Coming to Cinemas (Christmas 2012)

Ho! Ho! Ho! It's already that time of the year and there is Christmas treats for those who are going to the cinema during this holiday season. Although none of the releases are 100% suited for spreading the Christmas cheer, there is still good family entertainment to go around for Christmas 2012; whether it's quirky animation, mixed sports-romance-comedy or mesmerizing heartfelt singing.

Let's look what's coming out from the Christmas trees in Malaysian cinemas:

Here Comes The Boom

Director: Frank Coraci
Cast: Kevin James, Salma Hayek, Henry Winkler
Running Time: 1 Hour 45 Minutes
Language:: English
Classification: U
Synopsis: When a high school faces drastic cutbacks, biology teacher (Kevin James) decides to take matters into his own hands. In order to save his best friend's job and the music program that his students love, he moonlights in the octagon as a mixed martial arts fighter. Unexpectedly, his attempt turns out to be a success, ultimately leading to brawls in the UFC.

Trailer Impression: Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) should be explored in more movies and having watched the phenomenal but underrated Warrior last year, I'm surprised that there hasn't been more MMA-related movies in the works. But what I didn't expect is to see Kevin James put on the gloves and walk into the cage so soon. The trailer seem to promise some hilarious moments that works with Kevin James, but if you've seen Mall Cop, you'd probably can guess where Here Comes the Boom is going. I would watch this on a slow release week, but there's already a major production that has got my ticket.

Les Misérables

Director: Tom Hooper
Cast: Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, Amanda Seyfried, Eddie Redmayne, Samantha Barks, Sacha Baron Cohen, Helena Bonham Carter
Running Time: 2 Hours 40 Minutes
Language:: English
Classification: P13
Synopsis: Set against the backdrop of 19th-century France, Les Miserables tells an enthralling story of broken dreams and unrequited love, passion, sacrifice and redemption--a timeless testament to the survival of the human spirit. Jackman plays ex-prisoner Jean Valjean, hunted for decades by the ruthless policeman Javert (Crowe) after he breaks parole. When Valjean agrees to care for factory worker Fantine's (Hathaway) young daughter, Cosette, their lives change forever.

Trailer Impression: Even though I've never seen any rendition of Victor Hugo's magnum opus, his work has been deemed to be a classical literature and theatrical piece that needed a major production like this to do it justice. There is plenty to look forward to this. For one, live-singing, instead of prerecorded dubbing by the actors, will be put to the test, although the trailer seems to show that this is not a bad idea entirely. I have confidence in Tom Hooper's direction since he has done period pieces with last year's The King's Speech. Although musicals can be a hit (The Fiddler on the Roof) or miss (Sweeney Todd) for me, I think I would be kept in my seat for the butt-numbing 2 hours and 40 minutes. This is the Christmas release that I have been waiting for.

Yak: The Giant King

Director: Chaiporn Panichrutiwong, Prapas Cholsaranont
Cast: Kreadtisuk Udomnak, Boribroon Junrieng, Weranut Tippayamontol
Running Time: 1 Hour 27 Minutes
Language:: English / Thai
Classification: P13
Synopsis: "Yak: The Giant King" is loosely based on legend of Ramayana, only that the original characters have been replaced by robots. Hanuman the monkey king is now a three-wheeled robot with a need for speed and adventure. Instead of a monkey's tail, he has been gifted with a magic chain with which to subdue his mortal enemy Tosakan. Meanwhile, Tosakan is now a ten-headed and ten-armed giant robot. His only goal in life is to conquer the robotic world and destroy Lord Rama, the powerful demigod of Ramayana who is now a powerful satellite in orbit around this robotic world. Through a series of comedic mishaps, Tosakan and Hanuman wake up and find that they're fused together by Hanuman's chain. To make things worse, they have lost their memories and have no clue as to why they are chained together. In searching for a way to break the chain, they soon become friends, but what happens when they find out the truth about themselves?

Trailer Impression: Ramayana meets robots? Only something like this can come from Thailand and frankly, this idea sounds way more interesting on paper than a story about a shark in a land-walking water tank with forced injections of local culture just so that we can thump ourselves on the chest with naive patriotism. I don't know which version of this are we getting in the cinemas; whether it's subtitled or voice dub, but if it's the voice cast from this trailer, it already gives it an up point from Malaysia Boleh! Put this in the curious list.

FilmBah's Pick of the Week: I wouldn't say this is a bad release week afterall. Here Comes The Boom looks like the perfect choice if you want a slow and quiet way to relax on Christmas and Yak: The Giant King does serve as a great distraction for those with kids. But if you are enjoying the awards season to see the major contenders for the Oscars, then catching Les Misérables is the no-brainer, only if you are into that sort of thing. And I am.

Releases according to CinemaOnline.