Tanya & The Cities 2011 Live Concert

Singapore Indoor Stadium

Last Saturday

Before we saw her, we heard her.

The concert opened with the first stanza of Breathe, local singer-songwriter Tanya Chua’s first-ever Mandarin single from 1999. It seemed to echo the song’s music video where her face could not be seen. Yet it still became a hit on the strength of the track and her unusual, lightly husky vocals.

Twelve years and seven Mandarin records later, Chua finally holds her first major concert on home territory. Clearly there was demand for it as more than 90 per cent of the 5,500 tickets were sold.

It is such a pity then that it was largely an underwhelming experience.

There appeared to be some problem with the microphone at the beginning, which led to fluctuations in the pitch and volume, and some words were swallowed up entirely.

Some of it could have been due to jitters as well. Chua admitted that she was nervous as she was singing to an audience which included primary school pals, relatives and family.

It did not help that much of her repertoire comprised ballads and mid-tempo songs and too often it seemed that the choice was to go even slower when giving songs a new spin.

The static staging contributed to the sluggish pace as well. She was rooted to one spot for long stretches, with the only movements restricted to her left hand checking her earpiece – something she repeated throughout the night.

Things improved with the first costume change when she appeared in a pink frock and projections transformed the bare black stage into lamp-lit alleyways.

One-third into the three-hour-long show she finally seemed to find her groove, in the India segment.

She told the audience that she had hit a bottleneck in 2005 and had eventually found her passion for making music again in India, where she had gone to practise yoga.

Looking relaxed, Chua played the guitar and was accompanied by the sitar as she took on Rihanna’s Umbrella and Lady Gaga’s Poker Face. It finally set off a ripple of excitement in the subdued crowd.

Another high point was when guest star Kit Chan strolled on stage as Chua sang the National Day song Home. After this stirring duet, Chan proceeded to steal the show. She demonstrated how one should take a sip of water on stage – slowly and with style – before taking on Leslie Cheung’s Cantonese hit Chase.

At her best, Chua breathed life into beautifully emotive songs about love with elegant metaphors such as evolution theory, cold-blooded creatures and projectile motion (on Darwin, Amphibian and Projectile). While she managed to deliver these on stage, there were not enough of these moments.

She has always composed much of her own material but it is on her last two albums, Goodbye & Hello (2007) and If You See Him (2009), that she came into her own as a lyricist with songs such as When You Leave, Blank Space, Who and If You See Him.

Unfortunately, it was not clear at the concert if she had a stronger affinity for these songs because of the inconsistent nature of the sound and her singing. And for a two-time Golden Melody Award winner for Best Female Vocalist with a rich body of work, that was disappointing.

(ST)

Singapore Movies

Free for iPhone, not available for Android phones and BlackBerry

Singapore ranks among the top 10 countries in the world in terms of cinema attendance per capita, so there is definitely demand for information about what is playing where right at your fingertips.

There is no one single app that will meet all your requirements but the good news is that many such apps are free, so narrowing down the field to two or three should cover most bases.

Singapore Movies has a comprehensive listing of films in alphabetical order, and it includes Tamil and Hindi titles. Also, digital and 3-D versions of movies have their own separate entries which include a short synopsis and the venues and times of screenings.

However, there is no search function and when you make a booking, you are taken out of the app and directed to the cinema operator’s website.

The US$1.99 version (S$2.50, Singapore Movies Plus) comes with a tab for Cinemas, useful if you want to know what is playing at a specific cinema rather than where a specific film is showing, and one for Days, which lets you know what is playing where up to six days in advance.

Angry Birds Rio

US$0.99 (S$1.25) for iPhone and free for Android phones, not available for BlackBerry

There are plenty of movie tie-in game apps and some are even free, including that for the animated film Hop (2011).

The smartest and most fun tie-up, though, has to got to be between the animated avian adventure Rio and the gaming phenomenon that is Angry Birds.

The popularity of the original game ensures that this app will outlast the movie. Already, Angry Birds Rio is lodged on the list of top 10 paid apps in the iTunes store, along with the original version.

Beyond offering fans of the game new levels to conquer, Angry Birds Rio has also cleverly worked in elements from the film, such as carnival music and more detailed backdrops, to distinguish it from Angry Birds and Angry Birds Seasons.

Instead of launching the incensed fowl at greedy pigs, the aim is now to rescue birds trapped in cages and to mow down mischievous marmosets.

And that is just in the first two stages revealed thus far. One of the best things about game apps is the constant updates and there are at least four more stages to come for Angry Birds Rio. It is enough to make you do the samba in glee.

IMDB Movies & TV

Free for iPhone and Android phones, not available for BlackBerry

Who was that actress in the comedy Bad Santa? You know, the one who was in the TV series Gilmore Girls? Instead of being driven up the wall as you rack your brains for the answer, the IMDb (Internet Movie Database) app whips up the answer as fast as you can type “Gilmore”. There she is, Lauren Graham. This app version of the comprehensive Internet website also gives movie trailers, entertainment news and US box-office results.

This is a treasure trove of trivia no movie buff will want to be without.

Runpee Mobile

Free for iPhone and Android phones, not available for BlackBerry

You have your supersized serving of soda, your snacks, your sweater – you are all settled in for a movie. But then the film turns out to be longer than you expected. And your bladder is beginning to protest.

It is RunPee to the rescue as this app handily pinpoints the less-than enthralling bits so that you can duck out to the toilet and back without missing anything essential. It tells you when it is safe to go by indicating how far into the movie the scene is, as well as visual and audio cues that should tip you off.

The app also indicates how long you can afford to be away and offers a summary of what you would have missed. It tells you whether there is anything worth staying on for after the end credits, a most useful feature since so many movies tack on bonus scenes at the very end.

So how accurate is the app at identifying the dud intervals? Frankly, if the movie is bad in the first place, feel free to walk out at any point. If the movie is good, you would not want to miss any of it.

Showtimezz (Singapore)

Free for iPhone, not available for Android phones and BlackBerry

Compared to apps such as iGV, which offer only information pertinent to a specific cinema chain, Showtimezz and Singapore Movies provide across-the-board listings.

In addition, the convenient thing about this app is that it allows you to book tickets within it rather than having to switch between the app and the phone’s web browser.

However, the listings are not as comprehensive as those on Singapore Movies.

The layout could also definitely be improved. The newest movies are added to the top but that is not very helpful if you are looking for an older release.

You have to scroll through the list until you find, or do not find, what you want as there is no search function.

Also, tapping on the movie name takes you to the YouTube page which lists the search results for the title. You have to tap on the less eye-catching “Showtime Information” bar in order to access the screening times.

(ST)

Empty Handed

Chang Chen-yue

With the dissolution of Super Band, Taiwanese singer-songwriter Chang Chen-yue has gone back to producing solo material. Frankly, it’s a relief to have A-yue sounding like A-yue again rather than as part of a not-always-convincing group.

For this five-track release, he ransacks his trove of unused demos, which happily betray no smell of mothballs.

Title track Empty Handed is irresistible and, with its thumping beat and cheesy synth line, could become a getai staple.

The Mandarin lyrics go: “Oh life, has always been a dream/A beautiful dream, then I wake up empty- handed/Oh love, hopefully it bears fruit/Wipe those tears away, there’s still tomorrow ahead.”

Such endearing optimistic underdog persona was all but buried beneath the glitz and hype of Super Band, which also included Wakin Chau, Lo Ta-yu and Jonathan Lee.

Chang’s versatility as a musician can be seen on the other tracks. He raps on the cheeky and witty OK 2010, while the ballads Perplexed, One Day and Blues show his more sensitive side.

Empty Handed is a satisfyingly filling offering.

Love And FanFan (CD/DVD)

Fan Wei-chi

Congratulations, FanFan. Next month, the Taiwanese singer-songwriter is finally tying the knot with her long-time boyfriend, TV host and actor Blackie Chen. What better opportunity to celebrate love and commitment than on her new album?

The Most Important Decision, written by Chen Hsiao-hsia and Daryl Yao, seems to encapsulate how the bride-to-be is feeling: “You are my most important decision/I’m willing to wake by your side every morning/Even quarrelling is satisfying, not icy/ Because true love is not about winning or losing, there’s only intimacy.”

Her soothing vocals are a natural fit for ballads and there are plenty of them here. The uptempo Loss Of Conscience, by sodagreen’s Ching-feng, however, marks a welcome change of pace and has her rocking out convincingly.

The accompanying DVD is a little odd since it comprises birthday greetings and wedding congratulations addressed to her. On the plus side, you get to hear singer A-mei gushing about FanFan’s warm lips and Blackie getting all mushy.

All together now: Awww.

(ST)

Don't Go Breaking My Heart

Johnnie To

The story: Suzhou native Cheng Zixin (Gao Yuanyuan) is working in Hong Kong as a financial analyst. Her boyfriend of seven years dumps her, but she soon finds herself enjoying the attention of two men – financial hotshot Sean Cheung (Louis Koo) and award-winning architect Kevin Fong (Daniel Wu).

Film-maker Johnnie To is better known for his violent crime thrillers such as Election (2005), but romantic comedies are not exactly unexplored terrain for the man.

Without a strong gimmick as anchor, though – say Andy Lau and Sammi Cheng in fat suits in Love On A Diet (2001) – this offering, directed together with Wai Ka Fai, feels scattershot and adrift.

Sure, the cast is easy on the eye. The doe-eyed, fresh-faced China actress Gao reminds one of the pretty Gigi Leung, while Louis Koo and Daniel Wu are no slouches in the looks department, either.

Unfortunately, one is never quite sure why the two men are so besotted with her.

The relationship between Zixin and Sean starts off cute as they work in glass buildings facing each other, and they start to flirt using paper cut-outs and written messages. Inexplicably, he proceeds to stand her up after arranging a first date.

At the same time, she strikes up a friendship with Kevin, who looks like a homeless bum when we first see him but turns out to be a top architect who has lost his way because of alcohol.

These unlikely plot developments never feel plausible because of the ham-fisted script and the hammy acting, particularly from Koo.

Fast forward three years later and Sean is now Zixin’s boss. His idea of courtship seems to be to abuse his position by ordering her around and then trying to buy her affections with expensive gifts. It smacks of harassment, not endearment, and yet she is drawn to this capricious and insensitive man.

