Horror Stories | 무서운 이야기 [ Movie Review ] ★★★

Horror Stories 무서운 이야기

"If you want to be alive, then tell me... Horror Stories 무서운 이야기"

The Pitch

It's hard to find good horror movies lately. After the disappointing introduction to Paranormal Activity franchise, the crave for a good eerie and sensible scary movie still lingers. The trailer for the Korean omnibus of short horror movie segments (that befittingly titled) Horror Stories seems to be a promising cure for the Paranormal Activity 4 hangover.

The setup for the main frame narrative reminded me of One Thousand and One Nights / Arabian Nights. A female protagonist has to resort to telling stories to stay alive. The fable setup might just work in a horror movie.

Plus I am also a fan of the recent Thailand horror movies that were structured in similar omnibus format. Movies like Four, 4bia and it's sequel Phobia 2 remained etched in the mind long after the credits rolled. They were testaments that some good horror stories are most effective when it's short and sweet. They are not constrained in feature length movie time frame and they branch out in different areas of creativity.

Personally, I can't wait to see what the Koreans have to offer with their omnibus of horror stories and Thanks to InCinemas, I will be watching this movie a day before it even sneaks in Singapore.

Paranormal Activity 4 [ Movie Review ] ★★

The Pitch

I have never watched the first three Paranormal Activity movies. The idea of watching long still shots of surveillance video for sudden burst of jump scares just didn't appeal to me. It's like a bad mutation of the shaky cam genre. Plus I am a fan of the Saw franchise and was kinda pissed that the Paranormal Activity franchise replaced it as the king of Halloween box office in recent years.

But I was lucky enough to be picked by UIP for the Paranormal Activity - WANT IT contest. I am not sure why I took part in this contest in the first place. It's been a long time since I caught any movies that is really scary and I guess I crave for a real good scare.

I am also wondering what's with the longevity of this franchise? Why is it still doing so well after three installments? Just last week, Paranormal Activity 4 topped the US box office with $29 million (although last year this weekend, Paranormal Activity 3 opened with $52.6 million) while outside of America, Box Office Mojo is reporting an average increase of 11% over it's predecessor. What the secret behind it's success? Is it really that scary that it's bringing enough audience back to make such an impressive debut on the box office?

Money aside, I am definitely looking forward to be spooked like the New Zealand test audience in this video.

11-11-11 [ Movie Review ] ★★

The Pitch

11-11-11 seemed like a gimmicky way to make a horror movie. Using this date to set up the ominous doomsday scenario just have a desperate feel to it. It might appeal to those who likes to find mystical meaning in numbers. Other than that, there's nothing really of any significant about this date.

It makes me wonder if 11-11-11 would loses it's novelty once the special date had pass. I can't shake off the feeling that this movie would be desperately finding ways to link any form of horror inclination to 11-11-11. Even before watching the movie, It got a "dated convoluted film product" sentiment set against it.

But apparently Darren Lynn Bousman (director of Saw 2, 3 , 4) thought otherwise. Personally I liked his Saw movies and would like to see what he could do after leaving the Saw franchise. Fellow Saw franchise director James Wan's Insidious was impressive and personally I hope that Darren Lynn Bousman could equally good. Let's see what he could cook up for 11-11-11.

The Plot 

Joseph Crone (Timothy Gibbs) is a successful author who lost faith in God when his wife and son died in a fire. After surviving a car crash, he started to notice a trend with the number 11 and it seemed to be plaguing him with nightmares and horrific events. Returning home from hospital, he got a call from his wheelchair bound priest brother Samuel (Michael Landes) and found out that his father was dying. Although they are in an estranged relationship, he decided to travel to Barcelona, Spain to meet his religious dad and brother.

However upon arrival, Joseph began to encounter more weird occurrences involving the number 11. He started to research on this special "number" and discovered that there are some who believed that entities from other realm would be entering earth on 11-11-11. It might even be the end of religion. Not only that, his dad also revealed that both Joseph and Samuel would have a part to play on this predicted apocalyptic date. The atheistic Joseph started to question his lack of faith and wonders if there's some truth with the "religious" prophecies on this date.


The Perspective (11-11-11 Movie Review)

11-11-11 turned out to be a rather weak horror flick as one would expect. With only Joseph as the only main character in the movie, it's not hard to figure out that no harm will come to him for most part of the movie. Therefore for most part of the movie, it's laden with plenty of those silly "spook a moment" scenes that felt cheap scares and pointless.

The subplots and characters were weakly established to bring any emotional resonate to the main story. Joseph's grief and beef with God were so superficially setup that it was cringing to see Timothy Gibbs go through the motion as 11-11-11 required of him. There was a supporting character Sadie (Wendy Glenn) that was supposed to provide emotional support to Joseph and to showcase the power of the other worldly entity. But at the end of the day, I find myself asking what the point of this character.

The whole linkage with the unique date of 11-11-11 felt rather forced and silly. Just imagine part of Joseph's research to the date was watching "youtube" videos of people talking about what they felt and expect would happen on 11-11-11. While some excel in making something out of nothing (eg. The Blair Witch Project), 11-11-11 handling of the special date just drew more attention to how hollow the material they have at hand.

The best aspect of movie was the climatic "twisty" finale. However movie fans should not have any problems figuring it out half way through the movie. It could have been as impactful as movies like Sixth Sense or A Perfect Getaway but due to the lackluster handling of the lead up to the finale, the payout came off as a whimper instead of a bang.

11-11-11 reminded me of the old school scary atmospheric that Insidious had going but it paled in comparison when it comes scarring the audience and providing a satisfactory wrap up in the end. There are some decent scares during the movie but those scares are largely silly and forgettable. The  draggy pace and the revelation of the movie certainly didn't make the wait felt worthwhile either.  11-11-11 didn't had the potential to start with and faltered in many ways that were expected. I don't think this horror movie would be remembered after it's expiry date.  Not Recommended.

