A Nutshell Review

Poseurs

It has been a long wait, but better late than never. When the first Storm Rider film was released I remembered it caused a stir, for its relatively seamless combination of special effects and martial arts, and for its departure from the established mythos by creator Ma Wing-Shing. Then there is the casting, with popular idols Aaron Kwok and Ekin Cheng in the leading roles, overshadowed by the magnificently charismatic Sonny Chiba! That was some 11 years ago, and given its box office success, a sequel was thought to be expected and imminent, with big name stars like Andy Lau even thrown into the hat at one time as Nameless, but alas the project got stuck in development hell.

It was during an interview session for movieXclusive.com that my friends and I had the opportunity to meet up with Ekin Cheng, and toward the end of the interview he had revealed to us quite candidly that the next Feng Yun film would be made soon, which was why he's keeping his locks after a bald turn in the television serial Huo Yuanjia. We thought he was kidding, or we had heard it wrong, but here we are now, with the Pang Brothers taking over the helm from Andrew Lau, and no, there's no Andy Lau, but long-time-no-see Kenny Ho taking over the role of a pugilist master.

While the Pang Brothers are famous for their horror-suspense-thrillers, they had brought with them those sensibilities honed over the years and tweaked them for this sequel. Gone are colours from the first film, and in comes grittier shades, complete with plenty of metallic clang courtesy of heavy armors, and cloudy shadows possessing powers of sword energy. The story here is pretty straight-forward and had dove straight into the thick of things, with the first film having established the background of the key duo already, and here we see a more mature take probably taking place years where the earlier film had left off.

To get there though, we have to read a lengthy prologue, where Lord Godless (Simon Yam) and son (Nicholas Tse) had invaded China and are seeking the fabled Dragon Spinal Cord (or at least it looked like one to me). They magically managed to capture most of China's top pugilists including Nameless and Cloud, and basically presented a scene to demonstrate just how badass the Godless father and son team can be, which translates to an opportunity to showcase how advanced the special effects have evolved in the Chinese martial arts arena.

Danny and Oxide Pang managed to retain signature key elements from the first film, such as the CG generated, fantastical backdrops in which our heroes do battle in, and little things like the animated opening credits scene. The fights though was a mixed bag, some brilliantly executed though falling for the slow-motion fad, while others succumbed to too quick a cut and too close an angle to make out what's going on between the sparring partners.

Those familiar with the mythos would welcome both Aaron Kwok and Ekin Cheng back into their roles of Cloud and Wind respectively, and frankly I couldn't fathom how anyone else could have stepped into these roles. Simon Yam as Lord Godless unfortunately didn't bring to the table the kind of charisma that Sonny Chiba had, and struggled to fill those shoes, made worst by a very poor characterisation of what's ultimately a weak villain, though one would expect that the combination of Wind and Cloud would render all their enemies powerless against their sheer combined destructive force.

The story here took a chunk out of the fact that Wind turned evil at one point, and thus that actually became the crux of the story, although I felt this was more of a Cloud story than a Wind one because the scenes in which one had over the other, was rather obvious, with screen time significantly devoted to training montages, and rescue missions, versus Wind turning into an incredible hulk through an immersion in evil waters (yes, seriously, he just stepped into a wading pool, and voila!)

So story aside, watch this for some of the mind-boggling action sequences between Wind and Cloud which the trailers had included, and had almost the last 30 minutes solely focusing on some massive action sequences that didn't seem to want to end. One of my favourites was the Battle of the Minds sequence, where no self-respecting martial arts film can find itself shying away from using tonnes of water, though Storm Warriors had a legitimate reason to (with rain the aftermath of a wind-cloud combination). If there's a fight scene that stood out, this was it, other than Nameless Vs Lord Godless which left you wanting for more right from the start.

Alas this film is but half a movie, ending with a literal cliffhanger. But if all bodes well, we should see the next Feng Yun film hit the screens sooner than the 11 year wait that we have been subjected to. It's true about the limited dialogue here (some of which were quite hilariously nonsensical, such as the naming of sword strokes), but hey, one comes with the expectation of a flashy, style over substance sequel, and it duly delivered.

I'll Give You Private Lessons For Free

I would have expected a riot of a time given what's in the trailers, but what turned out was plenty of bore, with a story that went way off its potential, having mediocrity stamped all over the film no thanks to the lacklustre narrative written by Jon Favreau, Vince Vaughn and Dana Fox, who all seemed more eager to insert smarty one liners whenever they can, rather than to focus on the predicament of the four couples featured in a paradise island.

It's irritating to find that in comedies especially, narratives sometimes get pretty much chopped up due to ad-libbing, NGs, or just for the plain insertion of a funny line that became too difficult to replicate for another shot. Here, this disconnect gets very much pronounced because of how little it tells of one couple's backstory, relying on the audience's memory of what was shown in the trailer to fill in the gap. Call it lazy or slip shoddy presentation, but it was a sign of bad things to come.

The couple in question here is Jon Favreau's horny Joey and Kristin Davis' sexually charged Lucy, who have the hots for everyone else but each other, sticking together for the sake of their daughter until she's old enough to move out, then they can separate to support their respective gallivanting ways. Then there's heavyweight Shane (Faizon Love), a divorcee who recently got hooked up with 20 year old Trudy (Kali Hawk). Vince Vaughn's Dave and Malin Akerman's Ronnie seem like the perfect wedded couple with their nice little family, and being the informal leader of the group of friends, and to round things up, Jason Bateman's control freak Jason and wife Cynthia (Kristen Bell) who are on the verge of a breakup due to their inability to conceive, until a foursome package was signed up to bring everyone to Eden West, a paradise island for adult couple therapy.

But to get to the island, we got to get through, like the therapy sessions in the film, the boring bits to establish each and every character and key relationships, before a hokey powerpoint presentation and some arm twisting managed to finally shift gears and get the characters to where they should be. Unfortunately though, it only got worse, as the laughs dried up very fast, giving way to some very tedious moments of relationship theories being forced down your throat. I suppose couples whose relationships are on the rocks may benefit from some of the ideas bounced about, but to everyone else, we, like the characters, want to get to the fun parts, fast.

