CRAZY RICH ASIANS (Malaysia, 22 Aug 2018)

Genre: Romance / Comedy

Running Length: 2:00

Cast: Constance Wu, Henry Golding, Michelle Yeoh, Gemma Chan, Awkwafina, Ken Jeong, Sonoya Mizuno, Chris Pang, Pierre Png, Lisa Lu, 

Director: Jon M. Chu 

Screenplay: Peter Chiarelli and Adele Lim, based on the book by Kevin Kwan 

What's this movie about?

CRAZY RICH ASIANS tells the tale of New Yorker Rachel Chu (Wu) who follows her boyfriend Nick Young (Golding) to his home country of Singapore to attend his best friend's wedding. She soon learns that Nick comes from a super filthy rich family.

Before Rachel can even wrap her head around the near royalty lifestyle, she meets Nick's icy mother (Yeoh). And the "queen" is not impressed with her.

This movie is your typical poor girl who finds her Prince Charming, but featuring an all-Asian cast.

Highlights!

• The near perfect casting. By placing the right actors in the right role, the director could draw out the best from their limited acting range (this is Malaysian-born Golding big screen acting debut). Speaking of performances, I personally enjoyed watching the legendary actress Michelle Yeoh as Nick's mother - her background is pretty complex and audience would understand why she has this tough personality. A shout out to Gemma Chan too as Nick's poised cousin but is actually going through her own set of domestic problems. 
• The strong women characters. Thanks to Malaysian writer Adele Lim, she understands what it takes for an Asian woman to be both strong and vulnerable. She injected enough of such subtlety to her female characters to make them believable.  
• The romance is believable. Like all romcom, the success of the movie is dependent on the chemistry of the couple and thankfully, they have it.  
• Just enough comedy. We agree that Awkwafina and Ken Jeong's brand of comedy could be too in your face at times, but they are amusing here in small doses.
• Visually beautiful. The cinematography successfully captures the grandeur of Singapore, the glitz of the high society and the close-ups like the food scenes. The wedding scene had the audiences swooning! 
• Soundtrack. A smart choice of using recognizable English language pop songs but sung in Chinese language to appeal to the Western cinema goers. 

Lowlights

• The ending. It somehow seems abrupt and too neat with a ribbon bow and all. 
• A certain minority group played for laughs. It was unnecessary. 
• Feels like a Singapore Tourism Board ad. Especially in the beginning and the end - it was just too heavy handed.

In summary

CRAZY RICH ASIANS is actually a modern-day fairy tale. It's an escapist fantasy that entertains. And more importantly, the hype and publicity is real - this movie is indeed going to go down as a piece of history which has the potential to open doors for more Asian-led commercial motion pictures in Hollywood.

RATING: 8/10

BIG BROTHER (大师兄) (Malaysia, 16 Aug 2018)

Genre: Drama / Action

Running Length: 1:41

Cast: Donnie Yen, Joe Chen, Kang Yu, Jack Lok, Bruce Tong, Chris Tong, Gladys Li, Gordon Lau

Director: Kam Ka Wai

Screenplay: Chan Tai-lee

What's this movie about?

BIG BROTHER (大师兄) tells a tale of a soldier (Donnie Yen) who takes up a high school teacher position in a public school in Hong Kong. He uses unconventional teaching methods to connect with his students. He has a heart for this group of rebellious students who comes from troubled backgrounds. Familiar? Yes, think Dangerous Minds or even Dead Poets Society.

This is not your typical Donnie Yen movie. There are a couple of his signature MMA styled fight scenes but this is primarily a drama film.

Highlights!

• The young actors cast as the students. A little rough at the edges but you know they gave their best and most sincere performances. Standouts for me are Bruce and Chris Tong (twins and sons of veteran TV actor Kent Tong) and Gordon Lau, who is cast as a 3rd generation Pakistani living in Hong Kong who aspires to make it big as a musician. 
• A good awareness to social problems. And that's a lot of them highlighted here from localised HK issues to global problems; the tremendous pressure faced by students in HK, crammed living conditions and the immigrant life. And there's war, racial discrimination and even about the ills of alcohol and smoking. Thankfully the filmmakers didn't preach about this but instead used it as a canvass to paint the family troubles and relationships of the students.  
• Fight sequences. There are a couple here but the final one in a classroom was the highlight for me. It's creative, realistic and painful looking.  
• Kang Yu as the protagonist. I've not really heard of him before but I really dig his maniacal performance. He looks like a buff up Namewee. 
• Old TVB and HK movie stars round up the cast as supporting actors and cameos. It's good to see them again on big screen as they bring a certain familiarity.

Lowlights

• Too easy resolutions. Pretty heavy handed at times as there were some family issues brought up one minute and the next minute, it was solved just like that, thanks to Donnie Yen the teacher. 
• More is less. There were just too many side stories and social highlights and what not. As a result, the main plots felt diluted and shallow. 