Rating: **

Gantz 2: Perfect Answer

The Plot

The Battle Continues in Gantz 2 Perfect Answer !

Masaru Kato (Kenichi Matsuyama)'s death changes Kei Kurono (Kazunari Ninomiya) 's view of life completely. He decides to keep fighting until he earns 100 points so that he can bring back Kato.

GANTZ calls back Ayukawa (Ayumi Ito) and other GANTZ alumni who'd left once after scoring 100 points. In the meantime Kurono works on getting 100 points. But before Kurono succeeds in resurrecting Kato, Kato unexpectedly turns up.

Another strange man (Takayuki Yamada) appears and he appears to be investigating GANTZ and the fighters while the fighters take on the most terrible enemy (Go Ayano). To complicate the situation, GANTZ starts acting up. GANTZ chooses the next target... this time it's not an alien but a human girl, Tae, who is in love with Kurono.

Some GANTZ members go after Tae to score points while Kurono tries to protect her. In turn, Tae tries to protect Kurono who fights for her. A love story between their characters blossoms and Kurono must stop his teammates from getting to Tae.

Each teammate has a different motive for fighting, whether to protect a loved one or to do what they think is right. Whatever their cause, they end up sacrificing something important... 

Go Ayano - Kurofuku Ichi

(Plot Outline taken from Gantz - Singapore & Malaysia Facebook Page) 

Coming Soon (18 Aug 2011)

Four | หลุดสี่หลุด [ Movie Review ] ★★★★

Four innovative demented suspenseful comedic horror stories. This Tom Yum blend of Twilight Zone rocks.

In recent years, my personal favorite Thai horror movies have been the Phobia series (4bia and Phobia 2). It shows that good Thai horror might be in form of short stories and a collection of them brings in diversity and horror in the right dosage. When the trailer for Four appeared on my radar, it felt like a weak copycat aping the success of the previous two omnibus of Thai horror. But surprisingly, the only thing that was bad about this movie would be the trailer and Four was equally good as the Phobia series.

Think of it as a Thai Twilight Zone movie and you get the right level of scariness. It offers some intriguing concepts that probably would lose it's appeal if the each individual idea was to be expanded into a feature length movie.

Here's the lowdown on the plots of the four short stories and my thoughts on them.

The Noob's Human Holocaust | เกรียนหลุดโลก

Four kids hanging out at a mall, talking about Global Warming and how earth would benefit from some form of genocide. Their choice of mass massacre? It would be a virus without a vaccine. They started to diverge to how the virus could be spread through computers and other form of electronic devices. 

As their conversation gets weirder, one of the group member started to ask the most important question. Who organized this gathering?

On first impression, The Noob's Human Holocaust looked like a film school project with cinematography that felt amateurish. But for folks who are into films and film making, it won't be hard to spot that the entire segment was done in one take. That means one continuous shot of this segment with no NGs and no cuts. There was a moment whereby the camera floated away from the conversation and pans to the second level of the mall before making it's way back to the boys' table. The unsteady camerawork gave the used of handheld Steadicam away but extra points should be given to the filmmakers and cast for their various background works and coordination to make it possible to capture the whole story in one shot.

Technical details aside, the whole global cleansing conversation between this four kids was rather interesting (depending on your personal views). It felt rather nihilist and bleak but there's some truth in the overpopulation issue that these teenagers touched on. Their choice of virus seemed far fetched but innovative in it's own ways. The execution of this grand plan was both comical and horrifying. Needless to say, capturing this story in one shot just helped make it even more spooky. Eakasit Thairaat, the scriptwriter for all the four stories in Four and Paween Purijitpanya's "4Bia: The Deadly Talisman" directed this piece and personally, I will be keeping an eye on him, looking out for what is he doing to do next.

Last but not least, I personally digs how they used the virus as a form of subtle PSA (Public Service Announcement) to turn their handphones off during movies. Pretty niffy way to start a movie. this review belongs to filmsblitz at blogspot. please do not shamelessly copy it and use it as your own

The Gift Shop for the People You Hate | ร้านของขวัญเพื่อคนที่คุณเกลียด

Thada (Pakkorn Chartburrirak) had just been promoted to manager in his company. While everyone is celebrating for him, there's a disgruntled colleague that had some nasty stuff to say to him. After the incident blew over, Thada decided to go for a walk and look for gifts to give his colleagues as part of his promotion celebration. He came across a shop with the name "The Gift Shop for the People You Hate". Puzzled by the shop name, he went into the shop and was told by the salesperson that this is the place to get back at rivals or enemies. They carry umbrella that comes with a lightning rod and perfume laced with the deadly tiger wasp stingers. They even provide services to sabotage individuals up to the degree that the customers wished. 


Thada dismissed the salesperson's pitch and wanted to leave. The salesperson then mention that someone already bought six gifts for him and warned him to watch out for products with their company logo. Thada naturally didn't believe that and went on to enjoy his promotion. The fun starts when he starts to unwrap and uses his promotion gifts. 

Think of it as Stephen Chow's Tricky Brains that's less playful and more mean spirited. It's innovative in the ways that they came up with those whacky gifts. The suspense here would be to see how Thada could figure out which gifts are life threatening. The beautiful of going to the movies is so that we could live vicariously through these unfortunate protagonist.  The characterization for Thada felt uneven at times but that was easily forgotten with the delivery of one heck of a comeuppance twisty ending. This piece directed by Kongkiat Khomsiri (Muay Thai Chaiya  and Art of the Devil 2 & 3) is bizarrely entertaining.