Which didn't materialize, and ended up becoming like a series of disparate scenes and incidents being stitched together in a day to day itinerary. One would suspect that plenty of material got saved for a DVD deleted scenes or ultimate uncut version, which makes this theatrical release not so cool, not to mention the final act being totally predictable, and very draggy in getting each couple to their expected resolutions. One also wonders how Jean Reno got himself involved with a dud like this, playing Marcel the founder of the radical therapy programme, if only to build up his resume for not too funny comedic films such as the Pink Panther series.

The only truly funniest moment would be the entire yoga sequence with Carlos Ponce as the instructor Salvadore, who comes with chiseled body and a very large package. Filled completely with full on physical sexual innuendos, it's vulgar and crude, yet extremely funny to watch how disgusted and intrigued the different characters felt as his touchy-feely approach. Nothing else stood out, nd Faizon Love faded out for the most of the film once they've reached the resort, leaving the focus firmly on the other three characters. What more, A.R. Rahman was credited to providing the movie music here, but try as hard as I can, I didn't catch anything that was remotely memorable in the soundtrack.

Couples Retreat comes with the standard messages of treasuring your loved ones, not taking them for granted and to always continue finding that romantic spark to spice up the relationship, but other than that, it's a tired comedy that has to be injected with cleverer ideas other than the usual frat boy sex jokes.

Picking Me Some Zombies

Note to self: Lose weight and start working on that cardio program!

Should recent apocalyptic films be believed, one of these days we're going to be hit with a virus out of the blue, either engineered or a force sent by Nature, that we're going to turn into angry blood-lusting zombies eager to munch on our fellow man, and woman. And should that day arrive, like in 28 Days/Weeks Later, the Resident Evil franchise, and now Zombieland, working out will become too late too soon, since these new aged zombies sprint with full force compared to George A. Romero's lumbering undead.

In fact, Zombieland could spawn a franchise of its own too, since it has solid back stories established for each of its main characters - the geeky Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg), redneck ace zombie killer Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), and con-sisters Wichita (Emma Stone) and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin) who together just seem to be always one step ahead of the boys, thanks to the advantage of gender and some major trust issues, which in any zombie flick you'll know come into play since one can be expected to off a close one in the event that they turn, for self-preservation reasons naturally.

Narrated by Columbus, do remember to look for this film from the video store (or your home video library which I will urge you to get) should things outside start to suggest the onset of something ugly. Things like when your wildest fantasy, or Columbus' with that hot chick neighbour from apartment number 406 (Amber Heard, whom all the boys love) start knocking at your door from out of the blue. Contained within this film are 32 rules - OK, so most didn't make it to the final cut but the important ones definitely did - to surviving a zombie onslaught, #1 of which is Cardio (note to self again).

Director Ruben Fleischer plays it fast and loose, with plenty of sight gags to boot, especially when reminding us all, like an instructional video, on all the positive examples from Columbus' rulebook, complete with an animated take of the rules themselves. And the relatively short runtime of coming under 90 minutes just makes you beg, yeah beg, for more, which of course is a good thing.

The casting here's something to die for as well, with Woody Harrelson heading up the motley crew as the cool as a cucumber zombie executioner with a sensitive heart, continuing his comedic turn in recent years and from his last big budgeted action film 2012. Jeese Eisenberg's relatively new, but plays the formula geek down to a subtle pat. I haven't really seen Emma Stone as a tough-as-nails cookie, so here's one for the road, and Abigail Breslin might just have taken on her first action-movie role aside from her usual dramatic ones.

It's been a long time since I experienced that much fun from a film, so I'll go ahead and rate this as highly recommended and a firm contender for one of the top films of this year. Last I heard a sequel's coming up too!

Suspect

Based on the true story of a murder that took place at a fast food outlet in Itaewon, Seoul back in the year 1997, Where The Truth Lies follows in the footsteps of Korean crime thrillers like The Chaser and Memories of Murder, both excellent true-crime films in their own right, and anchors itself as a contemporary peer comparable to the edginess that both films brought to the table, and holding its own against others that the likes of David Fincher can turn out, such as Zodiac.

Presenting itself at times like a documentary, the film also serves, like the others mentioned, as a critique on the state of justice in the country, the challenges and inadequacies faced not from the cops this time round, but from the office of the public prosecutor Park (Jeong Jin-yeong), surrounded by staff who are none too competent, and always very eager to take the short cut in closing the case soonest possible. In an investigation I'd gather it's always prudent to check everything, and not just lap up what's being presented on the silver platter if it comes on one.

Director Hong Ki-seon gives us the Rashomon treatment, in having the prime suspects to the gruesome, senseless crime, pit themselves against each other, leaving little room as well for the Prosecutor to manuver. We have Pearson (Jang Geun-seok), whose ownership of the murder weapon puts him as a suspect, but then his finger is firmly pointed on buddy Alex (Shin Seung-hwan), whose finger is correspondingly pointed in the opposite direction back at Pearson. In presenting both sides of the argument, anyone who has done investigations will know that one man's words against the other is extremely difficult to break down, especially when both seem to be seasoned liars, and are too smart to say anything more that would incriminate the other or themselves. The lack of any other evidence also compounds the difficulties, especially when eyewitnesses are friends of the accused who don't bat an eyelid to change their statements in the courtroom.

The frustration of constantly hitting the brick wall, for Prosecutor Park as well as the audience, will prove to be what makes this film all the more riveting. On one hand you're led to believe one over the other, but on the other hand, the arguments on the other side seem all the more appealing. It's extremely difficult trying to figure out who's guilty and who's not, and the acting by both Jang Geun-seok and Shin Seung-hwan as the accused were superbly delivered to present this exact dilemma. To throw in my two cents worth, I do have my theories, but they remain just that, in the light of further accounts that were probabl, and deliberately, not made known in the narrative.

Fans of true crime stories will definitely not want to miss this, and the outcome is something quite heart-wrenching, especially when you realize that the system is out there to be manipulated by those able to, either with money, or a very determined lawyer.

Mind It!

His name is Quick Gun Murugun, mind it! And I think the passengers around me would have thought I was mad enough to watch an Indian film, and an Indian cowboy one at that, laughing out loud in almost every scene which I can't help to because it's just so funny.

I mean, face it, here's probably the only Indian vegetarian Cowboy hero whose main objective in life is to take care of the cows (well, at least that's what cowboys do he believes), as well as being the guardian of the sacred animal of course. Armed with no more than two 6-shooters and a fancy gunplay technique, Quick Gun Murugun (Dr Rajandra Prasad) protects the meek from meat-eating gangsters such as Rice Plate Reddy (Nasser) who has megalomaniac plans to rid the world of vegetarianism!

