WEEKEND PIC - May 11-13, 2012

YOUR GUIDE TO THE WEEKEND MOVIES

NEW THIS WEEK:

a) DARK SHADOWS (comedy spoof with Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Chloe Moretz, Eva Green, Gulliver McGrath, Bella Heathcote, Ray Shirley, Jackie Earle Haley, Jonny Lee Miller, Michelle Pfeiffer and Thomas McDonell) Rated * * * (3 stars): Tim Burton's re-imagination of the Sixties TV series is both inventive and entertaining. Depp is delightful as Barnabas Collins, a 200-year-old vampire who finds himself 'resurrected' in the hip Seventies. He is supported by Eva Green's sexy witch Angelique as well as the Burton regular, Carter. Indeed, Depp and Green spice up the Gothic-styled love triangle with a violent tryst that forms the highlight of the film. (Reviewed below)


b) GONE (psychological thriller with Amanda Seyfried, Jennifer Carpenter, Sebastian Stan, Wes Bentley, Michael Paré) Rating * * (2 stars): It is obvious that wide-eyed beauty Seyfried is the main reason to catch this film but after half-an-hour of this badly-written script, even Seyfried cannot save this hapless movie from banality. Seyfried plays a woman with a history of paranoia who goes berserk when her sister disappears mysteriously. After watching this, Silence of the Lambs looks like Oscar material.

c) GHOST BUDDIES (comedy in Mandarin and Hokkien with Mark Lee, Maggie Shiu Mei Kei, Vivian Tok, Lim Ching Miau, Wee Kheng Ming and Chow Kee Moo) Rated * 1/2 (1.5 stars): It takes an experienced director and a couple of accomplished actors to pull off a dark comedy involving morticians, ghosts and unrequited love. Alas, Mark Cheng and Maggie Shiu do not fit the bill and neither does Hong Kong director Simon Sek. What we get here is an unfunny comedy not unlike the hastily-concocted campfire sketches put up by the kids. Okay, some kids may laugh at some of the gags but I did not hear anyone laughing at the media screening in KL. (Reviewed below)

STILL GOING STRONG:

1. MARVEL'S THE AVENGERS (sci-fi fantasy with Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Tom Hiddleston, Clark Gregg, Cobie Smulders, Stellan Skarsgard, Samuel L. Jackson, Gwyneth Paltrow and Paul Bettany) Rated * * * 1/2 (3.5 stars): I take it that by now, you would have watched this much-awaited blockbuster of 2012. If you have not, better do so soon or you are going to feel real blur at tea-time chats at the mamak stall.  What you get is six superheroes for the price of one cinema ticket. My favourite is The Hulk and Black Widow. What's yours? (Reviewed below)

2. THE LADY (biodrama with Michelle Yeoh, David Thewlis, Jonathan Raggett, Jonathan Woodhouse, Benedict Wong and Susan Wooldridge) Rated * * 1/2 (2.5 stars): Just like The Iron Lady, this biopic on Aung San Suu Kyi (directed by Luc Besson) is flawed. It skips a huge chunk of her earlier life and youth - and takes us to the part of her life that has been well documented. Still, we get excellent performances from Michele Yeoh as Suu Kyi and David Thewlis as her loving and long-suffering husband. I would recommend it just for Yeoh's effort. (Reviewed below)

3. SAFE (crime thriller with Jason Statham, Catherine Chan, Chris Sarandon, Robert John Burke, Reggie Lee, Danny Hoch and James Hong) Rated * * 1/2 (2.5 stars): Strictly for Statham fans. The plot is a tad ludicrous and everything is way over-the-top just like in any Statham actioner. Other than Statham's anti-hero and the little Chinese girl (Catherine Chan) whom he rescues, everyone is a baddie and deserves to be shot. Thus the movie builds up to a predictable bloody mayhem. (Reviewed below)