FEB 16 — Two more weeks to the Oscars on February 25, so I guess my predictions and notes will have to wait till the weekend just before the ceremony.
But it’s still Chinese New Year fever here in Malaysian cinemas, at least when it comes to films on offer, with new CNY films from all over Asia conquering screen times (and our pocket money).
The biggest CNY champion in China,The Wandering Earth, which scored an astonishing (and record breaking) US$349 million (RM1.42 billion) during its opening week in China alone, is unfortunately not in Malaysian cinemas though, but I still made it a point to catch new CNY films by some of my favourite HK auteurs like Pang Ho Cheung and Stephen Chow, alongside some Hollywood stuff sneaking in during the festive season.
So let’s see how they fare, shall we?
The New King Of Comedy
Hardcore fans of HK superstar Stephen Chow (of Shaolin Soccer and Kung Fu Hustle fame) usually refer to his 1999 film The King Of Comedy as the one that’s really not that funny. Instead, it was a film that tugged at the heart strings.
More casual fans will of course always expect his nonsensical slapstick comedy style (often called mo lei tau) with every film, thanks to his classics like God Of Cookery, All For The Winner and Fight Back To School.
Keeping in mind then that his new film The New King Of Comedy should logically resemble the original 1999 one, and you’re in for a tearjerking and sometimes hilarious treat that’s probably his best film since Kung Fu Hustle.
More or less telling the same story as the first film, about an extra trying to make it in the movie industry, but this time changing the gender of the lead character (repeating the enchanting trick he did with The Mermaid), this is a hard to resist reboot, and looks to be another box-office smash for Chow, and a star maker for previously unknown lead actress E Jingwen.
Kung Hei Pat Poh (aka Missbehavior)
Originally titled Missbehavior, it’s a bit of a mystery why the distributors decided to change the film’s title to the more CNY-friendly Kung Hei Pat Poh when the actual movie has nothing to do with CNY at all, except for a song and music video tacked at the end during the closing credits.
Another unbelievable quickie from HK auteur Pang Ho Cheung (of Vulgaria, Love In A Puff,Isabella andI Shoot You Shootfame), this one was reportedly shot in only 12 days, Missbehavior sees Pang trying to meld the thoughtful ensemble movie he made with Aberdeen together with the raunchy comic sensibilities of Vulgaria.
The thoughtfulness comes from it being about a group of friends now estranged from each other trying to get their friendship back on track by helping their friend who’s involved in an unfortunate incident involving a bottle of mother’s milk, and the raunchiness comes from their attempts to procure a new bottle.
Quite clearly minor Pang when compared to the dizzy heights he’s achieved before, but still worth the ticket price if you’re looking for a good time at the movies.
Alita: Battle Angel
An adaptation of a manga by Yukito Kishiro by James Cameron, who initially wanted to direct but had to hand over the reins to Robert Rodriguez in order to start work on his Avatar sequel, Alita: Battle Angel is quite simply a visual and technological marvel, and best experienced with the highest spec viewing experience you can find (my suggestion — watch it on IMAX 3D).
I really wanted to love Alita, hoping that it’d be a sort of John Carter, Warcraft or Jupiter Ascending for 2019 in terms getting lukewarm and bad reviews, but ravishing viewing experiences nonetheless.
For that to happen, the narrative and storytelling just simply need to sweep you off your feet, no matter how cliched (or archetypal, to phrase it more kindly).
As gorgeous as the movie is to look at, I just couldn’t connect with this one emotionally as much as I did with the aforementioned examples.
I was still in with Alita the character, hoping she’d come through and realise her dreams, but I was just never all in. It’s well done, reasonably affecting, definitely entertaining, but it’s just not wholly fulfilling for me.
The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part
Not including the direct to video movies, with The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part being the fourth Lego movie for cinema consumption (with The Lego Batman Movie being the second one and The Lego Ninjago Movie the third), the only question left to ask is how much of this Lego-style humour can you still take?
If your answer is, as much as they can give me as long as the humour’s still good, then you’ll be in for another very fun ride with this one.
There’s more visual and narrative invention to be found here, and there’s even more annoyingly catchy pop songs served here for your listening pleasure, but it just lacks the surprise element the first one had.
But any movie that can top Everything Is Awesome with a song simply called Catchy Song is still pretty genius in my book. Everything’s still awesome here!
* This is the personal opinion of the columnist.