Sounds dastardly, but not if our hero can help it, while juggling with his relationship woes with Locket Lover (Anu Menon) who resides in, well, his locket! For all the garish colours in his outfit of choice, the villains he goes up against is just as colourful, with names such as Gun Powder (Shanmughraja) and Rowdy MBA (Raju Sundaram), each with their own comical quirks that fans of Indian cinema would come to appreciate, and chuckle at. And despite our hero possessing some great skill with his pistols (head shots only, no less), he comes with an inherent weakness, and that's the number of bullets his pistols can store, before getting soundly beaten.

It's actually two films in one, with a time travelling and supernatural elements brought in for good measure, and more laughter. In present day Mumbai, he continues to seek out his arch enemy Rice Plate, who has gone on to start McDosa, a fast food chain bent on making Dosa from meat thanks to the recipe of Dr Django (Ashwin Mushran). And while waiting for more gunslinging action, there's another romantic subplot thrown in which involved Rice Plate's current moll Mango Dolly (Rambha), and how Quick Gun's now a fish out of water,

If you find the plot quite ridiculous, it actually is! And everything is just so hammed up, from the saturated colours, acting and dialogue, that it's actually incredibly smart in knowing when to hit the right notes, making you do double takes at just about every scene. Sight gags are galore too, and I reckon with every re-watch you'll find something new to laugh at, either from signages in some corner, or by the dialogue which come in healthy doses of Inglish.

If you're game for some irreverent comedy and one that has plenty of gags, then watch Quick Gun Murugun, which I endorse, I say!

Double Happiness for Looking For Anne, as it scores a first for Japan at the AFFF with dual awards for Best Film and Best Director (Takako Miyahira).

For Real (India) bags 4 awards for Best Screenplay (Sona Jain) which Land Gold Woman (Avantika Hari, Vivek Agrawal) also shared, Best Producer (Sona Jain), Best Actor (Sriharsh Sharma Churai) and Best Actress (Zoya S. Hasan).

Documentary, Superman of Malegaon (India) sweeps Best Documentary, Best Director for Documentary (Faiza Ahmad Khan) and Best Cinematographer/Editor (Shweta Venkat).

Friends

Santa is making his list…are you? Independent film lovers are unwrapping the thoughtful and timely movie entitled HAPPY HOLIDAYS, and director/producer James Ferguson hopes that his cinematic gift ends up on your list of holiday viewing recommendations as well.

After entertaining audiences at the 2007 Woods Hole Film Festival, the 2007 SNOB Film Festival and the 2008 All American Film Festival, HAPPY HOLIDAYS is now available in home theaters worldwide. When the weather outside is frightful (or sunny and 72 degrees Fahrenheit, for that matter) HAPPY HOLIDAYS can be downloaded directly from happyholidaysthemovie.com as well as the web services run by iTunes, IndiePix and EyeSoda. The film can also be viewed via DVD purchases from happyholidaysthemovie.com, Indieflix, IndiePix, or via DVD rental from CinemaNow.

You can read my review of Happy Holidays here.

PAPER HEART, starring Charlyne Yi (Knocked Up) and Michael Cera (Juno, Nick and Nora’s Infinite Playlist, and Superbad), will available on DVD and Blu-ray Tuesday, December 1st 2009, which is today.

A story about love that takes on a life of its own, PAPER HEART is directed by Nicholas Jasenovec and co-written by Jasenovec and Charlyne Yi, who won the 2009 Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at the Sundance Film Festival. SRP is $29.98 for the DVD and $39.98 for the Blu-ray edition.

The PAPER HEART DVD and Blu-ray™ bonus features include Paper Heart Uncut; “The Making of Paper Heart”; live musical performances by Charlyne Yi; “Heaven” music video by Charlyne Yi and Michael Cera; love interviews with the comedians; and deleted scenes.

Crazy Shift

There's a certain familiar ring to this slick comedy that made it enjoyable to sit through, from characters wonderfully portrayed to the premise of having the zaniest of events play out in one overnight mad caper, and it's even more surprising when it's helmed by first time writer-director Qing Yang who delivered this definite crowd pleaser almost like a veteran

Things seem almost routine at Wang Wang Supermarket, where geeky staff Li Junwei (Qiao Renlang) continues his voyeuristic activity spying on fellow staff, the pretty Tang Xiaolian (Li Xiaolu), recording her movements slyly from his camera phone. Unable to muster any courage to ask her out, the circumstances that will unfold over the next few hours will put him in direct contact with the girl of his dreams, although he has to figure out how to get them out of their predicament when He Sanshui (Xu Zheng) barges into the shop demanding that the shop owner gives him his lottery winnings because of a botched up ticketing.

There are plenty of reversal of roles here as to who's the captor and the captive, coupled with the a handful of hilarious incidents that happen in the supermarket when Sanshui, in executing Junwei's plan of running the supermarket as his own and recouping his losses through sales, encounters a myriad of clientele walking into the store. What more, having his henchman Lun Tai (Wang Dongfang) on the loose and very much hungry, adds on to the spot of laughter, especially when a taser gets thrown into the mix.

While the first half was fun, the second half dragged a little in having the premise become a lot more complicated as if searching hard for the perfect way to end it. The final act with the robber threatened to unravel all the good work done earlier on, throwing in the subplot of a diamond heist gone wrong a tad too late. Nonetheless it still had many positives going for it, with the coda after the credits being something predictable from the start.

My Left Hand

One can trust Hong Kong filmmaker Wong Jing to continue with the making of comedic films that lampoons the double-0 moniker, given that Stephen Chow had his dabbled quite successfully with his secret-agent-gone-wrong comedies using 007 (From Beijing with Love) and 008 (Forbidden City Cop), both which are some of my favourite comedies from the man. However this film falls on the side of a Wong Jing hack-job, which unfortunately is neither genuinely funny, and looked formulaic and tired.

Louis Koo plays 009, or translated literally from its aural pronunciation, double-O Dog. He's one of 12 special Royal Bodyguards of a simpleton Emperor (Liu Yiwei) who named these 12 guards after the Chinese Zodiac, hence 9 translated to Dog. Unlike his peers, Dog is a scientist, and relies pretty much on his brains and fantastical gadgets to protect his Majesty from evil ninja assassins. However, the danger lurks much closer to home, with the chief villain being the eunuch (as always) Lord Unicorn (Fan Siu-Wong), and the Empress herself (Sandra Ng in yet another loud-mouthed role).

