Michael Jackson’s This Is It

The Gist

This film allows us to watch what was originally intended for MJ’s personal collection – footage of his comeback concert rehearsals.

What Do I Think?

Indeed it is a rare chance to watch any singer’s concert rehearsal made for the cinema screens. After I had finished viewing the film, I realized two things: if the comeback tour materialized, it would have been the MOST successful comeback ever; and that Michael was at the peak of his health, looking better than ever and not a single hint of his death.

The list of songs opens with “Wanna Be Startin’ Something’”, the song that carried the necessary beats to kick-start the show. Myself being a fan of his songs, I had thought that Michael was lip-synching to the original recording of the song and dancing along. When the song abruptly stopped, it signified that Michael’s voice never really changed. And that the band was recreating the song almost exactly how it was recorded.

Everyone whom worked with Michael had to be a fan of his. The dancers were auditioned in American Idol style which meant the choreography would consist of the best from the US and all around the world.

Being the success that he is, it was humbling to see that Michael was quite un-diva-like. He had much respect for everyone as everyone has enormous amounts of respect for him. Nevertheless, we still get to catch glimpses of him subtly projecting his dissatisfaction and anger, only for Kenny Ortega to arrive at the precise moment of pacifying at almost all times.

Ortega is the creative director but it was Michael at the helm of all things. He definitely ensured his input is associated with every single aspect of the concert. That sort of genius that you see would totally define the success of his would-be comeback. Every song that we get to see onscreen always had something new and exciting to offer, be it from the smooth jazzy opening of “The Way You Make Me Feel”, newly-shot opening scene for “Smooth Criminal” and the recreating of the “Thriller” ghosts. I literally forgot to breathe when many of the songs were sung, in anticipation of the fresh creative surprises that would hit me.

All of the songs, except “Billie Jean” were never completely sung in one take. Each song would have been pieced together from various incomplete recorded shootings. It was clear that Michael was only giving his 60-70% in the vocals to preserve them for the O2 gigs.

It’s a great thing that Michael was not too conscious about his facial appearances as he did not resort to covering his lips whenever he was singing. His singing was also one of the highlights as it was highly charismatic and it was all it needed to carry and characterize the show.

The film closed with the expected song “Man in the Mirror” and what I felt I had just watched was more than just rehearsals. It was a musical and cinematic event of the decade. When the credits rolled, the entire cinema was in applause. That coming from an ultra conservative town in Malaysia, was definitely something.

This is No Joke: Michael singing “Human Nature”. Soulful as ever with not only his vocals doing the expressions; his entire body was too.

This is A Joke: The opening part saw auditions of hundreds of female dancers dancing in sync to “Smooth Criminal”. During the rehearsals, I could hardly spot a female dancer.

Rating: 10/10

Turning Point (Laughing Gor之變節)

The Gist

Working under Xian Sir (Yuen Biao) and Pun Sir (Felix Wong), Brother One a.k.a. Yat Gor (Anthony Wong) is an undercover cop in the triad world who later gets reinstated back as a police officer. Being too used to the underworld life, he quits the force and becomes a triad leader. He recruits Laughing (Michael Tse) to send him to be a mole in the police force. He reports to Xian Sir and, surprise, surprise, he gets sent to be an undercover cop in the triad world. To make things further complicated, Laughing dates Karen (Fala Chen), the sister of Yat Gor’s arch-nemesis Zatoi (Francis Ng). Laughing has to provide balance to his double-agent identity whilst staying afloat with his life.

What Do I Think?

This film is based on a very popular supporting character known as “Laughing Gor” (Michael Tse) from the TVB series E.U. Since he is ended by death in the series, Turning Point, like a prequel, tells the story of how he becomes the character with much help from two of Hong Kong’s heavyweights: Anthony Wong and Francis Ng. These two incredibly fine actors possess excellent resumes from another classic double undercover film – Infernal Affairs. Michael Tse is a veteran triad actor who got his break from the Young and Dangerous films more than a decade ago. Director Herman Yau swiftly engages his experience from On the Edge, another undercover cop film starring Nick Cheung. Familiarity is evenly covered in many areas so the audience should be up for a treat.

