Baby Blues
Leong Po Chih
Here is a home-buying tip that will save you plenty of grief and trouble: When you come across a creepy- looking doll left behind by its previous owner, do not hang on to the property. If you are rich enough to buy a house, you are rich enough to get a brand- new creepy-looking doll.
Unfortunately, newlyweds songwriter Hao (Raymond Lam) and blogger Tian Qing (Janelle Sing) ignore that tip. They also pay no heed to the repeated dire warnings of a homeless man camped outside their huge house.
Tian Qing becomes pregnant with twins but one of the boys dies during birth. She then starts treating the doll as a newborn – surely that goes beyond post-natal depression.
It is the doll working its bad juju, which it likes to do while spinning round and pointing its hand out. Presumably, this is to take advantage of the 3-D effects.
Rather than raising scares, though, this infantile movie is likely to induce yawns instead.
(ST)

Enough Said
Nicole Holofcener
The story: Eva (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) is a single mum who works as a house-call masseuse. She meets divorced father Albert (James Gandolfini) at a party and they begin dating. At the same party, she also meets Marianne, a new client who becomes a friend. Things get a little complicated when Eva realises that Marianne (Catherine Keener) is Albert’s ex-wife.

James Gandolfini will forever be associated with the acclaimed crime drama The Sopranos (1999-2007). His turn as the self-doubting and therapy-seeking mob boss Tony Soprano earned him three Emmy statuettes and paved the way for anti-heroes down the road such as Breaking Bad’s Walter White.
Sadly, he died from a heart attack at the age of 51 in June.
Beyond the Mafia series, his range of roles run the gamut from a gay hitman in The Mexican (2001) to an impulsive Wild Thing in the fantasy Where The Wild Things Are (2009).
One of his last films is this sweet and lovely romance which casts him in a very different light and adds to his rich body of work.
He smiles a lot here as Albert and his eyes crinkle and disappear charmingly but it is not exactly attraction at first sight for Eva. In fact, her early description of him to close friend Sarah (Toni Collette) is: “He’s kinda fat.”
Rather than a romantic comedy which dumbs itself down with cliched set-ups and forced repartee, Enough Said feels like an honest exploration of what happens when two adults are tentatively attracted to each other and try to sort out their feelings.
There is awkwardness here – do they kiss or not after the first date – as well as tenderness. There is a scene in which they peer into each other’s mouths that feels more intimate than most movie sex scenes.
Gandolfini’s wonderfully low-key and sunny performance is well-matched by Julia Louis- Dreyfus. Best known for her television work on comedies such as Seinfeld (1989-1998) and Veep (2012 to present), she dials down her comic exuberance for a more nuanced performance that remains very funny.
Eva is all too believably human and flawed. While she means well, she is not the most sensitive person when it comes to respecting boundaries. And so, she dishes out sex advice to her teenage daughter’s friend, makes fun of Albert for his inability to whisper (an admittedly odd trait) and, worst of all, she ends up befriending his ex and hiding it from him.
Writer-director Nicole Holofcener has worked on TV for shows such as comedy Parks And Recreation as well as films such as Lovely & Amazing (2001), an observant drama about female relationships.
Apart from finding the humour and stresses in a burgeoning relationship, she also captures the poignancy and scariness of looking for love at a certain stage in life. And she does not shy away from the difficult things people say to each other.
When Albert tells Eva, “You broke my heart and I’m too old for that s***,” his hurt is real and palpable.
A great cast, a sensitive script and an abundance of heart – enough said.
(ST)

Autumn: Stories
sodagreen
Finally, harvest season is here.
After releasing the luminous Daylight Of Spring and the briskly rocking Summer/Fever in 2009, sodagreen’s ambitious four seasons project hit a road block. Two of the feted indie band’s six members had to fulfil their military service obligations and it was only last year that they were back at full strength again.
In keeping with the season, the mood on this album is autumnal as summer slips away and leaves begin to fall. The use of traditional Chinese instruments such as the erhu and flute lend a sense of melancholy to the record.
Lead vocalist and songwriter Ching-feng’s pristine voice shimmers and aches on When I’m Alone: “When I’m alone, it’s like I’ve dropped into a deep ravine/When I’m alone, it’s like the whole world’s lies have been laid bare.”
The light may be fading as the days grow shorter but that does not mean it is just gloominess ahead.
The Gleaners offers up this intriguing imagery of life’s cyclical nature: “Burning my childhood, burnt my youth, burn out my sunset years/Until we are asleep in the earth, continue to be buried as future roots.”
For a change, bassist Claire takes over vocal duties on the lighthearted Idle Wings, while drummer Wei has a turn at the mic on the more compelling We Walked A Light Year.
There are rich pickings here to slowly savour while we wait for Winter to approach.
(ST)

Passion
Brian De Palma
The story: Advertising executive Christine (Rachel McAdams) always gets what she wants, be it in the boardroom or bedroom. When her subordinate Isabelle (Noomi Rapace) shows her up over an ad campaign and sleeps with her lover Dirk (Paul Anderson), Christine goes all out to take her down. Driven to the brink, Isabelle starts popping pills. Things escalate to the point of murder. A remake of the French psychological thriller Love Crime (2010).

Canadian actress Rachel McAdams has often been cast in the sweetheart role, from her breakout film romantic drama The Notebook (2004) to the recent romantic comedy About Time (2013).
But she actually first came to attention for playing a malicious queen bee in the comedy Mean Girls (2004). Here, she slips easily into the role of the scheming, sexually adventurous and vindictive Christine.
She is unapologetic when stealing credit for Isabelle’s idea and adds: “You have talent, I made the best use of it.”
Later, she kisses Isabelle in the back of a car and tells her that she loves her. How very European.
Noomi Rapace’s Isabelle is harder to read. She is Christine’s subordinate and is clearly envious of her life. To some extent, she falls for Dirk precisely because he is Christine’s lover.
Before the film ventures down the path of dark obsession trod by Single White Female (1992), however, it veers off in a different direction.
The undercurrent of rivalry between the two women surges into outright animosity as Christine publicly humiliates Isabelle and pushes her to the brink.
Director Brian De Palma starts using a different lighting scheme and, suddenly, every scene has striped shadows. Then he goes for a split-screen effect to depict Isabelle at the opera and Christine at home.
All of these signal that something momentous is about to happen, but it is still not fully persuasive when the film suddenly turns into a murder-mystery.
It is also rather trying when De Palma uses the cliched waking-from-a-dream device, not once, but twice, even if he does add a twist to it.
The director is best known for his suspense and thriller films from Carrie (1976) to Scarface (1983) to Mission: Impossible (1996). He has also helmed some duds from the high-profile adaptation The Bonfire Of The Vanities (1990) to the crime flick The Black Dahlia (2006).
Passion, belonging to the latter category, is unlikely to win him much love.
(ST)

S.H.E 2gether 4ever World Tour 2013
Singapore Indoor Stadium
Last Saturday
It was a night when tears flowed freely.
After a filming accident in October 2010 left S.H.E member Selina Jen with terrible burns, she faced a long road to recovery.
In November last year, the Taiwanese pop trio finally released their 11th studio album Blossomy. And with Jen, Hebe Tien and Ella Chen together on stage once more, S.H.E’s comeback is complete.
Jen had to undergo months of physiotherapy before she could even stand and walk. Last Saturday night, she danced and pranced about and commanded the stage with ease and the capacity crowd of 8,000 cheered her on.
The emotions got to her early on during her solo segment when she was singing Dreams. She started crying and could not continue for a while. When the song ended, she said: “I’m sorry, that’s the earliest I’ve cried while singing that song in concert.”
Their world tour started in Taipei in June and has taken them to Malaysia, Hong Kong, Macau as well as several cities in China. Singapore is the last leg of their tour.
After joking that fans could listen to the complete version of Dreams on disc, she thanked her supporters.
“I want to thank my fans for loving my flaws and my round face. When I was injured, your encouragement brought me back from the jaws of death.
“I couldn’t laugh, couldn’t run and jump, but I can do all that now. As long we’re alive, there’s hope, so never give up.”
Jen was later moved to tears again when Chen and Tien surprised her with an early birthday gift.
Jen, who turns 32 on Thursday, was handed a fake award for best television host from the other two. She took the opportunity to thank the important people in her life, from her husband and family to the doctors, who took care of her.
The concert did not just revolve around her though.
For her solo segment, Chen, who got married in May last year, laid to rest her former tomboyish image with a flapper-inspired gold number that showed off her sexy back.
She teased at one point that she had good news to share before adding: “I’m not pregnant yet.”
Among the three, Tien is the one who is a bona fide solo star with two well- received albums to her name. She performed Love and It’s OK To Be Lonely off the album To Hebe (2010) in a bohemian looking white dress with cascading hair to match.
While she was the most reserved on stage, it was also clear that the three women share a very close bond. And from their first album Girl’s Dorm (2001) till now, they have been through thick and thin together.
And through it all, they have been consistent hit-makers. They covered a good deal of ground at the gig from early favourite Underaged Lover to the Jay Chou-composed Tropical Rainforest to the playful Miss Universe.
And with two of the members now married, they seem to be more at ease with themselves and one another. Maybe it is because they no longer have to worry about being sweet young things and maintaining a dream-girl image. They joked about farting and boob size and Chen even kissed Tien and Jen in a bit of tomfoolery.
After all the tears that were shed, the three hour-plus-long concert ended close to midnight on a celebratory note.
The encore kicked off with Blossomy and they sang: “Finally, those you miss reunite/ Finally, all the injuries have healed/The flowers are blooming again, finally/My heart is again full of courage.”
They might have taken the words right out of their fans’ mouths.
(ST)

A Low-Key Life
Sandee Chan
On her last album I Love You, John (2011), Taiwanese singer- songwriter-arranger-producer Sandee Chan showed a more playful side.
Her new work, A Low-Key Life, though, harks back to the darker-themed electronica of If There Is One Thing That Is Important (2008).
While she previously purred about loving John, here, she touches on infidelity on the track, Affair. She sings tenderly in the mid-tempo number: “Oh, we both know in our hearts who is more pitiful/Since it’s Sunday, hastily say a few words of penitence to myself.”
She ponders on Christine how deep love can be: “I shouldn’t fantasise that two people means twice the stability/Winning your heart doesn’t mean your soul is mine.”
It is not just romantic entanglements that occupy her. On Fickle, she has even weightier matters in mind: “When life and death are fickle, we need to rethink everything/Unease and reality are written into a beautiful antithesis.”
The music and vocals are soothing, but there is nothing low-key about the emotions and ideas.
(ST)

Carrie
Kimberly Peirce
The story: Carrie White (Chloe Grace Moretz) is a misfit at high school and she is taunted by the other girls when she gets her first period in the showers. It seems too good to be true when a popular jock asks her to the prom and her deeply religious mother Margaret (Julianne Moore) warns: “They’re all going to laugh at you.” When they do, Carrie unleashes her telekinetic powers to horrific effect. This is the third film adaptation of the 1974 Stephen King novel of the same name.