The Night to Lose Your Mind | คืนจิตหลุด

After unwittingly shooting a pregnant lady during a robbery, Neung (Ananda Everingham) became a changed. He became a reckless trigger happy manic who is causing destress to his partner Joe (Thitti Vejchaboon. Even though they were wanted by the police, Neung insisted on carrying out another robbery and bringing his brother Song (Peerapol Sehnakol) along. Joe was reluctant but was forced at gunpoint to carry out their final robbery together. 


After their robbery, they encountered a police roadblock and decided to hide in a old abandon hospital. They were about to split their booty when they encountered someone or something that lurking around. Neung in his maniac mood swing felt that his authority had been challenged and decided to chased after the shadowy individual.  Resulting in a night that ripe to lose one's mind.

Arguably the weakest installment of the whole lot. This segment relied heavily on Ananda Everingham's performance to keep this segment going. While he did a decent job, it's hard not to feel that it dragged the story out a bit too long for it's own good.  It felt like an rendition of the Saw franchise which was enjoyable and decently filmed to get the type of reaction to torture porn.  The twist at the end was somewhat predictable but still satisfying even after the long wait. 


Who R Kong? | ฮูอากง

The grandfather of a Thai Chinese family had passed on but before he died, his last words were "Don't burry me or cremate me until...". His children obeyed his last wishes and left his corpse in his ancestral home. Years later, the family had problem hiring maids to watch over the body as it tends to walk around, scaring the hell out of the maids. 

They hired a fortune teller / exorcist to solve the problem and the family was told that the grandpa wanted to pass a message to his favorite grandchild. The message was said to contain hidden treasures in the ancestral home. The head of the household then decided that all the grandchildren would stay over to look after the grandfather's body.

The grandchildren were made up of an effeminate guy who refuse to admit that he is a homosexual, a brainy doctor who is quite an asshole, a internet porn addict teenager and a little girl who is constantly texting with her blackberry. Lastly, there's Song (Alice Tsoi), the granddaughter who seemed to be the most decent and sensible among the bunch.

This segment got the whole cinema laughing out loud and stomping their feet. The over the top comedic performance and situations made it hard to sit through without laughing. The effeminate grandson will bring the house down with his dance moves and his strenuous denial of his homosexuality. In between moments of laugh out loud comedic situations, there's the suspenseful ones involving one grandpa who can't keep still even after he is dead.

This "homedy" segment is wonderfully directed by Chukiat Sakveeraku (who also directed Love of Siam, one of my fave movies of 2009).  It's impressive that he was able to deliver a well blend of scary horror and riotous comedy. In an unexpected way, he was able to close this whole segment with a sweet ending. Personally it was a terrific way of ending a fun rollar coaster ride.

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides [ Movie Review ] ★★★

The Pitch

Do we need another Captain Jack Sparrow's Pirates of the Caribbean adventure? The first was blast and it gave us the iconic Captain Jack Sparrow. The following back to back sequels were not that good and frankly, the novelty was wearing off. But the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise had been racking in the cash and in Hollywood, when there's profits to be made, it will be made.

Adapting Tim Power's book, On Stranger Tide to fit into the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, this installment would see Johnny Depp's Captain Jack embark on a quest to seek out the fountain of youth. There will be old and new crew joining force to helm this latest installment. Geoffrey Rush (amazing performance in The King's Speech) and Kevin McNally would be returning as Barbossa and Gibbs respectively while Penélope Cruz will be playing Captain Jack's love interest Angelica and Ian McShane (Kungfu Panda) will be taking on the villainous role of Captain Blackbeard. Rob Marshall (9 and Chicago) will be taking over Gore Verbinski as the director.

Could this installment kick start another trilogy for Disney? or will it reaffirm that this series need to be put to rest? Will the absence of Gore Verbinski,  Elizabeth (Keira Knightley) and Will (Orlando Bloom) hinders the success of Pirates of the Caribbean On Stranger Tides ? Read on to find out This review belongs to filmsblitz at blogspot

The Plot

The Spanish had discovered the map to the Fountain of Youth and they are on their way there. Not wanting to be outdone, King George II wants to send Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) who had the map to the Fountain of Youth to guide an expedition to locate the Fountain of Youth before the Spanish. The expedition will be lead by Jack's old enemy Captain Hector Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) who turned into a privateer after losing Jack's ship, the Black Pearl and his leg.

Unwilling to comply, Jack escapes and soon found his father who warned him about the dangers of the Fountain of Youth. He also discovered an impostor who had been recruiting a crew for the search of the Fountain with his name. That impostor turned out to be Angelica (Penélope Cruz) a former lover whom Jack had abandon many years ago. This review belongs to filmsblitz at blogspot

Jack was unable to escape from Angelica's clutches and ended up on board of Blackbeard (Ian McShane)'s ship, The Queen Anne's Revenge. He found out that there's a prophecy that Blackbeard would be killed by a one-legged man and to circumvent that prophecy, Blackbeard wants to locate the Fountain of Youth. Jack also discovered that to make the Fountain work, a tear from a mermaid and two chalices from Juan Ponce de Leon would be needed. This set up a race between the Spanish, the British naval lead by Captain Barbossa and the Pirates consisting of Captain Jack, Angelica and Blackbeard to locate the fabled Fountain of Youth. This review belongs to filmsblitz at blogspot

The Perspective

On Stranger Tides serves it's function as a entertaining blockbuster for the summer crowd. If you are not expecting much, you would be satisfied with Johnny Depp doing his Jack Sparrow routine and the mystical pirating fun adventures that one would expect from this franchise. But if you are looking for more substance and comparing it to the first movie, this series is getting tiresome and this installment was not well constructed to give the audience the same buzz that the first movie had achieved.

