Babylon A.D. (2008)

• I’m very appreciative that all sci-fi films are still dark and adult themed rather than geared towards family and kids like all the horrible horrible fantasy stuff coming out of Hollywood now. It’s no surprise I jumped at the chance to watch this.. despite its early negative reviews from all over.
• Vin Diesel plays a hard as nail mercenary, who’s hired to protect and deliver a young girl to America in a grim alternate future. Little does he know that shes carrying something within her that could change the fate of the world, and powerful forces are out to claim it for their own..
• The girl was acted by Melanie Thierry – her face was the one that inspired the main love song from The Legend of 1900. Gorgeous french girl. Datuk Michelle Yeoh does a fantastic job as her guardian too.
• Because I love sci-fi, I ended up loving the plot, the tech, and the universe. The action scenes were all over the place and awfully hectic though, no thanks to the overused close up, fleeting shaky handheld cam effects. The movie was average at best, and the ending was spectacularly CRAPPY.
• Seems that 20th Century Fox apparently butchered the movie against the director’s wishes, and he has made his feelings of discontent public in the media.. All the visionless boardroom executive producers.. no wonder there are so few good sci-fi flicks out there.. They all just want an excuse for guns and explosions.. I actually preferred the very similar Children of Men over this.

Wall-E (2008)

• 9th Pixar movie to date, and yet another resounding superb success! I don’t need to say more do I?
• Amazing graphics, but most of all – its ingenious how they could inject SO MUCH emotion into two robots who doesn’t speak much of anything except their names. My heart goes out soo much to Wall-E, it feels almost unnatural (falling for a cartoon character – and a robot at that!!). Easily the sweetest gentlest most tender hearted Pixar character ever.
• It even made me tune down my immense hatred of cockroaches a notch.. now HOW DID THAT happen?
• MUST WATCH. If only I watched this with someone whose hand I wanted to hold. Wall-E.. I FEEL you.

Scorpion King 2 : The Rise of a Warrior (2008)

• This movie was direct to video, and filmed on a very low budget, hence why you never saw any publicity regarding it nor any cinema screenings either.
• It’s basically the prequel to the original Scorpion King (which was the prequel to Mummy Returns), and is about the childhood and early life of the future Scorpion King (acted by Michael Copon of Power Rangers fame). The main villain is the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) heavyweight champion Randy Couture who’s probably trying to follow in The Rock’s footsteps.. however, Couture can’t act for NUTS.
• Despite it’s horrific IMDB rating, I actually found the movie quite entertaining in a cheapo sort of way. The script, sets, special effects, although being very amateurish, still managed to keep things particularly enjoyable. I felt like I was watching a fantasy movie from the 80’s.
• A Chinese dude even gets a major supporting role. If you are a Chinese and understand Cantonese – his lines are bound to be the highlight in this movie for you. I actually laughed out loud a few times hearing him curse and whine (with English translations appearing on screen) – including a part when he went “Your mother services water buffaloes” in Cantonese..
• Because the movie doesn’t try to take itself seriously, I ended up not taking it seriously either, and thus could actually accept the more unbelievable portions of the movie (especially towards the end). Decent popcorn fare, bound to appear on Astro’s list of ‘filler movies’ eventually.. Just know what you’re getting into if you decide to catch this.

Georgia Rule (2007)

• Alcoholic mum (Felicity Huffman) sends her daughter, a spoilt rebellious brat (Lindsay Lohan) to live with her controlling grandma (Jane Fonda) for 10 weeks. It’s basically a movie dealing with the complex relationship between the 3 daughter / mother generations.
• I found it very good, despite the negative remarks and low ratings. It didn’t do very well at the box office either, and was the movie where Lindsay Lohan got a letter of warning from her producers for not taking her job seriously.
• However, I felt that Lindsay’s acting in this movie was simply amazing. It was a lot of fun watching how her character’s Californian upbringing and promiscuity comes at odds against the quiet town’s religious and conservative inhabitants. She was also pretty hot too – one of her more adult roles, and no longer the sweet chiq flick girl from her earlier films.
• There was a LOT of witty one liners and the plot was kept interesting up to the very end. It deals with some very strong character issues, sexual abuse, honesty, trust and filial love. Definitely worth a watch.

