Besson’s latest run-and-gun is a high-concept sci-fi noir set in the year 2079. Except the “high” concept is essentially “Escape from New York in space” since the movie lifts the entire plot, in which a wise-cracking antihero must rescue an innocent official stranded in a futuristic prison overtaken by psychotic convicts. James Mather and Stephen St. Leger share directing duties on their first feature and co-writing credits with Besson, but struggle to represent anything especially inventive. As a result, your enjoyment will depend almost entirely on your familiarity with Escape from New York and whether it is better or worse in space. (Spoiler: it’s worse.)

Guy Pearce’s smirking Snow is the tough-guy stand-in for Kurt Russell’s Snake Plisskin and, in this dystopia, the protagonist is tasked with rescuing the President’s daughter, Emilie (Maggie Grace, who was also in Besson’s Taken). And, instead of the isle of Manhattan, this PG-13 homage is set in a sort of outer-space Alcatraz, a super-max facility called M.S. One.

Pearce plays Snow as the typical casual, cool hero, rattling off snappy comebacks and stepping over anyone that gets in his way, and Grace’s Emilie is the standard fiesty babe who resists his help and sly charms, at first. They exchange flirty barbs and obstinate assertions between cuts to two Scottish convicts (Joseph Gilgun and Vincent Regan), who bicker about the plan, and to the government officials surrounding the President, who bicker about the plan.

It’s predictable, by-the-book moviemaking, rendered only marginally unique because there are stars outside the windows. Snow scrambles his way through an obstacle course of spinning rotors, closing airlocks, and the usual dubious physics, chasing goals that switch sporadically from search to rescue to hostages to a suitcase MacGuffin. When the chase grows cold, other “twists” are introduced, such as, oh yeah, “M.S. One is falling out of the sky” and a rushed last-minute wrap-up that is more confusing than revealing. Besson’s latest production really moves, but only along a tame, familiar convicts-run-wild thriller… in space.

source from: newsinfilm

Cast:
Johnny Depp as Barnabas Collins
Michelle Pfeiffer as Elizabeth Collins Stoddard
Helena Bonham Carter as Dr. Julia Hoffman
Eva Green as Angelique Bouchard
Jackie Earle Haley as Willie Loomis
Jonny Lee Miller as Roger Collins
Bella Heathcote as Victoria Winters / Josette DuPres
Chloë Grace Moretz as Carolyn Stoddard
Gulliver McGrath as David Collins
Ray Shirley as Mrs. Johnson
Christopher Lee as Clarney
Alice Cooper as Alice Cooper
Ivan Kaye as Joshua Collins
Susanna Cappellaro as Naomi Collins
Josephine Butler as David’s Mother

Directed by Tim Burton

Story:
In the late 18th Century, Barnabas Collins (Johnny Depp) spurned the love of the witch Angelique (Eva Green) who cursed him, turning him into a vampire and having him buried alive. In 1972, his coffin is found and opened and he returns to his beloved mansion Collinswood where his descendants still live and he discovers the world has changed a lot in the 200 years he was gone, although Angelique is still alive and trying to ruin the Collins’ business and name.

Analysis:
By now, the history of director Tim Burton and his best bud and frequent collaborator Johnny Depp is fairly well known with watershed high points “Edward Scissorhands” and “Ed Wood” followed by lots of “Ed”-less movies that have received mixed reactions. In fact, it almost seems like the weaker the results of their collaboration, the more money a movie will make at the box office, and if that rule holds, Warner Bros. should be very happy with the box office performance of “Dark Shadows.”

You may already know that this is based on the cult supernatural soap opera of the ’60s, but rather than maintaining the shoddy charm of the television show’s notoriously poor production values, the film is on the opposite side of the spectrum as Tim Burton and his team do an amazing job introducing the lush environment of Collinsport, Maine, where the story mainly takes place. It opens with the backstory of Barnabas Collins and how he came to be cursed by a witch before it jumps forward to 1972 where we meet Victoria Winters (Bella Heathcoate) who comes to Collinswood to take a job as a nanny to young troubled David, whose mother died years earlier. Barnabas’ returns to find this dysfunctional family residing in his mansion, and we end up with something that crosses “The Addams Family” with “The Witches of Eastwick.”

