SYNOPSIS: From director Garry Marshall comes an all-star ensemble romantic comedy. New Year's Eve celebrates love, hope, forgiveness, second chances and fresh starts, in intertwining stories told amidst the pulse and promise of New York City.
MOVIE REVIEW:
He gave the world a “Pretty Woman”back in 1990 and unleashed a “Runaway Bride” nine years later. 78 year old Garry Marshall will most likely be remembered for the two Julia Roberts’ romantic comedies. But with the success of “Valentine’s Day”, it has proven there are still lots of mileage left in the old dog. Expectedly, here comes the unofficial sequel, ensemble romcom called “New Year’s Eve”.
Viewers who have watched “Valentine’s Day” will know the star-studded casting and formulaic plotting and yes almost everything is port over to “New Year’s Eve” including Aston Kutcher. The romcom vignettes smell so ‘Hollywood’ and other than spending two hours star gazing and there’s nothing remotely interesting about counting down on New Year’s Eve with a bunch of predictable characters.
For a start, Kutcher plays Randy, a guy who doesn’t believe in celebrating New Year’s Eve after being ditched by his girlfriend. But hey, guess what he found? Love in the form of an aspiring singer when they both got stuck in a lift. Boring. Jon Bon Jovi turns up as a singer, Jensen (yes that Bon Jovi without his band members) who pinned for his ex-girlfriend, Laura (Katherine Heigl) when they happened to meet again at a ball. Boring X Boring. It doesn’t stop here and there’s one silly vignette involving two couples fighting for a special bonus in a hospital where the winner is the first child who is born on New Year’s Day. Boring X Boring X Boring.
To be fair, there are some bright moments in this otherwise plain affair. A weird pairup between Michelle Pfeiffer and Zac Efron provides some mild entertainment as Efron’s courier boy character helps Pfeiffer complete her New Year’s resolutions before the clock strikes midnight. Robert De Niro playing a man in the final stage of cancer whose only wish to see the ball drop in Times Square supplies the heartwarming portion of this chicken soup production.
Everyone seems to have some unfulfilled wishes, desires in this Marshall directed and Katherine Fugate’s written story. I don’t even wish to delve into the other many characters played by Sarah Jessica Parker, Hilary Swank, Halle Berry, Josh Duhamel, Ludacris, Abigail Breslin and many more in case I bored you. The production on the whole is handsome enough, it’s the kind of movie that is best watched with a whole bunch of people equipped with crates of beer, wine, chips and snacks going around. The insane chattering will definitely drowned out the dreariness of “New Year’s Eve” making it the perfect movie to play in the background.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
Listening to Garry Marshall’s commentary is like listening to your grandfather’s telling you bedtime stories. It’s soothing and you learnt a lot about the making of the movie. If you are a fan, you shouldn’t miss grandpa’s Audio Commentary Track. An 11 minutes Gag Reel round up the features.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
Images and detail looks good on the DVD transfer. The movie’s sound design is nothing whelming though dialogue is as clear as you can get.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD RATING :
Review by Linus Tee
SYNOPSIS: In The Grey, Liam Neeson leads an unruly group of oil-rig roughnecks when their plane crashes into the remote Alaskan wilderness. Battling mortal injuries and merciless weather, the survivors have only a few days to escape the icy elements – and a vicious pack of rogue wolves on the hunt – before their time runs out.
MOVIE REVIEW:
Imagine you survived a plane crash and you are now stranded in the icy cold and being surrounded by a pack of wolves. Who are you gonna rely on? Liam Neeson of course.
The lanky Irish actor once again collaborates with his “A-Team” director, Joe Carnahan in “The Grey”, a philosophical tale of survival, faith and humanity. The trailer and TV spots try to sell it as a Neeson-punching-wolves action movie though I can tell you honestly it’s not. Just because he convinced the world he can kick some serious asses in “Taken”, “The A-Team” and “Unknown” doesn’t mean he can’t take on some dramatic role for a change. Sure, his character is tough as nails but this movie is not what you expect.
Neeson plays Ottway, a hunter hired to protect a group of rugged oil-rig workers in Alaska. On the journey home, the plane crashed in a blizzard with only Ottway and a handful of workers surviving the accident. With a pack of wolves closing in, the survivors must leave the crash site and find a way to civilization provided they can survive the ordeal.