Many a prom has been ruined by a dubious hairdo or what-was-I-thinking fashion choice. But in the history of disastrous proms, none can top the one in Carrie.
Even if you did not watch the classic 1976 version, you might have come across the unforgettable image of Sissy Spacek drenched in blood from head to toe in her prom dress. There was also a film made for television in 2002.
If not, the trailer helpfully sums up the entire arc of the latest film. The finale is a messy bloodbath in which Carrie unleashes her powers.
The problem is that the lead-up to this all-too- expected ending is simply not very interesting.
Director Kimberly Peirce is best known for the gender-bending romantic drama Boys Don’t Cry (1999), which won Hilary Swank a Best Actress Oscar. But here, she seems to have little idea of how to move the story forward. Everything is just too one-note.
Margaret is a sexually uptight religious nutjob and you know she is crazy because her hair looks like it is in desperate need of some tender loving conditioning care.
Her idea of mothering is shutting Carrie up in the “prayer closet” and filling her head with dark talk of sin.
Julianne Moore (The Kids Are All Right, 2010) makes her creepy, but there is something almost cartoonish about the role.
The rest of the characters are pretty much just plot devices from b****y mean girl Chris (Portia Doubleday) to Sue (Gabriella Wilde), who tries to make amends by getting her boyfriend to ask Carrie out.
At least Chloe Grace Moretz (Kick-Ass 2, 2013) makes you care for Carrie as she blossoms from awkward to pretty, and you just wish she could be freed from her mother’s clutches.
Perhaps the most disappointing thing about the film is that it barely registers on the scare scale. Maybe telekinesis is too tame in this day and age.
Flying books and cracking mirrors do not offer much thrill when special effects are routinely employed to more dramatic effect in films these days.
Even when the ante is upped at the end with half the school getting butchered, the outcome still falls short of being truly terrifying.
(ST)

Escape Plan
Mikael Hafstrom
The story: Ray Breslin (Sylvester Stallone) is a security expert who escapes from prisons to point out the flaws in them. For his latest assignment, he is planted inside a top-secret facility. Ray soon realises he has been incarcerated for good and will need the help of fellow prisoner Emil Rottmayer (Arnold Schwarzenegger) to make his escape.

The action genre does not seem like a particularly kind one for older actors, given its rigorous physical demands.
And yet, SylvesterStallone, 67, and Arnold Schwarzenegger, 66, continue to shoot them up in cinemas as though it were the 1980s.
Recent titles featuring them such as The Expendables (2010) and The Last Stand (2013) served up action with a self-aware tone which poked fun at their ageing with references to aches and pains.
There are no such subtleties here.
Escape Plan is essentially a B-grade thriller with a straightforward high concept: Watch Sly and Arnie bust out of a state-of-the-art prison, which is as high concept as it gets for these two.
The cells are transparent and the inmates’ every move is monitored by cameras.
There are no openings to the outside world and they have no idea if it is day or night. The guards are masked and heavily armed. In the cramped isolation cells, they get blinded by blazing artificial light.
Yet there is never any doubt Arnie and Sly’s characters will escape. Still, there is a certain pleasure in watching how the carefully set-up hurdles are overcome one by one.
Just do not quibble too much over the plot details.
One of the challenges facing Sly, as security expert Ray Breslin, is that he has to figure out where the prison is located.
So he manages to improvise a sextant from a pair of spectacles and a pen which, miraculously enough, provides a detailed and accurate reading even though he had nothing to calibrate the rough-hewn instrument with.
This should definitely make it to the list of skills every camper needs.
What was also fun was watching the two veteran stars play off each other as they team up against the silkily menacing warden played by Jim Caviezel, currently one of the good guys on TV’s surveillance thriller Person Of Interest.
Swedish director Mikael Hafstrom (The Rite, 2011) does a decent job with the pacing. He is also canny enough to give fans what they want, which means Sly and Arnie get to throw punches and also mow down the baddies with machine guns at some point.
It means you will not have to plot your own escape from the cinema hall before the movie is over.
(ST)

Fragile
Tizzy Bac
On their last album The Tell-Tale Heart (2011), Taiwanese indie band Tizzy Bac looked to master of the macabre, writer Edgar Allan Poe, for inspiration. This time around, it is the fragility of life that serves as muse.
There is a sense of urgency on synth-pop number One By One Oh We’re Gonna Die as lyricist and vocalist Chen Hui-ting warns “Don’t take it for granted and squander your youth and entire life” and “The colour of the story in the end will depend on the choices you’ve made”.
Existential angst is explored on This Is Because We Can Feel Pain: “Sometimes, standing in the face of terror/We need to get a grip and push on forward.”
The band are no one-note doomsday purveyors, though. Fragile is a rich and epic album that celebrates life as well.
Against a lush orchestral arrangement, gorgeous opener Tonight, Tonight, Tonight holds out an irresistible offer: “We can run away tonight, tonight, tonight/In the darkest night, the stars remain brilliant.”
Its sentiment is echoed in the closing number Armstrong’s One Small Step (I’ll See You In My Dream): “No matter how clamorous the world/Lift your head and you’ll reach the universe/In that vastness, I am a shimmer of light.”
May Tizzy Bac shine on.
(ST)

Plush
Catherine Hardwicke
The story: Plush frontwoman Hayley (Emily Browning) copes with the death of her brother and bandmate by writing songs about him. But the response to Plush’s new material is tepid. She works with replacement guitarist Enzo (Xavier Samuel) to give the songs some edge and their growing intimacy eventually turns sexual. Hayley, who is married with two young children, starts to pull back, but Enzo has other ideas.

This could have been a kinky little movie about sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll. But director Catherine Hardwicke tries to pack in too much and keeps shoving in the trappings of a thriller here.
Musical cues suggest something ominous is about to happen – and then nothing does. It gets a bit tiring after a few false starts.
For a while, Hayley’s downward spiral keeps one hooked. She might be married with children, but her behaviour is anything but wifely or maternal. Touring again to support a new album, she slips back into a hedonistic rock ’n’ roll lifestyle of boozing and sexual trysts with the replacement guitarist.
As played by Emily Browning (Sucker Punch, 2011), Hayley is largely a babydoll-faced cipher. Mostly, she exhibits questionable judgment. She even agrees to film an uncomfortably suggestive music video at her home, in the presence of her husband and children.
Given that the film is helmed by Hardwicke, the rather passive female character is something of a surprise. After all, the American film-maker is better known for films with stronger and more proactive women such as in youth drama Thirteen (2003) and in the fantasy Red Riding Hood (2011).
Instead, Enzo is the more fascinating role here, baiting both men and women with his bad boy rocker vibe. One could well imagine Xavier Samuel (The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, 2010) as the charismatic guitarist of some dark indie band.
Like a singer going disastrously off-key in a crescendo, the movie goes all haywire in its final act. The consequences of Hayley’s reckless behaviour come home to roost in a spectacularly ludicrous fashion.
It is so campy and over the top that you could end up laughing out loud. That is not a good sign when the film in question is not a comedy.
(ST)

Distance Of Love
Tai Ai-ling
Taiwan’s Tai Ai-ling has had enough of tears. The singer, also known as Princess Ai, has made a career out of torch songs that plumb the depths of a broken heart on albums such as Tone (2010).
This time around, it is a cheerier-looking Tai that greets us on the lyric booklet. There are other breakthroughs as well: Searching For Right Person has her contributing lyrics for the first time. She sings: “Don’t come too close, leave some breathing space/ Be more patient, let me see your manly sincerity.”
The first single Time Of Love is also faster-paced than usual for her. Listen closely, though, and the lyrics are not quite as upbeat as you might imagine: “Men often declare love as an excuse/But in their hearts, they want to be bad.”
Still, she has not ditched emo ballads completely. The title track, for one, will be familiar territory for her fans. She trills in the chorus: “108,000 miles is the distance of love/A passionate past/Whitewashed memories are like paint that’s peeling off.”
Sounds like she is not quite ready to make a clean break with her musical past.
(ST)

Rhythm Of The Rain
Vincent Fang
Mandopop lyricist Vincent Fang would probably never name one of his songs Rhythm Of The Dramatically Convenient Rain, for its literalness would be abhorrent to his lyrical sensibility.
Yet in his directorial debut, he has made an incoherent film which literally features the rain – all the time.
The bland romance between rocker Allen (Alan Ko) and sensitive Yujie (Ginnie Han) is a washout and filled with pointless hurdles. It is a relationship so contrived, it is hard for the audience to feel invested in it even when Allen’s former bandmate Sharon (Vivian Hsu) and roommate Yile (Shi Xialong) complicate the picture.
Emotions, let alone lyricism, are also missing in the segment where Yile accompanies Yujie to Singapore for an important operation – it plays like a promo clip for medical tourism here.
The competition combining rock music, calligraphy and wushu, which Allen and his band take part in, only serves to give cross-disciplinary collaborations a bad name. Perhaps the mash-up might have worked better as lyrics in a song.
The movie ends with a music video that flashes back to Yujie’s first love (who cares?) and a revelation which is meant to feel poignant but merely feels like a pointless cheap trick.
Singer-actor Kuo’s puppydog earnestness is the sole saving grace here.
(ST)

Blue Jasmine
Woody Allen
The story: After her philandering husband Hal (Alec Baldwin) is arrested for his dubious business dealings, high-flying New York socialite Jasmine (Cate Blanchett) falls on hard times. She heads to San Francisco to stay with her adopted sister Ginger (Sally Hawkins) and later meets a very eligible aspiring congressman, Dwight Westlake (Peter Sarsgaard).