Working from a script by author Seth Grahame-Smith, the storytelling isn’t particularly clear–for instance, it’s not obvious that Hoffman is after Barnabas’ blood at first, because there seems to be a good chunk of that subplot missing. For the most part, the movie purports itself to be a comedy but it’s not terribly funny and the funniest gags have been pretty much played to death in the commercials and trailers. Many of the jokes just seem very obvious and lazy, doing little to lift the film’s laconic pace that contains just enough of the required soap opera melodrama expected from fans of the TV show, though all handled relatively tongue in cheek. At times, it feels like they’re trying too hard to be weird for the sake of being weird, yet they never go so far out on the limb that it ever really feels particularly daring.

You have to give Depp credit for committing himself to being covered in white pancake make-up with blood red lipstick and eye shadow and his delivery of flowery Old English speech, but it’s not exactly a character that ever rises above its singular joke. We get it. Barnabas is a vampire living out of time, a fish-out-of-water trying to adjust to the very different world. That one joke only goes so far and we never fully understand his motivations since his behavior is just as erratic as Depp’s other recent creations.

As always, Burton has assembled a terrific cast around Depp and the women are particularly strong, including another great performance by Michelle Pfeiffer as the family matriarch. By the second half, she seems to have taken a backseat to some of the other women, such as Helena Bonham Carter as the alcoholic psychiatrist Dr. Julia Hoffman, whose bright orange wig offers some of the movie’s rare color and Eva Green as the sultry and deliciously evil witch Angelique with a big grin and a surprisingly good American accent. Chloe Moritz is also decent as teen daughter Caroline who is becoming aware of her own sexuality, while even relative newcomer Bella Heathcoate helps to balance Depp’s constant posturing and make it more watchable.

It’s hard to hate the movie because every single scene looks so damn good due to the efforts of production designer Rick Heinrichs and cinematographer Bruno Delbonnel, but by the fifth or sixth time you see waves crashing against the rocks, you start to wonder if Burton himself realized the story didn’t have the depth to keep audiences interested. Burton’s frequent collaborator Danny Elfman offers a glorious and epic score combining his usual orchestral flourishes with period tunes from the time, and just when you’ve thought that Burton and Depp have gone as far into Goth territory as they can go, rocker Alice Cooper shows up in a forced cameo performance.

The Bottom Line:
There’s some fun to be had in Burton and Depp’s attempt to reinvigorate the cult classic from the ’60s, though lacking depth of previous collaborations makes it feel like it’s trying too hard but never quite achieving what it set out to do. Your enjoyment may depend entirely on how much seeing Depp as a vampire makes up for the often dull storytelling.

source from: comingsoon

Based on Donald Miller’s book of autobiographical essays, the film stars Marshall Allman as Miller, a 19-year-old Houston boy raised by his mother (Jenny Littleton) to be a devout Baptist. “Back in Texas I knew everything,” Don tells us. “Because I was from Texas.” Spurred by his hippie absentee father (Eric Lange) to expand his horizons, and all-too-suddenly disillusioned with organized religion, Don moves to Portland to attend Reed College, a liberal-arts school that’s the opposite of the Christian university he had originally planned to attend.

Reed College is a real place, and the film’s withering view of it as a freewheeling campus of kooks is only a slight exaggeration. (We Portlanders sometimes call it Weed College, if you catch my drift.) Don, all wide-eyed and virginal, is bemused by the co-ed bathrooms, the anti-bottled-water activists, the open-discussion classrooms, the offbeat extracurricular activities like Malaysian cocktail tennis and Vietnam War reenactment. He finds it easy to slip away from his religious devotion — prudent, even, since his new lesbian friend Lauryn (Tania Raymonde) says flat-out that Christians tend to stay hidden while at Reed. The super-tolerant, super-liberal student body doesn’t have much patience for mainstream Christianity.

