Whats On starting September 10

Final edition! Halting publication!

 

Pattaya movies beginning Thursday, September 10, 2009

 

… through Wednesday, September 16

 

by Thomas Ohlson

 

 

Best Bets: Inglourious Basterds.  Phobia 2.  Orphan.

Picture at right is “Gao” La-ongmanee from the first segment of Phobia 2.

 

Here is the 108th and final edition of my weekly compilations of movie times and comments for Pattaya! And the 21st and last online edition!

 

I hope to keep my Chiang Mai film blog going, after a brief hiatus, and you can see that online at:

http://thomatfilms.blogspot.com/

For films playing in both Pattaya and Chiang Mai, you can read my reviews there.

 

After compiling the movie times for Major Cineplex in Pattaya last Wednesday, the websites for SF Cinema went down for a couple of days. While waiting for the site to reappear, I had a heart attack. Nature’s way of telling me to slow down! The compilations of times does take a lot of effort, and I began it, long ago, so it would help me when I was in Pattaya to guide me as to what’s playing, where, and when, and also I enjoyed sharing this information with my Pattaya friends. But I have only 13 people on my Pattaya mailing list, and now that’s too few for such effort.

 

As for this online version, since I began posting this blog on April 23 of this year I’ve had only 474 different looks at it. An average of 5 people per day. Not worth it!

 

I think I’ll be getting some angioplasty done in the next day or two – or perhaps not. It’s expensive and I don’t really have the money, and have no insurance. But we’ll see. But whatever, I have to cut down on my activity in a big way.

 

So, for the final time, here are my comments for the films playing in Pattaya for the week as of Thursday, September 10, for Pattaya Major Cineplex (at Villa Supermarket Center), for the SF Multiplex at Central Plaza (Big C), and for the new SFX Cinema Pattaya Beach on the 6th Floor of Central Festival Pattaya Beach, the new and beautiful mall located between Sois 9 and 10 and running the length of the soi from Beach Road to 2nd Road.

 

Bangkok International Film Festival: Sep 24 to 30. (Complete list announced – follow link)

World Film Festival in Bangkok: Nov 6 to 15.

EU Film Festival in Bangkok: Nov 19 to 29.

 

 

Now playing in Pattaya    * = new this week

 

* Phobia 2 / Haa Phrang / 5 แพร่ง/ ห้าแพร่ง: Thai, Horror – 15+ – Literally "five crossroads," this is a five-part horror anthology by some of Thailand’s best-known directors of horror films, including segments by Banjong Pisanthanakun and Parkpoom Wongpoom (Shutter), Paween Purikitpanya (Body #19), Songyos Sugmakanan (Dorm), and Visute Poolvoralaks, who is not a best-known director but is instead a best-known producer of horror films (all the films mentioned) and other very successful films, here making his directorial debut. It's a mixed bag as it would have to be, but well worth checking out if you like Thai horror films. Actually, I can’t imagine anyone not having a lot of fun with the last of the five – very enjoyable – a segment poking gentle fun at the horror-movie genre. The five stories are:

 

1. Novice

 

Also known as Thorny Palm Tree, this is directed by Paween Purikitpanya, who directed the “Tit for Tat” section in the first Phobia, and also directed the quite successful Body #19. It features the very talented Jirayu “Gao” La-ongmanee, the child star of the two Naresuan’s and the young Tong in Love of Siam. He plays Pey, a motorbike-racing, rock-throwing windshield-smasher whose mother sent him into hiding in a spooky forest temple. It’s all atmospheric as we watch Pey having his head shaven and taking his vows, everything seemingly fraught with unspoken menace. Notice the big bruise on Gao’s mouth, which comes and goes. Nice feel to the movie.

2. Ward

 

There were a lot of screams in the theater with this one, as the young teens in attendance jumped, screamed, and then turned to their companions and laughed at their reactions. It’s the old ritual, and this segment did its duty well. Also known as Shared Room, this is the one by first-time director but veteran studio executive Visute Poolvoralaks, with the script written by co-writers Sophon Sakdaphisit and Parkpoom Wongpoomwho scripted both of the horror hits Shutter and Alone. The story stars singer “Dan” Worawech Danuwong [picture left] as another young biker who has casts on both legs, and is put into a hospital room with a supposedly dying man whose life support is due to be unplugged soon. But the man has strange tattoos on his leathery old skin, and in the middle of the night some of the strangest things begin to happen. . . .

