The Star eCentral: Movie Reviews
The Star eCentral: Movie Reviews |
| Posted: Afdlin Shauki serves up a sequel to his hit Papadom that subtly gets the audience thinking – while busting a gut laughing. AFDLIN Shauki's Papadom proved to be a thought-provoking film for many a parent when it came out four years ago. Parents watching it must have wondered just how far they would go to protect their children. And any child watching it should have realised just how far their parents would go to protect them simply out of love. The story centred on widower Saadom (Afdlin) and his overprotective ways where daughter Mia (Liyana Jasmay) was concerned. Feeling stifled, she moved to Kuala Lumpur to pursue a course in filmmaking and, of course, Papa panicked at the thought. His plans to stay close to Mia landed him in a series of unlikely and comical situations, including falling in love with her lecturer Prof Balqis (Vanidah Imran). Papadom also made a huge impact at the 22nd Malaysian Film Festival, grabbing the best film award as well as acting honours for Afdlin and Liyana.  In a funny and subtle way, Afdlin Shauki makes us think about our own relationships with our loved ones in Papadom 2. Its awards and box office takings (RM3.37mil) proved the doubters wrong. Now Afdlin, 42, is back with a sequel entitled – what else – Papadom 2. He and Liyana reprise their roles in the new movie, with the story unfolding against the backdrop of a film set where Mia is working as assistant director. The RM1.8mil production, which like its predecessor is also produced by Tayangan Unggul, continues the story of the relationship between Saadom and his daughter, who is all grown up now. Upon hearing that Mia is in love and preparing to marry the man of her dreams, Saadom decides to go undercover at Mia's workplace to find out the truth about the boy, only to learn that Mia's love is not what he expects. Once again, Saadom finds himself challenged, and this makes for some truly hilarious and chaotic scenes. Apart from familiar faces such as Afdlin, Liyana, Vanida Imran, Pete Teo, Scha Alyahya, Noorkhiriah, Adham Malekh and Chelsia Ng reprising their roles, Papadom 2 also adds several new and colourful characters to its cast played by Riezman Khuzaimie, Khir Rahman, Hans Isaac, Dira Abu Zahar and Adlin Aman Ramlie.  Mia (Liyana Jasmay) is all grown up now and feeling torn between her over-protective father and living her own life. If the gala screening last week was anything to go by, the sequel promises to have audiences howling with laughter – there are even delightful spoofs of some recent movies – and maybe shedding a few tears, too. A big box office haul seems like a reasonable expectation. Behind the comedy and heart-rending moments is a subtle message that Afdlin wants to get across. Instead of being preachy, however, he tries to get us thinkiing about our own relationships with our loved ones. For Afdlin himself, the film still gets him tear-eyed even after multiple viewings. "While I was directing, all I wanted to do was to see the end product. But when I saw it on screen with ... (all) the elements such as the music, and emotions being displayed, it made me feel really grateful for and thankful to my family for being my inspiration for this movie," said Afdlin, a father of three daughters aged between three and 14. He felt that the Papadom movies stand out in Malaysian cinema because they deal with the relationship between children and their parents, and vice versa. "If you look around, (there is) no local film addressing family matters and I believe that's the unique thing about this movie," he said after the premiere. Liyana, 25, was beyond excited when she learned of the sequel, because her character would not only be a working adult, but would also have a boyfriend! Afdlin recalled Liyana's reaction to the prospect of Mia's romantic liaison in the movie. "She gave me a long list of actors who she would like to play her boyfriend. You know, all the young and good-looking actors," said Afdlin. "And then I gave her a really big surprise (in terms of the actor playing her boyfriend)," he added, before bursting into laughter. Liyana said she was surprised by the name but much to her delight, she quickly discovered that the two of them had great chemistry on screen. "I learned a lot from him as he is an experienced actor and, trust me, it was really fun," said the talented Liyana, who is now two months pregnant with her first child. Singer-songwriter Pete Teo, 41, was more than happy to reprise his role as Uncle Alan (Saadom's close friend). "Working with Afdlin was always fun. And when he told me that I would have more scenes in Papadom 2 I was really excited. But honestly, I was feeling the pressure this time around due to the filming schedule and I think it took me about 20 days to shoot my scenes. "Yeah, it was really funny when I was told that my character would have a crush on a young girl," said Teo, recently back from working on some projects in London – which, unfortunately, caused him to miss the premiere. "I will definitely watch it in the cinema when it opens ... I really hope people will like it because we had so much fun making it," he said. * Papadom 2 is now showing in cinemas nationwide. |
| Posted: 12 Years A Slave – An adaptation of the 1853 autobiography by Solomon Northup, it tells the story of how he was kidnapped and sold into slavery. The film features a stellar cast, including Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender, Lupita Nyong'o, Brad Pitt, and Benedict Cumberbatch. The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty – Ben Stiller (pic) directs and acts in this tale about a most ordinary man named Walter Mitty. He spends his life daydreaming about the things he might do but mostly, he has achieved ... pretty much nothing. Then an important picture goes missing, and Walter decides to do something about it. Also starring Kristen Wiig, Shirley MacLaine, Patton Oswalt, Adam Scott, Kathryn Hahn and Sean Penn. |
| Posted: THERE have been two very exciting trailers out this month for two of next year's most anticipated films. The newest one is Godzilla, which is directed by Gareth Edwards (who did the low-budget, critically-acclaimed Monsters in 2010). Godzilla has been in the making for some time now, and this is the first teaser trailer we are seeing. A trailer that ends with the revelation of a gargantuan creature, letting out a fearsome roar as its shape and size becomes clearer as the dust around it settles. No doubt about it, this is a jaw-dropping moment all right. As shown in the poster revealed in this year's San Diego Comic-Con, we see soldiers jumping out of the plane while David Strathairn's character is giving his men a "last hurrah" speech. We get behind the goggles of one of these men falling from the sky, and at one point we can make out parts of Godzilla. We see the destruction this radiation-spawned monster creates, alternating with the puny humans' reaction. Bryan Cranston and Elizabeth Olsen deliver shocked looks while Aaron Johnson (with army haircut) looks a little lost. Ken Watanabe is also among the cast, and we figure he must be the guy who discovers the monster's origins as he is wearing an anti-radiation suit. The teaser already looks better than the Godzilla movie directed by Roland Emmerich back in 1998. Let's hope this is true of the finished film. Earlier this month, we also got to see the newest trailer to The Amazing Spider-Man 2, which runs for 2mins and 40secs. It offers plenty of action (there are two Matrix slow-mo moves) with Spidey fighting more than one enemy. Dane DeHaan (Chronicle) plays Harry Osborn – who seems to have a hand in the origin of Electro (Jamie Foxx). There is also the Rhino (Paul Giamatti). In the synopsis, it says that Oscorp – owned by Norman Osborn, a.k.a. the Green Goblin in the comics and Sam Raimi movies – is sending a slew of supervillains to fight Spidey. Poor Peter Parker, he can never catch a break. But it seems Peter (Andrew Garfield) has made up with Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone). Even though the trailer has its lighter moments – thanks to the romantic pair – the film looks like it will have plenty of explosive action and many tragic moments. It's a bit scary too, thanks to the trailer voice-over where Electro declares his intention to get rid of Spider-Man. By the way, the suit Spidey wears has the same tint of blue as in the comics. Nice! Both films are set to open in May. |
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