Determined to prove his innocence, escaped felon Nick Cassidy (Sam Worthington) takes his desperation to new heights. Literally.

Having been convicted for stealing a $40 million diamond from tycoon David Englander (a steely Ed Harris), Nick clambers onto the ledge of a high-rise hotel in Manhattan and threatens to jump unless his demands are met.

Brought in to negotiate with Nick is Lydia Mercer (Elizabeth Banks), a disgraced cop set on averting Nick’s suicide mission. Unbeknownst to Mercer and the NYPD, Nick’s foolhardy stunt contains ulterior motives, as his brother Joey Cassidy (Jamie Bell) and Joey’s girlfriend Angie (Genesis Rodriguez) use the distraction to break into Englander’s office across the street to steal the supposedly stolen diamond.

The problem with having your main character teeter on a ridge means that much of the film is spent on a stationary setting, and the biggest dilemma is the audience has to grapple with is “To jump or not to jump?” and after about five aborted attempts, that question gets old. Sam Worthington may have done all right in action blockbusters like Avatar and Terminator: Salvation, but he lacks the dramatic gravitas needed to keep the audience riveted without guns and whistles.

Thankfully, little brother Joey has a more exciting day, as he and his girlfriend have to break into a high-security vault with their amateur heist skills, which lead to much amusement and tension as the couple squabble and bicker their way to the diamond and making up for any logical inconsistencies in having nonprofessional burglars break into a millionaire’s lair.

Elizabeth Banks is likeable as Lydia Mercer, but her character (like many others in the movie) suffers from a lack of believable back story and development. Ed Harris is also wasted as villain Englander, who seems to be your stereotypical wealthy tyrant (although having Ed Harris as your villain is enough to intimidate anyone).

Except for a little twist at the film’s conclusion, Man On a Ledge fails to really cough up any new surprises for an action-packed thriller. Director Asger Leth uses a number of vertigo and claustrophobic inducing shots and milks as much tension as possible from the movie, but with a lacklustre script it’s difficult to wring out much excitement and suspense.

Movie: Man on a Ledge
Rating: 2.5/5
Opens: Mar 1
Duration: 102 Mins
Language: English
Age Rating: PG
Genre: Action, Thriller

Director: Asger Leth
Cast: Sam Worthington, Jamie Bell, Elizabeth Banks

Moneyball isn’t the first movie about Baseball and it certainly won’t be the last. However, what makes this Oscar-nominated movie stand out from other sports films is the focus on the people behind-the-scenes, instead of the athletes themselves.

As its title suggests, Moneyball focuses on the financial problems that plague a low-budget baseball team, the Oakland Athletics. As their best players are lured away by richer, high profile teams, manager Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) has to think up new strategies to salvage the future of the underfunded Oakland A’s.

Enter economist Peter Brand (Jonah Hill), an advisor for the Cleveland Indians who is largely ignored by the management due to his limited experience in baseball and timid nature. Intrigued by Brand’s theory on how sports teams should stop chasing players based on their individual abilities and start putting together teams based on group statistics, Beane hires the socially awkward 24-year-old to co-manage the Oakland A’s. Unfortunately, Brand’s new formula of success is met with much contempt by the staff, who resist the idea of running a sports team based on coldly-rationed math and statistics.

In many ways Moneyball doesn’t really differ from the formula of your successful sport films. You have your underdog Davids against the larger Goliaths, the conflict between different generations (in this case, the old guard vs. the new statistician), and the rebel hero determined to succeed against all odds. However, armed with a fantastic script and fine performances from its actors, it’s no wonder the movie bagged 6 Oscar nominations, including ‘Best Motion Picture of the Year’.

As failed professional baseball player turned manager, Pitt delivers an honest, sympathetic performance as the frustrated Beane, as he deals with his insecurities about the sport while trying to cope with his paternal responsibilities to his daughter. The chemistry between world-weary jock Billy Beane and the bookish new kid Peter Brand lead to some amusing banter and scenes, like Beane teaching Brand how to inform a player he’s no longer on the team (“Would you rather get 1 shot in the head or 5 in the chest and bleed to death?”).

It’s also incredibly fascinating to watch as the characters face off with each other, from Beane and Brand fend off livid staff members to watching the duo wrangle and cheer a team of “undervalued” baseball players who are convinced their time in the sport has come and gone.