Although it is not billed as such, Blue Jasmine is very much Woody Allen’s take on Tennessee Williams’ Pulitzer Prize- winning play, A Streetcar Named Desire (1947).
The prolific film-maker has transplanted the story from New Orleans to San Francisco while keeping the key characters intact.
Fragile southern belle Blanche DuBois is now shaky ex-socialite Jasmine and supportive sister Stella is sympathetic sister Ginger. Stella’s brutish husband Stanley (Marlon Brando’s breakout star turn in the 1951 film adaptation) is Ginger’s boyfriend Chili (Bobby Cannavale).
The work may seem at first too dark and heavy for Allen’s sensibility. He is, after all, known for ensemble pieces which delve lightly into romance and comedy in films such as To Rome With Love (2012), Midnight In Paris (2011) and Everyone Says I Love You (1996).
But his lightness of touch in the upbeat jazzy score and the touches of humour are a nice counterpoint to Jasmine’s unravelling.
Also, Allen does not stick slavishly to Streetcar’s plot. While Jasmine clashes with Chili, their relationship does not quite collide the way it does in Streetcar.
The director also holds out the promise of a happy ending for Jasmine in the form of the perfect Dwight, though eventually that unravels as well.
Everything hinges upon Jasmine’s unhinging and Cate Blanchett (Notes On A Scandal, 2006) powers the film with her performance. An early clue that all is not quite right with her is the fact that she talks the ear off a reluctant fellow passenger.
Jasmine flits between denial and delusion and seems to have a rather tenuous grasp of the unpleasant present. The use of constant flashbacks to her moneyed tai-tai days mirrors how she easily slips into the past.
She is not the easiest person to get along with, with her posh airs and insensitive jibes about her sister’s life. Then there is also the awkward episode of a failed investment of Ginger (an engaging Sally Hawkins) and her ex-husband’s lottery winnings.
And yet, Blanchett also shows you the vulnerability of a woman buckling under pressure and anxiety.
Crucially, she does this without overacting, unlike, say Jessica Lange as Blanche in the 1995 television film adaptation of Streetcar.
Even a late twist in the tale does not diminish one’s sympathy for Jasmine and your heart goes out to her in the understatedly moving final scene.
(ST)

Tokyo Family
Yoji Yamada
The story: An old married couple Shukichi (Isao Hashizume, far right) and Tomiko (Kazuko Yoshiyuki, right) travel to Tokyo to visit their three children. Eldest son Koichi (Masahiko Nishimura) runs a medical clinic, daughter Shigeko (Tomoko Nakajima) runs a neighbourhood hair salon and youngest son Shuji (Satoshi Tsumabuki, right seated) does set design for theatre. When Tomiko visits Shuji’s apartment, she is introduced to his fiancee Noriko (Yu Aoi).

Tokyo Story (1953) is often regarded as Japanese film-maker Yasujiro Ozu’s masterpiece and frequently appears on critics’ list of the greatest films of all time. In the authoritative British film magazine Sight & Sound’s once-every-decade critics’ poll, the black- and-white drama was third in 1992, fifth in 2002 and third again last year.
In other words, it is a daunting film to remake.
Fittingly, the director attempting it is someone of the stature of Yoji Yamada, best known for the long-running series of Tora-san films about a kind-hearted, unlucky-in-love vagabond, a cultural phenomenon spanning 48 films.
Not only that, he had also worked as assistant director on Tokyo Story and calls Ozu his teacher.
Tokyo Family stands on its own, and stands tall.
It was co-written by Yamada and Emiko Hiramatsu and keeps closely to Story in the plot and in terms of tone and sensibility. The focus is on family relationships and everything unfolds unhurriedly as the camera observes unobtrusively.
On the surface, not much happens. An old couple travel to Tokyo to visit their children, who try to fit them into their packed schedules. Quiet moments of interaction speak volumes.
Packed off to a seaside hotel by their oh-so-busy children, the elderly couple soon get bored. Tomiko remarks: “It’s hard to sleep in a wonderful bed like this.” She would rather enjoy the comforting warmth of a bed in her children’s homes.
While daughter Shigeko can be selfish and insensitive, there are no villains here.
Little episodes offer insights into the frustrations of the characters. At one point, Shukichi faces the threat of having nowhere to sleep for a night and ends up getting drunk at a pub with an old friend. He confesses: “What do I have to be happy about?”
There are moments of sweetness as well as when Tomiko stays at Shuji’s place and mother and son share a conversation about their other halves. The character of Shuji is a new addition as Noriko was a widow in the earlier film.
In Story, there was a pointed contrast between the kindness Noriko shows the old couple compared to how their children treat them. This time around, in addition to the Noriko, there is also Shuji. In the end, the unambitious son comes to be appreciated by his outwardly gruff father for his good-hearted nature.
True to the film’s tone, Yamada updates Family with subtle touches to ground it in modern-day Japan – a cab with a GPS navigation system, a Mandarin announcement at the train station to Chinese tourists.
The acting seems at first to be a bit stilted, as if in overt homage to an earlier period of film-making, but it turns out to be a way of marking generational differences in behaviour.
The cast is uniformly good, from Kazuko Yoshiyuki (Departures, 2008) as the sweet mother to Satoshi Tsumabuki (Waterboys, 2001) as the laidback Shuji. They make you feel like you have spent time with an actual family – and make you think about your own.
(ST)

Angel Wings
Rainie Yang
On her eighth studio album, Taiwanese singer Rainie Yang takes flight.
She has grown more confident, particularly over the course of the last three records, and sounds more alluring than the thin-voiced girl of the past.
Strangely enough, she is also sounding more and more like fellow popster Jolin Tsai. But while Tsai has been dancing up a storm, Yang has gone for ballads and mid-tempo numbers.
On the track Brave Love, there is a mix of bravura and vulnerability as she sings: “Just shout out loud, it’s good to be brave/Let me cry and let me fuss, let me understand suffering.”
Fish Gills, meanwhile, features some vivid imagery courtesy of Singaporean lyricist Xiaohan: “It’s as though my heart has grown gills, waking after oxygenation/Red blood is waiting, I just want to bid you goodbye wordlessly.”
Her musical journey seems to be reflected in the light-hearted Cleverness.
She croons: “Sometimes I’m sad, but I don’t cry/Still love roses, but not ambiguity (aimei)/Maybe this feeling is called growing up.” Aimei (My Intuition) is the title of her first solo album in 2005.
There is also a hopeful line in the lyrics, which goes: “Maybe, maybe, maybe/ It’s really wonderful now.” Given that Angel Wings has thus far spent four weeks on top of the authoritative G-Music album chart in Taiwan, this is not just wishful thinking on her part.
(ST)

Insidious: Chapter 2
James Wan
The story: In the first film, Insidious (2011), Josh (Patrick Wilson) and Renai (Rose Byrne) had to free their young son Dalton (Ty Simpkins) from demonic possession. The sequel picks up soon after the family relocate to live with Josh’s mother (Barbara Hershey). Before long, strange things are happening again and ghostly figures appear.

There is a new master of horror and his name is James Wan. From the grisly Saw franchise to supernatural flicks Insidious and The Conjuring (2013), the Australian film-maker has a knack for, well, conjuring scares, and box-office hits, from modest budgets. Hollywood producers must love him.
His high productivity is another factor in his favour. Insidious: Chapter 2 hits screens just two months after The Conjuring.
Those who missed the first instalment need not worry. A police interview with Renai gives a quick summary of what happened previously.
Here, Wan’s grab-bag of tricks includes creaking doors, sudden loud noises and discordant music. Not exactly new but he does a decent job of maintaining a suspenseful, creepy atmosphere.
Some of it is in the set-up. When Josh and Renai’s two young boys are shown playing with a tin-can telephone, you just know, and hence anticipate, that the innocuous object will turn up again in some eerie scenario. The prop is used another time, albeit in a different context and hence, in a less expected manner.
Wan also plays with your expectations in other ways. In the case of a piano that seems to be playing itself, the reason is not as sinister as one might imagine.
There is also some interesting time-looping going on here. The film opens with video footage of a young Josh as he is questioned by a medium trying to find out what is haunting him. Events unfolding in the present eventually shed light on what takes place in that video.
In addition to the child-in-peril plot carried over from the first film, scriptwriter Leigh Whannell (Saw, 2004, and Insidious) adds another layer of unease. Is Josh who he says he is or has he been possessed by some malevolent force?
The cast is competent, from Rose Byrne (I Give It A Year, 2013) as the frazzled wife and mother, to Patrick Wilson (Watchmen, 2009) as the increasingly maniacal Josh. There are also some tension- relieving comic moments, courtesy of ghostbusting duo Specs (Whannell) and Tucker (Angus Sampson).
As the title suggests, and the ending confirms, Wan and Whannell are not quite ready to close the book on this horror tale yet.
(ST)

The Impressoul 01
Wu Jiahui, Cheryl Lee
Wu Jiahui is a sensitive singer- songwriter; Cheryl Lee is an all-round entertainer who dabbles in radio, theatre, film and television.
Together, the two Malaysians make beautiful music. All of the music is composed by Wu while Lee is responsible for the lyrics, save for bonus track How To Love. The instrumentation is simple and unfussy, keeping the focus on the emotive voices and engaging songs.
Lee sings lightly of denial on Don’t Wish To Listen: “Just don’t wish to listen, close my eyes tightly/Throttle this secret with my own hands/Just won’t admit, I’m as fragile as glass.”
On Tangled, Wu trods on emotional ground: “Each and every move of my heart, memory is looking/The wind blows, the grass rustles, take the chance to pounce on me, knowing I’m weak.”
They duet on ballad Don’t Say You Don’t Know and the more upbeat Breaking Up Is Reasonable. Lee croons on the latter: “I want you to find someone who loves you more/To look after the soul of tomorrow’s tomorrow’s tomorrow’s you.”
A soothingly soulful collaboration.
(ST)

Young Detective Dee: Rise Of The Sea Dragon
The story: In this prequel to Detective Dee And The Mystery Of The Phantom Flame (2010), Mark Chao takes over from Andy Lau in the role of Tang Dynasty investigator Dee Renjie. Empress Wu Zetian (Carina Lau) tasks the Supreme Court’s Yuchi (Feng Shaofeng) to find out the truth behind the decimation of the naval fleet, supposedly by the Sea Dragon. And what exactly is courtesan Yin’s (Angelababy) connection to yet another sea creature and how is that related to the attack at sea? Dee, newly arrived in the capital, gets involved in the complicated case with some help from young doctor Shatuo (Lin Gengxin).