Kung Fu Dunk (2008)

• Loosely based on the Japanese manga Slam Dunk, with a whole lot of Chinese kung fu thrown into the mix. Orphaned child who grew up in a martial arts school, ends up getting expelled, and decides to join a basketball team under the premise of looking for his parents.
• Forget the plot really, it’s so thin, you could tear it apart. Forget the comedy either, it’s so lame you’d be hard pressed to laugh at any of its jokes. Forget the acting – Jay Chou can’t act for nuts.
• However, if you are in for some really amazing wirework, choreography, fighting scenes, martial arts, and generally awesome over-the-top basketball action, then you’re in the right place. It’s the only thing going for it, and it does it really well.

Horrors of Malformed Men (1969)

• How could I say no when given the chance to check out what is supposedly the most notorious Japanese horror film ever made? Heck, it was banned in Japan, and many other countries too when it was initially released, despite the director’s other famous (and controversial) works, and eventually attained a cult status within the underground film base.
• The movie starts by strangely introducing you to its lead, who wakes up in an asylum, has very little memory of his past, and decides to escape and investigate.. eventually leading him to an island filled with macabre freaks – humans distorted, disfigured to fit the demented visions of the master much like the island of Dr. Moreau.
• Filled with lots of nudity in the form of topless women freak shows and even touches on adultery and incest. The makeup is awful, worse than B grade stuff – but what can one expect from a 1969 movie like this. However, kudos to all the extras who did a great job acting in the most unnatural roles imaginable.
• So why was it banned really? Crowds appeared to have flocked out of initial screenings.. perhaps it touched on the post war sensitivities of disfigured people at the time. Whatever the reason, it surely wasn’t due to it being too horrifying (some parts may have been hard to swallow – but they usually just invoke a normal W-T-F reaction in an amusing way). On a whole, I have to say that it was quite a unique experience watching this.

Carved : The Slit-Mouthed Woman (2007)

• A horror film (duh!) based on a famous Japanese folklore about the spirit of a scarred woman who goes around disfiguring other people (in this case kids). There are many variations of the urban legend surrounding this spirit, and this movie has its own original take on it.
• Isn’t particularly scary, and plot wise wasn’t very intelligent either – although some of it may have been lost in the translation to English. *Spoiler* – can anyone confirm if the Japanese for “Am I Pretty?” and “Aim for My Neck” sound about the same?
• I would have to give thumbs up to the make-up and prosthetics though – especially when the slit-mouthed woman opens up her torn jaws.. awesome.
• Hate the fact that protagonists in horror films always (and I mean ALWAYS) do stupid stuff that any sane straight thinking dude will never do – like walk straight into possible death completely unarmed. Or not running when they should. You get what I mean..
• Mediocre fare. Many other better horror films out there to sample.

Blood Brothers (2007)

• Typical 1930’s Hongkie mafia plot – 2 brothers and their good friend from a village decide to venture to Shanghai to seek their fortunes, and before they could help it, gets entangled in the city’s dark underworld where their conscience, friendship and brotherhood is pitted against each other.
• Awful script and directing here. The pacing was entirely off key, the progression of the story went in unexplained spurts, the accompanying love story was unbelievable, and the change in characters was hard to believe and swallow.
• And what is it with the constantly repeating sets! They look so cheap, its like almost every other frame of the movie was shot in the same place at the same angle. Even the action scenes wasn’t particularly inspired. A lousy effort and a lousy movie which only justifies my opinion that almost all HK movies suck. Avoid.

Evening (2007)

• Not sure why they are only screening this now at our cinemas, when it’s already been released on DVD and is showing on Astro at the same time. Talk about being sloww..
• A drama about a dying woman (Vanessa Redgrave) and her slipping in and out of consciousness, reminiscing about the love of her life some 30 odd years ago (younger her acted by Claire Danes), and how a tragedy occurred that changed the course of her life.
• The movie flashes between the present where her 2 grown daughters are taking care of her, and how they find meaning in her delirious dreamy slip of the tongues, and the past where the main majority of the events took place.
• Besides a few good messages here and there – about how there can never be any true mistakes in life – I can’t find much to praise about this piece. It was hardly tragic nor dramatic enough to provoke any emotions within me. Maybe its because I’m not a woman, but then again I doubt that’s it. Mediocre at best.