Though the film is about on Don’s crisis of faith, it doesn’t follow the usual path, at least not at first. Dramatizations of spiritual journeys tend to make it look like an either/or prospect: either you adhere to everything you’ve been taught, or you forsake every last bit of it. But real life isn’t nearly that tidy, and Blue Like Jazz is notable for exploring the nuances. Not all irreligious people are directionless; not all Christians are charitable; not all peacenik protest-marching activists are godless heathens; not all organized religion is corrupt. Don’s potential love interest, a humanitarian crusader named Penny (Claire Holt), helps him figure it out.

But eventually we lapse into a simplistic, black-and-white view of the world. Lauryn’s frank “we don’t like your kind around here” declaration is the start of it, and more creeps in gradually over the course of the movie. The preachiness and moralizing that director Steve Taylor and co-writer Ben Pearson avoided at first arrives in full force, coming from a different angle than most Christian-themed films but coming nonetheless. (Taylor and Pearson’s previous film, The Second Chance, is a better example of how to do this kind of thing.) There’s also some clunky plotting with The Pope (Justin Welborn), a Reed acquaintance of Don’s who acts as ironic religious leader for the school’s ironic student body.

The lessons that Don learns about himself and his faith are worthy of discussion, and they ring true, at least for this believer. I haven’t read Miller’s book, but I suspect his reflections work better as insightful sermons or inspiring lectures than they do as drama. The film’s heart is in the right place; it just can’t make the rest of its parts function smoothly.

source from: film

Brought up amid much exposition and before much more silliness ensues, it’s a detail that — whether created by Besson or one of his co-writers, James Mather and Stephen St. Leger (co-directing here) — suggested a certain modicum of thought going into this fundamentally goofy outing. Lockout goes on to imply that gravity selectively remains whenever our heroes are leaping from spacecraft to spacecraft, and that one character’s noble self-sacrifice in the name of preserving oxygen would actually result in restoring some of it to a sealed environment.

But I digress. You came here to read about Escape from New York, But in Space, and make no mistake, that’s exactly what this movie is. Thankfully, a brisk pace and Guy Pearce’s leading turn as Thomas Jane playing Snake Plissken prove vital to lending Lockout a certain matinee-level B-movie charm. Snow (Pearce), a disgraced Secret Service agent, has been charged with murdering a government operative and stealing state secrets. The only plea bargain offered by Secret Service head Langrel (Peter Stormare, not even trying to hide his accent)? Snow has to ship off into space, sneak aboard the very same super-max facility orbiting Earth that was originally intended to imprison him and rescue poor Emilie from many recently thawed, riot-happy convicts.

Inescapable lens flares and evident PG-13 trims aside, Mather and St. Leger generally take a no-nonsense approach to this all-nonsense material, back-loading the film with the quest for Snow’s innocence on Earth (where highway chases resemble a garish blur of would-be digital wizardry) and keeping plenty of clocks a-tickin’ while our protagonist takes a lickin’. The film’s first scene sees Snow spitting out quips and blood as he endures a beating, and Pearce quickly establishes his wise-cracking and vitally endearing persona as a hardboiled knucklehead worth following into low-gravity situations. Once he and Grace finally team up, she proves to be a surprisingly suitable foil — easily disgusted by Snow’s demeanor, of course, but viably vulnerable and nowhere near as aggravatingly dim as her previously abducted character in a Luc Besson project.

Together, they go about avoiding chief villains Alex (a cool-headed Vincent Regan) and Hydell (Joseph Gilgun, spastic to a fault), resuscitating one another with needles through the eye (don’t ask), and trying to find Snow’s brain-fried partner-in-crime among countless tattooed ruffians. Lockout may never get quite as silly-inspired as “oxygen-fed weapons” again, but it does a fine job of continually coming up with obstacle after obstacle for our two leads to dodge — not the least of which happens to be good, old-fashioned logic.

source from: film

Both mythology jumbles play like chintzy rush-jobs, in a hurry to cash-in, first on Hollywood’s 3-D craze and now the success of the “original.” Only, with the dazzle of 3-D waning, it’s easier to spot the glaring issues in Warner Bros.’ revisionist mythology. These are purely commercial renditions, spiked with bone-headed spectacle and risible dialogue. It’s trailer fodder, like a lazy romantic subplot that settles a “passionate kiss” quota and appeals to X marketing quadrants.

