Marvel's Guardians Of The Galaxy James Gunn Guardians Of The Galaxy is officially the biggest movie of the summer at the American box office. Over the weekend, it claimed back the No. 1 spot from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and, with more than US$251 million (S$313 million) collected, eclipsed Transformers: Age Of Extinction in total earnings. Not bad for a ragtag bunch of intergalactic misfits comprising abducted-by-aliens-as-a-child Peter Quill (Chris Pratt, left), green-skinned assassin Gamora (Zoe Saldana, far left), grieving warrior Drax the Destroyer (Dave Bautista), tree-like humanoid Groot (Vin Diesel) and genetically engineered raccoon Rocket (Bradley Cooper). The MacGuffin here is a powerful orb that everyone is after though the busy story gets rather complicated and overblown after a while. What keeps the enterprise afloat are the flashes of humour, Pratt’s goofy charm and a cannily retro soundtrack – Awesome Mix Vol. 1 is the first soundtrack with no new songs to top the Billboard chart.
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Trouble In Paradise
La Roux
La Roux’s back with a second album and a change in line-up.
For the 2009 eponymous debut album, it comprised singer Elly Jackson and record producer Ben Langmaid. It is now a solo act after Langmaid left, reportedly over creative differences.
The debut was both a commercial and critical success with hit tracks such as In For The Kill and Bulletproof, deftly mixing infectious beats with coolly poised lyrics. Jackson’s striking androgynous swagger did not hurt either.
The androgynous look remains but otherwise, Trouble In Paradise is less immediate in the hooks department. And the synth-pop here has more of a throwback, retro vibe compared to the previous record.
It works best on tracks such as Uptight Downtown, Kiss And Not Tell and the bass-thumping Silent Partner on which she disses a lover: “You’re not my partner, no you’re not a part of me/I need/Silence.”
Hopefully, she will find more of her own voice in the next outing.
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Dangerous World
Khalil Fong
Powered by thumping beats and a rhythmic groove, singer-songwriter Khalil Fong delivers once again on his eighth album. The Hong Kong-based musician has always created a melting pot of sounds by dipping into genres as diverse as soul, R&B, jazz, pop, rock and funk on fine records such as Back To Wonderland (2012) and 15 (2011).
On this first album with his new label Gold Typhoon Music, he is again fired up with the possibilities of musical cross-pollination.
Lush orchestral strings bloom at the start of the title track, which then morphs into an irresistible dance track.
Making your way across it is risky business but it is also an opportunity to show how much you care: “Don’t need you to look left, don’t need you to look right/Doesn’t matter how dangerous the world is in front of you/There’s me by your side.”
Meanwhile, danger lurks. It is there in the hypnotic Vampires and in love getting swamped by busy life in Can’t Love, a duet with rapper Miss Ko.
Elsewhere, there is retro pop on Luck With The Ladies, smooth R&B on Mr Weather and even hip-hop on Peace.
The diversity extends to the use of language as well. He sings and swings in English on Lights Up and raps in Mandarin on Little Fong, an autobiographical track suffused with gratitude.
This is a rich and rewarding album that somehow seems to have slipped under the radar somewhat. It is not too late to check it out, though.
It might be a dangerous world, but Fong will make you want to dance as you take it on. On the disco-tinged Lights Out, he promises: “I got what you want/I got what you need/Just come out and see my world.”
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Rurouni Kenshin: Kyoto Inferno
Keishi Otomo
The story: In Rurouni Kenshin (2012), an adaptation of Nobuhiro Watsuki’s popular manga of the same name, audiences were introduced to the lead character of Himura Kenshin (Takeru Satoh). He is a former-assassin-turned-wanderer who has vowed never to kill again. His resolve is once again tested when he is roped in by the nascent Meiji government to help stop a vicious and ruthless Makoto Shishio (Tatsuya Fujiwara) who is plotting something nefarious in Kyoto. And Kenshin’s love interest, dojo owner Kaoru (Emi Takei), falls into peril.