Just Follow Law (2007)

• Ah, this Singaporean comedy made a few headlines when it was first released in this region last year – as it depicted the famous Gurmit Singh and Fann Wong in some awkward roles.
• Gurmit Singh plays Lim Teng Zui, a blue collar worker who’s at odds with all the rules and regulations in the government agency he works for – especially with his boss Tanya Chew played by Fann Wong. In a freak accident, they suddenly exchange souls and find themselves in the other’s body, and has to come to terms with their gender change, and their new roles in both their families and work.
• The satire about office politics and bureaucracy is used to good impact here in some hilarious scenes – which is especially relevant to the current working climate in Singapore and many companies in Malaysia. Throw in some over the top acting by the beautiful Fann Wong, and you have yourself a hit in the making – IF ONLY they had not made the entire production feel so ‘cheap’.
• Cut out the lame CGI! Flying arrows, digital car crashes, fire and smoke looks more like a college project rather than a SGD1 million movie. Even the finale – which was supposed to take place at a full scale government exhibition – felt puny and pathetic.
• Oh well, how often do we get to appreciate Singaporean comedies – the type that only WE can enjoy and laugh along. Local jokes, hokkien slangs and situations that hit so close to home. Still heaps of fun.

Covert One : The Hades Factor (2006)

• Based on a Rodert Ludlum novel of the same name, this is a direct to video movie about a conspiracy to release a lethal virus across the United States, and it’s up to an ex-Covert One agent to stop it..
• Running at 160+ minutes long – it’s a very stretched out movie with MANY unnecessary scenes. The acting was mediocre at best, and you don’t quite feel for many of the characters. You can’t even compare this to the other movies based on Ludlum’s novels (Bourne series), it’s a shame they even decided to film this.
• The whole time, thousands of people are dying from a horrible infection, yet no hysteria or panic was ever depicted in the movie. It’s hard to imagine what our leads are even racing against time for. There is utterly zero suspense, zero thrills and zero action – so much potential gone to a waste.
• Avoid watching if you can.

Big Bang Love, Juvenile A (2006)

• Famous director Takashi Miike (I loved his 1996 horror movie Audition), calls this his supposed ‘masterpiece’.
• Highly experimental, and downright strange – this movie takes you into a surreal prisonlike world, where two inmates meet and one ends up murdering the other. The story slowly unfolds on the how and the why in some extremely dreamlike circumstances. And of course, throw in Miike’s trademark twisted psycho characters and violence and you have yourself something demented to enjoy..
• Besides that, it’s next to impossible to describe the effect that this film can have on different moviegoers. Some will definitely hate it – but I came to admire Miike’s work a whole lot more now. A movie like this isn’t easy to visualize let alone direct – and is quite a work of art in its own way. Polished, un-amatuerish, funky and rudely original.

My Sister, My Love (2007)

• What happens if you fall in love with your twin sibling? Trust the Japanese to make movies out of strange taboo situations like these.
• Takes place during high school, and how they both confess their love for each other (something beyond just brotherly/sisterly love), the social backlash from such a relationship, and how they ultimately deal with it.
• Fascinating simply because of its original content, but otherwise severely lacking due to slow pacing (yet again). Probably due to the director’s intention to not include too many subplots, but rather to focus on the enduring stress and anguish from the leads, that led to many draggy scenes.
• However, I have to add that a great touching ending wraps it all up beautifully. Mind you, nothing quite conclusive – but definitely sweet.

In Between Days (2006)

• A short indie film (about an hour plus) about the life of a displaced Korean student in Canada and how she deals with the hardships of studying in a strange country, while seeking love and acceptance from her degenerate friend.
• Very minimalist, and shot with closeup handheld cameras – the story reveals very little, and leaves much to the viewers interpretation. The entire story takes course over a period of a few days, and jumps forward without aim nor plot.
• Movies like this – with little to no soundtrack and only accompanying ambient sounds, great natural acting, and real sets instead of movie props – allows me a glimpse into a very possible, very real alternate life. Don’t expect a story but rather a window into a different world.. Suffer through it, and come away just that little bit refreshed at having ventured in someone else’s shoes for a bit.

