So, I went to the premier of Kungfu League with my husband and son. Growing up watching movies with kungfu genre featuring legendary kungfu masters like Wong Fei Hung, Bruce Lee, Fong Sai Yuk, Ip Man and many more somehow gives me the impression that I will be watching a straight, no nonsense kungfu movie with a healthy dose of blood oozing here and there. But I ended up watching something else entirely. I’m not quite sure how to classify Kungfu League, but if I were to describe the movie without feeding you spoilers, I’d say it’s a hydbrid of action, romantic-comedy with a dose of inter-dimension time traveling sci-fi.

The movie is absolutely riveting and impossible to fall asleep while watching (I tend to fall sleep in the cinema if the movie is too boring). Storyline is fantastic. The writer must be either drunk while writing or is a genius.

The plot and scenes were beautifully stitched together and the kungfu moves were beautifully choreographed.

It was really enjoyable. I laughed all the way throughout the movie at the humourous scenes while being impressed of all the suave kungfu stances in the movie.

Out of 10 stars I’d give this a 15. My only complain is that I did not get to see enough of the kungfu masters being topless.

Highly recommended and if you grew up watching kungfu movies, especially about the lengendary kungfu master Wong Fei Hong, you’d really enjoy this.

Malaysia Release Date : 5 July 2018
Running time : 127mins
Language : Japanese (BM, English, Chinese subtitles)

Synopsis
Adapted from Hiroya Oku’s manga, 58-year-old salaryman Ichiro Inuyashiki (Noritake Kinashi) is living a humdrum existence. He has no friends, his own family ignores him and his doctor has just informed him that he has cancer. One night when walking his dog, Inuyashiki is struck by a mysterious light. He later wakes up unharmed but finds that he now has powerful abilities. However, Inuyashiki was not the only transformed that night. High school student Hiro Shishigami (Takeru Satoh) also gained abilities, but uses them for his own nefarious purposes.
Cast
Noritake Kinashi – Ichiro Inuyashiki
Takeru Satoh – Hiro Shishigami
Kanata Hongo – Naoyuki Ando
Fumi Nikaido – Shion Watanabe
Ayaka Miyoshi – Mari Inuyashiki
Nayuta Fukuzaki – Takeshi Inuyashiki
Mari Hamada – Marie Inuyashiki
Yuki Saito – Yuko Shishigami
Yusuke Iseya – Detective Hagihara
Director: Shinsuke Sato
Writer: Hiroya Oku (manga), Hiroshi Hashimoto

Review

I’ll keep the review as simple and as spoiler-free as possible. Now, I’ll be honest with you. It was a long and tiring day for me and when I picked up the ticket for Inuyashiki premier, I went into the cinema with the intention of to sleep and nothing else. My first impression is that the movie will be rather boring. Blame it on the synopsis. It is the main culprit that gave me the impression that Inuyashiki Live Action will be as boring as watching the paint dry. You see, I’m a huge fans of handsome heroes and young and macho Oppa, so when I discovered that the main protagonist of this movie is an old man, it does not impress me much.

But my plans to get some shuteye in the cinema while Inuyashiki was being screen was thwarted during the first ten minutes of the movie. Inuyashiki is surprisingly real when it comes to playing with your emotions. You can actually relate to the character’s hardship and circumstances. Inuyashiki is not your ordinary superhero story. The hero is just an old man who is close to retirement age, given extraordinary powers by accident. The villain on the other hand is a handsome highschooler and if you’re a fan of all handsome men like me, you’d change your mind about judging a book my it’s cover after watching Inuyashiki.

The movie offers fantastic CGI, slight humour here and there and is action packed.

Definitely worth your time in the cinema and I’d rate this a 5 star. I’d say Inuyashiki is a PG-13 and not for young children as there are violence involved but do give this a go if sci-fi and action movies is your kind of thing.

Guess what, people? The internationally acclaimed singer, songwriter, musician and actor John Legend is coming to Malaysia and he will be bringing his Darkness and Light World tour to Resorts World Genting on the 17th March 2018.