The creative team of the earlier hit, director Tsui Hark and writer Chen Kuo-fu, reunite for this second film. And clearly, they believe in the mantra that bigger is better.
As you might surmise from the summary earlier, there is a lot going on here. Subsequently, the movie almost gets crushed under the weight of the story.
From the half-man, half-sea creature fixated with Yin, Dee gets a clue that points to a teahouse. The trail leads to a specific tea supplied to the royal court and a nefarious plot to topple the Tang Dynasty.
There are more plot twists and turns to navigate before the moviegoer gets to a tense face-off.
Hanging precariously onto ropes on a cliff-face over a yawning chasm, Dee and company have to fend off a highly skilled masked assailant – and yet this is not quite the finale.
With so many loose ends to tie up though, the movie begins to suggest to the audience that it simply will not end.
To be sure, the X-Files-meets-Sherlock Holmes vibe in a period China setting remains entertaining, and China actor Chen Kun is a hammy hoot playing a mad scientist-physician who has an ape’s limb for one of his hands.
But there seem to be more cracks in the prequel. The patently fake-looking CGI takes one out of the story while Dee’s ability to not just read lips but also do so from a distance, seems a tad too convenient.
While Andy Lau turned in a relaxed performance in his outing as the observant detective in the first movie, rising Taiwanese star Mark Chao’s performance is a bit too smug in parts. You even start to sympathise with Yuchi for getting frustrated for being thwarted and outsmarted all the time.
Compared to the first movie, the women get short shrift here. Carina Lau, although reliably imposing as the empress, sees her role become smaller this time around. Angelababy is largely required to look good while flailing about in flowy robes.
There is still life in the Detective Dee franchise but the next instalment will have to do a better job in order to rise to the high expectations created by the first film.
(ST)

A sex scene between a private detective and a neglected wife opens HBO Asia’s first original drama series, Serangoon Road.
For those hoping for another serving of the abundant sex and nude scenes featured in many HBO series, including Sex And The City (1998-2004), True Blood (2008-present) and Game Of Thrones (2011-present), there is good news and bad news. It is clear that the raunchy quotient has been toned down for this HBO Asia production. On the other hand, the sultry Singapore climate means that the hunky male lead – Australian actor Don Hany – is often shirtless when he is at home.
The sex factor aside, HBO is also the marquee name for quality, ground-breaking dramas. So naturally, expectations are high for HBO Asia’s first foray into an original series. And it is one set in Singapore, no less.
Early signs are good.
The 10-parter is set in 1960s Singapore and follows the investigations of a private detective agency owned by Patricia Cheng (Joan Chen), who is searching for answers to her husband’s murder.
She ropes in as investigator former Australian soldier Sam Callaghan (Hany), who is having an affair with a lonely expatriate wife, Mrs Claire Simpson (Maeve Dermody).
The multiracial cast also includes home-grown actors, from Los Angeles-based Chin Han as Kay Song, an ambitious secret society figure, to Alaric Tay as Callaghan’s sidekick to Pamelyn Chee as a forward-thinking young woman who works at the agency.
Among the things a pilot episode has to do is give viewers an idea of who’s who, what’s where and, at the same time, tell a gripping, self-contained story that will make viewers want to follow the series.
In trying to juggle too many balls, Serangoon Road’s opening salvo comes up a little short. It manages to introduce a good number of characters and also establishes a sense of time and place, but the initial story itself is not very strong.
An American soldier is killed and Callaghan is roped in to investigate. Things fall into place and people open up to him a little too easily. There is not much momentum or suspense.
At least the crime is cleverly set in Bugis, a colourful and rough-edged area where transvestites, sailors and crooks mingled back in the day. It is a good way of showcasing the handsome, expansive set on Batam and the top-notch production values for this period drama, whose budget HBO Asia declined to reveal.
Also, the makers of the series – directors Peter Andrikidis (for episodes one to five) and Tony Tilse (episodes six to 10) and head scriptwriter Michaelay O’Brien – cannot be accused of gratuitously exoticising an Asian setting, given the real-life Bugis’ seedy reputation then.
In the same vein, the choice of a white protagonist for a series set in 1960s Singapore could set off alarm bells in some viewers at first. Is this going to be some exoticised version of the East seen through Western eyes?
While Callaghan does seem to be the hero about town, particularly in episode one, his character is also one that makes sense in a historical context. Poised between a recent colonial past and an imminent, unsought-for independence, there were different worlds jostling alongside one another in Singapore in 1964. A white man at that time could conceivably have access to many of these worlds, from high-society soirees to smoky gambling dens.
And kudos to Hany for speaking reasonably intelligible Mandarin, as opposed to, say, the offensive gibberish that Bradley Cooper spouted in the final scene of the sci-fi flick Limitless (2011).
Indeed, in this polygot melting pot, only Chee’s accent juts out for being too posh and polished. Maybe there is some reason for it, but at the moment, it is mostly distracting.
As for the rest of the cast, Chen is sympathetic as a widow searching for the truth. (I am curious, though: What is it exactly that she does as head of the agency?) Chin Han gets to exude some menace and you can certainly count on Kay Song to feature more prominently as the series progresses.
Episode two – featuring veterans of the local small screen and stage Xiang Yun and Tan Kheng Hua – picks up with a stronger story about the case of a missing husband.
It is great to see home-grown talent flexing their acting chops on this platform and the thought of more of them gracing the show is encouraging.
Meanwhile, the central mystery of Cheng’s dead husband beckons and the hope is that it does not unspool too predictably.
For now, Serangoon Road is a promising ride which hints tantalisingly at the twists and turns ahead.
(ST)

Silly Tango
Hu Xia
Boyish-looking, bespectacled China singer Hu Xia is best known for the touching theme song, Those Bygone Years, from the Taiwanese hit youth drama You Are The Apple Of My Eye (2011). On this disc, he must be hoping that lightning will strike twice with Change It Over, which, at some points, threatens to segue into that earlier hit.
At least the opening track, Static Electricity, and the title number, Silly Tango, head off in less expected directions. Castanets and accordion give Silly Tango an unusual musical flavour as Hu tangos with his emotions.
The album is generally heavy on ballads, which suits his clear and expressive voice.
Among them, Could We Make It leaves a deeper impression with Lin Xi’s wry lyrics: “We might not get caught in the rain in the future/Because we need to take care of our health.”
My Smiles Belong To You is another standout. Singer-songwriter Sandee Chan penned the lyrics and co-wrote the music: “You left a space for me to secretly listen to your heart/You’ve kept watch over a silence, waiting for him to say he loves you.”
Rather than following in past footsteps, original poignant ballads are the way to go if Hu wants to waltz with success.
(ST)

We're A Nice Normal Family
Luc Besson
Director Luc Besson’s stab at black comedy is neither dark enough nor funny enough. Maybe it is a case of a different cultural sensibility of humour that does not quite translate from French to English for the director of The Fifth Element (1997).
Giovanni Maznoni (Robert De Niro) is a mobster who snitched and is now living in France under the witness protection programme with his wife Maggie (Michelle Pfeiffer), daughter Belle (Dianna Agron of TV’s Glee) and son Warren (John D’Leo). Their minder is exasperated FBI agent Stansfield (Tommy Lee Jones).
It turns out that dad is not the only one with violent tendencies: There is some fun in watching how each member of the family unleashes an explosive side when cornered, angered or just mildly provoked.
But instead of stretching this out for more laughs, the movie gets distracted with, among other things, a cute mathematics tutor for Belle, while Giovanni goes in search of the culprit behind the town’s brown tap water.
(ST)

American Dreams In China
Peter Chan
The story: Cheng Dongqing (Huang Xiaoming), Meng Xiaojun (Deng Chao) and Wang Yang (Tong Dawei) meet at university and become firm friends. Years later, Cheng and Wang set up an English language school and Meng joins them after a stint abroad in the United States. But running a business together eventually threatens to tear their friendship apart. It takes a legal suit from an American testing service to reunite the trio.

As far as portraits of the China Dream go, director Peter Chan’s take is far more realistic and engaging than the recent flight of fancy that was Tiny Times.
Interestingly, both were hits in China. Dreams took in 535 million yuan (S$110 million) at the box office while Times chalked up 483 million yuan.
As the title here makes clear, the China Dream is very much about America.
The film opens with the different experiences of the three friends in their attempts to get a visa to the United States, providing quick sketches of the three main characters. Meng Xiaojun is confident and smooth; Wang Yang is impulsive; and Cheng Dongqing is something of a straight arrow.
The suave-looking and hunky Huang Xiaoming (The Last Tycoon, 2012) plays against type as the country bumpkin loser, Cheng. He is hidden under a dorky haircut and ugly spectacles and manages to come across as a bumbling young man with a lack of self-confidence.
For his persuasive transformation, Huang was nominated for a Golden Rooster Award for Best Actor at China’s equivalent of the Oscars. Dreams’ five other nominations include nods for Best Film and Best Director.
Huang is well-matched by Deng Chao (Mural, 2011), whose arrogant and proud Meng ends up eating humble pie in America, and by Tong Dawei (Lost In Beijing, 2007), the ladies’ man who ends up as the mediator of the group.
The chemistry the three leads have with one another make you care for their characters.
In a pivotal scene at Wang’s wedding, the tipsy groom advises everyone to never start a business with one’s best friends. Resentments and slights, real or imagined, accumulated over the years, spill out in an emotional confrontation.
As in Comrades, Almost A Love Story (1996), Chan here grounds the film in reality with a few well-placed period details and choice use of music. They range from the first Kentucky Fried Chicken outlet opening in China to a choice soundtrack mixing Mandopop hits such as Su Rei’s The Same Moonlight with American classics such as Peter, Paul & Mary’s Leaving On A Jet Plane.
He also works in the larger themes of the souring of the American Dream and the current rise of China, though some of that play out with a jingoistic edge that seems calculated for a mainland audience. Hence, its appeal in Singapore may be limited.
Where the movie is more moving is in its story of a friendship tested by the realities of commerce and how youthful idealism is eventually tempered.
As one character remarks poignantly: “We wanted to change the world, but ended up being changed by it.”
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Prisoners
Denis Villeneuve
The story: Six-year-old Anna and seven-year-old Joy are abducted on Thanksgiving. Suspicion falls on Alex Jones (Paul Dano). Detective Loki (Jake Gyllenhaal) races against time as he tries to track down the girls. And Anna’s father Keller Dover (Hugh Jackman) will do anything to get her back.