Rest assured you don’t have to be familiar with the game to enjoy the movie, as the film deals with problems all sport fans can sympathise with. Based on a true story, Moneyball provides a truly interesting insight to the world of baseball.

Movie: Moneyball
Rating: 4/5
Opens: Feb 16
Duration: 135 minutes
Language: English
Age Rating: PG
Genre: Drama, Biography, Sport

Director:  Bennett Miller
Cast: Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, Philip Seymour Hoffman

Stepping away from the limelight and behind the camera, Michelle and Alaric take on directorial roles in their respective films, Already Famous and Final Defect.

Already Famous, a feature film directed, written by and starring the 34-year-old, is about an aspiring actress from Malaysia, who travels to Singapore to realise her dreams of making it as a celebrity. It was recently released in local cinemas to a warm reception, and has since passed the million-dollar mark at the local Box Office, a satisfying victory made sweeter considering the sacrifices made by the first-time director.

Besides having to personally fund part of the film’s $899,000 budget, Michelle Chong also faced constant rejection by sponsors. Indeed, constant rejection was what drove the frustrated actress to write the screenplay for Already Famous almost a decade ago.

“I went for a lot of auditions, and I kept on promoting myself and selling myself, but I still got rejected. Since nobody wanted to give me a job/character, I decided to write my own,” shares Michelle, “70% of what you see onscreen is drawn from my own experiences. The remaining 30% is what happened to other people around me.”

Her partner-in-crime, Alaric Tay, has also recently directed a short film entitled Final Defect, a sci-fi action movie about a group of underground inhabitants who are trapped in a research facility in the near future.

About his unusual choice of genre, the 32-year-old says, “I’ve always liked the genre, and Singapore hasn’t really done any serious sci-fi stuff. I’ve always wanted to do an action film, but I never had the time to sit down and craft it out. Maybe I’ll do a local zombie movie next. Somebody gimme the money to do a feature film please!”

Although Final Defect isn’t a feature film, Alaric Tay faced the same problems that plagued Michelle’s movie.

Photos courtesy of Samuel Ow from Klix Photography & Noel Teo.

“It was difficult to find sponsors and funding for the film. It was also interesting and somewhat painful. I faced rejection 99% of the time, so to the 1% – thank you.”

Having had a taste of what it was like in the director’s seat, will the two consider a career switch?

While Alaric admits he doesn’t see himself quitting acting anytime soon, Michelle Chong expressed a different opinion. “I’m very happy to transit from on to off screen. When I’m acting, I don’t feel like I belong in front of the camera, because I want to see the monitor constantly. To be honest, there’s nothing that excites me as much as scriptwriting right now, except the process of creating or producing something.”

But fret not, the budding director promises to keep in touch.

“Of course I’ll look for Alaric [in future projects]! I think my colleagues from The Noose are on the same wavelength as me. So of course if there’s an opportunity to work together, it’s all for the better.”

The power couple was also nominated for the Celebrity Duo I Wanna Chill With category at the m:idea Youth Choice Awards, an awards show that celebrates youths’ favourite celebrities and brands. During the awards show, they were announced as the winners of the award, much to the delight of their fans.

Michelle’s Already Famous was released on 24 Nov 2011 while Alaric’s Final Defect is due to be released in March 2012.

It’s that time of the holidays, where parents are dragged forcefully to the local cinemas to endure a string of child-friendly Christmas films, complete with a customary cheesy script and poor acting.

But even cynics would find themselves pleasantly charmed by Arthur Christmas, the latest film by Aardman Animations.

It’s the festive season, and the occupants of the North Pole are caught in a mad scramble to deliver all of Santa’s gifts to all the children of the world in one night.

However, instead of a one-horse open sleigh, the characters of Arthur Christmas are armed with a highly trained elvish SWAT team, state-of-the-art military technology, and a spaceship – the S1, a gigantic sled-shaped machine with enough cool features to rival the USS Enterprise. Tasked with protecting and cloaking Santa from the unwelcome eyes of mortal children, the elves risk life and limb as they deliver the gifts in a manner reminiscent of the Mission Impossible movies.

The brains behind the whole operation is the assertive Steve (Hugh Laurie), Santa’s older, more technologically savvy son, who aspires to his father’s throne.

