Genre: Music/Drama
Director: Max Giwa & Dania Pasquini
Cast: Falk Hentschel, Sofia Boutella, George Sampson, Akai Osei-Mansfield, Tom Conti
Runtime: 1 hr 25 mins
Rating: TBA
Released By: Golden Village Pictures & MVP
Official Website: http://www.streetdancethemovie.co.uk/
Opening Day: 12 April 2012
Synopsis: To beat the world's best dance crew, streetdancer, Ash (Falk Hentshel), with new friend Eddie (George Sampson), set off to gather the greatest streetdancers from around Europe, falling in lovewith beautiful salsa dancer, Eva (Sofia Boutella) in Paris. With landmark locations, the most spectacular dance fusion of Latin and Street ever seen, the sequel to global smash hit StreetDanceis bigger, better, bolder and back in 3D!
Movie Review:
For people who did not manage to catch Street Dance 3D (2010), it should come as good news that this sequel has no relation with its predecessor- other than two returning acts, Flawless and George Sampson. Street Dance 2 uses the dance scene in Europe as its backdrop, introducing a number of dances and adopting pretty much the same pattern as Street Dance 3D. However, compared to the original, this movie has a greater focus, which is to showcase the fusion of street dance with a popular Latin dance form, salsa.
The storyline, albeit cheesy, has a lot more punch and is more focused, centred as it is around a distraught Ash (Falk Hentshel) who after failing terribly at a dance battle is scouted by Eddie (George Sampson). The duo subsequently comb all over Europe for the best dancers to form their dance crew, with the aim of beating the ‘Invincibles’. They chanced upon a salsa dancer Eva (Sofia Boutella), who eventually became crucial to their success. In between, there is some drama here and there, including the obligatory love story. However, those looking for some sparks will likely be disappointed, as the romance is as clichéd as it gets.
Nonetheless, as mentioned earlier, the movie does have the charms a dance movie ought to have, which are essentially supported by the dance sequences and the music. For instance, the difficulty of combining salsa and street dance was brought out through how Ash acquired the steps by taking lessons from Eva. A street dancer, who is trained to express himself as freely as he could, now needs to be disciplined and take into consideration of a partner to display elegance and passion. All these are complimented with a good mix of contemporary groovy dance mixes that engages the audience into the performance.
Also, to-watch-out-for is Sofia Boutella, who makes her feature film debut here. The French hip-hop dancer takes on a whole new different dance form yet shows no sign of being an amateur and comes off as a complete natural- certainly one of the highlights of the film.
As you would probably expect, Ash will end up being the hero who overcomes and emerges from his past failure to prove his worth. The grand finale is undoubtedly the climax of the whole visual experience. The dance routines were electrifying, a definite treat for all. The joy from the triumph was also very genuine and contagious.
Still, what remains as a really shortcoming for dance movies is its limited appeal for the uninitiated- perhaps a more solid-packed storyline and drama would enable it to broaden its appeal.
Movie Rating:
(Excellent display of a fusion of dances, with a highly contagious feel-good atmosphere!)
Review by Tho Shu Ling
SYNOPSIS: Ah Kiao sells TVs but she wants to be on TV! The Malaysian girl heads off to Singapore to fulfill her dream of becoming a famous TV star. In her journey to superstardom, she meets a shy coffee shop assistant named Ah Seng who encourages her to achieve her dream. Seemingly light-hearted but not without moments of vulnerability and emotion, "Already Famous" is touted as "not just about the trials and tribulations of making it in showbiz but also a message of truth and heart to anyone who's ever wished upon a star".
MOVIE REVIEW:
One of the most underrated actresses in the local industry, Michelle Chong shockingly announced she is taking a hiatus to join the ranks of actor-turning-into-director with her own written script, “Already Famous” last year. The result is a mixed bag of comedy and romance that never quite took off after a pretty funny prologue.
Chong plays Ah Kiao, a TV-obsessed Malaysian kampong girl who dreams of becoming an actress in Singapore despite her mum’s objections. With her grandma’s blessing, Ah Kiao finally found the courage to leave her hometown, Yong Peng to travel to Suntec city to audition in Starz Search only to find rejection waiting for her cos she is not a local. Encountering several stumbling blocks along the way, will Ah Kiao find her calling instead as a calefare and will she find her true love in the form of a coffeeshop assistant, Ah Seng (Alien Huang) as well?
Knowing Chong’s perfect comic timing especially her witty impersonations in the satire news comedy series, “The Noose”, we know adopting a fake Malaysian accent is nothing that challenging for the multi-talented actress and host. Perhaps given the censorship restrictions on the small screen, there are limits to all the funny jabs and gags thus we expect a bit more from Chong’s debut written work. Unfortunately, “Already Famous” turns out to be such a family friendly affair hampered by a sagging pacing (runs close to almost 2 hours) that I have a sudden crave for Jack Neo’s Hokkien vulgarities filled comedies.