To begin with, “The Grey” succeeds mainly because of Neeson’s flawless performance. Ottway is a tortured soul who contemplates suicide shortly before the crash. We don’t really know about the real reason behind his estrangement from his wife, just bits and pieces from his dreams and nightmares and it’s enough to feel the sorrow, suffering of the man perhaps mirroring Neeson’s tragic loss of his wife a few years back. His co-stars, Frank Grillo (Prison Break), an almost unrecognizable Dermot Mulroney (My Best Friend’s Wedding), Dallas Roberts (Law & Order), Joe Anderson (Across the Universe) and Nonso Anozie (Conan the Barbarian) chips in serious, dark performances as men from different backgrounds who bond in order to survive the harshness.
“The Grey” marks Joe Carnahan’s most matured production to date. Carnahan who is known for his ultra-fast cuts and co-wrote the script with Ian Mackenzie Jeffers opt for a subdued, subtle approach to the material. Questions such as the existence of God and man-against-nature arise in the forsaken wilderness and “The Grey” offers plenty of these in addition to the animal mauling. Sure, the wolves attack sequences can be handled with more flair instead of on-your-face, shaky handheld shots and the sudden cheap scares do no credit to the otherwise compelling storytelling. The incredible lensing by Masanobu Takayanagi (Babel) and together with British Columbia’s (substituting for Alaska) harsh landscape is chilling even if you are in the comfort of your living room.
In my own opinion, “The Grey” is letdown by the abrupt ending and a post-credits scene that is too ambiguous to be of any help. Despite that, it’s still a thought-provoking title with lush sound effects and visual to kill for and no for the last time, Neeson is not going to punch the living daylights out of every wolf he encounter on the way.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
Six Deleted Scenes (with no commentary), Trailers and a Photo Gallery round up the extra features.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
The surround sound involving nature elements and howling wolves are unfortunately constrained by the Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack if not it will be a much impactful experience. The visual presented here is excellent and free of noticeable artifacts.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD RATING :
Review by Linus Tee
SYNOPSIS: Stephanie Plum (Katherine Heigl) is a bright, attractive, confident woman whose entire life has just taken a sudden turn – in the totally wrong direction. Newly divorced and recently laid off, the only work she can scrape up is a dead-end job at her sleazy cousin’s bail bond office. But when her first big assignment involves tracking down an on-the-lam ex-flame (Jason O’Mara), this tough-as-nails lady bounty hunter will be redefining the meaning of hot pursuit in this thrill-packed action comedy.
MOVIE REVIEW:
Didn’t Gerard Butler already make a movie about a bounty hunter who mixes personal and professional matters by going after his ex? Take a gender switch, replace Butler and Jennifer Aniston with Katherine Heigl and Jason O’Mara respectively, and you’ll get this tepid action comedy ‘One for the Money’, based on a book by New Jersey author Janet Evanovich that was first published way back in 1994. It’s the first Stephanie Plum book all right, but even fans of the character won’t find much to love about this print-to-screen adaptation.
To be fair, the problem isn’t Heigl, who tries her darnest to make Plum the anti-hero you’ll love to root for. Divorced, unemployed and close to being bankrupt, the former lingerie saleswoman enters the bounty hunting profession after she watches her car being repossessed. Ill-fitted for the job she may be, Plum’s pluckiness and derring-do, nicely played by Heigl here, ultimately serves her well as she promptly thrusts herself into a knotty case involving her former flame Joe Morelli (O’Mara).
The grudge between Plum and Morelli isn’t just for the former who had lost her virginity to him on the floor of a bakery years ago- after he failed to call her, she tried running him over with her car, leaving him with three broken bones in his legs. Yet as formula would dictate, the two are still very much attracted to each other, so much so that Plum loses him the first time she catches up to him because she gets too caught up in his charms. So begins a cat and mouse game as Plum tries to locate him, yet at the same time investigate the very case he was put on trial for.
