Film and TV Picks: Cruel Intentions, Wicked, Timestalker
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(From left) Sara Silva, Sarah Catherine Hook and Zac Burgess in Cruel Intentions.
PHOTO: PRIME VIDEO
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Cruel Intentions
Prime Video, premiering on Nov 21
The 1999 Cruel Intentions film, an adaptation of French author Pierre Choderlos de Laclos’ 1782 novel Les Liaisons Dangereuses, launched the careers of its leading stars, including Reese Witherspoon, Ryan Phillippe, Sarah Michelle Gellar and Selma Blair.
The story about rich, mean teenagers and high-school hierarchy gets a reboot 25 years later on Prime Video, starring new talents Sarah Catherine Hook, Zac Burgess, Savannah Lee Smith and Sara Silva.
The new adaptation is set in an elite college in Washington, DC, where reputation, fraternities and sororities mean everything. Ruthless step-siblings Caroline Merteuil (Hook) and Lucien Belmont (Burgess) will do anything to stay on top of the cut-throat social hierarchy.
To remain in power, Queen Bee Caroline coaxes Lucien, whose key suit is the art of seduction, to bed the innocent Annie Grover (Smith), daughter of the vice-president of the United States.
The eight-episode TV series promises lies, intrigue, gossip, romance and dastardly schemes – perfect for binge-watching.
Wicked (PG)
161 minutes, opens on Nov 21
★★★☆☆
Cynthia Erivo (left) as Elphaba and Ariana Grande as Glinda in Wicked.
PHOTO: UIP
Set in the world of L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz, this musical follows Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo), a socially awkward young woman born with green skin, and Glinda (Ariana Grande), her beautiful, popular classmate at Shiz University.
While Elphaba has natural magical abilities, Glinda secretly yearns for such powers. Their complex friendship eventually transforms them into the infamous Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good.
Erivo delivers a performance that masterfully balances creeping darkness with tragic vulnerability, though at the two-hour mark, the emphasis on her suffering begins to feel repetitive.
Director Jon M. Chu, who was behind the hit Crazy Rich Asians (2018), brings his maximalist style to this ambitious project.
The film’s technical achievements are stunning. The Victorian-inspired production design creates a clockwork wonderland, while the Oscar-worthy costumes and sets layer ornate detail upon detail.
Chu’s expertise in crafting show-stopping moments pays off magnificently in the finale. The pop-friendly anthem Defying Gravity soars with Erivo’s powerful vocals, creating an emotionally perfect crescendo that elevates the entire film. – John Lui
Timestalker (NC16)
91 minutes, opens on Nov 21
★★★★☆
Alice Lowe in Timestalker.
PHOTO: SHAW ORGANISATION
Across history, hapless Agnes (Alice Lowe) falls for the same dashing stranger (Aneurin Barnard), dies violently in her unrequited pursuit of him and is reincarnated a century later to begin anew the cycle of disappointment and death.
It all begins in 1688 Scotland, when spinster peasant Agnes beholds heretic preacher Alex being led to the gallows. She is smitten. While running to him, bedazzled, she trips on a poleaxe and is impaled. “I will find you,” she says.
And she does, over and over, yet the futile quest to simply catch his attention always ends in her decapitation.
As the actress-star, Lowe delivers the bawdy Monty Python-esque gags with delicious deadpan snap. As a film-maker, she applies period-distinct moods and aesthetics to retell a clever timeless tale of a woman literally losing her head over Mr Wrong.
Inventive and subversive, this cautionary fable on erotomania is a comedy for the ages. – Whang Yee Ling
