MOVIE REVIEW: "LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON" (2014) JAPANESE MOVIE

 TWO FAMILIES AND THEIR TWO YOUNG SONS WHO WERE SWITCHED AT BIRTH SIX YEARS AGO.

Now, who’s to blame? The Nurse or the Hospital’s careless management?

“LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON” (2014)

JAPANESE MOVIE REVIEW

Touch my soul, maverick director KORE-EDA HIROKAZU implores us.

Here he is, with his new family-themed award-winning tour de force that will certainly make you sit up, take notice and reach for your hankie, provided you have a tender heart. Do you?

We all have one if we use it right. (metaphor)

“LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON” is a gem with emotional depth. It’s rare these days to get a chance to appraise a good Japanese film in the cinema.

Why?

Since the deluge of the Korean films some 10+ years ago which was an unexpected craze that seized Asia by storm, audiences worldwide these days are “hooked” to the mesmerizing Korean  dramas.

As a result, they have unceremoniously dumped their Japanese cousins.

And “LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON” is here to prove that the Japanese films are still very much around and have not lost their shine.

In 2013 awards keep piling in:

It was nominated for the Palme d’Or at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival where it won the Jury Prize.

It also bagged (Winner) for Best Film at the Asia Pacific Film Festival.

As well as being awarded the Audience Awards at the Vancouver International Film Festival.

The list doesn’t stop there.

 Here’s the plot:

Ryota is an arrogant architect  living in Tokyo. He is successful, hardworking and is pursuing the perfect life. But whatever bliss he is currently enjoying is just a lull before the storm.

One fateful night he and his wife,Midori, get an unexpected phone call from the hospital.

The shocking news: their young son, Keita, is not their own flesh and blood – the hospital had given them the wrong baby six years ago.

Masaharu Fukuyama plays Ryota the ambitious professional who’s married to Midori (Machiko Ono), with a perfect house and a six-year-old son.

His world is turned upside down by the shocking revelation that the hospital had accidentally switched the babies six years ago: his biological boy is now being brought up by Yudai (Franky Lily), a happy-go-lucky shopkeeper whilst Ryo has Yudai’s son.

“LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON” has a powerful theme with an admirable cast of Japanese veterans.

 Ryota is portrayed as cold and aloof whilst Yudai is the likable good guy who enjoys frolicking with his kids.

Ryota is now in a dilemma to choose between his true blood son or the one whom he has been nurturing all these years.

“LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON” is a family movie made for everyone.

It is packaged with love, angst, frustration and the eventual stage of redemption.

It is poignant and tender, especially in scenes where the two mothers share problems regarding raising their sons.

A definite winner!

RATING: 4 out of 5

Local Distributor: GSC MOVIES

MOVIE REVIEW: “EDGE OF TOMORROW” (2014)

“EDGE OF TOMORROW” (2014) MOVIE REVIEW

The headline hollers : “LIVE. DIE. REPEAT”.

And it says enough to sum up the crux of this movie.

It beckons you into a time loop, where close encounters are repeatedly occurring over and over again,to drain you out, physically and emotionally.

This is a futuristic film about mankind gearing up for confrontational warfare versus a formidable alien race called mimics.

Where did I read that Tom Cruise’s latest  movie”EDGE OF TOMORROW” is destined to be this summer’s first big-budget bomb?

A case of not generating sufficient buzz in the West?

Tom Cruise has myriad(s) of cinematic followers in all parts of Asia.

His brand positioning is always of the dashing, fearless, dauntless hero.

It’s not easy to kill a strong, established product.

“EDGE OF TOMORROW” is a sci-fi that is all bold and solid on the outer crust.

Then it peaks and storms at a cracking pace as a blockbuster, headlong into stiff competitions from Godzilla and X-Men at the box office, giving all these a run for their money.

In the movie, Cruise plays the arrogant Major William Cage who is a unbendable “straight jacket”.  His cushy  job is to cajole and recruit new soldiers on national television. No, Major Cage has never been in any real life combat.

Therefore he roared with extreme displeasure when he is trooped up in an apparent suicide mission to fight the deadly aliens called Mimics.

Cage’s insubordination lands him in the infantry of a sure-lose battle. He is dead within minutes. 

Strangely he wakes up (again) with amazement, as if the day has never happened.

He remembers last that he was at the barracks the day before the battle.

He is oblivious to what else is milling around him, but before long he is thrown back onto the beach, into the battle, and he dies one more time.

