READY PLAYER ONE (Malaysia, 29 Mar 2018)

Genre: Science Fiction / Adventure 

Running Length: 2:20

Cast: Tye Sheridan, Olivia Cooke, Ben Mendelsohn, Lena Waithe, T.J. Miller, Simon Pegg, Mark Rylance, Philip Zhao, Win Morisaki

Director: Steven Spielberg 

Screenplay: Zak Penn and Ernest Cline, based on the novel by Ernest Cline 

READY PLAYER ONE brings back a little of the "Spielberg magic" missing in his recent movies; the sense of adventure, special effects, sweeping music score, awestruck faces of the actors to show a sense of wonder and of course, the neat ending.

What's the movie about?

The year is 2045, where there's widespread poverty and overpopulation. People are more interested in escaping reality into this massive online universe called The Oasis via their VR equipment. When the founder of this game died, he offered his fortune and ownership of the entire game to whoever who can find the prized Easter Egg. Our hero Wade Watts (Sheridan) and his group of new found friends in the game has to face off against an evil corporation who wants The Oasis too.   

What I like about it?

• The Oasis. It's a visual fest, immersive and packed with details! This movie needs to be watched on the big screen with the best possible sound system.  
• Pop references. Because a player can be anybody in the game, this movie is packed full with recognizable characters; King Kong, Iron Giant, the DeLorean, the Akira motorbike, Streetfighter characters, Alien etc. One YouTube video says there are at least 128 of these references. Geeks will love this movie!
• The sweeping music score by Alan Silvestri.
• The sense of adventure and wonder in Act 1. The car race is WOW!
• The good old Spielberg kan-cheong moments in Act 3, involving scenes going back and forth between the game world and the real world. Only Spielberg can get the audience to scream  "Quick, quick hurry up!" at the screen. 

What I didn't?

• The bloated middle Act. After being introduced to the Oasis, I felt that was no need to keep going deeper into that world. I caught myself checking my watch. 
• The missed opportunity of exploring the growing phenomenon of young people living a reclusive life. The filmmakers did shed some light on it but kinda addressed it lightly at the end. 
• The performances from the actors are ok but not particularly memorable. 

RATING: 7.5/10 

THE SHAPE OF WATER (Malaysia, 22 Mar 2018)

Genre: Fantasy / Romance
Running Length: 2:03
Cast: Sally Hawkins, Michael Shannon, Richard Jenkins, Octavia Spencer, Michael Stuhlbarg, Doug Jones
Director: Guillermo del Toro
Screenplay: Guillermo del Toro & Vanessa Taylor

I can understand why THE SHAPE OF WATER recently won the Best Picture at the Oscars. But it's not because of a compelling story but it checks most of the boxes of what the Academy voters were looking for at this current time. It was the safest choice. It would have been interesting if Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri won because it would have been a controversial pick.

What's the movie about?
Set in the 1960s, a mute and lonely cleaning lady who works at a top secret government facility forms an unconventional relationship with a scaled creature that is being held in captivity. She attempts to free the creature from the sadistic government agent. 

What I like about it?

• The overall grandeur of the production. It's beautiful to look at and the set designs are detailed and rich. 
• The creature. Thank God the filmmakers didn't use CGI but instead opted for the traditional hours and hours of make-up job. But then it's a Guillermo del Toro film :) 
• Eventhough it's a fantasy, it's still a more realistic adult fairy tale story vs Beauty and the Beast. In this movie, the creature do behave dangerously like an animal at times. 
• Unconventional choice for a leading lady. Instead of choosing a pretty young thing, the filmmakers decided to go with a mature lady with a next door neighbour looks. And Sally Hawkin's performance as an "incomplete" lonely lady in love with a non-human being is very believable. She's very likeable here.  
• Homage to classic musical movies. Cinephiles out there will love what delToro did here. 

What I didn't?

• Shallow approach to inclusiveness, racism, homosexuality, women's empowerment, the black community, the Cold War, the Russian spy and technological unemployment. It felt as though the filmmakers threw in a buffet of such Oscar worthy subjects just to get noticed by the Academy. It was very heavy handed.      
• Unbelievable antagonist. Although Michael Shannon's performance here is scary and intense, his frothing at the mouth character is unbelievable and overly stereotyped (All white, heterosexual, Christian, American men are evil).
• Boring. Despite such an interesting concept, I was actually bored throughout most of the film. I wasn't immersed with the characters and some parts were just too predictable. (Three Billboards is much more interesting in its unpredictability and characters' arc).

