#ENTERTAINMENT

New On Screen: February

Look forward to a classic murder mystery, girls in the army, and a new zombie series this month.

By Yong Shu Chiang        8 February 2022

Death On The Nile

Out In Cinemas 10 February (Available at Shaw Theatres)

Stars: Kenneth Branagh, Gal Gadot, Tom Bateman

The renowned detective, Hercules Poirot (Branagh), is invited to sail on a celebratory voyage upon the river Nile with a pair of wealthy newlyweds, the Doyles (Gadot and Armie Hammer), and their guests. All is well until a dead body is discovered on board and almost everybody on the party boat becomes a suspect. As the detective starts to investigate and interview all the passengers, he peeks behind their facade and realises that there are grudges, motives and secrets aplenty – and a murderer hiding in plain sight.

SAFRA members enjoy special rates at Shaw Theatres. For more info, go to www.safra.sg/promotions/shaw-theatres


Gal Gadot: From the Amazon to the Nile

There’s no denying the star power of the beautiful Israeli actress, whose career has taken a dramatic upswing since she was cast as Wonder Woman in 2013.

By now, her superheroine persona is interchangeable with her own identity.

Gal Gadot, the Israeli model and actress, is Wonder Woman.

Fair or not, everything she had done before, such as being in the Fast & Furious franchise and appearing on Entourage, is often forgotten when examining her career as an actress in Hollywood.

In fact, Gadot has stated in interviews that she had seriously considered giving up acting, after growing tired of auditioning for multiple roles, being nearly cast and ultimately rejected time and time again.

Then she got cast as Wonder Woman in Zack Snyder’s 2016 film, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. A highly successful standalone film directed by Patty Jenkins, Wonder Woman, followed in 2017 and the rest is (recent) history.

Snyder has said that he cast Gadot in the role of Diana Prince / Wonder Woman in 2013 because she could play someone “fierce but [also] kind”.

Gadot was a beauty queen who was crowned Miss Israel at 19. She went on to enlist and serve in the military when she was 20, before snagging her role four years later in 2009’s Fast & Furious.

Following her successful assumption of the Wonder Woman title, decades after Lynda Carter was arguably the most famous person behind the character, Gadot has become a bankable star, ranking among the highest-paid actresses in the world in recent years.

Now 36 and a mother of three, and most recently one of three headliners alongside Dwayne Johnson and Ryan Reynolds in the highly-watched Netflix caper Red Notice, Gadot can next be seen in the Agatha Christie tale directed by her co-star Kenneth Branagh, Death on the Nile.

In it, she plays a wealthy newlywed whose luxurious voyage on the river Nile is marred by a murder.


Ah Girls Go Army

Out Now In Cinemas (available at Shaw Theatres)

Stars: Apple Chan, Glenn Yong, Yang Guang Ke Le

In a world where there is a serious gender imbalance, with a literal lack of manpower to fulfil the annual conscription requirements of the military, young women would have to step up and step into army boots as fresh enlistees. Such is the premise of Jack Neo’s latest comedy focusing on a group of female recruits as they navigate the ups and downs of GBMT, or Girls Basic Military Training. The ladies discover that army life is nothing like a holiday camp, while also forging friendships and learning to love National Service.


Parallel Mothers

Out In Cinemas 17 February (Available at Shaw Theatres)

Stars: Penelope Cruz, Milena Smit, Rossy de Palma

Two women, one a scared teenager (Smit), the other a photographer closer to middle age (Cruz), find themselves in the same hospital room – both single, pregnant and about to give birth. Staring at impending motherhood, the pair develop a bond that lingers after each has left the hospital with a newborn baby. Their lives take different turns as the two are again brought together by chance, at a cafe where the young girl, Ana, works. As Janis and Ana reconnect, they discover more complicated truths about each other.


All Of Us Are Dead

Out Now, Netflix

Stars: Park Ji-hoo, Yoon Chan-young, Jo Yi-hyun

In a world where people are well aware of zombie movies, such as Train to Busan, a viral outbreak at a South Korean high school is the start of what could be an actual zombie apocalypse. Students trapped at the high school barricade themselves from the infected, as the virus spreads, with some fighting back and others simply trying their best to stay alive. As the authorities struggle to come to grips with the situation, the virus slips out of the school and starts infecting the population at large.


Raised By Wolves S2

Out Now, HBO Go

Stars: Amanda Collin, Travis Fimmel, Winta McGrath

Two advanced androids, Mother (Collin) and Father, continue to care for a group of children from Earth, after they had escaped war on a mission to colonise a virgin planet, Kepler-22b. Their existence is not only threatened by the harsh environment, but from rival factions of colonisers, each with different agendas and the means to wreak violence and destruction. While Mother is itself a powerful killing machine, there is also a dangerous snake-like creature that threatens the survival of her brood.


Severance

Out 18 February, Apple TV+

Stars: Patricia Arquette, Adam Scott, John Turturro

In this workplace thriller series set in a company called Lumon Industries, employees undergo a “severance” programme to separate their work memories from their non-work memories. When they are at work, they know nothing about their lives outside of work, and vice versa. Why? This experimental approach either promotes better work-life balance or is hiding something more sinister. A team leader, Mark (Scott), begins to unravel the mystery when a strange colleague seeks him out during non-work hours.

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