This could easily have been a run-of-the-mill, crime-of-the-week telemovie-type affair. But in the hands of French-Canadian director Denis Villeneuve, Prisoners is a gripping thriller that does not let up until the final frame.
He is best known for the searing French-Arabic Incendies, in which a pair of siblings travel to the Middle East and end up uncovering shocking family secrets. It was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars in 2011.
Prisoners shows that his knack for compelling storytelling has survived the transition to his English-language debut.
Working with a screenplay by Aaron Guzikowski (Contraband, 2012), the director keeps you hooked in various ways.
A desperate Keller captures Alex in the belief that he knows where the girls are and proceeds to tighten the screws on him. But with an IQ of a 10-year-old, can Alex really be the culprit? Is he capable of being that diabolical? Surely what Keller is doing is wrong but what if it actually leads to information that can save the two girls?
Villeneuve keeps you guessing whom the movie is going to vindicate or vilify.
All this while, the clock is ticking because with each passing hour and each nerve-racking day, the chances of the girls being found alive diminish.
Villeneuve’s assured direction can be seen in his careful pacing over the 21/2 hours as well as his confidence in going for the quiet moments, culminating in an ending which provides a resolution without spelling everything out over a blasting soundtrack.
The cast is top-notch as well.
Hugh Jackman’s intense grief and explosive anger make Keller a man you absolutely do not want to cross, while Jake Gyllenhaal humanises the dogged Loki with his habit of blinking furiously when he gets frustrated.
Clashing over the case, the two have a tense showdown in a car in a scene that threatens to boil over at any second.
The rest of the cast include feted actors Terrence Howard (Hustle & Flow, 2005) and Viola Davis (The Help, 2011) as Joy’s parents and Melissa Leo (Frozen River, 2008) as Alex’s aunt. Mario Bello (A History Of Violence, 2005) is Keller’s devastated wife.
Clearly, all these actors signed up, even for supporting roles, because they knew a good thing when they saw one.
No doubt about it, Prisoners will hold you captive as well.
(ST)

Renovate
Soft Lipa
The album cover promises that this contains Taiwanese rapper Soft Lipa’s naked confessions. It is about the best and worst of him and it holds nothing back. It is a bold claim, but then again, there has never been anything timid about his music. In previous outings, he had bridged hip-hop with jazz (Moonlight, 2010) as well as hip-hop with folk (Have A Holiday, 2012) with various collaborators.
This time, it is Soft Lipa front and centre over a sprawling two-disc set. On the first disc alone, the subjects tackled run the gamut from the fecal to the carnal. The provocatively titled King Of S*** goes: “Longest bout of diarrhoea, best way of wiping the a**/Finally reached this stage, all hail the king”.
And on Ahhh Yeah, he delves into desire and seduction: “With you, I want to/Ahh Yeah Ahh Yeah/ Emanating, and grasping, just the right amount of humour/For just the right reward”.
On the album closer Shi Poem, he raps: “You should be 38, if I could change anything, you would be rich/Are you still on meds? Returned to the middle path or sneered at for being crazy?/What about your parents? Have they signed the divorce papers?/Have you remembered the stories of them and them?”
It feels deeply personal and confessional at the same time. As promised, no holds barred.
(ST)

The Bling Ring
Sofia Coppola
The story: The Bling Ring was the catchy name coined for a group of seven teenagers and young adults who burgled the homes of celebrities such as Paris Hilton. In the film, it starts with new student Marc Hall (Israel Broussard) falling under the spell of Rebecca Ahn (Katie Chang). From unlocked cars to his friend’s unoccupied house, they move on to target celebrities’ pads. Their friends Chloe (Claire Julien), Nicki (Emma Watson) and her adopted sister Sam (Taissa Farmiga) get drawn in as well. Based on the Vanity Fair magazine article The Suspects Wore Louboutins by Nancy Jo Sales.

In one scene, singer M.I.A.’s Bad Girls is blasting over the car stereo and the characters are belting out along: “Live fast, die young/Bad girls do it well”. It might as well as be their personal motto.
Maybe not the “die young” part, but certainly with the living fast. Rebecca and her ilk are creations of the celebrity-obsessed culture. They pore over magazines and gossip websites and draw sustenance on the neverending stream of images of the rich and the fabulous.
Add to that a sense of self-entitlement and the result is a combustible mix. They want to live like the rich and fabulous without actually doing any of the work to get there. Hey, if Paris Hilton can do it, why not them?
And so they treat the homes of the stars as their personal shopping malls, rifling through walk-in closets and raiding jewellery boxes with abandon.
Hilton, who was a real-life victim of the gang, lent her home to writer-director Sofia Coppola (Lost In Translation, 2003) to film in for that extra touch of authenticity.
Coppola also draws compelling performances from newcomers Katie Chang and Israel Broussard. You can understand why Marc falls under her spell and her strength of will. She has him completely under her thumb and she gets him to suss out where the stars live, a handy Google search away.
There is hardly any sense of wrongdoing on their part and Marc’s half-hearted protests are brusquely brushed aside by Rebecca. Besides, their friends are envious of their exploits and eventually tag along.
You also get an intimate sense of their world in the film.
The dialogue is as vacuous as the characters and peppered with “cool” and “sick” and other slick adjectives that reduce everything, and everyone, to snap judgments.
Adult supervision is largely missing or it is ineffectual, as in the case of Nicki’s mother (Leslie Mann) with her New Age-y beliefs.
For all its throbbing energy, the film sags a little in the middle. The break-ins get a little repetitive as the gang go after the lodgings of stars such as Orlando Bloom, Megan Fox and Lindsay Lohan.
Eventually, they get their comeuppance.
Rebecca tries to play innocent, Marc is remorseful and Nicki parlays her notoriety into five minutes of fame. Emma Watson was more effective in the teen drama The Perks Of Being A Wallflower (2012) than here, where her performance almost borders on parody.
The shift in focus from Rebecca and Marc to Nicki feels a little jarring. But it also makes sense since things come full circle with her story arc. Even if her claim to fame is dubious, Nicki is now a bona fide celebrity in her own right.
(ST)

The English Teacher
Craig Fisk
The story: Linda Sinclair (Julianne Moore) is a high school English teacher in a small town. When a former student Jason Sherwood (Michael Angarano) comes back with an unproduced play, she decides to rope in frustrated drama teacher Carl Kapinas (Nathan Lane) to put it on. And this puts her on a collision course with Jason’s father (Greg Kinnear).

At its core, The English Teacher is a character study.
Linda Sinclair is someone who has come to accept her place in life. She might never meet the right man – her dates constantly fail to make the grade - but at least she is shaping lives with her classes.
And when the opportunity comes to help a former student whom she believes is talented, she charges to the fore. She even tangles with the father, who seems more keen to have his son pursue law studies.
She has good intentions but things start to snowball and spin out of control, both with the play and her own personal life.
It is a role that can go quite dark but Craig Fisk, making his film directorial debut here, goes for more of a comic tone.
And accordingly, Julianne Moore, who has played characters in emotional pain in such films as The Hours (2002) and Far From Heaven (2002), turns in a performance here that is sunnier than usual.
But the film might have been more interesting if Zisk had pushed it more. As it is, it feels rather lightweight and the ending too neat and tidy.
Remember that one student in class who always raised his or her hands and wanted to impress the teacher? The English Teacher is, in some respects, that eager beaver who tries a little too hard.
Take the voiceover, which gives the film something of a literary air. Fair enough, given the protagonist is an English teacher and the fact that it revolves around a play. But then the voiceover becomes a strained gimmick at the film’s end as the narrator finds the story getting away from her.
There is also a little inside joke about Carl Kapinas’ failed audition for musical titan Stephen Sondheim.
It might raise a smile if you know that Nathan Lane has, in fact, worked with the man in shows such as A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum. Otherwise, it is merely an anecdote that is not particularly funny.
A teacher might comment of this film: Needs more work.
(ST)

The Key
Eason Chan

½ Century Tour
Jacky Cheung

You never quite know what you are going to get with Hong Kong singer Eason Chan and that is part of the fun.
On his last Cantonese release ...3mm (2012), he went for electro-pop and took swipes at consumerist culture.
The material on his new album is more varied, starting with the musical drama of The Main Theme. It starts out almost like a gothic ballad and then takes unexpected turns along the way, morphing into an electric rock number: “Now, you have your pace, I have mine/We meet again, pity the time isn’t right.”
On the lovely ballad The Wanderer, he sings about going your own way: “The urchin grows up, don’t ask any more, just let me go/Why does one end up following the crowd/Men are like sheep.”
When it comes to music, or outrageous fashion choices, or chastising inconsiderate fans, you can always count on Chan to be himself and not hold anything back.
The album comes with a bonus CD single which holds the duet of two gods of song – Chan and Jacky Cheung.
The single is far sunnier than the songs on the album, as the two sing a motivational ballad about the people of Hong Kong being in the same boat: “There’s still a road for us ahead/There’s still life shimmering, soaring over the city and ports.”
Their voices blend together nicely and soar in the chorus.
The single is also bundled together with Cheung’s live concert album. To mark his 50th birthday, he embarked on an ambitious world tour which comprised 146 concerts in 77 cities from 2010 to last year.
This recording is of the final leg held in Hong Kong last May and it feels like the complete audio track of the gig. Musical interludes and banter are all included; the only thing missing is the visual component.
In this case, the DVD or Blu-ray would serve up the total package.
The meat though is the songs themselves. Fans will have a feast as he covers plenty of ground. From Cantonese classics such as Only Want To Be With You to a rock version of Mandarin monster hit Farewell Kiss to dipping into his jazz album Private Corner (2010), there is something for everyone.
(ST)

Cold Eyes
Cho Ui Seok and Kim Byung Seo
The story: Ha Yoon Ju (Han Hyo Joo) has a phenomenal memory and that comes in useful in her job. The rookie member of a police surveillance unit works under the gruff but brilliant chief detective Hwang (Seol Kyung Gu) and alongside fellow cop Squirrel (Lee Jun Ho). Their target is the elusive and ruthlessly efficient ringleader James (Jung Woo Sung). A remake of the thriller Eye In The Sky (2007), which won Best New Director and Best New Artist at the Hong Kong Film Awards.