Meanwhile, who should move into Sean’s old office but a rejuvenated Kevin, who is still holding a torch for Zixin?

So now the film-makers are juggling two unconvincing relationships and striking one false note after another.

In the final showdown, it feels like Sean and Kevin are simply competing to see who can come up with the grander and more over-the-top declaration of love.

Modern-day romance has seldom seemed so dire.

(ST)

Limitless

Neil Burger

The story: Writer Eddie Morra (Bradley Cooper) is stuck on his novel and then he gets dumped by girlfriend Lindy (Abbie Cornish). Things turn around when he is introduced to a drug that unleashes the brain’s full potential and he winds up brokering a huge financial deal for powerful businessman Carl Van Loon (Robert De Niro). Based on the 2001 novel The Dark Fields by Irish writer Alan Glynn.

It is popularly believed that humans use only 10 per cent of their brain’s capacity, so the premise that a pill could tap into their vast mental reserves is a seductive one.

The exhilaration of this state of heightened perception is conveyed by the camera hurtling through the streets of New York and into and through vehicles, neatly illustrating the title concept.

What does the protagonist do with such powers? First, he shows off his newfound prowess by dominating party conversations and picking up foreign languages just by listening to audio tapes.

Then – drumroll, please – he plays the stock market and structures a complicated corporate merger. Pragmatic, but not exactly a gripping tale.

Even when the darker aspects of the wonder drug begin to surface, Morra’s story remains uninvolved, in part due to Bradley Cooper’s (from the 2009 comedy The Hangover) somewhat slick performance.

The loopholes in the plot do not help.

Why does Morra not do a better job of ensuring a safe and steady supply of the pills, given how important they are? He should be smart enough to do that.

What is interesting is the notion that there are others who have climbed to pivotal positions in society on the back of the drug. The film suggests there is a larger conspiracy afoot but it does not fully explore this idea.

Towards the end, the movie veers off into so-bad-it’s-almost-good territory.

When Morra is trapped in his apartment by some criminal goons who are after the pill, he is desperate to get a hit of the drug so that he can transform into super-Morra. Let’s just say there is blood involved and much suspension of belief. In the final scene, he demonstrates his fluency in languages by speaking Mandarin to a Chinese waiter. It is stunningly, howlingly, cringingly bad.

Director Neil Burger had previously done the intriguing period mystery drama The Illusionist (2006), but with his latest work, you wonder if his supply of creative juices is running low. Either that or he has had too much of it.

(ST)

Natali

Joo Kyung Joong

The story: At an exhibition by sculptor Hwang Joon Hyuk (Lee Sung Jae), art critic Jang Min Woo (Kim Ji Hoon) turns up and insists on buying the piece titled Natali. The nude sculpture is modelled after the enigmatic Oh Mi Ran (Park Hyun Jin), who is Hwang’s former student and Jang’s former classmate.

Let’s just get straight to the sex scenes. After all, it is the first erotic film in 3-D to open in Singapore since Avatar (2009) made the technology popular and it does open with a series of love-making sequences between sculptor Hwang and his muse Oh.

The coital displays are carefully art-directed. There is the use of soft-focus lighting, sensuous background music and strategic draping of bedsheets.

Unlike the more explicit Lust, Caution (2007), where the sexual power play is integral to the story, here it is pretty much sex for the sake of sex. Conveniently, Hwang is a horny artistic type who also gets it on with the curator of the exhibition.

One could say that it was to the credit of writer-director Joo Kyung Joong that the use of 3-D was restrained and there were no body parts protruding out of the screen.

On the other hand, it also meant that the 3-D effects were not adding to the eye-popping quotient of the carnal episodes. In fact, it was often easy to forget that one was watching a 3-D film.

If anything was being thrust in our faces, it was the sometimes ungrammatical Mandarin and English subtitles. Mind you, this is not a post-conversion 3-D movie, where a producer decides to cash in on the craze after a film has already been shot in conventional 2-D, in the case of the fantasy adventure Clash Of The Titans (2010). Here, the decision to cash in was made right from the start.

Plot-wise, there is supposed to be some tension generated by the fact that the sculptor and the art critic have slightly differing versions of what happened between Hwang and Oh.

But since none of the characters is particularly interesting, the film ends up being a slow-moving talkfest. The critic makes some melodramatic revelations towards the end but the effect is more laughable than moving.

There is an unintentionally funny flashback scene, where Jang is shown scrubbing clothes on a washboard by the stream as he gazes loving at Oh. Have these people not heard of a washing machine?

Or maybe the film’s producers ran out of budget after using it up for the muted 3-D technology.

(ST)

Miss November

The Girl And The Robots

Effervescent electronica, brassy accents, playful vocals - it’s all there on the opening track Hello Girl, Hello Robots!.
It is the perfect introduction to Taiwanese trio The Girl And The Robots, comprising female vocalist Riin and programmers Jungle and Chuck.
But the group also show that there is more to their brand of electronica, packing into the album the sinuous synth lines of 2½-inch Dance Tune, the pop-rock-edged Regrets, You Don’t Know and the mid-tempo languor of Do As You Please and Yesterday.
The lyrics, mostly by Riin, don’t stray far from affairs of the heart and the dance floor. On Robot Lover, she purrs for you to push her buttons.

Pairing kittenish female vocals with electronica is nothing new in Western pop – think Nina Persson in Swedish band The Cardigans, or Inara George in Los Angeles-based duo The Bird And The Bee – but it is still something of a novelty where Mandopop is concerned.

While Riin’s voice is not quite as distinctive as Persson’s or George’s, this remains a debut to groove to.

After an unrelenting diet of ballads and K-pop-wannabes, the attempt by the group to break the mould is itself laudable – even if these Robots could still do with an upgrade.

Face

Benjamin Lin

Behind this debut album is an inspiring tale.

Once upon a time, Taiwanese Benjamin Lin was a rebellious teen who got himself involved in gangs. But his interest in music was kindled when he came across an old piano in a church – paving the road to his salvation. Encouraged by a fellow Christian, who later became his agent, Lin spent two years writing, arranging and even producing the tracks on offer here.

While one hardly expects a gangsta rap album from the 23-year-old, it is disappointing that there is practically no trace of his colourful past in his music.

Instead, he seems content to sing about love and sexy girls. Lyrics, however, are not his strong suit, and they sometimes come across as generic and bland. On the ballad Sorry, he warbles: “Sorry, I love you, I hurt you/Sorry, I’m too careless and don’t know your heart.”

Good thing, then, that he is a better composer than he is a lyricist. The musical arrangement is interesting, with its blend of stringed instruments such as violins and cellos and more contemporary touches such as R&B rhythms, best exemplified on the title track which even throws in some vocoder effects.

Still, Lin, how about facing up to the past the next time around?

(ST)

The Eagle

Kevin Macdonald

The story: Roman centurion Marcus Flavius Aquila (Channing Tatum) sets out to recover the lost golden eagle standard of the ninth legion in order to redeem his family’s honour. He has only his slave Esca (Jamie Bell) to rely on when they venture to the north of Britain. Based on The Eagle Of The Ninth, the 1954 historical adventure novel by Rosemary Sutcliff.

Is it his masculine square jaw? Or is it his ability to project taciturn determination?

Channing Tatum, a military man in GI Joe: The Rise Of Cobra (2009) and a sergeant in the Army Special Forces in Dear John (2010), now straps on sandals and brandishes a sword as a Roman soldier in 2nd-century Britain.

The film begins promisingly enough. Director Kevin Macdonald paints a gritty and realistic-seeming portrait of life as a Roman in ancient times. There are scenes of combat at close quarters, of spectators at a fight between a gladiator and a slave and even of a physician carrying out an operation.

Things go south when Marcus heads north, beyond the edge of the known world to the Romans, for what sounds like Mission: Impossible circa 140 AD: He has to recover the titular symbol of Roman glory from fierce barbarian tribes all on his own.

Well, he does have his slave Esca (played by Jamie Bell), whom he relies on more and more as the latter speaks the native tongue and knows the lay of the land. Their uneasy relationship – master and slave, victor and vanquished – is explored a little and turned on its head but it is resolved a little too simplistically.

Macdonald’s documentarian background might be responsible for a long detour that does not sit well within the narrative.

When Marcus and Esca run into the Seal People, who are garbed in what can be thought of as tribal chic by way of Alexander McQueen; the study of the tribesmen’s habits and rituals that follows is almost anthropological.

Inexplicably, the ending of the film strikes a tone reminiscent of light-hearted buddy pictures that feels anachronistic and out of place.

The Eagle has landed, alas, with an ungraceful thud.

(ST)

Let The Bullets Fly

Jiang Wen

The story: In China in the anarchic 1920s, bandit Zhang Mazi (Jiang Wen) and conman Tang (Ge You) march into Goose Town pretending to be its new mayor and his counsellor to milk the rich for the benefit of the poor. But local mobster Huang (Chow Yun Fat) stands in their way. Based on a story by Sichuan writer Ma Shitu.

This film has been a runaway success in China, beating Feng Xiaogang’s tearjerker disaster epic Aftershock (2010) to become the highest-grossing local production of all time.

What is even more impressive about its feat is that it can be seen as an attack on greedy officials when corruption continues to be a sensitive issue in China today.

At one point, Tang counsels Zhang Mazi that in order to make money as an official, he has to levy taxes on the rich first, so that the rest of the townsfolk will follow. Then he has to return the amount paid by the rich and split the money collected from the poor so that 30 per cent goes to him and 70 per cent goes to the rich.

To which Zhang retorts: “Then we’ll be collecting taxes till 2010!”

Amid comparisons of Let The Bullets Fly to classic spaghetti westerns, there has been much discussion generated among Chinese netizens because of the messages that one can read into the film.

The word for horse and shorthand for Marxism is “ma” in Chinese, so does a horse-drawn train symbolise a China that is being led by an obsolete ideology?

Since goose and the shorthand for Russia are homonyms, is Goose Town meant to point towards Soviet socialism or maybe Soviet revolution?

And what does the title, a key piece of dialogue that is repeated in the film, really mean? Who are the bullets aimed at?

