Something still worth catching on the silver screen

Despite my inclination towards avi and divx files, there are still some films that deserve that precious $21 ($10.50 per weekend ticket) and the giant bottle of Oolong tea. I came to this conclusion after scanning through this morning's papers and I'm glad to say that these films have only recently opened in the box office so there is still mucho time to catch them.



MY MAGIC
Rating: NC16
Consumer Advice: Some Coarse Language & Some Disturbing Scenes
Genre: Drama
Language: Tamil, Hokkien
Subtitles: Chinese and English Subtitles
Director: Eric Khoo
Main Cast: Bosco Francis, Jathishweran
Runtime: 78mins

Francis (Bosco Francis) is a man at the end of is tether. The former magician often takes solace in the bottle and barely ekes out a living as a cleaner in a nightclub. He has a 10-year-old son he loves desperately, but sorrow, guilt and constant inebriation have made him an ineffectual father. The son (Jathishweran) is a stoic old soul who has learned to bury his affection for his old man and to cope with his chaotic life.

A broken spirit and a single parent, Francis hopes to redeem himself and win his sons love and respect. He makes a painful - and bizarre return to magic. An unexpected incident one night sets father and son on the road. In a dilapidated building, these two wounded souls come to terms with their love - a love which is as deep and acute as their grief.



BURN AFTER READING
Rating: TBA
Director: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
Main Cast: George Clooney, Frances McDormand, John Malkovich, Tilda Swinton and Brad Pitt
Runtime: TBC

Osbourne Cox is a CIA operative struggling to stay afloat. His job and marriage are going nowhere, and he's got a drinking problem to boot. Harry Pfarrer (Clooney) is a Treasury Department marshal who can't stop tripping over his own vanity. His hobbies include internet-dating behind his wife's back and building homemade sex toys in this basement, not to mention sleeping with Osbourne's dissatisfied wife. When Ozzie gets fired from the Agency, he decides to write a tell-all memoir, blissfully unaware that he doesn't have much to tell. However, a draft ends up in the hands of Harry's other love, harebrained Hardbodies gym employee Linda Litzke (Frances McDormand), and her dopey colleague Chad Feldheimer (Pitt). Convinced they've tapped into classified information, they see this as the perfect opportunity to make some serious cash, and they bring their discovery straight to the Russians! Instantly, affairs of love and state become absurdly entangled, and nobody knows who to trust or what to believe - least of all, the "brilliant" minds at the CIA, who lead us to ask: just how intelligent is Central Intelligence?

Other than the two gems above, there are some comedies that you know aren't worth $21, but you'll just want to catch them anyway. Meet the House Bunny and Big Stan:



THE HOUSE BUNNY
Rating: PG
Consumer Advice: Sexual References
Genre: Comedy
Language: English with chinese subtitle
Cast: Anna Faris
Running Time: 98 min

In Columbia Pictures’ comedy The House Bunny, Anna Faris charms as Shelley Darlington, a Playboy Bunny who teaches an awkward sorority about the opposite sex – only to learn that what boys really like is what’s on the inside.

Shelley is living a carefree life until a rival gets her tossed out of the Playboy Mansion. With nowhere to go, fate delivers her to the sorority girls from Zeta Alpha Zeta. Unless they can sign a new pledge class, the seven socially clueless women will lose their house to the scheming girls of Phi Iota Mu. In order to accomplish their goal, they need Shelley to teach them the ways of makeup and men; at the same time, Shelley needs some of what the Zetas have – a sense of individuality. The combination leads all the girls to learn how to stop pretending and start being themselves.



BIG STAN
Rating: M18
Consumer Advice: Some mature content
Language: English with no subtitles
Director: Rob Schneider
Main Cast: Rob Schneider, Brandon Molale, David Carradine, Randy Couture, Barbara Dodd
Runtime: 105mins

Stan, a two-bit con man, is being sent to prison for fraud and the prospect terrifies him. Seeking help from a mysterious martial arts guru known only as The Master, Stan transforms himself into a kung fu expert! Ultimately bringing the warring prison gangs together and establishing peace within its walls.

