Bangkok Cinema Scene: Movies opening May 20-26, 2010

Sam Yan


The first project from RS Promotion's new film-production shingle Film R Us is a comedy collaboration by three directors: Yuthlert Sippapak, Ping Lumprapleung and Jaroenporn “Kotee Aramboy” Onlamai.

Sam Yan (สามย่าน) is one of at least six projects the busy and prolific filmmaker Yuthlert has going like spinning plates on poles. Comedian Ping has previously directed Dreamaholic and Loveaholic and the ubiquitous comic Kohtee previously helmed his own picture, the 2008 horror comedy Headless Family.

Opened yesterday, the three stories of Sam Yan, take place the Sam Yan neighborhood of Bangkok.

One has comedian Kom Chuanchuen as a bus driver who finds a dead body on his coach and tries to dispose of it. Another is about two hapless thieves (Kiatisak Udomnak and Thongphoom Siripipat) on the run from a hitman after a failed robbery.

And the third has Kotee has a director making a film with a famous but troubled actor, portrayed by Sompong Kunaprathom, better known as Eed from the Ponglang Sa-on folk-music-and-comedy troupe. His bandmates Lulu and Lala are there for support.

Other supporting actors include Adirek "Uncle" Wattleela, again playing a policeman as he's done in many movies, but this time, sadly, he's a solo act.

"Giftza" Piya Pongkulapa also stars, following her Girly Berry bandmate Gybzy into the film world.

The trailer is at YouTube. Rated 18+.

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Also opening


I Love You Phillip Morris -- Jim Carrey stars in this fact-based comedy, based on book by Steven McVicker. Carrey plays Steven Russell, a straitlaced Texas police officer, church organist and family man. He undergoes a dramatic lifestyle change after a car wreck. Ditching his wife and taking up with his gay lover, Russell becomes a con artist and is eventually sent to prison. There he falls in love with a fellow inmate, Phillip Morris (Ewan MacGregor). He then concocts a series of outlandish plots to escape from prison with the idea of freeing Morris so the two can have a perfect life together. Critical reception is mostly positive, with plenty of praise for the performance by Carrey. Rated 18+.



Shrek Forever After -- More pop-culture references that only parents will get and gentle toilet humor for the kiddies is mined in this fourth and possibly final outing for Shrek, the big green ogre who heads the flagship franchise of Dreamworks Animation. Here, Shrek is going through mid-life crisis and is tired of his domesticated life. He wonders what it would like to again be a real ogre. He makes a deal with Rumpelstiltskin that turns sour and changes time so that Shrek never existed and everything in the Land of Far Far Away is different. His wife Fiona doesn't know him and hates his guts, his best friend Donkey doesn't recognize him and the dashing swordsman Puss-in-Boots is a lazy fat cat that doesn't even wear boots. The voice cast is all back -- Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz, Eddie Murphy and Antonio Banderas. Critical reception is mixed. In 3D in some cinemas. Rated G.



The Losers -- Members of an elite military unit -- Clay (Jeffrey Dean Morgan from Watchmen), Roque (Idris Elba from The Wire), Jake (Chris Evans from Cellular), Pooch (Columbus Short) and Cougar (Óscar Jaenada) -- are betrayed and left for dead in the jungles of Bolivia. They survive and are joined by a shadowy operative named Aisha (Zoe Saldana from Star Trek and Avatar). Their enemy is an arms dealer named Max (Jason Patric from Speed 2), who has dastardly plans of making the world into a high-tech battleground. Directed by Sylvain White, it's based on a comic-book series. Critical reception is mixed, but if you're in the mood for a big loud action comedy, The Losers seems to be just the thing. Rated 15+.

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Take note


Through Saturday there is a 9pm to 5am curfew on under the crackdown against the red-shirt political protests. Most malls that are open are closing at around 6. The Skytrain and subway are expected to remain closed at least through Saturday.

Once some semblance of routine is restored, folks will find their way back to the movie theaters, though one that won't be showing movies ever again is the Siam Theatre, destroyed by arsonists.

(Photo via Twitpic by Babyfishie)

Bangkok Cinema Scene special: The Siam Theatre is burned

It's another opening day for movies in Bangkok cinemas, but I don't feel much like giving my usual rundown of the new releases this week. Besides, there's a curfew and many cinemas are closed as a precaution.

I'm saddened by the loss of the Siam Theatre in Siam Square. But I am also happy to report that the sister cinemas, the Lido and the crown jewel of Siam Square, the Scala, are apparently unharmed.

The Siam, an 800-seat single-screen cinema of the Apex chain, was torched by arsonists yesterday. Fires erupted around Bangkok after an army crackdown forced the collapse of the red-shirt anti-government protests. For more than a month, the red-shirts had occupied central Bangkok's Rajprasong intersection and shut down the area's shopping malls and hotels.

The burning down of the old movie theater is insignificant in comparison to the loss of life -- as of yesterday, the Erawan Emergency Medical Center reported seven killed and 81 injured on May 19, with a total of 43 deaths and 365 injured during the clashes from May 14 to 19.

And as BobThailand pointed out on Twitter yesterday, building new shopping malls and movie theaters will be a much-easier task than trying to rebuild Thai society. There are wide divisions that became even greater with Wednesday's violence.

But the Siam Theatre contributed greatly to the culture of Bangkok movie-going and will be missed. Along with the Lido and the Scala, the Siam played an eclectic mix of first-run Hollywood movies as well as independent features that couldn't be found anywhere else. The Siam was a particularly good place to catch the latest hit movie from Japan, as well as Korean, Chinese, Hong Kong and Taiwanese movies. I especially appreciate the Apex cinemas for running "foreign language" movies with the original soundtrack and English and Thai subtitles.