That very much sums up the extremely flimsy plot, which also has a romantic angle thrown into it with the presence of Barbie Hsu's Faithful, a pretty maiden who has powerful kung-fu skills, a mighty good compliment to Dog's brainier demeanour. Despite star billing though, she disappears for almost half the movie, appearing mainly in the first and last acts only, and instead the focus on the problems of the relationship between Dog and Faithful, became second fiddle to that of Dog's peer Royal Tiger (Tong Dawei) and Princess Rainbow (Song Jia), where a competition sees many suitors come knocking on the door to want to obtain her hand in marriage.

Wong Jing may be the king of raunch if he wants to, but in this film he stays surprisingly muted, opting instead for safer, PG-rated gags. It's either that, or the inflight entertainment system I was watching this on, has a parental safety button in effect. I wasn't able to detect any huge narrative gaps or sudden quite cuts, though it could have boiled down to entire sections being removed. Whatever the case is, what's presented is truly nothing to shout about, and to find oneself breaking into a laugh is more of the surprise instead, due to the fact that you'll half expect the type of jokes that Wong Jing has up in his sleeves.

Recommended only if you're a hard core fan of any of the stars mentioned, just to see how they ham it up in a film that will do no wonders for their filmography.

By the time you read this I should be on the way to China for an overseas business trip.

As always, normal services would resume by next week. I think China doesn't like blogger, so updates to this site is heavily reliant on any pre-scheduled posts I managed to do up.

Ingenue

We’ve seen a number of coming of age story where the protagonist learns about the real meaning of life, or a snapshot of it as presented, and they either get corrupted by that earlier bit of education, or emerge all the more stronger from the episode. An Education here very much presents that dilemma at times when life throws us a path to a short cut, where hard work can be substituted with a taste of instant success, seducing us to go off the well beaten, proven track and head toward the thrill of having material success presented on a silver platter.

Carey Mulligan plays Jenny, a wide-eyed 16 year old high school girl who’s quite brilliant in her studies save for Latin, and with the examinations just around the corner, parents Jack (Alfred Molina) and Majorie (Cara Seymour) urges her to drop her co-curricular activity of cello practice in order to mug and improve her grades. Little do they know that a chance encounter with David (Peter Sarsgaard), a man about twice the age of Jenny, would throw Jenny’s life upside down with the promises of a settle relationship, coupled with the systematic seduction of the high life – fast cars, swanky apartments, exotic goods – plenty of wining and dining, contacts with the who’s who and a pedigree history,

This story has plenty of bite to it, and that’s what makes it so enjoyable to sit through. While we can see the warning flags being waved all over the place, there’s a certain evil glee in witnessing how Jenny decides to ignore them and follow her heart instead of her head. But what really took the cake here is the portrayal of the role of parents. While parents generally always have our best interests at heart, and probably the fundamentals is to provide education on which we can build our foundation upon, sometimes we rely a lot on their wisdom and judgement to guide us out of troubled waters. However they too are susceptible to being blindsided and not blowing the whistle when the red flags get thrown up, and in this film, both Alfred Molina and Cara Seymour are at their element in fleshing out their roles of the difficulties in parenting, and actually being none too bright and too innocent in their pretense, to the point of contradiction and hypocrisy as well.

A lot has been said about Carey Mulligan’s performance as Jenny the jailbait, and it’s pretty much raved about almost everywhere as being single-handedly the attraction to the film thanks to her sensitive performance, or with Peter Sarsgaard, one of my favourite modern day character actors, in his portrayal of the roguish schmuck David who gives this sense of intensity beneath a calm demeanour exhibited. In fact, the ensemble cast is almost what holds the film together and moves Nick Hornby’s screenplay along, such as Dominic Cooper’s Danny, and Rosamund Pike’s hilarious turn as the bimbotic blonde Helen. Look out too for Emma Thompson’s small role as the headmistress and Olivia Williams’ Miss Stubbs, who for all their good intentions and wisdom, get slighted quite unceremoniously in a sharp critique on their brand of education.

An Education is a film that reminds us, as much as I hate to admit, that there are no short cuts in life. We learn in the hope that our lives can be improved in time to come when we reap what we sow, and if some things are too good to be true in presenting that quick route to success, then it probably is just that. Just watch out for the pitfalls as you approach that route with eyes wide open. This is a highly recommended film for its message of how easily we get enticed by impressions, and for its all round performances by the ensemble cast. Clearly one of my favourites of the year!

On Trial

I had thought RKO Pictures was already defunct, but it's quite telling that a film from its archives got pulled out for a remake, and although I've not seen the original film in the 50s directed by Fritz Lang no less, this remake had that similar promising premise which soon gave way to ridicule. Suffice to say that without the twist element, it's no better than a standard, average courtroom drama cum investigative thriller that already laid out its cards and was just going through its motion to the finale. Assault on the justice system this is not to be.

Since Michael Douglas' name got a bigger font size on the poster, let's start with his character, the District Attorney Mark Hunter who is one case away from sealing his man made destiny to become governor. He's quite the confident schmuck who can mesmerize any jury and his straight convictions of the accused through circumstantial and DNA evidence, raises the suspicion of investigative journalist C.J. Nicholas (Jesse Metcalfe of Desperate Housewives fame), whose research seem to point to Hunter artificially engineering evidence in his favour.

An audacious plan gets concocted, and for the sake of a Pulitzer prize, C.J. and career pal Corey (Joel Moore) decide to entrap Hunter into using his deceiving tactics against them in a real murder which they will engineer the circumstantial evidence to point towards C.J., though I wonder if the quest to become famous and climb that corporate ladder would warrant something as risky as this, and what more, the lack of purposeful planning, which allows you the audience to stay one step ahead into just what would happen next.

The second half of the movie then shifts its attention to Amber Tamblyn's Ella, while being the assistant to Mark Hunter, gets romantically involved with C.J. and decides to do a little probing herself, which of course led to her being a target. The rest I'm sure you can pretty much guess for yourself, as this just floats like a buoy in calm waters, not being the investigative thriller it can be, but something that's really, really bland and stands out like an amateur hack job.

