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104 FILM REVIEWS 105 NEW THIS MONTH 106 MOVIES 108 TV SHOWS 110 AUDIO/RADIO Entertainment 111 FILM TALK A PROUDLY MALAYSIAN PRODUCTION INSPIRED BY TRUE EVENTS © 2019 . ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. PASKAL: THE MOVIE _GP Dec 2019_GPE02.indd 103 18/11/2019 1:06 PM FILM REVIEWS WANT HELP WITH WHAT TO WATCH THIS MONTH? FILMMAKER AND DIRECTOR KAM RASLAN MAKES THE CASE FOR THESE MOVIES. goingplacesmagazine.com SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY ICYMI, or in case you missed it. That is what PASKAL: THE MOVIE makes a great in-flight movie. It’s the thrill One thing is for sure, Malaysian hearts will of finding that film you wanted to see but AD ASTRA race when watching PASKAL. Don’t try to fight missed, and discovering it’s an overlooked | How did anybody think up the idea for it, it can’t be helped. It’s nice to feel patriotic gem. And Solo: A Star Wars Story is the perfect 104 Ad Astra? It’s a beautifully imagined and when watching a movie. Inspired by a true in-flight movie because not enough people | December 2019 | thoughtful exploration of the space between story and by the Royal Malaysian Navy’s elite went to see it at the cinema, and I don’t know a son with a very distant father. I mean very special forces unit called Pasukan Khas Laut, why because it is a really good film. distant. Like the space between Earth and or PASKAL, the movie charts the lead-up to a the planet Neptune. Set in the near future, rescue mission on an oil rig. It is thrilling. IDK, or I don’t know. I don’t know what Brad Pitt is a fairly low-ranking astronaut makes Ron Howard a great director, but who might be the only key to stopping With a budget of RM10 million (USD2.4 alongside Steven Spielberg, he is one of the violent solar flares that are threatening all million), PASKAL is one of the most expensive best. A Beautiful Mind, Frost/Nixon and Apollo life on earth. You see, his father might be Malaysian movies ever made. RM10 million 13, to name but three. We all know the Star responsible, and he disappeared on a deep is not much for Hollywood (it would barely Wars series with the Death Stars, Jedi and space mission two decades before. How does have paid for Brad Pitt’s hair and makeup), fighter jets, et cetera, but Ron Howard somebody think up something like that? but for a Malaysian movie, it is a big doesn’t focus exclusively on those thrills financial risk. But PASKAL went on to make (although they are there). Instead, he takes This is a rare movie. At a time when RM30 million (USD7.2 million) at the box the camera closer to focus our attention on superheroes dominate the screens, breaking office alone, which is a stunning and much the characters and their journeys. Solo is with any sense of the reality of what humans deserved achievement. A big budget does not about quirky people on an adventure in what can and cannot actually do, Ad Astra might guarantee a good movie, but with PASKAL, the is for them a normal setting. But they are not be earthbound, but it is rooted in the money is well spent. believable people. Maybe that’s what makes believable. At some point, and quite soon, Ron Howard a great director. humans will be able to venture into the far For too long, Malaysian audiences have reaches of the solar system, and what will been forced to accept poor-quality technical The Story? Well, this is where it all began for they find there. Life? Or nothing but lifeless filmmaking, which has been partly due to the Han Solo (played very well by the up-and- planets circling around a sun? low budgets but also due to long-held bad coming Alden Ehrenreich). We saw him die in filmmaking habits. But in recent years, in film The Force Awakens (oops, spoiler alert) and Older viewers of Ad Astra will recognise hints after film, from arty to action and in different suddenly we see him as a young, charming of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey languages, Malaysian films have suddenly but super-cocky young man in Solo. Maybe and they might even detect the storyline of become extremely well made, as good as the sudden jump back in time was too much Apocalypse Now, where a man is sent on a anything else at the cineplex or on your in- for moviegoers but I think you’ll enjoy being in mission and a long journey to find somebody flight choices. And the hostage rescue scene the young Han Solo’s company again. who may or may not be dangerously insane. in PASKAL is thrilling because it has some truly complex filmmaking that has been stunningly Ad Astra