Review Mix: A Chinese Fairy Tale & Mindfulness and Murder

A Chinese Fairy Tale
Score: 6/10

The success of 1987 Hong Kong classic “A Chinese Ghost Story” lies in its mix of genres and the appeal of its stars. As the most well-known version to the original tale, written by 17th century Chinese author Pu Song Ling, the film has everything that makes Chinese fantasy films so much fun, and has it in spades. Even more than two decades later, it still remains one of the finest examples of its genre—a sumptuous, breathtaking masterpiece that brilliantly blends horror, comedy, fantasy and romance. So, it does gonna be a very bold move for any filmmaker to try bringing their new reinterpretation of it. But director Wilson Yip who just had the most successful years in his directing career with “Ip Man” films is bravely enough to go and waking the monsters of Black Mountain. Not only that, Yip also changes a lot of the details of the familiar tale. Instead of a straight-forward

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Review Mix: Norwegian Wood, Bangkok Knockout, Scream 4

Norwegian Wood
Score: 7/10

Some have thought that most novels of one of Japanese great writers, Haruki Murakami, are unfilmable. It because not only much of the content of his books were based on the characters’ observation and their state of emotion, or even the writer’s observation on the world he creates, but they also have complex themes and heavily poetic prose. However, unlike his former stories, Murakami’s “Norwegian Wood” is one of the most down to earth of his works, setting in a real world with a realistic tone, which made it quite a good entrant to be adapted into a film. And in the hands of Vietnam-born director whose past works include the award winning “Cyclo” (1995) and “The Scent of Green Papaya” (1993), Tran Anh Hung, Murakami’s bestselling 1987 novel has indeed successfully turned into a feature film. Set in late 1960s Tokyo, the story focuses on Watanabe (Kenichi Matsuyama), a student who begins a relationship with beautiful but

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Review Mix: Rio, Detective K, The Yellow Sea

Rio
Score: 8,5/10

Set in the magnificent city of Rio de Janeiro and the lush rainforest of Brazil, the comedy-adventure centers on Blu (Jesse Eisenberg), a rare macaw who thinks he is the last of his kind. When Blu discovers there's another - and that the other kind is a she - Blu then leaves the comforts of his cage in a small town in Minnesota and heads towards Rio. But it's far from love at first sight between the domesticated and flight challenged Blu and the fiercely independent, high-flying female, Jewel (Anne Hathaway). Unexpectedly thrown together, they embark on an adventure of a lifetime, where they learn about friendship, love, courage, and being open to life's many wonders.
You won’t believe how incredibly fun it is when the crew of “Ice Age” finally decided to take a vacation from the freezing territory into the ‘much warmer’ tropical city of Rio de Janeiro. This latest 3D animation effort from

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Review Mix: Sucker Punch, Let The Bullets Fly, Space Battleship Yamato

Sucker Punch
Score: 5,5/10

Zack Snyder is a filmmaker who never goes low-priced when it comes to the visualization of a film. I’ll even come clean to giving him a pass on story because he gets premium marks for a great looking work, but there aren’t adequate bonus points in the universe to excuse all of the malfunctions, of which there are scores of, in this particular picture. The film indeed doesn’t start off badly. It shows the main character, Babydoll, driven from her home to a house for the insane in a brilliantly revealed title on the rain-splashed window of the 1960s car that’s transporting her to her new nightmare. Later, as its 109 minutes tick away, the film plunging us into Babydoll’s imagination as it echoes the idea popularized by “Inception” that dreams exist within dreams, showcases with Snyder’s evident love of digitally enhanced, over-the-top ultra-violence in super slo-mo style. Yes, there’s arresting imagination and visuals sprinkled throughout this one, like a video

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Review Mix: The Way Back, World Invasion: Battle Los Angeles, Red Riding Hood, Rango

The Way Back
Score: 6,5/10

Based on a novel “The Long Walk: The True Story of a Trek to Freedom” written by Slavomir Rawiez, Peter Weir’s “The Way Back” traces the grueling journey of a bunch of war prisoners who try to flee from a Siberian gulag to escape the wrath of Stalinism.
A stunning tribute to human fortitude and to the command of Mother Nature, from the intense cold of Serbia to the blistering sun of the desert, Weir and cinematographer Russell Boyd effectively convey the splendor and extent of the landscape the survivors have to navigate. The film is gripping, despite being long and plodding in places. It also has quietly commanding performances from Jim Sturgess as the group’s leader and Ed Harris deliver a quietly affecting performance as an indomitable American who inspires his companions to press on. “The Way Back” certainly succeeds as a visual spectacle and continent-hopping travelogue. But is it as successful as a

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Review Mix: Adjustment Bureau, Forever, My Ex: Haunted Lover

Forever (Singapore)
Score: 7/10

Joey (Joanna Dong), a video consultant from W.E.D (wedding education department), dedicates herself to promoting romance and lasting marriages to young Singaporeans through her unique videos. Now she is about to fulfill her own dream with Gin (Mo Tzu Yi), a handsome music teacher whom she has been in a whirlwind romance with after casting him along side with her in a W.E.D video. When Joey announces her upcoming wedding to Gin, her colleagues at W.E.D. are surprised; none of them has ever met Gin in person or heard of him until the video. But they are happy, as Joey was the only unmarried staffer at W.E.D. While Joey’s star is rising at W.E.D, the path to her own wedding is elusive. Joey gets stood up by Gin on her birthday and finds him out and about with a beautiful girl, Cecilia (Sarah Ng Li-Wen). Crushed, Joey is desperate to find out what’s

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An Enchanting Chinese Fairy Tale Reborn

A Chinese Ghost Story was one of the first Hong Kong movies to really break through to a Western audience in the form it was made, finding considerable success on the UK and US arthouse circuits back in the late 80s. The story was loosely based on a Qing Dynasty literature ‘Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio’, which is a collection of nearly five hundred mostly supernatural tales written by Pu Songling. While it has been retold several times, Tony Ching Siu-Tung directed and Tsui Hark produced version is still the

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Getting Up To Speed: I Am Number Four, Finding Mr. Destiny, Unknown

So many movies, so little time. I think I need to speed up with a few quick reviews on some movies I've seen since the last update. And here’s my opinion on three new films opening this weekend at the cinema. Roll it!