There is a motivational message hidden right here but I guess Chong is not the right person to convey it. She is excellent in her zany, wild impersonations that being an innocent boring kampong girl simply isn’t her cup of tea. Taiwanese compere/singer Alien Huang making his first feature film debut is serviceable though not exactly eye-catching while part-time actress Ho Ai Ling is the one that shines with her comic timing as a veteran calefare and child star Tan Jun Sheng is rib-tickling with his “Black Swan” conversations opposite Ah Kiao.
The constant flashing of a fake TV series that keep airing on the screen called "Our Hospital" is a nice touch. It sort of stars Thomas Ong I guessed. The rest of the production is filled with interesting cameos ranging from Irene Ang as a coordinator for Calefares, Kumar as a cosmetics customer, Chua Enlai as an overzealous DHC promoter, Patricia Mok as a staff from a model agency and many other local TV personalities and celebrities out to give support to Chong.
If you don’t mind a predictable rom-com, “Already Famous” overall is a decent effort from Michelle Chong. For the rest of us, we are crossing our fingers waiting from Chong’s production outfit, Huat Films to give us the true-blue wacky Michelle Chong’s movie.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
Running at 22 minutes, the Making Of special briefly covers interviews with Michelle Chong, Alien Huang, Ho Ai Ling, blooper reels and behind-the-scenes footages. There is also a Trailer included.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
The visual transfer for this DVD is overall satisfactory and sound wise is decent.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD RATING :
Review by Linus Tee
SYNOPSIS: Muppet domination continues with a hilarious new movie from Walt Disney Studios. Jason Segel, Academy Award(R) nominee Amy Adams (Best Performance By An Actress In a Supporting Role, Junebug, Doubt, The Fighter) and Academy Award winner Chris Cooper (Best Performance By An Actor In A Supporting Role, Adaptation) join everyone's favorite Muppets and an all-star celebrity cast in a comic adventure for the whole family. While on vacation in Los Angeles, Walter, the world's biggest Muppet fan, his brother Gary, and friend Mary uncover the diabolical plot of a greedy oil millionaire to destroy the Muppet Theater. Now, the Muppet-loving trio must reunite Kermit, Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear and their friends to stage the greatest Muppet telethon ever and save their beloved theater. The gang is back together again in a must-own movie full of irresistible music and family fun. Bring home the biggest Muppet adventure ever on Disney Blu-ray and DVD!.
MOVIE REVIEW:
With the advancement of social media and technology, the Muppets seem to lose their footing with the younger audience over the years. It’s a shame for sure. With the opening of “The Muppets”, those Generation X people like myself who grew up on “Sesame Street” will definitely welcome this first official Muppet movie in 12 years with open arms and even legs thrown in.
Co-written and starring Jason Segel, the comedian who made his mark baring his privates in the breakthrough comedy, “Forgetting Sarah Marshall”, “The Muppets” tells the story of Gary (Segel) and his Muppet brother, Walter’s effort in salvaging the abandoned Muppet theater from the hands of an evil oil magnate, Tex Richman (Chris Cooper). The guys need to raise $10 million to repurchase the theater and in order to do so; the brothers has to first approach the help of Kermit the Frog and reunite the Muppet gang for a telethon to raise funds for the cause.
It’s an awesome feeling watching Kermit the Frog, Foozie Bear, Gonzo, Animal, Miss Piggy and many other characters back on the screen with their unique brand of muppets’ humor intact. Gonzo is crazier than ever and yes selling toilet wares. Miss Piggy has left Kermit and working as Vogue Paris editor. Animal is currently into anger management. The list goes on and not forgetting the warm, fuzzy song routines that will have you tapping your toes to it.
The main human cast members and countless celebrities cameos only add icing on the cake. This is a Muppet movie after all and I’m glad director James Bobin never fails to focus the limelight on them. Veteran actor Chris Cooper who hams up as the villain even chips in a rap song while the delightful Amy Adams appears as Gary’s love interest though I find her more enchanting in err “Enchanted”. People liked Jack Black, Zach Galifianakis, Selena Gomez, Alan Arkin, Emily Blunt, Jim Parsons, Neil Patrick Harris, Ken Jeong are probably among the many familiar faces you will find yourself busy spotting in the entire movie.
While Segel and co-writer Nicholas Stoller (Get Him to the Greek, Forgetting Sarah Marshall) seems an unlikely choice for a family-friendly movie, they managed to pull off one of the most delightful musical comedy of the year. Of course, enlisting musician Bret McKenzie who won an Academy Award for one of his written songs, “Man or Muppet” helps to turn up the charm factor as well.