For those who do not know anything about the tumultuous period in Japan in the early days of the Meiji era in the late 1800s, the background setting for the Rurouni Kenshin story can be a little intimidating.
But at its heart, Kyoto Inferno can be easily understood as an epic battle between good and evil. And the key to it all is the fascinating figure of Kenshin, a man who was once such a feared killing machine that he was called Hitokiri Battosai (sword-drawing manslayer). Can a man with a past so steeped in blood ever be free from it? Can a man truly change?
And yet, on first encounter, Kenshin seems more like a comic klutz rather than a highly skilled swordsman. The contrast is even greater in the anime series (1996-1998) in which he is always smiling and appears to be clowning around.
Director Keishi Otomo has dialled down this aspect of the character and Satoh (Real, 2013) does a good job balancing between a laid-back Kenshin and showing flashes of anger and bloodlust in battle.
And in a sense, Shishio is like a cautionary tale for Kenshin, of what happens when one is consumed by anger and hatred. But rather than just a villain without a past, we are also shown what shaped Shishio as he was betrayed and left for dead. Even with his face wrapped in bandages, Fujiwara (Light Yagami from the Death Note movies) exudes a glowering menace.
In addition to an epic rivalry, Otomo also gives audiences exciting swordfights and brings period Japan to bustling life.
It all builds up to a tense cliffhanger as the fates of several characters hang in the balance. But not to worry, the concluding chapter, The Legend Ends, is slated to be released on Oct 9.
(ST)

Beyond Beauty: Taiwan From Above
Chi Po-lin
The story: Taiwan’s Chi Po-lin was an aerial photographer in the civil service and he quit his job to turn his eye on the state of things in Taiwan in his first film. Sweeping vistas of natural beauty and damning portraits of pollution and over-development unfold to a voiceover by acclaimed director Wu Nien-jen.

This is Taiwan? That is the first reaction on seeing the opening images of unspoilt natural beauty.
For those more familiar with the urban charms of Taipei, the images of craggy mountain ranges, rugged coastlines and majestic deer roaming in fields of green will come as a pleasant surprise.
It is not just foreigners who might feel the same way, as Wu says: “Don’t be surprised, this is our home, Taiwan.”
Adding to the impact of the visuals is a stirring score by award-winning Singaporean composer Ricky Ho, who was nominated for Best Original Film Score at the Golden Horse Awards. But Beyond Beauty is not just some brochure of a glossy idyll by the tourism office. If it were, it would not have won the Golden Horse Award for Best Documentary.
Chi has weightier issues on his mind and, in fact, the destructive impact of rampant tourism comes in for its share of criticism. From above looking down, one sees not just beauty, but also a ravaged landscape.
He shows us the destructive force of landslides and makes a persuasive case that the increased frequency of natural disasters is the result of human development.
Cutting roads into mountains makes it more convenient to transport goods and holiday-makers, but doing so disrupts the natural flow of water. Because money talks, trees are cut down so that cash crops such as betel nut, tea and cabbage can be grown. It is more than mountains can bear as soil comes loose and newly developed roads and resorts lie in the shadow of looming tragedy.
To his credit, Chi does not harangue. Instead, what comes through is a genuine love for the land and the pain and indignation of seeing it thoughtlessly scarred.
Beauty still exists, but it has to be protected and respected and not trampled on in the name of reckless progress. He also acknowledges that this is not a simple issue and the contradictions between environmental protection and the unsustainable way of life will not be easily resolved.
The documentary ends on a note of hope as it singles out individuals who are trying to make a difference in the way they work with the land.
For city-dwellers who have a warped and distant relationship with land, this is an eye-opening work.
At home, the film has resonated as well. It is the highest-grossing local documentary feature in Taiwan, taking in more than NT$200 million (S$8.3 million) at the box office since its release last November.
As word spreads, hopefully this will further raise awareness and maybe, just maybe, mark the turning of the tide.
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November Man
Roger Donaldson
The story: CIA agent Peter Devereaux (Pierce Brosnan), code-named November Man, comes out of retirement for a final assignment at his former boss’ request. It leads him to the vulnerable aid worker Alice Fournier (Olga Kurylenko), a cover-up of a war crime and the growing suspicion of a mole in the CIA. And he crosses paths with his former subordinate David Mason (Luke Bracey). Based on the novel There Are No Spies (1987) by Bill Granger.

