The Wind Rises
Hayao Miyazaki
The story: Inspired by the Italian plane designer Giovanni Battista Caproni (Nomura Mansai), Jiro Horikoshi (Hideaki Anno) dreams of flight as a young boy. After studying engineering at university, he works for an airplane manufacturer and eventually succeeds in coming up with a fast aircraft, the Mitsubishi A5M. Both the A5M and its successor, the Mitsubishi A6M Zero, were used by Japan during World War II. Along the way, Jiro falls in love with Naoko (Miori Takimoto), a girl he meets on a train journey disrupted by the Great Kanto earthquake of 1923. Based on writer-director Hayao Miyazaki’s manga adaptation of a 1937 short story of the same name by Tatsuo Hori.

Japan’s master of animation Hayao Miyazaki is the man behind some of my favourite flights of fancy.
From My Neighbour Totoro (1988) to Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989) to Spirited Away (2001), he has created gorgeously rendered worlds in which tales of bravery and magic unfold.
The Wind Rises, however, does not soar to the same heights.
Perhaps to some extent, he was kept earthbound by the fact that this was a story based on the real-life character of Horikoshi, chief engineer of various World War II Japanese fighter designs.
In the first place, it was a controversial choice of subject matter given Japanese military aggression and the association of the Zero plane with kamikaze suicide missions during the war.
Miyazaki is careful not to glorify war and destruction.
Early on, Horikoshi’s mother says to him: “Fighting is never justified.” And his role model Caproni says more explicitly that “the dream of flight is cursed” – a thing of beauty can be an instrument of nightmare as well.
At the same time, there is the idea that all we can do is try to survive in tumultuous times.
“The wind is rising, we must try to live”, from French poet Paul Valery’s The Graveyard By The Sea, is a couplet that is repeated several times in the movie.
It is not fully persuasive though and the prickly question of Horikoshi’s culpability in the building of war machines is too readily resolved with a throwaway line: “We’re not arms merchants, we just want to build good aircraft.”
As a movie, The Wind Rises is, as always for a Studio Ghibli feature, beautifully illustrated. Miyazaki pays attention to the little details and that helps to bring the animated world vividly alive.
For example, in a scene of Horikoshi and Naoko rushing back to her home after the earthquake strikes, as they move against the flow of people fleeing, they catch the attention of a boy who glances at them curiously.
It could do with better pacing, though.
The film delved at length into the technicalities of plane design and the human element felt a bit short-changed.
Horikoshi and Naoko’s relationship is not that compelling as well, though there is a lovely wedding sequence between the two.
Hopefully, this will not be Miyazaki’s last film as announced. By one count, this is apparently his sixth retirement. There could well be wind still left in his sails.
(ST)

Mosaic Music Festival
Neko Case
Esplanade Concert Hall/Sunday

The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight, The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You (2013) was forged in a time of loss and despair. You would not know it though from Neko Case’s polite interactions with the audience.
The American singer- songwriter’s new album was written in the shadow of the deaths of her grandmother and her estranged parents and contains some of her most personal work to date.
But she did not refer to the difficult circumstances or rocky relationships directly, preferring to speak through her music instead.
One of the key moments in the concert was when she performed the hauntingly spare Nearly Midnight, Honolulu.
It was just her voice and some vocal accompaniment as she recounted an overheard outburst from mother to child: “Get the f*** away from me!/Why don’t you ever shut up?”
The connection seemed personal though when she sang: “They won’t believe you/When you say ‘My mother, she did not love me’.”
The lyrics are often enigmatic though and on the wonderfully atmospheric Night Still Comes, she croons repeatedly: “You never held it at the right angle.”
It is either an oblique admonishment or her advice to those who fail to take satisfactory selfies.
Regardless, there is a hint of huskiness at the edge of her voice that keeps the songs compelling. It was a versatile instrument that went from tenderly poignant on Calling Cards to ringing with accusation on Local Girl and the appreciative crowd took it all in.
The Grammy-nominated Case has often been tagged as alternative country and you can see why. Her music has some of that twangy melancholia of the country genre but it is more expansive and ambitious. Added to the mix of guitars and drums are the occasional banjo and tambourine and, memorably on Calling Cards, a trombone.
Meanwhile, backing vocalist Kelly Hogan provided some beautiful harmonies. She was also the one who engaged the audience the most, from encouraging people to just let go and yell “woo”, to sharing that Singapore’s heat was not friendly towards menopause.
Case and company also generated some heat of their own with Man. It came on with a swagger of guitars and attitude as she played about with gender identity, proclaiming “I’m a man” and provocatively declaring “you didn’t know what a man was/Until I showed you”.
The singer was one of the acts closing the Mosaic Music Festival on Sunday, bringing the 10-year well-loved event to an end, for now.
Until the next phase of Mosaic comes along, thank you for the music and for showing Singapore what a home-grown music festival can achieve.
(ST)

Alone The Way
Jia Jia
Her solo debut was Unforgettable (2013), and Taiwanese singer Jia Jia’s follow-up to that is very much so as well.
Her voice is a healing balm with which she tenderly comforts on lead single Sing For Lonely Souls: “I’m not the one you love/But I’m still willing to sing for your loneliness”.
You feel the ache on the ballad Unqualified, as strings swell and she acknowledges a painful truth: “I’m not qualified to let you ache for me/Keeping you by my side, yet not able to give you any happiness”.
The bluesy Unfree is a heartfelt and soulful cry for freedom, penned by Hao En.
The two had previously collaborated on the Golden Melody Award-winning Blue In Love (2006).
Jia Jia also has no problems tackling faster tempos.
Unanswerable swings lightly to a jazz groove, while Chocolate oozes sassiness and sultriness as she sings: “I want you, want you to fall into the trap/Quietly sidle close, grooving to the same frequency”.
She wants to sing for you along the whole way and not just when you are lonely.
(ST)

Labor Day
Jason Reitman
The story: An injured Frank Chambers (Josh Brolin) approaches 13-year-old Henry (Gattlin Griffith) for help at the mall. His divorced mother Adele (Kate Winslet) reluctantly agrees to take him back to their home and it is eventually revealed that Frank is an escaped prisoner on the run. He remains at their house over the course of the Labor Day holiday weekend in 1987 as the local police seek to track him down. Based on the 2009 novel of the same name by Joyce Maynard.

Call me cynical, but when you have an escaped prisoner in your home, that is not the time to be letting down your guard.
Not even when the runaway in question happens to be Frank Chambers, a man who is clearly gunning for Escaped Prisoner Of The Year, possibly of all time. He makes himself useful as the man about the house – cleaning out rain gutters, fixing the wheezy car and even bonds with Henry over baseball.
Instead of a sensuously tactile pottery-making scene (see Ghost, 1990), there is a tactile scene brimming with family wholesomeness as the three of them make pie together – even as there is a hint of a nascent attraction between Adele and Frank.
The movie is really a portrayal of Stockholm syndrome taken to a ludicrous extent. Not only do the hostages come to care for their captor, Adele actually falls for him. From trying to get him out of the house as soon as possible, she begins to suggest that he should stay on until his injury heals.
That the laughable premise is not completely unbelievable is due to the decent cast.
Brolin (True Grit, 2010) has to go from exuding a sense of menace to, essentially, playing a romantic lead.
The transition is still jarring, but it could have been worse. And it is no surprise that when his past is told through flashbacks, we learn that his biggest crime was being gullible – which would be our crime, too, if we bought into the idea touted here that all Adele needs is a real man, defined in the most cliched manner here.
Winslet’s portrayal of her role with an admirable touching vulnerability is wasted.
Coming from director Jason Reitman, who has helmed smarter and funnier works such as Thank You For Smoking (2005), Juno (2007) and Up In The Air (2009), Labor Day feels disappointingly like drudge work.
(ST)

Kepler
Stefanie Sun
Stefanie Sun is, first and foremost, a pop star.
She is not a singer-songwriter who channels her life experiences into music and words such as, say, Tanya Chua. So it is probably unrealistic to expect this new album – her first in three years, and since she got married and gave birth to her first child – to reflect entirely on her new identities as a wife and a mother.
Still, given how she has dabbled in composing and writing lyrics before, it is a bit disappointing that she does not contribute any original material here.
There are hints, though, of maternal warmth – notably on lead single Kepler. “Can’t wait for you to be my brightest star/I’m still willing to lend you my light/Projecting onto you, until your brilliant light/Gently hangs upon the distant sky,” she sings on the track she has already publicly dedicated to her 16-month-old son. Is it my imagination or is there a motherly tenderness to the way she caresses the lyrics?
What one can expect, and which Sun delivers, is a reliably listenable record delivered in that singular voice of hers.
On rousing number Infinite Possibilities, she encourages the listener: “A certain dinner with only the sounds of knife and fork/Turn a certain corner and there are infinite possibilities”.
The beautiful ballads here, such as Angel’s Fingerprints and Thirst, will no doubt scale the charts.
Some of the loveliest moments on the album are quietly tucked away near the end: she shines on the gently moving Mirage and the lightly jazzy Happier, composed by Chua.
Not quite as bold as the statementmaking Stefanie (2004) or as compelling as It’s Time (2011), Kepler remains a worthy addition to Sun’s body of work.
(ST)

The Necessary Death Of Charlie Countryman
Fredrik Bond
The story: After the death of his mother, Charlie Countryman (Shia LaBeouf) goes to Bucharest. There, he falls hard for Gabi (Evan Rachel Wood), a cellist married to the menacing and volatile Nigel (Mads Mikkelsen). Charlie is determined to woo the beautiful musician, even at the cost of his own life. Along the way, he crosses paths with yet another shady operator, Darko (Til Schweiger), and gets high with his dopey roommates (Rupert Grint plays one of them, Carl).