The biggest problem with this movie was that it tried to take on too many characters and subplots. There's three different groups of people heading for the Fountain of Youth, two different couples trying to make their untimely (and unlikely) romance work and there are two archetype of villainy at play here. These characters and their motivation were adequately presented but there were enough time or focus to make us care about them.

The weakest character in the midst of all the new characters woul be Blackbeard. The pirate that all other pirates fears was not that scary at all. There were hardly any buildup to make it believable that he was the pirate that everyone else feared. The script didn't help when this fearsome pirate was on a quest for the Fountain due to a prophecy that he would be killed by a one legged man. How's that for bravery? Ian McShane was fantastic as the villain to reckon with when he voiced Tai Lung in Kungfu Panda and sadly the same result didn't replicate here.

Mermaids, best part of the show

The romance between the two couples here felt mishandled. It's not as clear cut or well established like the romance between Will and Elizabeth. The chemistry between Angelica and Jack Sparrow felt that it needed a little bit more work on it or maybe a little bit more screen time to make it convincing. The love story between the mermaid Syrena and Philip, the religious man who tried to redeem Blackbeard soul felt rather squeezed in to make the Fountain plot device work. It could have been easily written off and it would not have make any major impact to the story. Personally, the love story between Syrena and Philip bogged the pace of the story down. This review belongs to filmsblitz at blogspot

If On Stranger Tides was the first movie, I don't think they will be making so much money or churning out sequels like this franchise did. This installment felt bland and is running out of creative juice to drive this franchise. But then again, my friend who went in with low expectation had a jolly good time watching Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. Perhaps it would be wiser to be less critical of this movie and just go with the flow on this one.


Coda

There's a scene at the end of the Credits. (Scroll Over to Read)It shows the abandoned Angelica sitting alone on the beach and She discovered Jack Sparrow's voodoo doll being washed up on the shores. Angelica takes the doll and smiles with a wicked intention for revenge (End of Scroll)

Pirates Of The Caribbean On Stranger Tides Character Poster

Pirates Of The Caribbean On Stranger Tides Character Poster

Updated: Movie Review

Insidious [ Movie Review] ★★★1/2

The Pitch

James Wan and Leigh Whannell first burst into the Hollywood scene with the original Saw movie. That low budget "torture porn" became a surprisingly hit and went on to spawn six sequels. Their next collaboration as director / writer didn't fare that well as Dead Silence received mostly negative reviews and was a box office bomb . Insidious would mark their third collaboration and even though it poaching on the overused haunted house / possessed kid elements, this movie might just mark a return to form for them.

Beside the Saw franchise creators, Oren Peli, the guy who wrote and directed the latest horror box office phenomenon Paranormal Activity would be performing producer duties for Insidious. Can the creators of the two highly successful horror franchises come together to create another horror hit or perhaps another horror franchise?

Looking at Insidious US box office collection, this $1.5 million movie went on to earn a gross revenue of $51,681,000 (as of May 15th). That's around the ball park of the first Saw box office collection. Does a healthy box office collection equate to a good horror movie? Read on to find out...

The Plot

The Lambert family just moved into their new house. Things appeared to be normal until the night when Dalton heard noises in the attic and decided to investigate. He had a fall while trying to turn on the light. His cries caused his parents Josh (Patrick Wilson) and Renai (Rose Byrne ) to rush up the attic.

The next day, Josh tried to walk Dalton for school but Dalton was unresponsive. The panic stricken parents rushed Dalton to the hospital where the doctor couldn't find anything wrong with him. Dalton remained in the unexplained coma and the parents decided to bring him home. That when the spooky eerie stuff started to escalate. Renai had enough of these paranormal activities and wanted to move out of the house. Feeling helpless with the chain of events, Josh agreed but the haunting kept taunting Renai.

Josh's mother (Barbara Hershey) believed that the haunting that Renai encountered were true and introduced her friend Elise (Lin Shaye) who specialized in supernatural exorcism to them. Elise and her team went into Dalton's room and she quickly identify a red face demon who was watching over Dalton comatose body.

Sensing the direness of the situation, Elise revealed the truth behind Dalton's unnatural coma and attempted to rescue Dalton's spirit before it's too late. But the demon turned out to be too powerful for Elise to handle. Running out of options, Elise revealed a past that Josh had forgotten and seek his cooperation to attempt a dangerous rescue mission for his son .

The Perspective

Insidious started out in a slow and mundane fashion. It might be a bit of wait but when the haunting escalate, it's one heck of a scary ride that don't stop till the end. The spooky moments are well set up that it kept me on the edge of my seats and some scenes stood out for it's eeriness.

The revelation of what happened to Dalton and Josh past was a refreshing change from the usual horror flicks. While it's a bit of stretch, the filmmaker made it work for Insidious. Personally I also enjoyed Lin Shaye's performance as the exorcist and the "inventive" exorcism.

But there might be complaints on how unoriginal Insidious was and to a degree, it's true. There are traces of Poltergeist, The Exorcist and Paranormal Activities but personally, the film was such an entertaining ride that comparison of the similarities came only as an afterthought and it didn't diminish the enjoyment of watching Insidious.

If it's anything, it was the ending that was a bit of a let down. Personally I felt that they tried to be too smart for the audience and while it's chilling, it contradicts a couple of things that were set up during the movie.  Otherwise, it's a good o' school horror school with plenty of scary moments. Insidious comes highly recommended.

Beastly [ Movie Review ] ★1/2

The Pitch

Beauty and the Beast adapted to cater for the Twilight crowd. Good looking Hollywood youngster like Alex Pettyfer, Vanessa Hudgens and Mary-Kate Olsen are likely cast to draw in the teenagers. Last but not least, put one or two really talented actors (Neil Patrick Harris and Lisa Gay Hamilton) in to support the main cast, just in case the main cast performance turned out to be disastrous.