When a girl in England fails to receive the pink bike she had wished for, Steve writes her off as an anomaly in an otherwise flawless system. On the other hand, his idealistic younger brother, Arthur (James McAvoy), is determined to get the gift to her before Christmas dawn, as Santa promised.

Equipped with an old-fashioned sleigh and with only Grandsanta Claus (Bill Nighy) and a wrapping-obsessed elf for companions, Arthur has to learn to put his own fears and neuroses aside to accomplish his own quest.

While there’s enough Christmas cheer in the movie to entertain the younglings in the audience, Arthur Christmas is also packed with enough Aardman humour to amuse the older cinemagoers, who will no doubt identify with the squabbles of the Claus family as they deal with the pressures of running Christmas as well as the age difference between Steve and Grandsanta, who resists the fancy new gadgets that Steve has implemented.

The gadgets in Arthur Christmas range from smart phones equipped with various features to James Bond devices, and they come with their own amusing glitches, like an unreliable GPS system. Other modern annoyances the Clauses face are the newfangled electronic toys of the 21^st century, including a simple farm play set that threatened to unseat the entire mission (and the elves’ sanity) in a very funny sequence.

With a host of likeable characters voiced by a talented cast and genuinely funny jokes, Arthur Christmas also has enough heartwarming Christmas spirit to ensure its place as one of the best Christmas films in recent years.

Movie: Arthur Christmas

Rating: 4/5

Opens: Dec 1
Duration: 97 minutes
Language: English

Age Rating: PG

Genre: Animation, Comedy, Drama

Director: Sarah Smith
Cast: James McAvoy, Bill Nighy, Hugh Laurie

You’ve all heard of the Razzies, but are you prepared for the Prazzies?

Organised by Power98 FM as a tongue-in-cheek response to the Singapore Radio Awards, the Prazzies will present awards to the funniest nominees that radio has to offer.

Instead of the traditional nomination categories like “English Radio Personality of the year”, the Prazzies have the “Ear Splitting Karaoke Moment”, which will honours the DJ who tries to sing every time he goes on air, or the “Rainbow (Coloured Head) Award”, which will be presented to the radio personality with the biggest passion for hair dyes.

The Prazzies also contain music categories like “Most Annoying Song We All Love” (the title is fairly self-explanatory), and “Don’t U Forget Who I Am Award” saluting music artists who have taken on the trend of mentioning their own name in their tracks (You know who you are), you can bet the Power Razzies, or Prazzies, would provide plenty of much-needed amusement.

Results will be determined by the Power98 FM voting panel, and the winners will be announced in various radio shows on Nov 24 on Power98 FM, so don’t forget to tune in if you’re in need of a good laugh!

Listen to Power98 FM LIVE at http://www.power98.com.sg/power-streaming.php

RESULTS

1. MOST ANNOYING SONG WE ALL LOVE (Awarded to the most annoying song you can’t get out of your head)

Nominees

Selena Gomez – Love You Like A Love Song (Winner)

Edward Maya & Vika Jigulina – Stereo Love

Yolanda Be Cool & DCUP – We No Speak Americano

2. DON’T U FORGET WHO I AM AWARD (Awarded to the artist who tries to mention their name in every song they sing)

Nominees

Jason Derulo (Winner)

Akon

Nicki Minaj

Pitbull

3. THE RECYCLED, ENVIROMENTALLY FRIENDLY SONG OF THE YEAR (Awarded to the song that’s totally DISRESPECTIN’ the 80s)

Nominees

These Kids Wear Crowns – I Wanna Dance W Somebody (Winner)

The Black Eyed Peas – The Time (Dirty Bit)

Atomic Tom – Don’t U Want Me

4. RETURN OF THE COMEBACK AWARD (Awarded to the artist/ band who’s made an unexpected comeback)

Nominees

Blue

NKOTBBSB

Robbie Williams and Gary Barlow (Winner)

5. MY ALBUM IS SO GOOD I NEED TO RELEASE ALL THE SONGS AS SINGLES (Awarded to the artist who has released the most no. of singles from an album)

Nominees

Katy Perry (6 singles) (Winner)

Rihanna (5 singles)

Enrique Iglesias (5 singles)

Jessie J (5 singles)

6. WHAT THE CURRY AWARD! (Awarded for the best tribute to one of our National Dishes)

Nominees

JK & Darren – Curry Sauce Montage

Mr Brown’s – Curry Curry Nite (Winner)