Cold Eyes is a remake and not just a warm-over of Eye In The Sky.
Writer-director Cho Ui Seok and co-director Kim Byung Seo leave their stamp on the award- winning Hong Kong film’s basic premise of a surveillance team on the trail of a master criminal.
The shift in location from Hong Kong to the bustling metropolis of Seoul already gives the film a different tone and character.
The directors here have a good grip on pacing and the opening sequence has Ha apparently tailing Hwang while James crosses paths with them. Except at this point, the audience is not quite sure who is whom and the ambiguity adds to the tension. Credit where credit is due and it should be noted that this hews quite closely to the original directed by Yau Nai Hoi.
As if tipping the hat to Eye In The Sky, Simon Yam, one of the Hong Kong film’s stars, pops up in a cameo at the end.
Notably, the Korean cast does not merely recreate the key roles of, for example, the experienced cop played by Yam and the villain played by Tony Leung Ka Fai. Yam had packed on the pounds for his turn while Seol (Public Enemy, 2002) skips the physical transformation and still manages to make the role distinctly his.
Jung Woo Sung brings a certain cool factor to his turn as the meticulous and vicious James and Han gets you to root for her as the tenacious rookie facing her first big case. She has to learn the code of conduct with regard to surveillance and, naturally, she is put in situations which test her ability to strictly follow orders and keep to the mission’s goal.
The interplay between the characters is also deftly sketched out from the teacher-student dynamic between Hwang and Ha to a nail-biting encounter between James and Ha late in the film.
Cold Eyes has been a deserved hit in South Korea with more than 5.5 million admissions. And that means that one can keep an eye out for a follow-up.
(ST)

We're The Millers
Rawson Marshall Thurber
A drug dealer (Jason Sudeikis), a stripper (Jennifer Aniston), a runaway homeless girl (Emma Roberts) and a dorky guy Kenny (Will Poulter) pretend to be a family in order to smuggle some drugs from Mexico into the United States.
The premise is a strained one and so the movie has to spend quite a bit of time justifying why these four come together as the Millers.
The idea is that a family would invite less scrutiny, but not when they are so clearly playing at being a whiter-than-white-bread Brady Bunch.
Director Rawson Marshall Thurber (Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, 2004) wants it both ways.
He throws in aren’t-we-daring naughtiness when the virginal Kenny gets kissing lessons from his “sister” and “mother”.
Aniston also does a bump-and-grind routine in bra and panties, which actually had me feeling a twinge of pity for the star of the sitcom Friends (1994–2004).
At the same time, Thurber lays it on thick with lessons about family that are meant to give you that warm and fuzzy feeling.
Instead, the resulting mix might have you feeling slightly queasy.
(ST)

There has been a resurgence of interest in the home-grown music movement that is xinyao with the recent release of the film, That Girl In Pinafore.
And on Saturday night, a full-house crowd of 5,000 fans settled in for a 41/2-hour Xinyao Reunion Concert at The Star Theatre.
More than 20 acts took to the stage, from well- known names such as Mavis Hee and Roy Loi to long-defunct groups such as Control Tower.
Taiwanese singer Chyi Yu was a special guest and the commanding singer delivered evergreens including Olive Tree and the English track, Whoever Finds This, I Love You.
Xinyao’s leading light Liang Wern Fook was the final act. He gave a winning update of Too Much, Too Much, with lyrics reflecting current concerns over issues such as overcrowding and the haze.
And there was also a poignant reunion with the other two original singers, Liu Ruizheng and Wang Bangji, for the classic track Friendship Forever.
The concert ended past midnight as all the performers came on stage for We Are The Best Friends and Under Starry Skies.
(ST)

Ayal Komod
Chang Chen-yue

Y4You
Yen-j

Names are important because they are a fundamental part of one’s identity. And after nine studio albums under the moniker of Chang Chen-yue, the Taiwanese rocker steps out under his aboriginal name, Ayal Komod.
The name change promises a back-to- basics, return-to-roots approach. For starters, there is more of a laid-back sun- sea-and-surf vibe here than on his previous records.
He sings on Used Guitar: “A wave comes crashing over, one’s skin is especially dark during summer.” And Welcome To Hua Lian works its homespun charm from the opening lines: “Take you to my hometown for a look/The azure Pacific Ocean lies across from my house.”
On tracks such as Fancy Cars And Tanks, Take It Slow and Frustrated Man, we see him taking stock and shaking his head at the emptiness of material pursuit.
The singer-songwriter paints a stark picture on Man: “Still a little lonely, especially on returning home/I’ve eaten a lot, but my heart is empty.”
Even as he eases into life in the slow lane, fellow Taiwanese singer-songwriter Yen-j is revving up his engine.
Just nine months after Simple Love (2012), he drops a new disc and also recently held a solo concert at the hallowed Taipei Arena.
The theme for the gig, At Least I Have Me, is included here and harks back to the idealistic young man of his jazzy debut, Thanks Your Greatness (2010). He sings: “Many years later, I’ll look back, rejoice that I still have my dreams and ideals.”
Musically, at least, he has changed in some respects. He plays around with electro-pop on Pi. And on the retrolicious Year 2000, he name-checks classics of the era such as Jay Chou’s Lovely Woman and Mayday’s Tender.
The album is least interesting when it veers into commercial love ballad territory with Good Lover. And given that he had a hand in the lyrics on eight of the 11 tracks, it seems telling that the lyrics for Lover were written by someone else instead.
Head instead for album closer The Days That I Am Without You. It starts off light and jazzy, with Yen-j taking on a lower and slightly huskier singing tone, and then flirts briefly with electronica elements. All together, a more surprising, and satisfying, love ballad than any number tailored to be radio-friendly can hope to be.
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The Rooftop Original Movie Soundtrack
Various artists

The Jay Chou-directed movie was a disappointment – a frothy candy-coloured confection that ultimately fell flat.
At least on the soundtrack, you can just zoom in on the tracks you like and skip the blah moments.
So make a beeline for the dance-rap of Bo Ye, the name of a Chinese physician character played by Eric Tsang.
Vincent Fang’s lyrics are fun and playful and go well with Chou’s music and the flirty choreography in the film: “I hit hit hit your pressure point (Eat grapes, without spitting the grapes’ skin, grapes can’t be eaten).”
And the title track is an ensemble musical number that sets the scene and has a cheery energy to it.
Different characters are swiftly sketched out with a lyric or two and the sense of camaraderie among the denizens of The Rooftop comes through: “I deliver goods, I carry tiles/I hide from creditors, looking good meanwhile/All day long this is how we while away the time.”
Ignore the insipid ballad that is Shutter Slow Dance though. Newcomer Li Xin’ai is a bland presence on screen and things do not improve much on disc. It is not the kind of song you want to belt from the rooftop.
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The Internship
Shawn Levy
The story: Struggling salesmen Billy McMahon (Vince Vaughn) and Nick Campbell (Owen Wilson) decide to apply for internships at tech giant Google. There, they find themselves up against eager, tech-savvy college-age kids. In order to come out tops in the competitive programme, and thus land actual jobs, the two men have to win the respect of their much younger teammates.

The last time Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson teamed up, everyone was happy. Wedding Crashers (2005) coasted by on the chemistry between its two leads, reviews were positive and the comedy was a hit at the box office.
The dynamics of the relationship between the buddies strike a familiar note here. Wilson is laidback and easygoing, Vaughn more animated and effortlessly chatty – the kind of people you want to hang around and maybe crash a party or two with.
Too bad they did not pick a better vehicle for their comeback ride. Vaughn is partly culpable since he co-wrote the script.
The entire set-up just feels dishonest. Despite not knowing their html from their http, Billy and Nick manage to rally their team together. They accomplish this with inspirational speechifying from Billy referencing the feel-good movie Flashdance (1983). Score one for the tech dinosaurs.
The comedy 21 And Over (2013) was all about drunken shenanigans, but at least it had no pretensions about being more than that.
In The Internship, anyone who is not Billy or Nick is pretty much a one-note character. From the weird home-schooled guy (Tobit Raphael) to the geek who is too cool to connect with the rest of the world (Dylan O’Brien), they are a collection of walking cliches.
The group also bond over an inhibition-loosening visit to the local strip joint. This turn is particularly dispiriting considering that one of the team members is a woman (Tiya Sircar). But, hey, as long as her male teammates are having fun boozing it up and getting lap dances, it is all good.
Director Shawn Levy (Real Steel, 2011) does not do much with the predictable material and lets it play out to its unsurprising ending.
Nick even gets to have a love interest (Rose Byrne), a Google employee who eventually succumbs to his charm.
The biggest winner in the film has to be Google, as the movie duly notes that it was ranked the best place to work. And the scenes of the everything- here-is-free cafeteria and the cosy sleep-pods corner almost give it the feel of a corporate video.
With Apple getting its turn on the big screen in the recent biopic Jobs (2013), can it be long before Microsoft: The Movie comes along?
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Unexpected
Penny Tai

For The Loved
Rene Liu

Despite the title, Malaysian singer-songwriter Penny Tai’s latest album is not as unexpected as, say, her last disc On The Way Home (2011). For something even more radically different, check out the eponymous rock record she put out under the monicker of the band Buddha Jump.
Still, Unexpected is a solid effort that adds to Tai’s body of winning, melodic work with some surprises.
The Right Side Of The Face and Uncuttable are sparer than your average pop ballad and better off for it. On the latter, she sings: “The panic that can’t be cut away/Is the gazing afar in the dream/The him that can’t be cut away/Is in the unknown distance.”
Sing It Out and Strawberry Love offer more upbeat takes on love. Over jangly guitars and a jaunty violin riff, she paints a tasty, if surrealistic, picture of love: “Give me bread spread with love, the taste of strawberry jam, bits of fruit hopping about in bliss.”
Taiwanese singer Rene Liu’s For The Loved does not venture too far off the beaten track either. The title of an earlier album, Love And The City (2002), is a pithy summary of the territory she explores.
Her soothing, relatable voice dwells on the poignancy of love lost on the title track here: “Then, only knew who loved whom most/Forgot who knew how to love me most.”
Cue up I Fell Asleep Thinking Of You for something a little different. The track offers electric guitars in the mix, while Liu muses: “While thinking of you, I fell asleep/While thinking of you, I missed you.” It is as rock as Liu gets, and it will not send you off to dreamland anytime soon.
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Tiny Times
Guo Jingming
The story: Klutzy Lin Xiao (Yang Mi), rich girl Gu Li (Amber Kuo), beautiful Nan Xiang (Haden Kuo) and sporty Tang Wanru (Xie Yilin) have been best friends since high school. The four girls continue to be there for one another as they face challenges in love and life in college. Directed by Guo Jingming based on his best-selling work of the same name.

Tiny Times is really a fantasy.
It is about the lifestyles of the young and rich and fabulous in modern-day Shanghai and audiences in China cannot get enough of it. The movie has been breaking box-office records, grossing over 453 million yuan (S$92 million) so far. A sequel has just been released there last Thursday.
One can perhaps understand the burning curiosity to see how the moneyed and privileged class live. But the movie is so glib and shallow that it rings hollow.
It has also been criticised by some netizens for its unabashed materialism as the women, and men, swan about in branded labels and in luxurious living spaces. In one cliched scene, Lin Xiao and gang cheer themselves up by playing dress-up, thanks to Gu Li’s fabulous walk-in wardrobe.
Tiny Times also feels like a patchwork of ideas which cribs from various sources – from The Devil Wears Prada (2006) to Sex And The City (1998-2004).
Lin Xiao works as an assistant to the chief editor at a high-flying magazine even though she just started college and seems to have no relevant experience to speak of. Naturally, she gets to organise a major fashion event along with Gu Li, who is the queen bee among the girls.
Nan Xiang is a supposedly talented designer bogged down with a deadweight boyfriend, while Wanru is there mostly for grating over-the-top comic relief.
If you think the women are one-note characters, wait till you see the men.
As love interests for Lin Xiao and Gu Li respectively, earnest Jian Xi (Li Yueming) and smirky rich kid Gu Yuan (Kai Ko) barely register. Meanwhile, Rhydian Vaughan is mostly required to be inscrutable and good-looking as Lin Xiao’s eccentric boss.
The red-hot Chongguang (Cheney Chen) seems at first to be the most unbelievable among the characters. A young writer who looks like a K-pop boyband member, wields a ridiculous amount of clout and lives in a lavish bachelor pad? Surely we are deep in fantasy land now.
Actually, he might be modelled after director Guo himself, who, come to think of it, could sneak into a boyband line-up without too much trouble.
But even with a kernel or two of truth, Tiny Times remains too big of a tale to swallow.
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Behind The Candelabra
Steven Soderbergh
The story: This biopic about the flamboyant American pianist Liberace (Michael Douglas) focuses on the last 10 years of his life and his secret relationship with his lover Scott Thorson (Matt Damon). The film is based on Thorson’s memoir, Behind The Candelabra: My Life With Liberace (1988). Liberace died of an Aids-related illness in 1987.