In summary

Surprisingly, I enjoyed BIG BROTHER despite its predictable plot. Perhaps it appealed to me as I have the heart of a teacher with a soft spot for the marginalized.

It's refreshing to get a legit movie star ie. Yen, to produce and star in such a movie and to release it during the summer blockbuster season. Despite some eye rolling moments and oh-so-easy resolution, it's generally a positive, educational and entertaining flick.
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Rating: 8.5/10

CHRISTOPHER ROBIN (Malaysia, 16 Aug 2018)

Genre: Family / Adventure / Animation

Running Length: 1:44

Cast: Ewan McGregor, Hayley Atwell, Bronte Carmichael, Jim Cummings, Brad Garrett, Nick Mohammed

Director: Marc Forster

Screenplay: Alex Ross Perry, Tom McCarthy, Allison Schroeder based on the characters from Disney's Winnie the Pooh by A. A. Milne & E. H. Shepard

What's this movie about?

CHRISTOPHER ROBIN is a fresh take on the classic Winnie The Pooh. It tells the tale of a grown up and middle-aged Christopher Robin (McGregor) who has left the Hundred Acre Woods many years ago. He has long forgotten his friends Winnie the Pooh and co. The adult Christopher is now struggling at work and has neglected his family, and it's up to Pooh and gang to "save" him.

Highlights!

• The "soft toy" approach to the creation of Pooh and gang. Rather than the bright yellow and red T-shirt Pooh or the colourful orange with black stripes Tigger we are all familiar with, the filmmakers chose a blend of live action (real stuffed toys) and CGI in the creation of the creatures. This I reckon is a genius move. By making them look like well-used and worn out soft toys, audiences would be able to connect at a deeper level to these characters because of its lifelike appearance. So, when we see Pooh waiting daily in the hope for Christopher Robin to return to Hundred Acre Woods one day, I could actually feel his abandonment.        
• The seamless integration between Pooh and gang with the humans. There is this heart-warming extended sequence where adult Christopher reconnects with Pooh; he feeds Pooh with honey and tucks his friend into bed. Those tender moments really gave me the feels.  
• A visual delight. The cinematography is just so beautiful to watch especially Hundred Acre Woods.

Lowlights

• The film failed to make a film for both adults and kids. It just couldn't find its balance between a midlife-crisis drama and children’s film. The end result felt unfocused. 
• The performances of the cast. McGregor, Atwell and kid Carmichael were OK but the rest of the cast came across as more "cartoon" than Pooh and gang.   
• The debatable decision to make Christopher’s furry friends visible to other people instead of just being confined to the figments of his imagination.  

In summary

For me, the first half of the movie was much more enjoyable than the second half. Perhaps it had more focused. Nevertheless, it's a delight to watch Pooh and gang in action while nodding in agreement to Pooh's "tao of wisdom". 

RATING: 7/10

My Love Letter to Hong Kong Cinema: Part 1

I recently watched MEN ON THE DRAGON in our local cinema and also Vox's Border Series which covered Hong Kong in the most educational and entertaining way eg. China is erasing its borders with HK. These exposure and the feeling of nostalgia led me to write this 3-part series - to pay homage to Hong Kong cinema. 

To kick start, let me set it up with something depressing. 

In my opinion, Hong Kong cinema will never ever be able to resurrect its glory days of the 70s, 80s and 90s (during its golden age, the country was producing 400 films a year but in recent times, it has declined to 60 films). Here's why.  

Firstly, back then, HK was significantly wealthier than Mainland China and naturally, it reflected in its entertainment scene. HK contributed 27% of China's GDP during the early 90s, but today it's down to a shocking 3%. Visually, I am imagining Big Brother slowly but surely strangling the life out of Hong Kong, eventually killing off its commercial importance in the region. Obviously, this affected the output of movies as the entertainment industry shifted towards China - a much bigger market. 

Secondly, there is a role reversal. Once upon a time, Mainland Chinese actors/singers wanted to break into the HK market to jump start their career but today, HK people and existing personalities are trying to make it big in China, thus causing a brain drain. 

Lastly, more foreign investments especially from Hollywood started to pour into Mainland China to collaborate with Chinese production companies. The purpose? To break into the Chinese market to make more money as US box office has been steadily declining over the years (if you have 7 minutes to spare, check out this informative video on How China is Changing Hollywood). As a result, Chinese production houses are aggressively learning from the West and rapidly advancing their competencies in this field. In essence, Chinese cinema gets better and better, leaving Hong Kong cinema in the dust. 

Deep sigh :(

Hence, my love letter. 

