MOVIE REVIEW: SPLIT (2017)

From IMDB: 

After three girls are kidnapped by a man with 24 distinct personalities they must find some of the different personalities that can help them while running away and staying alive from the others.

76 Metascore From metacritic.com

Reviews 10 user | 36 critic

From Rotten Tomatoes:

While the mental divisions of those with dissociative identity disorder have long fascinated and eluded science, it is believed that some can also manifest unique physical attributes for each personality, a cognitive and physiological prism within a single being. Though Kevin has evidenced 23 personalities to his trusted psychiatrist, Dr Fletcher, there remains one still submerged who is set to materialise and dominate all the others. Compelled to abduct three teenage girls led by the willful, observant Casey, Kevin reaches a war for survival among all of those contained within him - as well as everyone around him - as the walls between his compartments shatter apart.

Rating: PG-13 (for disturbing thematic content and behaviour, violence and some language)

Genre: Drama, Horror, Mystery & Suspense

Directed By: M. Night Shyamalan

Written By: M. Night Shyamalan

In Theaters: Jan 20, 2017, Wide

Runtime: 116 minutes

Studio: Universal Pictures

TOMATOMETER 81%

Average Rating: 7/10

Reviews Counted: 21

Fresh: 17

Rotten: 4

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

WANT TO SEE 97% want to see

User Ratings: 12,917

Meet Hedwig, he's nine. He likes to dance in his room to the music of his favourite singer Kanye West. ©Universal Pictures

M. Night Shyamalan might have gotten his groove back...

Okay, so Split, M. Night Shyamalan's 13th directorial effort and the 11th one that he also wrote. He's famous for his plot twists which worked real well in The Sixth Sense (1999) and in Unbreakable (2000) but then didn't in pretty much every movie after. His movies slowly became sort of a joke in that you know you're in for something weird and interesting but one where the weird might end up a little silly. Of course, I'm just exaggerating. 

This is Dennis. He's stern, is an OCD and he really hates it when things get dirty. ©Universal Pictures

So what's Split about? Well, by now you've probably seen the trailers so you know that it's about a man played by James McAvoy who suffers from something called Dissociative identity disorder or DID which was previously known as Multiple personality disorder (MPD) in movies they usually call those characters as having a split personality. In this case, Mr Kevin Wendell Crumb has 23 distinct personalities which have been identified by his long-term psychiatrist Dr Karen Fletcher (Betty Buckley). What Dr Fletcher doesn't know is that a few of these personalities have sort of taken over in order to prepare for the coming of what they refer to as The Beast. Part of the preparation, of course, is what you see in the trailer where one of Kevin personalities named Dennis kidnaps three girls, Casey Cooke (Anya Taylor-Joy), Claire Benoit (Haley Lu Richardson) and Marcia (Jessica Sula). As the film unfolds not only do you learn about Kevin, The Beast and his many personalities but also about Casey who has quite a story of her own. 

This is Barry. He likes fashion and has quite a talent for it. ©Universal Pictures

The likes.

• The story. It's really quite good and intriguing. You're really not too sure of what's going to happen. And each element to the story just reveals itself at the right time.
• The cast. The main characters that you'll be following are Kevin and his multiple personalities, Dr. Fletcher and Casey. James McAvoy is just amazing here. He plays each character so well and distinctly and he transitions between them so well. You can tell which personality has taken over just by looking at his face or body language. Anya Taylor-Joy is pretty amazing too. I've only seen her in one other film which was last years Morgan, and I was pretty impressed with her there too. Here she really gets to flex her acting chops and she's pretty good. And Betty Buckley was also just as good as you can sense her concern turning to suspicion of something wrong with her patient. 
• The music. Really provides ambience and drives the scene.
• The other cameo other than the one you expect of M. Night Shyamalan who shows up in all of his own movies. Very cool. 

The not so likes.

Hmm... let's see. I guess there are glaring plot holes but they really don't get in the way of the story or of enjoying the story. I'm sure there are things that a real movie critic can pick on and rip this movie to shreds but for me, at this very moment, I can't think of any. Maybe I'll fill this in when I think of something.