Yau tells a gripping story of how Laughing slowly evolves from being a humble convenience store cashier to a suave and elegant triad leader. Yau intends to draw a lot from Wong and Ng, which could be a rather imbalanced move for Tse. Unlike giving a treat to Tse’s seniors with glorified scripts, Yau uses Tse like a disposable wine glass. If it breaks, it breaks. And it’s apparent that Tse doesn’t mind too much either. Rather than just emphasizing the film’s strength with powerful dialogue, there is much action involved, especially with Tse running for his life and jumping from buildings to buildings a lot.

Wong and Ng effortlessly proves that they are the most reliable and dependable actors in Hong Kong today. Wong does a gangster in a different style – he applies lipstick and eye-liners and dresses flamboyantly while still remaining in his heterosexuality. Whether or not they will catch on, those were the only breakthroughs he achieves. Ng doesn’t outdo him but appears in the classic triad look. He does however, outdo Wong in his performance. He holds well in his Zatoi role; he doesn’t overact while churning out his ongoing cockiness onscreen. The sibling love he portrays adds to the humane layer of his character.

Yau keeps his pacing well in this film. The side stories and the story twist in the end are enough to keep the audience interested and more importantly doing justice to the main character “Laughing Gor”. Since the screen times are equally shared amongst Tse, Wong and Ng, there should be ample amounts of anticipation of another Laughing Gor movie with Tse in the lead. And Herman Yau should be directing.

This is No Joke: Being Fala Chen’s debut in films, her performance is very promising.

This is A Joke: Anthony Wong’s appearance is at most times, distracting.

Rating: 8/10

Fala Chen 陳法拉

Kungfu Cyborg: Metallic Attraction 機器俠

The Gist
A cyborg police officer, K-1 (Alex Fong Lik Sun in his Jude Law hairdo from A.I.) whom is ultra handsome (in the plastic kind of way) gets posted to a rural village. Daichun (Hu Jun), superior quickly initiates jealousy when K-1 does everything better than him. To add insult to injury, his love interest, Su-Mei (Betty Sun Li) falls for K-1. Enter Eric Tsang who assigns them to get rid of another cyborg, K-88 (Wu Jing). This K-88 had become philosophical, questioning his existence and the purpose of his maker, thus making him evil in the non-intentional way.

In this movie plot summary, there isn’t a proper sentence to link Ronald Cheng and Gan Wei to complete the cast listing. I guess the previous sentence will just do.

What Do I Think?
It’s Chinese pride for films indeed! Just add Kungfu in front of the title. It started, meaningfully, with Stephen Chow’s Shaolin Soccer (Kungfu Soccer in some parts), then subsequently Kungfu Hustle (the Chinese title is simply known as “Kungfu”). Those usages of Kungfu had proper weight because simply, there were really some kungfu in them. The combination of Chinese martial arts and soccer has one of the best fusions in Chinese films in decades. Then there was Kungfu Mahjong (and 2 sequels!), Kungfu Chef, Kungfu Panda, My Kungfu Sweetheart, Kungfu Fighter, Kungfu Dunk, Kungfu Hip Hop, McDull: Kungfu Ding Dong and the upcoming Kungfu Kid, starring Jackie Chan and Will Smith’s kid.

Now, “Kungfu” + “Cyborg” is just plain wrong. Cyborgs are made to have extraordinary strength, precision in calculated judgment, extreme speed and virtually indestructible by human means. What do they need to know Kungfu for? Its title is akin to Air-Conditioned Igloo or even Liquefied Water. Even its Chinese title translates to something else, perhaps in agreement with my conclusions. (機器俠 says Robot Hero)

First impressions of the full title, which includes “Metallic Attraction” gave me these thoughts: many kungfu fighting cyborgs, including a specific female one that could have fallen with a male cyborg. Having viewed the film, it is clear that it should be titled Plastic Alex Fong: Attracting Humans and Causing Mess to some parts of Rural China. One can’t help but to be reminded of A.I., Transformers, Final Fantasy X and even Stephen Chow’s Sixty Million Dollar Man.