This is fundamentally the best comeback movie for the beloved Muppets franchise. Wholesomely nutritious for the whole family, smart and without resorting to unnecessary dumb humor (except a fart-shoes sequence which I easily forgive), the late Jim Henson would have been so proud.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
The Longest Blooper Reel Ever (Well...At Least In Muppet History *We Think)" is an 8 minutes blooper reel that showcases the muppeteers’ wondrous ability to ad-lib.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
The DVD presentation is sharp, colourful and without much of a print distraction and the audio is perfect during the musical numbers and dialogue sequences.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD RATING :
Review by Linus Tee
Genre: CG Animation
Director: Genndy Tartakovsky
Cast: Adam Sandler, Selena Gomez, Andy Samberg, Kevin James, Fran Drescher, Cee-Lo Green, David Spade, Steve Buscemi, Molly Shannon, David Koechner
RunTime: 1 hr 31 mins
Released By: Sony Pictures Releasing International
Rating: PG (Some Scary Images)
Official Website: http://www.welcometohotelt.com/
Opening Day: 6 December 2012
Synopsis: Welcome to the Hotel Transylvania, Dracula’s (Adam Sandler) lavish five-stake resort, where monsters and their families can live it up, free to be the monsters they are without humans to bother them. On one special weekend, Dracula has invited some of the world’s most famous monsters – Frankenstein and his bride, the Mummy, the Invisible Man, a family of werewolves, and more – to celebrate his daughter Mavis’s 118th birthday. For Drac, catering to all of these legendary monsters is no problem – but his world could come crashing down when one ordinary guy stumbles on the hotel and takes a shine to Mavis.
Movie Review:
This Genny Tartakovsky directed animated feature was released in the States earlier to coincide with Halloween, and rightly so – because this is a movie about your favourite classic monsters. Here in Singapore, the local distributor has decided to wait for the year end school holidays to ensure there is at least a decent box office taking at the end of the day. And this will work out pretty well, we are sure.
The story is fun enough: Count Dracula has opened a lavish resort Hotel Transylvania, where monsters and their families can take a vacation without worrying about human beings. There, they are free to show their true selves without pesky humans bother them. The action takes place over one special weekend, when Dracula invites his monster friends to celebrate his daughter 118th birthday. The fun begins when a human stumbles on the hotel for the first time and takes a shine to his daughter.
The 91 minute movie is a breeze to sit through. The jokes come fast and furious, and fans of classic monsters will enjoy the witty references. It cracks us up whenever Dracula breaks into a fit shouting: “I do not say blah blah blah! Where do you people get this from?” This is obviously a reference to how horror movies always portray Dracula making inaudible noises. Also, watch out for a hilarious scene where Dracula sees a scene from Twilight and laments to himself: “That’s how we are represented, unbelievable.”
For viewers who like their animated movies a little more subdued and intelligent, the sometimes frisky pace of this colourfully drawn production may be a little too much for comfort. There is loads of fun here, and there is never a dull moment as you watch Dracula, Frankenstein, Mummy, The Invisible Man and The Werewolf prance about entertaining you with their gags. The brisk pacing of the very digestible movie will work for those who like their entertainment in fun sized bites.
The voice cast seemed to have a blast being part of this production. Headlining the pack is Adam Sandler as Dracula. The comedian is spot on with his feigned Transylvanian accent, serving his monster guests with zest and gusto. He is accompanied by David Spade (as the fast talking Invisible Man), Steve Buscemi (as the long suffering Werewolf), Kevin James (as the larger than life Frankenstein) and Cee Lo Green (whoever knew that the too cool to be true rapper would take up the role of a Mummy?), who each adds a unique personality to his voice, making the hilarious interactions between the protagonists a must watch. Even the end credits featuring a song performance by the monsters is an appealing touch, which will have you leaving the cinema smiling.
The couple of the movie (the young female vampire and the adventurous backpacker) is voiced by Selena Gomez and Andy Samburg, with the latter sounding a little annoying at times. Fortunately, the love story which blossoms between them is a light hearted affair with no melodrama, which is another reason why the entire family can sit back, relax and watch this from beginning to end without worrying whether there is logic in this tale.
Movie Rating:
(Get ready to check in to an hour and a half of brisk hilarity and gags)
Review by Fabian Foo
SYNOPSIS: Ayaka Kurenai (Rina Takeda) and Natsuki (Hina Tobimatsu ) are the young descendants of a legendary Okinawan karate master. As children, they live a happy life with their father who encourages them both to practice karate. However, one day a mysterious group breaks into their dojo - killing their father, kidnapping Natsuki, and stealing the black belt which has been passed down in their family for over 200 years. Several years later, Ayaka is living the humble life of an ordinary high school student in Yokohama. Natsuki, on the other hand, has been trained as a killing machine by the mysterious group that kidnapped her all those years ago. Soon, Natsuki and the group begin to take aim at Ayaka. Out of love for her sister, Ayaka decides to do whatever it takes to get Natsuki and their family's black belt back from the clutches of the mysterious group...
MOVIE REVIEW:
“Karate Girl” ought to be the most down-to-earth action movie I have seen in recent history. No fancy wire-fu works, no gravity-defying somersaults and no explosions to speak of. All it has is generous display of karate kicks and punches.
