The Star Online: Entertainment: Movies
The Star Online: Entertainment: Movies |
| Posted: 03 Jan 2012 03:11 PM PST KUALA LUMPUR: Taiwanese superstar Jay Chou will be in the country to promote his latest action flick – The Viral Factor – next week. Chou, who stars as special police agent Jon in the Chinese New Year blockbuster filmed mainly in Malaysia, will be accompanied by acclaimed Hong Kong director Dante Lam. Fans can catch them at 7.30pm on Jan 15 at the Pavilion Kuala Lumpur in Jalan Bukit Bintang before they grace the movie gala premiere at the mall's GSC cineplex. The film, which initially carried the working title Against War, also stars Nicholas Tse. The Viral Factor is a compelling story of two estranged brothers – Jon and crime lord Yang, played by Tse – who set aside their personal differences to rescue Yang's kidnapped daughter. Their mission takes them through Jordan, Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia. The film, made on a US$17mil (RM54mil) budget, also stars Andy On, Liu Kai Chi and Bai Bing. For information on the movie's promotional activities, visit www.gscmovies.com.my and www.facebook.com/gscmovies. Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
| Posted: 02 Jan 2012 11:42 PM PST Your Relationship Status on Facebook makes a great impact. SINGLE. Married. In a relationship. Engaged. Divorced. It's complicated. It may just be one simple line on your Facebook profile, but it cannot be denied that a relationship status can be one of the most revealing pieces of information one can display. Director Khairil M. Bahar's latest film, Relationship Status, is an exploration of the impact of these statuses, and social networking in general, on the lives and relationships of modern-day Malaysians. "Going through the different relationship statuses available on Facebook, I found myself curious as to who would advertise themselves as 'divorced' or 'widowed'," Khairil said. "What would be one's motivation to share something that only a few years ago you'd keep to yourself unless asked? "And I found it curious that for those in the early days of a relationship, the question of when you change your status to 'single' to 'in a relationship' has taken importance when, in all honesty, why does it matter?" Relationship Status offers seven interconnected stories, all centred around one of the various relationship statuses in Facebook. The stories feature people from all ages and walks of life, with some stories humorous, and others touching. In Single, for example, two people try to get their friend out of a depressive funk by signing him up for Facebook. In Widowed, a grieving woman has to deal with her late husband's still-active Facebook page, and in Engaged, a man finds his engagement to the girl he loves opposed by his sister. Relationship Status is Khairil's second feature-length film. His debut feature length film Ciplak, which was made on a shoestring budget of RM10,000, won the Anugerah Skrin Award for Best Alternative Film in 2006. His previous work includes Dark City for Astro Ria, Ampang Medikal for Ntv7 and the second season of Ghost for 8TV. According to Khairil, he was inspired to write Relationship Status after working on the collaborative theatre production Lost And Found, staged at the Actor's Studio Lot 10, Kuala Lumpur, last year. The idea for the Relationship Status, he said, was originally seven short films written by seven different people. This method, however, just made things "six times longer", and he ended up writing the film in its entirety. "Some of the stories in Relationship Status are based on true stories," Khairil said. "Some were entirely made up, but after passing the script around, I met people who experienced what the characters in the script had gone through." The film is written and directed by Khairil, and produced by Bahir Yeusuff. It features an all-star cast of local film and theatre stars, including Gavin Yap, Davina Goh, Tony Eusoff, Daphne Iking, Baki Zainal, Ruzana Ibrahim, Alfred Loh, Shuba Jay, Benji Lim, Amanda Ang, Susan Lankester, Adeline Ong, Will Quah and Pete Teo. Relationship Status is multi-lingual, and features dialogue in Malay, English and Hokkien. Khairil said that writing the scenes involving Hokkien were a bit of a challenge as he does not speak the dialect. "I couldn't put too much flourish in the dialect. I'd give parts of the script I wrote to the actors, and they'd read it and go, 'You can't say this in Hokkien. There's no word for this in Hokkien. You really wouldn't say it! No one would ever have this conversation!'" Khairil said, however, that the scenes in Hokkien were among his favourites in the film. "I just think Hokkien is a very cool dialect," Khairil said, adding that one didn't see enough of it on the big screen. "It has a very nice ring to it, which I like; especially when people are arguing. It sounds awesome!" According to Khairil, the appeal of Relationship Status was that modern audiences would find it easy to relate to. "Anyone who has been alive in the past 20 years will be able to relate to something in this movie." Khairil said. "Social networking has only been around for about 10 years, and I think the reason it has made such an impact is because for humans, we already know a form of social etiquette has been set. With the Internet, however, it's a whole new ball game." The cast members of Relationship Status agree with Khairil's sentiments. "The film will make people rethink how they use social networking," Adeline Ong said. "Malaysians are one of the highest users of Facebook in the