Give it a go if you must, but don't expect anything spectacular. The obligatory action sequences all seemed too contrived, boring and pretty much illogical, such as the taunting of someone using a car. I have to admit though that the final words uttered here was quite a ballsy way to end a story, although it can also mean the same words directed at the unsuspecting audience member who didn't come expecting B-movie through and through.

Wanted in Singapore

I got to admit I wasn't quite plugged into the fact that Akshay Kumar and Katrina Kaif were in Singapore earlier this year to film this movie, and it wasn't until after they had left did I come to learn of their presence, and a new Bollywood film after Krrish that had decided to set itself on our island. Having watched Saint Jack again earlier and gone on the Jack of Hearts Mystery Bus Tour, my interest was piqued more on how landscapes have changed, and wondered if what had been captured here in this film, would still survive the test of time some decades down the road.

So yes, Singapore itself was the character I was looking out for, and the film managed to feature Clarke and Boat Quays of today, with those shown in Saint Jack still vividly fresh in my mind. The trailer for this film had highlighted many venues in which this film was shot at, from Sentosa to Fusionopolis, but alas this was only in the music video of one of the songs shown early on. Otherwise, since the Pan Pacific was listed in the credits, the bulk of the film actually took place in and around the hotel (if memory serves me right, there was an old Hong Kong comedy which was also shot in and around the same hotel), and thus was shot within or in any generic soundstage.

Storywise, both leads Akshay Kumar and Katrina Kaif were only representatives of a larger ensemble cast, and sad to say though that they disappear as well for a significant portion of the film, with Akshay in particular when the limelight had to be shared, and his character was written to be stuck in a cupboard of a location unknown to him. The gist of it, at least in the first act, tells of two men Nitin (Akshay Kumar) and Ram (Suneil Shetty) who are both drowned by their debts and stuck in jobs with no prospects. Their respective girlfriends Anjani (Katrina Kaif) and Manpreet (Sameera Reddy) happen to be from wealthy backgrounds, and their parents see it as material benefit should they be wedding other well to do folks.

Both men now become desperate in not wanting to lose their lady love, and crack up the most insane of plots involving kidnapping, which soon spiralled out of control to involve an Indian ambassador, their girlfriends parents, a sneaky hotel employee, a bumbling hitman, a mafia Don, a corrupt practices police inspector (though his rank is only that of sergeant), a mistress, and plenty of mistaken identities to make everyone beat around the bush in a convoluted manner, leaving you the audience having to open your eyes and ears to link everyone's relationship, motivation and intentions, both real, perceived and deliberately under deceit.

As for the comedic element, personally it's fairly hit and miss, though I wonder if there's anything that could be lost in translation since the audience were rip-roaring laughing at the slightest of sight gags, much credited to Akshay Kumar's comedic timing especially in the first act which shows his being exploited under his female employer played by Archana Puran Singh. What impressed more though was the series of special effects that had the Pan Pacific Hotel facing quite the disaster, and while some shots did look quite artificial, I have to admit it was quite the blast (pardon the pun) to see how landmarks here in Singapore get their 5 minutes of fame in being nearly obliterated in a motion picture. But this scene too fell prey to the largest bugbear of the movie, and that's where scenes were dragged out longer than its welcome.

While I had looked forward to some great comedy, and having to bear witness to yet another Bollywood film shot here, the end result was somewhat less than satisfactory.

Kinda Interesting
While I had watched Saint Jack previously, nothing beats having to watch a 35mm print of it on the big screen of the National Museum's Gallery Theatre amongst a group of film fans, which curiously was made up of a more international community which outnumbered the locals, probably being more intrigued at how this film, the only Hollywood one shot entire in Singapore to date, was made with our authorities being hoodwinked all the way, resulted in a ban which was recently lifted. Rated M18 now, this is not the first time the film was shown of course, having a one off screening during SIFF eons ago, and 3 years back at the Arts House.

This season's screening was all the more special, because it marks the 30th anniversary since the film was made, and was graced by cast and crew such as Pierre Cottrell, Tony Yeow, Noel Joseph, Teo Bee Hui, Lisa Lu who was also producer, and of course, the female lead Monika Subramaniam, who flew from the USA where she now resides to attend this screening, as well as to partake in the Jack of Hearts Mystery Bus Tour, so called as “Jack of Hearts” was the title of the “fake” movie that was submitted to the authorities for vetting, and we're embarking on that historical pseudo-recce of locations that Jack of Hearts, aka Saint Jack, was to be filmed in . Hosted and conducted by Saint Jack expert Ben Slater, who also authored the book Kinda Hot which recounts the entire filmmaking process, I knew I just had to sign on for this excursion, joined by the cast and crew as well, to be brought around the places that were, and are now standing.

Running some 2 hours, the rain disrupted some plans to disembark from the bus to do a quick walk around at some rare instances where some recognized landmarks still exist, but no matter since a lot of buildings and roads have already morphed into our gleaming facades of today. I love Saint Jack for the reason that I can quaintly remember some of the sights and sounds that were captured on film, being born in the 70s and growing up in the 80s, such as the old Boat Quay area prior to the Singapore River cleanup, the General Post Office aka Fullerton Hotel, and the non pristine version of Chinatown and her unglam shophouses, which were of more character then, than those standing now can ever hope to exude.


The tour bus also had screens inside, so clips from Saint Jack at the various points, including its making of documentary, could be played and compared with what's exactly outside through the bus' large windows. A tinge of nostalgia crept up especially when I see rickety SBS buses captured on celluloid, versus the gleaming air-conditioned ones that are the norm these days, amongst other sights captured, and I'm pretty sure the older cast and crew members would have fonder memories of an unrecognizable Singapore.

Anyway there were only two bus tours organized, and both were sold out days before. For the curious, here is the rundown of the tour checkpoints:

1. Institution Hill, where Jack Flowers' whorehouse stood.
Now: the hill has been flattened (?) somewhat to make way for the construction of the condominium Aspen Heights which now stands on site. A little bit of the hill still exists, but it'll only lead toward that private property and you can't proceed any further.

2: Clarke Quay, Melacca Bridge

Rain Meant Staying Put
Now: the bridge still stands, though its surroundings are clearly different, with more sanitized looking shophouses and shopping malls on both sides of the river. The bumboats have also disappeared. Unfortunately the rain had prevented us from disembarking and walking across the very same bridge that Jack Flowers did, but (as of the time of writing on a Sunday morning) the group in this morning's session should be in for a treat.

