News

Shadow 影 (2018) - China   Reviewed by Andrew Chan (Film Critics Circle of Australia)     Zhang Yimou returns to form in the visually stunning monochrome palette framed film that dazzles with stylistic action sequences, intriguing imperial courtroom politics and well rounded performances from the well known Chinese cast. It’s been a while that Yimou gone epic and succeeded, think about the over the top “The Great Wall” for any indication, therefore it’s nice that “Shadow” is more closer to “Hero”. Set in the warring periods of China, we see the underlying politics, the cross platter of the Ying...

Still Human 淪落人 (2018) - Hong Kong   Reviewed by Andrew Chan (Film Critics Circle of Australia)     This is a heart warming tale of giving and pursuing of a dream and a better life despite all odds. It’s the classic tearjerker that remains very real as we see strongly developed characters interacting, going by their daily lives and more importantly a story about the often forgotten humans of Hong Kong, the domestic helper and the disabled. Director and writer Oliver Chan is simply spot on in her feature debut as she crafted a beautiful film about hope, dreams...

Predator (2018) - USA   Reviewed by Andrew Chan (Film Critics Circle of Australia)     The biggest problem with Shane Black’s latest reboot of “Predator” is coherency and with so much controversy surrounding the film in the midst of the #metoo movement, the film ended up as one big mess. With so much backstory and character development ended up on the cutting floor, the film despite containing a fairly ambitious script ends up being cliche and even at times laughable. Random events and characters suddenly appears and slowly destroying any emotional attachment the audience may have for the characters. ...

White Boy Rick (2018) - USA   Reviewed by Andrew Chan (Film Critics Circle of Australia)     Based on the true story of the youngest FBI informant Richard Wershe Jr, the film stays extremely grounded and surprisingly suffers from a lack of sensationalise cliches that could have elevated it to a different level. Instead, director Yann Demange wants to focus the story on the titled character and end up lacking any sympathy on the black demographics that was also hit badly by the drug wars where many lives and families were destroyed in the process. We get a Matthew...

Hunter Killer (2018) - USA   Reviewed by Andrew Chan (Film Critics Circle of Australia)     One of the best thing about Gerard Butler’s war actioner is the good old fashioned feel about the whole affair. Much in the reins of 90s Cold War style action affair, the film takes up an interesting twist in its decent portrayal of the Russian president and some of its generals. I enjoyed the reminisce of a bygone era of where this kind action flicks dominated the cinematic experience of most action fans. Director Donovan Marsh is clearly reflection of the old school...