When a film such as The Necessary Death Of Charlie Countryman comes along, it affirms the existence of movie chemistry. Because there is none here between Charlie Countryman (LaBeouf) and Gabi (Wood).
And that is a problem when the movie is supposed to be driven by Charlie’s intense passion for Gabi.
They meet under intense circumstances as her father (Ion Caramitru) sits next to Charlie on a plane and ends up dead mid-flight.
You know Charlie is head over heels in love with the Romanian beauty the first time he lays eyes on her, a picture of grief with her mascara-streaked face, because time slows and his face lights up.
The scene feels faintly ludicrous, though, because the two leads are such an unlikely pairing. Not unlikely in a fascinating “how is this going to work out” way, more of a case of “I don’t buy this at all”.
One-time golden boy LaBeouf (Transformers, 2007, and Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull, 2008) does his earnest best, but he has to work with a script in which one unlikely thing happens after another.
Charlie gets tasered at the airport, lands in a bohemian youth hostel and finds himself with wacky roommates.
As one of the British roommates, Grint puts the family-friendly Harry Potter franchise firmly behind him as he plays Carl, an aspiring porn actor who goes by the name of Boris Pecker.
He leads Charlie further down the rabbit hole after he overdoses on Viagra and creates a scene at a strip club.
Bucharest comes across as a cowboy town populated freely by thuggish gangsters such as Nigel and Darko, who create a whole lot of trouble for Gabi and Charlie because her father possessed incriminating videotape evidence of them.
It is probably safe to assume that the Romanian tourism office had nothing to do with this film. It would not have approved the lame running joke confusing Bucharest with Budapest.
The film marks the directorial debut of Fredrik Bond, a veteran of commercials and music videos who was clearly gunning for an off-kilter, crazy-cool vibe to the film.
Well, he might have partially achieved his aim. Charlie Countryman is crazy without being cool, and all I see is the mismatched couple at the centre of it.
(ST)

Eason's Life In Singapore
Singapore Indoor Stadium
Last Saturday
If life is a song for Hong Kong’s Eason Chan, it is one he sings beautifully.
His richly emotive voice is intoxicating and it is the best reason to watch and hear him perform live.
He also has a natural exuberance on stage which always makes for a fun show.
There is no need for too many bells and whistles and indeed, the stage set-up last Saturday was kept simple with a central stepped platform flanked by with two colourful shipping containers.
And so was his entrance. He bellowed in English: “Hello, welcome to my life”, and went straight into the sweetly optimistic Cantonese ballad One Thing A Day from H3M (2009).
He switched between Cantonese and Mandarin offerings from the contemplative Tourbillon to the upbeat That’s Just Life. And who cared that it was only March when he crooned the achingly tender Lonely Xmas?
Some of his songs had two versions and it was amusing watching the near-capacity crowd of 8,000 react to Under Mount Fuji. The cheers that erupted with the distinctive opening trailed off with a measure of disappointment when he sang the Mandarin version, Love Shifts, instead. When he switched to the beloved Cantonese version for the final chorus, there was a roar of approval.
His banter, too, flitted from English to Cantonese to Mandarin. A visibly happy and sweaty Chan thanked the audience for “playing with me” and joked: “Is the air-con not working or is it because your reception is too warm?”
While the stage set-up was simple, the staging of the songs often had a point of interest to them.
The most fascinating was a cloud that appeared and then you saw a man defying gravity by walking on the underside of it. Meanwhile, Chan was dressed like a beekeeper going to a funeral.
His concert sartorial choices were perhaps a bit more subdued this time round. But they still reflected a playfulness that was totally in keeping with his character.
His first outfit was white and black with what looked like strips of white cloth randomly stuck to it.
That playfulness translated into some of the material. For example, on Sha Sha Nong (which means Thank You in Shanghainese), he dueted with himself by switching between his normal range and his falsetto.
Tourbillon was yet another effectively staged number as he appeared to be standing within a cone of laser light while swathes of light swept across the darkened hall.
It was also clear that some thought had gone into the choreography as among the dancers were a mascot animal, brightly coloured muppet-like creatures and what looked like a giant puppet. They added whimsy and brought a party atmosphere to the gig.
The 2 1/2-hour-long concert ended with the retro Canto-synthpop of Zhong Kou Wei (Trap) as Chan urged his fans to get on their feet. It was an energetic end to yet another lovely treat from Asian pop’s god of song.
(ST)

Jiang Hu, The Rhapsody
Wakin Chau
At some point, a pop singer can no longer continue to churn out the same kind of music he has always done. At that point, he has to ask himself: What next?
Hong Kong-born Wakin Chau’s answer is to go big and go deep.
He made his name with ballads about love, such as I Truly Gave My Love To You and You Make Me Happy And Sad, in a career spanning more than 40 albums.
In his groundbreaking new record – the most ambitious thing he has ever done – he works with celebrated Taiwanese writer and lyricist Chang Ta-chun, drawing on Chinese history and literature to create a compelling musical tapestry. On the album itself, the lyrics are cohesively presented as a piece of calligraphic art.
Lead single Po Mo (Splash Ink) namechecks poet Li Bai and frequently references historical events and characters, while Shen Zai Liang Shan (Here On Mount Liang) draws on the classic novel, Water Margin, for inspiration.
The lyrical denseness can be challenging and even Chau acknowledges this in a largely spoken track titled Postscript: Ta-chun.
It helps that the music is equally rich, mixing elements of traditional Chinese music with modern rock instrumentation and sensibility.
A fruitful and rewarding adventure for Chau.
(ST)

re:solve
Randy Ang
In a botched Special Tactics Unit mission, Chen Shaoqiang’s (Chris Lee Chih-cheng) mentor Wu Tianle (Sunny Pang) is killed. It devastates him and ruins his relationship with Tianle’s sister, Qizhen (Mico Chang).
Seven years later, he tries to solve a series of armed heists and murders with new partner Yongcheng (Yuan Shuai). And the signs keep pointing to a dead man.
There is some promise in the story for what is being billed as Singapore’s first action crime thriller. But the preposterous twists and turns make you want to pick at them and once you do, things begin to unravel.
The mastermind is ultimately found out through some accidental revelation by a child. And too much rests upon the fact that the “double tap” technique of placing two shots in the same spot has been used by the criminals. Is it so inconceivable that people can learn to master it? After all, there is an entire Hong Kong film about it, named, well, Double Tap (2000).
It does not help that the performances are not quite convincing, either. Lee is miscast as the conflicted Shaoqiang – he does not have the heft to pull off the role and his Taiwanese accent sits oddly with the stilted Mandarin of some of the local actors.
The attempt to inject some idol-style romance between Lee and Chang is also misguided as the two have little chemistry.
A pity, really, given that director Randy Ang’s award-winning short film Ayam Man (2013) was both fun and inventive.
(ST)

Saving Mr Banks
John Lee Hancock
The story: Walt Disney (Tom Hanks) has been trying to make a film about the magical English nanny Mary Poppins for 20 years. But the books’ author, P.L. Travers (Emma Thompson), keeps turning him down. When her financial situation becomes pressing, she deigns to fly to Los Angeles for an exploratory trip. Once there, screenwriter Don DaGradi (Bradley Whitford) and music composers Richard (Jason Schwartzman) and Robert Sherman (B.J. Novak) try desperately to win her over. Meanwhile, the story of young Travers growing up in Australia with an alcoholic yet sweet father (Colin Farrell) is told in flashbacks.

The character of Mary Poppins, a nanny who flies and conjures up wonderful adventures, is both whimsical and magical. Thus, it hardly seems possible that she was created by Mrs Travers, as she insists on being addressed. In the face of such a formidable personality, whimsy would just shrivel up and crumble away. Indeed, the character exclaims in the film that Mary Poppins is the enemy of whimsy and fluff.
The greatest pleasure of Saving Mr Banks is watching Emma Thompson play the witheringly tart author. She might be better known for her Oscar-associated roles in dramas such as Howards End (1992) and Sense And Sensibility (1995), but Thompson is also a great comic actor and her timing is impeccable.
Her disdain for Los Angeles practically drips from the screen when she declares that it smells of chlorine and sweat. And when she meets Disney, she tells him to his face: “I won’t have her turned into one of your silly cartoons.”
At this point in time, in 1961, Disney is already a brand and an empire with successful films and the hugely popular Disneyland theme park. He is a man accustomed to getting his way, and Tom Hanks, no stranger himself to success, conveys that nicely.
But in the face of Travers’ unrelenting objections to songs, made-up words and character stylings, even Disney begins to wonder if he can ever get her to sign over the rights.
As this epic battle of wills gets under way, director John Lee Hancock (The Blind Side, 2009) intercuts it with scenes from Travers’ childhood. While the frequent flashbacks disrupt the rhythm of the film, they also offer some key information on the creation of Mary Poppins. Eventually, the movie’s title is explained and you understand why Travers is so fiercely protective of her work.
Fans of the 1964 film starring Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke would also enjoy the glimpses into the creative process of songs such as A Spoonful Of Sugar and Let’s Go Fly A Kite. And Travers’ curt dismissal of Van Dyke as a lightweight actor will likely raise a smile.
By the time Travers attends the Hollywood premiere of Mary Poppins – despite initially not getting an invitation from Disney – she would have won you over, caustic comebacks and all.
(ST)

Cheer Chen Songs Of Transience Singapore Concert
Singapore Indoor Stadium
Last Saturday

If the goal of most Mandopop concerts is to get the crowd pumped up and on a high, then this was the anti-concert.
Taking its cue from the contemplative new album Songs Of Transience (2013), the night started off on a mellow note. Perched several metres high on a tiny platform, Taiwanese indie queen Cheer Chen sang the title track while the cosmos swirled above and behind her.
Mid-tempo and slow songs such as A Box Of Rain, Fly For You and Immortal followed. Often, she sang with her eyes closed, as if lost in a reverie as she ruminated on time, life and love.
While lightsticks would light up the stadium at most gigs, there was a soothing and calming darkness here. The odd lightstick here and there were like lonely beacons in a black sea.
As if reluctant to break the spell, the singer-songwriter did not even address the crowd of 4,000 until after 10 songs, thanking them for coming.
But with Peace & Revolution, the mood changed.
It was as though Chen had woken from her reverie and was ready to party. Dressed in black with a one-sleeved top and wearing a mask with a trail of red cloth fluttering away from her, she unleashed her inner rock goddess as she wielded a guitar for the hippie-rock number.
She also got to show off her musical versatility on Groupies. She faced off against the various musicians on stage and played guitars, a miniature harp and drums in quick succession.
And then on 1234567, she happily interacted with the fans in front, shaking hands and taking selfies with their mobile phones.
When she announced that View With A Grain Of Sand was “in theory” the last song, it seemed almost too soon. Then she added: “The world is full of exceptions, but only you can make it happen.”
It turned out to be quite an exception as she went on to perform another nine songs.
Chen had actually been ill with a bad bout of the flu in Taipei and had wondered if she would have to cancel the gig. Then she added: “Maybe the medicine is in Singapore, I think I’ve been cured by you.”
She also quipped: “Because my condition was quite serious, the treatment needs to be longer.”
Fan favourites such as Travel With Sound and Lonely Without You were covered in the encores.
She also recounted the stories behind Walk Home and Home, tracks found on her new record.
She said earnestly: “I hope you can be your own home so that home is wherever you are. Today, you are my home.”
The three-hour-long concert ended with an intimate performance of After 17. It was just Chen and a guitar, and it felt as cosy as home.
(ST)