The singer has produced several hit songs such as ‘Green Light’ and ‘Love Me Now’ and is set to perform at the Arena of Stars. With five studio albums to his name, the singer is set to perform his R&B and soul numbers for his fans.

More information about the tickets for the concert will be released soon.

For more information, call 03 2718 1118 or visit www.rwgenting.com

‘Haunted Hotel’ is Ryon Lee’s latest masterpiece, starring actor and actresses from 3 countries; Malaysia, Thailand and China. The movie sees Teddy Chin (Malaysia), Alvin Chong (Malaysia), Azman Hassan (Malaysia) and several foreign actors such as Aom Sushar Manaying (Thailand) and Li Chuan (China) works together in a thriller-horror movie.

Rated: PG13
Time: 1hr 32 mins

Watch trailer

Summary:

‘Haunted Hotel‘ tells the story of Ling and her boyfriend Jun, who had the opportunity visit Malaysia during a business trip. They happened to have won a lot of money in a casino in Genting Highlands during their trip, but unfortunately for the couple, they could not leave after winning the money as it is already dark and rains heavily. Instead of going home, they decided to stay for the night.Their first choice of accommodation was somewhere near the casino but it happens to be public holiday and the hotels over there are fully booked. The couple then unknowingly booked themselves into Amber Court, a secluded hotel that is known to be haunted.

Strange things started to happen during their stay and they were often disturbed by a woman in white dress. What will happen to this couple? Will they be able to live to tell the tale?

Review

Haunted Hotel‘s horror continues to warm up the cinema with the success of RM600 thousand in Malaysia and RM11 million in China in just 4 days since October 19. The production films produced by Lomo Pictures in collaboration with He Media from China cost RM4.8 million and were shot in Malaysia, mainly in Amber Court, Genting Highlands; an apartment that is said to be the top 10 haunted places in Asia.

So, what did I think about the movie? Good or bad? Well, how do I give my opinion without giving you the spoilers? All right, personally I think this is a standard Asian type of horror movies. Typical creepy scenes where characters being chased, someone murdered, and even the usual headless ghost scene is included in.

Sounds normal and unexciting, no? So what makes this so special? Well, what set this different from the rest of the horror movies I’ve watched is that ‘Haunted House‘ is more than just plain horror. If you look beneath the surface, it’s more to pshychological thriller where we delved into the main character’s imaginations layer by layer. The script was so cleverly written than you don’t actually realized where the story is taking us until it’s half way through.

The movie also deals with the main character’s resentments, trauma and guilt alongside with psychological disorder.

The movie brings us to plenty of freaky locations, and shocks us with quite a few scary scenes, but overall, I think the story is just so sad and I feel sorry for the main character Ling when the movie ends.

‘Haunted Hotel‘ the movie is creepy but not scary enough to scare me to the point I’ll be having nightmares at night.
I rate this movie 4 out of 5 stars.

If you are a fan of horror movies, you might want to watch the ‘Haunted Hotel‘ at your nearest cinema. The movie will be haunting 69 selected cinemas in Malaysia from 19th October 2017.

Hari Merdeka (Malaysian for ‘Independence Day’), also known as Hari Kebangsaan(National day), refers to the day when the Federation of Malaya’s independence from the British Empire was officially declared. At exactly 09:30 on 31 August 1957, the declaration was read by Tunku Abdul Rahman at the Merdeka Stadium in the presence of thousands of people including Malay Rulers, members of the federal government, and foreign dignitaries. The effort for independence was spearheaded by Tunku Abdul Rahman, the first Prime Minister of Malaysia, who led a delegation of ministers and political leaders of Malaya in negotiations with the British in London for Merdeka, or independence along with the first president of the Malayan Chinese Association (MCA) Tun Dato Sir Tan Cheng Lock and fifth President of Malaysian Indian Congress TunV. T. Sambanthan. The formation of the Federation of Malaysia was then announced on 16 September 1963, as Malaysia Day. 