Neither prove to be very engaging, as screenwriters Stacy Sherman, Karen Ray and Liz Brixius try to amp up the romantic tension between Plum and Morelli to little avail. The banter is tired and the scenarios none too imaginative, so Heigl and O’Mara have is their own amiable chemistry which while pleasant to watch isn’t anything approaching exciting. So too the mystery at the heart of Morelli’s arrest, unfolding with little narrative tension or sense of urgency.
The fault too is director Julie Anne Robinson, a TV director who most recently made her feature film debut with the equally mundane Nicholas Sparks’ adaptation ‘The Last Song’. Robinson’s TV-schooled aesthetics is all too obvious here, her by-the-numbers direction hardly adding any dark humour or screwball cheer to the proceedings. The only thing she does right is in steeping the movie deep in the flavour of its Jersey locale, especially in the colourful supporting characters including a cheerful prostitute (Sherri Shepherd), a menacing kickboxer (Gavin-Keith Umeh) and his shifty trainer (John Leguizamo).
Nonetheless, they aren’t good enough reasons to justify spending time or money with this uninspired adaptation. It has taken nearly two decades for Evanovich’s vivid character Stephanie Plum to make it to the big screen, with hopes of course for this movie to launch a franchise just like the books now are. No such luck for Heigl- despite the fact that her executive producer credit probably meant that she wasn’t just in it for the money- given how the movie tanked at the box office and for understandable reasons too. You’d be better off watching Butler and Aniston have another go at ‘The Bounty Hunter’ than to catch this sloppy rehash.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
You’ll find your standard making-of featurette in ‘Making the Money’, where the producers, screenwriters, and director of the movie take turns talking about the care they took in adapting Janet Evanovich’s bestseller for the big screen. Various cast members also talk about their roles, and Evanovich herself gives the movie an endorsement.
‘Bond Girls: Kicking Ass in the Bail Bonds Industry’ looks at the real-life trade of bounty hunting from a female perspective, given the perceived gender bias of the profession. We have to admit that it’s quite entertaining watching these women try to assert their masculinity.
The ‘Gag Reel’ contains little to laugh at, while the ‘Deleted Scenes’ are even more pointless than the movie itself. A ‘Photo Gallery’ and a theatrical trailer round up the extras on this disc.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
The Dolby Digital 2.0 delivers the dialogue just fine, since there is little that qualifies as action in the movie. Visuals are clear and sharp, and colours look especially dynamic.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD RATING :
Review by Gabriel Chong
SYNOPSIS: In the heart-pounding thriller MAN ON A LEDGE, Nick Cassidy makes a desperate and life-threatening move to prove his innocence after he is framed for the theft of a rare, prized diamond. Recently escaped from prison and with nowhere else to go, Nick climbs onto a ledge of a towering skyscraper inviting the eyes of New York City to anxiously watch as one wrong step could mean plunging to his death. But as one police negotiator soon learns Nick's daredevil stunt, captivating the eyes of the public and media, masks a dangerous ploy to reveal the truth about his tarnished name. With the help of his brother and with time running out, Nick's intricate plan must work perfectly but when you're on the 25th floor ledge of a building, going down takes on an entirely more hair-raising meaning.
MOVIE REVIEW:
For almost 80 minutes, Colin Farrell was confined to a phone booth in a 2001 movie of the same name while more recently; Ryan Reynolds got buried in a coffin for the whole duration of the movie. Talk about claustrophobic. Now Avatar’s leading man, Sam Worthington plays a character that spends most of his screentime on a ledge, literally. This is definitely something you wouldn’t want to try if you suffer from acrophobia.
In this crime thriller, the Australian plays Nick Cassidy, an escaped fugitive who plans to get the world’s attention so as to clear his name by standing on a Manhattan hotel’s ledge. Ex-cop Nick has been framed for a crime he didn’t commit and right now, standing on the 25thfloor ledge, he needs to first convince a police negotiator, Lydia (Elizabeth Banks) and at the same time, uncover the truth with a little help from his younger brother, Joey (Jamie Bell from “King Kong”) and his girlfriend, Angie (Genesis Rodriguez from “Entourage”).
