May usually brings about a glut of summer blockbusters to our shores, but not to fret if you're looking at more than just movies from Hollywood.
InCinemas shall give you a heads-up on what's to come next month, highlighting 8 key movies and one major film festival that will provide everyone with something to look forward to!
First up, let's take a look at 4 releases from the US:
DARK SHADOWS (Opening 10 May)
Plot Outline: An imprisoned vampire, Barnabas Collins, is set free and returns to his ancestral home, where his dysfunctional descendants are in need of his protection.
| Director | Tim Burton |
| Cast | Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer, Eva Green,
Helena Bonham Carter, Chloe Grace Moretz |
| Genre | Comedy/Fantasy |
| Runtime | 113min |
This is for... Johnny Depp fans! Depp re-teams with director Tim Burton for the 8th time, after commercial and artistic successes like Edward Scissorhands (1990), Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007), and Alice in Wonderland (2010).
(Watch the trailer for Dark Shadows here!)
With an all-star cast, and Burton going back to the genre of dark fantasy-comedy that he first started out with Beetlejuice (1988), DARK SHADOWS promises a quirky experience, striking visuals and the director's trademark offbeat art direction. And yes, we get to see Depp play a vampire!
21 JUMP STREET (Opening 10 May)
Plot Outline: A pair of underachieving cops are sent back to a local high school to blend in and bring down a synthetic drug ring.
| Director | Phil Lord & Chris Miller |
| Cast | Jonah Hill, Channing Tatum, Ice Cube |
| Genre | Action/Comedy |
| Runtime | 109min |
This is for... those who enjoy fun and vulgar frat-boys movies like Superbad (2007), and The Hangover (2009)! A modern update of the popular '21 Jump Street' TV series of the late 1980s, this feature sees Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill pack their schoolbags again as they go undercover in their local high school.
(Watch the trailer for 21 Jump Street here!)
Expect plenty of laughs, crude jokes, and loads of awkward situations. There's action in 21 JUMP STREET too, with a hilarious final act that will tickle your funny bone to no end. Did we also mention that Ice Cube gives some of the most LOL lines of this movie?
MEN IN BLACK III (Opening 24 May)
Plot Outline: Agent J travels in time to MIB's early years in the 1960s, to stop an alien from assassinating his friend Agent K and changing history.
| Director | Barry Sonnenfeld |
| Cast | Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones, Josh Brolin |
| Genre | Action/Comedy/Sci-Fi |
| Runtime | TBC |
This is for... longtime fans of the 'Men in Black' franchise. Hmm, do you know that the franchise's last movie was made 10 years ago?! Anyway, we think more people will want to catch this movie because of Will Smith than anything else. After all, he has not made a movie in 4 years since Hancock and Seven Pounds in 2008! We badly need to see him on the big screen man!
(Watch the trailer for Men In Black III here!)
Add the veteran Tommy Lee Jones, the excellent actor Josh Brolin (who does his best 'Tommy Lee Jones' impression), plus having Barry Sonnenfeld back as director, means that MEN IN BLACK III is in experienced hands!
Also check out the watches that Will Smith and co. will be wearing!
SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN (Opening 31 May)
Plot Outline: In a twist to the fairy tale, the Huntsman ordered to take Snow White into the woods to be killed winds up becoming her protector and mentor in a quest to vanquish the Evil Queen.
| Director | Rupert Sanders |
| Cast | Kristen Stewart, Chris Hemsworth,
Charlize Theron |
| Genre | Action/Adventure/Drama |
| Runtime | TBC |
This is for... those looking for a more serious 'Snow White' movie! While Mirror Mirror (2012) is more fairy tale-esque and colourful (read: a family movie to take your kids to), SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN kicks the action up a huge notch (read: an epic movie to take your friends to).
(Watch the trailer for Snow White and the Huntsman here!)
The trailer promises something spectacular, and we look forward to see how a bedtime story can be tweaked to become a big blockbuster. There is every chance this is going to be a much bigger hit than Mirror Mirror.
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Prefer to catch films from the region? Here are 4 features to look out for!