And Dennis kidnapped these girls because The Beast told him to. ©Universal Pictures

So there you go. A movie written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan that I actually enjoyed. I can remember when I last enjoyed an M. Night Shyamalan movie, it was The Sixth Sense ()1999) and Unbreakable (2000). The question I guess then is, is Split as good as those two? Hard to say, too much time has passed since then but on its own merit, it is good. Go for the story, go for James McAvoy who does an impressive job and looks like he's having fun doing it. Just go. It's been a long time since M. Night Shyamalan has done something this good. If you're wary, give him the benefit of the doubt and go read some of the other early reviews by actual movie critics. But from this casual movie fan, the verdict is in and Split is well worth the price of admission. 

I'm giving Split a solid 4 out of 5. 

Check out the trailer below.

A HUGE THANK YOU GOES TO BFM RADIO AND TO UNITED INTERNATIONAL PICTURES MALAYSIA FOR THE EARLY PREMIERE PASSES!!

MOVIE REVIEW: OUIJA: ORIGIN OF EVIL (2016)

From IMDB:

In 1965 Los Angeles, a widowed mother and her two daughters add a new stunt to bolster their seance scam business and unwittingly invite authentic evil into their home. When the youngest daughter is overtaken by a merciless spirit, the family confronts unthinkable fears to save her and send her possessor back to the other side.

65 Metascore From metacritic.com

Reviews 49 user | 138 critic

From Rotten Tomatoes:

In this horror sequel, a game of Ouija leads to supernatural activity. Annalise Basso, Henry Thomas, Doug Jones, and Elizabeth Reaser star. Directed by Mike Flanagan.

Rating: PG-13 (for disturbing images, terror and thematic elements)

Genre: Horror , Mystery & Suspense

Directed By: Mike Flanagan

Written By: Mike Flanagan , Jeff Howard

In Theaters: Oct 20, 2016 Wide

Box Office: $24,678,810.00

Runtime: 99 minutes

Studio: Universal Pictures

TOMATOMETER 82%

Average Rating: 6.2/10

Reviews Counted: 92

Fresh: 75

Rotten: 17

Critics Consensus: Ouija: Origin of Evil swerves its franchise's planchette unexpectedly to YES with a surprisingly scary and dramatically satisfying follow-up to its lackluster predecessor.

AUDIENCE SCORE 64% liked it

Average Rating: 3.5/5

User Ratings: 7,876

OUIJA: ORIGIN OF EVIL OPENED IN THE U.S. ON THE 21st OF OCTOBER AND IN MALAYSIA ON THE 3rd OF NOVEMBER. TO FIND OUT WHEN IT OPENS IN A CINEMA NEAR YOU CLICK HERE. 

Problems always start when you do things alone, especially when you deal with the supernatural. ©Universal Pictures

The Ouija Board, it's a lot older than you think it is...

Okay, let's start off with an admission, I did not see the first movie Ouija (2014) but checking out various popular movie rating sites lets me know that it wasn't very good. So as with other situations such as this I'll be sharing my opinions without comparing it to the movie that came before it. 

So the Ouija board, a board with a bunch of letters and a couple of words which you would then use a planchette where you and your friends put your fingers on. Then you say some words to summon the spirits and then proceed to ask whatever questions pop into your mind, it could be about the future, your future, the afterlife, etc. Sounds like fun, right? But the Ouija board isn't something new, there's been something like it in existence throughout history, used by shamans, wisemen, soothsayers and many more. 

I guess when you're a teenager you don't really care that your kid sister is acting weird until it's too late. ©Universal Pictures

What the Ouija board is supposed to do while your fingers are on that planchette is to do what is called planchette writing or spirit-writing or also known as automatic writing. Presumably when you say those summoning words and you ask your questions a spirit will slowly move the planchette to answer yes or no or spell things out for you. All this is done without any of the participants moving the planchette themselves or putting any pressure on it. That's what the players of course believe is currently happening or should happen. But science isn't convinced that that actually happens. What they think happens is called an ideomotor response, it's when your fingers move involuntarily and in an unconscious way and the words that are spelled just happen to be whatever you may be thinking right at that moment when you asked that question. 