Should be able to rake in a decent amount of profit out of the teenage demographic.

The Plot

Kyle Kingson (Alex Pettyfer) is a rich, good looking, rude and arrogant high school student. During a green committee president election, he cross path with an eccentric school mate Kendra (Mary-Kate Olsen) who vandalized his election posters. He also encounter Lindy (Vanessa Hudgens), a green committee treasurer nominee whom he had a spark of romance with.

At a post election party for his victory, Kyle attempted to set a public humiliation to insulted Kendra for being ugly. He didn't expect that Kendra is actually a witch in disguise and for the last insult, she cast a spell on Kyle, rendering his face and body horribly disfigured. To remove the spell, he need to find someone that truly love him within a year or stay disfigured forever.

The Perspective

I didn't promise you a rose garden ... but I love you so I built one for you

Beastly achieved the unimaginable. It's actually worse than Twilight. Looking beyond the angsty teenage romance, this movie couldn't even deliver a simple and effective "Beauty and the Beast" love story. The delivery was choppy, unconvincing and filled with weak characterization. The attempt at romance was cringeworthy, juvenile  and rather hard to swallow.

The adaption tried to squeeze as much of Beauty and the Beast into this movie while catering to the Twilight crowds. The result was blatantly bad as the insertion was awkwardly done it only serve to remind us how good the classic was.

The only remarkable performance from this movie would be Neil Patrick Harris as Kyle's blind tutor and Lisa Gay Hamilton as the house maid. Their performance was at least entertaining and a breathe of fresh air after going through Alex Pettyfer and Vanessa Hudgens's subpar performance. In no way is this a recommendation to watch this movie solely for Neil Patrick Harris and Lisa Gay Hamilton. It's wasn't not that good.

Do yourself a favor. Skip this and grab the Disney Beauty and the Beast Dvd instead.

A Chinese Ghost Story | A Chinese Fairy Tale | 倩女幽魂 [ Movie Review ] ★★

The Pitch

It's hard to keep a good story away but then again, it's also hard to tell a good story. A Chinese Ghost Story had already received a sequel treatment, a second sequel (which is essentially a remake), an animation and probably had a TV series or two. This is one story that most Asians know by heart and it's getting the remake treatment again.

This time round, the remake is helm by Ip Man director Wilson Yip with a new cast featuring the likes of Louis Koo (who been in almost all major recent Hong Kong movies), Liu Yifei (The Forbidden Kingdom), Yu Shaoqun (Kungfu Wing Chun), Kara Hui (At the End of Daybreak) and Louis Fan (Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky).
 
There's a strange and unexpected twist in this rendition of A Chinese Ghost Story. Louis Koo who is obviously the lead actor in this movie had been cast as Yan Chixia (a supporting role in the original film) while China actor Yu Shaoqun would be playing Ning Caichen (the lead role in the original film). Does that means there a shift in love interest for Xiao Qian (the female lead role) or has Ning Caichen been demoted to a supporting role?

It turned out that this remake will be heading towards a love triangle between these three characters. That's something that have not been done for any of A Chinese Ghost Story franchise. Will this modification to the beloved story work? The odds are definitely stacked against Wilson Yip, Yu Shaoqun, Liu Yifei and Louis Koo right at the start. Can they spin something new out from the old tale and perhaps create a movie that could stand on par with the old one?

The Plot

This movie starts with Yan Chixia (Louis Koo), a demon slayer trainee who had been tasked to kill a fox spirit by his teacher. He was about to succeed in killing fox spirit but couldn't bring himself to do it. Later on,  Xiao Qian (Liu Yifei) the same fox spirit that were let off, ambushed Yan Chixia but instead of killing him, she became entranced with the sweets that Yan Chixia was carrying. That's how their unnatural relationship begun and things were rosy until it came to a stage that Yan Chixia was forced to either kill her or mind swipe/wide her so that she couldn't remember their relationship.

The movie then jumped forward to a sudden confrontation with the Tree Demon (Kara Hui). For some strange and unexplained reasons, Yan Chixia couldn't bring himself to destroy the Tree Demon. His hesitation caused the death of his fellow demon slayers and the left arm of his fellow demon slayer Thunder (Louis Fan). Even after losing their fellow disciples, the two demon slayers managed to captured and seal the Tree Demon up in a magical spell.

Years later, Ning Caichen, a technician sent by the courts, arrived in the village that been having droughts. He been tasked to solve their water problem and offered to scout out the nearby mountains for new water source. The villagers knew that the mountain has been cursed with evil spirits send a bunch of condemned prisoners to accompany this clueless technician.

While digging for water, they were hit by a freak storm and decided to take shelter at a nearby building. The building would turn out to be the infamous Orchid Temple where the Tree Demon resides (or being sealed in). They found a big fountain with water in it. While Ning Caichen was trying to figure out the water source for this fountain, the rest of the condemned prisoners were quickly seduced by scantily clothed nubile ladies.

Those ladies soon revealed themselves as the Tree Demon's henchmen and sucked the life out of these condemned prisoners. Meanwhile, Ning Caichen encountered Xiao Qian but resisted her attempts to arouse him. Finding that rare, she became interested in him. To sweeten the deals, Ning Caichen had sweets with him and that make him even more appealing to her.

But of course, when the spirits are trying to freed the Tree Demon with the life force of the condemned prisoners, Yan Chixia won't be too far away. Can love blossom between Ning Caichen and Xiao Qian when Yan Chixia hangs around like a jealous ex boyfriend. The clueless Ning Caichen was also planning to blast the fountain basement with explosive so that the villages could get back their water. What he didn't know would be that the Tree Demon is sealed at the bottom of the fountain.