Featuring real-life black belt karate champion Rina Takeda in her sophomore full-length movie, the plotting of “Karate Girl” can be best described as functional. Riddled with clichés and awkwardly passive, the story begins with a karate master in Okinawa being attacked by a group of evil men led by Tagawa Shu who wishes to lay his hands on the master’s legendary sacred belt. During the ordeal, the master is killed while one of her daughters; Sakura is kidnapped by Shu and raised to be a ruthless killer. His elder daughter, Ayaka (Takeda) managed to survive and went on to live with an adopted family in Yokohama with a changed identity. Years later, while working as a cinema attendant, her karate skills are exposed on the Internet arousing the attention of Shu and his gang. It turns out the sacred belt they took is a fake and they are looking for the actual one whom they believed is in the hands of Ayaka.
Pacing is a major problem in “Karate Girl” apparently as they are too many scenes that are stretchy and utterly boring. Watching a villainous character mouthing predictable dialog can be excruciating and having a karate champion standing around mouthing more pages of dialog is a sin. The action only starts to heat up in the last 20 minutes or so and that is if you are still awake by then. There are pros and cons on settling for some old school action choreography. The good thing of course is watching Takeda’s amazing skills liked leaping and going on disabling her three opponents with her deadly kicks. The bad thing is you can’t help feeling the moves are simply repetitive and lacks certain flair to impress after a while.
Hina Tobimatsu who plays Sakura, the younger sis of Ayaka is another action star to watch out for given her equally nimble moves and Richard Heselton, another judo and boxing athlete plays the typical Caucasian baddie. Admittedly, “Karate Girl” is a poorly executed piece of martial-arts work peppered with too many unnecessary slow-mo moments to showcase the action. Comparing this to “Jija” Yanin’s debut in the Thai action flick, “Chocolate”, Rina Takeda needs a stronger, bolder vehicle to launch her career further. This piece of shoddy work probably qualifies only as an introductory piece in her resume.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
The DVD comes only with a Trailer.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
The visual is overall satisfactory while the music soundtrack and background effects are a notch louder than the actual dialog which can be irritating at times.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD RATING :
Review by Linus Tee
Genre: Drama
Director: Paul Weitz
Cast: Robert De Niro, Paul Dano, Julianne Moore, Olivia Thirlby, Lili Taylor, Victor Rasuk, Dale Dickey, Joe Urban, Wes Studi, Steve Cirbus, Eddie Rouse
RunTime: 1 hr 42 mins
Rating: M18 (Coarse Language and Some Sexual Scenes)
Released By: Shaw
Official Website: http://focusfeatures.com/being_flynn
Opening Day: 10 May 2012
Synopsis: Academy Award-nominated writer-director Paul Weitz (ABOUT A BOY) turns his hand to this moving portrait of fathers and sons. Based on a true story, BEING FLYNN follows Nick Flynn (Paul Dano of LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE, THERE WILL BE BLOOD) who is shocked to have his eccentric and long-absent father, Jonathan (two-time Academy Award winner Robert De Niro) reach out to him unexpectedly. Still feeling the loss of his mother (played in flashbacks by four-time Academy Award nominee Julianne Moore) in the midst of starting a new relationship with Denise (JUNO's Olivia Thirlby), the last person Nick wants to see is his father. But you can't outrun fate and slowly Nick comes to realize he has been given the chance to make a real future not only for himself, but for his struggling father too.
Movie Review:
Some of us lead pretty screwed up lives, and without going too much into details, this reviewer knows how it feels when things hit rock bottom. Different people deal with such crises differently. Of course, having found solace in movies for the longest time, this reviewer would conveniently turn to the screen to find possible solutions to his problems. Call it idealism, or even escapism, this outlet has worked well so far. And when this Paul Weitz directed family drama fell into his hands for a review, he took this as an opportunity to seek some answers to the questions which have been plaguing him.
Weitz adapts Nick Flynn’s novel “Another Bullshit Night in Suck City” into a film screenplay, and casts Paul Dano as Flynn, an ambitionless man in New York City who works in a homeless shelter. As luck (or some say fate) has it, he re encounters his father Jonathan (played by the always reliable Robert De Niro), now a con man and self proclaimed artist. The two have to reconcile and reach some sort of closure. How will this work out, considering the son is having some sort of trouble in his own life, and isn’t sure whwther he should reach out to his father who has a hand in making who he is today?
The premise of this seemingly underrated film will speak to the city dweller troubled by urban alienation. What constitutes fulfillment and a happy life in the big city? How many unresolved issues do one have to settle before calling it a day? What does it take to reach out to someone whom you feel you should be connected to? This and more abstract concerns are the themes explored in this film, which may just go under the radar for many movie goers.
Dano (Cowboys and Aliens, There Will Be Blood) takes on the role of the protagonist who has to come to terms with his own problems before tackling larger issues in life. The character may come across as rather unlikable in the film, but that is often the case for people around us – no one is perfect, after all. While the 28 year old actor may not be your typical Hollywood good looker, he portrays the every day common man affectingly, and you may just recognise him as someone you know.