The film provides story with huge doses of Jeff Lau (the director) in it. At his best, there are ample amounts of subtlety in comedy, Wong Kar Wai parodies aplenty and customary inside jokes, depending on which part of the film you are personally associated with. Each segment of the film is represented by the referenced films in the previous paragraph (go spot them yourself) and the last segment ends with *gasp* an extended love story. (Warning: Spoilers behind! Sorry, too late.)

So you were thinking of watching a Chinese version of Transformers? Go watch the trailer.

Alex Fong participates like an eager kid in class, putting his hand up to every single question asked by the teacher. He has what it takes to go far in the film industry. Too bad he still gets the third billing in this film’s poster. Kungfu Cyborg COULD have been the vehicle for him to achieve greater status of, maybe, Nicholas Tse? When he reaches there, I’ll make him a convocation hat.

The great surprise comes in the form of Hu Jun. His comedic turns are enough to eclipse Ronald Cheng and his two previous movies in total. Hu Jun’s is in the run of becoming NOT the next Stephen Chow, but Chow Yun Fat; quickly gaining great acting flexibilities. Speaking of comedic chops, we also get a mild bit of that out of Wu Jing. Haven’t seen him in such a relaxed role since Drunken Monkey.

Everyone’s anticipation is in the robot animation. If you allow the Hollywood comparison to be scrapped, we then have something to hold on to here. “Cheap imitation” is an overstatement. The robot animation, instilled with Chinese martial arts movements is something that could possibly have met or slightly exceeded expectations for many. The robots transform graphically fluid enough for us to know that the animation company took some good effort to produce. The greatest problem is that the CGI is lousily juxtaposed against the real life elements in the film. Anyhow, that’s the usual problem with Chinese films.

This film is categorized under Romance with a capital R. Other genres would serve as the side attractions.

This is No Joke: Hu Jun’s comedic role is very welcomed. If he learns Cantonese, he would make my days better.

This is A Joke: Ronald Cheng’s appearance is really a waste here. Sadly.

Rating: 5/10

Duplicity

The Gist
It all begins in Dubai where Ray Koval (Clive Owen) gets seduced by Claire Stenwick (Julia Roberts) and loses some important government intelligence. Years later the scene changes to Rome. They meet again, fall in love and then team up to conspire against Richard Garsik (Paul Giamatti) and Howard Tully (Tom Wilkinson) to steal a top-secret “next big thing” that is worth $35 million. Will Koval and Stenwick make it in this spy versus spy outing?

What Do I Think?
The present situation sees depressed Americans, probably mentally exhausted and brain-drained over their newfound hopelessness and disappointment with America. Now, does director Gilroy want that target demographic to think at the cinemas?

If you still have no idea where this film is headed to in the first ten minutes, then just relax. The story gets unfolded in a rather unconventional series of confusing non-sequential flashbacks. Play along with it, you’ll get rewarded with some gripping and at many times, engaging scenes with polished touches of stylishness here, there and almost everywhere.

Traces of Mr & Mrs Smith would be definitely present. Duplicity keeps viewers on their seats with unending guesses and doubts over Koval and Stenwick. Who is still telling the truth? Who has stopped? What we really needed badly was Angelina Jolie. Even though Roberts was physically in the movie, I’m pretty sure her mind was elsewhere. The chemistry with Owen, onscreen presence and the required sexiness were all sorely missing. If other facts prove false, then the truth is that she is overshadowed by three actors in their prime – Giamatti, Owen and Wilkinson.

The eagerness in treading and the suaveness directly builds Owen’s magnetic onscreen persona. Just imagine this: he is James Bond with a different name. Everything he does quite sufficiently anchors the weight of the entire film. Gimatti is at his best in hamming up his money-crazy character, most likely in the intentional way. Wilkinson mostly and crucially appears at the climatic points of the film. The power of his performance speaks in vast lengths to provide the very much needed closure to Duplicity. That, in an ultimate way “never-minds” his short screen appearance.