The Perspective

The original A Chinese Ghost Story was a classic because they have a simple effective story and they have really good actors making their characters memorable. That two elements that this remake is sorely missing.

In order to give the audience something new and perhaps cater to the Twilight fans, they created a love triangle between Xiao Qian, Ning Caichen and Yan Chixia. The love triangle might have worked if there's more time to flesh out their characters and relationships. What we got here would be a super quick introduction arc to establish the unlikely romance between Xiao Qian and Yan Chixia. Then the movie went on to create the sparks between Xiao Qian and Ning Caichen while putting Yan Chixia on a back burner.

The handling was choppy and unbalanced that it was hard to feel the dilemma or conflicts that this love triangle set up was trying to achieve. It felt like a convoluted story that needs a better director / scriptwriter to tell.

Louis Koo, one of the most established actor in this lot, struggled Yan Chixia role. He had to balance between the sentimentalism of a forgotten love and the cynical demon slayer who is trying very hard not to care. There isn't much time or material in this movie for him to achieve both aspects. 

The two young China actors, Yu Shaoqun and Liu Yifei felt like a poor replacement. Their version of Ning Caichen and Xiao Qian felt like a couple of teenagers in love. There's a hollow ring to it and it's pretty uninspiring like the Twilight Belle and Edward. There's so many degree of Leslie Cheung's Ning Caichen and Yu Shaoqun could only portray it with the usual China style of naivety. Joey Wong's Xiao Qian was seductive, playful and a mix of innocence while Liu Yifei just felt like a teenager who can't seduce to save her own life.

The blossoming romance between Yu Shaoqun and Liu Yifei's characters was the bulk of the movie and yet it pale in contrast to the introductory and finale arc that depicts the romance between Louis Koo's Yan Chixia and Liu Yifei's Xiao Qian. That not to say that the romance between Yan Chixia and Xiao Qian were that convincing either but it helps to put into perspective how bad the chemistry was between Yu Shaoqun and Liu Yifei.
 
Strangely, the folks that really shine for this movie would be Kara Hui and Louis Fan. It seemed that they could really cut loose with their supporting character. Kara Hui's rendition Tree Demon was on par or even better than the original Tree Demon. Louis Fan's Thunder felt like the real Yan Chixia in this A Chinese Ghost Story mythology. 

Beside that, this new A Chinese Ghost story contains some really nice effects shots. Yan Chixia being stuck in an ocean of leaves and Thunder's floating tattoos were some of the memorable CGI moments of this movie. But then again, special effects don't really make a movie.

In closing, Leslie Cheung, Joey Wong and Wu Ma had left an indelible mark for their performance as Ning Caichen, Xiao Qian and Yan Chixia respectively. Personally, Yu Shaoqun, Liu Yifei and Louis Koo didn't bring much to this well loved characters. But without being so critical or liking the original movie so much, this remake could be a passable entertainment. It seemed that this movie is targeted to the younger generation who likes the Twilight type of love triangle and I got a feeling that they will like this one too. For me, I am listing this as a bad remake.

Beyond the movie

A Chinese Fairy Tale ???

While surfing around Wikipedia & AsianMediaWiki for more information on this movie, I was surprise to see that the A Chinese Ghost Story remake is actually named A Chinese Fairy Tale.  The Chinese title remained the same. It just that the Ghost was replaced by Fairy in the English title of this movie.

I am not sure which country will be having this movie as A Chinese Fairy Tale. I suspect that the change would be to cater to the China censors who are rather picky about showing supernatural, religious and spiritual stuff.

But then again, this movie is about fox spirit, tree demon and demon slayers. Although the talismans, Taoist priest and Monks are all missing in this remake, the subject matters are already of the supernatural stuff. It just didn't make sense.

The name change could be just some region way of distancing themselves from the classic or an attempt to attract customers to this movie without letting them know that this is a remake.

I got no idea. Is China still so stringent about supernatural elements in their movies? Their film industry are opening up rapidly and raking in all the big bucks. Are they still going to be so picky? Would be great if someone could let me know why is there a name change.

Nearer to Singapore

Apparently this movie is too much for Malaysia. Just came across a news that mention the Malaysia censor cut a sex scene between Liu Yi Fei and Louis Koo for their 18 Rated Theatrical release. It also mention that Singapore release was release with the scene intact. Frankly I don't remember that sex scene at all. Might have been too preoccupied with the thoughts of what went wrong with this movie to take notice.

anyway, the link for the article here
Sexy ghost too sexy for most?

My Ex : Haunted Lover | แฟนใหม่ [ Movie Review] ★★

The Pitch

My Ex ( แฟนเก่า Fan Kao) was one of the top ten worst movies that I have caught in 2009 and now we are getting My Ex : Haunted Lover (แฟนใหม่ Fan Mai ). But apparently the original made a lot of money in Thailand (came in top of the box office on the opening weekend) and well received enough to get this sequel greenlighted. This sequel My Ex: Haunted Lover also did very well at the Thai Box Office. The same director Piyapan Choopetch who did the original film is back to helm this BGR gone supernaturally wrong movie and I got no idea what made me want to watch this movie. Perhaps it was to see if the director could improve on what didn't go well in the first movie or I was simply possessed.

The Plot

My Ex : Haunted Lover (แฟนใหม่ Fan Mai ) starts literally at the end credits of My Ex ( แฟนเก่า Fan Kao).  Cee (Ratchawin Wongviriya) and her girl friends just finished watching the first My Ex movie and they were there to support Cee's sister Bowie (Bowie Atthama Chiwanitchaphan ) who got a small role in that show (remember that school girl who was killed by a truck while making a phone call to her ex boyfriend?). They went on bitching about how rotten the male lead character in the show was and almost immediately, they spotted Cee's boyfriend behaving intimately with another girl at the cinema.

