The Unborn
David S. Goyer

There is dialogue here to chill the spine. Lazy lines such as “I’m not crazy” and “Do you believe in ghosts?” are enough to send any self-respecting horror fan fleeing in terror.
Multi-ethnic babe Odette Yustman is the luckless Casey Beldon, targeted by a malicious spirit who likes to make strange thumping noises and possesses an eerie-looking four- year-old boy.
Her friends are even more unlucky since they get only second billing and primarily serve as sacrificial fodder.
Keep an eye out for Gary Oldman, who has gone from playing the undead in Dracula (1992) to exorcising the unborn here, in Hebrew no less.
The longer the movie plods on, the more ridiculous it becomes. And weren’t they already spinning heads around in 1973’s The Exorcist?
This does not bode well for X-Men Origins: Magneto, which writer-director David S. Goyer is attached to. The thought is enough to send another chill down the spine.
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Fanboys
Kyle Newman

The story: Eric (Sam Huntington) has lost touch with his high school buddies and fellow Star Wars devotees Linus (Chris Marquette), Hutch (Dan Fogler) and Windows (Jay Baruchel) after graduation.
When he finds out that Linus is dying from cancer, the gang, including Zoe (Kristen Bell), decide to embark on one last hurrah – to sneak into George Lucas’ Skywalker Ranch and steal a first peek at Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999).



Fanboys is a reminder of a more innocent time when everything was still possible and Jar Jar Binks had yet to taint the Star Wars universe. In short, it was 1998.
A little background on the significance of the date. The original Star Wars was released in 1977 and re-released on its 20th anniversary in 1997 as a special edition titled Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.
This heightened anticipation to fever pitch for the prequels, of which Episode I: The Phantom Menace was slated for release in 1999.
As card-carrying, or rather, lightsaber-wielding fanboys of the space opera, Eric and gang have fantasised from an early age about sneaking into Star Wars creator George Lucas’ workplace, Skywalker Ranch.
But life drives a wedge into their friendship after graduation, with Eric working at his father’s car dealership and drifting apart from his friends.
When he discovers that Linus is dying from cancer, he rallies the gang to realise their unfulfilled dream and be the first to watch The Phantom Menace in the process.
Actual fanboys will get the biggest rush from the film as the characters argue passionately about Star Wars and have their credentials as fanatics tested with obscure trivia questions.
They will also get a kick out of the cameos from Star Wars actors Carrie Fisher (who played Princess Leia) and Billy Dee Williams (Lando Calrissian), as well as William Shatner, best known as Captain Kirk in the rival sci-fi series Star Trek.
Even casual fans with some basic knowledge of the franchise will enjoy the flick, which includes references to lightspeed, Darth Vader and a funny showdown between the Star Wars enthusiasts and the Star Trek groupies.
Unfortunately, the force is not strong with the film and it has earned only US$600,000 (S$905,000) at the American box office after seven weeks.
Perhaps it has to do with the fact that this is 2009 and not 1998.The film ends with the ironic question about The Phantom Menace: “Guys, what if it sucks?”
Knowing with the benefit of hindsight how disappointing the prequels were and how it soured fan expectations, it would take more than a Jedi mind trick to turn Fanboys into a big hit.
(ST)

malacca, eaten

we've only just begun
this is pit stop no. 1
went to the loo
at pit stop 2
satay spree
pit stop 3
we roared: 'give us more!'
it was only pit stop 4
gula melaka glaze does thrive
on the donuts at pit stop 5
cold drinks and verbal tricks
at pit stop no. 6
bite-sized snack heaven
is pit stop 7
it was a full meal that we ate
at memorable pit stop 8
rise and shine
pit stop 9
can we do it? yes we can!
forward march to pit stop 10
almost extinct but not quite forsaken
tai bak at pit stop no. 11
into teochew cuisine we did delve
it was penultimate pit stop 12
what a great trip this has been
made it to pit stop 13!

Detroit Metal City
Toshio Lee


The story: All Soichi Negishi (Kenichi Matsuyama) wants to do is to sing his sweet, twee songs about love. But he ends up spewing dark fantasies about rape and murder as Johannes Krauser II, the lead singer of a heavy metal band called Detroit Metal City.
The increasingly frustrated singer runs away from Tokyo just before a hotly anticipated showdown with notorious death metal singer Jack Il Dark.


