WISHING ALL MY BUDDIES A HEALTHY AND PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR 2014.

2013 ahhh … (good grief)

It had been an emotional rollercoaster of sorts for the past year.

It was a brutal  year of global economic strife, civil wars, geographical calamities, and what have you.

We shall now flip over a new leaf in the big diary to usher in a fresh chapter of peaceful and prosperous days to come.

Will this ever happen?

Probably so, if we exercise health cautions and sound monetary measures.

Whatever the outcome, we must maintain a positive frame of mind.

Mind over matter?

Yes …. yes ….

To all my dear, dearest FRIENDS who had been sincerely supporting my several online entertainment blogs throughout 2013, I must admit that I am happily blessed and touched by your sincerity.

This NEW YEAR 2014 article is dedicated to each and everyone of my buddies.

Stay good, happy, healthy and safe in the coming year !

I am attaching herewith, an all time favorite of mine, a heart-and-soul song AULD LANG SYNE.

Enjoy !

MOVIE REVIEW: AS THE LIGHT GOES OUT 救火英雄

“AS THE LIGHT GOES OUT” PRESS REVIEW  

救火英雄 

“AS THE LIGHT GOES OUT” is one amazing movie that attempts a lot.

It tries very hard, to cramp fiery action, high drama, family angst and buddy obligations, all within a single day’s occurrence. You bet it leaves little chance for character development.

You will find an irksome sprinkle of wise sayings extolling the doctrines of life-and-death, goodness gracious. For spouting this much, you know this dude is doomed to die. And he did vanquish as a hero, swallowed by roaring flames.

It’s kind of a story retelling culled from the popular Hong Kong TVB high dramas or competitive films such as the recent lack luster ” Out of Inferno”.

This theme is not new, is formulaic actually, but it reigns supreme on the Director Derek Kwok’s visual and storytelling treatment board.

The Director does an admirable job to pull vital bits of scenarios together and assemble them neatly on a single stylized platter.

So the sum of it all is either you get impressed or you don’t.

I follow Derek Kwok’s body of work.

This one ain’t going to be his best.

 ”AS THE LIGHT GOES OUT” has all the ingredients of a blockbuster.

Derek Kwok (“Gallants” in 2010) carefully picked his ensemble comprising of Hong Kong cinematic greats like Nicholas Tse, Shawn Yue, Simon Yam and Hu Jun.

The story occurs on a single night during Christmas Eve when a team of chummy firefighters – chief Sam (Nicholas Tse), Chill (Shawn Yue), Tao (Simon Yam), Ocean (Hu Jun) from Hong Kong’s  Pillar Point Division are assigned to diminish a threatening fiery blaze at a local winery.

It looks like a great job accomplished, until the blaze reignites from the alcohol warehouse to a nearby power plant.

What follows?

The entire Hong Kong is plunged into abject darkness as the fire rages.

“AS THE LIGHT GOES OUT” is a poignant and powerful film in terms of fiery action and stupendous visual effects.

Kudos to convincing performances by the leads.

The film is both riveting and suspenseful and keeps you guessing who’s going to be the next victim to be claimed by the raging flames.

Or who’s going to be rescued in the nick of time.

For fans of disaster movies, this one’s for you.

This film could have been rendered so much better.

But then, what’s sauce for the goose is not sauce for the gander.

For sure I ain’t going to be any firefighter.

Right?

MOVIE REVIEW: 47 RONIN (2013)

“47 RONIN 2013″ PRESS REVIEW

Mind over matter?

Surely.

 ”47 RONIN” the American-financed 2013 fantasy actioner has a lot in stake for the USD 170 million  production budget spent.

A worthwhile movie? Let’s check it out.

It depicts a fictional parable of the 47 Ronin, a real-life band of samurai heroes in 18th Century Japan who’s out to avenge the murder of their master.

We are led to believe that the event is real.

Naturally the details of loyalty and honor have been highlighted and retold through the years via various art forms.

“47 RONIN” is a Hollywood production directed by CARL ERIK RINSCH based loosely on a screenplay by CHRIS MORGAN and HOSSEIN AMINI.

You can say it is Hollywood’s attempt to bring the historical drama to a global non-Japanese audience.

This movie is a mystical add-on to the fable, but this one is a fantastical re-imagining, set in a world of supernaturals and witches.

KEANU REEVES leads a cast of notable Japanese veterans such as HIROYUKI SANADA, TADANOBU ASANO and RINKO KIKUCHI.

He stars as KAI, a half-breed warrior recruited by the legendary group of Samurai called “RONIN” or “LEADERLESS SAMURAI” to help them defend their land against an infinite army of evil forces. REEVES’s character is half-Japanese and half-British and was written into the script.

Frenzied action aplenty with swordplays and martial arts in a chaotic mayhem.

An intriguing story to boot with amazing scenery and KEANU REEVES in a controversial role.