But even if some of the satire and symbolism fly over one’s head, what is left is a hugely entertaining film that brings together top-notch performances, great action sequences and humour that zips and zings. Writer-director-actor Jiang Wen also has fun with the slippery nature of truth and identity and giddily piles on twist upon twist as the story unfolds.

In part because of his imposing physique, Jiang seems to have an affinity for playing characters that seem larger than life, from the wine distillery servant in Zhang Yimou’s Red Sorghum (1988) to the bandit with a heart of gold here.

He brings a glint of danger and adventure to his roles that is also sexually charged, as irresistible to Gong Li in Red Sorghum as to Carina Lau in Bullets.

At the same time, there is a deep- rooted decency and chivalry beneath his character’s swagger that makes the enigmatic Zhang such an appealing character to root for.

Jiang is well matched by Ge You who plays the wily and obsequious robbery- victim-turned-adviser to great comic effect. Yet his portrayal of Tang never feels like a caricature.

Chow Yun Fat, after more dramatic roles in recent films such as Confucius (2010) and Curse Of The Golden Flower (2006), reminds us of the comic flair he showed in films such as The Diary Of A Big Man (1988). He has some fun here in two roles: as the local mobster Huang and as the mobster’s goofy body double.

A simple dinner scene with the three men illustrates just how good the film is: Their dialogue is rich and layered and the acting is spot-on as the camera swivels about and keeps what could be a monotonous and talky sequence visually interesting. Perfectly timed gunshots further accent the scene.

As with the black-and-white black comedy Devils On The Doorstep (2000), also directed by Jiang, Let The Bullets Fly could have been leaner than its 132 minutes.

But he has such a singular and exciting vision as a film-maker that even with a sprawling two-hour-plus running time, you will not want to dodge Bullets.

(ST)

Stranger Under My Skin

Eason Chan

Of the recent spate of comebacks in Mandopop, the biggest is, of course, China-born diva Faye Wong’s return to the stage. The hope is that there will be a new album to go with her concerts.

Meanwhile, the crystal-voiced singer has offered her fans a Mandarin duet, Because Of Love, with Hong Kong’s Eason Chan. It is the theme song to her hubby Li Yapeng’s movie, Eternal Moment (2011).

The idea of the two top vocalists working together is intriguing but their two voices are so different, it sounds like she is soaring in the ether while he is earthily poignant.

And yet, the beguilingly lilting song won’t leave my head.

It is a total contrast to the brassily lively Paradise, which sees Chan partnering Taiwanese singer-songwriter Kay Huang. While the talking point of his previous EP, Taste The Atmosphere (2010), was the trio of women singers he worked with, Stranger has the stronger collaborations.

Awaits Your Love is a gently affecting take on romantic longing.

All these are found on just the bonus Mandarin disc. On the Cantonese EP proper, Chan once again serves up an eclectic and engaging selection from the sweeping drama of Snow In June to the title track, which riffs on the well-known Romance d’Amour by Spanish guitarist Narciso Yepes.

The undisputed highlight here is Bitter Gourd, with its emotive melody by Kenix Cheang and masterful lyrics by Wyman Wong. It is a classic Eason Chan ballad in which his voice is pensive and tender and moving.

The humble melon has never been this satisfying.

Only For You

Show Lo

Am I listening to Show Lo or Will Pan?

Both are singer-actors releasing their eighth albums and have topped the album charts in their native Taiwan. Neither the material nor their voices are particularly distinctive.

The opening numbers here, Only You and Beautiful Mistake, sound like warmed-over K-pop while the ballads such as Silence Phobia tend to show up Lo’s weak voice.

Nowhere To Hide, which plays to his strength as a dancing king, and the breezy Let Love Show fare better.

It seems greater care went into the glossily produced 48-page photo album than the music album.

(ST)

The Lincoln Lawyer

Brad Furman

The story: Rakish small-time lawyer Mickey Haller (Matthew McConaughey) operates out of his Lincoln sedan. When rich playboy Louis Roulet (Ryan Phillippe) is accused of assaulting a young woman, it is Haller whom he asks for. But there is more to the case than meets the eye. The film is adapted from the novel of the same name by Michael Connelly.

Have they run out of John Grisham legal thrillers to adapt?

In the mid-1990s, there was practically a film a year based on his bestsellers including The Firm (1993) with Tom Cruise, The Pelican Brief (1993) starring Julia Roberts and The Rainmaker (1997) featuring Matt Damon. Indeed, Matthew McConaughey’s first major film role was as a lawyer in the John Grisham adaptation, A Time To Kill (1996).

But interest waned after a while with diminishing box- office returns and Hollywood has now turned to award- winning American author Michael Connelly for inspiration.

Director Brad Furman and scriptwriter John Romano have fashioned a competent adaptation from the source material and The Lincoln Lawyer is engaging for the most part.

McConaughey’s roguish charm is put to good use as the slightly shady defence attorney who is so jaded by what he does that the only thing he fears is an innocent client.

He is a decent person at heart, though, and the audience knows this because he is still on friendly terms with his ex-wife (Marisa Tomei) and he tries to do right by his young daughter.

The film draws you in as Haller goes about uncovering the truth and he winds up in a legal and moral quandary when he finds out why Roulet had specifically picked him.

There is also some smart casting here. Ryan Phillippe’s pretty-boy looks can sometimes work against him in roles but in this case, they add to Roulet’s inscrutability. In smaller roles, William H. Macy is reliably solid as a gruff investigator for Haller and Tomei brings some warmth and earthiness to the thankless part of the ex-wife.

While the climactic courtroom scene is suitably satisfying as Haller finds a way out of his conundrum, the film is not quite done yet. The tying up of loose ends feels too neat and convenient and a late-in-the-game revelation is not completely convincing.

Actually, what the film does is to make you appreciate even more legal television series such as The Good Wife which have to come up with a new premise every week.

While there is some legal jargon bandied about on The Lincoln Lawyer, anyone who has read crime thrillers or watched TV series about lawyers would be familiar with concepts such as attorney-client privilege.

It only goes to prove that there is indeed rule of law when it comes to the world of entertainment.

(ST)

Ed Harcourt

Esplanade Recital Studio/Sunday

Ed Harcourt is the singer- songwriter as Romantic poet.

The Briton wears his heart on his sleeve, writes lush and introspective songs about love, religion and alcohol and sings them in his evocative, husky and swoonsome voice.

While his music can sometimes feel baroque and even florid, his sensibility and use of language are thoroughly modern and equal measures of wit and self-loathing course through his work.

The evening started with him on the piano performing Lustre, the title track from his fifth and latest studio album, and Apple Of My Eye, which was backed by a thunderous beat.

It was a solo show but thanks to his adroit musicianship, the sound never felt scaled-down or puny.

He switched among the piano, acoustic guitar and electric guitar, and on a thrilling rendition of I’ve Become Misguided, taken from his first EP, Maplewood (2000), he looped guitars and programmed drumbeats and howled through the ending of the song.

Instead of sticking slavishly to the recorded versions of his songs, which were performed by a full band, he tweaked them and made them work in a live setting for a solo show.

With his keen ear and exacting standards, one could hardly expect it to be otherwise. So fussy was he about his sound, he took his time to tune his acoustic guitar.

When someone yelled out “Hurry up!”, he responded with a curt: “Don’t tell me to hurry up, f*** you.”

But he was immediately contrite. He apologised and added: “Now you can go home and go ‘God, he’s an a***hole.’”

He certainly had a flair for the dramatic. He was a charismatic showman who could pound the ivories or tickle them, pull off a sped-up version of Black Dress and, when the amplifier failed, walk right up to the audience for an up-close-and- acoustic version of The Last Cigarette.

He was also adept at roping in the fans to participate in the songs: to howl like a wolf for Heart Of A Wolf, clap along on the final number and sing back-up on Born In The 70s with the line, “We don’t really give a f*** about you”.

By his own admission, his performance was an “equal balance of chaos and professionalism”. Whether due to jetlag or the “Singapore brunch, which is apparently beer and champagne”, he stumbled over his lyrics a few times, including on Bittersweetheart and Shanghai.

Before going into Until Tomorrow Then, he said to the packed studio: “Thank you for putting up with me and I’ll see you again in about 10 years.”

Come back sooner and all is forgiven.

(ST)

Saint Etienne

Esplanade Theatre Studio/Last Saturday

English indie dance trio Saint Etienne brought a touch of 1960s Swinging London to Singapore.

Lead vocalist Sarah Cracknell was in a go-go girl get-up with her white sequinned slip dress, knee-high boots and feather boa while retro-looking footage played on the video screens.

Not that the band’s music is that dated. After all, their first album, Fox Base Alpha, was released in 1991. It is just that they have always been comfortable absorbing a wide range of influences and some of their music could certainly sound at home in another era.

At the cosy, standing room-only Mosaic Club venue, they showcased their range by giving the audience the thumping synth-driven dance grooves of Burnt Out Car and Like A Motorway, and then mixing things up with the gently elegiac ballad Hobart Paving.

Cracknell said she loved that the space was dark, “which means you can dance and I won’t see you, but feel free”.

Their hit dance cover of Neil Young’s Only Love Can Break Your Heart and the anthemic He’s On The Phone got the crowd going as fans cheered and sang along during the choruses.

The one constant in Saint Etienne’s eclectic music is Cracknell’s clear, delicate vocals, though her voice seemed a little thinner and strained in parts on the night. Still, she was a game performer and it was fun to watch her as she doesn’t so much dance as vogue daintily.

In the background, bandmate Pete Wiggs and stand-in musician Gerard Johnson fiddled with the keyboards and twiddled the knobs. Bob Stanley was ill and missing in action and when the band performed You’re In A Bad Way, Cracknell dedicated it to him as “he’s in a bad way”.

In keeping with the retro vibe, the band steered clear of the more experimental Sound Of Water (2000) and the harder edged Finisterre (2002)

Plus, there was the constraint of a short set, only about an hour long, as they had a second show later that night.

Regrettably, the set list for the first show contained only one song, Sylvie, from their excellent dance-pop record Good Humour (1998).