Music soothes the savage beast. But in the case of death metal, music is the savage beast.
Mild-mannered Soichi Negishi gets more than he bargains for when he unwittingly ends up as the lead singer of Detroit Metal City in this comedy based on a best-selling manga. To his horror, the heavy metal band grows ever more popular while there is barely an audience for his cutesy romantic songs.
His monstrous boss (Yasuko Matsuyuki in a total about-turn from her role as the damsel in distress in Suspect X) gives him hell and is so tough that she puts out cigarettes on her tongue.
Wedged between his demonic alter-ego Johannes Krauser II and his unlucky- in-love troubadour self, Negishi ends up bolting for home.
Last seen as the title character in L: Change The World, a spin-off sequel to the popular Death Note big-screen adaptations (2006), Matsuyama carries the film here with his hilarious performance. He convinces you that he is both Negishi and Krauser, alternating between an awkwardly shy geek and a snarling devil spawn.
When the worlds collide, hilarity ensues.
There is the priceless sight gag of Matsuyama running down the chic shopping street of Omotesando in full death metal get-up. He comes to a stop in front of Cute Music Studio, beats his fists against the glass wall in frustration – and succeeds in scaring the little tots inside.
And in the final showdown with Jack Il Dark (Gene Simmons of the metal band Kiss, whose song Detroit Rock City inspired the title of Kiminori Wakasugi’s manga), Detroit Metal City fans stoically endure the melding of the worlds of twee pop and death metal.
Negishi comes to realise that his mantra of “No music, no dream” applies even to death metal. As his mother puts it: “No matter what you look like or how you say it, helping someone dream is amazing.”
Still, you have to ask, what kind of dream exactly?
The reconciliation between pop and metal might not be fully satisfactory, but director Toshio Lee has delivered a funny, riotous and sometimes riotously funny film.
Detroit Metal City is an adaptation that works because it preserves the out-sized drama of manga which death metal, with its make-up and pageantry, is tailor made for. And which Wakasugi would have you believe is all bark and no bite.
(ST)

The Tale Of Despereaux
Sam Fell, Robert Stevenhagen

The story: Despereaux, a tiny mouse with oversized ears, is born into a kingdom which has been plunged into unhappiness ever since the Queen died of a heart attack. When the Princess ends up in the clutches of the dastardly rats, it is up to Despereaux to save the day.


Rats. After having their dubious reputation rehabilitated in the animated Pixar feature Ratatouille (2007), they once again have their name dragged into the sewer.
Even though the title points to Despereaux (voiced by Matthew Broderick) as the hero, the tale actually begins with the sea-faring rat Roscuro (Dustin Hoffman), who finds himself in the kingdom of Dor where soup is revered.
His pursuit of fine dining lands him in hot soup when he drops into the Queen’s bowl and triggers a heart attack.
Driven by grief, the King outlaws soup and rats, and Dor is plunged into a grey pall of misery. This is the kingdom that Despereaux is born into but there is more to come.
And that is part of the problem with this adaptation of Kate DiCamillo’s award-winning children’s fantasy book. There are simply too many ingredients in the pot.
There is the lonely Princess Pea (Emma Watson); the piggish-looking maid who longs to be a princess (Tracey Ullman); Roscuro’s search for atonement; Despereaux’s search for his place in the world; and a race to save the princess from bloodthirsty rats in the finale.
Yet for all the plot developments, directors Sam Fell and Robert Stevenhagen cannot quite grasp the art of pacing and the film often feels draggy.
A pity really, for it has a few things going for it. The visuals are lovely and given a fairy-tale feel with soft lighting. The worlds of humans, mice and rats are all depicted with great details and are carefully differentiated.
There is wittiness in the use of a snarling cat in a Ratworld stadium as the equivalent of a lion in the Roman arena.
The film also deals with several themes, almost as many as there are plot strands.
One of the key ideas is that of identity. Despereaux’s parents worry that “he doesn’t scurry, he doesn’t cower” and want him to fit in with all the other mice. Yet, it is his fearlessness and his curiosity, which set him apart and lead to his encounter with the Princess and his subsequent adventures.
The film ends with a too-neat homily about the circle of pain that only forgiveness can break and, ultimately, it feels like a missed opportunity. Rats.
(ST)

Race To Witch Mountain
Andy Fickman

The story: Seth (Alexander Ludwig) and Sara (AnnaSophia Robb), teenage visitors from another planet, have crashlanded on Earth and need help getting home. Enter cab-driver extraordinaire Jack Bruno (Dwayne Johnson) and UFO expert Dr Alex Friedman (Carla Gugino).