If the paths of Brosnan and Kurylenko had crossed back when they were part of a different spy thriller franchise, she could well have ended up in his bed. Brosnan had played James Bond from 1995’s GoldenEye to 2002’s Die Another Day, while she played the Bond girl in Quantum Of Solace (2008).
But November Man wants to be a different kind of spy thriller, a little more grounded and a little less fantastical and a little less overtly sexy/sexist. It succeeds only to a certain extent, unable to completely break free of the genre’s conventions.
At first, it paints a rather grim picture of what life is like for a spy instead of the GQ glamour spread that the Bond movies used to convey.
Devereaux makes the point to Mason that human connection is a luxury that they cannot afford. “You feel the need for a relationship, get a dog,” he advises.
What keeps November Man interesting for a while is the relationship between master and pupil and how its dynamics change over the course of the movie. Mason goes from being an impulsive rookie who botches a mission to a skilled killer agent and, yet, Devereaux can still get inside his head. In one tense manhunt sequence, Devereaux keeps Mason talking, and guessing, on the phone as he schools the latter on how to make an escape.
Their competing loyalties ratchet up the tension: Can they trust each other? Can they trust the agency? Who is behind the cover-up of a bombing in Chechnya that was meant to ignite a war?
Brosnan brings an unexpected streak of ruthlessness to the role of Devereaux, well matched by rising Australian actor Bracey, who makes for a promising action lead.
Director Roger Donaldson, who previously worked with Brosnan on volcano eruption flick Dante’s Peak (1997), keeps you guessing for a while but the story ends up both a little farfetched and predictable in patches. A search for a pivotal witness to the bombing ends in, well, not much of a surprise and the ending seems rather hastily put together.
The John le Carre adaptations Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011) and A Most Wanted Man (2014) would better satisfy those after a more thoughtful spy thriller. For a more mainstream offering, you might still want to make a date with November Man.
(ST)

The Song
Jam Hsiao
It is no secret that Taiwanese singer Jam Hsiao is a big fan of the late Michael Jackson. In his live performances in Singapore, he has often covered the King of Pop’s Black Or White.
On his new album, he even channels MJ on the opening number Kiss Me, which he composed and wrote the lyrics for.
From the falsetto to the swagger in the voice and the rhythmic swing of the track, this could well be the Jackson sound in Mandarin. One can already imagine Hsiao dancing up a storm to this live.
Elsewhere, he delivers songs such as Let Go with a playful rock snarl, drawing out the vowels and digitally altering his voice on Play With Me.
The album flounders, though, on the ballads – which is somewhat surprising considering his past hits such as Forgive Me and Clone. Ring Ring, a duet with Christine Fan, and Kelly, the Taiwanese ending theme for the Korean hit You Who Came From The Stars, fall short of those songs.
Maybe he should have channelled MJ on the ballads as well.

Warm Water
Yisa Yu
Calling China singer Yisa Yu’s new album easy listening sounds mildly disparaging. But it is not meant to be. Rather, the songs here go down comfortingly like a glass of warm water.
Pairing her pristine voice with slightly left-of-centre melodies is a good way to go.
On the lilting Forgiveness Is Not Perfect, she sings: “If some things lead you astray/If some people make you feel lost/If some songs are never sung/I ask for forgiveness on their behalf.”
The sentiment is not exactly cheery, but the soothing track could well put you in a forgiving mood.
The title track, with music and lyrics by Yu, is another highlight, as is the English version of a Zhang Yadong-composed mid-tempo number, Invisible Love.
Zhang also produced the album and he handles the material with a light touch, adding a light sprinkling of electronica here and there for a laidback feel.
(ST)

Lucy
Luc Besson
The story: Tricked into making a dodgy transaction, Lucy (Scarlett Johansson) ends up as a drug mule for the vicious Jang (Choi Min Sik). An accidental overdose does not kill her, but instead opens up the potential of Lucy’s brain. She gets in touch with Professor Norman (Morgan Freeman) to figure out what to do with her newfound powers and ropes in cop Pierre Del Rio (Amr Waked) to deal with Jang.