 

3. Backpackers

This is the fourth pairing of actor Charlie Trairat [picture right] and director Songyos Sugmakanan, beginning with the legendary Fan Chan when Charlie was a very young boy, continuing with the marvelous coming of age story Dorm, and the more recent Hormones. Now 16, Charlie is here getting away from his sweet roles and getting into a darker side of his personality. A pair of Japanese hitchhikers joins Charlie and the threatening driver of a 10-wheel truck for a ride down a remote highway. The truck’s contents start to thump in the back, and it’s soon revealed that the cargo is human cargo involved in some nightmarish drug smuggling scheme. And the drug they’re smuggling seems to turn them into zombies!

 

4. Salvage

 

Next is Salvage orUsed Car as singer-actress Nicole Theriault plays the owner of a used car lot who assures her potential customers that the cars they’re looking at are in perfect shape. The truth is that some of them have been in gruesome wrecks that have killed their passengers. Late one night the aggrieved spirits of the dead, all the ghosts that haunt the cars, rise up against her deceptive ways. This segment is directed by Parkpoom Wongpoom, half of the pair that wrote and directed Shutter and Alone.

 

5. In the End

The other half of the pair responsible for Shutter and Alone, Banjong Pisanthanakun, directed thislaugh-filled horror parody, and I think it is really enjoyable. It’s a Thai belief that there are ghosts on horror-movie sets, and this segment plays around with that idea. For my money, the stars of the show are the four guys from the first Phobia who went on a camping trip and told ghost stories in their tent at night. Here they are the crew trying to make the ghost movie. Pretty funny stuff.

 

In this segment, also know as People on Set, the star of the well-known horror film Alone, Marsha Wattanapanich, plays a parody of her role in that film, sort of a diva singer-actress.

 

 

* Largo Winch: France, Adventure/ Thriller – 108 mins – After a powerful billionaire is murdered, his secret adoptive son, Largo Winch – maverick, ladykiller, adventurer, rebel, and fighter –must race to prove his legitimacy, find his father's killers and stop them from taking over his financial empire. Filmed in Bosnia-Herzegovina and five other countries. Adapted from a hugely popular Belgian comic book series, this is the second feature from French director Jérôme Salle.

 

 

* Orphan: US/ Canada/ Germany/ France, Drama/ Horror/ Mystery/ Thriller – 123 mins – This is a dandy little horror film! I thoroughly enjoyed it! A husband and wife who recently lost their baby adopt a 9-year-old girl who is not nearly as innocent as she claims to be. Rated R in the US for disturbing violent content, some sexuality, and language. Mixed or average reviews: 42/51 out of 100.

 

If you enjoy a good spooky horror film now and then, I recommend you check this out. It’s quite well done.

But watch out for the two glaringly obvious censorship cuts in this film, clear for all to see – one having to do with sex, one having to do with violence. They are just crude chops in the film, no question of pixilation or the like. You can’t miss them.

 

It has ever been thus in my time in Thailand. There has been one current of censorship that has gone the pixilation, fuzz, or blob route, and at the same time an independent cutting current that, with authority to do so or not, just simply cuts a scene or a part of a scene that someone somewhere finds objectionable.

 

I have a feeling that these kinds of cuts will continue, no matter what film rating system may be enacted.

 

Roger Ebert: Here is a shamelessly effective horror film based on the most diabolical of movie malefactors, a child. . . .

 

You have to hand it to Orphan. You want a good horror film about a child from hell, you got one. Do not, under any circumstances, take children to see it. Take my word on this.

 

Philadelphia Inquirer, Tirdad Derakhshani: Orphan, with a perverse plot twist at the end, will keep you on tenterhooks from its nightmarish opening scene to its chilling last frame.

 

 

The Final Destination 4: In Digital 3D! US, Horror/ Thriller – 82 mins – 18+ – After a teen's premonition of a deadly race-car crash helps saves the lives of his peers, Death sets out to collect those who evaded his plans. 