FAIRY TALE KILLER (Opening 10 May)
Plot Outline: A cold-blooded murder unveils a series of mysterious murders in the district where Detective Han is stationed in. Each of the victims is executed by a different but equally brutal way. Han knows that he is dealing with a serial killer. Instinct tells him Jun is the suspect after he goes over all recent statements. His team goes and rummages around in Jun’s apartment, except a pile of old fairy tale books, no criminal evidence is found in the messy apartment.
| Director | Danny Pang |
| Cast | Lau Ching Wan (劉青雲),
Wang Bao Qiang (王寶強),
Elanne Kwong (江若琳), Joey Meng (萬綺雯) |
| Genre | Mystery/Thriller |
| Runtime | TBC |
This is for... those who like dark, grisly mystery-thrillers involving a serial killer! Directed by Danny Pang (famously one half of the 'Pang Brothers' directing duo who made horror films such as The Eye (2002)), FAIRY TALE KILLER has a plot that echoes some similarities with David Fincher's creepy thriller Seven (1995).
(Watch the trailer for Fairy Tale Killer here!)
It stars the scene-stealing Lau Ching Wan as the lead protagonist. The pretty Elanne Kwong, who was last seen in The Wedding Diary (2012), is back on the big screen too, but now challenges herself with an autistic role. Expect another suspenseful and intriguing movie from Hong Kong!
GHOST ON AIR (Opening 17 May)
Plot Outline: 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.
(Watch the trailer for Ghost on Air here!)
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…
| Director | Cheng Ding An |
| Cast | Dennis Zhou Chongqing, Gan Mei Yan,
Eunice Olsen, Samuel Chong, Choo Xiu Feng |
| Genre | Horror |
| Runtime | 90min |
This is for... those who need their monthly dose of horror! This Singapore-made feature stars Dennis 'Aunty Lucy' Chew as a radio DJ haunted by the stories that he tells on air. Touted as a new concept in horror, GHOST ON AIR may just revitalize local horror filmmaking that has turned stale in recent years.
THE RAID: REDEMPTION (Opening 17 May)
Plot Outline: A SWAT team becomes trapped in a tenement run by a ruthless mobster and his army of killers and thugs.
| Director | Gareth Evans |
| Cast | Iko Uwais, Ananda George, Ray Sahetapy |
| Genre | Action/Crime/Thriller |
| Runtime | 101min |
This is for... hardcore action fans! It may come as a surprise that this is an Indonesian film. But it has successfully navigated through several international film festivals, and recently got a wide release in the US, despite having a virtually unknown cast.
(Watch the trailer for The Raid: Redemption here!)
We can expect a giddy load of unflinching violence, and some stunning action sequences. Could THE RAID: REDEMPTION be the 21st century answer to John Woo's Hong Kong action films like Hard Boiled (1992)? Everything points to a sinfully enjoyable violent action film. Now let's pray that the censors leave the film intact!
MY WAY (Opening 31 May)
Plot Outline: A Korean man and Japanese man meet as enemies, but become each other’s hope. And a drama of true humanity that transcends borders and nationality unfolds.
| Director | Kang Je-kyu |
| Cast | Jang Dong-gun, Odagiri Joe, Fan Bing Bing |
| Genre | Action/Drama/History/War |
| Runtime | 137min |
This is for... war genre aficionados! The director of the acclaimed and powerful Korean war film Tae Guk Gi: The Brotherhood of War (2004) is back with another stab at the genre!
(Watch the trailer for My Way here!)
Bound to have a potent mix of action and swelling emotional moments, MY WAY could be another example to show that Asian filmmakers are as adept as making war movies as their Western counterparts.
Pssst... come participate in our InCinemas Facebook Poll: What would you like to do this May? =D
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If these 8 films next month are not enough, you'll be glad to know that the 2nd longest running film festival in Singapore, the European Union Film Festival (EUFF) will hold its 22nd edition at GV VivoCity from 11 - 20 May!
There are 23 award-winning films in the programme, some of them coming from countries few Singaporeans ever visit like Bulgaria and Slovakia! Tickets go on sale from 26 April at any Golden Village box office, its online website (www.gv.com.sg), and any AXS machine islandwide.
For more details about EUFF, do check out our promotional coverage of the festival in our EUFF Blog Series!
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And lest we forget, there is a little-known movie called Marvel's The Avengers that is opening on 1 May 2012. Check out our 'Avengers' feature with our very own InC-Character Stats as we rate each superhero based on their capabilities!
Also check out all the Marvel's The Avengers promotions in cinemas islandwide:
Here's to a good May at the movies! =)