This is No Joke: After the credits rolled, I realize that there were no firearms or dead bodies in Duplicity. Not bad for an engaging crime thriller.

This is A Joke: The ending. You either accept it or otherwise. I chose otherwise. Then again, the question doesn’t lie in the acceptance; it’s more on whether it works or it doesn’t.

Rating: 8/10

Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs

The Gist
Flint Lockwood (Bill Hader) lives with his dad (James Caan) in Swallow Falls, a small town where it was once famous for its sardines. Lockwood is an extremely gifted inventor; of the most useless things. He gets his break one day as he accidentally creates device that causes food to fall from the sky. Soon after, the device gets cranky and gigantic pizzas, cheeseburgers and ice cream rains uncontrollably to Swallow Falls. Now it’s up to him and his girlfriend (Anna Faris) to save the world!

What Do I Think?
Prior to viewing Cloudy, there were only two things I have learned about this film. Firstly it opened at #1 on its first week of release. Secondly, the poster had emphasis in the words “Cloudy” and “Meatballs” while showing a scientist gazing at the sky of meatball meteorites with his back facing us. First impressions were cloudy (pun intended); this would be just another one of those animations. I went into the cinema with only one expectation: let’s hope it’s shorter than 90 minutes!

After viewing Cloudy, I must say that it has surpassed my expectations (not that I had any) exceedingly! The last time I had that experience, the movie was The Matrix.

While other animation studios are striving to top the technical charts, Cloudy goes on to build the creativity ladder instead. Sometimes it’s great to sit back to enjoy some realism, not in the animated facial expressions, but in the humanity of the story where everybody can connect with.

The characters’ faces are somewhat 3D rendition of some 2D cartoons from the 70’s (can’t remember the titles). That’s a technological backward but the simplicity is a welcomed change. Visually, we get scenes like giant toasts and pizza slices as rescue boats, a winter wonderland of ice cream and the attack of the Gummy Bears! Those are some melodic lyrical eye candy for your eyes! You’ll never get the combination of those scenarios in other movies, I promise. Too bad I didn’t get to watch this in 3D. I’m sure I would have run down to McDonald’s in the middle of the movie to grab myself a cheeseburger.

Phil Lord and Christopher Miller fills Cloudy with plenty of gags that the kids would love and the adults could relate to. Almost all the situations scripted are not just for fillers; they are instrumental to the proceeding storyline in the end. So you thought that Sam telling that she is allergic to peanut butter is just a topic of conversation? Steve the Monkey’s Thought Translator is just for laughs? The “ratbirds” are some silly creations to prove that Flint is a lousy inventor? Boy, you are so wrong, wrong and wrong. These are fine examples of scripting excellence, almost up on par with Pixar.

Another Pixar-ly good deed is to not do a Dreamworks by employing high profile actors to voice the characters. Hader and Faris are perfect for their roles as the nerdy couples to save the world. Caan brings down his vocal acting to properly define the “eye-less” Lockwood Sr. Neil Patrick Harris with fantastic one-liners, no; make that one-worders, as he becomes the voice of Steve The Monkey’s thoughts. Bruce Campbell is tastily snarky in his role as the town’s selfish mayor. The standout role definitely goes to Mr T as the animated overzealous police officer whom particularly has his eyes on Flint’s agendas. Is it just me or did they design his character based on Terry Crews?

The story in Cloudy is straightforward with several moral values to boot. The father and son relationship lessons really outline the core of the entire storyline. Haven’t seen such a good one since Finding Nemo. And to echo Pixar’s Wall-E, Cloudy addresses the issue of one of humans’ greatest weaknesses in greed and excessive consumption. Now, those are some realism that we should get more out of movies.

This is No Joke: The part where Flint asks his dad to go to his computer to send an e-mail to his cell phone (his dad has never been into his lab nor used a computer in his entire life before) – could you relate to that? I definitely could.

This is A Joke: I should have watched this in 3D!

