Rent

Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes. Five hundred twenty-five thousand moments so dear. Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes. How do you measure, measure a year? In daylights, in sunsets, in midnights in cups of coffee. In inches, in miles in laughter in strife. In five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes - how do you measure a year in the life? How about love? How about love? How about love? Measure in love... seasons of love.

The musical movie reunites most of the original cast in the Broadway production, making it a pretty accurate film version in terms of having the right persons play the roles they've already become familiar with. Telling the life of a struggling group of Bohemians in the East Village of New York City, having the musical immortalized on celluloid enabled the production to reach out to commercial masses at the price of a movie ticket.

Dealing primarily with the love and lives of these friends, we cover all grounds with gay, lesbian and heterosexual love, and treading upon themes like drug use and AIDS. You have Jon-Bon-Jovi look/sound-alike rocker Roger Davis (Adam Pascal), with a scarred emotional drug filled ex-relationship getting it on with exotic-dancer-with-current-drug-use-problem Mimi Marquez (Rosario Dawson), aspiring filmmaker Mark Cohen (Anthony Rapp) whose ex-girlfriend Maureen Johnson (Idina Menzel) left him for her butch lover lawyer Joanne Jefferson (Tracie Thoms), and two gay buddies Tom Collins (Jesse L Martin) and Angel (Wilson Jermaine Heredia) who meet by chance when Tom was mugged on the streets. They sure ain't no Brady Bunch, with serious adult issues to grapple with, like urm, paying their rent on time?

However it doesn't bore with the issues, and entertains with the many (at least 20) musical numbers. so much so that almost each time a cast member opens his/her mouth, they come out singing. Which for a minute, might seem a bit out of place, but then you forget you're watching a musical on film, a made for a 3-D world put flat on a 2-D screen. It compensates somewhat though by having the camera constantly move to give the illusion of space.

Perhaps the themes and character lifestyle didn't appeal to me, so I didn't really dig the storyline, though I didn't really dislike it either. Some plots degenerate into the usual A-meets-B, A-loses-B, A-reconciles-with-B. Notice I didn't use boy-girl, as the same plot gets rehashed for most of the characters, which made it seem like groundhog with different characters.

Live Life, Love All, sounds like a Hard Rock Cafe slogan. Sure I enjoyed the music, and the visuals which accompanied the music, but that's about it. By the time the heartwarming ending rolled in, I was too jaded by it all to care too much.

[VCD] Tiger's Whip

This was a much maligned movie which heavily flopped at the local box office when it was released back in 1998. I've established an unwritten rule of watching every Singapore made movie out there, whatever the form, and chanced upon this VCD at the Esplanade Library.

Written and directed by Victor Khoo (yes, the ventriloquist with the Charlie and Charcoal doll), Tiger's Whip actually is a movie that doesn't take itself too seriously. It's supposed to be a comedy, but plays out rather weakly with cheap laughs. Most of the time though, the jokes just fall flat. You know it's supposed to be funny, but the laughs just don't come out as you'll be too busy rolling your eyes.

The main protagonist is an ang-mo American from Los Angeles, an aspiring actor (read: bad actor both in reel and real life) who's has an attitude problem. He thinks the whole world owes him a living, and essential is a prick. Doesn't help though that his name is Dick Weiner, I mean , Winner. With a name like that, you'd know what to expect when it comes to the laughs department. In an absurd incident, he discovers he's suffering from a fictional disease called Koro, which essentially shrinks his big manhood to a teeny-weeny stump. As advised by medical science, he's to seek his fortunes and cure by visiting the land which has dealt with this disease - and no prizes for guessing it's Singapore.

Meeting Chandra, a local Mercedes cab driver, Dick forges an uneasy alliance after getting his lost wallet returned to him. Chandra learns of Dick's issue with his manhood, and offers help as they traverse around Singapore looking for tigers - after hearing advice from a Chinese Sinseh (played by C.K. Cheong, in multiple roles here) that a Tiger's Whip is an age old ingredient required in a concoction to boost a man's missing mojo. Along their quest, Dick falls in love with a local girl (played by Andrea De Cruz) in a forgettable cheesy romance, which offered a cheap, fantasy like twist towards the end, playing upon a theme of bad Karma. There are other spoofs in the movie, the blatant one being Hairy King Live (the Khoo version of Larry King), right down to suspenders and raspy voice.

But this movie does have its plus points when you watch it in retrospect. Despite it being a "poster boy" for probably the Singapore Tourism Board, like its tourist friendly locales - Changi Airport (I never knew the arrival hall led straight out to the taxi stand of the departure hall at Terminal 2) and Night Safari amongst others, there are real gems hidden here. Like the original Central National Library at Stamford Road, with its main borrowers section and the courtyard, captured and enshrined on film (though it had to be a poor one, urgh). Things like the cable car (before the upcoming upgrade), and Pulau Ubin almost 10 years ago, are a trip down memory lane. Of course there are other icons here for the sake of product placement / sponsorship, like Singapore Airlines and its Singapore Girl, and the Mandarin hotel (now Meritus Mandarin).

While the beginning and middle sections try their darndest best to entertain, the movie was an anti-climax (pardon the pun) at the end with its indecisiveness to establish what it wanted to be. Filled with hokey philosophy plagiarized from fortune cookies, an unbelievable twist coming straight out of a child's fairy tale, and plauged by horrendous acting, it is no wonder that this movie bombed at the box office, despite its professional production values, which was clearly wasted on an attempt like this.

Ice Age 2: The Meltdown

Similar to the first Ice Age, the promotional material for the sequel was out in the theatres way in advance, and courtesy of the Scrat character too, up to its usual antics of getting to that elusive acorn. Here, Scrat opens the movie, and emulating the style of the first, he provides most of the laughs, also as an intermission from the actual scenes from the main cast.

Our gang of prehistoric animals are back - Manny the Mammoth (voiced by Ray Romano), Sid the Sloth (John Leguizamo) and Diego the Sabre-tooth Tiger (Denis Leary). We learn that Sid has gone into the early childhood business, educating the young minds of pre-historic brats. However, I felt that this movie was somehow darker in tone than the original. While the original was one which dealt with hope, this one had its setting in extinction, disaster and death.

The valley which they live in is threatened by the melting ice, no thanks to global warming. So all the animals embark on a journey to salvation, to that rumoured ark which will save them from the massive floods to come. Along the way, our trio meets up with another trio of characters, who were added to expand the cast, featuring 2 Possums Crash (Seann William Scott) and Eddie (Josh Peck), and another, but female, mammoth (Queen Latifah).

Needless to say, Manny's still anti-social, and Diego can't get along with those rascal possums who get on his nerves, and Sid's the "philosopher" ever providing the laughs. Various themes like romance (hey, we got 2 mammoths here), friendship, trust, and believing in oneself to overcome one's phobia get covered. Pretty wide scope, but they manage to fit in place nicely.

The villains in this sequel are pretty nasty, besides the looming natural disaster, we have two sea creatures with nasty teeth and attitude, as well as manacing vultures ever ready to pounce on the flesh of animals who have fallen.

