78 FILM REVIEWS 79 NEW THIS MONTH 80 MOVIES 82 TV SHOWS Entertainment 84 AUDIO/RADIO © 2018 WARNER BROS. PICTURES. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. A STAR IS BORN Mar 2019_GPE-02.indd 77 15/02/2019 12:19 PM FILM REVIEWS WANT HELP WITH WHAT TO WATCH THIS MONTH? FILMMAKER AND DIRECTOR KAM RASLAN MAKES THE CASE FOR THESE MOVIES. to fi nd babysitters, they enjoy looking pretty In the vaults of the Hollywood studios are (and judge each other for it) and they don’t thousands of movies that were smash hits want to be poor or to die. And then McQueen back in their day. Whenever box-offi ce times adds extra layers of political corruption and are tough (when TV arrived in the 1950s issues of race. For McQueen, anybody can be or now with internet streaming services a villain, be they a man or a woman, young or like Netflix), it’s understandable for movie old, black or white. executives to think, well, these movies were once smash hits, why not just do a remake? If you haven’t guessed it already, I really liked And that’s why we get an unasked-for remake this movie and I already can’t wait to see what of Ben Hur. It was a hit in the silent era, the goingplacesmagazine.com McQueen does next. Widows is one of the best epic Technicolor remake was a hit in the movies I have seen in a long time. 1950s, but the recent remake was a huge flop. WIDOWS But surely Rocky could be a smash hit again? This is an almost unbearably tense movie That underdog story is an evergreen. The but sticking with it has its reward. A heist 1976 original had an astonishing performance goes fatally wrong in the opening minutes by Sylvester Stallone as a down-on-his-luck | in a scene that could be the end of a movie. ex-boxer who gets one last chance at the big 78 | March 2019 But instead, it is now left to the widows time with a boxing match against the World of the fallen professional robbers to pick Heavyweight Champion, Apollo Creed. Nobody, up the pieces of their broken lives, to save including himself, believes he can do it, but themselves and discover who they are by through hard work and montage scenes, executing their own heist. he loses, but really he wins. With a budget of USD1 million, it made USD225 million, Widows is only the third movie made by the won the Best Picture Oscar and spawned an British fi lm director Steve McQueen, but with unprecedented 103 sequels (actually, it was it, he proves that his success with 12 Years a seven). Let’s do a remake of Rocky! Slave was no fluke. In both movies, he builds tension through a constant atmosphere of CREED It could have been a disaster with the new menace where violence is sudden, almost With Creed, the old Rocky franchise gets a young audience that knows nothing of casual and fi nished in the blink of an eye. triumphant new lease of life with an inspired Rocky’s past glories. Instead, Creed is a Instead of lingering sadistically on scenes of reworking. triumph because it is not just a lame remake violence, McQueen chooses to highlight the but an absolutely inspired reworking. Creed eff ect it has on his characters. His characters Kids, ask your grandparents who Rocky was. is the story of Apollo Creed’s son (the superb exist in a position of weakness and he wants They’ll probably start singing some confused Michael B. Jordan), who has his own bitter to know what they will do to save themselves. tune with words like “the eye of the tiger…”, dreams of boxing success, and he turns to an I don’t want to give anything away, but in they’ll look like they’re running on the spot (or aging Rocky Balboa to help him train. With Widows, the women have to delve deep. is it slow-motion?), and then, they’ll punch the friction between young and old, Adonis Creed air, and you’ll think, oh no, grandpa’s having fi nds an unlikely father fi gure he never had. Widows is a very clever resurrection of a a stroke. But don’t worry, kids. Grandpa is British TV mini-series from the 1980s that remembering the ultimate triumph against Creed is such an intelligent way to rework a was written by Lynda La Plante, who has the odds and some of the best montage once-successful movie franchise. Grandpa can specialised in putting women at the centre scenes in cinema history. Grandpa, who happily keep his warm memories of Rocky of stories of crime and law enforcement, normally hates the sport of boxing, is and a young