The versatile De Niro (Killer Elite, New Year’s Eve) plays his almost good for nothing father with ease, and the veteran makes you realise how far he has come in showbiz with his unsentimental but moving performance. Elsewhere, the ever beautiful Julianne Moore (The Kids Are All Right, Crazy Stupid Love) plays Dano’s long suffering mother who appears in flashback sequences. The British American actress (when will the Academy give her an Oscar) may not have much screen time, but her poignant presence is very much felt every moment she appears.
Director Weitz takes a somewhat cold stand with this story, avoiding the potential melodrama which may have easily milked those tears. The director of Cirque de Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant (2009) and In Good Company (2004) keeps things real and grounded with his latest work. The cinematography and editing are calming, and the music by Badly Drawn Boy (who worked with Weitz) on 2002’s About A Boy is emotionally compelling.
If there’s one thing which will leave a sense of hope that life is still hanging on to despite the mess it brings, it is the fact that there are stories like Nick Flynn’s which are always ready to be told.
Movie Rating:
(A unsentimentally affecting look at how life turned out for some of us)
Review by John Li
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Singapore's 2nd IMAX theatre to open at the new JCubePosted on 28 Mar 2012 |
Genre: Comedy/Thriller
Director: John Gulager
Cast: Danielle Panabaker, Matt Bush, David Hasselhoff, Gary Busey, Chris Zylka, David Koechner, Meagan Tandy, Paul James Jordan, Jean-Luc Bilodeau, Hector Jimenez, Christopher Lloyd, Ving Rhames, Paul Scheer, Katrina Bowden, Adrian Martinez, Clu Gulager
Runtime: 1 hr 23 mins
Rating: M18
Released By: Golden Village Pictures
Official Website: http://piranha3ddmovie.com/
Opening Day: 14 June 2012
Synopsis: Having awoken from their spring break extravaganza at Lake Victoria, the swarm heads upstream where they look to make a meal out of Big Wet, a local water park where when it comes to fun, nobody does it wetter! Though they came to get wet, get loaded and get some, the staff and patrons get more than they bargained for when they must face the fiercest, most bloodthirsty piranhas yet. Lead by the strong-willed, studious Maddy and her friends, Barry and Kyle, the trio must dive in and take on these man-eating creatures using every ounce of their being...but can they be stopped?
Movie Review:
It might have been a B-movie, but 2010’s ‘Piranha 3D’ was a wickedly funny horror comedy that mixed bikinis, boobs, bodies and blood for a gory good time. Unfortunately, its filmmaker Alexandre Aja doesn’t return for its sequel (whose title is a tongue-in-cheek reference to the size of a certain female anatomy the movie boasts countless gratuitous shots of), and along with Aja’s departure sadly is the series’ savvy sense of self-parody- so much so that ‘Piranha 3DD’ ends up typifying, rather than defying as its predecessor did, its genre stereotype as a Bad-movie.
To be sure, plot and character was far from our consideration when we approached this movie- after all, both would have simply been functional devices for the movie to get from one bloodbath to another. Here, the trio of B-horror screenwriters Patrick Melton, Marcus Dunstan and Joel Soisson move the setting from the waters of Lake Victoria to a water park known as ‘The Big Wet’, owned by the sleazy but enterprising Chet (David Koechner) who intends to re-open the place with former strippers as lifeguards and an adults-only nudist pool.
Confining the action to one location could have meant a more intense experience, but neither the screenwriters nor director John Gulager are adroit enough to do so. Instead, they let more than half the movie pass before the blood-splattering finale; and when it comes, they rush through it in such a haphazard manner with nary a care for build-up or continuity that it becomes little more than a bloody mess (pardon the pun).
Of course, you can’t say the warning signs were not there from the start. Hewing closely to Aja’s template from the original, Gulager’s first sequence involves a cameo by B-movie veteran Gary Busey to herald the return of the carnivorous fish- but the perfunctory manner in which it is filmed matches neither the smarts nor the thrills of “Jaws” alumnus Richard Dreyfuss’ cameo in Aja’s. Ditto for the strip-and-tease sequences that follow- one where a couple accidentally slide into the lake while having kinky sex at the back of their van is unexciting to say the least; while another with the requisite skinny-dipping teenage couple barely raises the temperature before ending all too abruptly.
To be fair, Gulager preserves the latter for a more schlocky sequence in which said couple’s first act of making love with each other ends up with the male’s penis getting cut off after getting bitten by a baby piranha within the female’s vagina. This is about the only sequence that matches the gleefully subversive sense of humour from the original (remember the one where two busty girls get chomped up sans their silicone enhancements), but even in what is undoubtedly the highlight of the film, there is a distinct self-consciousness to Gulager’s attempt to top the shock value of his predecessor.
The same goes for the display of nudity in the movie, where every available opportunity within the water park becomes exploited for some cheap shot of “double DDs” cavorting around the pool or bouncing down waterslides. Certainly, B-movies like this are built on excess, but there needs to be some restraint before the excess goes into overkill. Gulager unfortunately overkills both the nudity and the gore in the film, and without method to the mayhem, you’ll soon become indifferent to what was meant to provoke and/or titillate.