Scientists say we use only 10 per cent of our brains. So what happens if the full potential of the mind can be unleashed?
The tantalising scenario was previously explored in Limitless (2011), which starred Bradley Cooper, but without much imagination and exposing many loopholes.
Writer-director Luc Besson (Nikita, 1990) takes the same idea and just runs with it. It starts out as a globalised crime thriller as Lucy
(Johansson), an American girl in Taipei, is forced to be a drug mule for the terrifying Korean crime lord Jang (an effective Choi from Oldboy, 2003).
Then the fun kicks in when Lucy gradually turns into super Lucy and starts turning the tables on her tormentors.
On one level, the film is an action-packed and fast-paced zinger as it zips about Taipei and Europe.
There are other drug mules to track down and showdowns with the Korean baddies to be staged.
Throughout it all, Johansson is a cool and calm presence.
The macho police cop (Egyptian actor Waked, Syriana, 2005) is reduced to being Lucy’s sidekick in a playful reversal of gender roles.
At the same time, the film also follows up on that intriguing mind- blowing scenario.
As a potent drug sweeps into her body, Lucy is transformed. She is able to manipulate her own body at a cellular level, control other people and even read the world as a complex matrix of information.
While Cooper ignited howls of laughter when he attempted to speak Mandarin in Limitless in order to demonstrate his faculty for languages, the same point is made more smartly here.
When Lucy sees a hospital sign in Chinese, her brain automatically translates it into English.
Besson also slips in some metaphysical dialogue amid the action, setting up a nice contrast between the two crime-busters.
As Lucy and Pierre hurtle through Paris in a crazy car ride, he says “Better late than dead”, to which she responds, “We never really die”.
Meanwhile, a number flashes on screen from time to time, showing the percentage of Lucy’s brain that has been activated.
Ultimately, what does Lucy do with all that power and knowledge? And what happens when 100 per cent is reached? If it is reached?
Whatever you make of the answers, at least no one can accuse Besson of having a limited imagination.
(ST)

The Giver
Phillip Noyce
The story: In a future world, people are assigned their jobs and purposes when they turn 16. Jonas (Brenton Thwaites) is singled out to be the receiver of memories from The Giver (Jeff Bridges) by the Chief Elder (Meryl Streep). The more Jonas learns, the more he begins to question everything around him as his relationships with his friends (Odeya Rush and Cameron Monaghan) and assigned family (Katie Holmes and Alexander Skarsgard) change forever. Based on the 1993 young adult novel of the same name by Lois Lowry.

One is starting to detect a template for young adult dystopian dramas such as The Hunger Games (2012) and Divergent (2014).
In each, there is a coming-of-age ceremony in which the teenage protagonist is marked out as special. Because of that special status, he comes to learn that the world he lives in is a lie.
And he will be the one to bring down the house of cards. Unlike The Hunger Games and Divergent, the protagonist in The Giver is male.
Fresh-faced Australian actor Thwaites is on the cusp of breaking out after turns in horror flick Oculus (2013) and the fantasy Maleficent (2014).
He is engaging as Jonas, a sensitive character who is overwhelmed byknowledge in a film with more of an arthouse veneer than the action-packed The Hunger Games and Divergent.
Colour and sound are carefully calibrated. As he learns about them from The Giver, the film bursts into blooms of colour and music. Even concepts such as home and love have to be learnt and he finds himself falling for his friend Fiona.
Teenage hormones will get the better of an authoritarian society every time.
The supporting line-up featuring veteran actors Streep and Bridges emanate authority and gravitas.
But singer Taylor Swift is forgettable in a small role as the former receiver of memories.
Holmes’ role as Jonas’ assigned “mother” has real-life resonance: One cannot help but wonder if this what what it felt like for her when she had to live under the shadow of Scientology as Tom Cruise’s wife. Her character believes unquestioningly in the system and places it first before everything and everyone else.
Several key questions remain unanswered in the film, including what role exactly the receiver is supposed to play.
And the mission that Jonas has to go on seems like a long shot at best with no clear logic underlying it.
But despite some issues, The Giver is an offering that is still worth receiving.
(ST)