Liberace was a showman who knew how to play the crowd as well as he could tinkle the ivories. Excess was his trademark, from the candelabra on his piano to the gaudy costumes he was decked out in.
In this biopic, director Steven Soderbergh strips away the smiley public facade to show us the insecure and controlling man beneath.
While Liberace had to hide his sexuality to the extent of suing those who insinuated he was gay, he was not simply a victim either. He was a rich celebrity who was aware of the clout he wielded and the film explores the uneven power dynamic between Liberace and the much younger Thorson. Creepily, he wanted to remake Thorson over in his own likeness.
Both actors are good, particularly Michael Douglas. The role is something of a departure for him as he has tended to play more strong masculine types in movies such as Wall Street (1987) and Basic Instinct (1992).
Here, he is believable as a showy queen with a fondness for pretty young boys. Remarkably, throat cancer has not halted his acting career.
Matt Damon also gets to show his range – his role of a secret live-in lover here is a stark contrast to the buff hero he plays in the sci-fi flick Elysium, which coincidentally opens on the same day in Singapore.
His Thorson is not a complete innocent but someone who goes into the relationship with his eyes open. Fascinatingly and impressively, the actor appears to change not just his body shape but also his facial shape over the course of the movie.
The relationship between Liberace and Thorson eventually sours and legal wrangling follows as the younger man sues for a share of the pianist’s estate. The process offers up a different perspective as it casts a coolly clinical eye on their all-but-in-name marriage.
Throughout the film, Soderbergh injects sly humour – look out for Rob Lowe, who is a hoot as a plastic surgeon whose skin is stretched so taut, his eyes are hooded slits.
But the film could have benefited from the punchier pacing of Soderbergh’s last film, the continually surprising Side Effects (2013).
It remains to be seen whether the film-maker is merely taking a break from film-making or retiring completely, as he had announced. His recent works suggest he is not quite done telling stories in this medium.
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Heart Disk
Huang Yida

Kyrie Eleison
Chen Zhiming

That Girl In Pinafore Original Soundtrack
Various artists

Mark this National Day with some home-grown music.
Celebrate with singer- songwriter Huang Yida as he makes a welcome return to the music scene. His future had been uncertain after a best-of collection, Yida’s Journey, was released in 2009 and his record contract with Sony Music ended.
Following an EP, Glimmer, in 2011, he finally delivers a new album. And it is not what one would expect at all. Who knew that he is really a rocker at heart?
From the punk stylings of the cover image to the music, not to mention the title of one track, Set Me Free III, it seems that he gets to call the shots on his latest effort.
Opening number Sparkle is an energetic electro-rocker that sets the stage, while My Heart Disk is a ballad with some revealing lyrics: “How many people can get up again after falling/And discover their true selves.”
Huang boldly takes the unusual move of incorporating instrumental tracks into the album. It all comes together, giving the work the cohesive feel of a tone poem.
Heart Disk throbs with the sound of someone coming into his own as a singer- songwriter.
Also searching for his voice is Chen Zhiming, bass player for local indie bands such as In Each Hand A Cutlass. His lightly husky vocals are promising, and kudos to him for taking on composing and lyric- writing duties as well.
The Hokkien rock number Shiok is bracing, while tracks such as Baby have a more laidback groove.
Some of the sentiment, though, veers towards the prosaic. He sings on Yesterday: “Although I’ll sometimes dream of you/That gentle smile on your face is so sweet/But I know we can’t be together.”
The sentiment on the xinyao tracks of yesteryear ring true.
As Chai Yee Wei, director of That Girl In Pinafore, has said, the songs have been given a fresh coat of paint for the movie.
Yi Bu Yi Bu Lai (One Step At A Time), for example, has been given the rock treatment with buzzing electric guitars added to the mix.
It was originally by Liang Wern Fook and is now remade as an ensemble number with cast members including Project Superstar winner Daren Tan and MediaCorp actress Julie Tan.
Having grown up with them, the folksier, homespun charms of the original versions of songs such as Xi Shui Chang Liu (Friends Forever), originally by Liang and remade here in a cast version as well as a solo take, will always have a special place in my heart.
Still, the makeovers do have their moments, particularly on the joyful female-fronted (Julie Tan, Jayley Woo and Hayley Woo) Li Ming De Xin (Dawn’s Heart) and ensemble number Xing Kong Xia (Starry Sky).
More importantly, the exposure from the movie and soundtrack means that music from the seminal local movement that was xinyao is reaching a new audience. The soundtrack is currently sitting pretty at No. 1 on the album chart on iTunes.
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Electric Pet Shop Boys Live
Resorts World Convention Centre, Compass Ballroom
Last Saturday

Synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys are survivors.
Singer Neil Tennant and keyboardist Chris Lowe made their debut back in 1986 with the album Please and quickly hit the big-time with indelible tracks such as West End Girls, Suburbia and Opportunities (Let’s Make Lots Of Money). Justin Timberlake would have been five then and Justin Bieber was not even a blip on the horizon.
The Boys’ popularity might have dipped from those early giddy heights, but make no mistake, they are no mere nostalgia act peddling past glories.
Last month, they released their 12th studio record, Electric, and they are in the midst of a world tour promoting it as well as their previous album Elysium (2012).
Over the course of their 100- minute-long gig, they flitted between familiar favourites and newer numbers and managed to consistently engage the sold-out crowd of 5,000 fans. And they did it with a relatively straightforward set-up which included two tireless dancers and a huge screen on stage. Meanwhile, Tennant dressed to impress, first appearing in a black spiky outfit that made him look like a punkish porcupine.
The evening began with the more recent songs such as Axis, A Face Like That and Memory Of The Future. Even so, there was a sheen of familiarity to them, thanks to the synth basslines and Tennant’s distinctive high and delicate vocals and crisp enunciation.
The light show kicked in when he later announced: “This show is called Electric.”
Beams of green, blue and white laser swept across the darkened hall and other effects came into play, from a shimmering fan-like projection to strobe-lighting.
Some of the inspiration for the concert came from the songs themselves. There is a line from I Wouldn’t Normally Do This Kind Of Thing which goes: “I feel like taking all my clothes off/Dancing To The Rite Of Spring”.
The Boys sample Stravinsky’s ballet of the same name and echo the idea of primitive rituals with the use of animal heads. Tennant wore a giant silver bull head over a dapper suit that made it seem as though the mythical Minotaur was serenading us.
Loud cheers would erupt whenever a classic hook came on, from Suburbia to Rent.
The set ended on a high when the duo reeled off the campily defiant It’s A Sin, irresistible Domino Dancing, joyously anthemic Go West and fabulous Always On My Mind in succession. The fans were up on their feet and dancing and singing along with abandon.
For the encore, Pet Shop Boys bridged past and present.
They played their first ever single, West End Girls, as well as their second single off Electric, Vocal.
It seemed a bit of a gamble to end the night with a new offering but the lyrics were fitting: “This is my kind of music/They play it all night long.”
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Make Sense
Alien Huang

Exit
FUN4

The record might be called Make Sense but there is a definite touch of playful nonsense here.
Taiwanese singer- actor-host Alien Huang’s third solo album kicks off with the title track. The upbeat number invites you to dance while pondering over lyricist Lin Xi’s free-association wordplay: “Really down, it’s like the flu/Hot tears turn into cold sweat, turn around and it’s turned into joy.”
Huang also flexes his lyric-writing skills on electro-rock tune Sugar Tiger. He teases: “Tear the wrapper and stick to your teeth/Give me a bite/Just a taste and you’ll understand/I’m a sweet, are you gonna bite.”
It is not all fun and games and Forgotten Happiness takes a more serious turn: “We’ve all forgotten how to be happy/Do the utmost to drag out one’s life.”
Skip the Cantonese version of Make Sense though. It is presciently titled Annoying and Huang’s iffy accent makes it so.
As a whole, Make Sense harks back to the hip and youthful vibe of his debut album, Love Hero (2009). Coincidentally, his key collaborators on that disc, FUN4, have also released their first full-length record.
Indeed, songs such as Love Experiment Class sound like they could have easily fitted into Love Hero. Further blurring the lines is the fact that lead singer Jess Yang sounds like Huang at times.
Fortunately, Exit is not just Love Hero redux.
It still sounds like youth spirit but perhaps the mood here is slightly sunnier. The title number exhorts you to realise your dreams while Reverse Earth’s Spin wants to “use caring hearts to light up the other half’s darkness”.
The four lads even pose in the nude for the album cover to show that they are serious about being nakedly honest in their music.
It is certainly an entrance that leaves an impression.
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The Reluctant Fundamentalist
Mira Nair
The story: Changez Khan (Riz Ahmed) is part of the privileged class
in his native Pakistan. He graduates from Princeton, takes up a job as a hotshot financial analyst in New York and falls in love with Erica, a photographer (Kate Hudson). Then terrorists attack the World Trade Centre twin towers in New York on Sept 11, 2001, and his world begins to crumble. Based on Pakistani author Mohsin Hamid’s 2007 best-seller of the same name.