I was heavily exposed to Hong Kong movies in the mid 80s to late 90s. That's like a good 15 years of engagement. It definitely influenced my world view and fueled my love for anything cinematic.

I learned about duty, brotherhood, honour, sacrifice and redemption from A Better Tomorrow (英雄本色). My nonsensical sense of humour thanks to Stephen Chow. My idea of romance from the tender interactions and thoughtful gestures between Maggie Cheung and Leon Lai's characters in Comrades: Almost a Love Story (甜蜜蜜). 

Confession time. 

When I was in primary school, I would usually spend a good one hour in the bathroom acting out dramatic shootout scenes from the famous cops and gangster genre. I would slide from one end of my tiny bathroom to another like how Chow Yun Fatt would do in slow-mo, with a gun in each hand. Most of the time, I would crash into the washing pails and my mom would be screaming her lungs out, "BOY! WHAT ARE YOU DOING AGAIN IN THE BATHROOM?!!"    

:) Good old days.  

Today, the quality of most Hong Kong movies are bad (it feels templatized) because they are mainly produced in collaboration with Mainland China production houses. What does that mean? Well, China funded movies have to follow a certain kind of guidelines of do's and don'ts eg. no revolution stories, no homosexual themes, no ghost/vampires movies etc. 

And these films feel "same same" because it's usually historical period dramas with expensive movie sets and costumes and many horses. They will usually have a Hong Kong veteran actor in it like Andy Lau and...Andy Lau, some Korean actors, badly dubbed conversations and horrible CGI.

Unfortunately, the above formula works in the box office. It brings in the money. Influential HK filmmaker Johnnie To once quoted, “Everyone who makes expensive films will have to make compromises, because China is where the money is. It’s that simple.”

In the end, even famed Hong Kong filmmakers have to kowtow to Big Brother. If there is one good thing that came out of this shift is that HK is currently seeing the rise of more independent filmmakers. And their work is setting new standards for Hong Kong cinema. Whether or not this would amass to anything, one can only hope.

---

In Part 2 and 3, I will be jotting down a list of HK movies from the 80s and 90s which left a lasting impression on me. It would be a much more entertaining and lighter entry. 

MEN ON THE DRAGON (Malaysia, 02 Aug 2018)

Genre: Drama / Comedy

Running Length: 1:32

Cast: Francis Ng, Poon Chan Leung, Kenny Wong, Tony Wu, Jennifer Yu, Nancy Wu

Director: Sunny Chan

Screenplay: Sunny Chan 

What's this movie about? 

MEN ON THE DRAGON (逆流大叔) tells the tale of four men who work for a telecom company who decide to join the company’s dragon boat team in a bid to avoid a corporate layoff.

If I'm not mistaken, the direct translation of the Chinese title means "uncles going against the tide", which is a more accurate description of this underdog sports comedy-drama. The real focus here is more about these four lovable losers going through mid-life crisis instead of the sport of dragon boating.

Highlights!

• Conceptually a good story. I have always had a soft spot for HK movies. I grew up with it and I could relate to their stories. But in the past decade, high quality HK movies are as rare as hen's teeth. So kudos to director and scriptwriter Sunny Chan for crafting out an original story about working class middle aged men and mashing it up with a sports theme.
• A movie for HK people. This is not a China funded production and I'm not sure if it's even going to be screened in mainland China - which is great. Without Big Brother watching over, the filmmakers were free to develop a true HK movie, resulting to nuances and pop culture references which I truly appreciate eg. kids today speaking in Mandarin, using Chow Yun Fat's classic A Better Tomorrow as a reference point. But the biggest theme that stood out for me is the 'Lion Rock' spirit (HK people's can-do spirit), told from the perspective of both the individual characters and Hong Kong as a country.     
• Intimate cinematography. A big shout out to the person behind the camera for successfully capturing the realistic HK life cinematically eg. small and crowded flats, interesting angles during the dragon boat races.  
• The theme song by Rubberband. Great guitar riffs and a catchy chorus. Instantly likeable. 

Lowlights

• Mediocre execution. Although the premise is interesting, the film falls short in its execution. Perhaps there were just too many themes the filmmakers wanted to explore in 90 mins. The story tries hard to balance between the challenges of the personal lives of our 4 men and a sports movie. As a result, it lacked depth in both areas and when the finale came, there was no emotional payoff. 
• Casting. I can sense that everyone in this film really gave their best in their performance. However because some of them were placed in the wrong role, they ended up being unbelievable.     

In summary
MEN ON THE DRAGON (逆流大叔) is not going to end up as a classic HK movie but it's definitely one of the more enjoyable ones in recent years. It's not your typical underdog sports movie but more of a bittersweet tale about men in mid-life crisis. 

