Glen Goei’s second film, in many years since much-loved “Forever Fever”, hides dramatic, performance and tonal flaws under the gorgeous façade of the Blue Mansion. Awkwardly shifting between comedy and Serious Drama, the script does not realise the comic potential of the premise when the death of Wee Bak Chuan reunites the family at the patriarch’s funeral. Also, expected familial secrets and lies are not revealed to the appropriate characters for maximum dramatic (or comic) effect, leaving much satisfaction to be desired. The giving of the story’s biggest revelation to an already deceased character seems futile, and is made a fatal mistake when it has practically no effect on the living, leaving me wondering, truly, why should I care for these characters? The final nail in the coffin is the distractingly bad intonation of the dialogue. Why does everyone end on a higher tone for every sentence? No excuses of “oh, it’s a theatrical put-on”, please. “The Blue Mansion” is architecture built on sand.
Rating: 4/10
“Flame & Citron”, the top-grossing 2008 Danish film, is a gangster and noir inspired film that is set during World War II. Titular characters are the most active resistance fighters who work together to assassinate Danish Nazis. The violence is unflinching but the characters certainly battle their morals on a daily basis, especially when they have to kill a woman. Told rather straight-forwardly, this intense genre piece delivers the plot twists, taut shoot outs and suspenseful moments. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a Hollywood remake.
I have a penchant for films about filmmaking, especially if it’s a satire about Hollywood. Based on Art Linson’s own book about his producing war wounds, “What Just Happened” contains almost arcane jokes and movie making humour but is still rather entertaining. Robert De Niro gives a decent performance in recent times and the film is crafted deftly by director Barry Levinson. The satire is not sharp enough but some good comedic scenes make this movie mildly recommended.
“Blood Ties” is a film full of the unnecessary. Capitalising on its supernatural slant, the film is actually a revenge film in disguise. In an over-long first act with flashback after flashback, we witness the brutal killing of an undercover cop, Shun, and his wife, through the eyes of his young sister, Qin. On and on the flashbacks go – we keep seeing the same one with increasing detail, explaining what has transpired – I looked at my watch – when is the movie going to actually start? This playing of timeline and structure is completely arbitrary and slows down the momentum of the film. Isn’t it more exciting for the plot to be revealed in a more active way considering it’s a mystery thriller (why was Shun slained?)
“Where Got Ghost?” is a film that offers little enjoyment. It consists of three short stories, “Roadside Got Ghost”, “Forest Got Ghost” and “House Got Ghost” – the last is a sort of continuation of “Money No Enough 2”, which ends in this nearly computer generated (except the actors) car accident in CG rain, trees and roads, which leads to a TV-movie-of-the-week quality CG-ed landslide that nearly kills the three protagonists. See it to believe it!
American romantic comedies can be really cruel to their lovers. In “The Proposal”, Sandra Bullock is a bitchy, tough boss at a New York publishing company (also a feature in US rom coms). Problem: She is Canadian and faces deportation due to some visa oversight. She takes advantage of her hardworking assistant Ryan Reynolds and blackmails him into marriage. When he realises he has the upper hand, he forces his boss to kneel and propose to him in public. She does so and subsequently cannot get up – he walks away.
“The Hangover” is pure heterosexual male wish-fulfillment fantasy, with a rather offensive Chinese stereotype character with a poor command of English. However, the film is also very funny and does exceedingly well in maintaining a narrative drive whilst delivering punch lines.
With ‘Borat’, Sacha Baron Cohen attempts to reveal the prejudices of the American folk, attempting to expose bigotry and conformity through outrageous behaviour and un-PC remarks. For ‘Bruno’, I guess it’s pretty much the same thing. Like Bruno, Cohen goes to Los Angeles to ‘become famous’ (Borat goes to America to find out more about Americans, and also to find Pamela Anderson). He also has a reluctantly hired manager who is in love with Bruno. This time however, I think Cohen is less funny – most jokes seem to fall flat, are obvious (joining the US Marine Corp), or are plainly like a ‘Candid Camera’ show (e.g. the Paula Abdul interview) – a one-note joke that doesn’t really do much to ‘reveal’ homophobia and prejudices. Understandably, comedy is the hardest thing to do, especially if it relies on improvisation and unsuspecting people. But I have to give it to Cohen for the wrestling finale (yes another wrestling scene). I was hoping for more of that comedic outrageous-ness – unexpected and over-the-top – that was less about what Bruno wears or says.
Blessed with the Midas touch, Pixar has had a winning streak of remarkably made films that can touch children as well as adults. “Up” contains all the magic they have been conjuring over the past years. It is a buddy movie essentially between an over enthusiastic boy named Russell and Carl Fredricksen, an old man who has always wanted to travel to Paradise Falls in South America. Not forgetting the throwaway humour, “Up” is a beautifully rendered, 3D animated film that is full of life-like detail – nothing less you’d expect from Pixar. The characters are extremely likeable and the adventure, rather exciting, because we care about these people. Throw in colourful and endearing animals, (a bird and a dog) and you have movie magic that cannot be gotten elsewhere.
Outrageously dark and fun to watch, this off-kilter comedy by Spaniard Alex de la Iglesia is about Toledo, a ladies’ man who accidentally kills his work-rival in a scuffle to become store manager. Subsequently pulled into a blackmail marriage by the least pleasant looking woman, Lourdes, in the department (because she helped dispose of the body), “The Perfect Crime” is a well made film with homages to Hitchcock, and unabashedly anti-consumerism and anti-romantic comedies.
Leon Cheo 