world. Everyone will be able to reflect on their own lives after watching Relationship Status." Benji Lim said: "As much as Facebook may be the main 'hook' of the film, the gist of the story still falls back on very universal themes. Such as people falling in love, falling out of love, trying to move on, and so forth." "It is rare to find such a really good, well-made, local English language film," Davina Goh added. "The movie has a very good cast as well." Khairil added that he hoped to showcase Relationship Status in international film festivals after its Malaysian premiere. "Some people tell me I should do it the other way round," Khairil said. "Showcase it overseas first, let it maybe win a few awards, and then bring it back here. But it's very important to me that it comes out here first. This is a Malaysian film, and I want Malaysians to be the first to see it." Relationship Status will be shown in selected TGV cinemas on Thursday. Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
| 'Iron Lady' enjoys strong bow in limited release Posted: 02 Jan 2012 09:00 PM PST LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - ''The Iron Lady'' proved her mettle this weekend. The Weinstein Company's biopic of Britain's former prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, opened to a remarkable $280,409 at four theaters - a per-screen average of $70,102. That's the third-highest specialty opening of the year, after ''Midnight in Paris,'' ''The Tree of Life'' and ''Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.'' The PG-13 movie, starring Meryl Streep, will expand to more theaters Jan. 13. ''We couldn't be happier with the results,'' Erik Lomis, the Weinstein Company's distribution chief, told TheWrap on Monday. ''Obviously it's the number one screen average by a mile for the weekend.'' Also opening over the weekend were Focus Features' ''Pariah'' and Sony Pictures Classics' ''A Separation,'' an Iranian drama that was written, directed and produced by Asghar Farhad. ''Separation,'' already nominated for a Golden Globe, is a strong contender for the Academy Award for foreign language picture. The PG-13 movie enjoyed a solid opening weekend, taking in $79,481 at three locations - a per-location average of $26,494. The R-rated ''Pariah,'' written and directed by Dee Rees, grossed $65,093 over the four-day weekend. The movie, which screened at four locations, had a per-location average of $16,273. ''Pariah'' is a coming-of-age tale about Alike, a 17-year-old African-American lesbian who lives with her parents and younger sister in Brooklyn. Two other noteworthy items among indie films: Steve McQueen's NC-17 ''Shame,'' from Fox Searchlight, is expected to pass $2 million today. The movie grossed $266,000 over the past four days - a per-location average of $4,800. The movie, starring Michael Fassbender, is playing in 55 theaters in its fifth week of release. Another Fox Searchlight movie, Alexander Payne's ''The Descendants,'' crossed the $40 million mark over the weekend and returned to the top 10 at the domestic box office. The R-rated movie starring George Clooney is in its seventh week of release and is playing at 758 locations. It grossed $3.4 million over the weekend - a per-location average of $4,485. ''This is a terrific weekend for the film, which is up 30 percent over last week's four-day average,'' Sheila DeLoach, Fox Searchlight's executive VP of distribution, said in a statement. ''It's the only film that opened prior to Thanksgiving and is playing in less than 1,000 theatres in the Top 10. It indicates the movie has crossed over to the general audience.'' Among other holdovers, FilmDistrict's ''In the Land of Blood and Honey,'' a love story set in the Bosnian War, dropped from three to two locations in its second week. The movie, which marks Angelina Jolie's directorial debut, grossed $12,539 - $6,270 per location. It now has grossed $52,202. Also in its second week is Wim Wenders' well-received ''Pina,'' a 3D documentary about the dancer and choreographer Pina Bausch. The movie, showing at three locations in New York, took $93,000 - a per-location average of $31,000. In its 11 days in release, ''Pina'' has grossed a solid $316,000. In its third week, Roman Polanski's ''Carnage'' expanded from seven locations to 12, and grossed $124,151 - a per-location average of $10,347. The R-rated Sony Pictures Classics film has taken in a total of $379,605. In its fourth week of release, Focus Features' ''Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy'' expanded by two locations, to 57, and grossed $1,428,726. That works out to $25,065 per location. The R-rated thriller, set in England during the Cold War, has a total gross of $4,298,998. In their sixth week in release, the Weinstein Company's ''The Artist'' and ''My Week With Marilyn'' held strong. ''The Artist,'' a PG-13 rated silent, black-and-white film that has heavy Oscar buzz, grossed $1,664,500 at 167 locations. That's a per-location average of $9,967 for the movie, which has taken in a total of $5.4 million. Lomis said the company plans to expand the number of locations showing ''The Artist'' on Jan. 20. ''It's doing fantastic,'' he said. ''I think 'The Artist' is going to play and play and play and play.'' His company's other release, ''My Week With Marilyn,'' which is is generating Oscar talk for star Michelle Williams, took $1,173,933 at its 630 locations over the weekend. That works out to a per-location average of $1,863. Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
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