Stefanie Sun 2014 Kepler World Tour
Taipei Arena

Five years, one marriage and a childbirth later, Singaporean singer Stefanie Sun returned to Taipei last Friday and Saturday with her new concert, Kepler.
And it was a triumphant comeback as she held court for three hours at Taipei Arena and basked in the adulation of her fans.
She appeared with a head of bright orange hair atop a raised platform and sang her breakthrough hit, Cloudy Sky. The tempo was slowed down a little, all the better to showcase her powerful and distinctive pipes. She was in the middle of a massive eye-shaped frame and it seemed as though the cosmos was shimmering on the screen behind her.
It was a dramatic start to an entertaining show.
She was in fine vocal form throughout the night, be it raising the energy level with First Day or tugging at hearts with Start To Understand.
A high-octane segment with fast-paced numbers such as Green Light followed. Her stamina seemed to have improved and late in the show, she even pulled off a half-somersault with the help of her dancers.
She seemed relaxed and happy on stage and she might well have her son to thank for that.
With some slinky moves to Magic and a fiery performance, she sure was one hot mama. It was all the more impressive considering that she has never come across as a natural dancer. Yet here she was moving and singing with the confidence and swagger of a pop queen. And when she sang the wrong lyrics at one point, she simply announced it, to indulgent laughter from her fans.
The costumes were eye-catching and glittery and included a short teal dress and a figure-hugging shimmery jumpsuit. Often, her legs would be sheathed in leggings with a metallic sheen to them.
The concert was titled Kepler, after the lead single from her forthcoming album, from which she performed two other new tracks – Infinite Possibilities and the ballad Angel’s Fingerprints.
While fans applauded the new works, it was also clear that they wanted the familiar hits. The final stretch of the concert was a giant karaoke session as hit followed hit.
Sun quipped: “My concert ends now. This is now your concert and I want to hear you sing.” My Love, Love Certificate, Start To Understand and I’m Not Sad were turned into duets as Sun and her fans sang to each other.
The singer also had a surprise guest on the second night. She sang the first stanza of Moonlight In The City and then in walked her Singaporean compatriot Mavis Hee, the ballad’s original singer.
The crowd roared with approval as Hee had not performed in Taipei in more than a decade, according to the Taiwan media.
In addition to dueting with Sun, she also performed Regret and her mellifluous voice was as soothing as ever.
What a night to have two of Singapore’s singers enthralling Taipei Arena.
Showing up to support Sun were her family and friends, including pop star Jolin Tsai – who caused a stir when she was spotted in the stands before the show started. And the camera kept zooming in on Sun’s beaming husband during her encore of Cloudy Sky.
Of course, there were her loyal fans as well. Their fervour moved Sun to say: “l’ve been a singer for so long, I never imagined I would be so lucky.”
Her fans would say that they are the lucky ones.
(ST)

The Monuments Men
George Clooney
The story: In the last days of World War II in 1944, Lieutenant Frank Stokes (George Clooney) puts together a unit of men for an unusual mission – to track down the priceless art and artefacts stolen by the Nazis and save them from destruction. The group of seven comprises curators and art historians, including James Granger (Matt Damon) and Richard Campbell (Bill Murray). Parisian curator Claire Simone (Cate Blanchett) has to decide whether she will help them. Based on the non-fiction book, The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves And The Greatest Treasure Hunt In History by Robert M. Edsel.

What is worth more: A work of art or a man’s life?
Trying to save paintings and sculptures at a time when war is raging and lives are being lost in battle could well seem foolhardy. So early on, Stokes frames the mission for the men and the audience. He points out that you can wipe out a generation of people and they will come back, but if you destroy their art, it will be as if they never existed.
But while the mission is noble, the reaction they get on the ground is often dismissive, if not outright hostile, and their resources are pitifully meagre.
There is promise here for an entertaining treasure hunt romp as a bunch of unlikely characters fights against the odds and tries to find out where the artworks have been squirrelled away. But the movie mostly meanders along and is a little too low-key in the hands of star and director Clooney.
Given that liberties have already been taken with the names of the characters, who are based loosely on actual people, why not push it further and go for a tighter and funnier story?
After all, quite a cast of comic actors has been assembled, from the ever-reliable John Goodman to the wonderfully dour Bob Balaban. There is also Jean Dujardin from The Artist (2011) and Hugh Bonneville from British television’s period drama Downton Abbey.
The other problem with the sprawling cast is that you do not get a good grasp of the characters and why they would put their lives on the line for a mission that may be worthy but is, nevertheless, undertaken in a time of war.
As the group splits up and encounters separate adventures, the film feels a little scattered. Goodman and Dujardin are pinned down by a sniper, Balaban and Murray share a smoke with a young soldier and Damon tries to persuade Blanchett that, unlike the Germans and the Russians, they want to return the art to their rightful owners.
Still, you root for them as they race against time to foil the Nazis’ dastardly plan of destroying everything if Hitler died and also to thwart the Russians from rushing in to claim their spoils of victory.
By the movie’s end, you would be astounded by the scale of German greed and the sheer audacity of the systematic looting.
And yes, the film does provide an answer to the primary query it poses regarding the value of art vis-a-vis human life. You might not agree, but what is less questionable is that the men, and women, of the Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives programme helped to safeguard a collective heritage that we can all enjoy today.
(ST)

Zero
Faith Yang
Taiwanese singer Faith Yang seems like someone you do not mess with: She bristles with attitude and a rock swagger not often found in the world of Mandopop.
New album Zero does nothing to dispel this impression.
On the opening track Parrot, she proclaims: “I reject love that’s too hollow, don’t be like a parrot, waiting to be praised.” Humourless finds her brusquely putting down a suitor: “I have never gotten your sense of humour/That’s why I’m cold, not that I’ve not said it before, but you just don’t hear.”
Her philosophy could well be summed up on Love Myself when she sings: “I love you, but I love myself more.”
But there are also moments of vulnerability and tenderness here.
On Exhibitionist, she lays bare her insecurities: “I’m like a clown, feeling especially empty and lonely after the laughter and applause.” But even tenderness is barbed on Missed Call: “A missed call is the cruel concern you show me.”
Her last album of original material was the memorable Continuation (2007). In it, she was imperious on Dame and moving on the beautifully spare I Leave Myself.
Zero, only her fifth full-length album since 1997’s One, remains true to form, if a shade less compelling. But with her distinctive vocals and clear-eyed sentiment, she could never be accused of parroting anyone else.
(ST)

I’m So Excited
Pedro Almodovar
The story: A plane en-route from Madrid to Mexico City encounters equipment trouble and pilots Alex (Antonio de la Torre) and Benito (Hugo Silva) have to look for a runway for an emergency landing. Meanwhile, gay stewards Joserra (Javier Camara), Fajas (Carlos Areces) and Ulloa (Raul Arevalo) try to keep spirits up with a heady mix of alcohol, drugs and a campy routine to The Pointer Sisters’ signature hit, I’m So Excited. The kooky passengers in business class include high-class dominatrix Norma (Cecilia Roth) and psychic virgin Bruna (Lola Duenas).

In times of crisis, people reveal their true colours and dark secrets. And with life and death at stake here, skeletons come tumbling out in a hurry.
Married pilot Alex has to juggle his marriage with his affair with Joserra, the chief steward on the flight. And bicurious pilot Benito (think of Silva as a sexier version of Zach Braff) gradually comes to terms with his sexuality with a little help from Ulloa.
Fluid sexual identity is a constant theme in the films of Spanish film-maker Pedro Almodovar and it has been compellingly explored in works such as All About My Mother (1999) and Bad Education (2004). Here, he is content to milk the topic for laughs.
The bunch of actors are all game.
Camara is a hoot as he drinks like a fish and proclaims his inability to tell a lie, Areces is a religious fanatic with an eye on the hunky newly wed groom while Arevalo is the deadpan and slutty one. Together, they put on a campy-licious rendition of I’m So Excited, lip-syncing and sashaying along with the best of them.
Apart from the sexual shenanigans among the flight crew, there are also the stories of the passengers to delve into. But in the end, there are simply too many balls to juggle in this screwball comedy.
There is the dominatrix who fears that someone is after her life, the father hoping to reconnect with his runaway daughter, the mysterious Mexican who carries with him the stench of death and the psychic virgin looking to get lucky.
Some of the detours get draggy, particularly the one involving an actor, his depressive-suicidal girlfriend and his ex.
It all culminates in an alcohol- and drug-fuelled session of mile-high-club loving as crew and passengers pair off and make out. Everyone, that is, except for the poor sods in economy class who have all passed out after having been doped with muscle relaxants.
Maybe there is a point here about class division and discrimination, but it is not something the writer-director is overly concerned with.
File this under Almodovar-lite.
(ST)

Really
Matilda Tao
Really? Taiwan’s Matilda Tao returns to the music scene eight years after Walkin’ To New York (2005) and it turns out to be a slice of electronic pop. But the title track and first single soon grew on me and the rap-dance number managed the neat trick of making her sound current without making her sound desperate.
It helps that the names behind the track are none other than Mandopop king Jay Chou, who wrote the music, and top lyricist Lin Xi.
More surprises await in the album. Opening track Ah Well, by Chou and lyricist Vincent Fang, has Tao rapping away at rapid-fire speed over a sinuous melody line.
For those who remember her best for the ballad Leave Me and the rallying cry of Stand Up Sisters, this new Tao takes a little getting used to. In that case, you might want to head for I Won’t Wish You Well first, a beautifully bittersweet ballad. She croons: “I won’t say I wish you well, I won’t wish you well/I don’t want to prove we were a mistake.”
There is also a groovy R&B ballad with Khalil Fong and a tender number titled Child.
At first, the album seemed like a disparate collection of pretty good songs. But it is actually a multi-faceted offering which takes in all her different identities from talk-show host with the gift of the gab to pop singer to mother of two.
And that makes it a richly layered comeback which will keep drawing you back. Really.
(ST)

The Monkey King
Soi Cheang
The story: Banished by the Jade Emperor (Chow Yun Fat) to Flaming Mountain after a failed attack, the Bull Demon King (Aaron Kwok) bides his time for vengeance. The monkey king Sun Wukong (Donnie Yen) is unaware that he is a crucial part of the plan. Egged on by the Bull Demon King, Sun goes on to wreak havoc in heaven. Based on an episode of Wu Chengen’s Ming Dynasty literary classic, Journey To The West.