As if mirroring our numbness to the chaos onscreen, the acting by a rag-tag group of B-teen actors are particularly lifeless. You’ll care little about the fates of Chet’s marine-biologist stepdaughter Maddy (Danielle Panabaker), or her ex-boyfriend and town sheriff Kyle (Chris Zylka), or her nerdy but nice best friend Barry (Matt Bush)- let alone their obligatory love triangle. Getting David Hasselhoff to play himself in the form of a washed-out celebrity lifeguard post-Baywatch is fun at the start, but Gulager’s heavy-handed tendencies means that the wink-wink perf gets stretched to the point of tedium.
The ineptness of this sequel is a pity really- for we were so looking forward to more of the B-movie exploitation thrills that ‘Piranha 3D’ let its audience chew on the last time round. But even with the key elements- babes, boobs and blood- intact, this is a largely toothless attempt at recapturing the sly humour and visceral excitement of the original. It is even more pointless in 3D, deployed in such a thoughtless fashion that its only purpose seems to be to cause an unnecessary strain to the eye.
Movie Rating:
(If there is any truth to the saying ‘the bigger the boobs, the smaller the brains’, then this sequel- with an extra ‘D’ in its title- is proof of that)
Review by Gabriel Chong
Genre: Action/Thriller
Director: Sam Mendes
Cast: Daniel Craig, Javier Bardem, Judi Dench, Naomie Harris, Berenice Marlohe, Ralph Fiennes, Albert Finney, Ben Whishaw, Helen McCrory, Ola Rapace, Tonia Sotiropoulou
RunTime: 2 hrs 23 mins
Rating: PG (Some Violence)
Released By: Sony Pictures Releasing International
Official Website: http://www.skyfall-movie.com/site/
Opening Day: 1 November 2012
Synopsis: Daniel Craig is back as James Bond 007 in Skyfall, the 23rd adventure in the longest-running film franchise of all time. In Skyfall, Bond's loyalty to M (Judi Dench) is tested as her past comes back to haunt her. As MI6 comes under attack, 007 must track down and destroy the threat, no matter how personal the cost.
Movie Review:
How many franchises do you know that have lasted 50 years? Indeed, for the words ‘Bond, James Bond’ to be heard in a movie today is in itself an achievement, a testament to the enduring popularity of Ian Fleming’s British secret agent. But that success didn’t happen by chance; through the years, several actors and even more directors have consistently needed to redefine the character to make it relevant for different generations of audiences, and ‘Skyfall’ – Bond’s 23rd canon outing and 50 years since his first – sees actor Daniel Craig and director Sam Mendes do just that.
Yet to say that they have reinvented the wheel doesn’t quite do justice to what they have achieved – instead ‘Skyfall’ represents a remarkable high watermark for the series, a truly stunning masterpiece that counts as one of the best, if not the best, Bond films we’ve seen. It is also so because it is quite unlike any of the Bond films thus far, delving into his origins as well as his relationship with Moneypenny (or ‘M’ for short) for its most character-driven addition yet. The showy action and authentically British wit are as sharp as ever, but what makes ‘Skyfall’ stand out is how surprisingly riveting the drama is, a quality rarely associated with the Bond movies.
Kudos to returning writers Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, together with Oscar-winning scribe John Logan, who have expertly tapped into today’s real-world fears for a tense and thrilling story that spans three continents. Beginning in Istanbul, we are dropped into an operation that’s already unfolding – the recovery of a pilfered hard disk drive that contains the names of every single NATO-allied spy embedded in terrorist organisations around the world. Bond is on the chase, paired with fellow agent Eve (Naomie Harris), but predictably it goes south, leaving the disk in the wrong hands and Bond presumed dead by MI6.
Then without allowing you to catch your breath following that firecracker of an opening, the MI6 headquarters is rocked by an explosion, and M’s computer – presumed the safest in the whole of London – is hacked into with an ominous message ‘think on your sins’. Of course, ‘Skyfall’ isn’t the first to envision a scenario where our once hallowed security institutions are compromised from within, but that nightmarish ‘what-if’ is depicted so realistically here you can’t quite help but feel unnerved – especially as M’s veneer of cool control is suddenly replaced by a distinct and disquieting sense of insecurity.
His country and company under attack, Bond returns from seclusion to hunt down the perpetrator, a chase which leads him to Shanghai, then Macau, then a desolate island (not unlike that which Leonardo DiCaprio gets washed up on in ‘Inception’) and finally back to London. Halfway between that globe-trotting manhunt, Bond (and us) are finally acquainted with his nemesis, Silva (Javier Bardem), and one of the most iconic villains in the franchise’s history. Right from his superb one-take opening where he saunters up to Bond with an extended speech about cannibalistic rats and the inversion of the natural order, Silva proves to be smart, menacing and eerily unpredictable.