The sole new song they played is from their forthcoming album and it was dedicated to the “disco dollies and disco beavers and disco people” out there. Cracknell mused that the title should be DJ rather than Making Out To The DJ, which was what was printed on the song list the musicians had, as the latter title sounded a “bit rude”.

Makes sense since Saint Etienne have always been a class act when it comes to dance music.

(ST)

It's Time

Stefanie Sun

The sticker on the album proclaims that Stefanie Sun is not out to seek a breakthrough.

Instead, she just wants to be the best she can be.

It lets you know not to expect a radically different Sun on her first album in four years.

And initially, it does seem like business as usual. The slow-burn electronica of A Voice Within harks back to Matured from the album Leave (2002), while Tomorrow’s Memory is the latest in a long line of optimistic hit ballads, including My Desired Happiness from the 2000 album of the same name.

After all, why mess with a template that has worked for 10 albums? When a track such as KKY (the Mandarin title Kong Kou Yan means “empty words”) is so irresistibly catchy, who cares that its light rock leanings had previously been explored on First Day, off 2005’s A Perfect Day?

Of course, the other thing that remains constant is her unique, mesmerising and evocative voice. It is a pleasure to hear it again on new material.

One thing to nitpick would be that Sun has not raised the bar this time around after setting such high standards with her last comeback album, the statement- making Stefanie (2004). That saw her exploring different sounds on songs such as Slowly and Seed, composing the two tracks and writing the lyrics for one.

Listen more closely to this album, however, and the Sun who declares It’s Time seems to have matured after going through trials and tribulations. She sings on A Voice Within: “What’s with me, it’s like I’m trapped/Time is packed but my heart is empty/There was a day that time stopped/That I discovered only when the heart is free can there be/True happiness.”

And on Time And Tide, she sings: “When the wintry night grows warm, when the ocean is no longer that blue/When the moon’s pure white grows dark/It just means that happiness is no longer that simple.”

It is always tricky reading meaning in lyrics though, particularly when she co-wrote the words with lyricist Francis Lee for only one track, Fool’s Kingdom. This is probably the first song from the album heard by most fans. She sang it during her The Answer Is... Stefanie Sun world tour in July 2009.

Back then, it suggested that we would hear more of her own music and words on this album. While Sun did play a bigger role on the record, it was as producer rather than songwriter. Next time perhaps?

One More Time, One More Chance

Tiger Huang

Taiwanese pub singer Tiger Huang’s (left) Simple/Not Simple album in 2009 was a popular, acclaimed comeback that introduced her to a new generation of fans. So, it’s tempting to read her new album’s title and the first track off it to be plugged, Come Again, as an invocation of commercial lightning to strike twice.

While nothing here touches her manifesto torch song Not So Simple, the album is still worth investing in. There is more variety here beyond the whiff-of-the-familiar ballads such as the Tanya Chua-penned Come Again and the Ricky Hsiao-Daryl Yao number Let Nature Take Its Course.

The bouncy music hall opener Love Out Of The Box, the rock of Say It Do It and the sassiness of Does Not Bark prove that her smoky, husky vocals are versatile enough to handle a variety of material.

And on the ballad Exchange, Huang reveals her tender side: “My God-given stubbornness, you exchange it with your gentleness/To my insomnia habit, you say goodnight, may sweet dreams never end”.

There is poignancy here that lesser and younger singers cannot hope to muster.

(ST)

The Man From Nowhere

Lee Jeong-beom

The story: Cha Tae Sik (Won Bin) operates a small pawnshop in a dingy building and lives a quiet life. His only friend seems to be a little girl, So Mee (Kim Sae Ron), who lives nearby. When her junkie mother, Hyo Jeong (Kim Hyo Seo), steals drugs from some very nasty criminals, So Mee ends up being abducted. Cha vows to find her and will stop at nothing to do so.

If you need an actor to hold your attention on screen for two hours, Won Bin is your man. Even with an unkempt head of hair obscuring half his face, he prompts Hyo Jeong to remark that he is “easy on the eye”.

His breakthrough role came as a spoilt, rich young man in the romance weepie Autumn In My Heart (2000). He could easily have built a career acting in these idol dramas but instead of coasting along on his looks, he has chosen to pick roles which challenge him as an actor.

In this regard, he reminds one of Brad Pitt, who has sometimes defied expectations by taking on quirky characters in films such as True Romance (1993) and 12 Monkeys (1995). Happily, both actors have shown that they have the acting chops to pull off these challenges.

Memorably, Won Bin’s last role was as the mentally unstable son in Bong Joon Ho’s crime drama Mother (2009). Here, he is the mysterious man from nowhere who gets involved in a rescue mission because of his friendship with a little girl.

When we first meet him, there is a haunted look in his eyes. Cha is someone who has withdrawn from the world because of a personal tragedy but finds himself pulled back into it by So Mee, who latches on to him as she is shunned at school and neglected by her mother.

Kim Sae Ron, last seen as a girl abandoned by her father in the emotional drama A Brand New Life (2009), is adorable without being cloying and there is a gentle sweetness to her unlikely friendship with Cha. Because of the poignant ties between the two, I found myself more emotionally invested in this film even though the story arc is reminiscent of the action thriller Taken (2008), in which Liam Neeson is the distraught father searching for his abducted daughter.

Writer-director Lee Jeong Beom has also upped the stakes by giving the audience some truly vile villains. These evil criminals traffic in human organs and even involve children in their nefarious schemes. Admittedly, it is all rather manipulative but one hardly minds since these broad strokes add to the well-paced and gripping thriller by making it even more intense.

Cha’s transformation from a ghost of a human being to a relentless force of vengeance is exhilarating to watch. He turns out to be an ex-special ops agent with almost superhuman reflexes and Lee lines up several crackerjack sequences showcasing Cha’s skills with the knife and the gun.

The film was both a box-office and critical hit in South Korea. It was the top-grossing film last year and also swept seven awards at the Korea Film Awards, including Best Actor for Won Bin.

He might be playing a man from nowhere but he is definitely going places.

(ST)

Perfect Rivals

Han Yew Kwang

The story: Zhen Mei Mei (Irene Ang) and Chen Hao (Ha Yu) used to be lovebirds but are now bitter bak kwa business rivals. When a competition is announced, Mei Mei sends her younger adopted daughter Yuan Yuan (Mindee Ong) to spy on her next-door competitor. While disguised as a man, Yuan Yuan finds herself falling for Chen’s younger son Xiao Hu (Josh Lai).

This overcooked offering is simply all over the place. There is the food feud plot where the traditional way is pitted against modern and new-fangled methods, previously seen in comedies such as Chicken And Duck Talk (1988).

The contrast is seen between Mei Mei’s bright and shiny shop and Chen Hao’s dingy old-school set-up complete with wooden signboard. There is also a dig at her use of slick marketing with a Korean star.

But this was not enough for writer- director Han Yew Kwang to explore and he goes on to pile on the ingredients.

Fuelling the clash is the fact that the two business rivals used to be lovers. There is a complicated back story told in clunky chunks of flashbacks where we find out that Mei Mei was actually Chen Hao’s bak kwa master’s woman.

The younger version of the couple is played by different actors and just as well since Ang and Ha Yu do not make you believe for a moment that they could have been in love.

Then there are the other plot strands dealing with their children. The industrial espionage angle is merely a ploy for Mindee Ong to dress as a man so that she can fall for Xiao Hu. This gender-bender romance is another recycled plot element, seen in the hit Korean TV drama The 1st Shop Of Coffee Prince (2007).

The sin is not so much in the recycling as in the fact that it does not work. Ong and Josh Lai are a rather mismatched pair: She brings some spunk to her character while he lurches about unconvincingly as a drunkard. Worse, there is an icky scene involving vomit and her taking a bath.

On top of that, there is the adopted older daughter Zhen Zhen (Pamelyn Chee) – which, yes, makes her name Zhen Zhen Zhen – and the connection she forges with Chen’s older son Xiao Ma (Taiwanese singer Stanly Hsu), who is soft in the head.

Apart from the unwieldy story, there are smaller details which niggle, such as Ang’s bad wig and the bizarre character of Mickey (Malaysian actor Alvin Wong), Mei Mei’s bodyguard- lover-cum-creepy-mascot.

On his previous film When Hainan Meets Teochew (2010), Han took one idea – effeminate man meets masculine woman – and ran with it.

This time round, he tries unsuccessfully to mix heartwarming family drama, gross-out comedy and scattered social commentary.

Unfortunately, the result is too tough to swallow.

(ST)

Buy 1 Get 1 Free

Hanjin Tan and MC Jin

Pairing jazzy pop with hip- hop is like mixing smooth velvety chocolate with

piquant chilli: It sounds dubious when you first hear about it but it all makes sense once you get a taste.

On the follow-up to his well-received debut Raw Jazz (2009), Hong Kong-based Singaporean singer- songwriter Hanjin Tan teams up with American- born Chinese rapper MC Jin. Tan sings in Mandarin and Jin raps in Cantonese and by an act of alchemy, they complement each other perfectly.

The dynamic duo tackle a gamut of topics in this freewheeling disc, ranging from insomnia to relationships to happiness.

There are highlights aplenty. Go Slow, Goodbye, Old Friend captures the poignancy of people drifting apart. Girlfriend is a humorous take on a doomed relationship – “The girl I like/Treats me like a girl” – while Lazy Day is a laidback ode to chilling.

On Sleeping Pills, Jin raps that he is “thinking of getting crazy with the duke of sleep/Now where have I got to counting sheep”. Tan chimes in with his mellifluous voice: “I’ve had three showers/still can’t slumber/I’ve had three pills/and then got up for a hamburger.”

It is clear that Tan and Jin had a great time making this album and their joy on this musical adventure is irresistible. This is an album that will have you bopping your head, nodding in recognition or simply smiling in delight.

One More

Relax-ONE

Six years is a long time between albums, especially when you consider that Buy 1 Get 1 Free was written and recorded in 10 days.

The follow-up to Relax-ONE’s 2005 debut could have sagged under the weight of such a long gestation. Instead, it offers an enjoyable romp that shows off different facets of the Taiwanese indie band.