But it's not all that bleak. Keep a lookout too for that mad sloth song-and-dance sequence, which has potential to become the next ear worm ala Madagascar's zany "you-got-to-move-it" song. The animation is as usual, top notch, and I just can't get enough of the photo-realistic ice and water landscape.

This is one piece of animation that doesn't rely too much on sight gags, of spoofing current affairs, but one filled with more witty dialogue and kept on an even keel with its interesting storyline. Though at times it might feel cliched, somehow it excelled in its execution.

And that makes this sequel, as enjoyable as, if not better, than the original. Recommended stuff this week!

Ultraviolet

I hate to say this, but Ultraviolet is this year's Elektra. It's a bad hybrid of Aeon Flux, Underworld, Resident Evil and Elektra combined using the production style of Sky Captain, shot against digitally created scenes. Not that it is bad though, I actually sincerely believed, from the trailer, that it had potential to be a really good Milla Jovovich vehicle. Sadly, I was quite disappointed.

While Charlize Theron and Kate Beckinsale had ample opportunity to prove their action chops in skin tight lycra in Aeon Flux and Underworld respectively, I thought Milla already had proven hers, in Resident Evil, and The Fifth Element. Here, she plays Violet, a vampire-ish humanoid with the really strange technologically enhanced prowess.

Directed and written by Kurt Wimmer (who actually did the cult hit Equilibrium), Ultraviolet takes what's currently the talk of the down - epidemic disease (ala Resident Evil), which had mutated and infected humans, and after a number of hokey mumbo jumbo, some humans become a race of Hemophage, aka humans with vampire-like abilities of stealth and such. Anyway don't bother yourself with the "science" behind this film, as it's sci-fi fantasy anyway.

Just enough to know that Violet is on a quest against a dictator (ala Aeon Flux), but circumstances turn her own against her when she decides to intervene and save a boy called Six. Six is this movie's Leeloo, a being who can cure Hemophages, or kill them, or kill Humans, or, what the heck! Violet plays surrogate mom (because of her past) to Six, and the two form an pseudo-mother-son relationship, as she does battle against the authorities, and her kind.

Just as you thought, from the trailers, that the action will be uber-stylish. There are a number of cool things, like Violet's clothings changing colour like a chameleon to suit her environment, and her virtual-turn-real weapons with endless bullet rounds reloaded from the veins in her wrists, which you gotta see to believe. But here's where the problem is. She's indestructable, like a female Terminator who just keeps going. What put me off were the many fight scenes which just didn't happen. It's lazy, she's that good, but still? You see one woman up against countless villains, and the next minute, they all fall down dead. Without seeing her move a muscle. what gives? And there are dozens of "mega" fight scenes done in the same manner, which became laughable instead of cool, bordering on the absurd. What is unforgivable too is the finale fight scene, done 90% in the dark. Yes, to prove a plot point and for some out of the ordinary action, but grr...

Surprisingly, most of the effects were done by a China digital production team, which made me wonder why this was leaps and bounds ahead of The Promise in terms of effects. It's also a crew team mainly of Hong Kongers and Chinese, makes you wonder about the progress made in China though on film production. Slick effects, but let down by an ultra-weak plot, and cop-out action sequences. Just for those curious, this movie was shot using Sony's high-definition digicam, and coupled with the post-production, really made Milla's skin look absolutely fabulous and flawless in simulated soft focus.

I think it's already a staple to have a shot of the actress's butt in skin tight lycra, as did Aeon Flux, Underworld, and this movie too. But cool shots do not make a good movie, and an extremely bad plot makes it worse. Having bad action just makes it harder to swallow and digest. However, don't worry Milla, I still love you :-)

Cool Trailer + Hot Trailer Music = Awesome promotional material. And that's the only thing you should remember the movie by.

Smell of Rain - Meet The Cast and Crew Session

For the uninitiated, the Picturehouse at the Cathay has re-opened, and wow, you wonder where the additional 50 cents in ticket prices go to (yes, most of the time tickets will cost ten bucks), here it is:

Nice?

A chic black folder to store your tickets in!

The House Rules!

Anyway, this is my third trip to the Picturehouse since it opened its doors, and it's pretty cool to see the Picturehouse Lounge put to some use, in hosting Smell of Rain's Meet the Cast/Crew session. I shall attempt to summarize the session in points, as it'll be easier to read than a long narrative. There were two sessions held, one after each screening this afternoon, and I attended the first one.

The audience

The audience were made up of a number of Anglican High School Chinese Drama members for some reason, and the session was conducted mostly in Mandarin, even though everyone was effectively bilingual, and there were non-Mandarin speakers in the audience. Wonder why - Chinese film so must speak in Chinese? Anyway there was someone standing by to offer free translation, so it ain't that bad.

In attendance were the main leads - Nathaniel Ho, Trey Ho and Leah Low, together with director Gloria Chee and Director of Photography Terris Chiang, amongst others

Second from Left to Right - Gloria Chee, Trey Ho, Nathaniel Ho and Leah Low

The discussion points, plus some trivia about the movie

- 1st question was to gather responses as to whether Smell of Rain is arthouse, or commercial fare, whether you'll recommend a friend to watch this movie on a weekend (especially its late night screenings, see bottom of article)

- The significance of Xiao Qi's hearing aid, symbolizing isolation and the choice of selective hearing

- The film was shot on miniDV on a S$150K budget, funded by the director's day job, friends and family, and various donations-in-kind

- The script was written by the director in English, then translated to Mandarin. The decision to use Mandarin stemmed from the fact that it was a more poetic language and a phrase can be described in less words, with more impact.

- There were some "grammatical" errors in the language used by the characters. However, these "mistakes" were already known, was debatable, and end of the day, was stuck with as it highlighted certain language nuances of the character

- Rehearsals were done prior to the shoot. Rehearsals took 21 days.

What're They Looking At?

- All three leads are first time actors, chosen through 3 or 4 auditions, from a group of 50. The decision to choose first time actors was to give it a sense of rawness the director's looking for; not looking for a polished experienced actors

- As she's a first time director, she's also looking for the cast to share the same amount of passion to give their all in the making of this movie

- They rehearse on set too, before actual shooting

- Shooting was done in twelve 16-18 hour days. 8 days with the actors, 4 days +++ for the various environmental scenes like waiting for the rain, sunset/rise etc

Before the session ended, we launched into a short survey on what kind of local movies Singaporeans will want to watch, and someone suggested to not do another love story, but to put the focus on friendship and family.

Spooky!

And I had to ask the last question, if there is going to be a commercial release. The director certainly hopes so, and is working on it.

So, there will be 2 more screenings outside of the opening festival. If you're interested, you can go check out and book tickets for the shows on 1st April Sat, at 0210am (yes, meaning Friday after midnight that is), and 1150pm. This film is yet to be commercially released, so don't let this opportunity slip you by.

