April 2012
28 posts
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Fun.
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Review | FIGHT CLUB (1999)
Tyler Durden is a superhero. [[MORE]]
Stupendously acted by both lead actors and sharply directed by the great Fincher, the film is satisfyingly violent, visually thrilling and features a screenplay that is deliciously layered and scripted.
Norton has got to be one of the most talented actors that puzzlingly hasn’t achieved a superstar status (yet?). His take as The Narrator here...
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Review | THE RAVEN (2012)
Edgar Allan Poe’s mysterious death at age 40 is wildly spun into this grisly detective tale that has moments of shocking gore and nail-biting suspense, resulting in an uneasy and moody film fit for Poe’s titular poem, ‘The Raven’.[[MORE]] John Cusack (Being John Malkovich) - spotting heavy eye bags and a haggard attire - fleshes out the role of Poe in the most common...
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Epic Food is Epic
The Double Down!
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to Rome, with love.
Hot off his Midnight in Paris Oscar win - and with that Vicky Cristina Barcelona kiss still somewhat fresh in our minds - Woody Allen is back to tickle us with yet another quirky offering.
Penelope Cruz. Ellen Page. Jesse Eisenberg. And Woody himself. So much win.
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extremely loud & incredibly close
One roller-coaster of a book.
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Review | BOY A (2007)
“I love you.” “You beat me to it again.” [[MORE]]
Boy A is a slow-broiling drama that features an intense, powerful performance by Andrew Garfield, pre-The Social Network era.
Garfield plays Jack, a young man released from prison years after he was convicted of murder as a child. His identity has been changed to protect him, but he finds it tough to suppress the truth...
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Review | FINDING NEVERLAND (2004)
This heartwarming film tells the fantastic story of how J.M. Barrie (Johnny Depp) befriended a family who eventually inspired him to pen his beloved classic, Peter Pan.[[MORE]] Based on true events, the movie focuses on Barrie’s evolving friendship with the widowed mother (Kate Winslet) and her sons. While his growing closeness with the family fanned gossips and alienated his own wife, he...
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“But there are much worse games to play.”
– Mockingjay.
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Review | LOCKOUT (2012)
Lockout is probably one of the most unoriginal sci-fi movies in recent memory, yet its cheesy predictability is what works for the film, ending up with an accessible - albeit B-grade - movie.[[MORE]]
Written and directed by Irish filmmakers James Mather and Stephen St. Leger, and conceptualized by action/thriller producer Luc Besson, the film does start out strongly with an interrogation scene...
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Review | THE TREE OF LIFE (2011)
You probably won’t ever forget The Tree of Life; or rather, cinema probably won’t ever forget The Tree of Life.[[MORE]]
Such is the impact it leaves on viewers who have watched this lyrical film of giddy proportions by writer-director Terrence Malick (Days of Heaven, The Thin Red Line). Winner of 2011’s Palme d’Or at Cannes, not everyone who comes across this film will...
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Review | CLASH OF THE TITANS (1981)
Believe it or not, but there really was a time when an epic adventure meant a well-developed storyline, nicely written characters with clear motivations, and monsters that are creepy when they are meant to be. [[MORE]]
Sadly, that Golden Era of Hollywood entertainment seems to have given way to the present where millions of dollars are wasted on a messy spectacle, wiping out the art form of...
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Drive, lit up.
Brilliant 3D design by Rizon Parein.
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Quit Trolling, Start Filming
Even though this is revealed as a fake, shouldn’t the millions of fans who reacted positively to this poster be your built-in fan base to freakin’ make this movie a reality already?
C’mon, let the power$ that be make this happen!
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Review | THE VOW (2012)
For those saying that they are allergic to Nicholas Sparks movies and hence are steering clear of this, check again. The romantic novelist did not pen this one![[MORE]]
But one can’t be blamed, though, as the similarities are uncanny. Two individuals desperately in love but torn apart by some dire circumstance? Check. Nicholas Sparks movies’ alumni? Check. Happy ending? Wait a...
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Colours of Bangkok, 2012
It’s been more than a decade since I’ve stepped foot into the heart of that city, but it is still as colourful and noisy as I remember it to be.
Truly a sensory overload at every turn. Can’t wait to go back again.