audience can enjoy a movie that traditional male bastions. With the movie, remembering the heavyweight boxer Rocky feels entirely new. McQueen has stayed true to La Plante’s vision Balboa and his nemesis turned best friend, that a strong female character isn’t simply a Apollo Creed, who died in Rocky’s arms in one Widows and Creed are playing onboard. Check your in-flight entertainment system for channel female version of a man. The women still need of the sequels. information. Mar 2019_GPE-02.indd 78 15/02/2019 12:20 PM NEW THIS MONTH HOLLYWOOD A STAR IS BORN FANTASTIC BEAST: WIDOWS RALPH BREAKS THE BRADLEY COOPER, LADY GAGA, ANDREW THE CRIMES OF VIOLA DAVIS, MICHELLE RODRIGUEZ, INTERNET: WRECK-IT SILVERSTEIN, DAVE CHAPPELLE ELIZABETH DEBICKI, CYNTHIA ERIVO R / / 135 mins / Drama, Music, Romance / E, J, K, E+ GRINDELWALD R / / 129 mins / Crime, Drama, Thriller / E, J, E+ RALPH 2 EDDIE REDMAYNE, KATHERINE WATERSTON, JOHN C. REILLY, SARAH SILVERMAN, GAL DAN FOGLER, ALISON SUDOL, EZRA MILLER GADOT, JANE LYNCH, JACK MCBRAYER Veteran country music singer PG-13 / 134 mins / Fantasy, Adventure, Family / E, J, K, E+ Set in contemporary Chicago in PG / 112 mins / Animation, Adventure, Comedy / E, E+ Jackson Maine falls in love with a time of turmoil, four women struggling artist Ally, who’s on Seeking to foil the villainous with nothing in common are Ralph and his best friend, the brink of giving up on her Grindelwald’s plan of assembling left with a debt from their Venellope, travel to the World ambition of becoming a singer. pure-blood wizards to rule over dead husbands’ past criminal Wide Web to save her racing Jackson recognises Ally’s talent all non-magical beings, Albus activities. In order to repay game, Sugar Rush, when an and persuades her to continue Dumbledore enlists his former the debt owed to a crime lord, accident causes it to become chasing her dream. While student, Newt Scamander, on a Veronica enlists the help of unplugged. Their quest takes finding success, Ally explores mission to stop Grindelwald at the other widows to carry out them to the vast, uncharted a complex relationship with all costs. Lines are drawn and a multimillion-dollar heist her world of the Internet, where Jackson, who fights an ongoing loyalties are put to the test in a husband was planning before he they rely on its citizens, the battle with his own demons. wizarding world that has become was killed. Netizens, to help navigate more divided and dangerous. their way. | March 2019 79 | BEST OF MALAYSIA CHINESE JAPANESE HINDI goingplacesmagazine.com BERANI JADI PAPA 路過未來 / WALKING PAST 万引き家族 / SHOPLIFTERS KADVI HAWA DATO’ AWIE, RYKARL ISKANDAR, THE FUTURE LILY FRANKY, SAKURA ANDÔ, SINGH BHUPESH, HARISH CHHABRA, MAYU MATSUOKA RAM NARESH DIWAKAR UNGKU HARIZ YANG ZHI SHAN, YIN FANG PG-13 / / 90 mins / Family, Drama, E+ PG-13 / / 120 mins / Drama, Crime / E+ PG-13 / / 95 mins / Drama / E+ PG-13 / / 128 mins / Drama / E+ A blind old man and a bank loa n The relationship between Yang Yaoting and her family A makeshift family living in a recovery officer form an alliance Kamal and son, Ayim, becomes return to their home village small house in Tokyo resorts to to help each other amid extreme strained after the passing of in the province of Gansu after shoplifting to make ends meet. climate conditions. One lives in his wife. One day, their bodies her parents were laid off from After a shoplifting sessions, a crop-barren village, wanting are swapped during a heated their factory jobs in Shenzhen. they come across a young to help his son get out of debt, argument, and this creates Hoping to provide a home in girl left alone in the freezing while the other is in a cyclone- confusion and chaos. Things the city for her family, Yaoting cold. They decide to take her prone area, yearning to move his become more complicated when returns to Shenzhen to work, in after learning of her abusive family away from constant heavy Sani Joned, a veteran artist but due to insufficient salary, past. This new situation soon downpour and flooding. The deal managed by Kamal, is forced she supplements by being a test questions the family’s bond and will either save their families or to move into their home due to subject for experimental drugs. the life they intend to live. financial problems. destroy them altogether. 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.