They rock out on All I Want and Come Out N Play, go slow on Parallel and Leave and show their cheery, playful side on Hot Radio and Sunny For

Today. Some of the songs feel like they could be about the long journey en route to their second record. They might be documenting their own perseverance on Lucid Dream: “Don’t let go of my hand, don’t let it go/Let’s finish the dream we dreamed together.”

And when lead female vocalist Summer Hsu sings on You, “Not a day, not a day passes that I don’t think of you”, she is probably hoping that’s how their fans have been feeling.

(ST)

Mars Needs Moms

Simon Wells

Those Martians are such a nefarious bunch. They cannot take care of their own little tykes so they abduct Milo’s mom (Joan Cusack) in order to extract her superior child-rearing ability to download into nannybots.

It is up to nine-year-old Milo (Seth Green) to save her, with some help from the kooky tech-savvy human sidekick Gribble (Dan Fogler) and the rebellious Martian girl Ki (Elisabeth Harnois), whose limited knowledge of English comes from a TV show about hippies.

The film is based on the book by Berkely Breathed, who is best known for his sardonic Bloom County comic strip. And it is clearly aimed at the pre-teen set with its young hero and somewhat heavy-handed message about being nice to your mother.

But there are some rather odd touches to the story. The villain of the piece is an ancient and testy female Martian known as the Supervisor (Mindy Sterling), who looks like Steven Spielberg’s E.T. (1982) with a bad wig. Somehow, she has managed to impose matriarchal control and banished the men, literally, to the garbage heap.

Too bad the film is not interested in this part of the tale. Instead, the focus is on the rescue mission adventure yarn which is passably engaging, if not exactly out of this world.

Sterling also provides the funniest moment of the film as she barks away in “Martian” as the credits roll.

(ST)

JJ I Am World Tour

Singapore Indoor Stadium

Last Saturday

This is a good time for fans of home-grown Mandopop.

Kit Chan had her comeback concert at the Huayi Chinese Festival of Arts last month, Stefanie Sun is releasing her new album tomorrow after a four-year hiatus and next month, Tanya Chua will be holding her first major solo gig here.

And of course, another top local act making waves is JJ Lin, who returned home for his latest concert after touring eight cities in China, including Beijing and Shanghai, last year.

Over three hours, the singer-songwriter entertained the capacity crowd of 8,000 with a mix of stirring ballads and catchy tracks.

He emerged on stage in a white and red coat, with white headgear that looked like it belonged in a B-grade sci-fi flick. After the opener Cao Cao, the coat was removed to reveal a silver blazer and pants get-up which showed off Lin’s toned body.

While he performed hits from across his career, 100 Days (2009) was probably the most heavily featured album and the fans were treated to songs such as the moving title track, the bluesy, jazzy Obsession and the popular number, Back To Back.

Ballads are a clear strength for Lin and while he said that he was not in tip-top physical condition, his emotive voice came through and he could still shoot for the high notes and falsetto range.

In a stripped-down segment, he showed his musicianship by playing the keyboard and singing a cover of Killing Me Softly, as well as the national song, Home, and She Says, the title track of his latest release.

A key asset for Lin as a songwriter is his versatility and apart from the slower numbers, he also crafts winning electro-pop. Songs such as X, Go! and High Fashion livened things up onstage and also gave him the chance to show off some dance moves.

The biggest jolt of the evening, though, was when guest star Taiwanese singer Jam Hsiao joined Lin onstage for Michael Jackson’s Black Or White. The tribute to the late King of Pop seemed a little jarring at first, but it was certainly fun and the two were definitely having a blast.

Hsiao then gave a loose-limbed and raucous rendition of his song Princess, ignoring Lin’s jokey exhortation to not sing too well.

The other guest star was newcomer Zhang Jing, who hails from China, and the effect was a study in contrasts.

While Lin and Hsiao had a bromance brewing, Lin and Zhang were like a mismatched couple when they duetted on Only Told You. It did not help that he was wearing a lightsuit that seemed to be inspired by the movie Tron, while she was dressed like the girl next door.

After a very long list of thank-you’s, the evening ended with some of Lin’s best-known hits such as River South and A Thousand Years Later.

He said that while it felt good to sing here, it also made him feel the most nervous as he wanted his family and friends to see the best of him.

But his nervousness hardly showed and he was confident enough to ask his fans to sing along even in the absence of karaoke-style lyrics to prompt them. And they did. It was their way of telling him: Welcome back, homeboy.

(ST)

Jay Chou The Era World Tour Live (DVD)

Jay Chou

Ten Years Of Rainie – Whimsical World Live (DVD)

Rainie Yang

If you did not manage to get good seats at your favourite singer’s concert, there is always the DVD release for you to relive the experience and from the best vantage points possible.

The footage for Mandopop king Jay Chou’s disc is taken from Taipei Arena last June, the start of his world tour which also included a stop in Singapore.

You get to see him acting as a human beatbox on Love Before The Century and singing about forgetting his lyrics on I’m Not Worthy, and all in close-up.

Live at the concert venue, the black-box contraption with nifty visual effects was cool but distancing as Chou was singing behind a glass panel at points. On DVD, it is mostly just cool since the question of distance is moot.

Even cooler were the little moments of spontaneity captured. The camera zooms in on Hong Kong singer Eason Chan in the audience and Chou then does a mash-up of Where’s The Promised Happiness with Eliminated, a song he wrote for Chan.

Another highlight is seeing Chou’s ex Jolin Tsai turn up as a surprise guest star and then watching the two dance up a storm.

There is also some obligatory behind-the-scenes footage, including a sweet snippet featuring his grandmother trying on his costumes and then attempting some dance steps.

The extras on Taiwanese singer-

actress Rainie Yang’s offering are meatier, including an extensive documentary on her decade in show business.

Yang talks about starting out in the girl group 4 In Love – the other members were Cloudie, Sunnie and Windie – and later moving into hosting and acting in idol dramas. She also addresses the controversy that erupted when she responded with “Only eight years?” after mistakenly thinking that the second Sino-Japanese War lasted 11 years.

As for the concert itself, Yang works the whimsical theme throughout. She “flies” in on a winged horse, sits on a swing that looks as though it is being borne aloft by a whole bunch of balloons and also wears a chandelier outfit and a Lego skirt.

All this is no doubt fascinating and entertaining but only for those who like her brand of bubblegum pop.

(ST)

How Do You Know

James L. Brooks

The story: National softball player Lisa (Reese Witherspoon) is dating self-absorbed major league baseball jock Matty (Owen Wilson) when George (Paul Rudd), who is the target of a corporate criminal investigation, comes along, forming a love triangle.

The love triangle is the most basic of romantic comedy set-ups. In this case, nice girl hooks up with party guy and then meets nice guy. Cue romantic conundrum.

Despite the cliched set-up, it is clear that writer-director-producer James L. Brooks is going for a more honest exploration of what happens when people meet and then gradually, and unexpectedly, fall in love.

The first time Lisa and George go on a date, she makes it clear that she is attached and interested in only being friends. Even as her attraction to him grows, Lisa holds on to that assertion.

And yet, despite straining for something different, the film gets pulled back to more conventional territory with the character of Matty.

He is a player who sleeps around and his casual chauvinism is played for laughs. Anyone can see he is not the right guy for Lisa.

It is also a pity that the writing is lacklustre, a disappointment given Brooks’ vast experience in television and film classics such as The Simpsons and Broadcast News (1987). Except for a moment of great comic timing in a hospital ward scene late in the film, the repartee lacks zing and zip.

Half the time, the script calls for Reese Witherspoon to frown and look puzzled and it is the hugely affable Paul Rudd instead who gives the more winning turn as the vulnerable George.

He can even take a lame line such as “You gave me temporary amnesia” and kind of make it work.

Among the supporting cast, Owen Wilson brings laidback charm to the table and Kathryn Hahn steals some attention as George’s high-strung secretary Annie. The blustery Jack Nicholson, as George’s wily father and boss, almost seems to be in a different movie and the criminal investigation side plot feels tacked on.

Caught in two minds, How Do You Know winds up feeling like a watered- down romantic comedy.

(ST)

All About Love

Ann Hui

The story: When former lovebirds Macy (Sandra Ng) and Anita (Vivian Chow) meet again after many years, both are pregnant. As they sort out their feelings for each other, they also have to decide whether they want to keep their babies.

It has been more than 10 years since the doe-eyed Vivian Chow left show business and her fans will be relieved that she still looks gorgeous. But some things have changed, and for the better.

In her heyday, she was the unofficial leader of a brigade of yunu – beauties who built careers around a sweet and pristine image.

For those who always found the entire shebang too manufactured and cloying, it will be a welcome surprise to see her cutting loose as Anita. She smokes, hooks up with a much younger man Mike (a doggedly earnest William Chan) and passionately smooches her co-star, Sandra Ng.

The two make for a believable couple and the ever-reliable Ng even makes the commitment-phobic lawyer Macy likeably flawed.

Macy reluctantly takes up a case defending ad man Robert (Eddie Cheung) from charges of spousal abuse and ends up coaching him on the art of making love.

The film also gamely takes on gender politics and discrimination. Over drinks with a group of lesbians, Macy becomes the target of criticism when the rest find out that she is bisexual and Macy spells out the irony of a minority group turning against someone who is different.

Meanwhile, Anita has to fight discrimination for being unmarried and pregnant at the bank where she works.

Like The Kids Are All Right, the film’s liberal leanings are never in doubt, though the point is never jammed down your throat. If anything, the message here is more live and let live.

Director Ann Hui, better known for her serious-minded arthouse dramas, handles the proceedings with a light touch.

While the feel-good ending is utterly improbable, it is also sweetly optimistic in suggesting that love, after all, is all you need.

(ST)

Soul Mate

Della Ding Dang

China-born Ding Dang is nothing if not consistent.

This is her fifth album in five years and it does not veer too far from the formula of her recent releases: Ballads tacked to drama series for mass appeal, with some uptempo numbers to shake things up.

The lass with the powerhouse vocals fares better on the emo material and Cold-blooded Animal is a standout in that department: “I keep turning over the map you gave me/But I can’t find the place I belong to”.

As for the faster numbers, More Love, Less Strangeness is competent. But in the English version Back-up, the chorus sounds oddly stilted: “So I don’t need a back-up baby you were more than enough/I know you’ve got your back-up and you’re putting her in front”.