This is a common knowledge for Malaysians who paid attention during history classes in school. But what’s not a common knowledge for most Malaysians is during the times of military insurgency before indepence was achieved. There are many untold stories during this time period, and rarely any production houses made any effort to feature the stories from that timeline in their movies.

But here’s one during that particular time; Malay Regiment. Will be shown in the silverscreens nationwide from 31st August 2017 to commemorate 60 years of independence, Malay Regiment was told in flashback where the story takes the viewers back to the time where the Malay Regiments fought the communists.

I’m not quite a fan of military movies, and therefore, I found the story rather baffling and not quite my kind of thing. Plenty of memorable scenes, though the story felt as if there are missing pieces in it. Storytelling was quite mediocre and it is hard for me to go back and forth from the present to the past. An okay watch if you like history and action.

I rate this movie a 3 star out 5, mostly for effort made to aknowledge the Malay Regiment’s contribution in nation building through the movie.

For more information, please visit: https://www.instagram.com/malayregiment/

Pic credit: @Ellie Toh

Malaysian singer-songwriter Shila Amzah, popularly dubbed “Asia’s Sweetheart,” will soon light up the stage at Resorts World Genting with her unique brand of music that has won her international fame across Asia.

Shila Amzah “My Journey” Concert in Malaysia 2017, to be held at the Arena of Stars on 26 August 2017, 8.30pm, will showcase her versatility and will include hits that have won her critical acclaim even in highly competitive markets like Hong Kong and Taiwan.

The concert’s main concept is “My Journey”, which happens to be the title of her latest album. It is a fitting concept that highlights the milestones she has chalked up thus far in the world of music, from the time she first began to sing professionally till now when her rising popularity will see her staging her second concert in Malaysia.

Among the accolades that have confirmed Shila’s success in the international Mandopop market are Best Female Singer at the 15th Global Chinese Music Awards, Female Artist of the Year (Hong Kong and Taiwan) at the 2015 Guangzhou Music Awards, and Best Female Singer (Hong Kong and Taiwan) at the 2016 Music Pioneer Awards. Her achievements also include being nominated World’s Best Female Artiste at the World Music Award.

Little wonder Shila was made Malaysia’s Tourism Ambassador last year, her contributions towards promoting the country through music deservedly earning official recognition. She was also honoured at the 20th Malaysian Music Awards, receiving the Kembara Award (International Music Breakthrough Award), an award given to Malaysian artists that have performed internationally and have helped promote Malaysian songs to the world. Shila became the youngest honoree of the award—she is only 26 years old—after having become the champion of Asian Wave (2012), a reality Chinese singing competition held in Shanghai.

Standing out with her colourful hijab and her emotive ballads, Shila can claim to be not just a singer-songwriter, but also a record producer, actress and businesswoman all rolled into one. The young singer gained recognition very early in her career—her first real success began with her single, Patah Seribu,  receiving Pop Song of the Year at the 19th Malaysian Music Awards. The single is from her second pop studio album, Sha-Hila.

After that in 2015, Shila, whose real name is NurShahila binti Amir Amzah, brilliantly charted her journey into the Chinese music market—stamping her mark in the Mandopop industry in Hong Kong by releasing some new singles. Her latest album, My Journey, released last year, confirms her continued popularity. Shila also successfully established her second record label and a global management company called Shilala (HK) Limited. Not surprisingly, along with being dubbed “Asia’s Sweetheart,” other honorific titles came her way, including “Princess of Music” and “National Treasure of Malaysia.”

Tickets to Shila Amzah “My Journey” Live in Malaysia 2017 are priced at RM318 (VIP), RM248 (PS1), RM188 (PS2), RM138 (PS3) and RM108 (PS4). Genting Rewards Card (GRC) members are entitled to a 10% discount when they purchase tickets by cash or credit card, and Genting Points redemption. This is applicable for all price scales. Admission is one ticket per person applicable to adults, children of all ages and infants.

For more information, call +603 2718 1118 or visit www.rwgenting.com