Rating: 8/10

Garfield: The Movie

The Gist

The world’s most famous cat is brought to life to the big screen (excitement!)! Garfield lives a prosperous life with heavy rotations of sleeping, lasagna and coffees in the mornings. One day his owner Jon (Breckin Meyer), decides to adopt a dog named Odie. That’s quite a dumb idea, Jon, you already have a cat. But if a hot chick like Jennifer Love Hewitt tells you to, then it’s perfectly OK. As Garfield feels deprived of his master’s 100% attention, he causes Odie to run away from home in a turn of events. From then on, the entire film’s story relies on Garfield to rescue Odie!

What Do I Think?

I was probably in sync with everyone’s thought when they announced the making of this movie. Out of a daily three-panel comic strip, how do you do an adaptation right? To be faithfully and politically correct, it really requires a British-produced weekly TV show. This film takes a different stand in its making. It wouldn’t be entirely correct to say GtM is based on the comic strip. More aptly, it’s based on Garfield, the character. And the rest can be labeled as “loosely based on”.

Besides the fat cat, the next most recognizable character would be Jon Arbuckle. Jim Davis usually writes him as the lovable, bumbling & often in mismatched-dressing loser. Meyer portrays him as savvy, hip, mostly coherent and a rather smart guy. Meyer’s is a character so different that even Liz (Jennifer Love Hewitt) falls for him.

The supporting characters from the comic strip aren’t as we know of. Nermal, isn’t so cute as a Siamese cat. I had only realized that Arlene, Garfield’s so-called love interest was in the film during the credits sequence. Luca, the chained-up dog that Garfield loves to make a fool out of, is much skinnier than its comic strip counterpart. And how about that lovable eternally-salivating man’s best friend? Yes, Odie. He is played by a non-CGI Jack Rusell Terrier.

That simply means that every single ounce of heavy CGI is heavily concentrated on Garfield. (Reportedly his CGI shots double the amount of Gollum from The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.) The CGI rendition achieves exactly what audiences would expect the orange cat to appear onscreen. As for the mannerisms and movements, the cat’s cool moves and grooves rhythmically to the amalgamation of the storyline’s situation and its 30-year defined character attributes.

Even so, Garfield’s character dealings could have dipped to an extreme low if not for Bill Murray’s voice acting. Murray is THE only choice for the voice. If availability is an issue, the next best option is to scrap the whole idea of making this film. His unique blend of sarcasm, wit and much Bill-Murray-ism is fun and at most times engaging to follow onscreen.

The story begins with a short introduction to Garfield and Jon. The female-demographic pleaser known as the ‘romance’ element is subsequently brought in when Dr Liz appears, pivotal as to how Odie emerges into the whole story. The real plot enfolds when Odie disappears, thus prompting the hero to devise a rescue plan which overall sums up the essential story structure. Pretty standard and formulaic Hollywood stuff at 75 minutes.

Personally, I enjoyed Murray’s voice acting. And nothing else.

This is No Joke: Who knew that Garfield’s mouse friend’s voice actor would then be Mr Mariah Carey later on?

This is A Joke: The anticipation for Garfield to kick Odie (as per the comic strips) was never fulfilled. He shoves him off instead. A letdown, that quite is.

Rating: 4/10

17 Again

The Gist

Chandler, sorry, Matthew Perry tries to save an old man from jumping off a bridge. Accidentally, Perry falls into the river. The next day he wakes up in the form of a spanking brand new Zac Efron. Given another chance at his youth, he goes all out to redeem his mistakes in life.

What Do I Think?

Many of us would definitely want to have a chance to go back in time to correct our mistakes. I know that this is not a time-traveling movie. Rather it’s in that context where Matthew Perry’s body reverses aging. Sounds like a curious case eh?

17′s trailer narrates the entire excitement of this film. In the trailer, we get to see Zac Efron speaking like Chandler, sorry, Matthew Perry. Viewers got a glimpse of Efron breaking away from his usual hunk persona in his HSM movies. So where exactly does the excitement end? At the end of the trailer, unfortunately.

Reportedly, Efron hooked up with Perry to learn of his ways of speaking, mannerisms and comic timing. The Perry-ness in Efron is undeniably present but the heart of its entirety is lacking in many places. If you want to watch 17 Again just for that, you can see all of it in the trailer.