Smell of Rain

I have developed a new fetish for local movies, just to see how our sunny little island is captured on film. I smiled when I identified with the initial scenes - the view of my town from inside the MRT train. The view which I see every day, but with a romanticized quality to it. This year will probably be a bumper year of local movies making their debut, and I would consider this probably one of the rare arthouse chinese movies to be done here.

Don't be put off when I mention "Arthouse" (I felt that it leaned away from "commercial" through its style and narrative structure), though audiences will have to get accustomed to the way the story is told. Plenty of beautiful images, of the sky, rain, sun, river, bridges, basically the entire HDB heartland gets the romantic treatment, courtesy of DoP Terris Chiang. Images that will make you go "wow, this is Singapore, told through another camera angle". The characters speak relatively little, and most of narrative gets told through the voiceover of the protagonist, Xiao Qi (Nathaniel Ho), as he reflects upon his life, and his personal philosophy in living life.

Xiao Qi is an interesting character, though he gets developed really slowly through the course of the film. Partially deaf in one ear, he's an insomniac with a penchant for rummaging through discarded knick-knacks. He lives with his best buddy Kong Long (literally meaning Dinosaur, played by Trey Ho), who spends too much time in front of the television watching Korean dramas, or napping. They're quite opposites, but remain the best of friends.

But this movie is also about the budding relationship between two strangers who meet in the middle of the night. One an insomniac, the other, an attractive girl Li Er (Leah Low, check out her manga-comic eyes). Sparks should fly, but somehow each carries an emotional baggage, so you can be sure of the mega obstacles in place for them to overcome, especially since one of them starts off with an "attitude problem" of being zoned-out.

The pacing of the movie is slow, and deliberately kept so, because Xiao Qi is one who abhors the hustle and bustle of life. He takes things as they come, although you would want to strangle him for his indecisiveness, stemmed from early childhood experiences (though some might think that it might be a tad over-dramatic). Throughout the movie, you would come to question certain things and aspects of character (which I will not reveal here) as the story unfolds, leading you to the all important finale-twist-revealing-ending which should answer obvious questions. Sit through it, persevere (don't be like the two persons in my screening who walked out just before the "showhand"), and you'll be duly rewarded. "First bitter then sweet" - as the chinese saying goes.

Commendable effort is shown by the newbie actors - given little dialogue, they had to rely on developing and fleshing their characters through subtle nuances. But somehow, I thought that the overall cinematography overshadowed their performances, as your eyes will probably fall in love with the setting and environment, so that might take your attention away from the characters, at least for a short while.

It's a movie about finding oneself, letting go, and giving oneself a second chance, with the subtle message to find time to stop and smell the roses, and of course, to experience that smell of rain.

P.S.
Having seen but three of the selection of six movies which are part of the opening of the Picturehouse, in my humble opinion, this local film should have been selected for the premiere. It's fairly experimental, raw, and why not let a local film fly the flag, instead of a regional dud.

There will be 2 more screenings outside of the Picturehouse opening festival. If you're interested, you can go check out and book tickets for the shows on 1st April Sat, at 0210am (yes, meaning Friday after midnight that is), and 1150pm. This film is yet to be commercially released, so don't let this opportunity slip you by.

[SIFF'06] The Art of Flirting - As Told in Four Chapters

There are four local movies premiering at this year's SIFF, and looking at the lineup, you have offerings from Royston Tan, Colin Goh, and Kelvin Tong. Folks whom you've already heard of from movies like 15, Talking Cock, and The Maid. How about Kan Lume? No? Neither did I, until recently when a friend highlighted to keep my eyes peeled for his works. You can view his "The Guest" here at this link, from last year's Canon DVFest

http://www.canon.com.sg/dvfest/vote/bestfilm/film01.html

The Art of Flirting - As Told in Four Chapters, is the feature length film version of his award winning short I, Promise. I had the opportunity and privilege of watching this movie in a special screening, and I must say, if you have not watched any local movies at all, or have dismissed them as either being too commercial or too arthouse, then you must give this movie a shot. It's easily accessible and you'll find elements in it which you can identify with, or even learn from, given its drawing upon material that you can probably guess from its title.

Lynn is a magazine writer, beautiful, sassy. Leo is a sports celebrity turned businessman (think Leslie Kwok type), articulate, hunky. They meet because of work - Leo is her latest feature writeup, and they slowly hit it off. Observe the mind games, the sweet tongues, the games people play. But the beauty of the movie, is in its rich, deep dialogue. Sure you can pick up some subtle hints on wooing and playing coy, but you'll probably be drawn into the plot of what-happens-next, rather than looking out for the next tip.

It's a "talky" movie, no doubt. Before you start yawning, I assure you, listen carefully to the dialogue. It brings out the personalities of the characters, and it touches on many aspects of relationships throughout the entire spectrum, it's astonishing to witness so much scope being covered in a compact 80 minutes. From both a guy's and a girl's point of view about the whole flirting-relationship game.

But what truly works are the two leads, Marilyn Lee and Leonard Yeo. This movie genre of having a long conversational piece hinges so strongly on their delivery, that should they lack a certain chemistry, the entire movie would just fall flat into the land of mediocrity, and render it hokey and unbelievable. Thankfully, both of them seemed to have worked up a great pairing, with the appropriate chemistry, making them very believable characters in various stages in a relationship, so much so that they can easily be you or I, discussing the exact same things. It helps that they are eye-candy as well, but one thing's for sure, and it's somehow uncanny, having good voices helped to make it easier to tune in to what they have to say. And the language and banter between the two are so natural, you won't for one moment think that it's contrived.

It's not only your ears are teased, but the visuals too. Initially I thought the camera-jerking style might be alluded to the uneasiness of first encounters, but as the movie progresses, I wonder if it's the intention of the director to draw audiences into the world of Lynn and Leo, in a voyeuristic style. To listen in, to watch for ourselves, as a reflection in a mirror asking, have we done the same, have we said the same?

And it's highly likely, if you've been in relationships before, that you've encountered, or have actually done and said what the characters have. Your fears, your desires, your hopes and dreams. It is this aspect that makes the movie engaging, on one level to view the movie, and on the other, subconsciously questioning yourself on these issues.

With local films, it's always neat to spot locales where scenes are done, and I particularly liked the supermarket one, for its very "guerilla" style of having the supermarket's piped in music play various love songs while the characters go shopping. I thought it was an effective way of setting the scene which accompanied it - romance is in the air, literally.

This movie will provoke a reaction from you, whether or not you're a guy or a girl, whether or not you agree or disagree with what transpired on screen. And by that I mean while it plays out in a fairly straightforward manner from act to act, you'll be transfixed right up to the very final scene, by the time the end credits roll, there is so much to talk about that you absolutely will feel the urge to digest it with someone else. If it's someone close and significant, I would say it's even better.

Whether you're spoilt for choice, or want to watch a local film during SIFF, do not forget to add this to your watch list. And let me know what you think after you've watched it.


The Art of Flirting - As Told in Four Chapters, premieres at the 19th Singapore International Film Festival 2006, on 24th April 06 (Monday) at 1900hrs, National Museum (yes, you read that right).

