KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 3 — While this month’s list could be the shortest for the rest of 2018, but it’s only because we had to split all the movies coming in February into different lists. With Chinese New Year and the second Malaysia International Film Festival coming, you know it’s going to be a busy month for moviegoers.
Even with a narrowed down list, many on these lists are strongly recommended and strong candidates to be in the best movies you would see all year, so they are worth to be on your calendar for February.
So if all your angpow money is going to be for buying movie tickets, these are the movies not to miss in February.
Guardians Of The Tomb
Everybody likes an adventurous treasure hunt movie right? Just in time for the Chinese New Year comes Guardians of the Tomb, starring a fantastic cast like Li Bingbing, Wu Chun, and also fellow actors from the western hemisphere: Kellan Lutz, Kelsey Grammer, Shane Jacobson and more. The plot revolves around a team of scientists who discovers a mummified Emperor from 200 BC China. Of course this take a turn for the worst when the expedition team loses their colleague in the labyrinth like tombs and have to battle their way out from a swarm of funnel spiders.
General Release Date: 1 February
Marrowbone
Sergio G. Sanchez, the filmmaker behind the horror film The Orphanage (2007) returns to his craft with Marrowbone. This horror film is a must watch just for its amazing lineup of young talent like: Anya Taylor-Joy (Split), Mia Goth (A Cure For Wellness), George MacKay (Captain Fantastic) and Charlie Heaton (Netflix’s Stranger Things) who all surely encompass the perfect blend of horror and weird via their past projects experiences. Marrowbone is about a group of siblings who have to care one another in their home after their mother passes away, concealing her death so that they can remain together. Living with a secret and in exile may not be such a great idea as they soon find something evil haunting them.
General Release Date: 1 February
Braven
You’ve seen him in last year’s Justice League and now before Aquaman arrives later this year, check out Jason Momoa in a more down to earth action thriller. Playing a humble logger residing in the mountainous borders of America and Canada, Momoa has to defend his family against a group of deadly drug runners. The movie also stars Garret Dillahunt (12 Years A Slave), Stephen Lang (Don’t Breathe) and more in what is surely to be a smart survival movie where the stakes are mighty high.
General Release Date: 2 February
Molly’s Game
2017 saw a few greater writers making their directorial debut and one that we missed last year was Aaron Sorkin. Better known as the screenwriter behind the jabbing lines of The Social Network, A Few Good Men, Steve Jobs (the Michael Fassbender one), and Moneyball, Sorkin was asked to adapt the screenplay from the memoirs of Molly Bloom; an organiser of high-stakes exclusive poker-game around Los Angeles and New York for a decade with a clientele from celebrities to the Russian mob. Sorkin was so enamored with the source material that he decided to take the directorial reins itself, and it has produced one of the best performances from Jessica Chastain, alongside Idris Elba.
General Release Date: 8 February
Badang
It’s only February but superhero season starts early and we won’t be just getting a new superhero movie from the MCU but from UiTM! Inspired by the legend of the strongman Badang, this directorial debut of Datuk Professor Dr. A. Razak Mohaideen is a co-production of FiTA Studio and Universiti Teknologi Mara. We are not disillusioned that the CG effects seen here is going to make you want to see this movie over the other superhero movie coming out this month (but you should certainly see both!), but we are genuinely happy to see another superhero added to the Malaysian roster. Who knows one day we could have our own MAEU (Malaysia Adiwira Extended Universe).
General Release Date: 15 February
Black Panther
And so the MCU kicks off the superhero brawl and everything that needs to be said about Black Panther has already been said. Aside from being the first black superhero, with his own story made up of a mainly black cast, this is the sort of diversity that the MCU has been looking for. Although Marvel was not able to get Ava DuVernay to sit on the helm, they still have a highly competent director in Ryan Coogler to drive the narrative and framing the black agenda. With Chadwick Boseman reprising his role as the King of Wakanda, he is supported by a strong cast of the who’s who of working black actors today starting with Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, Daniel Kaluuya, Forest Whitaker, and Letitia Wright.
General Release Date: 15 February
Think Big Big
Since making the multilingual The Journey and Ola Bola, it might be easy to forget that director Chiu had first made his name from making Chinese New Year movies back in the early 2010s. While not exactly taking place around the themes of Chinese New Year (except maybe scenes of heavy feasting), but Chiu next effort could be skewed towards more of the Chinese audience with Think Big Big. Centered on Moon; a care-free plus size lady who works as a mascot by day and dreams of becoming an astronaut by night, Moon is forced to go through a rigorous weight loss programme to be streamed on social media to clear a heavy debt. Inspired by his own reading of the autobiography of Taylor Wang; the first ethnic Chinese who went to space, Chiu takes an layered exploration of self-love, definitions of beauty and the impact of social media on the younger generation.
General Release Date: 15 February
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Since its premiere at the Venice International Film Festival and Toronto International Film Festival last year, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri has gone on to win the Golden Globe for Best Drama, Best Screenplay, Best Actress and Best Supporting Actor. This has become the swan song unexpectedly coming from the In Bruges and Seven Psychopaths writer and director Martin McDonagh. We can’t wait to see the powerful performances of Frances McDormand as a mother of a daughter whose been raped and murdered, and rents three billboards to publicly question the police investigation. And if that performance is not to look out for, there is also Woody Harrelson and Sam Rockwell vying for their performance prize.
General Release Date: 22 February
Annihilation
Although it is not expected to be a winning any awards, a still highly anticipated title is the next work from director Alex Garland. Laying off from writing his own original screenplay like Ex Machina, this is adapted from the Jeff VanderMeer first novel set for a trilogy, about a group of volunteers who venture into a mysterious environmental disaster zone to find out what happened to the group of soldiers that barely made out of it alive. Due to some minor scuffle with producers, Annihilation was not meant to be shown on the big screen outside of the United States, but we are taking this as a privilege for Malaysian cinemas. Annihilation stars Natalie Portman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Gina Rodriguez, Tessa Thompson and Oscar Isaac.
General Release Date: 22 February
Surf This Love
Dubbing itself as the first Malaysian surfer movie, Surf This Love doesn’t seem to take that title likely, as it has gorgeous shots of waves and some surfer action in Pulau Tioman (and Bali). Directed by Wan Mohd Hafiz Wan Hussain, the surfer story is already setting itself apart with a cast led by Shukri Yahaya and Christina Suzanne, alongside Josiah Hogan, Beto Kusyari, Pekin Ibrahim and Farid Kamil.
General Release Date: 22 February