Further delving into the story will definitely spoil your viewing experience even though “Man On A Ledge” is a no-brainer in the first place yet you can’t help being addicted to it the whole time. It’s like you can’t resist finishing that pint of Ben & Jerry’s Chocolate Fudge Brownie knowing full well it’s going to make you fatter than before. First time feature director Asger Leth managed to keep things going at a frantic pace without you realizing how clumsy and how many plotholes there are the entire time. Part of it served as a heist thriller, another part of it a comedy and the last, a nasty poke at the corporate world. Cue in Ed Harris as a ruthless property tycoon. We shall get back to him later.
Anyway, Bell and the deliciously looking Rodriguez contribute much of the movie’s zany comedic exchanges while they penetrate their way to a safe. There’s only so much you can do while perch on a tiny ledge thus Worthington is relegated to a life-size cutout mouthing silly dialogue opposite his co-star Elizabeth Banks. Banks’ character on the other hand has a few problems of her own though we see only surface of it. Harris looking like a real-life version of Simpsons’ Mr Burns takes in another easy pay cheque as the villain who started all these nonsense. Oh we nearly forgot there is indeed a real Burns right here as in Edward Burns (Saving Private Ryan) as a fellow cop and Anthony Mackie (The Hurt Locker) as well.
The real star of the movie in fact belongs to the ‘ledge’ – a clever combination of real set and greenscreen effect and the breath-taking cinematography nicely complements the content. “Man On A Ledge” on the whole generates enough fun and thrills for a jolly good time unless you are looking something more nutritious than a pint of Ben & Jerry’s.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
With the combination of set designs, visual effects, harness and guts, Sam Worthington managed to accomplish his man on a ledge mission in the end, The Ledge is a 15 minutes feature that shows you all of that.
Trailer Commentary with Elizabeth Banks is an excruciatingly laughable extra feature that has actress Elizabeth Banks talking about a trailer.You heard that right. We rather watch Banks does her makeup.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
“Man On A Ledge” looks wonderful with sharp images and plenty of breath-taking shots of New York’s skyline. Dialogue is clear while the Dolby Digital 5.1 is immersive and incredibly active when the movie calls for it.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD RATING :
Review by Linus Tee
Genre: Comedy/Romance
Director: Lorene Scafaria
Cast: Steve Carell, Keira Knightley, William Petersen, Adam Brody, Rob Corddry, Derek Luke, Connie Britton, Patton Oswalt, Rob Huebel, Gillian Jacobs, Melanie Lynskey, T.J. Miller, Melinda Dillon
RunTime: 1 hr 40 mins
Rating: NC-16 (Some Drug Use And Coarse Language)
Released By: Cathay-Keris Films
Official Website: http://focusfeatures.com/seeking_a_friend_for_the_end_of_the_world/
Opening Day: 2 August 2012
Synopsis: With the world ending in 26 days, everyone is living out their most debauched and outrageous fantasies. But not Dodge (Carell) and Penny (Knightley). As tempting as wild parties and anarchy sound, he’s on a mission to reconnect with his first love and she’s desperate to get home to her family. With all rules out of the window, their journey together sparks a love that will endure to the world’s last hour.
Movie Review:
The end of the world has been talked about and debated on for centuries, with most recent speculation centring around how it could very well be at the end of this year, coinciding with the end of the Mayan calendar. And in response, Hollywood has exercised its most vivid imagination to come up with various doomsday scenarios- though mostly these are in the form of big-budget noisy blockbusters designed for spectacle more than anything.
It’s worthwhile noting that Lorene Scafaria, who’s making her directorial debut following her critically acclaimed scripting effort ‘Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist’, has taken a decidedly different tack on the apocalyptic scenario. Instead of hysterics, she has opted for a low-key offbeat comedic approach that focuses intimately on the connection between two lonely individuals as they await the arrival of that fateful day.
In fact, the event is less important than the way our two protagonists deal with it, so in the film’s opening minutes, we quickly learn that efforts to stop an asteroid’s impending collision with our planet have failed. Steve Carell’s joyless insurance salesman Dodge learns the news over the radio the same time as we do, and that very evening his wife (played by Carell’s real offscreen wife Nancy) takes off with a man she’s already having an affair with.
With just 21 days left, Dodge finds comfort in routine, reporting to work as per usual- though the signs demonstrate that things are anything but normal. Some employees have simply up and left the company, leaving the skeletal workforce of five scrambling to fill the other empty positions- including that of the recently vacated Chief Financial Officer (CFO). But Dodge is jolted from his stupor when a jumper lands on his windscreen and shatters it, bringing him back to the reality confronting the rest of the world.