Someone Behind Me Again ?!?!?

The couple started to quarrel at home and her boyfriend Aof (Thongpoom Siripipat) assured her that there's no love between him and that girl, Ying (Marion Affolter). He is simply broke and needed to borrow money from her. Ying overheard what Aof said and was so heartbroken that she apparently jumped from the building.

After Ying's suicide, Cee broke off with Aof and started to pursue a film career with her sister Bowie's help. During work, the sisters were introduced to Karn (Pete Thongjua), a rich resort owner who is financing their new film project and loaning his resort for the shoot. When the good looking ladies mix with a good mannered rich man like Karn, a potential love triangle is bound to happen.

However before Cee could put her mind into starting any form of relationship with Karn, she got a loser ex boyfriend who constantly bugging her with calls, seeking reconciliation. Cee is also getting harassed from the supernatural forces too (courtesy of the recently deceased Ying). It all boils down to a showdown at Karn's beautiful beach resort.

Who would you look at? Me or that Fugly Bitch behind me?

The Perspective

My Ex : Haunted Lover (แฟนใหม่ Fan Mai ) certainly wasn't an improvement over the original film. In fact the gore / scare factor was pretty much tone down and the story was just as bad as the first one. The spook factor here felt meaningless except to remind the audience that this is a horror movie. You get the usual sudden loud sound effect with the sudden visual pop out scares. Nothing as scary as compared to the first one and the first one wasn't breaking any grounds in the spook factor.

Gone were the gruesome scenes like manager's "spectacular" death scene and the schoolgirl, phone booth & truck sequences. In place of it, we get the Ying's fall from a tall building and landing head first on the concrete beside a pool. It sound more gruesome than it's actually is. In fact it's quite silly if you think about it. A fall at such height with the head landing first would have done way more damage than it was portrayal here but hey we can't do with a headless ghost in Asian horror film nowadays.

Don't think for a moment that the series is shifting it's focus to the story build up. Wrestling screen time with the obligatory scare sequences, My Ex Haunted Lover didn't have much time or effort in building up these characters and the conflicts between them. They are pretty to look at but their character felt like one dimension characters. Such as the unspoken rivalry between the sisters were missing through out the whole movie until the final twisty revelation of the movie.

I'm Bored of You

Yes twisty revelation! The norm for most supernatural horror movies these days. While there are some great ones and some average ones, there are some that literally pulls the rug off your feet in a bad way. My Ex Haunted Lover twist belongs to the latter group. The twist just came out as an U-turn to all that's been established in the show so far. While 6th Sense twist was impressive, My Ex Haunted Love felt like they are forcing the twist down the throat and expect you to go with it. The excuse that this movie might give would be that the twist is the reason why Ying is haunting Cee instead of that loser they both "loved" but it's just so hard to believe why Ying is taking so long to take exact her vengeance and why is she doing it at the beach resort.

There are also subplots such as the dead woman that drown nearby the resort and how Ying is related to the resort owner that are conveniently forgotten as the show progress. One might argue that they are red herrings but personally, they felt like unnecessary padding or the director couldn't decide how to add those subplots into the story.
 
Like it's predecessor, My Ex: Haunted Lover is a forerunner for my list of top ten bad movies of 2011. Let's just see if there's other ten other movies that could top it's placing. But since both two movies did so well in Thailand, there's room for the third one and the final scene in the movie might just be the link for the third one. It's a cameo scene that is akin to how Wong Kar Wai's Days of Being Wild ended but here, it's just felt like a desperate hook to drum up people interest for another sequel. Strangely I might just catch the third one if it stars that actor who did the unexpected appearance in that cameo scene.

Here the trailer if you are still interested about the movie.

My Ex Haunted Lover poster from Malaysia

Pete Thong-jeur

Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives | ลุงบุญมีระลึกชาติ [ Movie Review ] ***

I am going to be honest. I didn't really get Uncle Boonmee Who can recall His Past Lives and if it didn't won the Palme d'Or at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival, I would probably be less incline to try and understand what the movie about.

For me, a movie shouldn't be too overly abstract nor should it be filled with long takes of mundane stuff. Uncle Boonmee was one such movie that is pretty much opened to interpretation. There are also certain parts that would probably required some sort of knowledge of Thai movies or their history to appreciate what's going on. While some events are explicitly explained, there are many others that were left for you to figure out. Then there are still shot of an empty room for no apparent reason before the film cuts to Uncle Boonmee getting his kidney treatment in his room. These are some moments that frustrated me and made me wonder what did Tim Burton see in this movie that I am not getting.

While there are moments that are totally lost on me, there are actually some moments that were really stood out. The strange visitation of Uncle Boonmee's dead wife and his long lost son had a strong spooky atmospheric about it. Just imagine that you are in a remote area and a deceased relative suddenly appeared right beside you. Freaking out and running away probably won't do much good here. Beside that, the long lost son suddenly reappeared as a gorilla with very eery red eyes to inform Uncle Boonmee that there are creatures in the dark that are draw to him due to his kidney illness. It felt so ominous and yet strangely heartwarming that Uncle Boonmee could reunite with his love ones for one last time.

Then the movie shifted to one ugly princess who is having a secret affair with one of her servant. Just before I could even try to figure out what the linkage between the princess and Uncle Boonmee, the low self esteem princess proceed to have sex with a talking catfish! The most unnatural sex scene that's strangely erotic with a tinge of comedic elements that needed to be seen to believe. Till now, I couldn't figure out what does that scene got anything to do with Uncle Boonmee or his past lives. Was he the talking catfish, the ugly princess or the servant that got rejected.