is a rare movie. It is a very good well-executed. But it’s not just about the movie, and it also happens to be Brad Pitt’s action, because the quieter, human scenes Ad Astra, PASKAL: The Movie and Solo: A Star Wars Story are playing onboard. Check your in-flight best performance. were, for me, the best part of the film. entertainment system for channel information. _GP Dec 2019_GPE02.indd 104 18/11/2019 1:44 PM NEW THIS MONTH HOLLYWOOD AD ASTRA BLINDED BY THE LIGHT TWELVE THIS CHANGES BRAD PITT, TOMMY LEE JONES, RUTH VIVEIK KALRA, KULVINDER GHIR, MEERA ERIK HEGER, WYATT RALFF, JEREMY HOLM EVERYTHING NEGGA, LIV TYLER GANATRA, NELL WILLIAMS, AARON PHAGURA PG-13 / / 92 mins / Family, Sport / E, E+ GEENA DAVIS, NATALIE PORTMAN, JESSICA PG-13 / / 122 mins / Adventure, Drama, Mystery / E, E+ PG-13 / / 118 mins / Comedy, Drama, Music / E, E+ CHASTAIN, CATE BLANCHETT, REESE The kind-hearted young Kyle WITHERSPOON When mysterious power Set in 1987 in England, Pakistani Cooke is a talented baseball PG / 96 mins / Documentary / E, E+ surges strike and threaten all teenager Javed faces racial and player who is snubbed and Told first-hand by some of human life, fearless astronaut economic turmoil while living denied a spot on the Oakwood Hollywood's leading voices Roy McBride must embark in Luton. He writes poetry as an baseball team due to nepotism. behind and in front of the on a daring mission across an escape from the intolerance and Despite facing financial struggles camera, this documentary unforgiving Solar System to the stubborn views of his traditional after being recently laid off, his takes an investigative look at Neptune to solve the mystery father. When a classmate father Ted takes a risk to get Kyle the under-representation and and also uncover the truth about introduces him to the music of on a rival team in neighbouring misrepresentation of women his missing father Clifford, who Bruce Springsteen, Javed sees Brighton, so that the boy can in Hollywood and analyses led an expedition to explore parallels between the powerful have a chance to live his dream of the gender disparity and deep space 30 years ago and lyrics and his own struggles and is playing in the Little League World discrimination in the industry. was never heard from again. inspired to find his own voice and Series and getting back at the follow his dreams. team that denied him. | December 2019 | MALAY CHINESE HINDI MALAYALAM 105 | goingplacesmagazine.com PASKAL: THE MOVIE 寵我 / MILLION LOVES लुका चुꥍꥀ / ZERO ഇളയരാജ / ILAYARAJA HAIRUL AZREEN, AMMAR ALFIAN, JASMINE IN ME SHAH RUKH KHAN, ANUSHKA SHARMA, GUINNESS PAKRU, HARISREE ASOKAN, SURAYA CHIN KATRINA KAIF JOHN Y, LO KOON LAN, WILSON LEE, RUBY YAP LAKSHMIKA SAJEEVAN PG-13 / / 95 mins / Action, Drama / E+ PG-13 / / 183 mins / Drama, Romance / E+ PG-13 / / 108 mins / Drama / M, E+ PG-13 / / 141 mins / Drama / E+ Following the successful Inspired by a true court case Bauua Singh is a 38-year-old The vertically challenged liberation of a supertanker in Hong Kong, this is the story man who wears his heart on his Vanajan is a peanut vendor who hijacked by Somali pirates, of a mother and her 45-year sleeve. After having difficulty lives with his wife, father and Lieutenant Commander Arman old daughter, whose strange finding a marriage partner, he two children. Facing financial Rahmat of the Royal Malaysian behaviour and excessive finds a companion in Aafia difficulties in dealing with his Navy’s special forces unit PASKAL shopping make them unpopular. Bhinder, a brilliant space research wife’s illness, he borrows money is conflicted over retiring from A local reporter discovers over a scientist with cerebral palsy. But from an unsympathetic the force. However, a fateful hundred caged cats and dogs in wanting more, he later breaks up moneylender who later encounter with someone from their apartment and reports the with her after meeting Bollywood pressures him to repay what he a painful incident in his past story, resulting in public outrage, superstar Babita Kumari. The owes. However, the successes drags him back for one more but he later questions his actions love triangle takes Bauua on an of his gifted son and daughter, confrontation during a dangerous when it is learned that they adventure to faraway places in prodigies in playing chess and hostage rescue mission. suffer from obsessive compulsive a journey to discover the spelling bees respectively, disorder (OCD). meaning of true love and a life may yet turn the family’s Read our interview with director lived to the fullest. Adrian Teh on page 111 luck around.