Unlike the caricatured Bond villains, Silva isn’t filled with delusions of grandeur to destroy the world – his purpose is as personal as it gets, involving a bit of nasty history with M, and not unlike that which Bond has to confront himself. Whereas previous instalments have largely relegated M to a flower vase role, ‘Skyfall’ is the first to allow Judi Dench to flex her acting chops - and the thespian seizes the opportunity to deliver a first-rate performance with dignity and poignancy as her character is thrust into reflecting on the difficult decisions (read: sacrifices) that come with her portfolio.
It’s not just M who needs to confront her demons; for the first time in the franchise’s history, its suave and confident character is made to confront his as well. Continuing with his grittier transformation that began with Martin Campbell’s notable ‘Casino Royale’ and subsequently Marc Forster’s underwhelming followup ‘Quantum of Solace’, Bond is here even more human than he has ever been. Not only is he physically wounded from the opening mission in Istanbul, that same operation also leaves him emotionally scarred – the near death encounter reopening wounds from his childhood that will no doubt be explored in greater depth in the next two films already announced.
And yet it is precisely this change that is likely to make Bond an even more convincing hero than he ever was to today’s audiences – as Christopher Nolan’s ‘Batman’ saga has shown, it’s not nearly enough that our big-screen heroes save the day, we need to know that they can bleed and hurt on the outside as much as inside. Bond’s struggle to find conviction, purpose and meaning allows his audience to develop a deep emotional investment with the character, and that additional element of vulnerability into his trademark combination of wit and muscle makes him even more mesmerising than before.
On a different level of mesmer (but one deserving of special mention) is Roger Deakins’ cinematography, easily the most beautiful in the franchise’s history. From the opening scene – Bond stepping into the frame along a dimly lit corridor - that cleverly plays on the franchise’s iconic preamble, Deakins’ play of tones and contrasts ensures that the entire movie is never less than visually impressive. In particular, Deakins captures the neon lights of Shanghai like never before, turning the city into something alluring and sexy. Just as breathtakingly shot is the film’s climax - set against the bleak countryside of Scotland - that truly gives the movie an appropriately apocalyptic look for a stunner of an ending befitting of its grandiose title.
Certainly, this is a film with big ambitions – it wants not only to pay tribute to the Bond films of the past, but also to rejuvenate the franchise for another jubilee. Thankfully, Oscar-winning director Sam Mendes manages to balance the preservation of the Bond iconography with a redefinition of the franchise’s traits. After sitting out the last two movies, Q (or Quartermaster) is back, but in the form of a younger geek played by Ben Whishaw. Mendes also introduces what is likely to be a new recurring character in Gareth Mallory (Ralph Fiennes), a bureaucrat brought in to make M accountable for MI6’s mistakes who later becomes a surprising ally. Even with the gadgets, Mendes shows he knows what to keep and what to relegate – outdated is the ‘exploding pen’; while recommissioned (if only for nostalgia) is the classic Aston Martin DB5 that appeared in the first Bond film.
Mendes too has made this an actor’s film, and nowhere in the history of the franchise will you find a better performed film. Every actor is perfectly cast, but two are especially worthy of singular mention. First is Javier Bardem, who injects pizzazz and menace into his villainous role that is showy without being cartoony and edgy without being over-the-top – comparisons have been made to Heath Ledger’s iconic turn in ‘The Dark Knight’ and it’s not hard to see why. And then of course there is Daniel Craig, who in his third outing, truly makes the character his very own. More assured than he has ever been, Craig brings class, style, grit, temperance, determination and courage to make his Bond the most complex and captivating one we’ve seen yet.
Even with the dramatic additions, Mendes knows the Bond fans need cool action – and just from the heart-stopping opening sequence in Istanbul, he lets you know that he is committed to the task. While its globe-trotting nature might invite similarities to ‘Bourne’, Mendes applies a much more expansive scope to the action without any of that shaky camerawork, so trust us when we say that the sequences here are simply exhilarating. In fact, the movie pulses with its own energy and momentum from start to finish, and despite running at more than two hours, you’d wish it could go on for longer.
That sentiment is also how you know that producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli have succeeded in transiting James Bond from an old-school action hero to a contemporary one. Not only does it mark a turning point for the character, it also is for the franchise as a whole – and ‘Skyfall’ couldn’t have arrived at a better time to breathe new life into 007. The wit, the action, the style are all as intact as ever after 50 years, but the drama is new, fresh and spellbinding - even if this Bond is older, he is also wiser and better than ever before.