I guess a little girl just standing in the middle of the playground isn't all that interesting to the nuns. ©Universal Pictures

Spirit writing has been around for a long time, one of the earliest mentions of it happens to come from China from around 1100 AD from the Song Dynasty. Back then it was called Fuji, and as the Wikipedia puts it, "The use of planchette writing as an ostensible means of necromancy and communion with the spirit-world continued, and, albeit under special rituals and supervisions, was a central practice of the Quanzhen School, until it was forbidden by the Qing Dynasty." But China wasn't the only place in the world that practiced it, it is claimed that similar methods of mediumistic spirit writing have been practiced in ancient India, Greece, Rome, and medieval Europe.

This movie may not be super good but at least it doesn't make you yawn like that up there. ©Universal Pictures

The Ouija board that we see in the movies and that is popular in American Culture on the other hand comes courtesy of a man named Elijah Bond who on July 1, 1890 introduced it to the American public. for a while it was just considered a silly board game by everyone until an American Spiritualist named Pearl Curran used it as a divining tool during World War I. But even before that Spiritualist used to use a similar type of board to so that the living can communicate with the dead in camps in Ohio in 1886. 

Who knew spirits liked to play hide-and-seek. ©Universal Pictures

Now the first movie was actually considered a sequel to the movie that I'll be reviewing in this blog. In that movie, from what I've read, a bunch of teenagers decided to play with the board only to unleash a spirit that begins to kill everyone that played it. Then as the remaining survivors try to figure out what's going on they come across the history of the board that they're playing with and they discover that it has a history. A history involving a family and an unsolved case of a missing person. This movie is that history. 

You know something's up when the school priest decides to join in the seance. ©Universal Pictures

So if you're in the U.S. and are a horror movie fan you've probably already seen it. If you haven't and like horror movies you've probably seen the trailers, right? Or read the synopsis for it by now. Anyway if you haven't it's the story of mother Alice (Elizabeth Reaser) and daughters Lina (Annalise Basso) and Doris (Lulu Wilson) and their struggle to make ends meet. Where's the husband and father? He was killed when a drunk driver drove into him. So to make ends meet Alice provides and unusual service to those who have lost a loved one, she offers to get in touch with them and help them find closure by asking only three questions. Things aren't going so well though. 

If your child begins to act up it may just be a demonic possession. ©Universal Pictures

Then one day Lina sneaks out to hang out at a friends house and while there her friends decide to play with a Ouija Board. While playing they are caught by her friend's mother and Alice is called to pick her up. Alice of course isn't happy and Lina only excuse is that they were just hanging out and playing with the Ouija board. Lina then suggests to her mother that she should consider adding the board as part of her methods of communication. So when she goes to pick up a few supplies the next day it just so happens that the store also just happens to be carrying the board game. 

No she's not trying to seduce her sister's boyfriend. ©Universal Pictures

So now the board game is at their home and Alice is preparing it to use in her work. Now the Ouija board comes with instructions, a couple of really important ones are to never play alone and to always say goodbye. While setting up the board Alice reads of the summoning words alone and when she is done she doesn't say goodbye. While Alice does all that up stairs Doris goes into a trance and begins to answer the questions that Alice is asking downstairs. And so the scary part begins. Doris begins to behave strangely, Lina begins to experience odd things and even having nightmares, Doris begins to write in Polish. And when Lina discovers that Doris has been writing in Polish she takes those notes to Father Tom Hogan (Henry Thomas). When Father Tom has it translated he meets with Lina and Alice and tells them what Doris has written. 

But before he tells them what is written Father Tom decides to test Doris's abilities to talk to the dead. He isn't convinced and when he informs Alice and Lina of what Doris has written the three decide to confront Doris and what is possessing her. 

And here's the required wall/ceiling crawling scene all horror movies these days have. ©Universal Pictures

So here's the good and bad as I see it. 

• A pretty cool idea to use the Ouija board I guess, it hasn't been done in a while. 
• The story is decent and predictable but doesn't hold up very well towards the end. Some parts don't make much sense, the discovery of what is possessing Doris isn't at all original or interesting. 
• It's a slow to build film. Slow in the beginning, better in the middle, loses steam towards the end. 
• The casting is decent. The main character here is actually Lina and Annalise Basso does a pretty good job. Doris played by Lulu Wilson does a decent job but not all the time. She does do the creepy factor well though. 
• The scares were okay, it's the usual stuff. Nothing new here. 