The disc is pleasant enough for casual spinning, but she will have to dig deeper if she wants to be your musical soul mate.

Alone Doesn't Mean Lonely

Ricky Hsiao Huang-chi

A Beautiful Morning is the most joyful song about breakfast since Crowd Lu’s Good Morning, Beautiful Dawn!.

Composed by local songwriter Peter Lee, with lyrics by Huang Jun-lang, it will get you fired up at the break of day: “Oh the half-cooked yolk is oozing the taste of sunshine/The air is as crisp as the Chinese lettuce on the table...”

It is a definite highlight on Taiwanese singer-songwriter Ricky Hsiao’s fourth Mandarin album.

Things start off well for the blind singer with the poignant Seeing With Your Heart, on which he sings: “I believe that dreams make life special/Eyes that look at me differently/My loneliness, my courage, I undertake”.

But somehow, things are just not the same when the multiple Golden Melody award-winner sings in Mandarin. When he croons in Minnan elsewhere, the twang approximates that of a vernacular country and western sound. It sounds exaggerated the first time you hear it, but, soon enough, you wouldn’t want it any other way.

It’s also a pity that too many tracks here fall into a middle-of-the-road groove. The moving Last Train, however, shows you what Hsiao is capable of. It’s an emotional ride you don’t want to miss.

(ST)

I Am Number Four

D.J. Caruso

Attention Team Edward and Team Jacob, there is a new player in town and his name is Alex Pettyfer.

The 20-year-old British model-turned-actor is the titular Number Four, an alien from the planet Lorien. Another race of aliens, the Mogadorians, is hunting him down and eight others of his race, all of whom have been gifted with special powers.

For some reason yet to be revealed, the Loriens have to be killed in sequence and the first three are eliminated. Number Four takes on the alias of John Smith and tries to keep a low profile at high school.

He does this by promptly falling for Sarah (Glee’s Dianna Agron, above, right), who just happens to be the ex-girlfriend of the bullying school jock. So much for low profile.

The fate of the world might hang in the balance but there is always time for a teenage romance.

Vampire ones cast a spell because when someone who has been around for hundreds of years picks you – a teenage girl imagining herself as Bella in Twilight or Elena in The Vampire Diaries – gee, you sure must be darn special. Here, Pettyfer gets to profess that when Loriens fall in love, they do so forever. Teenage girls: Ready, get set, swoon.

The film has less to offer for the rest of us. The average episode of Buffy The Vampire Slayer was better-paced than this as it feels mostly like a build-up until the burst of action at the end, where Teresa Palmer makes a cool and dramatic entrance as Number Six.

But then you realise the entire exercise has been a set-up for what comes next.

The film is based on the teen sci-fi novel I Am Number Four, the first of a proposed six-book series, with The Power Of Six set to be released in August.

Will this turn into a hit franchise? Will a Team John emerge and splinter the loyalties of Twilight fans? Stay tuned.

(ST)

Closer

Pangdemonium! Productions

DBS Arts Centre/Last Saturday

It was probably not a coincidence that Closer opened after Valentine’s Day.

It is the antithesis of chocolate- covered kisses and mawkish sentimentality and when you do get a rose, it is a virtual one sent over a sex-chat website.

The play is about four characters in a daisy-chain of hook-ups and break-ups in modern-day London.

Writer Dan (Keagan Kang) and stripper Alice (Cynthia Lee MacQuarrie) are brought together when she gets knocked down in a traffic accident.

He later meets photographer Anna (Tan Kheng Hua) and there is an immediate attraction between the two.

Unwittingly, he helps to set her up with dermatologist Larry (Adrian Pang) whom he randomly encounters, and plays a trick on, on the website London F***s.

There is an affair, there are lies, break-ups and recriminations and that takes one up only to intermission.

Patrick Marber’s script demands a lot from actors because of the emotional roller-coaster ride they have to go through and also because the plot developments are barely plausible.

Larry is perhaps the easiest one to get a handle on and Pang plays him with a smooth mix of light charm and dark vengefulness.

Like a pendulum that swings back and forth, Dan is swayed this way and that between the two women and you never feel that you come to grips with the character. In part, it is also because Kang and Tan do not fully convince as a couple desperately in love and lust.

Perhaps the least realistic character is Alice the stripper, whose occupation seems to have been chosen mainly so that the audience can watch a pole-dance routine, which, by the way, MacQuarrie pulls off with sensual flair.

While some of Marber’s dialogue can be compelling and funny, it can sometimes feel too self-consciously clever and glib.

One suspects that Closer has been hailed as raw and edgy because there is the thrill of watching actors on stage spew invective and vulgarities at one another.

In the 2004 film adaptation, one even gets to see movie stars Julia Roberts, Jude Law, Natalie Portman and Clive Owen get down and dirty.

The shock value starts to wear thin in the second half, and even the stylish direction and versatile set do not mask the fact that the audience is not exactly getting dazzling insights as the characters needle one another about love, betrayal and honesty.

When Alice mocks Dan with an outburst of “Do you have a single original thought in your head?”, it feels, for a fleeting moment, like a statement that is uncomfortably close to the truth.

(ST)

Holding Back The Tears

Freya Lim

Freya Lim’s debut album in 2000 yielded the hit Living Alone and got her nominated, along with Stefanie Sun and Jay Chou, for Best Newcomer at the Golden Melody Awards.

Her early promise did not bear much fruit. After a follow-up disc in 2001, her next release was an album of English covers in 2007.

This is the Taiwan-based singer’s third Mandarin record.

She has always been known more for a set of clear evocative pipes rather than her looks. The vocals are in as good shape as ever and the 31-year-old exudes a greater allure now, judging from the lyric booklet pictures.

The album opens with the elegantly elegiac Wounded, a piano-backed number which Lim sings with an understated dignity that is quietly moving. The English version, Say What You Will, instead of being a filler, works on its own terms as well. Scared is another highlight, though it is sung a little too prettily for its roiling emotions.

Lim’s strength is clearly in ballads but she can handle more uptempo material, too. Despite the title, Holding Back The Tears is a bouncy disco-tinged number while 5 Days, from the TV drama The Fierce Wife, is a breezy guitar-driven piece with some memorable imagery: “You say you want quiet, I’ll be as quiet as the universe/If this is so-called love, it feels like a dream after waking.”

Silence... OK?

Hsiao Hung-jen

Taiwanese singer-songwriter Hsiao Hung-jen was nominated for Best Newcomer at the Golden Melody Awards and he is back with a third album after the explosively titled His Name Is F*** (2009).

This is an eclectic collection that encompasses the commercial ballad Too Free, the big-band jazz of opener Detective Galileo and the electro-rock of Shutter Island.

As with Wasabi Cola, the title of a song here, Hsiao might be an acquired taste but he is certainly intriguing.

808

Will Pan

From the R&B of U U U to the dance beats of Future Love, Taiwanese entertainer Will Pan’s eighth album mostly sounds derivative of derivative Korean pop.

Like the picture of him sheathed in black and sporting a sculpted salt-and-pepper hairdo on the cover, the record is all about posturing.

When he takes a stab at ballads such as We Are All Afraid Of Pain and Shoulder, he is shown up by his thin voice.

There is also a remake of girl group Banarama’s Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye. More bluster here: “Welcome to the next generation/This is so futurish”.

No, it’s not.

(ST)

What Women Want

Chen Daming

The story: Smug adman Sun (Andy Lau) is passed over for a promotion and the post goes to outsider Ly (Gong Li) instead. When he finds himself capable of listening in on women’s thoughts after a freak accident, Sun uses his newfound ability to steal Ly’s ideas. As they start working together more however, they begin to find themselves drawn to each other.

After getting married, singer-actor Andy Lau kept his wife squirreled away and hidden from the public eye. One would hazard a guess that he might not be the most persuasive authority on what women want.

Or maybe it is a piece of shrewd casting since Sun is initially clueless about the thoughts and desires of half the population and only gets clued in through some never-explained, crudely computer-animated process.

That might be giving this remake of the 2000 Hollywood movie, starring Mel Gibson and Helen Hunt, too much credit though.

Forget about gaining insights into gender differences. Chen Daming, who directed the film and adapted the script, barely has a grasp of what makes a good romcom.

The story arc progression from loggerheads to lovebirds is as old as they come, and for sparks to fly when they clash and then mesh, casting is of paramount importance.

Gong Li might be a good actress but here, sheathed in one body-hugging outfit after another, her cool disdain of Sun is more convincing than her lukewarm capitulation. It really boils down to chemistry, and instead of electricity, we get damp squibs.

Chen seems to be more enamoured of Lau than she is by inserting all these gratuitous scenes of him dancing about at home and crooning a ballad at a bar.

Admittedly, watching Lau slip into women’s clothes as he tries to get in touch with his feminine side has its novelty value, though the bigger shocker might be seeing him in an age-appropriate role complete with ex-wife and teenage daughter. What women, and men, want would be Lau’s secret for looking eternally youthful.

(ST)

No Strings Attached

Ivan Reitman

The story: Emma (Natalie Portman), a doctor, and Adam (Ashton Kutcher), who works on a television show, are long-time acquaintances. When they find themselves living in the same city, they tumble into a no-strings-attached sexual relationship. Things are hunky-dory for a while until Adam decides that he wants something more.

Can relationships that start off being only about sex turn into something deeper?

There is certainly a spate of movies eager to explore that question. First was Love And Other Drugs (2011) with Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway, No Strings Attached stars Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher and the upcoming Friends With Benefits has Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis.

Apart from featuring hot actors and actresses and tantalising poster artwork, they also have one other thing in common – they are all romantic comedies. And the moment they are tagged as that, there is never any doubt about where the film is headed.

These romcoms want it both ways, to burnish their credibility by taking on an aren’t-we-cool “edgy” topic and yet they don’t want to alienate their intended audience by getting their hands dirty with the portrayal of purely casual sex.

Which is another way of saying that despite the saucy set-ups, a romcom is a romcom is a romcom.

Portman and Kutcher are both likable actors and they are quite sweet as a couple. This was presumably a breeze to shoot for her after the intense Black Swan and it certainly speaks for her acting range.