RATING: 7.5/10

BLACK PANTHER (Malaysia, 15 Feb 2018)

Genre: Action / Adventure

Running Length: 2:14

Cast: Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, Martin Freeman, Daniel Kaluuya, Letitia Wright, Winston Duke, Sterling K. Brown, Andy Serkis, Angela Bassett, Forest Whitaker

Director: Ryan Coogler

Screenplay: Ryan Coogler & Joe Robert Cole 

It's a good thing when days after I watched BLACK PANTHER, the things I remember most about this movie is not the usual superhero movie stuff but its characters and the film's political message.

What's the movie about?

T'Challa/Black Panther rises to the throne of Wakanda after his father's death. But his claim is challenged by a vengeful outsider.   

What I like about it?

• The villain. The protagonist is only as good as the antagonist. If it wasn't for Killmonger (played passionately by the intense Michael B. Jordan), our hero Black Panther would carry on leading Wakanda like how his father and his father's father would lead the nation. Killmonger's ambition forces our hero to make very difficult decisions which would break traditions and ultimately risk his country. 
• The hero's journey. It's great to see our hero questioning what he has always known and witness him struggling through it. 
• Its immersive-ness. The filmmakers really went to great lengths to create an immersive African movie; the language, the culture, the folklore,  the music and just the nuances. I didn't feel like a "tourist". It was just like the recent animated Coco which was steeped in Mexican tradition.    
• The cast.  The filmmakers have assembled a group of today’s best young black actors and actresses, with a few veteran black performers thrown in. The director (Coogler) has successfully drawn the best out of them in such an ambitious movie. The two white actors (Serkis and Freeman) were memorable too.
• Good balance of character building, action and a political message. Although it doesn't go deep, Killmonger's motive and brand of politics are thought-provoking. 

What I didn't?

• The CGI. It was terrible especially the final fight. Our hero pouncing around in the streets reminded me of the bad effects of Spider-Man swinging from building to building. It looks fake. 
• It took a while to warm-up. As much as I like the initiation ceremony and introduction to the Wakanda universe, I felt that the whole hunt down the bad white guy in the first half of the film took up too much time. I was waiting for Killmonger to show up again quickly after his brief charismatic introduction at the beginning. 

RATING: 8.5/10

THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI (Malaysia, 22 Feb 2018)

Genre: Drama
Running Length: 1:55
Cast: Frances McDormand, Sam Rockwell, Woody Harrelson, Abbie Cornish, Lucas Hedges, Caleb Landry Jones, Peter Dinklage
Director: Martin McDonagh
Screenplay: Martin McDonagh

In my opinion, THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI exists in a universe where God's grace does not exist and the path to redemption is dependent on their own hands. The film takes viewers on an unpredictable ride while balancing between tragedy and dark comedy.

What's this movie about?

A grieving mother (McDormand) personally challenges the local authorities to solve her teenage daughter's murder because they were taking too long to arrest the culprit. She provokes them by advertising on three billboards, hence the name of the film. Not only does she get their attention but also the attention of the town folks. 

What I like about it?

• Its unpredictability. There were times I thought I knew where the story was going but yet it surprised me with its twist; some of it karmic and some are shocking.   
• Character arc. As much as the narrative is engaging, it's the inner journey of its main characters which were the highlight for me.
• Excellent acting. All of the main cast even the supporting ones give a memorable performance; McDormand, Harrelson, Rockwell. Peter Dinklage has one short-but-powerful monologue.
• Tonality. As the themes explored here are serious, the filmmakers expertly uses dark comedy to keep the film from becoming too gloomy. It's a nice a movie to look at too - clean and clear.

What I didn't?

• Excessive swearing.
• Emotionally not satisfying. This film appealed to me intellectually but I was hoping for a more moving film. A story that would provoke me for days to come. But all I felt after the movie was, "That's refreshing". Perhaps I couldn't  relate to the context as I'm not from that part of the world. Maybe if it was set in an Asian context exploring Asian themes but told in such an interesting story structure with award winning performances - it would just punch me in the gut. 

RATING: 8.5/10

GAME NIGHT (Malaysia, 01 Mar 2018)

Genre: Comedy
Running Length: 1:40
Cast: Jason Bateman, Rachel McAdams, Kyle Chandler, Sharon Horgan, Billy Magnussen, Lamorne Morris, Kylie Bunbury, Jesse Plemons
Director: John Francis Daley, Jonathan Goldstein
Screenplay: Mark Perez

If you have not watched the trailer for GAME NIGHT - DON'T! Because some of the best bits were revealed in the trailer and it kinda ruined my experience when I watched the movie: "Oh, I know what's going to happen next." (So, I've decided not to include the trailer here in the usual spot)

What's this movie about?
A group of friends who regularly meets for game nights (charades, monopoly, RISK etc) decides to participate in a "real-life" solve a murder mystery game one day. But little did they know, it's not a game they are playing, or are they? This may sound like a thriller horror movie, but it's not. It's a comedy and it's funny.