Movie Rating:
(A perfectly timed high watermark for the series, ‘Skyfall’ ups the action, the drama, and the stakes for Bond to deliver a tense, thrilling and riveting entry that redefines the classic British super agent)
Review by Gabriel Chong
Genre: Action/Thriller/Sci-Fi
Director: Len Wiseman
Cast: Colin Farrell, Kate Beckinsale, Jessica Biel, Bryan Cranston, Bill Nighy, John Cho, Steve Byers, Bokeem Woodbine, Ethan Hawke
RunTime: 1 hr 58 mins
Rating: PG13
Released By: Sony Pictures Releasing International
Official Website: http://www.welcometorecall.com/
Opening Day: 2 August 2012
Synopsis: Total Recall is an action thriller about reality and memory, inspired anew by the famous short story “We Can Remember It For You Wholesale” by Philip K. Dick. Welcome to Rekall, the company that can turn your dreams into real memories. For a factory worker named Douglas Quaid (Colin Farrell), even though he's got a beautiful wife (Kate Beckinsale) who he loves, the mind-trip sounds like the perfect vacation from his frustrating life - real memories of life as a super-spy might be just what he needs. But when the procedure goes horribly wrong, Quaid becomes a hunted man. Finding himself on the run from the police – controlled by Chancellor Cohaagen (Bryan Cranston), the leader of the free world – Quaid teams up with a rebel fighter (Jessica Biel) to find the head of the underground resistance (Bill Nighy) and stop Cohaagen. The line between fantasy and reality gets blurred and the fate of his world hangs in the balance as Quaid discovers his true identity, his true love, and his true fate.
Movie Review:
The irony of Len Wiseman’s ‘Total Recall’ is - if its audience were suffering from amnesia like its protagonist Douglas Quaid, this would be a perfectly serviceable summer popcorn flick. Unfortunately, most of its audience would recall the Paul Verhoeven original that starred action icon Arnold Schwarzenegger at the time of his peak, and would inevitably measure this too-soon remake against that standard.
Indeed, the foremost question on your minds probably is whether this remake is in fact better than the original. The answer is a definite no – apart from boasting slicker visual effects, this soulless sci-fi action bombast offers none of the guilty pleasures of its predecessor. Certainly, it says something when despite all the explosions and other cranked-up sound effects, you find yourself getting bored slowly but surely.
The fault lies with both Wiseman himself and with his scripters – Kurt Wimmer and Mark Bomback – though we think more blame should be laid on the latter than the former. When it was first announced, both writers had taken pains to emphasise that this wasn’t so much a remake of the sci-fi classic than a reimagining that went back to the heart of Philip K. Dirk’s short story ‘We Can Remember It for You Wholesale’. But apart from keeping the setting Earth-bound (instead of transporting it to Mars), Wimmer and Bomback seem to have based the rest of the movie on the 1990 picture by Ronald Shusett, Dan O’Bannon and Gary Goldman – all of whom are given story credits.
Fans of the original can almost see how the writers must have used a checklist in their scripting – starting with Quaid’s dream sequence, waking up next to his beautiful wife, procuring Rekall’s services despite being explicitly warned against it by both his wife and his best friend at work, remembering his past even before the ‘secret agent’ alternate identity he chooses kicks in, and then getting rescued by his former flame Melina from a life he cannot remember. Not only are the plot points similar, the sequence by which they unfold in the movie hasn’t changed, and that only speaks of the amount of imagination – or lack thereof – Wimmer and Bomback had.
To a certain extent, Wiseman does compensate by keeping the action relentless, going from one loud sequence to another with minimal exposition to propel the story along. And as he has demonstrated with ‘Underworld’ and more recently the reboot of ‘Die Hard’, Wiseman has a knack for coming up with exciting routines to keep your adrenaline going – including a particularly memorable one where our heroes Douglas and Melina have to escape through a labyrinth of fast-moving elevators going in all four directions. Nonetheless, though the action is busy, it doesn’t engage as much as it should, coming off as more perfunctory than inspired.
What does come off fresh is Patrick Tatopoulos’ elaborate production design in creating the United Federation of Britain and the Colony, the two remaining inhabitable areas on the planet at the end of the 21st century thanks to chemical warfare. We shan’t say more about both these territories lest we spoil the surprise for the uninitiated, though those who have seen the original can certainly draw the parallels between them and that of Earth and Mars in the first movie. Thanks to Tatopoulos, the future looks better than it did in Verhoeven’s version.
The same however cannot be said of the characters nor the actors. Gone is the self-deprecating personality that Schwarzenegger brought to Douglas, the quips delivered in deadpan fashion by the actor one of the genuine pleasures of the original. Here, Colin Farrell plays it straight and serious – think of him as a futuristic Jason Bourne – and despite possessing athletism to boot, we much prefer Schwarzenegger’s take. Just as forgettable are Kate Beckinsale as Lori and Jessica Biel as Melina – Wiseman’s decision to keep this PG-13 ensuring that the garish pleasures we had from Sharon Stone’s vampiness are no longer present here.
Of course, we might have been unfair to this movie by comparing it so much against the original, but really Wiseman and his screenwriters do themselves a disservice right from the start by sticking so slavishly to the original, changing neither the characters nor their inclinations. If you’ve never seen Verhoeven’s version, then count yourself lucky – for everyone else who has, you’d wish this remake were wiped from your memory.
Movie Rating:
(Save for the slicker visual effects, this is an unnecessary remake that offers less of everything that the original had)
Review by Gabriel Chong
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