Kutcher, though, sometimes seems to be still riffing on that goofball persona from the TV sitcom, That ’70s Show.

The twist here is that it is his character, rather than the woman, who wants something beyond sex, a situation which prompts an outraged outburst from his male friend.

Unfortunately, that is as smart as the script gets. Emma is dismissively described as having an “emotional peanut allergy”, which is not a satisfactory explanation for why she is so resistant to commitment.

It can be rather frustrating to watch the film at times as one keeps wishing that Portman and Kutcher had stronger material to work with rather than the lacklustre screenplay by Elizabeth Meriwether.

It made me want to emulate Homer Simpson when he pounded on a television set and yelled: Be funnier.

(ST)

in::music – Relax-ONE

Esplanade Recital Studio/Sunday

Relax by name, relaxed by nature.

The indie Taiwanese band released their debut album, I Want To Relax And Play, in 2005 and their follow-up, One More, came out last Friday.

There was, aptly enough, a laidback vibe to their 80-minute gig. Female vocalist Summer chatted easily between songs, describing where certain songs were written, the message of certain tracks and their initial hesitation at coming here because they were not sure they would have an audience.

While the venue was half-full, there were some true-blue fans including one who said he had a copy of their first EP. Summer’s joking response: “We’re old friends then. Come backstage for a drink.”

The atmosphere was chill but there was nothing lazy or slipshod about the music. The four-member group were bolstered by an additional drummer, which meant a more muscular than usual rhythm section and some unusual percussion instrumentation.

The band also proved to be versatile.

Their repertoire included emo ballads such as Kan Qing (See Clearly) and Ni (You), the humorously contemplative Fang Yi Ge Pi (Let One Rip), as well as the flamenco-flavoured Chun Xia Qiu Dong (Spring Summer Fall Winter).

Summer’s lightly husky voice worked well with the material and she showed that she could belt it out with the best of them.

On Xin Qing Dian Bo (Hot Radio), which had a calypso feel to it, she enthusiastically engaged the audience in a call-and-response.

They saved Feng Guang Ming Mei (Beautiful Scenery) for the set-closer and, to the audience’s delight, Summer worked in references to Singapore and Hainanese chicken rice.

This breezy number was used in the hit Taiwanese movie Cape No. 7 (2008) and is probably one of their best-known tracks.

As Summer told it, she almost had a role in the ensemble drama but things did not quite work out.

Still, there were no hard feelings and the song was dedicated to the film’s director Wei Te-sheng.

Relax-ONE came back for a rousing encore that had some fans up on their feet and dancing. And Summer promptly invited them backstage for drinks.

(ST)

Kit sings her way home

Kit Chan – My Musical Journey

Esplanade Concert Hall/Last Saturday

Local singer Kit Chan’s comeback is complete. After announcing a hiatus from the Mandopop scene in 2004, fans started seeing more of her last year with a lead role in the musical, December Rains. Last month, she released her new album Re-interpreting Kit Chan.

But what fans wanted most of all was to see her perform live once more as a singer, and so tickets to her two gigs at the Huayi Chinese Festival of Arts were quickly snapped up.

They were not disappointed. She was in fine form and her rich, warm tones, particularly in the lower register, kept the audience captivated on her familiar hits such as Heartache and Tug Of War.

As a not-quite-musical and not-quite-concert however, My Musical Journey was not quite satisfying.

There was a chronological narrative arc, delivered by former deejay Danny Yeo onstage, to give some structure to the programme. But it merely felt like an overlong gushy testimonial from a friend and fan.

The time would have been better spent having Chan do her thing, considering that the show was a relatively short 90 minutes.

Nor did the segments provide much of an insight into her musical journey. And even if there had been any interesting anecdotes or poignant reminiscences, one would rather have heard it from Chan herself.

The decision to have her perform with the Singapore Chinese Orchestra and the Meridian Junior College Choir worked better. It was certainly a novelty hearing pop songs presented in this unusual fashion and the plaintive erhu solo of Worry was a lovely interlude.

For the most part though, the orchestra and choir played a supporting role as the unmistakable star of the evening was Chan.

She was delicate and vulnerable on the Cantonese ballad Waiting, beguiling on the late Leslie Cheung’s Chase and she shone on the show-stopping Dazzling. She even took the hoary old chestnut that was The Moon Represents My Heart and made the hackneyed sentiments sound heartfelt.

The inclusion of several covers was not surprising given that her new album consists wholly of them, but it does point to a certain conundrum.

Despite releasing more than 10 albums, she has relatively few big, well-known hits. It would be interesting to see how she handles the line-up when she gets round to doing her solo pop concert.

For the encore, she gave fans a mash-up of Michael Buble’s Home and her signature song, Home. While she was relaxed and comfortable on stage throughout, it would have been nice to see more of this playful side of her.

The gig proper ended with the Mandarin version of the Dick Lee-penned Home. As she held court with this National Day song in her white blouse and full red skirt, the message was clear: A national icon was back where she belonged – on stage and in the spotlight. She was home.

(ST)

Playboyz

Various Artists

Led by Taiwanese singer Alien Huang, the 12-member Playboyz comprise several male acts – including 2moro and Wei Kuo-yuan – and they have all come together to sing a festive track Happy New Year.

Calling this a compilation album feels like something of a disservice to the band, FUN4, which are part of the group: The band wrote three of the seven tracks here, composed the music for another three, and also sing on one titled Let Me Go Wild.

The feel here is hence fairly cohesive and reminiscent of Huang’s hip and youthful Love Hero (2009). No surprise, really, considering that FUN4 also contributed songs to that record.

Huang sings another FUN4 composition here, Replicant, a disc highlight with its contemplative lyrics: “Lonely people replicate even lonelier people/No one can claim to be a hero and withstand love’s vanity.”

Tracks such as Love Has To Be Quick by SK8 and Enough Or Not by The Gentlemen are more straightforward, chirpy pop-rock confections.

With this effort and two EPs under their belts, it is time for FUN4 to quit playing around as boys and release their full-fledged debut.

Once upon a time, when Victor came across Jimmy...

Victor Wong

The works of Taiwanese illustrator Jimmy Liao are colourful and filled with whimsy.

Disappointing, then, that the musical palette inspired by his illustrations is, overwhelmingly, one of greys.

Malaysian singer Victor Wong had starred in the stage musical based on Liao’s graphic novel, A Chance Of Sunshine, and this was the commemorative album sold during the tour.

The titles of the songs already give the game away: Down And Lonely, Thoroughly Hurt By The Rain and Anyway, We’ve All Loved And Nobody Owes Anything. Wong’s bland voice does not help the ballad-heavy proceedings and it is a relief when Waa Wei joins in on Love In Bohemia and Valen Hsu on Occasional Love.

Unfortunately, when Victor met Jimmy, nothing much happened.

Phantasm

Zhang Zuo En

I Don’t Wanna Be A CEO

Snow Ng

Indie label Playground Music gives us two noteworthy singles from two Singapore-based female singer-songwriters.

Phantasm is moodily atmospheric with its piano and accordion accompaniment, as Zhang Zuo En fantasises about a beautiful encounter in Paris. The truth is crueller though: “I have no expectations of you/I don’t wish to wake from the excitement of Paris’ gorgeousness.”

Snow Ng’s I Don’t Wanna Be A CEO is a totally different proposition. In it, she tackles with a humorous touch, society’s obsession with getting ahead: “I have my own brilliance, you say I’m the rarest of fools.” Bonus points for coming up with a set of Cantonese lyrics for I Don’t Wanna Be The Emperor.

(ST)

Just Go With It

Dennis Dugan

Despite the hokey premise, this turned out to be rather enjoyable. Adam Sandler is Danny, a single plastic surgeon who scores with women by putting on a wedding band. It is a cheap trick that works till he falls for the young and busty Palmer (Brooklyn Decker).

To win her over, he ropes in his assistant Katherine (Jennifer Aniston) to be his fake wife and then pretends to divorce her. Lies pile up and her children are roped in for the con job, and everyone jets off to Hawaii. No prizes for guessing where this is headed but the journey is a pleasant one. Sandler is mostly sweet rather than annoying, Aniston is grounded and likable and, surprise, the usually oh-so-serious Nicole Kidman has fun as Katherine’s ultra-competitive frenemy.

Throw in some laughs, an ovine emergency and easy rapport between Sandler and Aniston, and after a while, you won’t even mind the set-up too much.

(ST)

Under The Hawthorn Tree

Zhang Yimou

The story: During the Cultural Revolution in China, high school senior Jing (Zhou Dongyu) is sent from the city to learn from peasants in a remote village. The place is famous for a hawthorn tree whose flowers are said to bloom red instead of white as the blood of martyrs have drenched the soil. A chaste romance between her and a soldier, Sun (Shawn Dou) blooms while she is there.

China auteur Zhang Yimou is known for uncovering fresh-faced ingenues in his films.

First was Gong Li in Red Sorghum (1987) and then there was Zhang Ziyi in The Road Home (1999). Both have gone on to achieve widespread acclaim and international recognition in movies such as To Live (1994) and House Of Flying Daggers (2004).

Which means, if all goes well, there is much for newcomer Zhou Dongyu, still just 18, to look forward to.

She slips easily into the role of Jing, who blossoms from a timid innocent to someone who fights for her happiness. Time will tell if this is just shrewd casting or if Zhou really has the acting chops to go far.

More unusual for Zhang is the presence of a potential breakout male star in the film. Shawn Dou’s role as Sun brings to mind Leonardo DiCaprio’s Jack in Titanic (1997), an earnest and irresistibly good guy with no darkness in him whatsoever.

With the film resting on their slender shoulders, he and Zhou bring a touching believability to this tale of young love, which is adapted from the 2007 novel by Ai Mi, Hawthorn Tree Forever.

The Cultural Revolution drives a wedge between the two young lovers given their different political backgrounds. But the repressed nature of society then makes this pure love story possible.

It is hard to imagine such a wholesome tale, with the chastest bed scene, taking place in this time and clime.

Of course no one is hankering after any good old days of the Cultural Revolution.

The final image of the hawthorn flowers in full, white bloom is a poignant and defiant rebuke to the lies and myths of that turbulent time.