It is a big gamble to bury your bankable leading man beneath a coat of animal fur – and it is one that does not quite pay off here.
Action star Donnie Yen is known for his deft moves and stoic demeanour, such as in the flicks about martial arts figure Ip Man. In The Monkey King, he is completely unrecognisable in simian make-up, complete with upturned nostrils and sharp teeth.
To be fair, quite a bit of attention was paid to details and it might even have been an acting breakthrough for Yen.
Freed from being himself, so to speak, he scampers and bounds about like a hyperactive child and even conveys that spunky mischievousness of Sun. No mean feat for a man of 50.
Still, you cannot quite shake off the nagging feeling that this is a man in a monkey suit and the impression is strengthened when you see an entire troop of monkeys. Presumably, less attention was paid to the get-up of the other monkeys since they were not played by top stars.
Other missteps include the Mandarin dubbing, which was curiously bloodless (when the Bull Demon King declared that he would attack heaven when the chance arose, it sounded as though Kwok was ordering takeout); largely forgettable guest star cameos, from Kelly Chen as the Goddess of Mercy to Gigi Leung as a celestial fairy; and the decision to give the monkey king a romantic interest in the form of a fox spirit – this just comes across arbitrary and wrong.
The film is also dragged down by the heavy use of computer-generated imagery.
As with The Sorcerer And The White Snake (2011), the landscapes conjured up are decidedly fake-looking. You can just imagine the actors pacing about in front of a green screen while the underwhelming Heavenly Palace is being generated by some bored interns.
Worse, even the actors go missing in the climactic battle, as two CGI creatures slug it out while CGI debris floats about, generating little in the way of excitement. Yawn.
Journey To The West is such a strong story that it can survive much tinkering, as in Stephen Chow’s 2013 adaptation of the same name. Unfortunately, it sinks under a deluge of subpar CGI. In fact, the two-part The Monkey King (1961, 1964) was a far more engaging movie and all it had was relatively simple hand-drawn animation.
The lesson here: Get the story right and stop monkeying around with CGI.
(ST)

Gone Case

The phrase “gone case” is something you might find in one of those lists of Things Singaporeans Say. Sure, others may understand it and even use it to describe something or someone who is hopeless, but it still seems to be quintessentially local.
And so it is with this two-part small-screen adaptation of Dave Chua’s award-winning 1997 novel of the same name.
Part 1 is available via MediaCorp’s Catch-Up TV service and Part 2 airs on Channel 5 on Sunday at 10pm.
The protagonist of the story is 12-year-old Yong (Lim Chu Yeang). He is an ordinary boy living in an HDB estate in 1996 and his best friend, Liang (Chen Jing Jun), lives nearby.
It is a year of changes and upheavals as his grandmother dies, a gangster menaces the neighbourhood, money troubles dog his father (Zheng Geping) and mother (Yvonne Lim), and friendship is tested. Through it all, the PSLE (Primary School Leaving Examination) hangs over him like a dark cloud.
It sounds like melodrama territory but Chua’s treatment and director Ler Jiyuan’s take is anything but. Ler, who has worked on TV dramas such as The Pupil and Code Of Law, takes a subtle and quietly observant approach that refreshingly steers clear of histrionics.
Yong is, after all, not your usual, heroic protagonist. He is mild-mannered and kind of passive and is still carrying some baby fat. He is at that awkward age where he sees and understands more than adults give him credit for, and yet, he is often powerless to change things.
Chu Yeang, who had played the titular schoolboy in The Diary Of Amos Lee on okto, is well-cast as Yong and you root for him to make it through a turbulent year.
From a violent gangster to the less mature and mercurial Liang, there are stronger contenders for the label of gone case. The drama is also nicely anchored in a specific time and place with the use of a few choice period details such as a pager and a rectangular housephone.
Notably, Gone Case is not afraid to venture into some dark places. For example, in a fit of frustration over his squabbling parents, he ends up hitting his younger brother. Violence intrudes as well in the form of an older gangster with a nasty temper.
Then there are the screams in the neighbourhood which taunt and trouble Yong and make the world seem like a sinister place.
The reassuring voiceover narration by an adult Yong, though, suggests that he survives it all.
Not everything is explained and neatly tied up at the end and that is fine. Some mysteries are never solved, but that is life. The only thing certain about it is that it goes on.
(ST)

RoboCop
Jose Padilha
The story: Detroit cop Alex Murphy (Joel Kinnaman) is badly injured in a car-bomb blast when he gets on the trail of big-time criminal Antoine Vallon (Patrick Garrow). OmniCorp scientist Dennett Norton (Gary Oldman) saves his life by encasing him within a robot. The company’s head honcho Raymond Sellars (Michael Keaton) hopes that RoboCop will be a hit with the public so that he can finally put his machines to work on American soil and make a killing in profits.

The original RoboCop (1987), directed by Paul Verhoeven and starring Peter Weller, was both a critical and commercial hit, and spawned two sequels and spin-offs in television, video games and comic books.
This fourth instalment serves as a reboot of the lucrative franchise. It takes some of the themes tackled in the original movie, such as human nature, capitalism and the media, and pushes them further.
Interestingly, this RoboCop plays like a political thriller with sci-fi action thrown in.
The stakes are enormous for OmniCorp, a multinational conglomerate producing robots. Its drones are used to patrol volatile territories in Teheran and their use smacks of American imperialism at its worst as civil liberties are wantonly trampled upon.
But there is resistance to using robots on American soil and that is cutting into OmniCorp’s profits. And so the villainous Raymond Sellars makes use of the media with fanatical zealot and TV personality Pat Novak (Samuel L. Jackson in fiery mode) to argue the case for OmniCorp.
The other, critical, part of his plan is RoboCop.
Thus far, Swedish-American actor Joel Kinnaman is probably best known for playing a detective from 2011 to last year in the crime television series The Killing. He could well break out after his turn here.
There is a haunting scene here in which Alex faces the reality of being turned into a cyborg. All you see is his head, his lungs pumping away in a transparent case and a single disembodied hand. Kinnaman makes you feel his anguish when he says that he never wants to see himself that way again.
Because his humanity comes through so keenly, his transformation, no thanks to Dr Norton, into an emotionless and efficient machine is all the more affecting.
Brazilian director Jose Padilha (Elite Squad, 2007) makes his English-language debut here and does a credible job balancing the shoot-’em-up action scenes with Alex’s journey as well as the bigger picture in play.
But for those hoping to relive the past and the catchphrase, “Dead or alive, you’re coming with me”, this RoboCop might not hit the spot for you.
(ST)

Better Life
F.I.R.
Taiwanese pop- rock trio F.I.R. mark their 10th anniversary together with this, their seventh album.
Better Life does not sound like them at first – and that is a good thing.
Route 7 sounds fresher and more folksy than their signature slick style. You can almost feel the breeze in your hair when vocalist Faye Chan sings the opening lines: “Drive the car on the road/When I turn on the radio.”
They are headed in the right direction with this new turn and It’s You is another charmer.
Chan croons tenderly in the chorus: “It’s you, who make the tears melt, make me put down my recklessness, weave the future, our threads, into a painting.”
While previous albums offered fantasy and escape with tracks such as Atlantis, Arctic Circle and Fly Away, Better Life is more rooted in human relationships.
The title track is an upbeat number about love and friendship, while I Remember is wistfully nostalgic.
The band try to cover all bases, though, with the more familiar pop-rock of The Ocean Fighter.
They even venture into dubstep with Light Up The Way, but that only feels like a bit of a mis-step.
(ST)

Golden Chickensss
Matt Chow
The story: Kam (Sandra Ng) has worked her way up from being a prostitute to a mamasan. She now manages a coterie of girls, including the bucktoothed newbie Wu Lu (Ivana Wong). When former mob leader Gordon (Nick Cheung) is released from prison, Kam helps him adjust to the world today. The movie is a sequel to Golden Chicken (2002) and Golden Chicken 2 (2003).

With its irrepressible and bawdy humour and a sparkling line-up of cameos, Golden Chickensss offers laughs and star-gazing for, well, part of the family. Sandra Ng reprises the role that won her the Golden Horse Award for Best Actress in 2003 and is once again a hoot as the plucky Kam.
Having slept her way to management level, Kam now has to deal with a new challenges. Technology has changed the business and she has to line up her clients via telephone calls and text messaging. She also has to manage the girls’ time so they can maximise earnings in one night. Kam adapts and survives.
Among the girls under her care, eager newbie Wu Lu stands out. Singer Ivana Wong gives a hilarious performance in her big-screen debut with a mainland accent, loud clothes and huge chompers.
The glittery cameos are plenty of fun. The opening scenes trace prostitution through history and feature Anthony Wong in period garb haggling over the price and Donnie Yen as martial arts master Ip Man being solicited. Singer-actor Eason Chan appears as a small-time hoodlum, Edison Chen as a sleazy guy running a sex parlour in Tokyo and Shawn Yue as a subway rider with intense body odour.
Among the funniest are feted lyricist Wyman Wong as oral sex king Takuya as he dispenses advice to Hong Kong working girls and Louis Koo as a, um, Louis Koo impersonator.
Though it is a pity that cinemagoers here do not get to listen to the original Cantonese dialogue, some of the humour has survived the translation intact. For example, Koo has a stream of filthy patter about his hometown, Gang Men, also a homonym for anus.
Things get a bit draggy when former mob leader Gordon is released from prison and the focus shifts to him. Writer-director Matt Chow repeats the same point about how times have changed, but to lesser effect.
He should have just kept the focus on Ng.
Only in the anything-goes world of Hong Kong cinema could a prostitute named Kam become an iconic character. She can be loud and crude but she also has a great sense of humour and a heart of gold. And her never-say-die attitude is a tribute to the indomitable spirit of the territory itself.
(ST)

From Vegas To Macau
Wong Jing
The story: Master gambler Ken (Chow Yun Fat) is rumoured to be able to tell the value of a playing card just by touching it. He is roped in by the police to bust money-laundering mastermind Ko (Gao Hu). Ken in turn enlists Cool (Nicholas Tse) and his cousin Karl (Chapman To) for the scheme. It so happens that Cool’s half-brother Lionel (Philip Ng) is an undercover cop investigating Ko as well. When Cool’s father (Benz Hui) is harmed and Ken’s daughter Rainbow (Tong Fei) is captured, things get personal.