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Review | THE HUNGER GAMES (2012)
After a certain boy-wizard franchise bade goodbye to audiences in 2011 - and with a teenage vampire series coming to an end this year - the world needs another young adult phenomenon to sweep the screens.[[MORE]]
The answer? The Hunger Games trilogy - a bestselling series by author Suzanne Collins centering on heroine Katniss Everdeen and her fight against oppressive rule.
The story is set...
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Review | WRATH OF THE TITANS (2012)
Back in 2010, ‘Clash of the Titans’ (itself a remake of the 1981 original) earned over S$500 million in ticket sales worldwide.
It’s no wonder then that Hollywood pushed out a sequel for it, heralding the return of the action-packed adventure of Greek Gods and mythological creatures to make another killing at the box-office.[[MORE]]
There’s no doubt that the audience will once again fill the...
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Review | PERFECT TWO (2012)
Despite a predictable storyline, Perfect Two cruises comfortably on the immense likeability of its actors, delivering a humorous and touching film with some picturesque cinematography to boot.[[MORE]] Vic Chou - formerly a pretty boy member of Taiwanese group F4 - spots a scruffy, wasted look as Ah B, brooding over his wife who has abandoned him after his huge fall from grace as a champion...
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Review | BEL AMI (2012)
Amidst the barrage of blockbusters released this week (The Hunger Games, and Wrath of the Titans in particular), Bel Ami might have gone entirely unnoticed if not for its well-known cast. [[MORE]] Fronting this period movie is none other than Robert Pattinson - who played probably the most famous vampire of the decade - as he tries to shake off his ‘sparkly’ Edward Cullen persona in...
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Review | IN THE LAND OF BLOOD AND HONEY (2012)
Before we chastise this as an Angelina Jolie vanity project, one should step back and take a good look at the horrific subject matter. Taking place in the first half of the 1990s, the Bosnian War - where mass rape and ethnic cleansing took place - was one of the most ruthless genocides in modern history, with a death toll of a hundred thousand and a displacement of two million residents.[[MORE]]...
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Review | TIMELESS LOVE (2012)
All eyes are currently on Y.E.S 93.3 DJ turned first-time director Dasmond Koh: his coming-of-age drama brings together a slew of teenage actors with sizeable fan bases that will leave many MediaCorp artistes green with envy. Teamed with experienced director Lim Koong Hwee, their film arrives hot on the heels of three local movies - Already Famous, We Not Naughty and Dance Dance Dragon - all of...
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Review | LOL (2012)
Casting tabloid magnets Miley Cyrus and Demi Moore as a mother-daughter duo in a dramedy is possibly one of the riskiest moves taken by any movie studio. [[MORE]]But safe to say, their very public lives - the former constantly wades in troubled teen territory, while the latter’s failed marriage to Ashton Kutcher still hogs entertainment headlines - become a perfect mirror for the roles...
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Review | RUNWAY BEAT (2012)
It is worthy to note that Runway Beat is a product of the Academy Award-winning producers behind Departures (2008). However, while the latter is a slow-moving tearjerker that packs a heart-wrenching punch with its powerful screenplay, the same cannot be said for Runway Beat, which similarly moves at a snail’s pace, but lacks most of the emotional gravitas of the Oscar Best Foreign Language...
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Review | QUICK (2012)
Releasing an action-comedy film is always a thin line to tread. Hollywood never quite gets it right as they often aim for the sure-fire formula: crank up the explosions and pepper in some slapstick laughs as an afterthought (Transformers, anyone?). [[MORE]] So when a movie like Quick zips along - where the balance of high-octane thrills and laugh-out-loud moments is just right - you know...
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Review | WE NOT NAUGHTY (2012)
“Let’s start afresh.”
Xiang Yun’s character mutters this line to her wayward daughter in the middle of the movie, and one can’t help but feel this might be the direction writer/director Jack Neo was aiming for this film. [[MORE]]
However, what was intended to be ‘fresh’ turns out to be a stale, awkward mess.
Touted as a comeback film for Neo, We Not...
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Review | CONTRABAND (2012)
January is usually a time where movie studios pump-out critically-acclaimed films in preparation for awards season. However, there are a bunch of films released during this period that honestly do not belong in the awards race, but exist simply for the audience’s entertainment. Contraband is one such movie.[[MORE]] After taking on the gritty role as a good-hearted boxer in last...