When the world sees a terrorist, does it end up creating one? This is the central teaser the film presents us with and director Mira Nair (Monsoon Wedding, 2001) draws out the tension as the answer is revealed, little by little.
A decade after 9/11, Changez is back at home and giving fiery lectures at a university.
When an American professor is kidnapped in Lahore, journalist Bobby Lincoln (Liev Schreiber) tracks him down and presses him for information.
Over the course of their conversation, Changez recounts the story of his life in the aftermath of the New York attacks.
The American dream he had been living began to sour and even though he is part of the moneyed class, he feels increasingly vulnerable.
He is targeted for intrusive searches and interrogations at an airport after a business trip and even when he is just walking on the street.
British actor-rapper Riz Ahmed (The Road To Guantanamo, 2006) does a credible job getting under Changez’s skin.
The character seems a bit inscrutable at first, but his growing frustration is palpable when he finds that he cannot even grow a beard without getting funny looks.
This is what a heightened security environment means for someone who fits a certain profile, regardless of whether he is a terrorist.
The film does not delve into the rights and wrongs of such a situation, but it shows the disillusionment and resentment it creates.
Changez is not merely a one-issue character, though. He is also grappling with the morality of what he does for a living – the recommended solution he offers corporate clients is often downsizing – and his torn loyalties between two countries.
Intriguingly, the film also draws a parallel between fundamentalist and reductionist religion and fundamentalist and reductionist capitalism, and Changez makes a definitive choice regarding the two.
Ultimately, the film does give a resolution to the question it poses but, to its credit, it does not presume to give easy answers.
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That Girl In Pinafore
Chai Yee Wei
The story: The year is 1993 and music-loving Jiaming (Daren Tan) forms a band with his buddies. When he meets student-singer May (Julie Tan), love blossoms between them but they have to overcome various obstacles, including her disapproving mother. Xinyao (Singaporean folk music) is the soundtrack to their coming-of-age story.

The xinyao movement flowered here in the 1980s and early 1990s and it was a heady time for those who grew up in that era. These Mandarin songs were penned by Singaporeans and reflected the concerns, feelings and dreams of Singaporeans.
At its best, writer-director Chai Yee Wei’s film captures the joy and excitement of the music and the feeling that this was something we could call our own. It is clearly a departure from his previous works, which included the supernatural thriller Blood Ties (2009) and the horror-comedy compendium Twisted (2011).
It is all the more apparent that he has great affection for xinyao and that particular era. Loving attention is paid to period details, from posters of the voluptuous Hong Kong bombshell Amy Yip plastered on a schoolboy’s bedroom wall to a Jack Neo comedy skit airing on television.
Care has also gone into the staging of the musical numbers, including an amped-up rock version of the youthful anthem Heart Of Dawn performed at a music competition. He also works the songs into the plot where possible, to give the film the feel of a cohesive musical rather than a movie with a music track as an afterthought.
Xinyao fans will have fun spotting singers and songwriters from the folk music movement such as Roy Loi, Wu Jiaming, Pan Ying and Deng Shuxian as parents of the young protagonists.
While the film works as an homage to a bygone era, it falters story-wise. Its mix of pubescent sexual behaviour (Jiaming’s buddies get into trouble for renting porn magazines to their schoolmates) and innocent teenage romance is jarring.
Chai is unable to emulate how Taiwanese writer-director Giddens Ko deftly pulled off raging hormonal behaviour alongside chaste romance in You Are The Apple Of My Eye (2011).
More problematic is the melodramatic turn the film takes in the second half. One cliche after another rears its ugly head, from a hard and humourless parent to a terminal illness.
Rising star Julie Tan has natural charisma and Project SuperStar 2 (2007) champ Daren Tan tries his earnest best. But they are not helped by the material and the film runs out of steam towards the end.
Chai said he was inspired by the Taiwanese film The Golden Age (1977) and by paying homage to it, he has ended up with a period film that feels dated. It seems like a missed opportunity to really tell our own stories, when, after all, these are our own songs.
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21st December, Sunny
Bell Yu Tian
Sweetie pie Bell Yu Tian gazes pensively into the distance on the album cover. And a quick glance at the song offerings takes in titles such as Softly & Tenderly and I Honestly Love You.
While it might seem like a triumph of packaging, there is happily more than meets the eye on the Malaysian newcomer’s disc.
Opening track Sweetness In The Rain is a radio-friendly ballad that does well to introduce her clean and light vocals.
Faded Away is another slow track that showcases her pipes to even greater effect. Over a cello-and-piano arrangement, she sings tenderly: “If loving me is a form of torture/Why do you insist on enduring this bewilderment?”
She also ventures into rock territory with the title track and Tale Of The Red Bean. The latter even plays around with vocal effects for a slightly edgy effect.
Given that she can write and sing and is open to trying different things, the prognosis for her future is, in a word, sunny.
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Despicable Me 2
The story: By the end of Despicable Me (2010), Gru (Steve Carell) had gone from super villain to doting adoptive father of three little girls. In this sequel, Gru has to work with the Anti-Villain League’s Lucy Wilde (Kristen Wiig). They have to track down the baddie who has stolen a chemical that can transform the most innocuous life form into a vicious killing machine.

Welcome back, minions.
The title may refer to Gru, but the merry creatures of mayhem were the true breakout stars of the first film. The pint-sized yellow minions speak in a cross between a charming foreign tongue and toddler gobbledygook, and get up to no end of mischief and hi-jinks.
The trailer for this sequel had cleverly leveraged on their popularity and, in the flick itself, their role has been upsized.
Moviegoers get to see more of the minions in little throwaway gags: from balancing golf putts on one another to one dressing up as a French maid. They even feature prominently in the main plotline.
So where does that leave Gru? In a pretty good place, actually.
His turnaround from evil to good remains firmly in place. And his biggest headache is no longer cooking up some new crooked scheme, but cooking up jam with his old partner Dr Nefario (Russell Brand).
This time, Gru gets to go after the bad guy. The suspects are all helpfully located at a mall and include showy Mexican restaurant owner Eduardo Perez (Benjamin Bratt) and shifty wig store owner Eagle-san (The Hangover’s Ken Jeong).
There are even two burgeoning romances worked into the movie – one between Gru and his admiring partner Lucy; and the other between Margo, the oldest of his adopted daughters, and Antonio, the son of the Mexican restaurant owner.
The screenplay, again by Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio, feels sharper and funnier this time around. Directors Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud have also done a better job overall with juggling the different story elements.
Over the closing credits, moviegoers get another serving of minion cuteness as three of them audition for the upcoming spin-off movie, Minions.
While the creatures are a blast in small doses, one is not sure if an entire movie built around them will actually work.
Well, maybe, if you think about it as akin to watching a foreign language farce.
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White House Down
Roland Emmerich
The story: Rejected by the Secret Service in his application for his dream job of protecting the President, Capitol cop John Cale (Channing Tatum) is on a tour of the White House with his daughter Emily (Joey King) when a paramilitary group led by Emil Stenz (Jason Clarke) storms the seat of power. It is up to Cale to save President James Sawyer (Jamie Foxx).

The White House really needs to beef up its security.
Ever since aliens took a potshot at it in Independence Day (1996), it has been vulnerable to attack in way too many movies – the most recent attempt being in Olympus Has Fallen (2013) in April.
As the latest entry in the presidential-digs- under-threat subgenre, White House Down is perfectly serviceable summer fare with little interest in reinventing the wheel.
The set-up takes a good half-hour though and you have to sit through cheesy, jingoistic lines such as “Don’t we have the best job in the world?” from the mouth of a presidential aide.
The president himself is a saintly fellow who is dignified and idealistic, and director-producer Roland Emmerich’s shorthand for that is: Put a pair of glasses on Jamie Foxx (below) (Ray, 2004).
Once all that is out of the way, the well-paced action sequences finally kick in.
Emmerich has previously wreaked destruction on a global scale in disaster epics such as The Day After Tomorrow (2004), 2012 (2009) and, yes, Independence Day. He has no problems doing the same within the narrower confines of a few buildings here.
He merrily blows up and tears down iconic symbols of power and a spectacular explosion at the United States Capitol Building signals that the mayhem is underway at last.
As hero John Cale, Channing Tatum displays two key characteristics – an agile physicality and an imperviousness to bullets, which he shares with all action stars.
Like Nicolas Cage’s career path after Leaving Las Vegas (1995), once he proved that he could act in Magic Mike (2012), it turns out that what Tatum really wants to be is a shoot-’em-up hero with back-to-back turns in G.I. Joe: Retaliation (2013) and here.
For a while, it seems as though Foxx, who is no slob physique-wise, is going to bust out of being presidential and pair up with Tatum in an action buddy flick. Emmerich sure teases us with that possibility when Foxx gets rid of his leather shoes for sneakers and even handles a weapon, but it does not quite happen.
It could have been fun to have the President going all-out and mowing down villains but then again, avoiding the buddy route cliche was probably the smarter move.
What he does instead is frustrate viewers with an ineffective secret service agent played by Maggie Gyllenhaal and a helpless and scared little girl, Emily, played by Joey King.
It would have been nice to have them taking a more active and heroic stance rather than floundering over the phone or frozen into inaction by fear. But I guess we will have to wait for Kick-Ass 2 for our fix for kick-ass female action.
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HK Forbidden Super Hero
Yuchi Fukuda
The story: This is not a sex comedy-satire from Hong Kong like the excellent Vulgaria (2012). HK stands for Hentai Kamen, literally, Pervert Mask. High-school student Kyosuke (Ryohei Suzuki) discovers that he has superhuman powers – when he wears a pair of panties over his head. To protect Aiko (Fumika Shimizu) whom he has a crush on, he has to defeat a creepy teacher (Ken Yasuda). Based on the manga Kyukyoku!! Hentai Kamen (Ultimate!! Pervert Mask, 1992-1993).

Spandex thong, fishnet stockings and a pair of panties over the head – this male superhero outfit is not for the faint of heart.
Kyosuke also discovers along the way that in order for his powers to be unleashed, the panties cannot be brand-new – they have to have been worn.
It is hard to imagine any American summer blockbuster superhero in such an unorthodox get-up. But in Japan, where soiled panties can be bought from vending machines, the idea is much less of a stretch.
It helps that director Yuichi Fukuda fully embraces the B-grade bizarreness of the material.
More than that, he rubs it in your face with close-ups of Hentai Kamen’s crotch. It so happens that one of his power moves involves shoving a baddie’s face right into his nether regions.
Hats off to Ryohei Suzuki (The Full Throttle Girl, 2011) for fearlessly taking on this role. When he transforms into Hentai Kamen, you have to wonder how and exactly where safety tape was used.
On top of which, he manages to earnestly deliver some tricky dialogue. “Those are my golden balls” is one example, and yes, he is referring to anatomical ones.
Hentai Kamen’s nemeses range from Very Serious Guys to Skinny Macho Mask but he is truly tested when he comes face to face with an imposter version who thrives on being humiliated.
For all the sauciness of the material and the amount of crotch-grinding going on, however, there is a certain innocence and sweetness to the film.
Even as Kyosuke’s hormones, and imagination, run amok, his burgeoning romance with Aiko is cutely chaste and awkward.
It turns out Hentai Kamen is as much about the power of love as it is about the power of perversion.
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