Why is always the fault of some crazy doctor? ©Universal Pictures

To be honest this movie wasn't a bad one it's just that there's nothing new or fresh or original about it. Every element in it you've seen somewhere before. Could it have been better? Maybe, maybe not. Could it have been worse? Definitely. For whatever shortcomings or failings this movie has it's still an okay horror movie. If you're looking to waste a few hours and maybe get a few scares in then there are worse options than this one. Not too sure if there are better options playing at the moment. Ouija: Origin of Evil gets a 2.5 out of 5 from me. 

Here's the trailer.

A GREAT BIG THANKS TO BFM RADIO AND UNITED INTERNATIONAL PICTURES MALAYSIA FOR THE PASSES!!

MOVIE REVIEW: THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN (2016)

From IMDB:

The Girl on the Train is the story of Rachel Watson's life post-divorce. Every day, she takes the train in to work in New York, and every day the train passes by her old house. The house she lived in with her husband, who still lives there, with his new wife and child. As she attempts to not focus on her pain, she starts watching a couple who live a few houses down -- Megan and Scott Hipwell. She creates a wonderful dream life for them in her head, about how they are a perfect happy family. And then one day, as the train passes, she sees something shocking, filling her with rage. The next day, she wakes up with a horrible hangover, various wounds and bruises, and no memory of the night before. She has only a feeling: something bad happened. Then come the TV reports: Megan Hipwell is missing. Rachel becomes invested in the case and trying to find out what happened to Megan, where she is, and what exactly she herself was up to that same night Megan went missing.

47 Metascore From metacritic.com

Reviews 10 user | 64 critic

From Rotten Tomatoes:

Rachel, devastated by her recent divorce, spends her daily commute fantasizing about the seemingly perfect couple who live in a house that her train passes every day, until one morning she sees something shocking happen there and becomes entangled in the mystery that unfolds. Based on Paula Hawkins' bestselling novel.

Rating: R (for violence, sexual content, language and nudity)

Genre: Drama , Mystery & Suspense

Directed By: Tate Taylor

Written By: Erin Cressida Wilson

In Theaters: Oct 6, 2016 Wide

Runtime: 112 minutes

Studio: Universal Pictures

TOMATOMETER  52%

Average Rating: 5.7/10

Reviews Counted: 66

Fresh: 34

Rotten: 32

Critics Consensus: Emily Blunt's outstanding performance isn't enough to keep The Girl on the Train from sliding sluggishly into exploitative melodrama.

WANT TO SEE 98% want to see

User Ratings: 15,169

THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN OPENS IN THE US ON THE 7th OF OCTOBER IN THE U.S. AND ON THE 6TH OF OCTOBER IN MALAYSIA. FOR THE REST OF THE WORLD FIND OUT HERE.

Meet Rachel, she's recently divorced and has a substance abuse problem... ©Universal Pictures

There are two other movies with the same title but you won't have heard of the other two...

In fact, I didn't even know they existed until I did a little search to find out about this movie. Truthfully, I didn't know about this movie until I knew I was going to watch it and I didn't know there was a book first either. So I saw this movie last night which means it's been a full 24 hours since I saw it. It opens today in Malaysia and in a little over a day in the US but if you've been curious about this movie I'm guessing you've already read some of the early reviews for it. My opinions of this movie won't diverge all that much from the general opinions found in those early reviews. 

Rachel on her daily commute sees Megan and begins to fantasize about who she is and the type of life she has. ©Universal Pictures

The book written by British writer Paula Hawkins was first published in January 2015 quickly became a bestseller and debuted at No. 1 on The New York Times Fiction Best Sellers of 2015 list and remained at the top until April. Then about a year later it again went to the top of the best sellers list but this time reviewers began to comparisons between it and Gone Girl, claiming it to be the next Gone Girl. Gone Girl too became a movie in 2014 and went on to be nominated for several awards. Gone Girl was an incredible film. You can read my review of it here. 