So many good memories. I think the last movie I saw at the Siam was Bodyguards and Assassins -- Hong Kong martial-arts and drama. A great memory of a grand theater.

Also apparently lost is the SF World multiplex at the CentralWorld shopping center, which was also lit on fire by arsonists in Wednesday's mayhem. Bangkok's biggest multiplex with 15 screens, the loss of the SFW will be inconvenient, but it can be rebuilt.

However, the Siam is an irreplaceable loss. Cinemas like that one are no longer built.

Update: More photos and thoughts about the Siam at the Southeast Asian Movie Theater Project.

Update 2: The Nation says farewell to "our beloved Siam Theatre" and notes the area was "up for demolition next year ... according to the master plan ... to be replaced by a modern shopping complex."

Update 3: Film critic Kong Rithdee comes to bury the Siam in the obituary in the Bangkok Post, remembering the theater for its "cavernous foyer, manual ticketing, dank concession stand and heavy, possibly unwashed curtains guarded by yellow-jacketed ushers as ancient as the place itself."

(Photo cross-published at the Wikimedia Commons)

Bangkok Cinema Scene: Movies opening May 13-19, 2010

Ip Man 2


The life story of martial-arts grand master Yip Man -- famed as the mentor of martial-arts-movie legend Bruce Lee -- continues, picking up where the 2008 first installment left off.

Set in the 1950s, Ip Man 2 depicts Man's move with his family from the mainland to Hong Kong where he sets about trying to reform the Triad-run martial-arts schools and unite them against foreign influences.

Donnie Yen reprises the role of the sole practitioner of a discipline called Wing Chun. His hands move at lightning speed and his fists strike with crushing blows. It's amazing stuff.

Joining the cast in part two is Sammo Hung -- the heavyset martial-arts star better known to Thai audiences as Hong Jinpao for his string of martial-arts movies in the 1980s like Spooky Encounters, The Magnificent Butcher and Knockabout. He portrays a master of a rival discipline, Hung Gar.

Expect to see more of the fireworks Sammo and Donnie set off when they first met onscreen in 2005's SPL: Sha Po Leng.

Wilson Yip, who's worked with Donnie on a string of recent movies including SPL, Flash Point, Dragon Tiger Gate and the first Ip Man, is back directing this one.

It's Thai-dubbed in most cinemas, but you can catch it with the Cantonese soundtrack with English and Thai subtitles at House. Rated 15+.

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Robin Hood


It opened the prestigious Cannes Film Festival last night and now it's playing in Bangkok. I wish more of the movies from Cannes would come here this fast.

In director Ridley Scott's Robin Hood, Russell Crowe joins a long line of actors who've taken up the bow-and-arrow of the altruistic outlaw of ancient England. Others who've robbed from the rich and given to the poor include Douglas Fairbanks, Errol Flynn, Kevin Costner, Carey Elwes, John Cleese and Daffy Duck. But this Robin Hood is different: No tights. He's wearing leather breeches and chain mail.

The movie has been derided as Gladiator 2, even though this is a different place and different time.

Scott seeks to tell "the untold story behind the legend". An origin tale, it's set in late 12th century England, with Crowe as an archer in King Richard the Lionheart's crusading army in France. Made an outlaw for an infraction against the king -- speaking the truth when the king asked for it -- Robin takes to the forests with his band of merry men. Assuming the identity of a dead nobleman, he eventually finds his way back to England and heads to Nottingham to fulfill a promise to the nobleman and to hopefully shake loose suppressed memories of his own childhood. He takes up with Lady Marian (Cate Blanchett) in a struggle against the tyranny of King John (Oscar Isaac), but the new king also faces a plot against him by a turncoat friend (Mark Strong) who's sided with the French and is playing both ends against the middle.

With more epic battles than swashbuckling or feats of derring do, this is a different kind of Robin Hood.

Max von Sydow, Danny Huston, William Hurt and Mark Addy (The Full Monty) also star.

Critical reception is mostly flat. But Crowe doesn't care. Rated 15+.

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Also opening


A Nightmare on Elm Street -- The long-running horror franchise, which has spawned eight films since the original in 1984, is rebooted with a new crop of sleep-deprived teens who fear nodding off because they are haunted in their dreams by a disfigured, blade-fingered psychopath named Freddy Kruger. Jackie Earle Haley (Watchmen, Semi-Pro) takes over the role of Freddy from Robert Englund. Critical reception is mostly negative. Rated 18+.



The Bounty Hunter -- Gerard Butler tries on a horrible American accent in this action comedy in which he's teamed up with Jennifer Aniston. They are former husband-and-wife. He's a bounty hunter assigned to bring her in. She's a journalist covering a murder case that has ties to the mob. Soon the pair have murderers after them. Andy Tennant (Hitch, Sweet Home Alabama) directs. Critical reception is overwhelmingly negative. This movie was a lot funnier when they made it with Robert De Niro and Charles Grodin. It was called Midnight Run. Rated 15+.

Furry Vengeance -- Brendan Fraser stars in this comedy as a real-estate developer who's planning to build a shopping mall on a tract of Oregon wilderness. The animals, including a raccoon, a bear and skunks, fight back. Critical reception is overwhelmingly negative. The premise sounds remarkably similar to the better-received 2006 animated feature, Over the Hedge. Rated G.

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Take note

The red-shirt anti-government protesters are still occupying Rajprasong, but the government is making moves to evict the protesters by shutting off their water and power and blocking access to the site.

Malls and cinemas around the Rajprasong and Siam Square areas -- CentralWorld, Metropolis and Paragon will likely remain closed. Apex in Siam Square might be open. Call first.

The Japanese teen comedy Oppai Volleyball, about a young teacher who promises to flash her breasts to the sex-obsessed nerd boys on her volleyball team, has moved from Siam Square's Apex circuit over to House on RCA.