80 FILM REVIEWS 81 NEW THIS MONTH 82 MOVIES 84 TV SHOWS 86 AUDIO/RADIO Entertainment 87 ARTIST OF THE MONTH © 2018 WALT DISNEY STUDIOS MOTION PICTURES. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. MARY POPPINS RETURNS Apr 2019_GPE02.indd 79 18/03/2019 12:05 PM FILM REVIEWS WANT HELP WITH WHAT TO WATCH THIS MONTH? FILMMAKER AND DIRECTOR KAM RASLAN MAKES THE CASE FOR THESE MOVIES. finally redeemed. The once-powerful Russian Emily Blunt is the star of Mary Poppins boxer (Dolph Lundgren) now has an equally Returns, so much so that it is as if nobody terrifying son and this fight will surely be the else need be there. She gives a modernity revenge match of the century. Does Adonis to what could otherwise be an anachronistic Creed have the courage to avenge his father? musical about an Edwardian-era nanny. But does Adonis Creed need to avenge With a sly glint in her eye, we know that she his father? What, asks Rocky Balboa, truly knows about the modern world of Trump and motivates Adonis Creed? The answer, if he can Brexit, but she’s not going to tell us (because find it, will make Adonis Creed his own man you mustn’t speak, according to her recent and the Creed movies their own soulful legacy. horror movie A Quiet Place). And alongside goingplacesmagazine.com Blunt is Lin-Manuel Miranda, the Puerto Rican creator of the political hip-hop musical Hamilton, which makes him an unusual lamplighter on the streets of London, but he CREED II reminds us that we are whiplash up-to-date. If Sylvester Stallone was a musical act, he The casting for this surprising return of Mary would have started in the 1970s as the defiant Poppins reminds us that her presence is a | blue-collar champion Bruce Springsteen fantasy, that we unknowingly summoned her 80 | April 2019 April | before becoming the big-hair stadium and that she’ll be gone again soon. Enjoy it rock band of Van Halen that was fun and while she’s here. financially lucrative but empty-headed. Now he has become the Simon and Garfunkel of If I have a criticism, it is that the songs are boxing, who is meditative, harmonising with not very memorable, unlike the original others and sympathetic. As the co-writer of movie that was bursting with instant classics. Creed II, he is not only reassessing his legacy Perhaps that is because Hollywood still hasn’t but rectifying the creative bombast of his worked out how to make musicals work for a own past with a movie that is both low-key modern audience that just can’t understand and suddenly viscerally painful. As the actor/ MARY POPPINS RETURNS why people are suddenly bursting into song. writer/producer behind Rocky, Rambo and It has been over 50 years since Mary Poppins Although vibrantly alive in Bollywood since Cobra, he virtually invented the action genre went away, but now she has returned. I the original Mary Poppins, the musical has and then proceeded to boil it down into turgid, didn’t even know we needed her, but it turns virtually disappeared from Hollywood. macho, revenge-driven slugfests. He became out that we do. Just like the children in the Despite finding a final refuge in Disney, apart a waste of his own unique talent. original movie, we have grown up and lost our from The Little Mermaid, which had several way a little. The humdrum and sometimes memorable songs, the approach seems to But with Creed II, Stallone has returned to tragic realities of daily life have conspired be to have only one standout song (Let It Go his origins and helped to craft a moving to make us lose sight of the miracles that in Frozen) while the rest are merely musical film about father and sons, parenthood, we have and the potential magic that is all backdrops for visual pyrotechnics (some song adulthood, ageing and acceptance, in a movie around us. Just like the Banks family, we don’t with a snowman). that removes the most predictably lazy know it but if only somebody could descend Hollywood motivating force: revenge. from the clouds with an umbrella and, I don’t But apart from that, Mary Poppins Returns is know, just sort it all out with a mixture of love, the movie you didn’t know you needed. Revenge should be a good motivation whimsy, fantasy and even a cool head for for Creed II when our young boxer Adonis domestic finances. We need Mary Poppins, Creed (the fantastic Michael B. Jordan) is that perfect nanny who is slightly sinister, challenged to a match by the very man who completely in control, effortlessly fun, no- killed his own father in Rocky 4, which was nonsense and yet full of “stuff and nonsense”. perhaps the worst of the Rocky movies with It turns out that we