The Art of Flirting synopsis from the SIFF website:
http://filmfest.org.sg/displayfilm.php?filmid=020

And here's the link to buy your tickets (before it sells out):
http://purchase.tickets.com/buy/TicketPurchase?agency=TICKETCHGE_SGP&organ_val=20547&pid=5729883

Three Times

Taiwanese auteur Hou Hsiao-Hsien's movie at The Picturehouse is a movie with three stories told very distinctly, one story after another. Take it as three short films rolled into one, with each actor playing different roles, each character having no distinct relation to their counterparts in different eras. Having them set in 1966, 1911 and 2005 provided vastly different material for each short film to stand out from one another.

The first, "A Time for Love", is set in the swinging 60s of 1966. Chang Chen plays an army enlistee who chances upon Shu Qi's working girl in a billiard parlour. He gets attracted to her, but she, not being a permanent staff, flits from one town to another. Undetered, he spends the weekend off to hunt for her, starting from KaoShiung where they last met, following a trail of different mailing addresses which takes him all over Taiwan. This short plays out like a bittersweet tale of budding love, where one will spare no effort in wanting to meet the girl of one's dreams.

The second, "A Time for Freedom", however, is a tough one to swallow. Set during 1911, there is colour, but alas, there's no audible dialogue save for opera lyrics sung and Chinese classical music to set the stage. It plays out as a silent movie of sorts, and the dialogue pieces are set in intertitles which you have to read off to understand what the heck they're saying. Very stylish way to portray the era, one which attracted some snickering from the audience, but soon after, you'll have to get very used to the way this section gets presented. The story however, is nothing to shout about, and perhaps the most boring of the lot. Very easy to doze off in the Oscar chair I tell you.

The last section, "A Time for Youth" is set in 2005. Chang Chen plays a photographer, and Shu Qi, a bisexual Goth chick who is on the road to becoming straight, I think. Her character here is the most interesting of the lot, and also because Chang Chen's male leads in all three parts were somewhat ordinary, without an edge. While the first part's environment was in Taiwan's rural areas, which is probably used as it's easier to simulate the retro environment of the past, and the second's highly likely in a soundstage, this one is familiar urban territory - capital Taipei. It probably is hip to feature lesbians in movies these days, as we see Shu Qi grapple with a clingy lesbian lover. But after having passionate throngs with Chang's character, I guess she must be having second thoughts, or really, is bothered by the clinginess.

Throughout the three sections, dialogue is quite scarce, except for perhaps the first one. Peppered most of the time in Hokkien, it was peculiar that the subtitles only had the Mandarin translation, totally neglecting English speaking folks. But for the Mandarin dialogue, there was English subtitles. So for those who don't read Mandarin or understand oral Taiwanese styled Hokkien, be prepared to be lost for a bit during the movie.

I didn't manage to tie down the inter-related themes of all 3 parts, except for the obvious one on love. The first, being in the 60s, was portrayed quite innocently, with shy smiles and little surprises and all. The second was more restrained in nature. Fact is, there's very little physical contact between the lovers. While the third opened with sex, which I suspect was snipped off here (didn't see what was in the trailers :P). All three had appropriate music to accentuate the era's mood. You have classics like Smoke Gets In Your Eyes, and Rain and Tears (the one used in the trailer), up against Operatic music, before closing the film with alternative music, sung in heavily Chinese accented English, whose lyrics don't make much sense, being adapted by Shu Qi's character encounters. Communication techniques used in the three movies were as accurate as can be, with A4 sized pen-written love letters, in contrast with ink-brushed wordings in large thin paper, and today's prevalent electronic communication with email and SMS. Perhaps it also serves to highlight the idea of love in those eras. One very innocent, one very plain, and one, non-permanent and fleeting.

Maybe it's just me, but having watch three very arty representations by directors such as Malick, Ratanatuang and now Hou, made me a little jaded what with having movies where style takes precedence over substance. I think I need to chill out with something as mindless as Ice Age 2 or Ultraviolet soon. Need balance.

Invisible Waves

If this is going to be someone's maiden entry into Pen-Ek Ratanatuang's movies, then I dare say that he's not going to win any new fans with this piece of crap. Might even lose the old ones too. Not that I've watched all his films (missed the retrospective during the symposium last year), but Invisible Waves was a rude introduction.

It's basically an extremely weak piece of storytelling, with a non-existent, juvenile story. I equate it to a primary school kid's first composition, and the worst kid in class can come up with something more imaginative and interesting. The story does not engage at all, and the characters, you'd wish that they all die to save you the misery of trying to understand them.

So what if it's lensed by Christopher Doyle? Here, his images come up poorly. While the technique might work with Wong Kar Wai's movies (at least there's a decent, understandable story), someone should advise Doyle that one technique doesn't always necessary fit all. It makes you come across as a one trick pony. The sea, very interesting to look at? If you have meaning to it, fine, but there isn't. Oh, the characters walk out of the frame and you only hear voices. That's cool? No, what's with that dumb ship hull in the frame? It makes you wonder if it's done for the sake of doing it, rather than to go back to the old school method of properly tracking a scene.

And what of the weak story? For the first time, I'd say don't trust all the synopsis out there, even if it's IMDb.com. It makes it sound more interesting, and could probably be filmed in a better way by an amateur filmmaker. Kyoji (Asano Tadanobu), a Japanese chef cum hitman living in Macau, is having an affair with his boss's wife. He's instructed to kill her, and like all obedient servant, performs the deed, and like all Hong Kong mafiaso movies, he has to take a hike to another country after the hit.

Which brings him to Phuket, Thailand, but not before actually having to spend an hour's worth of run time doing absolutely nothing on board a ship (which does not move by the way - tells you how good the production values are). It plays out like an unfunny, contrived episode of Mr Bean, where everything that could go wrong, would go wrong, with repetitive tired dialogue of having to deal with an unresponsive reception (makes you wonder if Asians are that dumb). He meets a single mother called Noi (Kang Hye-Jeong, I think pan-Asian collaboration getting hip these days, even if they speak horrendously in English), who is so weak a character, you could write her off the script as she does absoultely nothing, even at the ending (hello, we got a situation here and you're admiring your damn ring?). Don't bother too with wasting time and reading too much into many of the scenes, if there's any hidden message, it's pretentious, and as the title goes, invisible.

It doesn't matter anymore when Kyoji finally arrives at Phuket, gets into the same situation as while on the ship, gets robbed (oei, you hitman, but you're one heckuva lousy one), and gets help from Lizard, who turns out to be his hunter, tasked to silence Kyoki. But they sure beat around the bloody bush to get to this point. And from there, you would've wondered that in any reel or real world, the entire scenario as played out from that point all the way to the finale, is hokey. It's poor storytelling, it's bad script, it's utter crap. I also credit this film with having one of the weakest mob boss villain, with no credibility, and the actor playing him, zero expression. If I can give out the equivalent of the Razzies, this movie will win 11 of them - bad screenplay, bad acting (times 4), bad direction, bad cinematography, bad music, bad costumes, bad production design and bad picture.