I Am Number Four
Director D.J. Caruso and mega-producer Michael Bay focus on teenage aliens and their assassin pursuants (sound familiar?) in the teen-friendly, sci-fi adventure “I Am Number Four”. If fighting an alien enemy isn't adequate, Caruso also surrounds his lead character, played by British actor Alex Pettyfer, with every imaginable teenage drama. The premise of the movie is that John Smith (Pettyfer) is one of nine alien kids from a planet called Lorien, which was destroyed by malicious enemy called the Mogadorians. They followed these nine alien kids to Earth and

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New Rules 4 New Scream of the Decade

Over a decade has passed, and Sidney Prescott, who has put herself back together thanks in part to her writing, will again meet her ceaseless arch-enemy, the Ghostface Killer. Wes Craven and Kevin Williamson’s revolutionary slasher “Scream” series was always the most cerebral of the horror movies. The first film (1996) being a reverence of the whole slasher genre with dialogue that satirized the convention, received generally positive reaction among film reviewers. They appreciated the shift from the teen slasher films of the 1980s and their "endless series of laborious, half-baked sequels." Williamson's script also was praised as containing a "fiendishly clever, complicated plot" which "deftly

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The Further You Travel, The Insidious It Gets

When their original torture horror film “Saw” has turned into a fatigue, washed-out series, Australian writer Leigh Whannell and director James Wan, have re-teamed for a more promising, back-to-basic supernatural horror tale called “Insidious”. Also helped boost the new horror prospect is the producers, fresh from the phenomenon success of "Paranormal Activity", including Oren Peli, they signed onboard for what Wan calls a "haunted house movie which takes all the usual conventions and twists them on their head". Shot in Los Angeles early previous year on a somewhat tight finances and word on Whannell's screenplay that was appropriately muscular, “Insidious” has met

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Experience A Bold New Vision for Jane Eyre

The book of “Jane Eyre” by Charlotte Brontë is undoubtedly one of the most iconic in English literatures and has been one of the world’s most popular books. A mainstay of school reading lists, it also has been translated into virtually every language and the subject of numerous previous adaptations. BBC turned the 19th century story about a governess who falls in love with her surly employer who has a dark secret into a miniseries that won three Emmys in 2007, while the latest feature, made

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Believe Red Riding Hood, Beware the Wolf

The famous fairy tale about a young girl and a big bad wolf in "Little Red Riding Hood", also known as "Little Red Cape", always had this kind of dark, gothic ambiance creeping within it. The best-known version of the story -- in which a wolf disguises

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When Aliens Starting the World Invasion in the City of Angel

Thanks to the success of “District 9”, “Star Trek”, and “Avatar”, 2011 is certainly going to be one heck of an alien invasion year! While you count how many alien-related flicks are due to invade your nearest cinema in the next 12 months, comin’ in March is one which

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Shaolin: A Wonderful Balance of Action and Storytelling

Now, this is a real example about a director who can certainly learn some lessons from his past failures. Benny Chan, known as the maker of ‘blockbuster’ Hong Kong action cinema from “Big Bullet” (1996) to

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Romance of The Lost Bladesman of Three Kingdoms

Romance of the Three Kingdoms, written by Luo Guanzhong in the 14th century, is a Chinese historical novel describes a fascinating dynastic-cycle: the fall of the Han Dynasty under Emperor Ling due to the Yellow Scarves rebellion, the division of

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Recall the Next Paycheck from The Adjustment Bureau

Movie adaptations from novels or short stories by Philip K. Dick, who’s possibly one of the greatest sci-fi writers of all time, have generated over $1 billion in world-wide box office and ancillary revenue. Mixing surrealism, theology,

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Destiny of The Eagle is the Fate of an Empire

The “swords ’n’ sandals” genre found its place in Hollywood via the big budget historical epics of their time, such as "Spartacus", "Samson and Delilah" and "The Ten Commandments". The turn of the millennium later brought back the genre with roar, Ridley Scott’s noteworthy Academy Awards champion

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From Gold Coast to the Dangerously Beauty Sanctum

The Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia is no doubt a heaven for many divers, surfers and body boarders. Especially for diver, this is absolutely the best in any Australian city if not the world. Located in the region where the subtropical currents meet the temperate currents, Gold Coast is blessed with

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Kick-Ass: A Thoroughly Engaging Wild Ride

There surely lots of buzz and hype also controversy surrounding this latest superhero film based on the comic book by Mark Millar and John Romita, Jr., “Kick-Ass”. Much of concerns laid on the movie's 11-year-old actress Chloe Moretz’s language. But while Roger Ebert and some family advocacy groups couldn't get over that, most other critics love the film. In fact, it has been met with generally positive reviews with review

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Date Night: This Truly Has Genuinely Funny Performers

Steve Carell is the funny man from NBC's comedy, “The Office”, and Tina Fey is the star and head writer of NBC's “30 Rock”. Two were solid comedy series hits and each one of the star is funny in their own way. Each has also found their fame in big screen so it seems like they would be a perfect couple in a movie, doesn't it? Therefore, here it come their debut performance together in a film called “Date Night”. The movie which directed by

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