Gambling is part and parcel of Chinese New Year for many people – nothing like a little vice to spice up the occasion. And considering the popularity of gambling flicks in the past, it is a no-brainer to release one in time for the holiday.
Director Wong Jing and actor Chow Yun Fat previously teamed up for action comedy God Of Gamblers (1989). It was a huge success and spawned several sequels, spin-offs and comedies, including Stephen Chow’s All For The Winner (1990).
While this film reunites Wong and Chow and also features a familiar theme, it is not a God Of Gamblers sequel. Instead of world-famous gambler Ko Chun, Chow plays a character named Ken here, although he is once again a legendary figure.
Sequel or not, it does not matter very much as plot and continuity have never been Wong’s strong suit. The prolific but wildly uneven film-maker has helmed fare running the gamut from appalling – Treasure Inn (2011) – to entertaining – Treasure Hunt (2011). He is in decent form here, with a few tricks up his sleeve when it comes to the gags. There is the inane sight of Chapman To having two hairy circles on his chest to Nicholas Tse mouthing rude nonsense to keep Rainbow at bay.
The likeable cast keep one watching as well.
Of late, Chow has tended to appear in serious, dramatic fare, such as The Last Tycoon (2012) and Confucius (2010), but let us not forget that he is one of the best comic actors around, with delirious turns in movies past, such as The Diary Of A Big Man (1988) and Let The Bullets Fly (2010). He gets to have some fun as Ken and gamely throws himself into the role, be it trading Cantonese couplets in song or holding court at the gambling table.
And it has to be said that even though you know it is all accomplished with sleight-of-hand editing and computer effects, it remains mesmerising to watch cards being shuffled and mahjong tiles being manipulated as the masters reveal their winning hands with a flourish. Wong even pokes fun at the cliched set-up with some unusual, and funny, winning hands.
Throw in truth serum, an artificial eyeball containing crucial evidence, disguises and some green-screen trickery for an important football match, and there is more than enough here to keep the movie moving along.
And in the tradition of Chinese New Year flicks, there is a festive greeting right at the end, as well as an unexpected cameo.
If you are looking for a bit of silly fun for the festive season, the odds are, this could be just the ticket.
(ST)

Songs Of Transience
Cheer Chen
To a Cheer Chen fan, time is waiting, and waiting is the space that stretches out between her releases. Almost five years after Immortal (2009), the Taiwanese singer-songwriter grapples with the concept of time on her sixth album.
The Chinese title is literally Songs About Time, with the concept of transience being only part of the story.
She muses on the title track that time is “a wasted heart”, “a river of death/ with no memories after an autopsy” and “a sound asleep face”. It is by turns merciless and tender.
Her contemplation takes a darker turn on A Box Of Rain, which pairs her composition with poet Hsia Yu’s lyrics: “I’m so lonely and unpredictable, I think I’ll slowly go mad.”
The ballad Gypsy In Memory is another lilting, meditative track, one that is filled with yearning: “Support me, let me come to a true stop/Hold you and complete a beautiful dream.”
She ponders the meaning of life on View With A Grain Of Sand. After setting up a series of questions, the chorus answers: “They say life is like a grain of sand/If Life could speak/She would say thank you for loving her/As the ocean loves the waves.”
Music-wise, it is mostly ballads and mid-tempo tracks with one or two surprises. She goes all hippie in the sitar- accompanied Peace & Revolution, singing about love and destiny.
Thoughtful, honest and poetic, these are songs worth waiting for.
(ST)

I, Frankenstein
Stuart Beattie
The story: The monster (Aaron Eckhart) created by Frankenstein finds himself caught in a battle between demons and gargoyles. The gargoyles seek to protect mankind and are led by queen Leonore (Miranda Otto). She names the creature Adam when the gargoyles rescue him from an attack. Fast-forward to the present day and Adam has had enough of hiding. He takes the battle to those who work for the demon prince Naberius (Bill Nighy), including unsuspecting scientist Terra (Yvonne Strahovski). Adapted by American actor-writer Kevin Grevioux from his graphic novel of the same name.

Not only did Frankenstein discover the secret of life, it would also appear that he discovered the secret to eternal youth as well.
Adam might be stitched together from various corpses, but he does not age or putrefy over decades and centuries. Actor Eckhart (The Dark Knight, 2008) even gives him a certain craggy sexiness with a patchwork of scars on his face and body and a ripped torso.
Little wonder that Naberius wants to abduct him for his own nefarious purposes.
It is ostensibly to animate an army of corpses, but it is probably to improve his own looks, given that demons have an unfortunate tendency to look hideous.
Unfortunately, the movie takes itself too seriously. Even though the fate of the world hangs in the balance (what? again?), director Stuart Beattie (scriptwriter for Australia, 2008) is not able to invest these stakes with much urgency or excitement.
There is also a glaring inconsistency over the critical plot point of whether Adam has a soul. On the one hand, only a creature with no soul can kill a gargoyle, who then ascends to the heavens. At the same time, a creature with no soul is susceptible to its body being occupied by another consciousness. Adam seems to waver between having a soul and having none – whenever it is convenient.
As the scientist searching for the secret of life, Strahovski (from TV’s spy comedy Chuck, 2007-2012) injects some lightness into the proceedings, even if she is there mostly as a kind of romantic distraction for Adam and, of course, to walk into danger.
There are also some cool battle scenes. Plus, the shots of the gargoyles transforming into human warriors are pretty nifty. Still, there is not enough here to bring this movie to life.
(ST)

August: Osage County
John Wells
The story: The patriarch of the Weston clan, Beverly (Sam Shepard), goes missing from the home he shares with his cancer-stricken wife, Violet (Meryl Streep), in rural Oklahoma. Family members congregate and emotions boil over in the sweltering heat. There is oldest daughter Barbara (Julia Roberts), who comes with her estranged husband Bill (Ewan McGregor) and their 14-year-old daughter Jean (Abigail Breslin); middle daughter Karen (Juliette Lewis) with her inappropriately flashy fiance Steve (Dermot Mulroney); and youngest daughter Ivy (Julianne Nicholson). There is also Violet’s sister Mattie Fae (Margo Martindale), her husband Charles (Chris Cooper) and their son Little Charles (Benedict Cumberbatch). Adapted by Tracy Letts from his Pulitzer Prize-winning 2007 stage drama of the same name.

If you are dreading that extended family reunion at Chinese New Year, here is one remedy – go watch August: Osage County. It is guaranteed to make you feel better about your own.
Violet is the mother who smothers, not with love but with withering putdowns and she tears into everyone over a session of vicious “truth- telling” at a family dinner.
She may be battling cancer of the mouth, but she is far from a sympathetic victim, thanks to her incessant pill-popping and verbal lacerations.
It is a dream role to tear into and Meryl Streep notches up her 18th Oscar nomination playing nasty. The actress has been much feted for her ability to take on different accents, but the transformation this time is more physical than linguistic.
In some scenes, her character is shown without a wig and the thin, patchy and unkempt hair gives her a touching vulnerability which her fighting words mask.
Then there is the all-out cat-fight with Julia Roberts as they tussle over a bottle of downers and the smashing of crockery at yet another awkward meal.
In the tradition of dysfunctional family plays such as Eugene O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey Into Night (1956), this is drama to the max and practically every actor gets a scene or two to show his or her stuff.
No wonder so many top names eagerly signed on for this adaptation by director John Wells, best known as the executive producer and showrunner of television shows such as ER (1994-2009).
Roberts gets to be angry and hurt and to swear a lot as her husband barks at her: “You’re a pain in the a**.”
There is a degree of Oscar-baiting about the film and she has been duly rewarded with a nomination for Best Supporting Actress.
There is so much bluster and fury, though, that it becomes a little draining to watch. And the specifics do not really stick and some of the talk, say, about the attractiveness of women, meanders about without being particularly interesting.
And because the volume is constantly set to high, the dramatic revelations lose some of their impact as family secrets eventually tumble into the open.
Some of the more touching moments come from Julianne Nicholson’s wallflower Ivy and Benedict Cumberbatch’s earnest and klutzy Little Charles, the antithesis of his best-known role as the brilliant and cold Sherlock Holmes.
Eventually, the toxic cruelty even gets to the laidback Charles, who lashes out: “I don’t understand why you have to be so mean.”
It is a question that you might well ask yourself.
(ST)

Happiness
Soo Wincci

Say The Words
Qu Wanting

Malaysia’s Wincci Soo is a former beauty queen, but don’t hold that against her as a singer. There is a porous quality to her voice – like ceramic which lets light through – which sets her apart from the crowd. It borders on being fragile, but possesses an underlying sense of strength.
Her pipes are best showcased on ballads and mid-tempo tracks, and the album – considered her second record, apart from some releases meant only for her home market – wisely opens with a few of them in a row. I’ll Be Alright puts a different spin front on the aftermath of a break-up: “Frankly, I’ve been happy all this while/That’s why I feel bad.”
The faster-paced numbers such as Scary Scary Night and the dance number The Whisperer feel a little out of place after that mellow opening, although they do serve to show her versatility in tackling different genres of material.
A more cohesive effort is China-born Vancouver-based Qu Wanting’s Say The Words. If you are looking for more of the lush piano-backed pop of her previous hit, You Exist In My Song, there is Love Ocean and When It’s Lonely.
Love Ocean is already a radio hit and it draws on the singer-songwriter’s own story: “Living in another land, my ambition is aimed far away/Your love makes me strong/You clap for me as the song lingers/Immersed in an ocean of love.”
It is not just more of the same, though.
Opening English track Time, My Friend has a slinky Latin groove to it, while STHU, short for shut the hell up, reveals a feisty side to the singer.
Not everything works here. Joker Needs Laughter, for example, is just too repetitive in its use of the title phrase.
But at least you get a sense that everything on this album is exactly what Qu wants to convey.
(ST)

The Legend Of Hercules
Renny Harlin
Director Renny Harlin (Die Hard 2, 1990) serves up an entertaining romp here packed with spectacle and action. With the help of handsome sets and CGI, he brings the ancient world of mythic Greece to life.
The film draws on the stories surrounding the demigod Hercules, son of Zeus and a mortal woman. In one sequence, he wrestles and kills the ferocious Nemean Lion.
Too bad the creature looks patently fake, so it is a good thing the film is not focused on the canonical 12 labours of Hercules.
Instead, there is family drama and romance as Hercules clashes with his elder brother, heir to the throne, over the beautiful Hebe (Gaia Weiss).
There are also bloody battles and intense death matches, filmed in loving close-ups and lingering slow motion.
Kellan Lutz, best known for playing vampire Emmett Cullen in The Twilight Saga film series, gets leading-man billing here. He brings muscles and a suitably stoic heroism to the beefcake jock Hercules, who must learn to accept his true identity and his destiny.
Channing Tatum will have to start looking over his shoulder.
(ST)

Hours
Eric Heisserer
The story: Nolan (Paul Walker) is at a hospital in New Orleans with his pregnant wife Abigail (Genesis Rodriguez) when Hurricane Katrina hits. His newborn daughter is put on a ventilator and he is told to stay with her. But as the hours pass and the powerful storm wreaks havoc, the hospital is evacuated. It is up to Nolan to ensure that the machine keeps working so that she can live.