 Cage soon discovers he’s not the first victim for this time loop-game.

However, with each time-loop, he harnesses the magnificent power of observation. Because this time round he’s  fully prepared that the happenings are going to manifest themselves. And the entire process is going to be repeated again, yet in another time-loop.

Finally he meets Special Forces warrior Rita Vrataski (Emily Blunt) and together they set out to defeat the aliens. What happens after this, you really have to see the movie for answers.

The director is Doug Liman and he has delivered a deliciously demented flick. Kudos. 

Tom Cruise’s star power shines in action as well as his confrontations with the fearsome extraterrestrial monsters.

The plot is  based on a Japanese novel called “All You Need is Kill” by Hiroshi Sakurazaka.

This smart and unsettling movie is certainly worth a watch for all its hard work.

RATING: 3.5 out of 5

Local distributor: Warner Bros Pictures

MOVIE REVIEW: "X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST

Please TAKE NOTE that the RELEASE DATES are DIFFERENT IN various COUNTRIES.

 “X-MEN : DAYS OF FUTURE PAST (2014)

THE MOVIE REVIEW

Some of my writer-mates lament that the grammatical oxymoron “days of future past” is a mouthful, but hey, there’s a valid reason for this sci-fic of two time blends.

The ensemble cast proudly boasts a select list of the Hollywood “greatest” , including China doll FAN BING BING who’s toying around more like a dispensable piece of discard.

Her insipid role is more a collaborative inclusion to capture the massive China market. 

The characters she plays is sadly, devoid of conversational dialogue and she does not register notable chemistry with her fellow colleagues onscreen.

Let refresh the synopsis lest anyone forget:

The exuberant X-Men are back to fight a frantic war to ensure the reckless world remains as one solid piece.

 This spans two time periods in DAYS OF FUTURE PAST, the old-time mutants and their younger beings (selves).

Whatever done creatively is to revamp a major historical event and fight an epic battle to save the planet.

“Days of Future Past” opens on a bleak dystopian future where you appraise ruined cities sprawling with corpses. The story goes from there.

First, let us usher in the stellar all-star cast.

Professor X (Patrick Stewart) and Magneto (Ian McKellen) are now fighting together against the Sentinel threat.

They rallied the support of  Storm (Halle Berry) and Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) — including Kitty Pryde (Ellen Page), Iceman (Shawn Ashmore), Bishop (Omar Sy), Colossus (Daniel Cudmore), Blink (Fan Bingbing), Sunspot (Adam Canto) and Warpath (Booboo Stewart).

The characters sizzle in this action-packed thriller from visionary director Bryan Singer. (welcome back!)

Singer is in top form despite the recent bisexual gossip, cleverly bringing two generations of mutant-kind together in a time-travel tale.

 Bryan Singer and his screenwriter team (Simon Kinberg, John Byrne and Company) balance everything with relatively little confusion in keeping the storytelling precise and concise. Kudos!

The locations switch base from China to New York , Moscow, Vietnam, Paris and Washington, where the spectacular climactic clashes in front of the White House are set.

 The X-MEN characters are legendary, hence there’s little point to rattling on about the  renowned mutants. They are forever saving mankind from extinction.

Jennifer Lawrence is wonderful as Mystique, as well as Hugh Jackman is great as Wolverine.

But credits must also go the rest of the veteran cast without which the film might lose its valor.

Cinematography is absorbing.

The visual treatment by Bryan Singer is absolutely breathtaking!

SPOILERS?  

Preferably not, so as not to mar the enjoyment and flow of the predictable plot.

There’s heart, pow-wow action and style.

This film is nothing short of brilliant.

GO WATCH IT!

RATINGS: 4 out of 5

Local Distributor: 20th Century Fox

“THE CAGE”《懼場》MALAYSIAN MOVIE on REALITY KILLINGS : OFFICIAL PRESS ANNOUNCEMENT

 A PEEK into THE GIGANTIC CAGE:

CAN you spot actress YEO YANN YANN?

Directors : 陳炳豐 (FELIX TAN) and池家慶 (KETHSVIN CHEE)

“This movie is totally unscripted. Every single detail of movement and expression will be captured on film.” Even the killings?

 Behold the MASKED ENSEMBLE CAST… ready to play the game of death.

 THE MALAYSIAN CAST (from LEFT):

LIM MEI  FEN, ERNEST CHONG,  WILLIAM SAN, ADRIAN TAN, HENLEY HII, WAYNE  CHUA PEI XIAN, KYO CHONG and BERG LEE

 WHO AMONG THEM will be the eventual KILLER?

