Ah Boys To Men 3: Frogmen -- Movie Review

Ah Boys to Men 3 is an anticipated sequel, however, this is of a totally story arc, and there is no relation to Ah Boys to Men.

This is another Jack Neo movie, no double about it. The hyper local jokes, are very good, provided you know Singapore, and then again, the whole premise of Ah Boys to Men is very Singapore centric.

I'd say the overall acting and story is pretty good. Many Singaporeans who serve NS will relate to many of the jokes and the characters in the movie. However, I do feel that the special effects in the beginning of the movie is very bad. What's worse is -- the beginning terrorist scene is not even needed and does not really relate to any part of the story.

Being a movie, the whole pro-NS part is clearly seen, and it is rather enjoyable movie for Singaporeans. A good command of Singlish and Singapore context, as well as Cantonese and Hokkien is required to understand the movie and appreciate it.

-- Robin Low

Great movie: 7/10
A great show to watch, especially if you have served NS

Privatizing in Singapore, is it better?

Somehow, security is privatized to Cisco, a government linked company. Is is better?

Every Chinese New Year, you can find a lot of security guards that look like police officers in Chinatown Singapore. Instead of retaining more professional police officers, security is outsourced and security companies are making a lot of money.

Its not easy to find patrolling police officers in Singapore, but you can definitely see CISCO or other security guards around.

Are private security better than the police?

There are constant traffic blocks in Chinatown during Chinese New Year to regulate traffic. The traffic is sometimes not so packed but the paths are blocked anyways. And the security guards (or auxiliary policemen) are simply following orders.

There seems to be a Volunteer Special Constabulary but from the people I've met, they felt that joining the security companies provide more benefits and they get to do their part at these events anyways. However Cisco and many of the security companies in Singapore can hire foreigners.

Certis CISCO Security Private Limited, is one of the five commercial Auxiliary Police forces authorized to provide armed security officers to government organizations as well as private companies or individuals in Singapore. It has its roots as a department of the Singapore Police Force (SPF), which branched out as the Commercial and Industrial Security Corporation, a statutory board with a monopoly over most areas of the local private armed security industry.

With this setup, a private company can make $$$ providing security to banks and events, where the police force (which is part of their duty). Does this drive up costs of events and services?

Incidents (CISCO) is not free of controversial...

Since its inception, CISCO officers have been involved in a number of incidents. Several CISCO constables and Lance Corporals have been shot and killed while on duty, and others injured.Several officers has also been involved in some high-profile incidents, such as a gun-snatching incident and an attempted bank robbery by a CISCO officer in Bukit Timah. One Lance Corporal prevented a robbery by firing two rounds at a robber. On 22 December 2011, a CISCO guard committed suicide using service pistol at Vivocity after duty at a Citibank there. He was a relief officer. On 29 January 2013, another CISCO police officer shot himself at the Supreme Court. In July 2013, a senior police officer was arrested on suspicion of a brutal double murder in Kovan. The incident may be related to missing items in CISCO safe deposit boxes. Documents revealed that the senior police officer had been neck-deep in debt.

The difference between Cisco and Singapore Police Force is that Cisco which is kinda like the police hires foreigners and is totally for profit.

Its seems like Privatizing is a common thing. Singapore's public transport systems SMRT, SBS are all private companies, but the government is paying for upgrades and infrastructure while they raise fares and reap in the profits.

Is Privatizing beneficial for Singapore?

-- Robin Low

Jupiter Ascending Movie Review

1. Jupiter Jones (Mila Kunis) was born under signs that predicted future greatness, but her reality as a woman consists of cleaning other people's houses and endless bad breaks. Caine (Channing Tatum), a genetically engineered hunter, arrives on Earth to locate her, making Jupiter finally aware of the great destiny that awaits her: Jupiter's genetic signature marks her as the next in line for an extraordinary inheritance that could alter the balance of the cosmos.

I was a little intrigued by the big names of the directors. The special effects in the trailers looked good, and I decided to give this a go. At the start of the movie, the set up was reasonable. A girl from Chicago with big dreams cleaning toilets and hating her life.

The movie however, takes a sharp turn and shows you Jupiter, aliens, space, boom boom boom. This is visually pleasing but the story / characters does not really make it any better. Then Sean Bean character shows up and all I could think of is how is he going to be killed.

As the story progresses, you have the feeling that it is a remake of a sparkling vampire love story, but with aliens, flying boots, werewolves with wings, dragon men, in space.

Definitely a miss and a waste of SFX on this movie. This is 2 hours of my life I cannot get back.

Overall: 2/10

Don't watch, even matinee... not worth the money and time.