It’s hard not to be cynical when the studio delivers almost an identical movie, beat for beat splashed with swirling CGI, with an even more nonsensical plot. Leterrier’s extravagant Clash O’ Titans suffered from too much exposition. Jonathan Liebesman’s follow-up is explanation-free, meaning it’s up to you to figure out who that god is and why he’s upset with the other one.

Here’s some help. Exactly like the first movie, the power of the gods is waning because people are abandoning their faith — again, much like Tinkerbell needs the clapping of believers. Only this time, rather than releasing the Kraken to stir up followers, the great Zeus (Liam Neeson) begs the help of his son Perseus (Sam Worthington), who has returned to the life of a humble fisherman so he can re-begin his quest to reluctantly save the planet from a titanic monster.

The obsession with that Kraken has subsided, almost. One god can’t resist teasing Zeus about it. “Remember when you released that Kraken?” Except, the thrashing colossal disappointment has been replaced by Kronos, yet another sleeping giant awaiting his anti-climactic awakening.

While 90 minutes of sand landscapes slowly lead to his arrival, first-time screenwriter Dan Mazeau and Red Riding Hood writer David Johnson explore the most thrilling aspect of Greek mythology, which is of course genealogy. Zeus, who begat demigod offspring all over the universe, is helplessly reliant upon the choices of his son, his brother, his other son, and his brother’s son while his son fights to get home to his son. Then daddy (Kronos) wakes up.

Aside from the full-scale clash in the third act, the action set pieces are brief and unsatisfying. A brush with the Minotaur. Rounds of wrestling with Ares (Edgar Ramirez), the God of War and Shagginess. A scuffle with multiple proportionally-ambiguous cyclopes. Each fight an unexciting stop along Perseus’ journey from one special FX-heavy obstacle to the next. Uh oh, watch out for that green screen, Perseus. You are in so much computer-generated danger right now.

It’s no wonder Worthington is more boring than ever, while veterans Neeson and Ralph Fiennes growl lines at each other on autopilot. Perseus’ self-assured “navigator” Agenor (Toby Kebbell) and a cameo by Bill Nighy bring a bit of goofy humor to an otherwise dull, dreary experience.

As expected, the 3-D is utterly unnecessary. Worse yet, it is the excuse for random detours through tunneling cut-scenes and flying objects, including a screaming person and Kronos’ thrashing molten arms. It’s pixelated spectacle over a bland, unengaging story. Wrath of the Titans resembles blockbuster entertainment the way a Pop-Tart is a cheap substitute for a balanced breakfast: a thin layer of something resembling flavor tucked in a hollow shell.

source from: newsinfilm

Brooklyn Castle

The faculty and the filmmakers share a “children first” mentality in their approach. The eager young thinkers of I.S. 318 are the focus, and their accomplishments, development, and hopeful futures speak for themselves. We meet and cheer for kids like 13-year-old Rochelle, who is studying diligently to be the first African-American female granted the international chess title of ‘Master.’ And 11-year-old phenom Justus Williams, who is ranked above her, as he struggles with defeat, expectations and a tested confidence. “You’ll find your swagger,” Galvin coaches.

Early on, the devoted principal takes the camera on a tour of the junior high, showing off trophy cases and banner-lined hallways. But he’s not saying, “Take a look at our loot.” Instead, he’s in awe of what these kids have achieved and are capable of accomplishing. At I.S. 318, “the geeks are the athletes.” It’s a place where young bright minds are celebrated and duly encouraged, and you want this for all children.

The film’s advocacies for funding after-school programs and general education reform are subtle and implied under a positive example of progress. Pieces on budget cuts, “teaching to the test,” and a high school meritocracy system are only placed when they affect the team or a spotlighted member. Dellamaggiore positions the students at the heart, rather than a political agenda, and their individual success stories resonate as a broader, more universal message.

Through chess, these “at risk” students are taught the values of competition, learning from a loss, teamwork, leadership, and other real-world experiences that shape minds outside of the classroom. The stories of Rochelle, Justus, and their teammates are unique, heartwarming, and anecdotal, but the basic principles apply to any extracurricular program, whether it’s sports, music, dance, art, theater, etc. The chess club, like other creative learning techniques, should not be a mere “non-essential” pawn in budget negotiations, the film says without preaching.