Missing Person
Lala Hsu
Taiwanese singer-songwriter Lala Hsu’s last album, Ideal Life (2012), was an impressive high point in her career. Missing Person does not quite match that high, but it is still compelling and moving.
In the title track Missing, a spare ballad composed by Europa Huang and with lyrics by Hush, Hsu gently caresses the words, crooning tenderly: “How I wish to find you, gently cradling your face/I would open up my arms, and caress your back.”
Steady (Ming Tian De Shi Qing) is a wry look at the unpredictability of love. “We book in advance next year’s summer trip/We book in advance next month’s play/We book in advance the restaurant for Valentine’s Day/But who knows, if I’ll still love you then.”
Retro-dance number Miss Worry and the playfully titled Candy Crusher, which features indie singer-songwriter Ellen Loo, show a more colourful side of Hsu.

The Free Show 2014
Wang Leehom
What’s better than a gig by your favourite singer? Why, a free show, of course.
Since 2012, US-born Mandopop star Wang Leehom has been giving his fans a treat each New Year’s day.
This year, the freebie was a cosy, intimate affair held here at Klapsons The Boutique Hotel, captured on The Free Show 2014.
The singer-songwriter is relaxed and in good form as he serves up laidback versions of his songs, from Love Rival Beethoven from his 1995 debut album to the more recent Heartbeat (2008).
The focus, though, is on lesser known numbers such as All I Think About Is You and covers such as the classic track Lean On Me.
It gives fans a chance to relook his songs that may have been overlooked and to hear a different side of Wang beyond the familiar hits.
What’s better than a free show? A good free show.
(ST)

Magic In The Moonlight
Woody Allen
The story: In late 1920s Europe, stage magician Stanley (Colin Firth) is asked by his friend Howard (Simon McBurney) to expose a clairvoyant named Sophie (Emma Stone) as a fraud. She has everyone under her spell at a mansion of the Catledge family in the south of France, including the very smitten son, Brice (Hamish Linklater). As she passes test after test under Stanley’s watchful eyes, he begins to wonder if she might be the real thing.

Despite a star-studded cast that includes Firth (A Single Man, 2009), Stone (The Amazing Spider-Man, 2012) and Eileen Atkins (Gosford Park, 2001) as a wise aunt, Magic In The Moonlight is not quite magical.
For a while, the film coasts along on Firth’s considerable charm and Woody Allen’s biting dialogue.
Stanley might be a successful magician, but he is by no means a pleasant person. He has a tart disposition and an acid tongue and is described as having “all the charm of a typhus epidemic”.
The fun is in watching someone so full of himself wavering when he comes face to face with spirit medium Sophie Baker.
Is she a charlatan or truly “a visionary and a vision”? The sight of a blustery Stanley in deep denial over his growing attraction to her is also entertaining.
As the sunny Sophie, the likable Stone gets to showcase her star quality as well and is a good foil for Firth.
Writer-director Allen keeps you guessing as to Sophie’s true nature. She seems open and friendly and does not shy away from contact from the man trying to call her bluff. Like Stanley, you might soon find yourself fervently wishing that magic exists.
Sadly, unlike the prolific film-maker – who continues to work at a pace that would put most of his fellow film- makers to shame, averaging one film a year, when he is well into his 70s – the movie runs out of steam towards the end.
Once the plot takes a definitive turn, there is not much else for Allen to do other than tie up loose ends and wrap things up neatly.
(ST)