She also passes the home of Tom and Anna. Tom used to be her husband and their house used to be her home. ©Universal Pictures

Unlike Gone Girl which took a bit more time to be picked up by the studios, DreamWorks Pictures acquired the film rights to the novel before the book was even available to the public in March 2014. By January 2015 while the public was falling in love with the book and putting it on the best sellers list, Erin Cressida Wilson was already working on the films screenplay. In May of the same year Tate Taylor was hired to direct and in the following months various actors and actresses were rumoured to be part of the production. Among them included Emily Blunt, Kate Mara, Rebecca Ferguson, Haley Bennett, Jared Leto, Chris Evans, Édgar Ramírez, Justin Theroux, Allison Janney, Lisa Kudrow, Luke Evans and Laura Prepon. Of course not everyone was available to be part of the final film. 

Then one day she decides to get off the train after a particularly bad day. ©Universal Pictures

So if you haven't read the book and have only seen the trailers then the only other clues you have regarding what this movie is about are the two things that are mentioned above, that it's the new Gone Girl and the title that mentions a girl on the train. With regards to Gone Girl this film shares a few similarities I guess. The tone of the two films are pretty similar. The two films have a gritty and tense atmosphere. They both throw all sorts of details at you to try and throw you off the path of the true criminal. Both use a fair bit of sex in the film to add another layer of complexity to the characters and their situations. As for the girl on the train, Emily Blunt plays the central character who rides the train from her home to work and back and is the one is the link to all the main players in this mystery. 

After which she gets a little visit from a detective. ©Universal Pictures

So here's what I enjoyed about the film.

1. The story wasn't too bad. Played out pretty nicely but if you were paying attention you could about two thirds of the way in figure out what really happened and who the culprit really is.
2. Emily Blunt is pretty amazing. 
3. Visually. Scenes nicely played out and paced. Tate Taylor and Charlotte Bruus Christensen did a pretty good job of keeping the scenes tense and gritty. 

After the detectives' visit Rachel decides to help this man out. ©Universal Pictures

A few things I didn't fancy much.

1. The balance between the characters or something like that. Emily Blunt was amazing but the others sort of were not. 
2. Things ended up being too melodramatic at times. Didn't suit the scenes so well or the film overall.

But in the end she's back on the train. ©Universal Pictures

Overall this was a pretty good story to watch, it was tense and as things played out you were kept guessing. But to compare it to Gone Girl is to flatter this movie a little too much. If I were to say how similar or close to Gone Girl this film is I'd probably say about 60% maybe. The thing or person that really drives this film is Emily Blunt without her I don't think this film would be as entertaining or watchable. But since I did enjoy it I'm going to give it a decent 3.2 out of 5.

Check out the trailer. 

MUCH THANKS GO TO BFM RADIO AND UIP MALAYSIA FOR THE PREVIEW PASSES!!

MOVIE REVIEW: MORGAN (2016)

From IMDB:

Storyline

A corporate risk-management consultant must decide whether or not to terminate an artificially created humanoid being.

52 Metascore From metacritic.com
Reviews 8 critic

From Rotten Tomatoes:

MOVIE INFO

A corporate troubleshooter (Kate Mara) is sent to a remote, top-secret location, where she is to investigate and evaluate a terrifying accident. She learns the event was triggered by a seemingly innocent "human," who presents a mystery of both infinite promise and incalculable danger.

Rating: R (for brutal violence, and some language.)

Genre: Drama , Horror , Science Fiction & Fantasy

Directed By: Luke Scott

Written By: Seth W. Owen

In Theaters: Sep 2, 2016 wide

Runtime: 92 minutes

Studio: Scott Free Films

TOMATOMETER 41%

Average Rating: 5.3/10

Reviews Counted: 22

Fresh: 9 | Rotten: 13

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

WANT TO SEE 92% want to see

User Ratings: 2,825

MORGAN OPENS IN THE U.S. ON THE 2nd OF SEPTEMBER AND IN MALAYSIA ON THE 1st OF SEPTEMBER. TO FIND OUT WHEN IT OPENS NEAR YOU CLICK HERE.

See that little girl in the hoodie? She's only a few months old. ©20th Century Fox

From the man who was the Second Unit Director on such films as Exodus: Gods and Kings (2014) and The Martian (2015)...

