The Greatest Showman ... Circus of life

ONE can see why Hugh Jackman had been hankering to play circus showman P.T. Barnum. Jackman's love of singing, which shone in Les Miserables, is embodied in director Michael Gracey's The Greatest Showman, released in December 2017.

  Jackson said he related to Barnum's rag-to-riches story, but he didn't say anything about Barnum's crass lies and scams to take advantage of the deformed to make money.
  However, I will confine my review to the film, which I enjoyed because of the pop songs set in a period piece.
   I will also say that the film is imbued with good values, among which is a destitute man's desire to make good and provide for his family things that he never had as a child.
  The film's start is vital as it  provides the motivation for Barnum to excel in life and come up with imaginative ideas.

Life ... Keeping out the alien (refugees)

SPACE horror film Life is about a sample from Mars that grows from humble beginnings to a killer

that will stop at nothing to survive. Naturally, in most horror films, there's an abundance of people for the evil specimen to devour with gusto.
  I am not ashamed to say that Life is the first horror film to make me jump out of my seat; the scare is so unexpected. You watch with fear at how the killer stalks its prey and you pray that the humans can survive the onslaught, despite the many protocols or barriers they have put in place.

Power Rangers .. No power

POWER Rangers is a Breakfast Club (1985) copycat mixed with science-fiction daring-do, and the latter

 is certainly an invigorating classic compared with this film. You throw five screw-ups together in a small town's high school detention class and viewers are supposed to be uplifted by their sorry tales of woe.
  The five of them discovering their superpowers is nothing new. It resembles Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire and Andew Garfield) going wild with his newfound Spidey senses. In fact, there's a scene showing them jumping over a mountain gap, which is similar to Peter Parker leaping from one building to another.

Beauty and the Beast ... 'Beauty' is not in the eye of the viewer

I WISH I could say that Malaysians lost an opportunity to catch a great film, but Disney may have done them a favour by pulling director Bill Condon's Beauty and The Beast from Malaysian cinemas.

   Netizens have expressed their displeasure at Disney, who did so because Malaysian film censors snipped off a gay moment in the film. Disney will appeal against the decision (on March 21), but it looks like the censors will stand their ground.
    This live-action film is great to look at, with its palatial interiors and grounds, and some of the songs are catchy, but they won't leave an impression on viewers.

Kong: Skull Island ... War at its worst

I STEPPED into the cineplex expecting director Jordan Vogt-Roberts's King Kong reboot,

 Kong: Skull Island, to deliver a political statement on the Vietnam War, and it doesn't disappoint. The film may be set in the wake of US forces leaving Vietnam in 1973, but its tentacles reach until the present day.
   The film, which takes its inspiration from Apocalypse Now and Jurassic Park, overflows with references to Vietnam War and possibly every other conflict the US is mired in. It's part war film, part horror film, and can't seem to decide which is more important.
   The moral of the story is the US accepting the status quo in God-forsaken parts of the world, and that attempting to change it brings only more death and destruction.

2017 Oscar/Academy Award winners

89TH ACADEMY AWARDS WINNERS 

Warren Beatty explaining the confusion as the cast of 'La La Land' hands over their Oscars to the producers of 'Moonlight' on stage. AFP pic

Logan ... Logan's on the run

IT'S been 17 years since the first X-Men film appeared, and in that time, Hugh Jackman's Wolverine has taken the world by storm. Logan is supposedly the final film in the Wolverine trilogy. The film is chockful of violence, and it's also about the loner Logan shedding his inhibitions and learning to be part of someone's life, and standing up for that someone.
   Logan is introduced to new young bilingual mutant Laura (Dafne Keen), whose skills are introduced through an awesome scene in an abandoned industrial plant in the Mexican desert.