3. Chinatown, Smith Street drive past. This was where Jack Flowers and William Leigh were chased by Chinese gangsters.

4. Chinatown, Amoy Street drive through and disembarkation point. Jack Flowers had strutted along this street to Hing's shop, meeting Gopi at the door.

Ben Was Here (Gazzara That Is!)
Now: Unit 110 has become the “New Taiwan Porridge Shop”, and the environment is clearly more sanitized now, with various shops and eateries now occupying the neighbourhood shophouses.

5. Chinatown, Club Street drive past. This was where Jack Flowers confronted the Chinese gangsters and showed off the modifications made to the offensive words tattooed on his arms.

6. Empress Place, drive past. The makan place where Peter Bogdanovich's Eddie Schuman, Monika and Jack sat down near the waterfront, and that famous line uttered by Monika where she doesn't eat prawns with their heads still intact. The food centre is no longer around.

7. Fullerton Hotel / One Fullerton. The opening pan where the camera moves 360 degrees to show Collyer Quay, The General Post Office, and what the waterfront looked like in the 70s. Also the ending where Jack Flowers was standing at the road divider calling it quits.

Camera Probably Pivoted From Here
Calling It Quits at the Divider
Now: One Fullerton now stands at where once was the sea, and The Fullerton Hotel now operating from that iconic colonial building. No change to the number of lanes on both sides of the road though.

8. Raffles Hotel. 'Nuff said, although the courtyard where Jack Flowers met Yates and Mrs Yates is now concrete.

9. Bugis "Boogie" Street / Village which we get to see in abundance in the film, where transvestites and transsexuals once ruled the night life.
Now: Shopping Centres, and more Shopping Centres. The last bastion of what once was, is a "pasar malam" row of shops. Gone are the night time entertainment of course.

10. Shangrila Hotel is where George Lazenby's Senator stayed, and whom Jack Flowers tailed along 11. Orange Grove Road to 12. Hilton Hotel, where a proposition is made by both the Senator and Jack to a Chinese chap, separately of course.

Then it's a drive through along 13. (Lower) Orchard Road, before catching a glimpse of the spire of what was the 14. York Bandung Hotel, and then ending the tour at the 15. Goodwood Park Hotel, where the bus followed the almost exact same route of entry into "Paradise Gardens". Goodwood Park Hotel also served as the interior for The Hilton as well as Paradise Gardens. This served as the tour's end point and final pit stop, before heading back to the National Museum.

The tour would be a blast for both tourists and fans of the film alike, despite some of the locations being no longer in existence, which is a pity of course, but compensated by the lively discussions and reminiscence by both cast and crew. I'm not sure if this would be another feature some time down the road for those who had missed it this time round, and hey, how about including that Telok Kurau Lorong (J?) where the sex acts were performed :D

Here's another take on the bus tour, and another one here which was based on the dry run.

Lady At Arms

The last I've seen of Mulan the Chinese folklore hero, was some 11 years ago when Disney decided to make her all singing and all dancing, gave her a mythical pet dragon who mouths off like Eddie Murphy, and made her fall in love with her commander in the battlefield. What more, the Disney folks never fail to remind you that she's Chinese through the character design of making her extremely slit-eyed. So fast forward to today, out goes that song and dance, the dragon gets thrown out the window as well, and hey, Zhao Wei gets casted in the lead role, and we know how mesmerizing those saucer sized eyes actually are. The romance bit in this Jingle Ma movie, stayed and while there are some quarters who found fault with it, I felt it was still tolerably OK.

We all know how the story of Hua Mulan follows that of other legendary folk heroes in China's rich history, and to date there's only a reference poem which accounted her exploits which stem out of filial piety, at a time in the Northern Wei state centuries ago when the Emperor decreed that all families must contribute to the war effort. Being a military family, the Huas have no male heir to represent their family, which automatically meant the aging father has got to volunteer himself. Rather than send her father to instant death in the battlefield, Mulan disguises herself as a male, and takes her father's place. That's basically the gist of the story, where she spends 12 long years at the war-front to the amazement that she was never found out, before returning to the gratitude of family and country.

This also means that storytellers have almost a full reign at what could have transpired during her tour of duty, and suffice to say this will always mean that there will be elements of hardship during training, attempts or situations at putting her true identity at risk, and given the soft hearted nature of an adolescent female, affairs of the heart will come knocking. The same goes for this film, written by Zhang Ting, which adopted the romantic angle rather heavily, exploring the relationship between Mulan, and General Wentai (Chen Kun), in a love that's quite forbidden since firstly a female cannot be serving in the army, and secondly, face it, two male soldiers, and later on, of general rank, can't be seen behaving lovey-dovey in front of their men. Besides, being romantically involved also served to be a roadblock to Mulan's innate war ability, or so Wentai believes that needs some way to be severed so that she can unleash that beast within.

As Wei soldiers, they're tasked to defend their country from the nomadic invading forces which seek to conquer Wei for their iron, in which to make weapons, and then to plunder some more. There's some gigantic contrast between the troops on both sides, one sans heavy armour, while the other gets more beautifully decked out, and in some ways, better equipped. But what the film is rather all about, is its take on leadership. One can have strength in superior numbers, or to have technology on its side, but without an effective, charismatic leader, it's as good as not being able to harness the multiplier effect that comes with the territory. Imagine having morale, trust and belief so high, that troops will rally behind you, trust your vision, and literally to lay their lives down for the cause. I suppose with any effective leader who walks the reasonable talk, should be able to attest to the respect that they command over their followers.

Then there are the battle scenes, because what's a Mulan film without one. Unfortunately though, most of the scenes were featured in some way in the trailer, so they do not come as a surprise. There's no big-bang action sequence as well, choosing instead to opt for a rather more personal, intimate battle rather than one involving the masses, and also wrapping things up a tad too conveniently, although it tried to redeem itself with a pathos filled finale revisiting the romantic angle once again. The war front scenes were like a quick summary of 12 years of iconic battles that Mulan had led, so those looking for fantastically choreographed battles in the mould of Red Cliff, will be sorely disappointed.

Then there are some rather questionable scenes which comes out of the blue, and somehow marred the enjoyment of the film a little because of their convenience, with that little bit of vampirism which I felt was not quite necessary, and a natural phenomenon which just appears and seem to take sides, again for reasons I am not able to fathom, and speculate only for the showcasing of special effects. Disaster movie, this is not.