So this is the directorial debut for Luke Scott who prior to this has worked as a Second Unit Director on his father's projects whom you can probably guess by now (if you hadn't read about it somewhere) is Ridley Scott. Those are pretty big shoes to fill. And considering how people/fans remember Ridley Scott more for his Sci-fi work e.g. Alien (1979) and Blade Runner (1982) than his other stuff e.g. Thelma & Louise (1991) and Gladiator (2000), I guess it isn't all that surprising that his first feature length film would be something Sci-fi then something period and epic like Gladiator. 

And that's Morgan about five years later trying to creep people out. ©20th Century Fox

Anyway, Morgan. What is Morgan? If you haven't read about it or seen the trailer then let me briefly try to clue you in without giving away the whole movie. Morgan is an artificially created human. She is the ninth iteration of the artificial human project created by a corporation for purposes which you will eventually discover at the end of the film. The difference between the L9 a.k.a. Morgan (Anya Taylor-Joy) and the others is how she is raised. The project helmed by Dr Lui Cheng (Michelle Yeoh) takes place in what appears to be an abandoned mansion in a desolate area surrounded by forest. She is assisted by Dr. Simon Ziegler (Toby Jones), Dr. Amy Menser (Rose Leslie), Dr. Darren Finch (Chris Sullivan), Dr. Brenda Finch (Vinette Robinson), Dr. Kathy Grieff (Jennifer Jason Leigh), Ted Brenner (Michael Yare) and Skip Vronsky (Boyd Holbrook).

Their first meeting. This mirroring thing happens quite a bit and it means something. ©20th Century Fox

The facility and the project runs smoothly for several years until one day approximately 5 years into Morgan's upbringing that she does something that raises questions at corporate headquarters. This is where the story begins. We are introduced to Lee Weathers (Kate Mara) who is making her way to the facility and as she drives there we hear her being briefed by Jim Bryce (Brian Cox) regarding her tasks ahead. 

Meet Amy and Ted. They've been there since the beginning and have done the one thing that scientist shouldn't have done. Get too emotionally involved with their subject. ©20th Century Fox

When she arrives she meets first with the scientist as the day progresses and discovers of course that they see no reason for her to be there and that they can handle and sort out what corporate headquarters considers a problem. But things quickly deteriorate when during a psychiatric evaluation with Dr. Alan Shapiro (Paul Giamatti) and after being provoked to reveal her emotions to certain hypothetical situations she jumps up from her chair and lunges towards the doctor and kills him in cold blood. Weathers watches all this with a clinical expression and soon after reports the events to headquarters. Headquarters instructs Weathers to oversee the destruction of the L9 and the closure of the facility. 

The decision is met with quiet disagreement with most of the scientist except for Dr. Cheng and they begin to hatch a plan. Little do they know that what they were planning to do isn't what Morgan wants to do. 

This is Dr. Shapiro, he's the last to arrive to the party but boy does he make things exciting. ©20th Century Fox

Hopefully that didn't reveal too much and now here's the list of likes and not likes. 

The likes.

1. The story. It's intriguing and unfolds very nicely. You're given enough to go on and the characters you meet give enough about what's going on and about themselves to move things along and a nice pace. You're not spoon fed everything and nothing comes in big chunks of exposition.
2. The visuals are beautiful and keep the story dark and tense. The camera work and composition of certain scenes and shots add to the complexity of the situation and probably tries to say something else as well. 
3. The performances. Kate Mara is brilliant. You don't know who she is and what she's about. She's cold and methodical but there's something else about her that just doesn't fit. You find out why at the end. Anya Taylor-Joy does a pretty good job as well considering this is her first major role in a feature length film. Her transition from almost robotic to a child unsure of what's going on is pretty good. Then there's Michelle Yeoh, it's been a while since I've seen her on the big screen and although she doesn't have many scenes she does each of her scenes beautifully. 
4. Seeing for the first time a movie in the Sci-fi/Thriller genre with a few huge fight scenes not involve a single male person was pretty awesome. Kate Mara finally got to kick some ass which she didn't really get to do properly in her role in that horrible Fantastic Four movie last year. And she did a really good job at it. Would love to see her in more roles like this. 

In The Martian directed by Ridley Scott, he had her running on a treadmill in a space ship. Luke decided to have her run in the forest instead. ©20th Century Fox

The not so likes.