 

But I have to tell you the movie is only one dimension in terms of story and character. Nevertheless, you sort of get your money’s worth with this one, should you enjoy watching deaths: It contains 11 death scenes, the most of any film in the series. They brag about it! Rated R in the US for strong violent/ gruesome accidents, language, and a scene of sexuality; “18+” in Thailand, under the new ratings system which went into effect August 11. “18+” is an advisory rating that suggests viewers should be 18 or older to see the movie. Generally unfavorable reviews:  30/30 out of 100.

 

Far be it from me to discourage you if you truly slaver over this sort of thing, but I thought it truly repulsive and offensive. You have various human organs flying at you right through the cinema, and yes your reflexes make you actually duck!

 

Variety, Jordan Mintzer: An array of gory mayhem only marginally enhanced by 3-D and a plot as developed as a text message.

 

Boston Globe, Wesley Morris: The writers don’t write, the director doesn’t really direct, and the actors don’t exactly act. They wait for the movie’s contraptions to impale them.

 

Austin Chronicle, Marc Savlov: As mesmerizing as watching bread toast. Death, be not proud, indeed.

 

The Gamer: US, Action/ Sci-Fi/ Thriller – 95 mins – 18+ –I found this an absolutely repellent and repugnant film, and I would have no problem with its being banned and all copies burned. I think it’s just too brutalizing to exist. By the writers and directors of the two recent Crank movies, as they continue their quest for ever bigger explosions, action which is even more “non-stop,” and plots and stories which explore the outer limits of the vile and sick. Set in a near future when gaming and entertainment have evolved into a terrifying new hybrid, allowing millions to act out their most savage fantasies online in front of a global audience, using real prisoners as avatars with whom they fight to the death. It’s truly evil and traffics in demented ideas. Rated R in the US for frenetic sequences of strong brutal violence throughout, sexual content, nudity, and language; “18+” in Thailand. Generally unfavorable reviews: 20/31 out of 100.

 

New York Times, Jeannette Catsoulis: If you thought that Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor (the brain trust behind the Crank franchise) had already plumbed the basement of bad taste, be prepared to discover the sub-basement: Gamer, a futuristic vomitorium of bosoms and bullets.

                    

Reelviews, James Berardinelli: Nothing will save the production from the savage word-of-mouth likely to develop. Anyone interested in playing would be better served staying home and turning on the PS3. And anyone interested in seeing a movie would be hard-pressed to find a worst option. Game over.  

 

Flickfilosopher, MaryAnn Johanson: It’s visually incomprehensible, emotionally empty, thematically nihilistic, almost entirely plotless... and it thinks those are virtues. Do you need more reasons to stay away from this all-around pointless gorefest?

 

My Ex / Fan Kao / แฟนเก่า: Thai Horror/ Romance – 90 mins – Ken is a heartthrob of an actor with a bad boy reputation of loving beautiful girls and then dumping them. After his marriage, one of his ex-girlfriends comes back from the grave to exact revenge. Director: Piyaphan Chuphet (Phii mai jim fun / Vow of Death, Necromancer).Unaccountably bloody, dreadful, and confusing, even for a Thai flick. Some interesting cinematography.

 

Inglourious Basterds: US/ Germany/ France, Drama/ Action/ Adventure/ War – 153 mins – Quentin Tarantino's exceptionally bloody tale of Jewish-American troops on the hunt for Nazi scalps in World War II France, starring Brad Pitt and an amazing Christoph Waltz, a little-known Austrian actor, in a truly fine performance. A must-see movie, though I’m uncomfortable with the fact that I’m recommending a film that carries violence to such extremes. But it’s just that I find the filmmaking skill so mind-blowing. Never have I felt such a deliciously slow and inexorable building of tension in a scene, and such studied control over all the aspects of moviemaking. Will forever change how war movies are filmed, and not only because of its extensive use of German and French – it’s simply a milestone in the history of film.

 

Rated R in the US for strong graphic violence, language, and brief sexuality. In Thailand it’s rated “18+” under the new ratings system. “18+” is an advisory rating that suggests viewers should be 18 or older to see the movie. There’s a warning to this effect just before the film’s main titles. Generally favorable reviews: 69/70 out of 100.