Look out, Brendan Fraser, ex-wrestler The Rock is attempting to muscle in on your territory.
Fraser, the go-to guy for family-friendly adventure fare, racked up three movies last year alone: Journey To The Centre Of The Earth, The Mummy: Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor and Inkheart.
But perhaps there is room for another player in this lucrative box-office genre. After The Game Plan (2007), about a football player bonding with his eight- year-old daughter, Dwayne Johnson is ready to step up and help shoulder the weight of PG-rated heroics.
In Race, he happens to be in the right place at the right time and reluctantly picks up Seth and Sara, whom he thinks are teenagers on the run.
Here, the plot police would like to pull over this vehicle for a serious infraction. Seth is able to manipulate his molecular make-up and pass through solid surfaces, and Sara is able to move objects, including controlling the steering wheel and shifting gears, just by thinking about it. And yet, they are happy to sit in the back of the cab until Jack Bruno turns up.
But Race has already sped on, leaving logic and reason behind in a cloud of dust.What follows is a standard chase movie as the government goons and an assassin from another world go after the conveniently telegenic aliens while Jack drives like a man possessed in the sturdiest cab known to man.
Then, as if having decided that, oops, some kind of female star is needed to serve as a foil to Johnson, Seth and Sara pinpoint Dr Alex Friedman as the one person who can help them locate their ship, which has been confiscated by the military.
You have to wonder if the budget ran out at this point, or if they overspent on that miraculous cab, because the flying saucer looks like a leftover prop from the 1970s. The ship in Close Encounters Of The Third Kind (1977) looked more impressive. So much for progress and advanced alien technology.
Johnson has a natural charisma and an easy grace, but he needs stronger material if he is serious about challenging Fraser.
As a reminder of the fickleness of the showbusiness, Tom Everett Scott pops up in a minor role as a government agent. Yes, that same actor from the candy-coloured musical That Thing You Do! back in 1996.
He is a stern reminder to Johnson that if the wrestling star wants to remain a contender in the entertainment ring, he will have to step up his game.
(ST)

Oscar-bashing is a hobby for many at the start of every year. Nothing the members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in the United States do seems to please anybody.
Yet they have almost never found themselves in the conundrum of nominating a movie that enjoyed neither boxoffice success nor some sort of critical acclaim, even if they cannot always decide which they prefer.
Just like the people behind the Oscars, the organisers of the inaugural Singapore Film Awards cannot make up their minds either. Some of the odd choices on the nomination list suggest that neither popularity nor quality was a determining factor.
The nominees in the Best Film category are Royston Tan’s 12 Lotus, Han Yew Kwang’s 18 Grams Of Love, Cheng Ding An’s Kallang Roar The Movie, Tony Kern’s A Month Of Hungry Ghosts, Kelvin Tong’s Rule #1 and Lucky7 by Sun Koh, K. Rajagopal, Boo Junfeng, Brian Gothong Tan, Chew Tze Chuan, Ho Tzu Nyen and Tania Sng.
Kallang Roar, which is about Singapore’s legendary football coach Choo Seng Quee in the 1970s, received middling reviews and earned only $90,000 at the box office. How exactly does the film fit into even the most generous definition of the word “best”?
You could also argue that there is a vast difference between Tong’s polished Rule#1 and the experimental Lucky7. To lump them together does neither film justice.
The new awards come under the umbrella of the Singapore International Film Festival’s Silver Screen Awards, which were introduced in 1991 with an Asian feature film component as well as a local short film competition.
To qualify for the Singapore Film Awards, the films must be feature length (at least 60 minutes in duration), shot mostly in Singapore and with a Singaporean or permanent resident holding a major creative role as director, producer, writer or actor. They also have to be completed and screened in the previous calendar year.
The inaugural nominees competing in the categories of Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Performance and Best Cinematography are a hodgepodge group that gives little indication as to what exactly the awards are meant to honour.
Are they an unabashed popularity contest along the lines of the MTV Movie Awards, whose categories include Best Kiss and Best Fight? Clearly not, since the experimental anthology Lucky7 received three nods for Best Film, Best Performance and Best Cinematography.
Maybe they are meant to reward quality? After all, they are associated with the Silver Screen Awards, which has tended to shower accolades on arthouse offerings such as Indonesian film-maker Garin Nugroho’s Ramayana-inspired Opera Jawa (2006).
In that case, one wonders if the bar has been set too low. Of the 20 entries the organisers received, six are being considered for Best Film. That 30 per cent of the local films released last year were deemed good enough for that category is just way too generous by any yardstick.
The powers-that-be should take a leaf from the committee behind the Singapore Literature Prize, which is held once every two years, to maintain the quality of the picks. Even then, there were only three nominees for the English writing section in 2006.
In fact, why have a separate category for home-grown films in the first place and risk having the Singapore Film Awards seem like a poorer cousin to the Asian Feature Film Competition?
Local films have been nominated and even won when going head-to-head against regional entries. In 2006, Tong was named Best Director for Love Story.
This year, Singaporean Alec Tok’s A Big Road, about the lives of three women in Shanghai, is among the Asian Feature Film Competition nominees. His film has not been released here, so it is ineligible for the Singapore Film Awards.
If the Singapore Film Awards are intended to encourage film-makers, then one has to ask: How much back-patting and hand-holding do aspiring film-makers need? The Singapore Short Film Competition’s list of past winners already reads like a who’s who of Singapore cinema today.
Eric Khoo won the main prize that first year for August; Tong, Sandi Tan and Jasmine Ng’s A Moveable Feast was named Best Short Film in 1996; Jack Neo won for Best Director for Replacement Killers in 1998; and Royston Tan’s Sons picked up two awards in 2000.
To their credit, the organisers of the Singapore Film Awards are not unaware of some of these pitfalls.
Ms Yuni Hadi, one of two new directors of the Singapore International Film Festival, said: “Taiwan, Hong Kong, Turkey and even Thailand have their own local film awards, but the question always is ‘Will a Singapore Oscars work?’ We don’t know.
“But I think we have to take a chance and begin this movie journey for Singapore cinema. The Singapore Film Awards is a chance for us to celebrate our local talent.”
Celebrating local talent is a laudable sentiment, but an award with questionable standards and one unclear about what it stands for does neither itself nor the films it is supposed to honour any good.
(ST)