This is a low-budget high-concept film banking on the appeal of actor Paul Walker. But with the untimely death of the Fast And Furious star in a car accident in November last year, this slight work now has to bear the weight of being one of his final movies.
Walker does a decent job and reminds you that there is more to him than the good-looking guy who does the racing flicks. He brings an easy charm to the flashback scenes with his onscreen wife and then channels grief, anger and desperation when the going gets tough. And then for much of the film, he has no one else to play off except an unresponsive infant.
Unfortunately, the story is not the best vehicle for him.
Scriptwriter Eric Heisserer makes his directorial debut here and he does not have a good grasp of pacing. In fact, there is an odd lack of urgency at first and that does not bode well for a purported thriller.
He certainly does not make things easy for himself by largely confining the action to one room in an evacuated hospital and having the story hinge on keeping a machine working.
Of course, that seemingly straightforward task gets more and more complicated with each passing hour. First, the power goes out and Nolan has to manually wind up a battery that powers up the ventilator for only three minutes each time.
And then other obstacles gradually surface which he has to somehow overcome while running back to the room every few minutes.
As a writer, Heisserer’s credits include A Nightmare On Elm Street (2010) and Final Destination 5 (2011) and this background makes its way into Hours as well – in the form of red herrings.
Whenever the movie threatens to take a turn into horror territory, courtesy of obvious musical cues, it always veers away and it starts to feel like a cheap tactic.
Fans of Walker could still find the movie worth watching as he pretty much carries the entire thing. But others might well end up watching the clock instead.
(ST)

Before we dive headlong into another year of new music offerings, let's take a last look at 10 albums I've enjoyed in the past 12 months. Here they are, in no particular order.

52 Hertz (52赫兹), The Verse: Indie singer-songwriter Cheer Chen teams up with her producer boyfriend Tiger Chung and noted composer Chen Chien-chi for a thoughtful and fruitful exploration of electronica.


Angel vs Devil (天使与魔鬼的对话), Tanya Chua (蔡健雅): The follow-up to her Golden Melody Ward-winning Sing It Out Of Love (2011) finds her in a conflicted place emotionally - and that is good news for the record.

Autumn: Stories(秋：故事), sodagreen(苏打绿): In keeping with the season, the mood is autumnal as summer slips away and leaves begin to fall. The use of traditional Chinese instruments such as the erhu and flute add to the sense of melancholy.

Ayal Komod(我是海雅谷慕), Chang Chen-yue(张震岳): He steps out under his aboriginal name and offers up a laidback sun-sea-and-surf vibe. He also takes stock of life and shakes his head at the emptiness of material pursuits.

Back To Wonderland (回到未来), Khalil Fong(方大同): The singer-songwriter's assured musicality is on full display as he dabbles in R&B, soul, pop, rock, jazz and even funk.

Coexistence (共存), Denise Ho (何韵诗): Coming out has freed her as an artist and she is honest and open here - completely comfortable in her own skin at last.

Fragile (易碎物), Tizzy Bac: The fragility of life serves as muse but the band are more than one-note doomsday purveyors as the rich and epic album also celebrates life.

A Low-Key Life (低调人生), Sandee Chan (陈珊妮): This harks back to the darker-themed electronica of If There Is One Thing That Is Important (2008). The music and vocals are soothing, but there is nothing low-key about the emotions and ideas.

Renovate (你所不知道的杜振熙之内部整修), Soft Lipa (蛋堡): The rapper holds nothing back over a sprawling two-disc set and the results are provocative, confessional and deeply personal.

You Quietly Hide Away (你安安静静地躲起来), Ellen Loo (卢凯彤): Her emotions are all on display on her sophomore album and the songs go from quiet devastation to lashing out at someone who had hurt her. Bonus points for putting on a playful and electrifying gig at the Esplanade in Jan.

Lion Roar
Show Lo
On his 10th studio album, Taiwanese singer Show Lo makes like a lion – and ends up releasing a whimper.
The criticisms came think and fast as he was accused of copying South Korea’s G-Dragon, from his golden head of hair down to his fashion style. The more egregious sin though is the way the music rips off K-pop. From its synth break to falsetto ooh-hoo’s, lead single Cast The Net Of Love is just too reminiscent of tracks such as Fantastic Baby by Big Bang, the band G-Dragon leads. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Big Bang must be blushing from all the attention.
Lo’s limitations as a singer reveal themselves again on the ballad A Promise That’s Not Over.
At least the cute Minnan track Cherish With My Life, penned by the singer, offers something different and unexpected.
On the title track, he boasts: “I’m not afraid to take on challenges, keep breaking through to something new”. Unfortunately, the words which ring more true are on Love Lied To Me, another track Lo penned: “I am sorry, I am sorry, baby.”
(ST)

As The Light Goes Out
Derek Kwok
The story: A perfect storm of factors come together, on Christmas Eve no less, to create a fiery disaster. A liquor warehouse goes up in flames. If it spreads to a nearby power plant, Hong Kong will be plunged into darkness. Senior firefighter Sam (Nicholas Tse) has to wrest control of the situation together with his buddy Chill (Shawn Yue), China-transfer Ocean (Hu Jun) and old hand Li (Simon Yam).

Think fires are dangerous? It is the smoke that is often more lethal.
We are informed as such at the start of the movie and it also indicates how As The Light Goes Out intends to distinguish itself from other fire disaster flicks.
And the smoke is indeed impressively menacing in its various incarnations from poisonous yellow fumes to thick smothering blankets of it which reduce visibility to almost zero.
Add in greedily devouring flames and the threat of explosions and collapsing walkways and buildings and there is drama aplenty on the screen.
Writer-director Derek Kwok (Gallants, 2010), however, is not content with incendiary action alone and ups the stakes on the plotlines.
But in trying to top the drama of the fire, he ends up with overwrought stories instead.
For starters, there is the backstory of how Sam, Chill and Yip (Andy On) once disobeyed orders on the ground.
Yip was later promoted ahead of the other two and now, Yip and Sam are classic frenemies.
And every other firefighter has a tragic past and/or troubled present.
Sam doubts himself because of the incident, and on top of which, things are strained with his girlfriend.
Chill, who is separated from his wife, has a son who happens to be on a school visit to the power plant on the day things go horribly wrong.
And what are the chances that the over-achieving Ocean had lost his son in a fire?
As the blaze rages away, the characters are propelled by everything from fatherly love and the possibility of redemption to sheer bravery.
Oh, and there is a typhoon about to strike as well.
There is just too much going on.
It does not help that when the actors are all suited up in their firefighting outfits, it can be rather challenging trying to identify exactly who is whom, even with a solid cast of actors.
There is Nicholas Tse (The Viral Factor, 2012) putting on a stoic front as Sam, Shawn Yue (Love In The Buff, 2012) as a distressed dad and Simon Yam (Control, 2013) chewing up scenes as the tough and gruff Li.
What the film does offer is a series of intense sequences in which lives hang in the balance.
As well as possibly the most heroic cigarette ever lit up on screen.
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Delivery Man
Ken Scott
The story: David Wozniak (Vince Vaughn) works as the delivery man for his family’s meat company. He is not the most reliable guy around, which is why his pregnant girlfriend Emma (Cobie Smulders) wants to raise their child on her own. And then David finds out that he is the biological father of 533 children, thanks to his repeated contributions as a sperm donor in his younger days. When 142 of them sue to learn his identity, his lawyer friend Brett (Chris Pratt) fights to keep his name under wraps.

David Wozniak is something of a loser.
He is in his late 30s or early 40s and still behaving like an irresponsible kid. He is in debt to some dubious characters and cannot even be trusted with something as simple as bringing along the basketball uniforms for the company’s employees for a photo shoot. Somehow, he manages to screw that up.
As played by Vince Vaughn, though, David is an affable loser.
He means well and there is a sweetness at his core that draws people to him.
After a string of mediocre comedies such as Couples Retreat (2009) and The Internship (2013), Vaughn proves that he can still be funny and winsome in the right film.
Chris Pratt, from television comedy Parks And Recreation, is a great foil for him and funny in his own right as a harassed and overwhelmed parent of four young children.
The humour here is more amiably low-key than aggressively brazen. Director and co-writer Ken Scott manages to keep things interesting by putting likable people in ludicrous situations.
After finding out that he has sired 533 progeny, David begins to surreptitiously tail them.
He starts to feel protective of them and turns into a guardian angel figure trying to do what is best for them.
The wide array of situations his children are in seems to make a good argument that nurture is stronger than nature.
From aspiring actor to sports star, from drug-using daughter to confidently gay son, genetics are no match for the requirements of a movie.
Crises get resolved too easily and the logistics of being a guardian angel to over 100 people would wear down anyone to the bone, let alone a meat delivery guy with very limited resources.
But when David’s children come together for a family camping outing, it is an oddly touching and moving sight.
As he himself puts it: “It may be strange, and a bit oversized, but it’s my life.”
If you are hankering for a serving of warm and fuzzy feelings topped with a dash of humour, then this film delivers.
(ST)

Police Story 2013
Ding Sheng
The story: China cop Zhong Wen (Jackie Chan) makes his way to a bar, where he is meeting his estranged daughter Miao Miao (Jing Tian). Things get hairy when bar owner Wu Jiang (Liu Ye) prevents the patrons from leaving and holds them captive. It turns out that Zhong had crossed paths with a few of the hostages before. And Wu is determined to get to the bottom of an old case.