What I like about it?

• It kept me guessing throughout the movie whether it's a game or not. And the clever twists works. 
• The comedy! There is a variety of comedy type genre here; from LOL cringe-inducing moments to clever pop culture references. For movie geeks, you'll love the many references.
• I got to know the main characters and their relationships better throughout the course of the "game". That's a nice way of revealing who these people are. 
• Some stylish camera work. 
• Rachel McAdams. I didn't know she could do comedy. Yeah, there were some scenes which she was overacting but overall, she is as good as Jason Bateman. 
• Jesse Plemons. Period. 

What I didn't like?

• The comedy is a little uneven at times and it does go on a bit too much. 

RATING: 7.5/10

DARKEST HOUR

Malaysia Release Date: 31 Jan 2018
Genre: Drama
Running Length: 2:05
Cast: Gary Oldman, Lily James, Kristin Scott Thomas, Ben Mendelsohn, Stephen Dillane, Ronald Pickup
Director: Joe Wright
Screenplay: Anthony McCarten

DARKEST HOUR is a good companion piece to last year's excellent DUNKIRK. It gave me a more complete perspective on the evacuation at Dunkirk, France. While Christopher Nolan's masterpiece focuses on what happened at the battlefield, Joe Wright's Darkest Hour delves into the behind-the-scenes of what Winston Churchill had to go through to mobilize a civilian fleet to get the 300,000+ soldiers at Dunkirk back to England.

Although this movie doesn't feature any war scenes, that doesn’t mean there isn’t any "war". Churchill faces a different kind of war, as his battlefield is in the House of Commons. The newly elected PM's approach was "victory at all costs" but the majority instead favoured "peace at all costs" ie. the latter approach would force England to negotiate and make "peace" with the Nazis.   

I went into this movie wanting to know more about Churchill as a leader as I didn't know much of him in all honesty. And I got what I was looking for and more. It made me wanting to find out more about this part of history.

Of course the highlight of Darkest Hour is Gary Oldman's performance as Winston Churchill. Firstly, the make-up work is remarkable. It's so believable. But more importantly, it's the little things that Oldman expertly aced such as the man's mannerism, his mumbling, his worldview, sense of humour, power, doubts and vulnerability. Oldman is like a chameleon, he disappears into every role. But his performance here should go down as one of his best.

And there is this scene of Churchill engaging with the everyday citizens in the subway which I really like. Somehow it just got to me emotionally. 

However as a whole, I wished the movie was more compelling. I was hoping it would play out more like a thriller to amped-up the suspense (I remember this old movie Thirteen Days, about the real events of the 1962 Cuban missile crisis, which got me sitting at the edge of my seat eventhough I knew the outcome) but instead the filmmakers resorted to creative edits and camera shots to move the movie along. As a result, some scenes especially the ones in the middle were not as engaging.

RATING: 7.5/10

BATTLE OF THE SEXES

Malaysia Release Date: 25 Jan 2018

Genre: Drama

Running Length: 2:01

Cast: Emma Stone, Steve Carell, Andrea Riseborough, Natalie Morales, Sarah Silverman, Bill Pullman, Elisabeth Shue, Jessie McNamee, Austin Stowell

Director: Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Faris 

Screenplay: Simon Beaufoy

With what's happening with the #MeToo and Time's Up movement now, BATTLE OF THE SEXES should have been a compelling watch but instead it was flat.

This movie based on true events isn’t really focused on the so-called “Battle of the Sexes” - a 1973 made-for-TV exhibition tennis match between World number one Billie Jean King (Stone) and ex-champ and hustler Bobby Riggs (Carell). Instead, it’s more of bio-pic of King’s life between 1972-73; her struggle with her sexuality and her fight for gender equality in the game of tennis.

The plot on King's first lesbian relationship felt forced. It didn't feel organic as it lacks any sort of chemistry. Instead, it's Stowell's performance as King's husband which felt more real when he discovered his wife's sexual preference. Maybe it's Stone's portrayal as the lead. As an icon of the 70s and the first gay tennis player to come out of the closet, Stone's performance didn't carry any sort of aura at all. As for Carell, he looks eerily like Riggs (according to some reviews, everything about the way Carell moves and behaves resembles the real person). 

As for the central match, it was poorly re-enacted. It lacks tension and drama. The event which was watched by millions on TV felt surprisingly small. Battle of the Sexes lacks depth and is disappointingly superficial.

RATING: 5/10