 

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra: US, Action/ Adventure/ Sci-Fi/ Thriller – 107 mins – It’s from Hasbro the toy-makers, and is very much like Transformers – Critic-proof nonsensical mayhem, and very loud, but stylish. Make sure you take your earplugs! Generally negative reviews: 32/40 out of 100.

 

I actually found it quite a bit more enjoyable than Transformers, which I guess might not be saying much. But if you like an occasional action flick, I think this is one of the better ones. With Dennis Quaid and Marlon Wayans (he was a lot of fun!). Directed by Stephen Sommers (The Mummy and its two sequels, and Van Helsing).

 

 

Scheduled for Pattaya cineplexes on Thursday, September 17

 

The Proposal: US, Comedy/Drama/ Romance – 108 mins – With Sandra Bullock, Ryan Reynolds, Craig T. Nelson, Mary Steenburgen, and Betty White. A pushy boss forces her young assistant to marry her in order to keep her Visa status in the U.S. and avoid deportation to Canada. Mixed or average reviews: 48/53 out of 100.

 

Roger Ebert: Amovie about a couple who start out hating each other and end up liking each other. It's a funny thing about that. I started out hating the movie and ended up liking it…. The Proposal recycles a plot that was already old when Tracy and Hepburn were trying it out. You see it coming from a great distance away. As it draws closer, you don't duck out of the way, because it is so cheerfully done, you don't mind being hit by it.

 

District 9: South Africa/ New Zealand, Drama/ Sci-Fi/Action/ Thriller [Language: English and Nyanja – a language of the Bantu language family widely spoken in south-central Africa] – 112 min – 28 years ago, aliens made first contact with Earth. Humans waited for the hostile attack, or the giant advances in technology. Neither came. Instead, the aliens were refugees, the last survivors of their home world. Rated R in the US for bloody violence and pervasive language. Reviews: Universal acclaim: 81/77 out of 100.

 

Genre master Peter Jackson (Lord of the Rings, etc.) produced this science-fiction film, the directorial debut of Neill Blomkamp. He simply gave the director $30 million to make whatever he wanted. The result was this film. Shot in Johannesburg.

 

Rotten Tomatoes: Technically brilliant and emotionally wrenching, District 9 has action, imagination, and all the elements of a thoroughly entertaining science-fiction classic.

 

Los Angeles Times, Betsy Sharkey: In a good summer, there's usually a movie that will come out of nowhere and completely wow us. This is a good summer, and that movie is District 9.Though the themes are universal, the director's childhood in South Africa clearly informs the film's sensibility, in this case greatly adding to its distinctive look and feel. It's an impressive first feature for the 29-year-old Blomkamp.

 

 

The Begin / Fun Kod Kod:  Thai, Drama/ Romance – 90 mins – A new project by Ping Lumprapleung, the director of Khon Hew Hua and Loveaholic.

 

 

And looking forward:

 

Sep 24 – Pandorum: US/ Germany, Horror/ Sci-Fi/ Thriller – The terrifying story of two crew members stranded on a spacecraft who quickly realize they are not alone. Rated R in the US for strong horror violence and language.

 

Two astronauts awaken in a hyper-sleep chamber aboard a seemingly abandoned spacecraft. It's pitch black, they are disoriented, and the only sound is a low rumble and creak from the belly of the spacecraft. They can't remember anything - who are they, what is their mission? The only way out of the chamber is a dark and narrow airshaft. Ben Foster, playing the younger of the two, crawls inside, while the other, Dennis Quaid, stays behind for guidance on a radio transmitter. As Foster ventures deeper and deeper into the ship, he begins to uncover a terrifying reality. “Slowly the spacecraft's shocking and deadly secrets come unraveled, and the astronauts realize that the survival of mankind hinges on their actions,” according to Overture Films.

 

IMDb viewer: As they explore their surroundings, they learn that the ship is teeming with mutants who are super-fast, super-strong, and super-loud. Chase scenes abound as the crew try to avoid being eaten while regaining control over the ship and come to terms with the mission. The film starts off with obvious references to Pitch Black, Alien, and Aliens. Once the mutants appear, however, the film shifts into overdrive, and it becomes Resident Evil, Aliens, and Descent. The mutants all screech like the vampires in the30 Days of Night classic….