The saving graces of the movie is actually the appearance of Hong Kong veterans Eric Tsang and Maria Cordero. Just the appearance, not their characters or what they do or say, just for that cheap laugh of "hey, I recognize them, what made them sign on the dotted line?"

I think it's high time that filmmakers realize that pieces of shit doesn't equate to works of art. This is pretentious art at its worst. This is a horribly reeking piece of shit, it's still early into the year, but already a contender for worst movie. Save your money, and save your time - don't even bother watching this, even if it's a pirated free copy. Find a better movie to sit on the Picturehouse's Oscar chair.

The New World

Yet another victim of incorrect marketing, for those unfamiliar with Terrence Malick's style, the trailers would have mislead you to think that The New World is one heck of a suspense filled action packed movie. It is not. What is evident is Mallick's style imprinted throughout, with characters expressing innermost thoughts through voiceover narratives, plenty of nothingness, and beautiful postcard visuals.

For the new generation bred on Disney's Pocahontas, The New World is a more adult take on the tale. There is no song and dance, there is no "magicalness" in this new world, and there are no characters perpetually on prozac. Think along this line: the Louis Cha martial arts classic series The Condor Heroes, and Wong Kar Wai's Ashes of Time. The former being Disney's Pocahontas in ease of understanding, the latter being Mallick's movie. Same characters, similar stories, in a grittier adult environment.

The New World begins with the merry men of England's colonials seeking new grounds to set up camp, and slowly develop their new found lands. Wait, make that a bunch of hungry desperadoes on the verge of insanity when their food supplies are threatened. And they come with prejudices as well - the native Americans are categorized as savages, but as we witness ourselves, it isn't difficult to understand who the actual savages are. Discovery and exploration cut both ways. The English, through John Smith, discovers the way of the natives (ala The Last Samurai, but without much dialogue here, but plenty visuals), and the natives, being introduced to the English way of life, through the Pocahontas character. But as with clash of the cultures, the native Americans know of what the colonists have in their plans. First to establish a beach head, then to expand inwards with the possibility of threatening their own existence. What to you do in times like these? You counter-plan for a pre-emptive strike. Beginning with kindness, and if it doesn't work, then it calls for more drastic violent measures.

While the big picture's that of politicking, the more focused aspect will be going behind the thoughts of the main characters - John Smith (Colin Farrell), Pocahontas (newbie Q'Orianka Kilcher) and John Rolfe (Christian Bale). While they do not dialogue much throughout the movie, they rely on sheer acting skills to bring their characters to life. Which somehow is a joy to watch. The innocence of Pocahontas shone through brilliantly, as did a very complex and layered John Smith. John Rolfe perhaps was the more straightforward, generous character that is the easiest to understand.

Weaved into the complex narrative style is that of longing. Smith longing for the life out of the new found land, Pocahontas to eventually much spend legitimate time with Smith, and Rolfe, perhaps the shortest screentime amongst all three, added into the fray in a triangle relationship (Seriously, I'm don't qualify as a Bale groupie, but it was a really long wait before he appeared and had something to do. So fans, please take note). Besides love and longing, I was actually laughing inside at the sheer corruption of the colonists - strongest man of the moment rules, and another else can challenge the authority of those in power just with the strength of a powerful gun. Quite civilized.

You have been warned. Not everyone will appreciate Mallick's works. It'll take a while to get used to during the course of the movie. You'll find many scenes with a familiar feel (didn't I see something similar a while back), especially the wheat fields, so sexy.

Anyway the following's a cheeky thought that struck me three-quarters of the way in the movie... ha!

Wah lau eh, this show hor, seriously is one heck of an SPG show leh. Ang mo tua kee you know? Local ger buay song all the near nude and muscular local hunks, but rather find the ang mos more happening, with their heavy armour and knick knacks like compasses, copper kettles and big ships. But you know lah, the ang mo only here for short while mah, when they have bigger lobangs back home, what love? They abandon local girl and balek kampung lah! Shiok already, where got bring the girl home? Many night stands can oready mah. The ger even got thrown out of the house leh. But the girl very humchee one... once bitten buay shy, still find ang mo happening. But this movie never steleotype lah, ang mo also got good guy what... like Batman! He take care of ger, give her home, food, wah, so nice. But you know lah, when the old ang mo lover come back, how she want to choose? Aiyoh, these type of BGR, very the compricated ah! Cannot anyhow play ah ger!

Russian Dolls (Les Poupées Russes)

Russian Dolls are those wooden toy dolls, which can be opened to reveal another doll, and opened again to reveal another, until you reach the final, tiny one. That in essence, is the movie's message on love and relationships. How do you know that the person you're with, is that final soulmate, the final tiny russian doll at the end of the chain? Or are you still stuck in the process of searching, and breaking up, and perpetually wondering and keeping a lookout for that someone else perceivably better?

A sequel to The Spanish Apartment, you don't really have to watch that in order to enjoy Russian Dolls, even though most of the characters come back in this one. The protagonist is Xavier (Romain Duris), a down-and-out writer who's looking for his next big break, no matter if it's a cheesy love story that he's tasked to work with, or ghostwriting memoirs of celebrities. We follow his journey as he seeks his dolls, most of whom were encounters in the Spanish Apartment.

First we have Martine (the lovely Audrey Tautou), his ex-girlfriend who's now a single parent, and who still holds a candle for him, but only when she's feeling lonely and needy. Don't you just feel that sometimes you're being made use of, but you're a nice guy and is accomodating to that ex? But no worries, there's always that buddy to rely on, and Xavier's buddy happens to be a lesbian Isabelle (Cecile De France, that tough as nails cookie in High Tension), a smart financial analyst. Friends like these must have ok? They'll even go all out to be out of character just to assist you in situations, providing you with accomodation, and dressing up so femininely (she's a butch by the way) to be your pretend-girlfriend.

In between, Xavier tries to get back to the dating game by hooking up with store assistant Kassia (Aissa Maiga), but as you know, the ex always gets in the way, somehow. So another potential relationship, ended up broken before it even had a chance to get started.

But the final two proved to be most challenging of the lot. Business brings Xavier and Wendy together (Kelly Reilly, in a lot of movies lately, like Mrs Henderson Presents, Pride and Prejudice), and love blossoms between the two, despite initially starting off as platonic, and Wendy still being stuck in a relationship that she doesn't have the strength to walk away from. But their relationship is put to the test when Xavier, through business, also gets the opportunity to hook up with up-and-coming model Celia (Lucy Gordon). Ah, a beautiful celebrity, that unattainable perfect being, the object of everyman's desire and lust, now within reach. Which would he choose? Which would you choose? The down to earth person, or the party girl surviving in that Barbie world that last only as long as their looks do?

The movie suggests many known thoughts and ideas on romance and relationships, such as loving someone meaning loving their flaws, that there's no such thing as the perfect person, just only being able to love someone because their flaws don't drive you up the wall. And the eternal question of when will you stop looking? Temptations abound, but at the end of the day, do you cross the line, or who do you return to? It might seem that the story's the usual of love, finding love, losing it, and all the cliches of a romance flick, but with an added punch.

