chronicles her difficult life through the years and how she struggles and survives the painful ordeals. Along the way, she meets different characters that make an impact in her life.
There is Mister, an abusive man she is forced to marry. There is Sofia, a defiant woman who marries Mister’s son Harpo. There is also Shug Avery, a showy jazz singer who leaves an impression wherever she goes. These characters are well cast and played competently. Taraji P. Henson exudes brilliance and star power as Shug, while Brooks steals the limelight in every scene she appears in. Colman Domingo is gruff and tough as Mister, while Corey Hawkins portrays the good natured Harpo. Elsewhere, singer H.E.R. shows up as Celie’s other friend Mary Agnes, while Halle Bailey plays a young version of Celie’s sister Nettie (adult Nettie is played by Ciara). This is a godsent cast.
The spotlight is naturally on Barrino, who sings her heart out as the adult Celie (the young version is played by Phylicia Pearl Mpasi). The American Idol winner shows emotional depth as a woman who goes through an incredible journey of adversities before triumphing by overcoming all odds. Her powerful vocals are the highlight of the movie, and you’ll be moved when tunes like “I’m Here” and “The Color Purple” play on screen. Put all your cynicism aside and this movie will have you celebrating the resilience of the human spirit.
Movie Rating:
(A good ol' musical film that celebrates the resilience of the human spirit, made even more enjoyable by the powerful performances of its competent ensemble cast)
Review by John Li
SYNOPSIS: AMERICAN FICTION is Cord Jefferson's hilarious directorial debut, which confronts our culture’s obsession with reducing people to outrageous stereotypes. Jeffrey Wright stars as Monk, a frustrated novelist who’s fed up with the establishment profiting from “Black” entertainment that relies on tired and offensive tropes. To prove his point, Monk uses a pen name to write an outlandish “Black” book of his own, a book that propels him to the heart of hypocrisy and the madness he claims to disdain.
MOVIE REVIEW:
Westworld and James Bond actor Jeffrey Wright plays Thelonious “Monk” Ellison, a smart African-American writer and professor from an upper-class family who struggles in the literary world given his taste for writing academic style, unappealing stories.
As a joke or a middle finger to mock the commercial crowd, he wrote a satirical novel that delivers the “black experience” under a fake convict persona which contains the expected gangsta, drugs and crimes elements. It turned out to be a massive success with a promised $750,000 advance from a publisher and a movie adaptation in the pipeline.
At the same time, Monk is facing issues with his loved ones. His sister, Lisa suffers a heart attack, his mother is stricken with dementia and his brother is divorced, cash-strapped and turning into drugs. The money sure comes in handy for Monk but is it good enough to satisfy the artistry and integrity in him?
American Fiction walks the fine line between a family drama and a broad satirical comedy. The entire debacle about a fake felon on the run from the authorities sounds like a silly comedy made for Kevin Hart but Wright steals the show with his sophisticated, non-showy performance as the complicated Monk who kinds of voluntarily estranged from his family after the death of his father.
The interactions between Monk and his agent, Arthur (John Ortiz) brilliantly showcases the stereotyping and prejudices against Blacks and laughingly, a retort at why Hollywood is rapidly going the diversified route. The lines are written sharply by director and screenwriter Cord Jefferson and hilariously delivered by Wright and Ortiz making it a pure delight once these two appear onscreen.
But much of the story is focused on Monk and his remaining family members and his love life with a lawyer named Caroline (Erika Alexander). The most fun award goes to Sterling K Brown playing Monk’s brother, Clifford, a plastic surgeon who is caught in bed with another man by his former wife and now making up for lost time, partying with guys.
With a nomination of 5 Oscars, American Fiction is an uncompromising, “smart” comedy that speaks of social commentary and the universal struggles on love and family.
MOVIE RATING:
Review by Linus Tee
SYNOPSIS: Six months into a solitary research mission to the edge of the solar system, an astronaut, Jakub (Adam Sandler), realizes that the marriage he left behind might not be waiting for him when he returns to Earth. Desperate to fix things with his wife, Lenka (Carey Mulligan), he is helped by a mysterious creature from the beginning of time he finds hiding in the bowels of his ship. Hanuš (voiced by Paul Dano) works with Jakub to make sense of what went wrong before it is too late.
MOVIE REVIEW:
Space can be a scary place to venture to. You might perhaps encounter a ferocious alien along the way. Perhaps debris might caused your entire shuttle to explode or worse, you might end up trapped in a wormhole.
Nothing is certain in space and in Spaceman, Adam Sandler plays a Czech astronaut Jakub who is on his last lap of his six months mission to investigate the Chopra cloud. However, his relations with his pregnant wife, Lenka (Carey Mulligan) has soured over the months and days and as a result, Jakub is feeling sort of edgy and depressed. Meanwhile, a ground crew member, Peter (Kunal Nayyar) is concerned about Jake’s well-being and he can only assures Jakub that Lenka is mainly having issues with the comm system.
From the beginning of time comes a wise, talking space spider (voiced by Paul Dano from The Batman and Dumb Money) who decides to spend his remaining time in space counselling Jakub and opening his mind to his past and present while sharing Czech version of Nutella with each other.
Spaceman is not exactly that kind of entertaining, adventurous “space” movie even though it stars a very famous comedian. Definitely, it’s not on the level of The Martian, Gravity or rather, it’s more gear towards dramatic flair liked Ad Astra. The movie is set mostly inside the claustrophobic cabin with occasional flashbacks to Jake’s past involving the difficult relationship with his father and his rocky love life with Lenka.
For the entire duration, Spaceman feels like a prolonged counselling session between a tortured astronaut and his psychiatrist, just that the latter is in spider form. Paul Dano’s soothing voiceover can be a double-edged sword as it nearly puts this reviewer to sleep multiple times. Mulligan agains plays a complicated woman after Maestro though the narrative doesn’t grant Lenka a more fulfilling arc.
Juggling his time between his Happy Madison productions and the occasional serious dramas, Sandler delivers an effective, endearing performance but it’s strictly letdown by the monotonous, aloof narrative. If you feel Interstellar is a bloated, mind-blogging mess, then perhaps Spaceman might well be it’s companion piece. Only this time, you have an eight-legged creature to join you in outer space.
MOVIE RATING:
Review by Linus Tee
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