Audition
By Ryu Murakami

Those who watched Takashi Miike’s hair- raising, nightmare inducing film adaptation (1999) would have had the experience seared into their brains.
The book is less showily creepy. Instead, it creates a sense of niggling unease, slowly letting the tension tighten and grow taut until it snaps in the horrific ending.
Since the death of his wife seven years ago, documentary film-maker Aoyama has not dated. A remark by his teenage son gets him thinking about remarriage.
His best friend Yoshikawa hits upon the idea of holding fake film auditions as the best way to meet prospective brides. He has reservations about taking advantage of a system where “the commodity an actor or model offered for sale was nothing less than her own being” but goes along with the idea.
When he meets the beautiful ballet- trained Yamasaki Asami, he falls head over heels in love. There are hints that there is more to her than meets the eye but he is too obsessed to see or care.
Without giving anything away, let’s just say that things end badly.
Early on, Murakami makes a point about modern malaise: “People were infected with the concept that happiness was something outside themselves, and a new and powerful form of loneliness was born. Mix loneliness with stress and enervation, and all sorts of madness can occur. Anxiety increases, and in order to obliterate the anxiety, people turn to extreme sex, violence and even murder.”
One could also read Audition as a feminist fantasy about wreaking vengeance on men who abuse their power. But Aoyama, while flawed, does not strike one as a bad or evil person. Does he deserve to be punished? Or was he culpable the moment he agreed to the auditions?
Whichever way you slice it, Audition has been executed with bone-chilling flair.


If you like this, read: Almost Transparent Blue by Ryu Murakami. His debut novel about a group of young people who dive headlong into sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll won the country’s top literary accolade, the Akutagawa Prize, and established his reputation as the bad boy of Japanese fiction.
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Slumberland
By Paul Beatty

It's official. Berlin is hip.
It is not just that this year is the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, that symbol of the Cold War. It is also the fact that the city has been steadily making its way into the cultural zeitgeist.
The New York Times picked it as one of the 44 places to visit this year, it was one of the key settings in the critically acclaimed 2008 Broadway musical Passing Strange, and here it plays a central role in the story of a man on a quest while navigating the cultural burdens of being black.
Ferguson Sowell, or DJ Darky, has come up with the perfect beat. After listening to it, one of his mates declares that “anything I have heard on pop radio in the last five years feels like a violation of my civil rights”.
All he needs now is the kiss of approval from a credible and influential source. This leads him to seek out the mysterious Schwa, a little-known avant- garde jazz musician, so nicknamed because “his sound, like the indeterminate vowel, is unstressed, upside-down and backward”.
The only clue to his whereabouts is a videotape of a man having sex with a chicken featuring the elusive one’s music, mailed to DJ Darky from a German address. Which is how the DJ ends up at the Slumberland bar in Berlin as a jukebox sommelier.
More than just a setting, the city is a character. And the pivotal moment of the fall of the Wall is beautifully described from an outsider’s point of view.
The themes of identity and the weight of history culminate in the erecting of a new Berlin Wall, a wall of sound that is “inspiration, encouragement, and hope” heard from the western side, and a “wailing wall” when heard from the east.
Beatty’s razzle-dazzle prose-poetry is energetic and rhythmic, and it approximates a free-form jazz piece transcribed to the page. The writing can be dense with obscure name-dropping and slang but just hang on for the ride. It's an exhilarating one.

If you like this, read: High Fidelity by Nick Hornby. A funny novel about heartbreak, growing up and music – listening to it, arguing about it and obsessing about it.
(ST)