Cries of dismay and disappointment echoed on the Internet early last week.
You might have thought that the cries were in response to a ban on videos of kittens and puppies, but they were in response to reports that beloved Japanese animation outfit Studio Ghibli was closing down.
The studio is the home of films such as Spirited Away (2001, left), Princess Mononoke (1997) and My Neighbour Totoro (1988) in which beautifully rendered drawings tell stories which beguile, excite and move, but never pander by either reaching for easy sentiment or over-simplifying things for the audience.
So when producer Toshio Suzuki was reported by the Western media as saying in an interview on Japanese network TBS on Aug 3 that the studio was closing, fans wailed. It turned out to be a translation error. What Suzuki said was that the studio would “pause” production to think about how to rebuild itself.
Variety, the entertainment trade magazine, reported on Aug 7 that Suzuki had clarified his remarks that morning on the NHK programme Asa Ichi. While the studio had achieved its dream of making the kind of animation it wanted, to some degree, he said it was “now we’re at a point where we’ve got to think about what we’ll do next”.
There was more for fans to cheer about when he said that the legendary director Hayao Miyazaki “may make something again”, possibly a short film for the Ghibli Museum in Mitaka, Tokyo.
Miyazaki, 73, is inextricably linked with Studio Ghibli. He wrote and directed My Neighbour Totoro, about two young sisters and their adventures with some friendly woodland spirits; Princess Mononoke, on the struggle between forest gods and resource-consuming humans; and Spirited Away, in which a girl is forced to survive in a fantastical spirit world after her parents are turned into pigs.
He also created Castle In The Sky (1986), Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989) and Ponyo (2008), his unfettered imagination inventing incredible adventures for plucky girls and boys.
There has been speculation about the fate of the company after Miyazaki declared that The Wind Rises (2013) was his final feature-length film. By one count, this is his sixth retirement announcement. He had previously gone into semi-retirement after Princess Mononoke, but went on to make Spirited Away four years later.
Hand-drawn animation is hard work, particularly as Miyazaki is so heavily involved in the making of each film. And it is only a matter of time before he has to step away from the demanding creative work at the studio.
But an important fact that is often overlooked is that Studio Ghibli is not just Miyazaki.
The studio was founded by him, Suzuki and film-maker Isao Takahata in June 1985 after the success of Miyazaki’s Nausicaa Of The Valley Of The Wind (1984), adapted from his manga.
While Miyazaki gets much of the attention and deservedly so, Takahata is no minor sidekick. His devastating war film Grave Of The Fireflies (1988) is liable to make any viewer dissolve into a pool of tears, while My Neighbors The Yamadas (1999) was a likeable light-hearted family comedy. His most recent film is The Tale Of Princess Kaguya (2013), which is based on a folk story, The Tale Of The Bamboo Cutter.
Other directors who have made films under the Studio Ghibli banner include Hiroyuki Morita (The Cat Returns, 2002), Hiromasa Yonebayashi (Arrietty, 2010, and When Marnie Was There, 2014) and Miyazaki’s son Goro (Tales From Earthsea, 2006, and From Up On Poppy Hill, 2011).
Studio Ghibli’s strong body of work over 29 years has earned it a loyal global following. While the studio has fans all over the world from Asia to North America to Europe, notably including Pixar Animation Studio’s John Lasseter, it is in Japan that its impact is greatest.
Mr Geoffrey Wexler, Studio Ghibli’s international division chief, told Life! in an interview earlier this year that the films are very much made for the Japanese market and not with an international audience in mind.
Reportedly, eight of the studio’s films are in the list of the top 15 grossing anime films domestically.
Spirited Away tops the list and is, in fact, the all-time box-office champion in Japan with 30.4 billion yen (S$374 million), ahead of the blockbuster Titanic (1997). Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away won the Japan Academy Prize for Picture of the Year.
While animation is still largely viewed as family- friendly fare in, say, the United States, its appeal tends to be wider elsewhere.
In Japan, anime and manga broach every conceivable topic from gentle tales about cats to violent fables of a post-apocalyptic world. There is no age-specific box constraining the medium.
While many of Ghibli’s works feature young protagonists, the films do not sugar-coat hard truths or dole out “life lessons” in a heavy-handed manner.
Grave Of The Fireflies, for example, is about the bleak horrors of war as seen through the eyes of a teenage boy and the younger sister he tries to protect. While fantasy adventure Princess Mononoke has been read as a fable about the destruction of the environment, it offers shades of greys and nuanced characters instead of reductive black-and-white slogans.
Studio Ghibli is not afraid of complexity and that has enabled it to create richly rewarding works which invite interpretation, even generating controversy from time to time as in the case of The Wind Rises, about a designer of Japan’s World War II fighter planes.
The studio’s works also point to a larger truth about films. In order to create something universal, something which resonates with a wide spectrum of people, you start with something very specific and focused. True, some cultural nuances and details may get lost in translation but the resulting sense of authenticity is compelling, even for those who are not its intended audience.
Conversely, if the starting point is to please as many people as possible, a film could easily end up bereft of character and a point of view.
The other hallmark of the company’s films is its sublime animation, be it of imaginary worlds and creatures such as Laputa and Totoro, or realistic characters striving against adversity, displaying courage or simply laughing delightedly.
Every little detail is painstakingly drawn and coloured, mostly by hand. Some computer graphics were used in Princess Mononoke but by the time of Ponyo, the computer animation department had been shut down. Even for Mononoke, Miyazaki reportedly personally redrew 80,000 of the film’s frames.
In works such as Spirited Away, Studio Ghibli illustrates that the medium of animation is one which knows no boundaries and we are only limited by how high our imagination can soar. For the legion of fans, the good news is the studio is not done flying just yet.
(ST)