Kikansha Sensei (2004)

• A mute decides to travel back to his mother’s hometown on an isolated fishing island to take up a job teaching the kids in a school there.
• Nicknamed ‘Locomotive Teacher’ (the alternate title to the movie is ‘Silent Big Man’) due to his huge size, the teacher undergoes hardships trying to fit in with the villagers who are distrustful of an outsider, let alone a teacher who can’t speak. Along the way, disaster occurs, bonds and friendships are formed, and he gains the trust and endearment of his students despite his mysterious past.
• Although the pacing is slow, this is a beautiful melodramatic piece with some fantastic acting – especially on the part of the adorable kids. Although many might find it a little hard pressed to sit through the entire thing though..

X-Files : I Want To Believe (2008)

• Taking place after the series – seems that Mulder and Scully have gotten married somewhat, had a kid that didn’t work out, Mulder’s gone underground, while Scully’s changed career paths and became a doctor. Now when exactly did all of this happen? I’m not quite sure myself, having not followed the series to the very end…
• They get called back to active duty when the FBI starts relying on a psychic to get clues to the disappearance of an FBI agent. Shall leave it at that. The plot is very weak for an X-Files movie, and would still have been weak if it was even just a single episode.
• Seems more like a desperate attempt at reviving the franchise. Something to get David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson some screen time again? Despite a little bit of praise that I can give to the character development of our 2 leads in the movie – this was really a waste of time. Only for die hard fans of the X-Files.
• I REALLY want to believe too. But not like this.

21 (2008)

• Roughly based on the true story of the MIT Blackjack Team – an association of students who used mathematical formulas to beat the game of Blackjack in casinos all over the world. This time, the central figure is a brilliant geek, who decide to join the group out of desperation for funds to pay for his Harvard Medical education..
• Well, the plot doesn’t get any simpler than that, except towards the end when some double and triple crossing takes place which was quite interesting to watch.
• I love Kevin Spacey. I love Laurence Fishburne too. Kate Bosworth is hot as hell – watched the movie in the cinema, skin scenes got chopped – now I’m gonna go grab the DVD instead. Didn’t quite like the lead though – played by Jim Sturgess who was recently also in the musical ‘Across The Universe’.
• Introduced me to the world of card counting. All the while I thought it was some extremely complex form of memorization but after a bit of research, realized that I could easily do it too! Now I’ve just got to study Genting’s Blackjack system and see if the method is applicable.. I may be able to squeeze some slight % of odds in my favor now.. hehehe
• Entertaining if you’ve got nothing else to watch, or if you are a gambler (as I’m sure most of you are..).

Dragonhead (2003)

• Japanese sci-fi thriller set in a grim post-apocalyptic future. Based on a 10 volume manga of the same name.
• This movie boasts some incredible visuals of the bleakest, dustiest, fiery, dark, freakish futures you can possibly imagine. However, it also boasts – as is traditional with most Japanese movies – the draggiest pacing and plot as well.
• No mention is made for the cause of the destruction, and the state of the rest of the world. However, one would assume a combination of either nuclear detonations, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and meteor showers.
• The story focuses on a teenage boy and girl who survives the cataclysm by getting trapped in a subway tunnel and after escaping, finds themselves surrounded on all sides by survivors who have gone completely mad. It is a movie about survival, not giving up hope and perseverance.. however, the ending leaves one with more questions than answers.
• The acting was horrible too, with a very irritating lead who keeps falling down every 5-10 seconds in the movie. Yup, he trips, stumbles, and sometimes seems to just love kissing the dirt on the ground, or smearing his face in it. The girl was such a crier and whiner, if she wasn’t cute to begin with, I doubt I could have endured the both of them together. They freaking annoyed me to no ends..
• Watch only if you are a sci-fi blow hard or enjoy fast forwarding to those jaw dropping visual feasts.

Breach (2007)

• Intense character drama about a young CIA agent who goes undercover as the assistant of senior agent suspected of leaking government secrets to the Soviet Union during the end of the Cold War.
• Based on a true story about Robert Hanssen, one of US’s best/worst (depends on how you look at it) spies, and one of the biggest security breach in American history.
• Well scripted and shot, I found myself at the edge of my seat more than once wondering what’s going to happen.
• Fine performances from all parties – especially from Oscar winner Chris Cooper as the disturbed Robert Hanssen.
• This movie proves that you don’t quite need action or explosions to build suspense. The tightly woven story and atmosphere – having to watch everything that one says in the presence of a master CIA agent who is capable of sniffing out lies, subterfuge and counter-subterfuge, quick thinking and quick acting, and the huge risks involved add together to create a riveting movie.