Adventure thriller CZ12 (2012) was supposed to be Jackie Chan’s last major action film. But without his trademark daredevil stunts, is a Jackie Chan film still worth watching?
In this case, not quite.
To be clear, Police Story 2013 still has action sequences, just fewer and nothing that is likely to result in a loss of life or limb for the famously – some would say recklessly – gungho star.
In his best films, such as Project A (1983) and Armour Of God (1986), the NG (no-good) blooper reels at the end were highlights packed with action. Among Police Story 2013’s bloopers, Chan seems to have more difficulty with the dialogue than any particular manoeuvre.
To execute a scene in which he tries to free himself from being bound to a chair with metal wires, it takes him several takes and only bloodied wrists.
The focus is very much on the plot, so too bad it comes up a little short.
There is some suspense built up at the beginning, when you wonder who Wu Jiang is and why has he taken the trouble to mount such an elaborate set-up.
Besides holding people hostage in the bar and making sure that Zhong is on the premises, he also demands to meet a specific hostage.
Once the pieces fall into place, there is an attempt at a Rashomon-type recreation of an old case.
One by one, those who are present that night add to the story of what went down and gradually fill in the puzzle.
When the mystery is finally unveiled, though, it feels like writer-director Ding Sheng is making a mountain out of a molehill.
And the question of why such an elaborate set-up is necessary in the first place is never really answered.
For the ending to be nicely sewn up, a new character has to be conveniently introduced at the last minute.
In films such as A Beautiful Life (2011), Liu Ye has shown that he can act; here, he is hampered by ham-fisted characterisation.
Although Chan’s role is better sketched out (the absent father element seems to have been drawn from his own life), Ding’s previous collaboration with him in action comedy Little Big Soldier (2010) was less laboured and more fun.
And by the way, why call this Police Story 2013 when it has nothing to do with the four comedy-action Police Story films made between 1985 and 1996, or even New Police Story, 2004’s darker reboot?
Doing so merely feels like a cop-out, not to mention draws attention to the fact that Chan’s best films are behind him.
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Thanks For Sharing
Stuart Blumberg
The story: Former sex addict Adam (Mark Ruffalo) has been sober for five years and is now helping others with the 12-step process of recovery. He is even ready to start dating when Phoebe (Gwyneth Paltrow) comes along. His sponsor Mike (Tim Robbins) is supportive of Adam but wary of his own addict son, Danny (Patrick Fugit). Meanwhile, the incorrigible Neil (Josh Gad) unexpectedly finds friendship with the free-spirited Dede (Alecia Moore, better known as pop star Pink).

Perhaps the fact that writer-director Stuart Blumberg had co-written Oscar-nominated gay family drama The Kids Are All Right (2010) attracted this ensemble cast of big names to the film.
But lightning fails to strike twice for Blumberg.
Maybe the problem lies with the fact that addiction is not an inherently hilarious topic. And the light comic tone that Blumberg is going for in his debut directorial feature does not work.
Darren Aronofsky’s disturbing and harrowing Requiem For A Dream (2000) is a far more honest and compelling look at the subject instead.
Here, the stories never quite resonate.
The Neil-Dede plotline is too pat and feels mainly like an acting exercise for pop star Pink. She does an okay job but you never forget that she is Pink. And the chubby Neil borders on being a caricature whose main purpose is to milk some cheap laughs.
In the case of the Adam-Phoebe story, there is also some serious miscasting going on. Mark Ruffalo (You Can Count On Me, 2000) can play wounded and vulnerable in his sleep, but he has zero chemistry with Gwyneth Paltrow’s health fanatic. Watching them play at being a flirty couple trading cutesy banter will have you cringing so much that it feels like a workout.
The Mike-Danny father-son strand is potentially the most interesting as it touches upon issues of trust and forgiveness. But it feels slight, given all the characters and material the film is juggling.
What I did learn from the film is that the terminology used in sex addiction is the same as that used in alcohol addiction. Hence, characters talk about being sober and also commemorate their length of sobriety. The idea is that sex addiction is as serious as any other kind of addiction and not just a flimsy excuse that Hollywood stars trot out for their bad behaviour.
In the end, Thanks For Sharing plays like a well-meaning public service announcement. But good intentions alone do not make a good movie, so thanks, but no thanks.
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Insignificance
Hebe Tien
Wait a minute, when did Taiwan’s Barbie Hsu go back to making music? It turns out, instead, to be S.H.E member Hebe Tien on the cover, looking unlike herself in close-up.
The album warrants greater scrutiny as well. Expectations were high after her well-received solo outings To Hebe (2010) and My Love (2011). And, at first, this new offering seems to fall far short in comparison.
There is a clear theme – insignificance – and there are some gorgeous photos in the CD booklet, thanks to a trip Tien took for the album to Icelandic glacier Vatnajokull.
But there is a languidness to the music that threatens to slip into a torpor now and then.
More attentive listening reveals some interesting imagery in the lyrics and some points of interest in the music and her singing.
The record was inspired by Polish poet Wislawa Szymborska’s Under One Small Star and the title track draws on it: “In the ugliest world, I occasionally catch a glimpse of the most beautiful poem/ Turns out the darkest sky has the brightest stars”.
Her singing is appropriately light-as- air for Impermanence, while Won’t If Not Drunk has an appealing loosey-goosey vibe.
Not quite so insignificant after all.
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The Best Memoryz
Z-Chen Chang
This is not the way to follow up a good album. Malaysian singer Z-Chen Chang’s In Love With... (2011) featured Valuable Advice and Met Too Soon, moving ballads that showcased his smooth emotive pipes.
But instead of building on that momentum, The Best Memoryz is a collection of eight covers and only two new tracks.
The choice of songs to reinterpret is also not compelling, what with ho-hum radio hits such as Jacky Wu’s Do You Only Think About Me On Nights Like This and Kelly Chen’s Love What You Love.
There is a touch of melancholia to Chang’s voice and it is on A-Sun’s affecting Leaves that he really gets to shine.
As for the new tracks, ballad The Best Memory feels like a so-so attempt to recapture past glories while the more uptempo Love Is My Own Strength is merely passable.
Not exactly the stuff fond memories are made of.
(ST)

Control
Kenneth Bi
The story: Insurance salesman Mark (Daniel Wu) is blackmailed by a mysterious figure and is forced to do his bidding, including crossing some dangerous crooks. When he is captured by Devil (Leon Dai) and his men, he insists on telling his story to the big boss, Tiger (Simon Yam).

Control could well have been inspired by something like The Usual Suspects (1995), in which the protagonist weaves a mesmerising tale with a stunning twist at the end.
Unfortunately, scriptwriter-director Kenneth Bi (Hainan Chicken Rice, 2005) is clearly not in control of the material here which veers off course during the crucial denouement.
The film actually begins promisingly. Set in an unnamed futuristic city in slick shades of black and grey, it seems to be an Asian take on the cyber-punk sci-fi noir genre.
It is unusual enough to be intriguing, but apart from an excuse to use some computer graphics, the setting ultimately does not matter.
So what we are left with is the tale of a man forced against his will to follow the instructions of an auto-tuned voice.
Since the identity of the puppet master is shrouded and what he actually wants (money? vengeance? an advanced degree in puppetry?) is under wraps, it falls to the poor victim to keep us hooked on the story.
Unfortunately, Daniel Wu (New Police Story, 2004) is not charismatic enough to reel you in from the get-go and make you care about what happens to him.
There is some curiosity over what Mark will be forced to do next but the stakes are never very high for the viewer.
The supporting cast of normally reliable actors do not fare well either.
Simon Yam (Eye In The Sky, 2007) appears to be slumming it in a hammy turn as crime boss Tiger while Kara Hui is once again an emotionally distraught mother, too soon after horror flick Rigor Mortis (2013).
As the machinations get more laboured and more characters get pulled in – including Mark’s old girlfriend Jessica (Yao Chen) – you begin to wonder how it will all be resolved.
There is more story-telling involved, and it might leave your jaw hanging – not from admiration, but from incredulity.
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Chinese Puzzle
Cedric Klapisch
The story: The follow-up to The Spanish Apartment (2002) and Russian Dolls (2005) continues with the story of Frenchman Xavier (Romain Duris) and his friends. He and Wendy (Kelly Reilly) have split up and she moves to New York from Paris with their two children. Xavier then heads for the Big Apple as well where his lesbian friend Isabelle (Cecile de France) is raising a child with her partner. He later reconnects with his ex, Martine (Audrey Tautou), who has two children of her own. Along the way, for the sake of a visa, Xavier gets hitched to a Chinese-American woman.

Meeting an old friend after a long time apart can be a fraught affair. Can you pick up where you left off? Will the conversation still flow easily? Have they changed? Have you?
In Before Midnight (2013), it was a pleasure meeting Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Celine (Julie Delpy) again and seeing where they were nine years after Before Sunset (2004) and 18 after Before Sunrise (1995).
Add to that list of happy reunions writer-director Cedric Klapisch’s Chinese Puzzle. We first met Xavier in The Spanish Apartment (2002), a young Frenchman in Barcelona on the brink of adult and working life and figuring his way forward with the help of a group of friends from all over Europe.
In Russian Dolls (2005), the setting moved to St Petersburg where Xavier and his friends fall in and out of love.
And now, pushing 40, he is at yet another crossroads as life takes him to bustling Chinatown in New York and he has to take stock of his relationships with his ex-partner, children, friends and old lover, while keeping his publisher in Paris happy.
Romain Duris has shown his versatility as an actor, including his turn as a thug in the compelling The Beat That My Heart Skipped (2005), but he will always be remembered for playing Xavier.
He brings an easy charm to the highly self-aware and articulate character, someone who can be indecisive and passive at times, but ultimately has his heart in the right place.
The other actors slip easily into their roles as well, from Audrey Tautou (Amelie, 2001) as the older and wiser Martine to Cecile de France (Hereafter, 2010) as the butch Isabelle, settling down with a partner and baby and yet still behaving irresponsibly like a child.
Whatever their flaws and foibles, it is clear that Klapisch has great affection for this group of friends.
Apart from depicting their relationships with one another with honesty, warmth and gentle humour, he also tackles bigger themes of globalisation and culture through the trajectory of the three films.
There is a playful visual flair in Chinese Puzzle that elegantly conveys the frenetic vibe of New York City and lends the film an engaging energy of its own. It all culminates in a welcome bit of farce as the various plot situations all come colliding together.
Life can be complicated and never linear, as Xavier grouses, but he and his friends have also shown us that it can be a glorious mess filled with laughter, light and love.
(ST)

Love Lesson
Diana Wang
While Taiwan’s Diana Wang made it only to the final 42 on the first season of talent show Chinese Idol earlier this year, she impressed label Warner Music Taiwan enough to be offered a contract.
And the newcomer has since made quite a splash with her debut album as Love Lesson hit the No. 1 spot on the authoritative G-Music album chart.
But I am not quite feeling the love, even though a fair bit of the material here revolves around the topic, from ballad Too Young To Love to the emo title track.
Her voice is pleasant enough, but not particularly distinctive. The same goes for the material.
What leaves more of an impression are the upbeat Armoured Wizard and the sole English track, her cover of feted indie act Bon Iver’s Skinny Love.
Her take is a glossier pop version of the haunting and angry original. But the power of the song is such that it is easily the most memorable number here.
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The White Storm
Benny Chan
The story: Tin (Sean Lau Ching Wan), Wai (Nick Cheung) and Chow (Louis Koo) are three friends who grew up together and then signed up to be cops. Tin rises through the ranks and is senior to Wai, while Chow has to tough it out as an undercover mole for a drug lord. As they seek to bring down kingpin Eight-faced Buddha (Lo Hoi Pang) who operates in Thailand, friendships and loyalties are tested.