Drama
Cut
Aaron Yan

Fans get a double dose of Aaron Yan as the Taiwanese idol releases two six-track EPs back to back. Drama collects tracks featured on his TV shows, while Cut purports to show the real Yan.
Yet the former is the stronger disc, offering more, well, drama.
The Mandarin-English duet One Out Of Two with Korean singer G.NA slips into an easy groove. That’s Not Me paints a picture of self-denial: “Just that when I hear a song/My eyes get red/That’s not me/Definitely not me.”
More romantic woes abound on The Unwanted Love but they are given a more upbeat arrangement.
In comparison, the material on Cut is less memorable. Head for the perkier numbers here – No Cut and Kidnap Love. Yan is possibly most honest on the track Entertainer when he sings: “Go ahead and guess, guess, guess, but you can never guess my heart.”
So much for showing the real Yan.
(ST)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Jonoathan Liebesman
The story: The Foot Clan headed by the vicious Shredder is responsible for a crime wave hitting New York City. Intrepid reporter April O’Neil (Megan Fox) stumbles upon an unlikely force fighting back – teenage mutant ninja turtles – and discovers her link to them.

This is a film that is fully aware of the ridiculousness of four human-sized turtles executing ninja moves and embraces instead of belittles it.
The quartet of Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael and Donatello first appeared in a comic book in 1984 and have proven to be impressively long-living reptiles. The franchise has spawned three animated TV series, with the latest one currently ongoing, a live action series and four feature films.
The last big-screen outing, TMNT (2007), was a CGI-animated flick that did not go down too well with critics, though. This reboot ventures into similar territory by mixing live action with computer animation through motion capture.
Most importantly, director Jonathan Liebesman (Wrath Of The Titans, 2012) has retained the lightly comic vibe of wisecracking and squabbling turtles as they go about fighting crime.
He teases the audience for a while before showing them what the latest version of the turtles look like. They come across like Yoda on steroids and in a shell. Then they open their mouths and out spews teenspeak, particularly from Michelangelo – and all is indeed familiar and well.
There is even a signature “Cowabunga!” or two unleashed in the proceedings.
Apart from the different coloured masks they wear, the turtles are also distinguished by their personality. Orange for fun-loving Michelangelo (Noel Fisher), purple for geeky bespectacled Donatello (Jeremy Howard), red for hot-blooded Raphael (Alan Ritchson) and blue for leader Leonardo (Pete Ploszek).
Still, it can get a little confusing telling them apart at times, even though Jackass star Johnny Knoxville voices Leonardo, presumably because he is more well known.
The story itself is fairly straightforward as it pits Shredder and his clan of baddies against master rat Splinter and his protege turtles with a decent chase sequence down a snowy slope.
Megan Fox (Transformers, 2007) fulfils the requisite hot-girl quotient, while Will Arnett (from comedy series Arrested Development) provides some laughs as a cameraman besotted with her.
With a watchable reboot successfully accomplished, it looks like the turtles have managed to extend their shell-life yet again.
(ST)