Talking about past lives, there wasn't really an explicit moments that the viewers are told that what we are seeing now would be the past life of Uncle Boonmee. Such as the opening scene with a buffalo escaping from his owner. It was only at the Q&A session with the director that I realized that buffalo was one of Uncle Boonmee's past lives. He went on to explained that in the book, the buffalo had died and the spirit was hanging around a tree branch, watching his owner giving him a funeral.

The Q&A session and the various online interviews / reviews helped me to better understand what had transpired in the movie. Such as Uncle Boonmee's son who was fascinated about the monkey ghost and during his pursuit, he had became one of them. This was done to cite parallelism with the director's personal experience with transformation. But then again, I wonder without these assistance, would a movie goer still be able to understand and appreciate this movie?

Let me put it this way. Uncle Boonmee who can recall his past lives was just too abstract for me to fully understand and appreciate. I wonder how will the causal movie goers handle this movie. But after listening to the director and his fans passionately filling the blanks for me after the show, I wonder if there something that I had missed during my first viewing.

Uncle Boonmee definitely stayed on my mind for a while and it didn't really felt like a movie experience. It felt like a laborious journey that I had taken and be it good or bad, it's not something that could be forgotten easily.

Go Find a Psychic! | 曲がれ！スプーン [ Movie Review ] *** 1/2

Go find a psychic is literally about a lady quest for a real psychic. Yone Sakurai (Masami Nagasawa)  happened to work in a television program about people with psychic ability and most of them turned out to be fake wannabes seeking their 15 minutes of fame. While her colleagues are probably just concerned about program ratings, she is one individual with a strong conviction on the mysterious and unexplained phenomena.  Her boss used her strong conviction and sent her on a trip all over Japan to find a real psychic (or phenomenon).

Meanwhile, in a cafe, a group of individual with different psychic abilities gathered for a small private party. Unlike the fake wannabes, this group of people with real special capabilities want nothing to do with the media, specially the psychic program show that Yone Sakurai works for. Their party was crashed by a wannabe and the enthusiastic group of special folks unwittingly revealed their power to the wannabe.

While the special psychics are trying hard to protect their secrets, Yone Sakurai entered the cafe to interview this wannabe. To escalate events, one of psychic with X Ray vision discovers that there's a poisonous spider (from the previous wannabe) in her name card holder. In order to save her, the psychics took turns with their special abilities to remove the name card holder from her pocket.

That the whole crux of this movie. Will they be able to help her without revealing their secrets?

On the whole, Go Find a Psychic! has a Japanese Christmas telemovie / television series feel to it. The camera work, the events, the actors's performance and even the gags weren't spectacularly cinematic. However it brought up a good point on what people will do if they have special powers. It was also rather amusing to see how these psychics draw the line on what they would use their power for and the limits of their power.

Moreover it also instill the belief of holding onto one's faith no matter how strange they might be. That and the Santa gag made this movie seemed just right for the Christmas season.

Adele: Rise of the Mummy | Les Aventures Extraordinaires d'Adèle Blanc-Sec [ Movie Review ] ★★★

the Extraordinary Adventures and the Rise of the Mummy

The Singapore / Malaysia title for "The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec" is rather misleading. Specially when you viewed the trailer (attached below), you might think that Adèle: Rise of the Mummy is one action packed Indiana Jones type of movies with the protagonist taking on mummified human corpses and pterosaurs. Going in with such expectation would probably result in disappointment. 

That's not to say that Adèle: Rise of the Mummy is a lousy movie. It not so much about the rising of Mummy but the extraordinary adventures of one rather feisty unrelenting and resourceful lady.

Set in Paris 1912,  A pterodactyl egg in the museum has been magically hatched through the mental power of Professor Esperandieu and is wreaking havoc in the city. News of this occurrence became the newspaper headlines and the authorities are "pressured" to solve this case soon.

In the meanwhile, Adèle Blanc-Sec (Louise Bourgoin) is "raiding tomb" in Egypt like a female counterpart of Indiana Jones (more dainty but equally venturesome). She is seeking a mummified Pharaoh's doctor to cure her sister. To complete her quest. she required Professor Esperandieu'e supernatural gift and upon returning to France, she found out that he is mystically linked to the pterodactyl and has been sentenced to death for his involvement. The relentless Adèle then set off to rescue the Professor before it's too late for her sister.

The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec is so whimsically imaginative that it's hard to guess what going to happen next (nor would you want to). One moment, it's poking fun of police incompetence and the next, it's mystifying with weird occult-like science. Just when you think you get what this show is about, it breaks into action sequences like an Indiana Jones movie or delve into sappy romance.

It's not going to fit into the mold of your usual Mummy movies. It's a mix of Amelie and the Fifth Element. Splendid entertainment with rich imagination and attitude that should sit well with folks that are looking for something unusual. Recommended.


Beyond the Movie

There are some warnings that you should heed before getting your ticket(s) for this movie in Singapore. Most theaters are showing it in English dubbing (with Chinese subtitles). Those folks who did the dubbing did make some effort to convey the emotions of the characters but ultimately, it's just not the right way to watch a movie. The dubbing does not even match the lip movements of the actor and it felt that the soul of the characters had somehow been robbed.

But thankfully, the distributor had decided to bring a print of Adele: Rise of the Mummy in it's original language and the only place you can catch it in French (with English subtitles) would be at The Cathay Cineplex (the one at Handy Road). For your ultimate enjoyment of this movie, I would recommend you to catch it at The Cathay.

Last but not least, we managed to spot one scene that was awkwardly cut from the movie. It happened to be one of the stills that was featured on the official website. Don't seemed too raunchy to me but I guess it might incur a highly censorship rating if left intact. Anyway gawk at it while you can.

You won't be seeing me smoking in a tub in Singapore Cinema

Oh wait. There's a coda inserted at the End Credits. So don't rush out once the credits start rolling.

Movie: ***

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