Dellamaggiore’s style is optomistic and unobtrusive, which is refreshing after the argumentative docs that have dominated the topic — namely Waiting for Superman and The Lottery. Rather than dwell on the doom-and-gloom of a neglected education system, Brooklyn Castleis an example of what students can achieve given ample opportunity and encouragement.

source from: newsinfilm

We know the kind of things the Avengers will eagerly assemble for: supervillains, killer robots, monsters from other dimensions, Tom Hiddleston, etc. But let us now hypothetically consider scenarios in which the Avengers would refuse to assemble.

Things the Avengers Theoretically Would Not Assemble For

- To fight the scourge of between-meal snacking among children.

- To help Bruce Banner move to a new apartment.

- To help Black Widow fight a speeding ticket.

- Mad Men. We all have DVRs. We don’t have to watch it together. Tony has a thing on Sunday nights anyway.

- A meeting of people who want to repeal the part of the First Amendment that guarantees the right to peaceably assemble. The Avengers do not like situational irony.

- A performance of Batman’s one-man show, “I, A Bat.”

- Game night at Nick Fury’s house, because last time they did this, Nick lost an eye.

- To play softball against the Justice League. Those guys cheat.

- Christmas caroling.

- Comic-Con.

- Fourth of July barbecues. Steve Rogers treats it like a religious holiday, reads the Declaration of Independence aloud, weeps uncontrollably, brings everyone down.

- Not a damn thing, unless you’re willing to pay the standard $50,000 appearance fee.

source from: film

Release Date: March 20, 2012

Cast:
Kelvin Kwan
Zac Koo
Wylie Chiu
Coffee Lu
Hana Tam
Lawrence Ng
Ray Chan
Yedda Chiu

Introduction
A sitcom about the romantic relationships, careers and life of young people. The story focuses on three young pairs of the ‘Post-80s’.

Storyline
CHIU WING HON (Kelvin Kwan) and KONG YEUK NING (Wylie Chiu) decided to get married on July 1, 2007 – the 10th Anniversary of Hong Kong Handover – the significance of this day is that their relationship will not change for the next 50 years. However, their marriage only lasted for a short 2 years.

WONG CHI KEUNG (Zac Koo) and HONG BIK CHI (Hana Tam) are middle school classmates. Bik saw Keung as her life partner and desired to be married before her 25th birthday. She demanded Keung to make that promise that he’ll marry her. However, Keung delayed the promise time after time and with a blink of an eye, 5 years has gone by.

The KWONG CHAK GAI (Ray Chan) and SHUM SI KEI (Yedda Chiu) pair has reached stage of ‘Everything’s impossible in the Relationship World’. In reality, when CHAK first pursued KEI he carried a ‘no harm’ mentality, but later he realizes sincerity is the best tool to touch any girl’s heart. (aZnangel)

source from: asianuniverse

RELEASE DATE: JANUARY 30, 2012

Cast
Moses Chan
Charmaine Sheh
Kenny Wong
Elvina Kong
King Kong
Rachel Kan
Wong Ka Hung
Tracy Ip
Florence Kwok
Mary Hon
Janet Chow
Lau Dan

Official Synopsis
What makes two become one? Family background and social status? Expectations and opinions of others? Good timing? Or their physical attraction for each other? International-acclaimed artist TUNG OI-YIU (Charmaine Sheh) makes use of her die-hard supporter YU CHUN-TUNG (Moses Chan) to stop the gossips about her love affairs and thus to turn around her image. After spending a lot of time with him, she for the first time ever gets to know the taste of true love. Although she understands this is nothing more than a show, she finds it impossible to leave this man who may seem too ordinary. This is a city of a million kinds of love; some normal, some not so. Also in this drama series, sports commentator POON CHUN-HIM (Wong Tak Bun) has affection beyond friendship towards his best friend’s wife, FUNG YIU-DAN (Elvina Kong); tobacco control officer CHUNG PING-LEUNG (Wai Kar Hung) refuses to accept CHOW SZE-CHING (Tracy Ip) simply because she is five inches taller than him; investment banker LAM NIK-HANG (King Kong) and playgirl CHEUNG HEI-YIN (Rachel Kan) fall in lust then love with each other. What is love after all? An excuse or a weakness? A duty or a punishment?