The story is tense and gripping from the get go but about two thirds of the way in you can begin to guess what's in store in the end and what the little twist might be. And because of that it sorts of fizzles out in the end. It's not a bad end to the film but it's sort of predictable and not the building crescendo that you were probably hoping for. 

When you've been a bad experiment you have to be strapped down on a metal bed and then... ©20th Century Fox

All in all I thought this was a pretty enjoyable movie. It had an interesting and gripping story that kept you wondering about the characters and what was going to happen. Kate Mara was impressive as was Anya Taylor Joy especially when you consider that most roles like these don't go to young female actors and especially not to new ones. As for Luke Scott, I think he did a commendable job. The directing was tight and each scene added something to the story, the characters and the film. I think that he's got a pretty good future ahead. But and there is a but here, I don't think this movie will please everyone. But then again what movie ever does. I'm going to give Morgan a solid 3.5 out of 5. Interesting story, good cast, excellent first time out by Luke Scott.

Have a look at the latest trailer for Morgan here. 

A BIG THANK YOU TO THE FOLKS OVER AT BFM RADIO AND 20th CENTURY FOX MALAYSIA FOR THE PREVIEW PASSES TO WATCH MORGAN!

MOVIE REVIEW: KUBO AND THE TWO STRINGS (2016)

From IMDB:

Storyline

Kubo lives a quiet, normal life in a small shoreside village until a spirit from the past turns his life upside down by re-igniting an age-old vendetta. This causes all sorts of havoc as gods and monsters chase Kubo who, in order to survive, must locate a magical suit of armor once worn by his late father, a legendary Samurai warrior.

83 Metascore From metacritic.com

Reviews 41 user | 84 critic

From Rotten Tomatoes:

Kubo and the Two Strings is an epic action-adventure set in a fantastical Japan from acclaimed animation studio LAIKA. Clever, kindhearted Kubo (voiced by Art Parkinson of "Game of Thrones") ekes out a humble living, telling stories to the people of his seaside town including Hosato (George Takei), Akihiro (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa), and Kameyo (Academy Award nominee Brenda Vaccaro). But his relatively quiet existence is shattered when he accidentally summons a spirit from his past which storms down from the heavens to enforce an age-old vendetta. Now on the run, Kubo joins forces with Monkey (Academy Award winner Charlize Theron) and Beetle (Academy Award winner Matthew McConaughey), and sets out on a thrilling quest to save his family and solve the mystery of his fallen father, the greatest samurai warrior the world has ever known. With the help of his shamisen - a magical musical instrument - Kubo must battle gods and monsters, including the vengeful Moon King (Academy Award nominee Ralph Fiennes) and the evil twin Sisters (Academy Award nominee Rooney Mara), to unlock the secret of his legacy, reunite his family, and fulfill his heroic destiny.

Rating: PG (for thematic elements, scary images, action and peril)

Genre: Action & Adventure , Animation , Science Fiction & Fantasy

Directed By: Travis Knight (II)

Written By: Marc Haimes , Chris Butler

In Theaters: Aug 19, 2016 wide

Box Office: $12,608,372.00

Runtime: 101 minutes

Studio: Focus Features

TOMATOMETER  96%

Average Rating: 8.3/10

Reviews Counted: 125

Fresh: 120 | Rotten: 5

Critics Consensus: Kubo and the Two Strings matches its incredible animation with an absorbing -- and bravely melancholy -- story that has something to offer audiences of all ages.

AUDIENCE SCORE 91% liked it

Average Rating: 4.4/5

User Ratings: 13,179

This is Kubo's mother. She left the heavens for love. ©Focus Features

From the folks that brought to life a creepy little girl born from the mind of Neil Gaiman, a story about a little kid that could see dead people and trolls who are obsessed with boxes...

So, Kubo and The Two Strings which opened in the US last week on the 19th of August. It's the latest from Laika a stop-motion animation studio located in the US. Stop-motion is where incredibly patient people create actual dolls and figures and then painstakingly animate it's movements one frame at a time. Before Laika the only other really famous stop-motion animation studio that made full-length feature films was Aardman Animations famous for their Wallace and Gromit shorts and feature films.