What we get out of 17 Again is a very generic by the numbers comedy outing from Hollywood.

Back to Efron and Perry again. What’s wrong with the casting department? I’m not saying that Chandler, sorry, Perry looks awfully ugly or something like that but why cast such an awesome looking Efron as his younger version?

Speaking of casting, Thomas Lennon serves well as Perry’s sidekick. His being of a nerdy fanboy of The Lord of The Rings and Star Wars franchises shows one of the most interestingly written character in this film. Mostly being cast with short appearances in other movies, Lennon gets to do more in 17.

As we haven’t seen Michelle Trachtenberg in a while, 17 is perhaps her most commercial outing so far. Her duties as eye candy and being the common American female teenage daughter are well carried out. Leslie Mann still looks hot! That’s perhaps the best thing I could say about her in this review.

The film does not try to overdo itself nor strives to go beyond average. Does it please viewers? Like most average Hollywood outings, yes this one does.

This is No Joke: The scene where Lennon wins his love with some amazing LOTR trivia. Who says nerds are losers?

This is A Joke: I can’t decide which is worse: Perry being the older version of Efron or Efron being the younger version of Perry?

Rating: 5/10

Top 10 Movies Filmed in Malaysia

Hollywood and Chinese film producers have once in a while chose our shores as their filming locations. Why? I think the better question is: why not? Here are some of the more memorable ones I have seen in my entire life of movie watching:

10. Young & Dangerous 5

My name is Datuk Dr Tan Sri Yang Amat Berhormat, erm, I forgot my given name-lah.

Trust on Hongkies to make accurate subtitles. Especially when talking about me.

Sample Conversation between Hongkies and a Malaysian # 371

Y&D5 showcases a fictional cooperation between the triads of HK and Malaysia. Malaysianism is extended in Paul Chun Pui’s Malaysian character: complete with baju Melayu and a songkok. The memorable key scene is from Shu Qi’s attempt to chat Ekin Cheng up at Restoran Soo Kee near Jalan Imbi. That scene alone is enough for Hongkies to deduct that Malaysian girls are rather shameless and cheap whenever they meet handsome Hong Kong guys.

9. The Romancing Star

Good ol’ Bas Sekolah!

It’s not that they weren’t up to date. The song they were singing really had the word “Malaya”.

A very long time ago, “Penang” was really a world-famous place to visit. Then decided Chow Yun Fat, Wong Jing, Fung Shui Fan, Natalis Chan and Eric Tsang to come over to pick up girls, the classic way. If you watch the DVD, you’ll see Chow pretending to be a king on a Penang beach. A decade later, he would return to our shores to act as a king (Anna & The King).

8. Entrapment

That’s Connery saying “Poo-doo”.

Connery: Why exactly do they ‘pull’ the tea?
Rhames: I suppose it’s because they can’t really ‘push’ the tea.

I’m sure that the Malaysian man is looking at the wrong place. Look in her eyes, you idiot!!!

Oops, I forgot where I nicked this pic from. Whoever owns this, can I use this?

Ever since “Spider-man” Alain Robert scaled our Twin Towers a month ago, the once tallest buildings in the world had their last international publicity during the release of Entrapment. There were two major fallacies that only Malaysians would know of. Firstly, the towers were superimposed as the background of some filthy and rather eyesore Malacca River. Secondly, the Bukit Jalil LRT station was renamed as Pudu station. I’d rather hear Sean Connery say “Poodoo” than the excruciating “Bhoo keeht jar li’l”. Sadly rather, everyone remembers Entrapment for the scene where Catherine Zeta Jones’ going through some security laser beams.

7. Lust, Caution

Many of my Ipoh friends saw this with their own eyes. I never did.

I ain’t sure where this is, but it feels very Ipoh-ish.

This is where used to wait for my bus after school! Now this is where I pay my credit card bills.