7. THE RAINBOW (COLOURED HEAD) AWARD (Awarded to the DJ with the most coloured head of hair)

DJ Darren Wee (Winner)

8. NON-COMMUNICATION GETS ME DOWN AWARD (Awarded to the DJ who solicits for the most calls/ SMSes)

DJ Emily Teng (Winner)

9. THE BOOMZ AWARD (Awarded to the DJ who wears the most animal preenz)

DJ Sonja Steinmetz (Winner)

10. EAR SPLITTING KARAOKE MOMENT (Awarded to the DJ who tries to SING on-air every chance he gets)

DJ Harry Corro (Winner)

With a slew of comic book movies being adapted for the big screen (including the highly-anticipated Avengers movie), even established directors like Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson are joining the fray.

However, instead of opting for more conventional heroes like those from Marvel or DC, the duo decided to travel back to early 20^th century with Hergé’s boy detective, Tintin.

With Spielberg at the helm, fans can rest assured that their prized stories would be brought to life by the best, and indeed, even Tintin’s creator has been quoted in saying that “If anyone can bring Tintin successfully to the screen, it is this young American film director”.

With the cartoonist’s approval and a string of successful action-adventure movies like Indiana Jones (which drew comparisons with Tintin from movie critics) under his belt, all eyes would be on the filmmaker to see if the faith in him is justified.

Titled The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn, it is made clear to Tintin fans that the movie would be based on the book of the same name, where Tintin goes in pursuit of the pirate Red Rackham’s treaaure after finding a clue in a model of a ship christened the Unicorn, but non-Tintin aficionados won’t find themselves outside of the action either.

The movie’s script also borrows scenes and elements from other comics in the series, like The Crab with the Golden Claws, allowing writers Steven Moffat, Edgar Wright and Joe Cornish to create a coherent screenplay that remains faithful to Herge’s source material as well as keeping the movie snappy and well-paced, chock-full of stunning action sequences and comedy, perfect for Spielberg’s directorial style.

Starting with a delightfully minimalist opening credits sequence that is at once old school and modern, similar to the credits for another Steven Spielberg movie, Catch me if you Can, the movie is essentially, a cartoon brought to 3D animation. Using Avatar’s motion capture technology, Spielberg is allowed to film the move as though it were live-action, but is not hampered by real-life limitations. That means that action sequences flow smoothly from one flashback to another, the characters can attempt impossible physical feats (like fencing with cranes) without a lot of insurance and lawsuits, and cameras can be easily maneuvered to achieve gorgeous shots without a lot of expensive purpose-built rigs.

Having the motion capture technology also ensures that the actors cast need not have to look like they’ve been plucked out of Herge’s comic books. Nick Frost and Simon Pegg for example, are able to play the dimwitted, clumsy twin detectives Thomson and Thompson with their easy comic partnership, even though Pegg and Frost look about as similar as Bert and Ernie.

Which brings us to the acting. If this is motion-capture, where exactly does animation stop and acting begin? With the exception of Snowy, the traditionally computer-animated dog, all other the characters were based on the actors’ performance (body language, voice, facial expressions). Even the Academy can’t figure out how to categorise the mo-cap movies, and are unwilling to put such films up for consideration in the Best acting and animation categories in the Oscars.

A pity then, because Tintin does feature some great performances like Serkis’ drunken Captain Haddock, who provided much of the movie’s most comical moments, armed with a Scottish brogue and inebriated impulsiveness and Daniel Craig’s menacing villain Ivanovich Sakharine.

The computer effects here are also wonderfully rendered, with lushly detailed costumes where each individual stitch can be seen and props that look at once believable and cartoon-like. The characters have also sidestepped the ‘dead-eye’ effect from previous animations, with a gleeful glint adorning Tintin’s gaze or the glazed appearance of Haddock that gives them a human touch, which significantly reduces the creepiness of watching computer-generated people walk around with life-like skin.

With the winning combination of Herge’s charm and Spielberg’s love for adventure, it’s very unlikely that diehard fans will protest. Here’s hoping that Peter Jackson’s second installment will be as rewarding.

Movie: The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn
Rating: 4/5
Opens: Nov 10
Duration: 107 minutes
Language: English
Age Rating: PG
Genre: Action, Adventure, Animation

Director: Steven Spielberg
Cast: Jamie Bell, Andy Serkis, Daniel Craig