Kubo prepares to turn his origami creations into plain paper again by smacking them with his shamisen. ©Focus Features

Their first feature was an adaptation of a Neil Gaiman novella for kids titled Coraline (2009) followed by Paranorman (2012) and then with Boxtrolls (2014). I've seen all three and enjoyed them all immensely. Each has it's own charms but the one thing that stands out about all three of them is what you see on screen. They are all visually beautiful. 

This is Hanzo. Kubo's origami spirit guide. His dad's spirit might be in it. Or not. ©Focus Features

So now after playing with box-obsessed trolls three years ago they're back and with their second original story, the first being Paranorman. So what is Kubo and The Two Strings all about? Well, if you haven't seen it or read every review about it here it is. Kubo (Art Parkinson) is a young boy who plays the shamisen, his mother (Charlize Theron) is the daughter of the Moon King (Ralph Fiennes). His mother fell in love with a samurai named Hanzo (Matthew McConaughey). 

This is one of Kubo's aunts. The other looks just like her. ©Focus Features

Now seeing as how the Moon King is sort of a god he was against his daughter falling in love with a human especially when that human was searching for a several enchanted things that could grant him enough power to challenge him. So when Kubo's mother and Hanzo escaped together to start a family but not long after he was born the Moon King tracks the new family down and attacks them. Kubo's mother barely escapes with Kubo wrapped in Hanzo's robes but Kubo doesn't escape unharmed. The Moon King has taken one of his eyes.

This is monkey. She used to be a small charm but now she's a mean monkey. ©Focus Features

Okay, so that all happened without you actually seeing it on screen but it is explained throughout in flashbacks. The rest of the movie deals with Kubo going on a mission with Monkey (Charlize Theron) and Beetle (Matthew McConaughey) to look for the magical armour and sword that his father once owned and along the way Kubo begins to master his innate magical abilities. 

That big guy with the cloth with a beetle on it is Beetle. He can't remember much. ©Focus Features

So here's what I like about Kubo and The Two Strings

1. The story. It's quite surprising to find out that Kubo and The Two Strings has nothing to do with any Japanese myth or legend. It's a completely original story written by Shannon Tindle, Marc Haimes and Chris Butler. Granted they may have taken many elements from Japanese culture, legends and myths the story itself, the story of Kubo's trials and adventures is entirely original. 
2. The fact that the story is paced so well. Scenes with dialogue are intertwined beautifully with scenes that need no dialogue. The story moving along with the aid of just the visual medium assisted perfectly with an amazing soundtrack and score.
3. The respect that they have for the culture they've taken from. It felt like I was watching a film that was or had in a major way been produced by a Japanese team. The details were brilliant. I am no Japan expert or even remotely close to being a Japanophile, I just love Japan but I was sort of struggling trying to believe that what I was watching was done by a mostly American production team. 
4. The visuals. Laika have constantly improved their animation and visual style and it shows. Every frame is just beautiful. And again here there are elements taken from Japanese film and animes. The use of that distinctly Japanese visual composition. 
5. The voice acting was just perfect. Loved all of it.
6. The music. Incredible use of the shamisen throughout. 

This is the Moon King. Everything has to be done his way. ©Focus Features

The not so like.

1. The story at the end felt too short, as if somethings were left out. Shortcuts taken.
2. The end. That too felt like the writers sort of couldn't figure out how to end it with a big finish. It wasn't bad but it wasn't the sort of climax that I was expecting or felt like it should have. 

This is a very large skeleton monster with an unusual hairpiece. ©Focus Features

So to sum it up. I loved it. I wouldn't mind seeing it again in fact. But here's the thing, I want to see the Japanese version with the characters speaking Japanese. I think that would be pretty cool. Anyway, Kubo and The Two Strings was so entertaining I'm giving it a solid 3.8 out of 5. This is well worth the ticket price. Laika might just be the Pixar of the stop-motion animation genre.

Check out the trailer here.

GOT TO WATCH KUBO AND THE TWO STRINGS COURTESY OF BFM RADIO AND UNITED INTERNATIONAL PICTURES MALAYSIA. SO A BIG THANK YOU TO THE BOTH OF THEM FOR THE PASSES!