And of course, because Singapore is just OH SO SLOW in getting new flicks onto the silver screen, there are some upcoming gems that one MUST take note of. Don't play play:



TROPIC THUNDER
Rating: TBC
Genre: Action,Comedy
Language: English
Director: Ben Stiller
Main Cast: Ben Stiller, Jack Black, Robert Downey Jr (Yes. THAT Robert Downey Jr).
Runtime: TBA

Ben Stiller, Jack Black and Robert Downey Jr. lead an ensemble cast in “Tropic Thunder,” an action comedy about a group of self-absorbed actors who set out to make the biggest war film ever. After ballooning costs (and the out of control egos of the pampered cast) threaten to shut down the movie, the frustrated director refuses to stop shooting, leading his cast deep into the jungles of Southeast Asia for “increased realism,” where they inadvertently encounter real bad guys.

This was a big hit in the States and I don't understand why with the star studded cast that it is getting released in Singapore later than Big Stan. Oh well. The final recommendation is the biggest talk of tinseltown and the biggest Taiwanese film to surpass all expectations (and earnings) so far. Yes. It won the Dark Knight in Taiwan. Very very big feat:



Cape No. 7 is a 2008 Taiwanese romantic comedy film written and directed by Taiwanese director Te-Sheng Wei (魏德聖). The film is mainly in Mandarin Chinese but also contains significant lines in Japanese and Taiwanese. Before its commercial release, the film was selected as one of the opening films in the 2008 Taipei Film Festival.

The two leading actors Van Fan (范逸臣) and Chie Tanaka (田中千絵) only had minor acting experience while most of the other actors were amateurs, picked mainly for their rock band experience as needed by the plot. Although without a strong promotional campaign, this movie attracted unexpected popularity in Taiwan after its official release on August 22, 2008. As of September 18, the movie has grossed over NT$100 million. It is also the top grossing Taiwanese film in the island's cinematic history.

Back in the 1940s during the Taiwan under Japanese rule era, a Japanese teacher (Kousuke Atari) dispatched to Hengchun fell in love with a local girl who was given the Japanese name Kojima Tomoko (Rachel Liang). However, after the Surrender of Japan he was forced to return to his home country. He penned seven love letters on his trip home to express his regret for leaving Kojima Tomoko, who originally planned on living in Japan with Atari.

More than 60 years after Atari left Tomoko, Aga (Van Fan) is introduced as a struggling young Hengchun-native rock band singer who could not secure a job in Taipei. After returning to his hometown, Aga's step father (Ju-Lung Ma), the Town Council Representative, arranged a postman position for him, replacing the senile Uncle Mao (Lin Tsung-ren), on break after a motorcycle accident broke his leg. One day Aga came across an undeliverable piece of mail: the Japanese teacher has been dead and his offspring decided to mail these unsent love letters to Taiwan after discovering them. Aga unlawfully opened this mail to discover that the old Japanese-style address Cape No. 7, Hengchun County, Takao Prefecture, could no longer be found.

Meantime a local resort hotel inside Kenting National Park is organizing a beach concert featuring Japanese pop singer Kousuke Atari, but Aga's step father made use of his official identity to insist that the accompanying band be formed by locals. Tomoko (Chie Tanaka), a Chinese-speaking Japanese fashion model dispatched to Hengchun, took up the difficult task of managing this band, led by Aga along with six other locals of rather particular backgrounds. After a frustrating trial period Aga and Tomoko unexpectedly began a relationship. With some assistance from hotel maid Ming-chu (Shino Lin), Tomoko helped Aga find Kojima Tomoko, the rightful recipient of the seven love letters. Aga then returned to the beach resort and performed a highly successful concert with this local band and Kousuke Atari.

Source: http://cape7.pixnet.net/blog/

So that's where my next paycheck will be going to. Other than food of course. Before I end this post, do watch out for Cape No. 7. There must be a reason why there's been unprecedented positive feedback about this film. So, when it DOES reach Singapore (probably in December), do make a point to catch it. Meanwhile, here's the trailer for your viewing pleasure:



Considering that they spent about 2.3m SGD to film this, I don't understand why we use more money (2m USD) and come up with crap like Zodiac instead. That one even the trailer looked bad. Sheesh.