But thankfully the performances all round provided that lift to the film, and made it bearable. Zhao Wei is no rookie to period war dramas, since she has Red Cliff to thank for in modifying her role there to become a warring princess. There are too many parallels to be drawn between her characters in Shangxiang and Mulan, such as going forth to the forefront of war to the disapproval of family, her desire to defend her country, her disguises and so on, one can still feel her Mulan here to be distinct and if I may say, quite definitive. Chen Kun also held his own against the veteran actress, although one can feel that since this is a Mulan film then he's playing second fiddle. Supporting roles range from Jaycee Chan to Hu Jun, who seem rather functional than to add any emotional depth to the film.

Mulan is just one version from a folklore open to vast interpretations, and you can bet your last dollar that this isn't going to be the last of Mulan related stories that we'll hear of. While it isn't an instant classic, this version can probably still shout out to be the definitive version for now.

Awesome, Three Thumbs Up!

Later this week I'll be on my way overseas on a flight, but no that's not the chief reason why this film appealed to me. I had chanced upon the film's release when in Tokyo last year and the trailer had caught my attention for its potential to provide some madcap humour. What's more, it stars one of my favourite Japanese actresses in Haruka Ayase, whose performance in Cyborg, She I had enjoyed, so it's only logical that I picked this film over others releasing this week.

Happy Flight is a delightful surprise surpassing my expectaions, where it features a myriad of characters and an ensemble cast to bring about an end to end presentation of just about everything that goes on behind the scenes from the operations of the ground crew at the check in counter, to the maintenance team, from the control tower operations centre and right up into the aircraft with the duties of the pilot and that of the cabin crew. Frequent travellers usually treat everything behind the scenes as a black box which just clicks and works, and this film provides that extra awareness and appreciation of the one million things that can and are happening, and in the worst case scenario, something simple that can go so wrong.

Which to All Nippon Airways, it's quite gutsy of them to open up and brand this film. I cannot see how a similar film can be done locally without jumping through some major hoops, and probably end up with folks being unhappy about how things can get portrayed on screen. But unlike films such as Flightplan, this one doesn't belittle any of the departments, but smartly fuses comedy without becoming veiled insults. I suppose Shinobu Yaguchi, who had helmed films like Waterboys and Swing Girls, proved to be the right person to craft a potentially complex tale on what goes on in aviation, and what he did was simply put, amazing.

Cleverly fusing all the different narratives and subplots, he had presented the films as a series of quick short stories, although each engaging enough to make you want to know more. While some characters can be caricatures, he pumped them up with enough engaging incidents to ultimately bring out that smile. It's also key that he had provided some behind the scenes insights from the industry, that would make you sit up and take notice, with nuggets of trivia coming from every angle and every department featured.

And not to forget the office politics within the department themselves, and when they interact with each other (I chuckled at the tai-chi attempt), everyone depending on one another's professional expertise to ensure a pleasant flight experience for every single passenger the minute he or she steps into the airport ready for their flight out. But of course sometimes things tend to rub off the wrong way, and for dramatic sake, could be slightly exaggerated especially on what takes place within the cabin, which most of us would be aware of, or from hearsay support some urban myths.

Narratively, we follow many viewpoints. We have a first officer Kazuhiro Suzuki (Seiichi Tanabe) in his final test flight to become a captain, and his Flight 1980 is assessed by an unsmiling Captain Noriyoshi Harada (Saburo Tokito) in the cockpit, which puts him under additional pressure given his disastrous attempt at the flight simulator. Then we have the ditzy cabin attendant Etsuko Saito (Haruka Ayase) who's a Calamity Jane under the supervision of Reiko Yamazaki (Shinobu Terajima) and a competing peer Mari Tanaka (Kazue Fukiishi). On the ground the subplots also extend to Tomoko Tabata's ground crew Natsumi Kimura, and Ittoku Kishbe's flight operations controller, and the list goes on, extending even toward an incident at the maintenance hangar, and a trio of comedic aviation geeks. And if all these don't seem enough, there's an oncoming typhoon to add to the chaos!

But the beauty of it is that you won't be a wee bit confused, or at any time does the story seem bloated, or sub plots unnecessary. Everything comes together in good time like clockwork, almost exactly the same experience you'll feel when boarding a plane for a trip. Working dynamics and office politics also deftly creeps into the film and presents to you the not-so-glamourous side to any job, although it does take the time to remind you that reputations that precede could also be misconstrued, and there's nothing wrong in holding back pre-judgements until you experience something yourself first hand.

Opening with an inflight safety video, I like the film enough to rank it one of my favourites of this year, for being that perfect balance between comedy, drama, and that valuable look into what makes aviation tick. Highly recommended, so do flock to the only screen in Singapore that's showing this as an exclusive showcase!

Work commitments will mean that I will have to miss this year's edition of the Asian Festival of 1st Films. So what I'll do instead is to highlight the entries that are keeping the Singapore flag flying, and hopefully you can make your way down for the screenings to lend your support!

First up, Blood Ties, which you can read about in my review earlier, the only feature film amongst the Singapore entries. It garnered two nominations, one for Best Actress in Joey Leong's role as the young girl possessed by her deceased brother's spirit to exact revenge on his killers. Kudos also went to the cinematography, and Derrick Loo got nominated in the Best Cinematographer category.

The other two are short films, with Cashless' Danny Jow being nominated for Best Actor, and Mohd Akbar Bin Tabare Alam being nominated for his directorial work Certain Chapters in the Best Short Film category, an experimental film which unveils the unforgiving and wanton world of gangsters in Singapore, inspired by a series of true events.

Screening Details
Cashless - 30 Nov Wed 1140hrs @ Arts House
Blood Ties - 30 Nov Wed 1845hrs @ GV Marina
Certain Chapters - 1st Dec Thu 1315hrs @ Arts House

Still from Certain Chapters

Trailers

Blood Ties


Cashless


Certain Chapters

Related LInks
Official Festival Website
Screening Schedule

Blood Ties - An Interview with Writer-Director CHAI Yee-Wei
Blood Ties - My Review
Blood Ties - Official Website
Cashless - Official Website
Cashless - Production Talk
Certain Chapters - YouTube page

Stay Still While I Kick You

Fans of martial arts action films in this region would find reason to celebrate recently with the introduction of Iko Uwais showcasing some combat Silat in Merantau and while I had counted him in amongst peers such as Tony Jaa, Jija Yanin stands out for being the only female of the lot who can dish out as much punishment as she could receive, and breakthrough performances aside, I think the real test comes in the follow up film, if it's either more of the same, or if it'll have enough bandwidth to allow the martial artist to go some distance from their maiden performance.