 

Oct 1 – G-Force: In Digital 3D. US, Action/ Adventure/ Family/ Fantasy – 88 mins – A specially trained squad of guinea pigs is dispatched to stop a diabolical billionaire from taking over the world. This one should be a minor delight – the digital and the 3D worth checking out for this one, and even worth spending the extra dough for. Mixed or average reviews: 41/45 out of 100.

 

Roger Ebert: G-Force is a pleasant, inoffensive 3-D animated farce about a team of superspy guinea pigs who do battle with a mad billionaire who wants to conquer the earth by programming all the home appliances made by his corporation to follow his instructions. It will possibly be enjoyed by children of all ages. The film is non-stop, wall-to wall madcap action.

 

New York Post, Kyle Smith: Thanks to an unexpected twist and a clever motivation lurking in the back story of the super-villain, G-Force has enough going on to more or less maintain grown-up interest, and there's plenty to please the kiddies.

 

Oct 1 – Shutter Island: US, Drama/ Mystery/ Thriller – 148 mins – Director Martin Scorsese directs Leonardo DiCaprio, Ben Kingsley, Michelle Williams, Mark Ruffalo, andMax von Sydow in this horror fantasy. Previews look really good to me. It's 1954, and up-and-coming U.S. marshal Teddy Daniels is assigned to investigate the disappearance of a patient from Boston's Shutter Island Ashecliffe Hospital. He's been pushing for an assignment on the island for personal reasons, but before long he wonders whether he hasn't been brought there as part of a twisted plot by hospital doctors whose radical treatments range from unethical to illegal to downright sinister. Teddy's shrewd investigating skills soon provide a promising lead, but the hospital refuses him access to records he suspects would break the case wide open. As a hurricane cuts off communication with the mainland, more dangerous criminals "escape" in the confusion, and the puzzling, improbable clues multiply, Teddy begins to doubt everything - his memory, his partner, even his own sanity. 

 

Oct 22 – Surrogates: US, Action/ Sci-Fi/ Thriller – 104 mins – Previews look fascinating to me for this one too. Set in a futuristic world where humans live in isolation and interact through surrogate robots, a cop (Bruce Willis) investigates the murder of the genius college student who invented the surrogates. As the case grows more complicated, the withdrawn detective discovers that in order to actually catch the killer he will have to venture outside the safety of his own home for the first time in many years, and enlists the aid of another agent (Radha Mitchell) in tracking his target down. Jonathan Mostow directs this adaptation of the graphic novel by author Robert Venditti and illustrator Brett Weldele.

 

Nov 12 – 2012: US/ Canada, Action/ Drama/ Sci-Fi/ Thriller – Director Roland Emmerich has given movie watchers several apocalyptic films in the past in Independence Day and The Day After Tomorrow, and he offers another look at the end of the world in 2012. This action film stars John Cusack, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Amanda Peet. The film proves conclusively that the world will end on December 21, 2012, so let’s hope the studio recoups its investment before then. It’s the Mayan Long Count calendar that contains the proof, and it’s irrefutable. Don’t make any plans for Christmas that year! For further information, read John Major Jenkins, MayaCosmogenesis 2012: The True Meaning of the Maya Calendar End-Date (1998).

 

Dec 17 – Avatar: US, Action/Adventure/ Sci-Fi/ Thriller – From director James Cameron, who originally attempted to get this film made in 1999 immediately after his huge success with Titanic (1997). However, at the time, the special effects he wanted for the movie ran the proposed budget up to $400 million. No studio would fund the film, and it was subsequently shelved for almost ten years. This is, in fact, the director’s first feature film since Titanic. The story involves a band of humans pitted in battle against a distant planet's indigenous population. In December 2006, Cameron described Avatar as "a futuristic tale set on a planet 200 years hence... an old-fashioned jungle adventure with an environmental conscience... [that] aspires to a mythic level of storytelling." A January 2007 press release described the film in these words: "Avatar is also an emotional journey of redemption and revolution.”

