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Film Review: Baywatch (2017) - USA
Andrew ChanBaywatch (2017) - USA Reviewed by Andrew Chan (Film Critics Circle of Australia) In terms of trashy entertainment, none is more aligned than the relaunch of 80s & 90s hit TV series “Baywatch”. Throw in The Rock and Zac Efron as the muscles and six packs and a bunch of sexy girls on a beach or bay, you got yourself a film version of an originally trashy TV show. Slow motion on the beach showing off balls and more balls depending on the genre. So to really have any sort of fun, we really need to go...
Film Review: No.1 Chung Ying Street 中英街1號 (2018) - Hong Kong
Fish Liew Neo Yau No.1 Chung Ying Street 中英街1號
Andrew ChanNo.1 Chung Ying Street 中英街1號 (2018) - Hong Kong Reviewed by Andrew Chan (Film Critics Circle of Australia) After years of making movies for the Chinese audience, Hong Kong veteran director Derek Chiu goes political, social and even controversial about the 1967 Hong Kong riots against the British government and paralleling this with the more current Umbrella movement and Occupy Central in 2014. Stunned by the Hong Kong International Film Festival in flavour for Taiwanese and Japanese Films and rejected by the Hong Kong Film Development Council, Chiu manages to raise a limited budget of HK$3 million...
Film Review: Bel Canto (2018) - USA
Bel Canto Julianne Moore Ken Watanabe
Andrew ChanBel Canto (2018) - USA Reviewed by Andrew Chan (Film Critics Circle of Australia) Based on the true story of an Opera singer’s romance with a Japanese Businessman in the middle of a hostage situation in Peru. This provide a rare opportunity for an Asian American Ken Watanabe to share a intimate romance with Julianne Moore further adding to Asian Representation in Hollywood. It shows how people whether in captivity or forced to stay within an isolated environment will react and eventually adapt to their given surroundings. What makes the film clicks is left largely due to...
Film Review: Project Gutenberg 無雙 (2018) - Hong Kong / China
Aaron Kwok Chow Yun Fat Project Gutenberg Zhang Jing Chu
Andrew ChanProject Gutenberg 無雙 (2018) - Hong Kong / China Reviewed by Andrew Chan (Film Critics Circle of Australia) It’s been a while and probably too long since the audience enjoyed a Chow Yun Fat’s performance. After being under the spell of wacky Wong Jing, Chow returns to what he does best, playing complicated characters and firing bullets in John Woo and Ringo Lam’s style. However, that’s just the beginning of the good news as “Project Gutenberg” is thoroughly entertaining, twisted and even layered with depth. It is a highly entertaining and engaging film that uses the maximum...
Film Review: The Nun (2018) - USA
Andrew ChanThe Nun (2018) - USA Reviewed by Andrew Chan (Film Critics Circle of Australia) One of the delights of the latest “Conjuring” spinoff - “The Nun” is more in the creepy setting of a remote gothic style Romanian castle than the jumping “Nuns” scaring the hell out of you. Despite the thin story, director Corin Hardy crafted the tense and thrilling scenes quite well and maintained the horror and suspenseful mood for most of the duration. Some of the most scary scenes remains the investigative priest played by Demian Bichir being chased to cemetery and buried alive....