Oh no, not another drug movie, was my first thought.
Louis Koo played a weaselly drug peddler earlier this year in Drug War while Sean Lau Ching Wan and Nick Cheung have been on both sides of the cop-crook divide in other films such as Overheard (2009) and Nightfall (2012).
They have even teamed up in various combinations, though this marks the first time all three actors are in a film together.
But despite my initial reservations, The White Storm turned out to be a crackerjack of a movie which managed to be surprising in a well-worn genre.
It could have been another generic drug bust movie, but director and co-writer Benny Chan (New Police Story, 2004) ups the stakes by grounding the film with strong characters and extreme moral dilemmas.
The three seasoned actors inhabit their characters easily and also play off one another well.
Koo is the frustrated undercover mole, Chow, who is tired of living a double life. He lives in fear of picking up the wrong mobile phone and saying the wrong thing and just wants to be with his pregnant wife.
Lau is his superior, Tin, who is caught between wanting to protect his friend and pressure from his higher-ups to go after bigger fish – which means that Chow would have to remain as a mole.
And Cheung is the peace-maker, Wai, sandwiched between the other two and trying his best to keep their friendship from fraying as well as the mission from going under.
The film throws up some interesting questions.
What does it really take to motivate an undercover cop to stick it out?
Is a sense of duty enough or does there need to be something more personal given the sacrifices one is asked to make?
Later on, one of the three friends is put in an impossible situation of choosing who to save and, hence, who to sacrifice. Better yet, the movie examines the consequences of that fateful decision and how things sour after that.
Chan also packs in bursts of adrenaline rush in the action sequences ranging from a showdown in an abandoned building to an attack by helicopters in Thailand.
A pity then that the packed-with-gunplay finale is stretched out too long.
Right up till then though, the film has you in a firm grip.
(ST)

Midsummer's Equation
Hiroshi Nishitani
The story: The brilliant physicist Manabu Yukawa (Masaharu Fukuyama) goes to the seaside town of Harigaura to attend a seabed mining plan debate. He stays at an inn and strikes up an unlikely friendship with a little boy Kyohei (Hikaru Yamazaki), who later helps him with the suspicious death of another lodger, retired cop Tsukahara (Sansei Shiomi). A vocal opponent to the mining plan is Narumi (Anne), Kyohei’s cousin and daughter of the inn’s owners, Setsuko (Jun Fubuki) and Shigeharu Kawahata (Gin Maeda). By the end of summer, everybody’s lives would have changed irrevocably. Based on the best-selling novel of the same name by author Keigo Higashino.

The character of Manabu Yukawa, also known as detective Galileo, is a one-man pop culture cottage industry in Japan. The books by mystery writer Keigo Higashino are bestsellers and they are the basis of a hit TV series in 2007, and a second season this year. On the big screen, there was the excellent Suspect X (2008). So Midsummer’s Equation is a long-awaited follow-up film outing.
As with Suspect X, there is a central murder mystery set up. But what distinguishes the films are the fact that they are not just interested in the “how”, but the “why”.
Director Hiroshi Nishitani has once again delivered a puzzler that engages the mind and moves the heart.
Central to the stories is the coolly brilliant Yukawa (Fukuyama), whose unflappable nature and rational thinking make him great at deductive reasoning. “Truth is a map that teaches us about the world,” he says.
It also makes him something of a cold fish.
What is fun in Midsummer’s Equation is that we get to see a different side to him. He strikes up an unlikely friendship with Kyohei (a naturalistic Hakaru Yamazaki) – a boy who does not give him hives on contact – and even teaches him about the value of science through a very cool rocket project.
Incidentally, actor-singer Fukuyama was also very good acting alongside another young co-star in Hirokazu Koreeda’s family drama Like Father, Like Son (2013).
Meanwhile, the other pieces of the puzzle are put into place. What is the secret shared between mother Setsuko and daughter Narumi? What is their connection to a murder which took place in 1998? Who was the man arrested for that murder and why is there a retired cop sniffing about the place now?
Compared to Suspect X, the case here is a little less satisfying because it is not as surprising or clever.
But Midsummer’s Equation still delivers when it comes to delving into people’s motivation and the consequences of their actions. Just when the case seems all wrapped up, more revelations follow as the film teases apart the secrets and lies and anguish that have been buried within a family over the years.
And Yukawa’s friendship with young Kyohei pays off too, in a beautifully low-key scene at the end.
If you are looking for a humane murder mystery to mull over, Midsummer’s Equation could well be your answer.
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Conversations With
Ruth Kueo
The debut EP from 22-year-old local singer Ruth Kueo is a promising charmer. Styling-wise, she goes for young and hipster, but the songs suggest a greater maturity.
Opening track Wait is breezy fare that is easy to like. She sings brightly and hopefully: “There are obstacles on the way and unhappiness sometimes/ But believe there’s a Mr Right/If true love comes/ Don’t reject him at arm’s length.”
Ballad There’s A Love and the mid-tempo Metamorphosis showcase her chops as a singer as she navigates the emotional journeys confidently.
She wrote all of the lyrics and had a hand in composing all the music – a good sign that she has more to say in conversations to come.
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Rigor Mortis
Juno Mak
The story: A former actor in vampire movies, Chin (Chin Siu Ho) moves into a derelict public housing block. Washed-up and alienated from his wife and son, he plans to kill himself in apartment 2442. His attempt is interrupted by the other denizens of the block, from cook/exorcist Yau (Anthony Chan) to kindly old Auntie Mui (Nina Paw) who lives with her husband Uncle Tung (Richard Ng). Chin later meets the distraught Feng (Kara Hui), who keeps hanging around 2442. When evil is awakened, Chin finds himself battling vicious ghosts and a powerful zombie.

The Hong Kong vampire movies of the 1980s such as Mr. Vampire (1985) were often a campy mix of comedy and horror.
Singer-turned-director Juno Mak might have been inspired by them, but Rigor Mortis is a different creature altogether.
His directorial debut not only revives a moribund genre, but it also does so in a way that is unexpected.
For starters, there is an atmosphere of chill and dread that pervades the movie.
From the dreary palette of greys to the oppressive setting in a crumbling building, Mak, who also wrote the script, builds the suspense gradually.
And thanks to great make-up, costumes and some nifty special effects, he manages to pull off some creepy moments – no mean achievement in an age where genuine scares are few and far in between.
Mak’s affection for the genre also comes through in the way the movie is steeped in vampire movie lore and in the gripping action sequences, particularly in the epic showdown between Chin and gang and a powerful zombie.
While movies about ghosts and the undead tend to fall short when it comes to characterisation, Rigor Mortis deftly balances a large ensemble cast and actually makes the various stories mean something.
Auntie Mui (an excellent Nina Paw) and Uncle Tung (Richard Ng) are a couple relying on each other in their old age. They bicker sweetly and she is forever helping out the other residents with little favours.
It makes the horror of what subsequently unfolds more powerful because you come to care for Mui in particular.
Feng, meanwhile, is trapped in her own private nightmare and only her son, Xiaobai, keeps her tethered to this world.
And then there is Chin playing Chin, a washed-up actor facing all manner of evil even as he battles with demons of his own.
The world of Rigor Mortis is a dark one, but Mak finds moments of kindness and tenderness in it, and handles them with an effectively light touch.
And then right at the end, he delivers an enigmatic ending that will keep you guessing.
Is Rigor Mortis a meta movie about the hopping vampire genre? Or did you just witness a distinctly Hong Kong version of hell?
What it is, without a doubt, is a gonzo piece of film-making that is Hong Kong cinema at its best.
(ST)

Beautiful World
Where Chou Hui
In the early noughties, Taiwanese singer Where Chou Hui’s sweetly mellifluous voice fronted hit ballads such as Really Wish To Love You Well. After all these years, she still sounds great and there is perhaps a touch more depth and maturity in her singing here and on her last album Own Room (2011).
The title track Beautiful World points to a rocky journey but there is also a show of optimism here. She sings: “Even if there are misunderstandings and arguments/When I turn around, I still wish to hold hands and share everything.”
Apart from her trademark balladry, Chou also dips her toes into dance territory here. It is not that Who Cares About Your Love or Thank You, Liar are terrible tracks, but Chou just comes across as Jolin Tsai-lite on them. It can be a beautiful world even without a jolt of electronica.
(ST)

Commitment
Park Hong Soo
The story: After his father is killed on a mission in South Korea, North Koreans Li Myung Hoon (Choi Seung Hyun, better known as T.O.P from boyband Big Bang), and his younger sister Hye In (Kim Yoo Jung) are sent to a prison labour camp. To save their lives, he becomes a spy in the South in the guise of a high-school student and becomes friends with outcast Lee Hye In (Han Ye Ri), who shares his sister’s name.

See T.O.P run, see T.O.P fight, see T.O.P look cool riding a motorbike. Fans of the dashing K-popster will be thrilled just to have their idol front and centre on the screen.
Alas, this is a feature film and not a music video, which means that attention also has to be paid to the pesky attendant details of story and character development.
For a spy thriller, Commitment is shockingly boring. Stretched to an overlong two hours, it fails to build up much excitement or tension or even make one care very much for the characters.
The high school scenes sit oddly with the ones of T.O.P getting all assassin-y and could have been played up for greater contrast. It could have been fun to delve into how Myung Hoon balances hitting the books by day and killing off spooks at night.
But in the hands of debut feature director Park Hong Soo, the scenes in school feel perfunctory, with the workman-like purpose of having Myung Hoon making his sole friend.
Meanwhile, the action scenes are linked to some far-removed power struggle in North Korea. It is confusing to know who is on which side, not that it seems to matter very much in the end.
T.O.P does have some natural charisma and he can emote – to a certain extent. Myung Hoon is a young man pushed to the brink but you do not feel the extremity of his situation.
And maybe it is a North Korean thing, but his relationship with his sister borders on being too close for comfort.
Perhaps the film is really an experiment to test the commitment of the K-pop star’s fans.
(ST)