At this point, Scafaria briefly widens the scope of the film to take in how others are dealing with the end of days. Most prominently, Dodge’s friend Warren (Rob Corddry) invites him to a celebration of reckless living, where he proceeds to serve alcohol to his kids and invites all his guests to try heroin. When you don’t know what else to live for, one logical if not rational response would be simply to live it in careless abandon.
But Dodge resists this type of life, and ultimately finds purpose when he meets his apartment neighbour Penny (Keira Knightley), a funky effervescent girl who with her vinyl records is in Scafaria’s world meant to be the embodiment of cool. Penny persuades Dodge to embark on a road trip to find his long-lost childhood sweetheart Olivia- whom he finds a note from- and thus begins a quirky journey with a simple objective of finding closure. Indeed, if you’re only left with a few days in your life, wouldn’t you want to put right what you left wrong?
Closure of course isn’t just for Dodge, who eventually reconnects with his long-estranged father (Martin Sheen), but also for Penny, as she exchanges final words with her parents in distant England. Like any road movie, the interesting bits are in the pit stops- and among the colourful ones in Dodge and Penny’s journey are a well-fortified bunker of a band of survivalists (led by Derek Luke’s Speck) as well as just about the friendlist Friendly’s where love flows as freely as the booze.
Yet amidst the distractions, Scafaria knows her focus should rightly be on Dodge and Penny, and never does she lose her sight on the bond that develops between them. No matter how formulaic their romance is, both characters come together in such a sweet and poignant fashion that you can’t quite help but let your hearts go out to them. As the title suggests, this is about the search for true companionship, a partner to be your friend till death do you part, and Scafaria conveys this beautifully.
Accompanying both our protagonists on their journey are some lovely tunes, a signature of Scafaria that began with ‘Nick and Norah’ and continues here. The songs are a mix of indie rock and oldies, and no matter contemporary or classic, are eclectic and evocative in their own way. This is Scafaria’s directorial debut, and already she has established a confident style that we’d like to see in future movies.
Those expecting- or perhaps fearing- some surprise twist at the end can rest easy, Scafaria stays true to the promise of the concept right through to the end- so yes, the world does end. How it ends for Dodge and Penny however is the key- and the final scene will certainly leave a bittersweet lump in your throat. Even though it doesn’t revel in spectacle, this apocalyptic romantic dramedy is still engaging in its own right, its finest achievement in getting its audience to always hold those dear to our hearts close in our arms.
Movie Rating:
(The unusual apocalyptic movie that’s bittersweet, amusing, romantic and poignant at the same time)
Review by Gabriel Chong
SYNOPSIS: Audrey Tautou is Nathalie, a beautiful, happy and successful Parisian business executive who finds herself suddenly widowed after a three year marriage to her soul mate. To cope with her loss, she buries herself and her emotions in her work to the dismay of her friends, family and co-workers. One day, inexplicably, her zest for life and love is rekindled by a most unlikely source, her seemingly unexceptional, gauche and average looking office subordinate, Markus. At first stunned by Nathalie's unexpected attention, Markus comes to gradually believe in her feelings and shifts into romantic high gear. As their relationship goes from awkward to genuinely loving, Nathalie and Markus will have to overcome a host of obstacles including everyone else's judgmental perception as well as their own self doubts.
MOVIE REVIEW:
“I could have gone on a holiday in your hair”
That’s probably the most funniest or ridiculous pick-up line I have ever heard but being a French romantic comedy, I’m actually not the least surprised.
“Delicacy” stars Audrey Tautou, the beautiful queen of rom-coms as Nathalie, a successful executive who lost her beloved husband in an accident and buried herself at work with the only occasional meetups with her best friend, Sophie. After three long solitude years, Nathalie finds love in the least likely form of her subordinate, Markus (Belgium comedian Francois Damiens), a below-average looking Swedish much to the surprise of her fellow colleagues, friends including their boss, Charles who holds the candle for Nathalie as well. Will Nathalie and Markus have a happily ever after ending?