(ST)

in::music – Chet Lam Travelling LYFE

Esplanade Recital Studio/Last Saturday

Hong Kong singer-songwriter Chet Lam has clear, clean-cut vocals to go with his boy- next-door looks but he has no interest in being a cookie-cutter pop product.

The “LYFE” in the title of the gig in fact refers to the record label he set up from the get-go in order to maintain creative control over the music he puts out.

The 34-year-old sang in Cantonese, Mandarin and English at his two sold-out Huayi sessions, which were divided into sections titled Love, Lust, Heart, Home and Road Again. Affairs of the heart, home and travel were predominant themes in his songs.

Despite the onset of a bout of flu, he gamely put on a one-man show with his guitars and looper pedal for close to two hours, kicking things off with a spirited rendition of Suddenly Single from his first album Pillow Songs (2003), which is in Cantonese.

Unlike much of Chinese pop which is scrubbed clean of lust and desire, the English chorus here goes: “Can have a one night stand, if you got a chance/Back to the wonderland, see some good old friends.”

And on numbers such as Victoria – “Victoria, you are whose home, who is your home” – he probed the idea of belonging and identity.

He even took on politics in Two Brothers, which alludes to Hong Kong and Taiwan and their relationship to mainland China, and joked that Singapore was a cousin.

Just as he does not mince his words in interviews, he is pretty outspoken at his concerts as well.

He shared that he loved movies and vampires and used to be a fan of the Twilight flicks until the vampire Edward took off his shirt – and did not burn in the sunlight. He then added a reference to a more adult-oriented vampire TV series: “F*** Twilight, give me True Blood. Give me some violence and sex.”

He also flirted with a male audience member, improvising the line “You’re really cute” into a number.

At points, his banter was stinging. Asking whether there was anyone who did not understand when he spoke in Mandarin, he answered himself saying that since this was Singapore, no one would say anything contrary even if he did not get it.

For the most part, though, the audience seemed to enjoy his candour and were happy to snap their fingers to the breezy Me & Instant Noodles and clap along at his request.

The set closed with one of his best-known songs, the yearning The Best Is Yet To Come, first sung by his younger sister Eman as part of the female duo at17.

The encore ended on a familiar note when he performed By My Side, the English version of the hit he wrote for Stefanie Sun, Yu Jian (To Meet).

Lam has proven that he can pen hits but, more importantly, he has shown that he has something to say, whether withering or wistful. And I, for one, am glad to see him breaking the mould.

(ST)

The Chinese New Year would not be the same without pineapple tarts, bak kwa, red packets and, of course, he sui pian, or Chinese New Year films.

Life! takes a look at the offerings out there from the comedy I Love Hong Kong to local flick Homecoming and tells you which ones are worth catching.

The idea of the he sui pian as a genre can probably be traced back to Hong Kong in the 1980s. It usually involves a star-studded ensemble cast coming together to make a comedy to start the new year on a light and cheery note.

A prime example would be Eighth Happiness (1988), which starred Chow Yun Fat, Carol Cheng, Jacky Cheung and Cherie Chung. You could tell who the big stars of the day were just by looking at the names above the title.

The plot is often of secondary consideration as what is more important are the elements of comforting familiarity and a family-friendly, feel-good vibe.

Since Chinese New Year is a time to honour traditions, several of the films this year stick with the tried-and-true in whipping up festive cheer: well-known stars and sequels rule.

Hong Kong comedienne Sandra Ng and the territory’s favourite tanned leading man Louis Koo are each in two films.

They team up as a retired superhero couple in Mr And Mrs Incredible. Ng further tickles the funny bone in I Love Hong Kong, while Koo hams it up as a make-up artist in All’s Well End’s Well 2011.

All’s Well End’s Well is the fifth instalment of a popular franchise that began in 1992. Apart from sharing the same English title, the films are not linked plot-wise.

Also, China’s Ge You and Taiwan’s Shu Qi team up for the sequel to their hit romantic comedy If You Are The One (2008).

Closer to home, there is Singaporean director Kelvin Tong’s nostalgic It’s A Great Great World with its huge cast of local television stars and Lee Thean-jeen’s Homecoming, which features a roster of home-grown and Malaysian artists including Jack Neo, Mark Lee and A-niu.

For those who want to escape from all things Chinese New Year, there is also counter-programming in the form of the cougar rom-com starring Catherine Zeta-Jones, The Rebound, and the nautical suspense thriller Triangle.

The variety of the movies on offer should prove to be a big enough carrot in drawing audiences to the cineplex as they usher in the year of the rabbit.

I Love Hong Kong

Eric Tsang, Chung Shu Kai

Cast: Tony Leung Ka Fai, Sandra Ng, Eric Tsang, Anita Yuen, Aarif Lee

What you need to know: Shun (Leung) returns to the cramped living quarters of the housing estate he grew up in after he goes bankrupt.

His wife (Ng) and three children, including Aarif Lee as a cop chasing after illegal hawkers, have to cope with downgrading while Shun has to deal with an ex-girlfriend (Yuen) and an old buddy (Tsang) who disappeared with a sum of money 30 years ago.

I Love Hong Kong is an affectionate celebration of the ties that bind a community, families, relationships and friendships.

And instead of being preachy about it, the wholesome messages are delivered with jolts of madcap comedy. While some of the Cantonese humour will inevitably be lost in translation, the best scene here, in which Ng gets exaggeratedly beaten up as a stunt body double, will have you guffawing in any language.

The mass dance routine and new year greeting at the end only add to the feel- good vibe.

All's Well End's Well 2011

Chan Hing Ka, Janet Chun

Cast: Donnie Yen, Carina Lau, Louis Koo, Cecilia Cheung, Raymond Wong

What you need to know: Koo plays make-up artist Sammy, who gets roped in to run a cosmetics company that Ken (Wong) buys for his girlfriend.

In turn, Sammy gets his buddy Ron (Yen) to help out. Ron still has feelings for his flaky first girlfriend Mona (Lau), while Sammy finds himself falling for his earnest assistant Claire (Cheung) even as he helps the billionaire Syd (Chapman To) to pursue her.

The novelty of seeing Yen in a non- gongfu role and Cheung making a comeback after a sex photo scandal is not enough to compensate for the tiresome cliches and zilch chemistry between the assorted couples.

You would have been soured by the latest instalment in this popular franchise by the time the cast’s obligatory new year greeting rolls around.

If You Are The One II

Feng Xiaogang

Cast: Ge You, Shu Qi, Sun Honglei, Yao Chen

What you need to know: The beautiful Xiaoxiao (Shu) and the wise-cracking, bald-headed Qin Fen (Ge) dated in the first movie and things get more serious in the sequel.

He proposes to her and they have a trial marriage by pretending to be an old couple for whom the sizzle has long since fizzled out.

In the meantime, their friends Mango (Yao) and Xiangshan (Sun) split up and then the latter finds out that he has cancer.

The unlikely but utterly believable pairing of Shu and Ge turned the first film into a blockbuster hit.

Kudos to director Feng Xiaogang (China’s master of he sui pian) for not totally playing it safe in his first-ever sequel and he throws in intriguing ideas about a divorce ceremony and a living funeral for one to mull over.

Just one teeny problem – separation and death are not exactly the most festive of topics.

Homecoming

Lee Thean-jeen

Cast: Mark Lee, Jack Neo, A-niu, Jacelyn Tay, Huang Wenhong, Rebecca Lim

What you need to know: It is Chinese New Year’s eve and there is a crisis in Chef Daniel’s (Lee) kitchen. His manager (Tay) has to scramble for last-minute help after he fires everyone.

Meanwhile, Karen (Neo) and her son (A-niu) are travelling back to Kuala Lumpur for their reunion dinner.

On their bus journey north, they run into the chef’s runaway teenage daughter (Koe Yeet) and cross paths with a cab driver (Afdlin Shauki). Among the family members waiting for Karen and son are newlyweds (Huang and Lim) who have secretly made plans to scoot off for a vacation after the family gathering.

It is hard to quibble with the well-meaning sentiments here – the importance of family and spending time with them – but writer-director Lee Thean-jeen’s debut feature feels a tad heavy-handed.

Mark Lee takes on a more dramatic role for a change, but what should be a heart-tugging tale of a father and daughter coming together is not particularly moving and the newlyweds’ dilemma barely registers.

In his first big screen role since the scandal over his extramarital affair, Neo cross-dresses once again and his rapport with A-niu makes the “mother”-son pairing the most memorable one here.

Mr And Mrs Incredible

Vincent Kok

Cast: Sandra Ng, Louis Koo

What you need to know: Superheroes Aroma Woman (Ng) and Gazer Warrior (Koo) have retired from fighting crime and settled down to an ordinary life in the idyllic Rainbow Village.

When a national martial arts tournament comes to town, intrigue and conspiracy follow and the two assume their masked identities once more.

Koo seems to be sleepwalking through his laid-back role and the soporific dub-over does not help.

While there is some spark between Ng and Koo as a long-time couple, the chemistry between Ng and Tony Leung in I Love Hong Kong is more convincing.

The cast do not break out of character to wish audiences a happy new year as they do in other he sui pian but instead, there is a visual pun on the greeting nian nian you yu (abundance every year) as Koo reels in a big fish (yu) in a tagged-on scene during the closing credits.

It's A Great Great World

Kelvin Tong

Cast: Chew Chor Meng, Yvonne Lim, Henry Thia, Joanne Peh, Zhang Zhenhuan, Xiang Yun, Huang Wenyong, Kym Ng

What you need to know: The loves and lives of the denizens of Great World Amusement Park are told in four stories recounted by Ah Meng (Chew), who used to be a street vendor there. The colourful cast of characters includes children’s entertainer Ah Boo (Thia), shooting gallery stall-owner Meijuan (Peh) and faded diva Mei Gui (Xiang Yun).

Film-maker Kelvin Tong’s valentine to Singapore’s hot spot in the 1950s and 1960s is entertainment for the entire family.

Older folks can reminisce about their own experiences at attractions such as Ghost Train and Sky Theatre, while younger audiences get a glimpse into a time and place they never experienced.

It might not be overtly festive but its subtle themes of history and national identity are ones worth chewing over along with the new year snacks.

(ST)