STRIKE A POSE for THE MEMBERS of THE PRESS

“THE CAGE”《懼場》MALAYSIAN MOVIE

UNVEILING the TEASER POSTER

 The purpose of this media presentation is to launch the teaser poster. And more!

It does a brilliant job for scares, I must say.

We are brought to understand that this movie is spawned from the previous successes of two tele-movies called THE GAME 1 & 2.

No, this Reviewer has yet to appraise either of these TV-blockbusters.

“THE CAGE” opens with an impressive theatrical performance where six thespians (actors) are locked up in a massive cage placed on stage.

They look cool, calm and collected and preside as the masters of the game.

Or are they really?

Each time an actor is killed according to the plan, the others holler for “real” help from the audience.

Instead they receive a thunderous applause in return. Because the audience thinks it is just a “part of the reality show’.

 A devious plan is hatched by the relentless murderer who’s lurking in the midst to kill.

Everything will be telecasted on national television, to be watched by a live audience of 500 curious spectators.

Who will live?

 Who will die?

I am still waiting to grasp the core point of the story, where this movie blends film with theater-work.

Indispensable film making?

Hold on.

You may be in for a deadly ride.

Presented by NTV7, MM2 and DREAM STUDIO

So much for the suspense, let us now watch out for the opening date of ‘THE CAGE”.

MOVIE REVIEW: GODZILLA (2014)

 “GODZILLA” (2014) MOVIE REVIEW

Not all reboots are fantastic, this one, however is “la manifique”.

It’s a total bim, bam and boom for the gigantic reptilian clashes. Two thumbs up!

This Reviewer is not a follower of the GODZILLA series, from days of yore to current present.

Taken objectively, this solid piece of entertainment deserves kudos for its post-production wonderment.

There will be two school of thoughts:

those who are hooked and the die-hards who ain’t.

GODZILLA is definitely bigger and better (but of course, with the millions of dollars spent) than the 1998 remake of the post-atomic monster which first emerged in 1954.

 Director Gareth Edwards delivers the film with finesse, pow-wow action and palpitating suspense all the way, starting from a gradual build-up. then ascending to a full shrill, ably supported by a credible ensemble cast.

 Bryan Cranston plays n American scientist who’s relentless on uncovering the truth behind a nuclear accident that occurred fifteen years ago in Japan, where he was performing his duty. He is haunted by the memory of his wife who was killed there.

Fifteen years later, his grown-up son Ford (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) is working as a bomb-disposal expert in the U.S. military.

Ford has just returned home to his wife Elle (Elizabeth Olson) and their son Sam (Carson Bolde) when he is told that his father has been arrested.

Long estranged from his father, he nevertheless flew to Japan to bail him out of jail and agrees to join him on a nostalgic trip to their old home in the quarantined zone.

By sheer coincidence or not, the father and son coincidentally end up in the very plant where Joe used to work.

There, scientists Dr. Ichiro Serizawa (Ken Watanabe) and Vivienne Graham (Sally Hawkins) are in the process of uncovering a strange, massive cocoon-shaped structure that appears to feed only on radiation.

The situation turns bizarre when a terrifying winged creature is unleashed.

It turns out that the MUTO (massive unidentified terrestrial organism) has awoken a monster leviathan that has lain dormant for centuries.

Ken Watanabe and Sally Hawkins play the arduous researchers.

Aaron Taylor-Johnson is Cranston’s strapping son, who’s trying to forget the disaster that rocked his childhood world when he was just a kiddo.

 Elizabeth Olsen plays the loving wife who waits.

 David Strathairn completes the lead cast as the military commander who is above all the operations.

“GODZILLA” is a thoroughly enjoyable movie which will strap you on edge from start to finish.

Watch it in the realm of the 3D IMAX and you can revel in the glorification of the beast’s textured scales and gills.

Hear the thunderous digital roars, certainly not for the faint hearts.

Notwithstanding the cavernous sets and awesome CGI effects that created the alien monsters. There’s GODZILLA, there’s also a pair of praying mantis-like horrors (Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organisms) with hook hands tearing bridge cables apart.

It’s a definite winner!

RATING: 4 out of 5

Local Distributor: WARNER BROS PICTURES

MOVIE REVIEW: “ABERDEEN” Hong Kong Movie (香港仔) .

“ABERDEEN” MOVIE (2014)PRESS REVIEW

 (Chinese: 香港仔)

(PART ONE, The MOVIE )

MIRIAM YEUNG:

“It’s FOOD, GLORIOUS FOOD, yet I am so DEPRESSED.”