From the start, “Delicacy” never meant to be a tragic, melodramatic affair though it’s poignant enough to bring across the themes of love and loss. The debut feature of directors David and Stephane Foenkinos (“Delicacy” is based on the novel by David) on the whole is emotionally engaging and with the introduction of Markus after the first act, the plotting injects generous doses of humour before it turns too weary.
Markus obviously is not the most ideal looking man around and his choice of a romantic dinner at a Chinese restaurant may turn some women off. Francois Damiens’ portrayal of Markus is affecting and the same time goofy. He might not have the looks or the social position to leave a lasting impression but this guy has a wry sense of humour to charm Nathalie and the Foenkinos’ treatment and direction of the material makes us embrace this underdog character more than anything else.
Nevermind the fact that she seldom venture beyond romantic comedies (“Beautiful Lies”, “Priceless” just name a few from her filmography), 12 years since her breakthrough role in “Amelie” and Audrey Tautou looks gorgeously cute as ever on the screen. Nathalie is the kind of role Tautou can easily pull off and here she is, as charming and convincing as ever playing the fragile feminine looking for another soul mate and also a tough woman who has no hesitation telling her boss she has no fancy for his advances.
Blending romance, drama and comedy into one, “Delicacy” is a decent romance title that won’t really knocked your socks off. Watch it for the unusual pairing of Tautou and Damien and a surprising well-done bittersweet ending that will warm your heart as the credits rolled.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
NIL
AUDIO/VISUAL:
Ambient sound effects are kept to the minimum and the French Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack is more than capable to bring out the dialogue based material. Colour and images look passable on this DVD.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD RATING :
Review by Linus Tee
SYNOPSIS: It begins when the danger in the streets of Nanjing throws together a group of opposites --a flock of shell-shocked school children, a dozen seductive courtesans, and a renegade American (Academy Award winner Christian Bale, The Fighter, The Dark Knight) posing as a priest to save his own skin, or so he thinks - all seeking safety behind a walled cathedral. Trapped by marauding soldiers, over the next few days the prejudices and divides between them will fall away as they unite around a last-ditch plan to protect the children from impending catastrophe.
MOVIE REVIEW:
Why did Zhang Yimou chose an angmoh to be his leading man? Simply, the story calls for one. And while we are still on the subject, everyone seems to forget Christian Bale was once a terrific indie actor before he becomes Batman thus I don’t see all the fuss about Zhang’s choice of material and actor.
Set in World War II, Nanjing and based on a novel by Yan Geling, “The Flowers of War” opens with an American mortician, John Miller (Bale) being caught in a crossfire between the Japanese armies and the last platoon of the Chinese army led by Major Li (Tong Dawei). Miller has nowhere to run except seeking refuge in a church. It turns out that this is the church that is supposed to engage his mortician services in the first place. With a group of young students and a dozen prostitutes hiding in the cellar, Miller becomes the least likely person they can rely on when the Japanese soldiers close in.
“The Flowers” in the movie title refers to the 13 prostitutes and their ultimate sacrifice. I’m not going to spoil the ending for you though I must admit Zhang who is no stranger handling strong will female characters in his movies did a flawed job trying to balance the romance between Miller and Yu Mo (Ni Ni), the unofficial leader of the prostitutes who has a checkered past and convincing the audience that his leading man who turned into an opportunistic swine to a savior in a short manner of time. No doubt, scriber Liu Heng is a bit heavy handed with the plotting but expectedly, there are true moments of triumph, thrill and melodrama to keep everyone occupied.
One particular battle scene involving the sole survivor, Major Li taking on a platoon of Japanese soldiers stood out for its precise choreography and timing, a little nation-glorification on Zhang’s part yet you can’t deny the excellent treatment. For those who can’t stomach strong violence, there are a couple of highly effective scenes showcasing the cruelty of war which our friendly MDA has warned about. Honestly, I’m pretty relieved it’s tastefully done, off-camera for some shots and in a Zhang Yimou’s title, expects striking set and art design as well.
The majority of the unknown cast members including Zhang Xinyi as Shu and Huang Tianyuan who plays an altar boy shine with their earnest performances. Ni Ni on the other hand is hampered by her halting English otherwise it would have been much more natural instead of being stiff and pretentious. Our dear Mr Bale who was lambasted for his over-the-top performance is in fact very credible as a man who posed as a priest to save his own skin but ends up saving the lives of many.