do need Mary Poppins Mary Poppins Returns and Creed II are playing onboard. Check your in-flight entertainment system its flag-waving triumphalism but is now and now she has returned. for channel information. Apr 2019_GPE02.indd 80 18/03/2019 12:05 PM NEW THIS MONTH HOLLYWOOD CREED II MARY POPPINS RETURNS THE HATE YOU GIVE PANDAS MICHAEL B. JORDAN, SYLVESTER STALLONE, EMILY BLUNT, LIN-MANUEL MIRANDA, BEN AMANDLA STENBERG, REGINA HALL, KRISTEN BELL, WEN LEI BI, RONG HOU, TESSA THOMPSON WHISHAW, EMILY MORTIMER RUSSELL HORNSBY JACOB OWENS, BEN KILHAM PG-13 / / 130 mins / Drama, Sports / E, J, K, E+ PG / 130 mins / Fantasy, Adventure / E, E+ PG-13 / / 133 mins / Drama, Thriller / E, E+ G / 43 mins / Documentary / E After winning the heavyweight Michael Banks and his three Starr Carter is a teenager who Narrated by Kristen Bell, this championship title under the children learn that their house lives in a black ghetto but documentary features a group mentorship of Rocky Balboa, will be foreclosed in five days attends an affluent private of scientists in Chengdu, China Adonis Creed prepares for a unless they repay a loan. Feeling school. While being driven home who dedicate their lives to quiet life with his newly-wed hopeless, Michael and his sister from a party, she witnesses the protecting giant pandas. An wife, Bianca. Then, despite Jane are revisited by their beloved fatal shooting of her childhood American biologist journeys objections from Rocky, Adonis childhood nanny, Mary Poppins. best friend, Khalil, at the hands there and begins a life-changing takes up a challenge and Through her magic, she helps the of a police officer. Facing adventure through her research decides to fight Viktor Drago, family rediscover joy and wonder pressure from her community work at the panda sanctuary. the son of a Soviet boxer who by bringing them on a fun-filled and weighing the risk of being She forms a bond with Qian killed his father in the ring three adventure. isolated by her friends, Starr Qian, a panda born in captivity decades ago in a tragic match. must decide to stand up for that is to be released into the what’s right. mountains of Sichuan. | April 2019 April | 81 | BEST OF MALAYSIA CHINESE JAPANESE HINDI goingplacesmagazine.com HARI TERAKHIR 我不是药神 / DYING 僕 のヒーローアカデミア / MY BADHAAI HO AYUSHMANN KHURRANA, SANYA MALHOTRA, SEORANG PENGURUS TO SURVIVE HERO ACADEMIA MOVIE NEENA GUPTA REMY ISHAK, SUSAN LANKESTER, ZHENG XU, YIWEI ZHOU, CHUAN-JUN WANG DAIKI YAMASHITA, KENTA MIYAKE, PG-13 / / 124 mins / Comedy, Drama / E+ NADIYA NISAA PG-13 / / 117 mins / Drama, Comedy / E+ NOBUHIKO OKAMOTO PG-13 / / 80 mins / Comedy, Drama / E+ PG-13 / / 96 mins / Animation / E+ Nakul Kaushik is the 25-year- Cheng Yong is a small drugstore old son of Jeetender and Nasir is an employee at a owner who is desperate to turn All Might and Deku receive an company that does not take his business around to help his invitation to I-Expo, the world’s Priyamvada. One day, his the welfare of its staff seriously. father, who needs to undergo leading exhibition of quirky middle-aged parents announce In order to get his management brain surgery. He is approached abilities and innovative hero that Priyamvada is pregnant. to change its ways, Nasir by a mysterious man to help items, held on a floating island. Initially feeling embarrassed, makes a drastic decision by smuggle a cheap generic drug The island’s security system is Nakul and his younger brother attempting to jump off the from India to treat chronic breached by villains who set in Gullar learn how to deal with office building to kill himself. myeloid leukemia. Cheng Yong motion a sinister plan to hold the awkwardness of the This causes his co-workers to soon becomes successful everyone hostage. It is up to the situation brought about by speculate on the reason for and rich, prompting the police to Hero Association to act quickly relatives and friends. They learn Nasir’s actions and if he will crack down on the to save the island and to accept that they will have a really go through with it. unlicensed medicine. its residents. new sibling. RATINGS: R Restricted. Not suitable for audiences under 17 years of age. LANGUAGES: G / U General audience. Suitable for all ages. NR Not rated by the Motion Picture Association of America. A Arabic / D Danish / E English / ES Spanish / F French / G German / PG Parental guidance recommended. Some content may not H Hindi / I Italian / IN Indonesian / J Japanese / K Korean / Contains scenes or language that may be disturbing or be suitable for children. M Mandarin / ML Malay / T Tamil / TA Tagalog offensive.