It's also interesting to note the different apartments that Xavier encounters, from his ex's home, to Isabelle's bachelor pad, from an ordinary London home in Wendy's, to the luxurious French suite of Celia's. There're also plenty of country hopping, between England, France and Russia (Moscow, St Petersburg), where their friend in common William is getting married. And yes, Apple laptops sure looks sexy!

Probably I had it easier to identify with this movie, given I'm the targeted age group of those approaching the big-three-oh, wondering about stuff like these occassionally. Peppered with plenty of comedy to keep the going interesting, especially its techniques of juxtaposing reel-reality with reel-fantasy, Russian Dolls is a truly contemporary, chic, and sassy film standing on its soapbox with a mouthpiece touching on modern relationships.

[DVD] Moonlight In Tokyo

Leon Lai and Chapman To star in this Hong Kong movie set in the streets of Tokyo, where two strangers bond under trying circumstances. It's part madcap comedy, part melodrama, and those of you who are curious to see Lai act cute, should give this a watch.

Click on the movieXclusive logo below to read my review:

District 13 (Banlieue 13)

It's errorneous to interpret "A Film By Luc Besson" that the marketing folks slap on the movie posters these days. Besson has of late been lending his name for that purpose on many movies, but nope, he's not the director. Usually involved in another capacity, like writer, or producer.

District 13 is one such movie. This is not a film by Luc Besson, although it is written by, and produced by him. This movie is directed by Pierre Morel, who was the cinematographer for another Besson-involved film, Jet Li's Unleashed. You'll see some familiar stylistic elements from Unleashed in this movie, although this one was made in 2004, and shown here earlier as the movie used to launch Cathay's new halls 10-12 at cineleisure.

Set in Paris 2010, troubled districts get walled in by the authorities. Literally. And District 13 is one of the most notorious amongst all. We get introduced to Leito first, a resident of District 13, but as it turns out, despite his mean tattoo covered demeanour, he has a heart of gold, and fantastic springs for legs, borrowed from the Yamakasi folks. Played by David Belle, he actually is a co-founder of a sport known as Parkour, which is demonstrated in the movie as a very free form of martial arts cross bred with the Yamakasi spirit. Leito is a character who's jaded by authority-like figures, as he gets betrayed by the police, and has his sister given up as collateral.

The other protagonist is Damien, an ace undercover cop, played by stuntman Cyril Raffaelli. Accomplishing his latest mission doesn't buy him rest, as he gets thrust unwillingly into a new assignment of having to locate a neutron bomb stolen and brought into District 13. Given only 24 hours before the bomb explodes and kills everyone in an eight kilometer radius, he has to enlist the help of Leito to serve as a guide inside the notorious district.

As you would already expect, it's reluctant hero meeting another reluctant hero, both with huge egos and their own agendas - one to save lives, the other to save his sister. Both share a common enemy, so that makes it easier somewhat to find common ground to cooperate. However, the movie's a tad short to explore these buddy themes, as you get into the action thick and fast.

It's adrenalin pumping action against an edgy hard hitting soundtrack. You'll initially be wowed at Leito's Parkour scenes, which brings back some memories of Jackie Chan movies with his acrobatic maneuvers into confined spaces, and of leaping from building to building, window ledge to window ledge, and rooftop to rooftop. However, after a while, you tend to get jaded because it's basically the same thing, repeated over and over again. The initial novelty wore out, and it didn't help that action scenes thereafter relied on the same techniques. Other than that, you're stuck with the usual fist-fights that have already been the hallmark of Hong Kong action movies.

Also, despite being billed as a non-stop action flick, the action actually pauses for long moments to force a discussion on the ridding of the downtrodden, of taking extreme measures to round up troubled districts by physically segregating them from the rest using high walls and barbed wires. and of extreme methods of getting rid of such folks deemed as troublemakers.

There're also more style-than-substance scenes, not that I'm complaining, but some shots were pretty to look at, at the expense of the story. As with most action movies, you'll also have to suspend belief that while bullets can make nasty holes in metal, they will never find a way to penetrate wood or human flesh, at least when the heroes are concerned.

While the ending's pretty neat, you can't help but wonder that this movie is yet another victim of the cool trailer syndrome - having almost all the best bits of the movie condensed into the trailer, leaving nothing much in the movie itself.

The Hills Have Eyes

Hot on the heels of slasher flicks like Wolf Creek and Cry_Wolf (so many wolves?) this year is The Hills Have Eyes, a remake of Wes Craven's 1977 movie of the same title. Directed by Alexandre Aja, who brought us High Tension (shown here uncut late last year), this remake is suprisingly quite good and bloody entertaining, and that's despite being behind the other releases as mentioned over the past 2 weeks. If you're already jaded by the wolves, grit your teeth and go for this one. Bloody satisfaction guaranteed.

A word of caution, this movie isn't just plainly blood and gore. There are bits that were chopped off (pardon the pun), either by the filmmakers to secure an R rating in the US, or done so by local censors. What works, is that somehow you actually give a damn for the characters / victims. Why? Because they're family. And it could be yours.

Unlike the teenage swingers in Creek, or rich frat kids in Cry_Wolf, The Hills Have Eyes sets focus on a typical family - mom, dad, 3 kids, one of whom is already married to a telco salesman, and have a newborn baby. They're on a road trip (very popular movie element hor?) and made a pit stop at a dinghy petrol kiosk (doesn't it always?), with a sly and suspicious looking pump attendant (stereotypical, I know). They're directed to a short cut (uh-oh, bad) in the middle of the New Mexico desert on the way to California, and naturally, their vehicle encounters an accident - yes, in the middle of nowhere, to set the scene.

So while the family bickers and decides upon their action plan, little do they know that the hills have eyes. They are being watched, and you're gleefully awaiting some action to happen. The prologue and opening credits will have prepared you for what's to come - grotesque humanoid creatures who are mutated by nuclear energy, with a thirst for violence and hunger to kill. However, don't ask too many whys or hows, just accept the fact that it is so.

Without spoiling much, it's wicked. While on one hand, you're anticipating something to happen, by the time it does and the movie progresses, you'll be sucked into actually wanting the worse possible to happen, as a means of eye-for-an-eye, tooth-for-a-tooth, broken skulls and bullet wounds, the works. While the film might want to suggest something about the negativity of nuclear testing, it doesn't get bogged down by the suggestion and before you realise, it gets tossed out of the window in exchange for action.

The cast, while some having more screentime than others (you need the fodders to have the movie belong to the slasher genre), did a rather commendable job, despite the genre. You see genuine fear in their eyes, and the tone of their voice - they're really afraid. And you witness their progression from fear to the downright need for primal survival of the fittest. It's pretty neat to see the all too familiar setting up, the initial incident striking fear and confusion into their hearts, and the resolution to the final act, which is split into two different narratives. Somehow the strength is in how the situation develops, although it did take a little while to get there.

Despite the cuts and having other lesser slasher flicks shoved down our throats the past weeks, if you have to watch something bloody good, The Hills Have Eyes will be my recommendation.

