Film Picks: Exploring The Unknown With Wang Yibo, Wicked: Sing Along, Juror #2 

Exploring The Unknown With Wang Yibo

Premieres on Max and Discovery Channel on Dec 28

From high-altitude snowboarding to intense rock climbing, Chinese actor-singer Wang Yibo pushes his physical and mental limits in this six-part adventure series. Already topping charts on Tencent Video in China, the show combines stunning landscapes with personal revelations as he confronts fear and solitude in the wild.

Each episode follows Wang as he ventures into unfamiliar territory, testing himself against the elements while showcasing China’s diverse outdoor environments.

See how he works closely with professional outdoor guides who help him navigate technically challenging activities safely while pushing beyond his comfort zone. On Discovery Channel, the show airs at 6.15pm.

Wicked: Sing Along (PG)

161 minutes

Feel like Defying Gravity? Fans of the film adaptation of the award-winning Broadway musical have spoken of being stifled by cinema etiquette asking that they stay quiet. This special holiday event lets audiences join powerhouse singer-actress Cynthia Erivo and pop star Ariana Grande in full voice, complete with on-screen lyrics.

Director Jon M. Chu’s spectacular adaptation of the beloved Broadway show follows green-skinned outcast Elphaba (Erivo) and privileged Glinda (Grande) as they navigate friendship, rivalry and destiny in the Land of Oz. 

Where: The Projector at Cineleisure, Level 5, 8 Grange Road
MRT: Somerset
When: Limited screenings till early January
Admission: $16, with concessions for students/full-time national servicemen/seniors
Info:

str.sg/D3Qh

Juror #2

114 minutes, available on Max and Apple TV+

★★★★☆

Hollywood icon Clint Eastwood’s 40th directorial feature has a juror (Nicholas Hoult) in a high-profile murder trial weighing a crisis of conscience.

In Juror #2, a roughneck (Gabriel Basso) in Savannah, Georgia, is charged with killing his girlfriend (Eastwood’s daughter, Francesca Eastwood) after a spat at a local bar. Her body is later found under a bridge.

Hoult headlines as a nice-guy magazine writer and expectant father, who comes to the sickening realisation that he was on the same road on the night of the crime, and perhaps it was not a deer his car had hit in the rain.

The sentence for vehicular homicide is 30 years. So, rather than implicate himself, he sets forth to sway the jury into acquitting the wrongly accused.

But his 11 motley fellow jurors have their own gender and sociocultural biases. They are exhausted, confined for days in the courthouse and, unanimously, voting guilty to get home sooner.

Eastwood, at a remarkable 94, has not left a single moment to waste. He lays out the scenario cleanly, clearly and impartially, and the plain-speaking drama is thrilling as every act muddies and raises the ethical stakes.

It is a thought-provoking grown-up study in truth, compromise and the title character’s tormenting guilt.

The excellent performances led by Hoult and Toni Collette – who played his mother in About A Boy (2002) and is now the tenacious prosecutor – include not least Chris Messina as the hapless public defender advocating for justice in a flawed American legal system. – Whang Yee Ling