“You are not sheltering my left arm, you Lust, Caution actress you!“

I still wonder why Ang Lee chose Ipoh as one of the shooting venues for Lust, Caution. My question is definitely of a non-disapproval one if I may add. This international espionage film would have allowed Penang and Ipoh to be in a worldwide exposure, that is if Lee allowed it to happen. Rumors had it that just after Lee and his crew wrapped up filming, our authorities demanded to screen through every single reel that were shot here. before they left for their home country. Apparently, they were afraid of another case of The Twin Towers superimposed with the Malacca River. What? Were they afraid that Ipoh White Coffee would be superimposed with the ah kuas of Jalan Belakang Ocean? That impossibly stupid act of our officers prompted Lee to vow to never shoot in Malaysia again.

6. Police Story 3 (aka Supercop)

“You use guns? I use fists, you know.”

“I am gun crazy! So sue me!”

Now I know why she became Dato Michelle Yeoh.

Jackie Chan has some close friends in Malaysia for the longest time so it’s only a matter of time that he would make a movie here. If I remember correctly, this was one of the films that helped catapult Michelle Yeoh to international stardom. It pays to go back to your roots, you know. A fine Hong Kong action film by all means, as it was made during the height of Jackie Chan’s HK movie career.

5. Anna & The King

“Boy, sit to the left a bit. I need more space.”

“Gawrsh, your palms are sweating!”

It was truly a blessing in disguise for fellow Perakians when the Thai authorities disallowed the shooting of Anna and the King in their country. Going slightly to the south, they picked a place called Batu Gajah as their venue of shoot. That would mean unnecessary high amounts of money paid to local people to work as their crew. Approximately 281 of my Ipoh friends were involved in this production. The opening scene where two Siamese ladies walk out of the palace gates, one of them was my aunt! As a finished product, A&tK did not really make a good impression to the box office nor the critics. Was the heat to be blamed?

4. Summer Holiday

Just as she arrives, she uses a very suitable word to say.

A rare picture of Sammi and a Malaysian flag.

What do you say eh? Richie Jen singing that fella on his left’s (that means your right) songs!

Fresh after the breakout success of Needing You (with Andy Lau), Sammi Cheng goes to a perfect holiday location for a summer movie. It was aptly titled Summer Holiday! For Malaysian viewers, there was evident that there were close collaboration with our local actors and actresses. Everyone was hoping for another Needing You from this film. SH wasn’t as good as NY but still enjoyable, nevertheless.

3. The Sleeping Dictionary

Now there is one guy in the picture that wishes his shirt is off.

The hottest Iban girl I have ever seen.

“Yo! How much did you pay for those tattoos?“

Just because the film was set in a period prior to Sarawak joining Malaysia, the local peninsular fellows did not even mention or screen this in our own cinemas. A soon-to-be-famous and extremely hot Jessica Alba plays an Iban girl whom is a “sleeping dictionary” to Hugh Dancy’s character. A sleeping dictionary is one who sleeps with a foreigner while teaching him the language and habits of the locals. Now that is an amazing fact that all Form 4 students should learn in their history text books! The film itself is a classic, with high aesthetic values to boot.

2. Road To Dawn

“Crawl on. You missed cleaning that spot.”

Isn’t that Melissa Ann Campbell from A&tK? No, it’s Lee Sin Jie.

Winston: I think I’m a better dancer than Chow Yun Fat in A&tK.
Lee: So what? I think he’s better looking than you.

This film marks the first China production entirely shot in Penang. Road to Dawn is responsible for some of the well-restored heritage buildings that you see in the island today. Dr Sun Yat Sen’s historical visit to our shores was rather accurately depicted in this 120 2007 outing. Penangites born who lived between 1930s to 1940s would weep in joyful tears in a screening of this while reminiscing their golden years.

1. After This, Our Exile

That’s a teksi you’re looking at.

This kid won the Best Newcomer Award.

Look! There is a Proton Wira in the background!

