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Wednesday, 19 December 2012

Coming to Cinemas (20/12/2012)

This week is about showing whether you prefer Hollywood, Hong Kong or Malaysian action blockbusters. In the western corner we have Jack Reacher where Tom Cruise becomes an anti-hero while dishing out pain to unsuspecting culprits. And from the east, we have Jackie Chan doing a one-man show in CZ12 for his 101st movie. Lastly, we have Malaysia's own The Collector by James Lee, featuring fights scenes and martial artist made in Malaysia.

Also this week we see the release of more regional flavored movies with Singapore's national pride shown through Jack Neo's Ah Boys to Men: Part 1. But you can forget the dancing of Anak Manja Returns.

You can find the trailers for the releases below:

Adik Manja Returns

Director: Dharma Harun Al Rashid
Cast: Rozita Che Wan, Jihan Raja Lawak, Faezah Elai, Dharma Harun Al Rashid
Running Time: 1 Hour 51 Minutes
Language:: Malay
Classification: P13
Synopsis: "Adik Manja Returns" is the long-awaited sequel to the successful "Adik Manja" directed by Othman Hafsham. The story still revolves around the misbehaviour of the female students in a private institution, which has now been taken over by the daughter of the previous headmaster, Pengetua Sofia (Rozita). However, Sofia is unable to control the discipline problems that plague the institution, so she resorts to seeking Azmi (Dharma Harun Al Rashid), something that her late mother advised her to do should she face those problems. Apparently, two rival dance groups known as Shuffle and Hip Hop, which are led by queen bees Bib and Su, respectively, are stirring up trouble among the other students.


Ah Boys to Men: Part 1

Director: Jack Neo
Cast: Richard Low, Irene Ang, Roy Loi, Wang Lei, Jacky Chin
Running Time: 1 Hour 53 Minutes
Language:: Mandarin
Classification: P13
Synopsis: After tackling issues such as family and social ills, Jack Neo is set to take on a new challenge with "Ah Boys to Men", which focuses on the theme of the definitive path for all young men in Singapore's National Service (NS).It is Singapore's first military themed film in 10 years, as well as the first movie duology. The film also coincides with the 45th year of NS in Singapore.

CZ12

Director: Jackie Chan
Cast: Jackie Chan, Cary Woodworth, Vincent Sze
Running Time: 2 Hours 3 Minutes
Language:: English / Mandarin / Cantonese
Classification: P13
Synopsis: Also known as "Armour Of God III: Chinese Zodiac", "Chinese Zodiac" is a Hong Kong action film produced, written, directed by and starring martial arts veteran Jackie Chan. The movie is a sequel to "Armour Of God" and "Armour Of God II: Operation Condor", where Chan stars as a Chinese hero named Asian Hawk, who is not unlike Indiana Jones. This time, he has to bring back the bronze head statues of the 12 Chinese zodiac animals, which were sacked by the French and British armies from the imperial Summer Palace in Beijing in 1860.

Trailer Impression: To be honest, I can't remember the last time I saw a Jackie Chan movie. I guess when the Chinese action blockbusters started using wires and CG for their stunts, I must have been so turned off by them that even the venerable stuntman Jackie Chan hasn't been able to renew my interest since. If there was one reason that I would have to watch this movie is because it was reportedly his 'last' action movie, until he recently announced that he won't stop making action movies. As from the trailer itself, nothing looks promising, except for the stunts; the potential script disaster, shallow characters with few quick laughs, all to be expected when Jackie Chan himself made the movie almost by himself. Expectations are low with brain switched off.   

Jack Reacher

Director: Christopher McQuarrie
Cast: Tom Cruise, Rosamund Pike, Robert Duvall, David Oyelowo
Running Time: 2 Hours 10 Minutes
Language:: English
Classification: P13
Synopsis: In an innocent heartland city, five are shot dead by an expert sniper. The police quickly identify and arrest the culprit, and a slam-dunk case is built. But the man accused claims that he's innocent and says, "Get Jack Reacher". Reacher (Tom Cruise) himself sees the news report and to the defense's relief, turns up in the city. However, Reacher has come with the goal of burying the guy. Shocked at the accused's request, Reacher sets out to confirm for himself the absolute certainty of the man's guilt, but comes up with more than he bargained for.

Trailer Impression: Based on the novel One Shot by Lee Child, Tom Cruise's casting as the titular character has met a little controversy when Jack Reacher was described to be a bulky 6 footer blonde. Although his casting as the character, who would be a new franchise for Tom Cruise to build on, was accepted by the author himself, readers of his books might not be impressed with the decision. I'm no reader of the book and while Tom Cruise looks more ruthless from his usual characters in the trailer, the thing that makes me not so excited about it, is because it's Tom Cruise. I mean, it's still just Tom Cruise with the angst turned up. The only thing that will sell me this movie (and the impending franchise) would be the character itself. For that, I might be waiting for reviews on this.

The Collector (收烂数)

Director: James Lee
Cast: Sunny Pang, Ramana Mohan, Nigel Kok, Yeo Yann Yann, Patrick Teoh
Running Time: 2 Hours 10 Minutes
Language:: Mandarin / Cantonese
Classification: 18
Synopsis: This is James Lee's first action comedy featuring martial arts and hand-to-hand combat scenes all choreographed and performed by Malaysia's stunt team Stunt My and local martial artists. Sunny Pang, a real life martial arts expert plays a character also named Sunny in the movie, who is a debt collector. After being warned about his impending misfortunes by a fortune teller due to karma, Sunny decides to do a good deed to offset them. He then finds himself protecting a debtor's kid from rival gangs led by the notorious Uncle Ting.

Trailer Impression: The next action comedy from James Lee. I have to say this one certainly looks more promising than his previous Petaling Street Warrior, which I felt was hideous. Another point that interest me about The Collector was the fight scenes were choreographed by Malaysians, even though there isn't much to go about from the trailer. While I've never heard of Sunny Pang before, with a solid script and well composed action sequences, this one could be a sucker punch for local movies. Curious and could sway me to give it a chance.

FilmBah's Pick of the Week: While it's a solid fistful of releases this week, none of them in particular seem to whet my appetite. Maybe because it's the awards season. So my taste has changed for the best pic candidates that are coming out. But I would pick Jack Reacher to be safe, CZ12 just to see how old Jackie has become, or The Collector, if I'm feeling a little adventurous.

Releases according to CinemaOnline.

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