News

A psychiatric patient named Borhan transforms into a masked vigilante superhero. [Source: IMDb]

Anwari Ashraf (Kahar: Kapla High Council) directs, co-writes and co-produces this movie as the first fully live-action flick based on Kamn Ismail’s eponymous Malaysian animated superhero series, which aired on TV1 from 1998 to 2005. Nas-t headlines the cast as the fruit bat inspired superhero. Other cast members include Remy Ishak, Rosyam Nor, Anwaar Beg Moghal and Shweta Sekhon. Keluang Man is scheduled for a local theatrical release on May 29, 2025.

Malaysian actor Rosyam Nor appears to be genetically predisposed to playing hard men. Gangster, cop, whatever ... he's just got one of those faces that seems to want to be attached to a body with an arm with a hand holding a gun. Good thing for us he's doing exactly that in upcoming action flick Balistik."Balistik" tells the story of Saga, a hired killer and mafia gang member. His high risk life forces Saga his wife Salina to leave him and their son. After six years, while on a mission, Saga crosses paths with Salina, but she is now the wife of Inspector Nizam, who was Saga's best friend while they were in the orphanage. Torn between his best friend and his duty to the...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

Chalk this up to wishful thinking on the part of Kl Gangster producer Datuk Yusof Haslam, assuming there's anything to it at all.An enormous local success, Kl Gangster packed theaters in Malaysia with enthusiastic audiences, a fact that has led to a sequel. A prequel, actually, so that they can keep popular characters who didn't make it to the end of the original, but you get the point: Successful film leads to increased budget and expectations on the follow up.Director Syamsul Yusof has reportedly invited prominent local actor Rosyam Nor to join the cast and according to local tabloid Berita Harian, Ong Bak star Tony Jaa has been offered a role as well.Tracking the story from this point is like a game of broken...

Most surprising thing about Jurey Rosli's Malaysian action-comedy Libas? It's actually not the first to use the sport of takraw for combat. That honor would go to Thailand's Born To Fight, which not only had the little wicker balls whizzing around the screen but also had them delivered by a one-legged athlete in an unenhanced display of skill. Not so much actual skill in the sport displayed in Libas, which employs heavy CGI enhancement in its bid to become a much-too-late answer to sports comedies like Shaolin Soccer, but plenty of ridiculousness such as when the main character's energy boils so hot that it burns his own shirt off. That'd get expensive.

Here's a synopsis:

Adnan Saladin (Rosyam Nor), Malaysia's King of Takraw is seeking for talented takraw players to win back the traditional takraw ball from Thailand. This unique and vicious world takraw championship demands not only takraw skills but also martial art skills.

The winners were announced at the awards ceremony last night, and Mamat Khalid’s Kala Malam Bulan Mengambang walked away as Best Film. Mamat himself picked up the Best Director award.

Best Actor went to Rosyam Nor for his lead performance as the quirky investigative reporter who finds himself in a strange village in Kala Malam. Best Actress was Maya Karin for her role in Osman Ali’s Anak Halal. Despite leading with the most nominations, Anak Halal went home with only two awards - Best Actress and Best Original Story.

Kala Malam and 1957 Hati Malaya were tied at the top with 5 awards each.

Personally, I thought Flower In The Pocket was the best film of the past year. But word has it that it wasn’t submitted for the digital film category.

Meanwhile, independent filmmaker Amir Muhammad, who was on the jury this year, was rather pissed off that...

Udine Far East Film FestivalUDINE, Italy -- As the first black-and-white Malay-language film in 30 years, "Kala Malam Bulan Mangambang" aspires to be a stylish homage-cum-pastiche of the Golden Age of Malay Cinema. Yet, despite glorious chiaroscuro cinematography, brilliant replica of the '50s studio set feel and a giddy whirl of genre elements from thriller and musical to horror and political satire, director Mamat Khalid seems content to imitate rather than subvert or offer any interesting perspective on the era. With incoherent scenes stirred into a plot as thick and an ending as cloying as coconut milk, it becomes what it parodies.

The film did poorly in the domestic market where audiences are most likely to pick up on his film and period references, so overseas appeal is even lower, except to scholars of Malay film classics or culture.

The title means "Night of the Full Moon", which is when men disappear in a village. Arriving to solve the mystery is Saleh (Rosyam Nor), a laid-off reporter who stumbles on two intertwined leads. The first spoofs noir detective and spy thrillers with as much subtlety as "Austin Powers" with comic timing too slow for anyone used to TV skits and mainstream farces.

The inclusion of a Communist conspiracy also colors the film with an ideological stance out of place with its tone of mindless tomfoolery. Another supernatural subplot about a phantom's curse imitates low tech effects and make-up of old horror films with affection, but there is little self-conscious humor to distinguish the overblown ending from the real McCoy.

For those who know who P. Ramlee is, the modeling of Saleh on the legendary Malay entertainer's screen personas yields some in-jokes. The film's biggest charm factor comes from its femme fatales -- a sultry Chinese songstress (Corinne Adrienne), a nubile hostess (Avaa Vanja) and a sweet Malay village girl (Umie Aida), all of whom radiate more charisma and personality than their gender and ethnic stereotypes require.

Cast: Rosyam Nor; Umie Aida; Avaa Vanja; Corinne Adrienne. Writer-director: Mamat Khalid. Producer: Gayatri Su-lin Pillai. Directors of photography: Y.M. Raja Mukhriz, Raja Ahmad Kamaruddin. Art Director: Wan Nazrul Asraff. No MPAA rating, 110 minutes.