[DVD] Return of the One-Armed Swordsman (1969)

After watching the original One-Armed Swordsman, directed by Chang Cheh and starring Wang Yu in the title role, I knew I had to watch this direct sequel, as the others had David Chiang replacing Wang Yu as Fang Gang.

Continuing where the first movie left off, we see Fang Gang leading a life of a farmer, without a care of JiangHu politics. But as the saying goes, and in martial arts movie, so long as you're a reputable swordsman, trouble will always be looking for you. The emergence of the evil Eight Demon Swordsmen clan brought about chaos, with their issuing of forced challenges and a grand meeting amongst the swordsman clans. The senior members of various clans get annihilated or captured, and its down to the junior members to try and convince Fang Gang to come out of "retirement" to assist them in their quest of rescue, and getting rid of the Eight Demon Swordsmen.

It's also pretty cool to see the main villains being crafted with various deadly weapons and different personalities. Like the one with the deadly chain-attached sickle, or the mean looking knife-shield. How about a weapon which seemed to fire pellets of poison, and a sword with extensible blade? Perhaps the more interesting villain was the lady assassin, with her demure looks, and deadly hidden knives, giving a new meaning to back-stabbing!

However, being villains, our hero and his gang of merry men, while on the way to the villains' fortress, get to dispatch them one by one in deadly, bloody fashion. Although by today's standards the blood is pretty fake looking, it's still quite a bloody affair with slashings, stabbings - knives through body, and squirting blood. But I must add that it did give a sense of cheesy nostalgia to how blood was created for the screen in those days.

Classic martial arts movie scenes like the bamboo forest also get featured in this movie, though the forest did look a bit sparse, since it was filmed in a sound stage. Added to the fight scenes was a demonstration of superb "qing-gong" (light-skill, fleet-footedness) by Fang Gang, though the wire work used was extremely elementary, and came across quite laughably. Back in those days, this sequence would have been da bomb though.

The story's nothing to shout about - it has almost every thematic element that you'd expect from a martial arts movie, and classic scene settings like forests and inns. But it sure is one heck of a fun ride - bigger, bolder, badder than the original, with a lot more disposable characters for the body count.

Code 3 DVD extras contains a pretty weak lineup of only the trailer (and trailers for other movies), colour stills, the poster, selected cast and crew biography and filmography, and a one screen production notes. The DVD for the original seemed better and more thorough.

Mad Hot Ballroom

OK, so it took me 3 attempts before finally being able to watch this - the first was free, but aborted because of timing. The second attempt, only the first 3 rows were available for a weekday evening, and I'm not too keen on craning my neck. The third and successful attempt had me walk all the way from Orchard Cineleisure to Shaw Lido, in 10 minutes flat on a crowded weekend afternoon. But the mad rush was well worth it.

New York City elementary schools have a 10 week long co-curricular activity (CCA) for its students, where they learn ballroom dancing, and then compete in a city wide dance competition. How cool is that? Finally, a CCA from which you can actually learn something useful, a skill that stays with you for life. Imagine learning from young, the steps to the Tango, Foxtrot, Swing, Merengue, etc. Wow.

But there's a much higher cause in teaching ballroom dancing to the students. And that is to inculcate in them from young, a sense of hope, responsiblity - to themselves in mastering a skill, to their partners in performing well, and being a team player to the entire class/school, and a setting of an achievable goal if they were to work hard at it. Most students in the public schools come from the lower spectra of society, and as the movie goes, based on statistics, many may end up on the streets, probably living in the hood of crime or other vices like drugs. This programme allows the students to dream a little dream, work hard towards a common goal, build their self-confidence and esteem, and have them thinking about the kind of future they want to pursue.

So we follow different classes, and their trainings with the teachers, where we see them learning the basics of the different kinds of dances. It's pretty raw at first, but by the time the movie progresses, from the quarters to the finals, you'd see a marked improvement in the slickness of their paces. Their moves might still not be as polished, but bear in mind that these are only 11 year olds, not your already established dancers, or make believe actors.

The downside of competition is that for every winner, there'll be more losers, and the movie takes stock of this, and feature the losing teams as well, and how the lost affected the students, and the dread that the teachers have to go through to explain that it's part and parcel of competition, and life.

The movie is interspersed with various interviews and candid discussions amongst the students, and teachers, and it makes it compelling each time as you actually see that despite their little age, they demonstrate much innocent maturity, listening to them talk about boys, girls, relationships, dreams, etc. There's this pudgy looking boy whom I thought was pretty natural in getting himself into weird situations, and taking it all in his stride, and providing some of the laughs too. The teachers have their work cut out, having to teach their class, and then selecting only a handful to compete, and also to prep them up for the competition, and potential failure of not being emerging champions.

Before long, you'll find yourself tapping along to the various dances, making you want to get up there and move to the groove too - hey if 11 year olds can do it, and be good at it, why not give it a try? On the downside though, since the moves are done by students, they're taught really basic steps, and it does get repetitive, but hey, it's all in the name of fun.

Do catch Mad Hot Ballroom! If I have a recommendation to make for movies this week, watch this before it gets pulled out from the theatres! Stay throughtout the end credits as they'll be more discussion snippets from the tots.

Dorm (Dek Hor)

It was quite uncanny, a group of us were discussing making a movie about ghost stories told in schools. Sure, every school has its fair share of ghouls and goblins, and we'd thought it was interesting to have it done on film. Heck, we were actually in the premises of a school when we started to talk about it at night too. So imagine our surprise that Thailand actually made it first, and screened in local theatres no more than a month after we discussed.

Dorm refers to the dormitory of an all boys boarding school. Chatree (Charlie Trairattana) gets sent to the school by his parents, against his wishes. I believe almost everyone would be familiar with the feeling of being uprooted from one school to go to another (be it upon graduation or otherwise), where there's a sense of loss somewhat, especially with friends.

As with all new schools, the new kid on the block gets treated with suspicion, and he finds it extremely difficult to integrate into the school. It doesn't help that his initial gang of friends harbours thoughts of going all out to scare Chatree with many ghosts stories about the school (I could've sworn the toilet one was familiar territory, because I encountered something similar before), and making matters worst, the teacher (Jintara Sukphat) also becomes a key character in one of these stories, hence making Chatree wary.

Despite being the social outcast, and a recluse, Chatree befriends another pupil, Wichien (Sirarath Jianthaworn). They become fast friends, but Wichien has a deep dark secret come 6pm everyday, when he disappears. By now, you would've guessed what would happen.

Along the way, this movie somehow forgotten that it was supposed to be a horror movie. That, or the marketing folks have gotten it all wrong in promoting this flick. The horror genre is undoubtedly an extremely popular genre in Asia, one that will put folks into cinema seats, and riding on the wave of Shutter's success, it's easy to get caught up in what essential are the few and far between sense of fright that's packed into the trailer. Be warned, halfway through the movie, the horrifying moments get thrown out the window, and Dorm becomes more of a standard fare mystery. Quite a plain one actually, as the narrative gets stuck in cruise control throughout. You'll be able to guess the ending, and plot devices are thrown in only to help the movie proceed to the following scene.