 

Dec 24 – Sherlock Holmes: US/ UK/ Australia, Action/ Adventure/ Crime/ Drama/ Mystery/ Thriller – Detective Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downey Jr) and his stalwart partner Watson (Jude Law) engage in a battle of wits and brawn with a nemesis whose plot is a threat to all of England. This new Holmes is rougher, more emotionally multilayered, more inclined to run with his clothing askew, covered in bruises and smudges of dirt and blood. He falls into modern-style funks between cases, lying on the sofa, suffused with anomie, unshaven and unkempt, surrounded by a pile of debris. But when he applies himself, Holmes is as fast with his body — he is a bare-knuckle boxer, a crack shot, and an expert swordsman — as he is with his mind. But … no cocaine. Says the director Guy Ritchie, “It’s a family picture.”

 

Mar 4, 2010–Alice in Wonderland: US, Adventure/Family/ Fantasy– I am looking forward to this one! Seems to me like a perfect marriage between director Tim Burton and the Lewis Carroll classic. The film stars frequent Burton collaborator Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter, Mia Wasikowska as Alice, and Anne Hathaway as the White Queen. Also with Helena Bonham-Carter, Crispin Glover, Alan Rickman.

 

 

 

Movie Rating System

 

There are seven categories under the new system:

 

Category 1 covers educational films that all are encouraged to see;

Category 2 films are those deemed suitable for a general audience;

Category 3 films are suitable for viewers aged 13 years and over;

Category 4 for those over 15;

Category 5 for those over 18; and

Category 6 for those 20 and older.

And then there’s the invisible Category 7, which doesn’t need a symbol because it’s absolutely forbidden to be shown.

 

The ratings 1 to 5 are only a guide and will be enforced mainly by social pressure, according to Culture Minister Teera Salakpetch, but entry to Category 6 films would be strictly controlled, with fines of between Bt20,000 and Bt100,000 for cinemas that did not comply.

 

 

New website for Major Cineplex

 

Here you go:  Schedule on Major Cineplex Website or http://www.majorcineplex.com/showtimepage.php

 

It’s basically a mixture of Thai and English, and this is how you work it: The link above gets you to the “Showtime” page. On the right two-thirds of the screen you will see two lists: movies, and theaters. At the top of the list of movies, click “Select All Movie” unless you’re really only interested in one movie. On the list of theaters, click “Pattaya.” This is one of four cities in the “Zone UPC-South-East” section, which is the 7th region down, or the 3rd from the bottom. Then hit “go” either at the top or the bottom of the lists, and almost immediately you will get at the very bottom of the page a list of the movies, the cinemas (โรง) they are in, and their remaining times (เวลา) for the day. If you do this after midnight and in the early morning, you will get a blank. Times are posted later in the morning. You have no way at the moment for getting any times except for the current day, and only the remaining times.

 

The new website redesign for MovieSeer

 

Major Cineplex - Pattaya

At Villa Supermarket Center

Opposite Soi 13 on 2nd Road.

“At The Avenue!”

 

Schedule on MovieSeer  (newly redesigned; not working too well)

   [In the large form on the right side, select in the center box first

    Major Cineplex, and then Pattaya. On the next line, make

    sure “By Theater Group” is checked. Then click “Search”.]

 

SFX Cinema Pattaya Beach

6th Floor of Central Festival Pattaya Beach

 

Schedule on MovieSeer  (newly redesigned; not working too well)

   [In the large form on the right side, select in the center box

    SF Cinema City, SFX Pattaya Beach. On the next line, make

    sure “By Theater Group” is checked. Then click “Search”.]

 

SF Multiplex / Cinemacity-Pattaya

At Big C

3rd Floor, Central Festival Department Store

[Central Plaza] Pattaya 2 Road, T. Nong Prue

A. Banglamoong, Chonburi

 

Schedule on MovieSeer  (newly redesigned; not working too well)

   [In the large form on the right side, select in the center box

    SF Cinema City, Central Pattaya. On the next line, make

    sure “By Theater Group” is checked. Then click “Search”.

    Ignore the fact that it says it’s Central Festival Pattaya Beach.

    It’s not. It’s Big C.]