There are a few reasons of this film being number one on this list. Firstly, I am not sure if Aaron Kwok has lived in Ipoh before, but his portrayal of a lesser educated man struggling to be good father while barely making ends meet, is very, very accurate. (I know some of these characters in real life.) Secondly, the storyline is loosely based on a Malay folk tale of a parent encouraging his child to commit crimes. (the ending of the story involves an ear bitten off, if you get what I mean) Thirdly, Charlie Yeung and Aaron Kwok speaks Malaysian Cantonese which involves Malay words like “bas sekolah, duit and tolong” and phrases uncommon to Hongkies (“you know or don’t know?” in Cantonese). Finally, the cinematography truly pays justice to the Ipoh scenery. This is truly an amazing “Malaysian” film.

Honorable Mention: Zoolander

This film’s plot lies in Will Ferrell brainwashing Ben Stiller to assassinate *gasp* the Prime Minister of Malaysia! In this film, Malaysia is a Chinese country where children are used as illegal child labors. And in this film, the Malaysian Prime Minister is a Chinese. Oh, and Ben Stiller speaks Bahasa Malaysia in Zoolander too!

He’s Just Not That Into You

Based on a self-help book, this film starts off with a few common relationship situations that would later involve nine people that somehow are interrelated with each other. The story picks off fine but somewhere in the middle, the plotlines start to press on the formulaic pedal a little too much. See, the Hollywood writers always love to write plot structures that would end up in favor of the majority of the audiences. Don’t let the script fool you like how Houdini did, everything just gets in the place where they are expected to be. Having that said, it’s not a bad thing given that this is after all a romantic feel-good comedy.

And so, what is Jennifer Connelly doing in a comedy? First of all, it was pleasant to see her in a relaxed role, after all her emotional roles in movies that required her of so (even Ang Lee’s Hulk didn’t spare her of that range). Then it became interesting to watch her act like the other Jennifer (Aniston) in the movie. Being Aniston is indeed no easy feat. Connelly almost failed to pull through in her first argument scene with Bradley Cooper, which she quickly realized and repositioned her focus in no time. It took me a while that she, amongst the five lead actresses, was the one holding the comedic role! Yes, she did make me laugh.

All the other eight actors were at the best at being mediocre, which could be the perfect remedy to a well balanced rom-com. Whenever Aniston and Affleck are onscreen, I couldn’t help but to term the Bennifer wrongly in my head! Justin Long generously unleashes his popular weapon of being the interesting talker as it was evident in many of his previous outings. And my other favourite girl Johansson; why does she always have to play the sexy seductress? Well, I do find her sexy and she seduces me all the time, but erm, that’s no excuse to always let her play that part.

This is No Joke: Bradley Cooper, oh Bradley Cooper. He gets the role where he is loved by Connelly and seduced by Johansson. I want to be Bradley Cooper!

This is A Joke: Nothing can save a politically-correct rom-com from being gay-free can it?

Rating: 7/10

Beverly Hills Chihuahua

Hong Kong movies, especially those earlier ones with Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee, would have to get dubbed entirely in American English, complete with an American soundtrack in order to pass the American Bill of Acceptance before any wholesome viewing gets through. After all, these movies were originally shot for the Chinese viewers’ demographics and simply having subtitles would do a lesser justice.

As for Beverly Hills Chihuahua, this movie was intended for dogs to watch (Chihuahuas in particular). The directors, producers and screenwriters must have gone through doggie advisers before getting on with the final cut. I’m sure the test audiences all barked with approval in unison. Having such positive response, I guess the only thing left is to dub it in American English, complete with an American soundtrack and release it in the US. Oh, they did more than that! They also animated the mouths of the dogs so it could appear that they were really conversing in human language. Them Hollywood fellas are a considerate lot!

Just kidding.

The voice actors really did great jobs by projecting their voices to imagine how the dogs in their right breed would speak, if they really could, except for Drew Barrymore. Her vocal acting was done in order that her chihuahua character would sound like, well, Drew Barrymore. I wonder if anyone told her that she was voicing a dog?

This is No Joke: Check out the deleted scenes about how Chihuahuas played a role in history. Great stuff but unfortunately removed from the final cut.

This is A Joke: Drew Barrymore’s voice acting. It’s a joke, really.

Rating: 6/10