Movie Review – Ghost on Air《靈聼》

Fans of horror movies, are you ready for “GHOST ON AIR”?

你准备好《灵听》了吗？

GHOST ON AIR 《灵听了》is a made-in-Singapore ghost movie, starring famous local deejay and artiste, Dennis Zhou Chongqing (周崇庆) as a spooked deejay who tells ghost stories on air. The movie is produced by Merelion Pictures and directed by Cheng Ding An.

Trailer:

Synopsis:

A Radio DJ driven to desperation, resorts to telling ghost stories on air, but what if the stories were all not fiction?

“Ping Xiao, a two time “Most Popular DJ” award winner, is suddenly robbed of his successful morning show slot. Jealous at seeing a younger DJ taking his place, he forces himself to conquer painful recurring memories of his deceased girlfriend and tells the ghost stories that was written by her on air.

With each painful memory he endures, he regains a small step to his superstardom. However, as he is about to claim his reward, he begins to realize that the stories were not works of fiction, and maybe it wasn’t him telling the stories all along…”

“两度“最受欢迎DJ”的品孝，失利被调到了午夜班。眼红年轻的新人取代自己的位子，他迫不得已回忆起与已故女友的点点滴滴，在空中述说她生前所写的灵异故事。强忍着内心一阵阵的痛，他一步步地夺回自己所失去的。然而，正当他要坐回巨星的宝座時，他赫然发现他所述说的灵异故事并不是虚构的…”

Pardon me if this review for Ghost on Air《靈聼》is a little biased. The movie director is an old friend and is it only natural I would wish a friend’s movie do well at the box office.

I watched the movie on 30 April at the Shaw Preview Theatre during a special preview for a group of omy bloggers. We were greeted by the very sincere movie director himself, who made a surprise appearance to interact with everyone before and after the screening. You can check out the bloggers’ reviews on omy Blog Club. 

Movie director, Cheng Ding An (in black suit) together with a group of bloggers

In the movie, you will see the lead actor, Dennis Zhou take on a challenging dark and serious role, very different from his usual comedic performances.

Former Nominated Member-of-Parliament, Eunice Olsen and famous Malaysian radio deejay, Gan Mei Yan, also plays supporting roles in the movie, spicing up the big screen.

Overall, I felt the production standards for GHOST ON AIR was definitely a notch above Ding An’s directorial debut, KALLANG ROAR THE MOVIE (2008).

There were some who expressed disappointment over the movie’s short 90 minutes run, for me, it was just enough. To begin with, the movie was already paced pretty slowly. If it was to run any longer, it would appear somewhat draggy for a otherwise straight-forward story line.

It’s a bad cliche to ask Singaporeans to support local movies for the sake of supporting the Singapore movie industry which is still in its infancy stage. I think we have grown beyond that. If a made-in-Singapore movie is bad, no amount of cajoling based on national pride and patriotism is going to save it at the box office.

GHOST ON AIR 《灵听》is not one of that bad movie that deserve to tank at the box office (in my opinion). Yes, there’s room for improvement for the young director and movie crew, but this movie is a pretty respectable effort.

The movie will be a treat to horror movie fans as well as fans of radio deejays, Dennis Zhou and Gan Mei Yan. For the latter group, you will get to seeing the two famous deejays test their acting skills in serious roles, beyond their usual comical appearances.

GHOST ON AIR 《灵听》will be showing in Singapore cinemas from 17 May 2012 (this Thursday). Be sure to catch it!

I Love You, Man

Movie poster

I watched this romantic-comedy a few weeks back during the media preview. It was really great! The movie does not have a big-names cast and the poster looks rather uninteresting, but the movie was surprisingly awesome!

If you dig comedies, and appreciate a light-hearted, yet not too cheesy movie after a hard day at work, “I Love You, Man” is a must-watch.

The movie opens in cinemas a few days ago on 18 June. Knowing Singaporeans who tend to go for big-names, big explosions, massive CGI movies, this romantic comedy may not get a long box office run, hence do catch it soon before you miss it.

The story is about a loser guy, Peter Klaven (Paul Rudd) who can’t find a best man for his marriage due to his lack of male friends. Hence he had to embark on a mission to get to know a best male friend in time for his wedding day. That was how he got to know an oddball called Sidney Fife (Jason Segel) and the two of them got involved in a series of misadventures, one after another.

It’s a really simple storyline, but it’s the characters and chemistry between them that keeps the movie going.

Here’s the movie trailer:

For a more detailed review, you can read my friend, Ding An’s review on the movie. BTW, Ding An is the director of the local movie, Kallang Roar and if you do not trust my taste in movie, a movie director cannot be too far wrong yeah? 🙂

Technorati Tags: i love you man, paul rudd, jason segel, peter klaven, sidney fife, romantic comedy, cheng ding an, kallang roar movie, i love you man movie, good comedy movie, good romance movie

Fly by Night 5 years Retrospective

I have been a loyal participant of the Fly by Night Video Challenge, annually since it started in 2002. The challenge is simple:

The theme of the competition is announced on Friday night. You have one weekend to conceptualise and make your 5-minute video. All entries are submitted on Sunday evening and then screened on the same night.

There’s an adrenaline rush while cheonging to complete the video and I get immense satisfaction out of the end product.

In the first year, my teammates were Xai (working for the United Nations in Laos), Wan Churn (trailer producer at Channel U), Ailin (civil servant) and Sally Poh (producer at Moving Visuals). The theme was “Next 5 Minutes” and our short film was titled “Bliss in the Next 5 Minutes”. My team didn’t make it to the top ten.

In the second year, my teammates were Wan Churn, Xai and Ailin. Sally took part again in a separate group with her new boyfriend. The theme was “Fever” and our short film was titled “A Prayer in the Rain”. Again, my team didn’t make it to the top ten. Sally and her boyfriend’s short film did though. 🙂

In the third year, my teammates were Leon Kiong (motion graphics editor at MuVee), Chitra Kumar (final year student in NTU SCI) and Lai Chow (editor at Youth.SG). The theme was “#*@^” and our short film was titled “The Symbol Life”. My team finally won this time. Unfortunately, Leon has deleted the video from his hard disk even before exporting it. Hence I don’t have a copy to show here.

In the fourth year, I joined with Leon Kiong alone. The theme was “Green Apples” and our short film was titled “The Great Fruits Massacre”. We won again.

Finally, in the fifth year, I joined with Leong Kiong, Cheng Ding An (currently preparing for his feature film, Kallang Roar) and Rachel Chan (journalist). We didn’t win, but we will still join again this year. 🙂

Technorati Tags: fly by night, the great fruit masscare, leon kiong, cheng ding an, rachel chan, the symbol life, low lai chow, chitra kumar, sally poh, ng wan churn, xaisongkham induanchanty, lee ailin, bliss, prayer in the rain, singapore short films, alvinology

Howard Hantu Concept Sketches

Drew these characters some time back based on a very cute story written by my pal, Ding An. Wondering if I should develop them further and perhaps do it up as web comic. The lead is a boy called Howard Hantu (the skull head boy) who is a misfit in the ghoul world. He made friend with a boy called Horace (the geeky boy with specs) who is a misfit in the human world. The story is about their unique friendship.

The Chinese vampire is called Ginger Jiang and the long haired girl is called Sally Sadako.

Cute or not? 🙂

Howard Hantu and Sally Sadako

Horace and Ginger Jiang

Technorati Tags: cheng ding an, alvinology, hantu howard, horace, sally sadako, ginger jiang, children comic, illustration, cute drawing