While many people think he cannot act, he must be at least bankable as he had already starred in a slew of Hollywood’s blockbusters.

Shot mostly on location in Hungary, the film features some impressive sets and dazzling colourful costumes.

Notwithstanding an overload of perfectly satisfactory CGI work.

A worthy see.

WISHING ALL MY FRIENDS A JOLLY CHRISTMAS AND A FRUITFUL 2014

To all my dearest FRIENDS:

” a JOLLY CHRISTMAS and a PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR 2014!”

‘Tis a merry season for giving, sharing and loving.

Despite the 2014 bleak global economic forecast, this special time of the year reinforces the realization in each and everyone of us, that tradition alone has the power to unite us as family, friends and community.

It gives us the opportunity to build and strengthen those relationships and bonds.

“Our hearts grow tender with childhood memories and love of kindred, and we are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at Christmas-time.”

- the last paragraph (quote) : kind courtesy of Laura Ingalls Wilder.

MOVIE REVIEW: THE SECRET LIFE OF WALTER MITTY (2013)

“THE SECRET LIFE OF WALTER MITTY”

PRESS REVIEW

“THE SECRET LIFE OF WALTER MITTY” is comedian BEN STILLER’s first foray into directing a testy dramatic film, and it looks like he’s done a pretty neat job.

The end result is either you love or loathe it.

We start with the advertising slogan “Stop Dreaming, Start Living” which conveniently gives away the plot.

BEN STILLER is the film director.

He also stars as the lead character Walter Mitty in James Thurber’s classic story of a day-dreamer who escapes his anonymous life by indulging into his own imaginary world of fantasies, spiced with heroism, love and action.

Everybody does his own reel thing once in a while as a form of escapism.

It’s harmless to imagine you are in the shoes of that “someone”.

But when this act is perpetually prolonged, it’s best to consult a psychiatrist.

Mitty works in the photo department of the now defunct Life Magazine.

He is sad, lonely and single looking for a soulmate.

He daydreams a lot out of frustration, some of these fantasies include a colleague crush, Cheryl (KRISTEN WIIG).

As the digital world catches on and the magazine finally makes its transition from print to online, Mitty and a few others in the company are made redundant. Things get to a broil when his new manager (ADAM SCOTT) turns out to be a bully.

And it so happens that Mitty loses an important photo negative that’s meant for the magazine’s final print cover.  Now he has no choice but to travel the world and hunt down the elusive photographer, played by SEAN PENN for the original piece of negative.

This REAL global journey turns out to be an unexpected adventure of self-discovery, unlike anything he has ever experienced before.

STILLER, the director cum actor has based this 2013 film on the story and given it a contemporary dressing.

He combines a potpourri of fantasy, romance, humor, globe-trotting adventures and nice cinematography that will really warm your heart and soul.

A NICE CHRISTMAS CHOICE, SO GO FOR IT.

MOVIE REVIEW: 47 RONIN

“47 RONIN 2013″ PRESS REVIEW

Mind over matter?

Surely.

 ”47 RONIN” the American-financed 2013 fantasy actioner has a lot in stake for the USD 170 million  production budget spent.

A worthwhile movie? Let’s check it out.

It depicts a fictional parable of the 47 Ronin, a real-life band of samurai heroes in 18th Century Japan who’s out to avenge the murder of their master.

We are led to believe that the event is real.

Naturally the details of loyalty and honor have been highlighted and retold through the years via various art forms.

“47 RONIN” is a Hollywood production directed by CARL ERIK RINSCH based loosely on a screenplay by CHRIS MORGAN and HOSSEIN AMINI.

You can say it is Hollywood’s attempt to bring the historical drama to a global non-Japanese audience.

This movie is a mystical add-on to the fable, but this one is a fantastical re-imagining, set in a world of supernaturals and witches.

KEANU REEVES leads a cast of notable Japanese veterans such as HIROYUKI SANADA, TADANOBU ASANO and RINKO KIKUCHI.

He stars as KAI, a half-breed warrior recruited by the legendary group of Samurai called “RONIN” or “LEADERLESS SAMURAI” to help them defend their land against an infinite army of evil forces. REEVES’s character is half-Japanese and half-British and was written into the script.

Frenzied action aplenty with swordplays and martial arts in a chaotic mayhem.

An intriguing story to boot with amazing scenery and KEANU REEVES in a controversial role.

While many people think he cannot act, he must be at least bankable as he had already starred in a slew of Hollywood’s blockbusters.

Shot mostly on location in Hungary, the film features some impressive sets and dazzling colourful costumes.

Notwithstanding an overload of perfectly satisfactory CGI work.

A worthy see.

 

.

MOVIE REVIEW: DELIVERY MAN

“DELIVERY MAN” PRESS REVIEW

A dubious title, but it’s all about funny man VINCE VAUGHN, so you can be assured that it can be a genuine trade-in for guffaws. VINCE is known as the gag man. Right?