The FATHER-and-DAUGHTER union:

“Why is DADDY always picking on me, labeling me as an UGLY CHILD?”

UNCLE does the Ultra-Sound test:

“BREATHE IN, BREATHE OUT”

Isn’t that what LIFE is about … you move in, then you shape out.”

GIGI LEUNG:

“It’s horrible to move into your mid-age and realize that you ain’t a spring chicken any more.”

“ABERDEEN” MOVIE (2014)PRESS REVIEW.  (Chinese: 香港仔)

(PART ONE, The MOVIE )

“ABERDEEN” is essentially a family dramedy.

Yet it probes a fair bit more.

Basked within the genre is a weepie of a tale where the female characters collide in life’s encounters and cry buckets.

This awesome project is helmed by the versatile EDMOND PANG  HO-CHEUNG 彭浩翔 who has a string of past successes dabbling as a novelist, playwright, actor and filmmaker. You just have to check which hat he is wearing.

His special strength is in weaving women’s yarns and hearts.

Specially in tales of love, woe and dysfunctional families. I have only managed to see one movie of his called “Love in a Puff”.

“ABERDEEN”  is a stirring potpourri of love and the price-you-pay for broken romances within one extended middle-class Hong Kong family.

The mood and tone is as grim as you would imagine.

Director PANG boasts a top-notch cast of Hong Kong veterans whose task is to tackle the bull by its horns with orders to “make it a real-istic film”.

 Why call it “ABERDEEN”?

A clue guides you to the fact that the film director was born and bred in a quiet fishing village of Aberdeen.

That said, let us move on with the plot:

Wai Ching (MIRIAM YEUNG) the family’s older sister is trying to retain her momentum and sanity. We call that mental depression. She works unhappily as a museum tour guide.

She wallows in self-pity and is unable to come to terms with the passing of her mother. Her worst nightmares tell her that her mother loathed her when she was alive.

To make things worse, her husband Yau Kin-Cheung (ERIC TSANG) is tired of her whining and is secretly philandering with his pretty nurse (JACKY CHOI) working in his clinic.

Who’d blame him when he is tied down with a tiresome wife?

Wai Ching has a good-looking brother called Tao (LOUIS KOO) who has a decent job in the tutoring line. He is obviously a pain-in-the-ass because he is self-opinionated.

Tao’s wife is Ceci (GIGI LEUNG) and she is seemingly an expired model-cum-actress.  As an artiste she is  alarmed that age has mercilessly caught up with her.

It’s every woman’s latent fear that she will no longer be categorized as a spring chicken.

Their young daughter with the less-than-average looks is Chloe (LEE MAN-KWAI).

She adores her father to the extent that, despite her disdain of the “smelly” of durian, she eats the pungent fruit anyway.

Why? The durian is her father’s firm favorite. What’s good for daddy is good for daughter. Yes.

Finally, the patriach is  Dong (NG MAN-TAT) who’s despised by the family for his wayward ways.

He indulges in a sensuous affair with a  bar hostess called Ta (CARRIE NG). It’s not just sex, it’s love too.

In real life, CARRIE NG is this middle-aged award winning actress who can floor any man. She’still a stunner who can give any young actress a run for her money.

The sum of it all? “ABERDEEN” warns us that life is not all glam and glitz.

The film is honest, heartbreaking and a convincing work of Art.

You bet!

RATING 4 out of 5

Local Distributor: GSC MOVIES

“ABERDEEN” PRESS CONFERENCE cum WORKSHOP (PART 2) 

(Chinese: 香港仔)

Organizer: GSC MOVIES

Photographer: EDDIE SIEW

Date: 13th May, 2014. Malaysia.

Actress JACKY CHOI beams while director PANG HO-CHEUNG listens attentively.

JACKY CHOI:

“I set out to be a trainee Director and is 
fortunate that Director PANG gives me this opportunity to act.”

Director PANG:

“I like to promote new talents. It’s a healthy pursuit, otherwise the whole industry will be overcrowded with veterans.”

Director PANG  HO-CHEUNG:

“To achieve as a film director you have to be patient, trust in your beliefs, meet the right connections and invest some money for a start. Even with those, you might still face various types of disappointments. But never say die!”

 THIS ONE FOR THE MEMORY

The ardent students of NEW ERA COLLEGE and ONE WORLD HAN XING COLLEGE strike a pose for keepsake.