And I had enjoyed Raging Phoenix a lot more than Chocolate, which I felt had plenty of room in which to improve upon, especially in the editing department which didn't quite do that film justice in having Jija's character seem to go through each fight sequence like a video game, beginning each scene with the on-guard position. However, that film allowed her to showcase a whole range of moves and weapons, and in this one, her character sticks to one, which is a Chinese drunken fist equivalent, where the pupil downs gallons of alcohol, and through that intoxicated state, learn to internalize the alcohol and purge that high energy into something more hard hitting, channeling that deep down hurt and heartfelt pain they have to intrinsically possess into power through the knuckles.

The form of the martial arts clearly has plenty of Muay Thai in it, with the usual exploitation of elbows and knees to inflict maximum damage, though this time round the choreographers smartly fused some hip-hop breakdancing moves into the martial arts, since those dance movies would already prep you that those spins and turns, and feigns with the feet, could actually translate to deadly assault steps to incapacitate any enemy. Yes you read me right, but it didn't turn out as bad as it sounded, and soon enough you just won't feel that it's an amalgamation of two different forms, at least not when the catchy Thai hip hop song Yong-Wai stops playing.

As the story goes (yes, you still need one), it was a wee bit different from the usual to say the least, though the inevitable melodramatic moments did prolong the runtime without welcome. The narrative for Raging Phoenix played out just like its title, where it starts off really slowly and in some ways quite the bore, before its form got junked and transformed, into something more engaging as the story progressed, right after Jija's Deu gets saved from the clutches of the evil Jaguar Gang, whose mission statement is to kidnap girls with unique pheromones. Cue obligatory training montage as she becomes the protege of Sanim (Kazu Patrick Tang), Dog, Pig and Bull, and convoluted initiation rites later, she gets accepted into the vigilante group, seeking out the Jaguars to exact their individual vendettas.

Ranging Phoenix didn't turn out to be a one-woman show, which meant Jija had to step aside to allow her co-stars to shine, especially since her character is the rookie in this form of martial arts, and have to rely on the others to save her hide at first. It was a little painful to watch since we all know that this girl can really kick butt, though it made it all the more sweeter when she finally does. What she cannot do though, despite her new hairdo and cute-as-a-button features, is to play that romantic role given that there's a subplot involving unrequited love with her trainer Sanim, which was somewhat essential to fuel that new found strength (from depression actually) in the finale.

​A Thai film would seem incomplete without the obligatory evil transsexual, and Raging had one featured early for some comic relief. The chief villain, played by Roongtawan Jindasing, a body building champion, cuts a figure quite similar to Grace Jones's May Day in A View to a Kill, matching our heroine strength for strength, though triumphing with her D-cups, which I thought in a battle sequence she had used to knock Deu off her feet. Fight sequences had resorted to MTV-styled quick cut editing, though it did pace itself nicely through some slow-motion when required to allow the audience to take it all in. Fights were also nicely framed, especially when killer moves get employed, or when director Rashane Limtrakul decides to want to show you just how close and realistic the actors and stunt crew can get when they pull off hard hitting, bone-crunching action.

I would have thought that the film would have featured some outtakes – you know, for the filmmakers to show off that “real fights, real injuries” tagline, but to my surprise there was absolutely none. I would have loved to see whether some suspicion in the use of wire-work could be proven through the outtakes, since there were definitely some moves which were too hard to believe they can be executed without employing one. Padding also was visible though, for safety's sake of course, but don't let that distract you as much as it did to me.

Raging Phoenix isn't perfect, but it is yet another milestone for Jija Yanin to prove what she can do. Call me a fan as I am liking her films already, and can't wait to see her in more action films!

Don't You Dare Bah, Humbug! Me!

Robert Zemeckis seems to have been bitten by the motion-capture/3D/animation bug and it's definitely no stopping him from developing yet another flick that continues to evolve the multi-sensory technology to immerse the viewer into an experience. And you just cannot fault him with his latest, as you can see marked progression from what he first started out with The Polar Express, then Beowulf, and now, Charles Dickens' classic tale A Christmas Carol.

I suppose nobody needs any introduction to the tale where three ghosts visit Scrooge, turning his life (or nightmares actually) upside down to evoke a change in behavioural pattern. Scrooge being the miser being led to see the folly of his ways and his attitude, and well, turns over a new leaf. The story has been done countless of times, either directly, or indirectly and usually through comedies, the most recent being The Ghosts of Girlfriends Past starring Matthew McConaughey.

One of the chief differences for this Zemeckis picture, is that it stays faithful to the source. No tinkering of characters and plots, as it strives to probably be the definitive version in time to come. And the animation here is simply top notch, and you'd soon appreciate the half a decade of honing the technology and craft into what you'd see from the film - pristine, photo-realistic rendition of characters and sets, so much so that if someone was to boldly suggest the end of an era for real actors shooting against real locations, well, you won't just bat your eyelids and laugh that suggestion off.

The level of detail for each character is astonishing, and one wonders at the amount of effort that went behind the scenes in the production process, which you can read about in countless of material available online. But I suppose having a strong, imaginative and innovative cast helps, as the voice talents here all prove to be a force to be reckoned with, in their portrayal of more than one character, and to infuse uniqueness into each so that they don't pass off as lazy copies of one another.

Rubber-faced Jim Carrey doesn't get to exercise his facial expressions in person, but does so through the animation. And to voice no less than 8 characters is something, although one can argue that some of the characters are just different versions of the same. And he's supported by the likes of Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Cary Elwes, Robin Wright Penn and Bob Hoskins amongst others to bring to life their respective multi-characters through only the quality of their voices.

Should Zemeckis continue this path of making animated films, I'd certainly like to see how he'll top this one. One caution though that some of the scenes here do contain some frightening moments that could make the young ones bawl, and I'm still lamenting that we don't have an IMAX 3D, or an IMAX theatre to take advantage of the many thrill-inducing scenes that were plentiful here. Hopefully that situation could change sometime soon.