RATING: 8/10

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - FALLOUT (Malaysia, 26 Jul 2018)

Genre: Action / Thriller

Running Length: 2:27

Cast: Tom Cruise, Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames, Rebecca Ferguson, Henry Cavill, Michelle Monaghan, Vanessa Kirby, Angela Bassett, Sean Harris, Alec Baldwin

Director: Christopher McQuarrie 

Screenplay: Christopher McQuarrie, based on the television series by Bruce Geller 

What’s this movie about? 

In MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – FALLOUT, Ethan Hunt (Cruise) and his IMF team join forces with CIA assassin August Walker (Cavill) to race against time to prevent three nuclear warheads from being detonated by an evil organization called The Apostles.

In the process, the mission becomes complicated as the team gets entangled with a mysterious woman named “White Widow” (Kirby), former ally Ilsa Faust (Ferguson) and arch-enemy from the last movie Rogue Nation, Solomon Lane (Harris).

Highlights!

• The white-knuckle action sequences. The M:I franchise started out as a thriller and have now morphed into this full-on relentlessly-paced action adventure.  All the action scenes are meticulously planned from the halo jump to the final OMG! WTF! crazy helicopter chase scene. My favourite one is the motorcycle chase scene in Paris - I was like on the edge of my seat!
• The camera work.  The tourist location stunts especially of Tom running and jumping from one rooftop to another is clean and breathtaking. No green screen shaky camera BS. 
• Tom Cruise. You know he brought his A game and wasn’t phoning in. Every run, every leap, every punch, every fall and every climb = 100% Tom Cruise.

 

Lowlights 

• The story. It’s nothing new. We have seen this plot many times before. 
• The score. Nothing really memorable here. It was actually distracting especially the earlier action scenes. They need not dramatize it with a score where it’s already breath-taking enough. It was an overkill (except the motorcycle chase scene where a score was absent – that’s probably why that sequence was much more effective). 
• No real danger. Yes, there are suspenseful moments but at the back of my mind, I knew everything will be ok. That’s why I still preferred the first Mission: Impossible - it was designed to be a thriller first, the action came in thereafter. In that movie, there was that tensed and "quiet" iconic cable-dangling backflip moment. In Fallout, it is just loud balls-to-the-wall action. 

In summary 

The 2.5 hours of non-stop action can be exhausting and draining. If they shaved off 20 to 25 mins, the film could be a much tighter experience. Nevertheless, MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – FALLOUT is probably the best action blockbuster this year. 

Rating: 8/10

MAMMA MIA! HERE WE GO AGAIN (Malaysia, 19 Jul 2018)

Genre: Musical
Running Length: 1:53
Cast: Amanda Seyfried, Andy Garcia, Lily James, Alexa Davies, Jessica Keenan Wynn, Dominic Cooper, Julie Walters, Christine Baranski, Hugh Skinner, Josh Dylan, Jeremy Irvine, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, Stellan Skarsgård, Meryl Streep, Cher
Director: Ol Parker
Screenplay: Richard Curtis and Ol Parker and Catherine Johnson

What's this movie about?
This prequel-sequel is about Sophie (Seyfried) learning of Donna (Streep), her mother's past. In the prequel part of things, it explores how her mother met the 3 men (Brosnan, Firth, Skarsgard) who changed her life.

Meanwhile in the present, (no spoilers here) we are informed from the start of the movie that Donna has already passed on. Her friends are still grieving while Sophie is striving to fulfill her vision of re-opening the newly renovated Hotel Bella Donna.

Highlights!

• Lily James as young Donna. She is really believable here as a free-spirited woman. And yes, she can sing and she can dance and is very likable. She lights up the room everytime she's on screen. 
• The ensemble of cast is good especially the younger version of the 3 men. They are much more believable here when they sing vs their older self (Brosnan, Firth and Skarsgard). 
• Speaking of songs, of course I was toe-tapping and fingers snapping when the cast belted out Abba's popular songs like Dancing Queen (which was done much better here compared to the first film). Ahh...such a good nostalgic feeling! 
• The look of this film with its blue tone and gorgeous location is also more memorable. 
• I really like the "fantasy" post credit scene!
• Eventhough Streep only "appears" at the end in a cameo role, I could really feel her character's presence throughout the film. Probably I was sold that the cast was mourning for Donna, so much so, when she appears at the end to sing My Love, My Life, I was very moved.

Lowlights

• At times, the story gets a little unfocused. I supposed that's what happens when a narrative is crafted around a bunch of popular songs. Contextually, it feels forced.
• As the original have used up most of Abba's popular songs, the filmmakers here have no choice but to re-use some of their greatest hits and mixed it with their lesser known playlist.   

In summary
MAMMA MIA! HERE WE GO AGAIN is not a great musical. This prequel-sequel is more of the same as the original but it's actually not a bad thing here.


RATING: 7/10