CHARACTER MAP
- Charmaine Sheh <==> Moses Chan (lovers)
- Florence Kwok <==> Charmaine Sheh (manager, cousins)
- Lau Dan <==> Moses Chan (As if father-son)
- King Kong <==> Rachel Kan (lovers)
- Lau Dan <==> Mary Hon (admiration)
- Moses Chan <==> KK Cheung (good friends)
- Tracy Ip <=> Wai Kar Hung (lovers)
- Queenie Chu <==> Kenny Wong (lovers)
- Kenney Wong <==> Alvina Kong (lovers)
- Alvina Kong <==> Patrick Dunn (married)

Info
- Charmaine Sheh is Emily Luk, an international superstar.
- Moses Chan is MK Boy “Chan Kwok Fai”, he works as an auto mechanic in MongKok.
- Charmaine and Moses will develop a relationship.
- Kenny Wong is the lead anchor of sports news.
- Kenny is Queenie Chu’s first boyfriend.
- Kenny and Elvina Kong will develop a relationship.
- King Kong is a financial talent and develops a relationship with Rachel Kan.
- Rachal Kan is a lawyer.
- Wai Kar Hung is Tracy’s boyfriend and an FEHD officer working in the Tobacco Control Office.
- Florence Kwok is Charmaine’s older cousin and her manager.
- Lau Dan and Mary Hon have a relationship.

source from: asianuniverse

RELEASE DATE: October 4, 2010

Cast:
Bowie Lam
Crystal Tin
Bosco Wong
Aimee Chan
Chris Lai
Susan Tse
Raymond Cho
Eileen Yeow
Loretta Chow
Jack Hui
Yu Yeung
Lau Kong
Tsui Wing
Helen Ma
Mannor Chan
Matthew Ko
Stephen Huynh
Janet Chow
Samantha Ko
Benjamin Yuen
Jason Chan
Felix Lok
Nancy Wu

OFFICIAL SYNOPSIS
Crime Unit Senior Inspector, YIU HOK-SUM (Bowie Lam) has learned his mind reading skills overseas. He is efficient and, by far, the most competent cop in his unit. He is able to analyze and read people’s minds just by observing their body language, facial expressions and from the tone of voice. In addition, he is also highly skilled when spotting disparities in testimonies and evidence.

However, his teammates find him to be a real pain in the neck. New comers, YIP CHIN-TING (Kristal Tin) and HO LAI-YIN (Bosco Wong) are especially annoyed by the unconventional way in which he does things. As a result, the pair often has confrontations and misunderstandings with the inspector. Things become worse when SUM learns that his half-sister, CHING PUI-YEE (Aimee Chan) is secretly going out with LAI, and that TING, who has recently been divorced, has a crush on him.

SALES PRESENTATION 2010
(Translation by: psycho 0805 @ asianfanatics)

What’s so special?
A person’s expressions can be feigned using the brain. But when one faces sudden incidents, or undergoes shocking interrogation, the person’s expression will then illustrate out the truth. This drama combines the Chinese traditional art of observing people and the Western criminal psychology, and uses this combination to investigate cases. During the process, the criminals’ offenses will be all exposed. Fresh and new techniques; Cracking cases in an unusual way; Becoming the precedent.

Story Outline:
The story’s male lead was a detective. His father was a fortune-teller. Since young, the male lead liked to observe people, and had always wanted to learn face-reading skills from his father. However, before his father passed away, he told his son that he actually never believed in fortune-telling or deities. What he had relied on was the China’s ‘art of observing people’. He used the knowledge from “昆馬篇” (a book on deception) to observe the minute details on people, and at the same time, research on the human weaknesses. Later on, the male lead headed to America to study criminal psychology, and combined the Chinese art of observing people together with criminal psychology. He used both of them for investigations, and had cracked many unusual cases. However because the male lead was too sensitive towards finding the truth, and was too adept in being able to see through other people’s inner thoughts, thus in relationships, he met with many obstacles……

source from:  asianuniverse