China’s most acclaimed director of all time, Zhang Yimou once again delivered a tale that is definitely worth 136 minutes of your time. Be impressed by the top-notch production details as it is touted as one of China’s most expensive production to date and a wondrous cast that delivers. The Nanjing massacre is a painful chapter in China’s history and as a great reminder to the tragic event, “The Flowers of War” certainly deserved a spot besides other similar theme movies such as “City of Life and Death” or even “Schindler’s List”.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
There’s only a Trailer and a Photo Gallery.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
Even though Zhang is a master when it comes to colour scheme and layout, “The Flowers of War” intentionally has a washed-out, desaturated look at times. Overall, the treatment doesn’t tarnish the final product and images remain detailed and sharp. Dialogue is clean and clear. When it comes to gunshots and explosion, the track is limited to the two main front speakers because of the Dolby Digital 2.0.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD RATING :
Review by Linus Tee
SYNOPSIS: Li is a professional weightlifter who quits the sport due to diabetes. She decides to go to Hong Kong to start a new life where she meets Yun. Soon, Li and Yun fell in love and got married, leading a simple but happy life. As the 2008 Olympic Games approach, Li recalls her dream of being an Olympian medalist. Yun is supportive of Li’s ambition and convinced her to take up weightlifting again. Li starts her intensive training and things went well, till Yun was seriously injured in an accident. Before Yun dies, he tells Li of his last wish to see her shines at the Olympic… Li is determined to fulfil Yun’s last wish…
MOVIE REVIEW:
Every director has at least one Achilles’ heel, and for prolific Hong Kong director Herman Yau- whose filmography ranges from hard hitting crime thrillers to social dramas to period gongfu movies- that genre seems to be the romantic drama. Indeed, his latest effort ‘Love Lifting’- based on the true story of a female weightlifter who overcomes the odds to fulfil her ambition of winning the gold- is as bland as it gets despite the potential of the source material, and would have been unwatchable if not for the solid performances of its lead stars Chapman To and Elanne Kwong.
Yes, we’re as surprised as you to see the svelte Kwong (last seen in the Singapore-Malaysia co-production ‘The Wedding Diary’) play a weightlifter, but the sweet actress pulls it off admirably. It’s an unflattering lead role all right, and for the most part Kwong convinces by playing it straight and earnest. Kwong’s sincerity is for the most part matched by To’s, an admittedly unlikely choice for the lead actor in a romantic drama, but the roundish actor shares a nice low-key chemistry with Kwong, and together make you root for their characters’ relationship.
Unfortunately, neither To nor Kwong can overcome the shortcomings of the script by Yau, Yang Yee-Shan and Yang Ya-Wen, who seem content to simply lay out the life story of Li Li (Kwong) and her faithful loving husband Shek Yung (To). With To and Kwong taking turns to lend some voiceover, the narrative unfolds in a surprisingly detached fashion, covering the key episodes of their lives- Li as an athlete forced into early retirement by her diabetic condition; Yung as a failed bar owner before he moves into a rented apartment next to Li’s; Yung’s attraction towards Li culminating in their marriage; Li’s difficult pregnancy; and finally her journey to reclaiming her ambition.
It is certainly admirable that Yau exercises restraint with the material, avoiding obvious melodrama that other directors might be prone to- but he has unfortunately gone the other extreme here, draining the emotion out of what should inherently be a touching tale of love and perseverance. Certainly, it is telling when Li’s eventual victory over the odds is less than moving, dealt with in such a perfunctory manner that it fails to resonate. Because one fails to get involved with the characters, a key twist towards the end of the film in fact comes off manipulative, with the lack of emotional buildup towards that moment a key reason why it doesn’t achieve its intended effect.