But there's a fun element thrown in, which I thought was quite neat. Fans of Hong Kong horror cinema would clearly identify the "Mr Vampire" remake in Dorm, where the students congregate for one of their night movie screenings. It's a deliberate cheesy remake, but I felt this was one of the more powerful scenes that snuck up on you, incorporating the twist revelation so well, I give it the thumbs up. And yes, the twist is revealed midway through the movie in this scene, and thereafter, "horror" gets forgotten.

How's the horrifying content earlier in the movie you ask? It's not all that frightening, again relying on cheap tricks like musical crescendos to make you jump. You don't get to see much, except for shadows, sudden movements and closeups (hey, if I can survive this, so can you!). If I had a gripe, it would be with Chatree's hair continuity problem. Unless there's a barber in the school who cuts hair as good as he restores them, you'll probably get perturbed by the changes in Chatree's hair length. In the same scene. Talking to the same person. You get the drift. It's rather sloppy filmmaking, and the continuity person ought to get shot. The special effects department though, gets my thumbs up for its imaginary swimming pool effects. Really cool stuff there.

Horror aside, this film essentially similar to like M Night Shyamalan's The Sixth Sense, though it doesn't dwell as deep into the psyche of Chatree and the spirit. It works on another level, along the themes of friendship, sacrifice, forgiveness and closure. I'd recommend it, not as a horror movie, but a coming of age one.

P.S. the version shown here rated PG, is the censored version. Not because of anything frightening, but for a sex scene, which I thought was quite pivotal to identify who it was Chatree's father was humping. Edited away, it comes across as "so what's the big deal?"

[DVD] Ice Age (2002)

I've missed this animated movie when it was out in Singapore a few years back. Since the sequel is hitting our shores real soon, I thought I'd better get myself up to speed with the original movie, lest I miss out on some references used in the sequel. You see, must do homework mah?

It has been 4 years since this movie was released, but I am marvelled at the level of animation detail that was already incorporated - the ice never looked as white or as menacing, and the scenes of water in this movie, could have been the real thing. It really is that good. Which is quite surprising, considering that Ice Age was only Fox Animation Studios' attempt after their initial offering of Titan AE.

The beginning of Ice Age comprised of that extra long trailer featuring Scrat (the part squirrel part rat animal) trying to bury its acorn into the ice. Yes, it's the same one, which lead directly to a scene which looked straight out of A Land Before Time. The prehistoric animals are making their way down south, but somehow, Manny the Mammoth decides to leave the herd, and head up north instead. He meets Sid the Sloth, and they begin an uneasy alliance - you know, the usual bored character meets witty-but-irritating character routine.

At the same time, some sabre-tooth tigers have ambushed some early-humans (they don't speak), and their prized target, a human baby, escapes. Diego gets appointed by the pack to hunt the baby down and deliver it, so that they can exact revenge. But alas the baby gets saved rather reluctantly by Manny and Sid, and Diego has to use its cunning to infiltrate the group, and complete its mission.

It's a simple movie with mature themes, infused with madcap comedy. I especially enjoyed the crazy sequence with the dumb dodo birds - after watching this, you'd think that they deserve to be extinct! But anyhow, central to the themes is that of sacrifice and friendship. It got played out really well, since you have a double agent amongst the group of unlikely friends. And it is precisely this that the sequel can be born.

As with most animation flicks these days, look out for some spoofs, especially in the cave (with the UFO), and pay close attention to the dialogue - lots of gems to listen out for. It's an interesting caper, and the sequel, yes I'm awaiting.

This Code 1, two-discs special edition comes with features filled to the brim. The first disc contains an audio commentary, interactive games, both widescreen and fullscreen formats, and the usual audio selection and subtitles. The second discs comes with an animated short Scrat's Missing Adventure, an HBO behind the scenes special, a making-of documentary, 6 deleted scenes, 6 production featurettes, trailers, and a clip from Blue Sky Studio's Oscar winning film "Bunny". Whew!

Typhoon

Typhoon is the latest Korean blockbuster hitting our shores real soon, by the end of the month. Unless you're living with your head buried in sand, you'll almost certainly not miss the slew of marketing tactics being used to promote the movie, especially with its assault on your senses onboard SMRT trains and station platforms.

You can check out my review of Typhoon at movieXclusive by clicking on the logo below:

[FOCUS: First Cuts #1] The Shoe Fairy

FOCUS: First Cuts is a series of films showcasing some of the works from up and coming Asian directors. Supported by Andy Lau's Focus Films, we'll be seeing a slew of 6 movies, the first being the Taiwanese movie The Shoe Fairy, starring Vivian Hsu and Duncan Lai, directed by first timer Robin Lee.

The Shoe Fairy is a modern day fairy tale. One which isn't kind to its genre to begin with, highlighting the evil witch and wolf characters and their impending bloody demise in each tale. The Chinese title "Ren Yu Duo Duo" will already hint about the fairy tale from which this movie draws its inspiration from, with "Ren Yu" being mermaid (in this context). Like the Little Mermaid, Dodo (Hsu) looks normal, except that she cannot use her legs. A miraculous operation allowed her to walk again, and slowly she develops an obsession with shoes. Loads of them.

Girls would probably squeal at the variety of shoes on display in the movie, and I tell you it's a really wide range. Dodo felt that shoes are her first love, and wondered if shoes are indeed her happiness in life. Being weaned on fairy tales from young, it seemed that shoes are perfectly capable of providing her that happily ever after ending, until she meets Smiley, the dentist (Lai).

The movie becomes one of those saccharine sweet moments where boy woos girl, boy marries girl, then what? Perhaps it has a deeper message in its arty-farty feel, but somehow that feeling did not come to me. Give me conflicts, which the movie does, but sidesteps it somewhat. We see how much one treasures something when one has it, and how one emotional spirals downwards when one loses it. I must say I didn't expect it to turn in that direction though, before resuming itself in the theme of hope.

What didn't work for me was the usage of a narrator - Andy Lau. Sorry Andy, your narration's a bit difficult to follow, and I somewhat dislike movies with narration that explains the story - we can see the visuals you know? Also, the strangely huge English and Chinese subtitles were so badly done - not aesthetically pleasing, and full of typos. Someone never did their homework?

While the visuals were stunning (it did win a Golden Horse ward for Best Art Direction in 2005), I felt the special effects quite cheesy, and the plot being a little weak. While it showed promise in its slow start, the second half was a torture to sit through, where it tried to develop the characters in too short a time left. This movie will probably appeal to hard core fans of Vivian Hsu, who probably haven't seen their idol on celluloid in a long time.

Anyway, I'll be keeping my eyes peeled and will be following the rest of the offerings in the First Cuts series, which will have one new film making its appearance every month. Stay tuned then!

P.S. The movie stopped playing halfway (GV Plaza 4), which I thought was an end to the torture of sitting through the entire movie. Alas, after a 10 minute delay, it resumed. Bah! :P