Here’s the delicious scoop:

In present tense, David Wozniak (Vince Vaughn) is always friendly, but luckless in most things he does.

He has been working for his family’s meat business for as long as he can remember, and has a pregnant girlfriend (Cobie Smulders) who refuses to believe that he can be a good daddy.

In past tense, two decades ago, he regularly donated his sperm in exchange for cash to help out childless couples.  Naturally, he lost count.

But the past comes back to haunt him now, especially when he discovers he has fathered 533 children through his sperm donations two decades ago.

 142 of them are filing a lawsuit forcing him to reveal his identity.

He enlisted his lawyer buddy (Chris Pratt) to be his legal consultant. He also starts secretly to get involved in the lives of a few of his offspring.

An act of redemption? Or so he thinks.

So this deliveryman who’s sown his seeds all over the country sets off to check how his kids are faring —without letting any of them know he’s the biological father.

The plot may seem cliched, melodramatic more than comedic.

But relax, it is a refreshing take about basic human needs.

Vaughn shines in his role, and there’s an engaging chemistry between him and Pratt.

“Delivery Man” is a funny film with oodles of charm to dispel gloom and bring that smile to your face.

Go watch it.

MOVIE REVIEW : “CONTROL” (HONG KONG) 控制

STOP PRESS!

Film Director KENNETH BI in his own words:

“Control” is a thriller about strangers preying on us in the city, using all the latest surveillance technology available. I wanted to make a cool taut suspense thriller using visual effects to build an eternal sin city. It’s never been done in Asia. Mark (Daniel Wu) is controlled and forced to commit crimes for a mysterious stranger. He meets other strangers along the way. Some are foes and some become fast friends. You never know who is lurking around the next corner. To achieve the best visual effects, we worked with Academy Award winner, Nickson Fong, who is originally from Singapore but had worked in Hollywood for many years on films such as Godzilla and Matrix 2 & 3.

“CONTROL” Press Review

 Riddle: Said the Spider to the Fly, welcome aboard this Guessing Game.

控制

CONTROL is one giant word. Who’d like to be controlled?

In this fickle business of film making where I am from, consumers’ perceptions are perpetually being challenged by the relentless media, notwithstanding the shift of perplexing opinions all the time.

Therefore, you can expect a contradiction of mindset every other minute.

What’s sauce for the goose in the initial phase may not be sauce for the gander later.

To this Reviewer, “CONTROL” is assuredly, one of the best entertaining whodunits to emerge from Hong Kong in recent years. I enjoyed the time spent.

This one’s a taut, gritty neo-noir thriller with an abundance of shocking twists.

The gripping feature is fearlessly directed by Hong Kong director KENNETH BI and his treatment is both bold and moving, with stunning visuals and splendid effects.

It will keep you on edge and have you transported into a realm of good guys, baddies, mobsters and  hey-preso! the return button will transport you back to your reimagining mode.

Who’s the mastermind behind this, you beseech.

The film wastes no time with the action reeling from the first frame when lead character MARK (DANIEL WU) flees for his dear life from the mob.

You watch the hapless guy go tearing down lonesome alleys only to be trapped and tortured minutes later.

The mood-and-tone is grim and desolate, and you can detect a fair amount of poetic depression here.

The film director KENNETH BI has painstakingly handles one of his best movies to date and the same can be said of actor DANIEL WU.  And who’s to say that this dude can’t act?

This is DANIEL’s show and you are treated to close-ups of him in terror, angst, pain and frustration when the camera zooms in, and he is in this stellar performance like none he has done  before.

And his is a refreshing take from the regulars acts of veteran smarts such as Sean Lau, Nick Cheong and Louis Koo.

“CONTROL” expounds a fantastical, futuristic premise leaning on an explosive action-thriller trope. Co-producer DANIEL WU is Mark the insurance salesman who is embroiled in a battle of wits with “the Voice” who’s out to get him to perform illegal tasks with a few other victims.

A deadly game of cat-and-mouse ensues.

At the end, “CONTROL” exposes the Villain and the truth is out about how Mark and his companions fit into the mysterious villain’s grand scheme.

This is a definitive thriller with gudges, gore and a whole lot more.  It’s also an intensely human drama at its best.

You can rate the film director’s aesthetic dressings of expressive film making, and the ensemble cast’s impressive performances as “two thumbs up”. For the record, the line-up includes DANIEL WU, YAO CHEN, LEON DAI, SIMON YAM and KARA HUI.

“CONTROL” is a poetic celebration of the intense and ephemeral and is raw and honest in the search for redemption amid tragedy.

Let it be said that KENNETH BI is an under-utilized treasure of the CHINESE CINEMA with his capabilities to handle various genres.

Now sit back, harness your seat belt for “CONTROL” and brace yourself for an addictive ride.

Welcome aboard!