To be fair, Yau still does a good enough job moving the story along, so at a brief 90 mins, it doesn’t get boring. But a movie like ‘Love Lifting’ requires you to feel and identify with the characters for it to work, and Yau fails to let his audience do that. Still, by the strength of their acting alone, To and Kwong make this barely worth your time, both lead stars stepping out of their comfort zones to deliver credible and convincing performances.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
You'll get your standard Making-of featurette here, which is probably only good in showing how the waif-like Elanne Kwong trained for her role as a female weightlifter. Otherwise, the Photo Gallery and Theatrical Trailer are hardly worth your time.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
The Dolby Digital 2.0 sound reproduces the Mandarin dialogue clearly, while visuals are clean and sharp. Pity though that this local release does not come in its original Cantonese dialogue.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD RATING :
Review by Gabriel Chong
SYNOPSIS: Dean (Van Fan), Li Wei (Qi Yu Wu), Deer (Deng Jia Jia), Emily (Chrissie Chau) and Zihan (Jill Hsu) are friends who hung out regularly at Butterfly Bar. Everyone seems to have something on their mind: Li Wei admired Emily; Emily only has eyes for Dean; but Dean fancies Deer, while Deer can’t forget Liang, her boyfriend who went missing for 2 years. While the group seems carefree and casual about relationships, bizarre and mysterious events happened amongst them… but it seems that these strange happenings are sprouting from their imagination…
MOVIE REVIEW:
The blurb on the cover of the DVD claims that the movie will put a fresh new spin on the horror genre- but as far as this reviewer is concerned, the only new spin that this illogical mess of a movie will give the genre is to show that you can never be too sure just how low a movie can go. Essentially a horror anthology of three loosely related stories, ‘Any Other Side’ has zero scares and plenty of head-scratching cringe-worthy moments, deserving only to be relegated to any other side than this one.
The voiceover introduction tells of five friends at a bar- Emily (Chrissie Chau), Li Wei (Qi Yu Wu), Purple Culvert (Jill Hsu), Deer (Deng Jia Jia) and our narrator cum amateur DJ Dean (Van Fan). Deer’s boyfriend apparently went missing some two years back, and Emily has a crush on Dean- though really none of that matters in the end once the three stories begin unspooling. The first titled ‘Lost’ is probably the best of the lot, a murder mystery in which a wheelchair-bound lady hires private detective Li Wei to look for her sister who’s gone missing.
Qi Yu Wu fans take note- even though he takes top billing on our version of the DVD, his appearance is less than all the others on the cover, and in fact is constrained to this first story. The fact that he only is serviceable in the role isn’t really the actor’s fault- the by-the-numbers story that tries for a weak twist is too tired and predictable to excite. Nonetheless that’s still better than ‘One-Way Street’, an attempt at déjà vu that sees Dean revisiting again and again the scene of an accident where he runs into a pedestrian walking along a dark deserted road.
Logic is in short shrift here, and the pace is too languid for its own good. What’s more, Van Fan is not good enough an actor for a short that hangs entirely on his shoulders, and the result is a sleep-inducing affair that makes you long for its end. The last, ‘Nurse on Duty’, is slightly more entertaining, primarily because it is so stupid that you can’t quite help but laugh at its utter inanity. At this mental hospital where Deer is a newcomer, the doctors have apparently tried to cure their patients by hypnotising them, turning them into dancing zombies who groove to the beat of Michael Jackson.
I kid you not, these patients get out of their wards and do a mass dance to ‘Beat It’. True, the very notion is so ludicrous it must be seen to be believed, but director Fang Ya Xi seems to have thrown in the towel by this point, adopting the motto ‘anything goes’. So you get giant sized needles, ray cannons and bloodthirsty zombies all in one, but this horror comedy mashup is itself so messed up it manages to be neither scary nor engaging. An epilogue tries to link these stories together, but trust us that it is scant compensation for your time wasted on such drivel.
Let’s not even start with the acting then, given that none of the look-pretty stars do anything more than (well) look pretty. Even those who may be attracted to Chrissie Chau should be aware- you’re better off watching ‘Beach Spike’ again and again since she barely shows anything here. It is terrible to say the least, so for your sake, never even think of crossing over to its side.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
The Dolby Digital 5.1 audio does nothing for the movie, and the clear sharp visuals only make the movie’s flaws- including the cast’s non-acting- even more pronounced.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD RATING :
Review by Gabriel Chong
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Sinema's Film Screenings Find New Home at Golden VillagePosted on 06 Jun 2012 |
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