SYNOPSIS: Takeshi Hongo awakens to discover he has been transformed into a grasshopper-hybrid cyborg. Becoming the Masked Rider, he must fight the mysterious evil organisation SHOCKER to protect all of mankind. 

MOVIE REVIEW:

Following Shin Godzilla, Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 and Shin Ultraman, Shin Masked Rider marks Hideaki Anno’s final movie under the Shin Japan Heroes Universe banner. Strictly speaking, it’s made for fans and fans only.

Takeshi Hongo (Sosuke Ikematsu) is a motor-riding young man who has the ability to transform into a powerful grasshopper hybrid. Teaming up with Ruriko Midorikawa (Minami Hamabe), Hongo’s mission is to destroy SHOCKER, an evil organisation specialising in churning out augments hybrids to overtake the human world.

Even if you are a novice to the entire kamen/masked rider property, it doesn’t take long for viewers to fully immerse themselves in the ludicrous world Hideaki has created. The narrative is simple enough. With the help of two government agents played by Takumi Saitoh who also plays the leading man in Shin Ultraman and veteran idol drama King Yutaka Takenouchi, Hongo basically has to take down anything from a Bat augment to a half-mantis, half-chameleon augment to their charismatic leader, a butterfly augment, Ichiro (Mirai Moriyama) in the finale.

Hongo is portrayed as a reluctant hero of sort. He hates himself into turning into a ruthless warrior when he puts on his mask. His thirst for violence is uncontrollable and despite for the greater good, Hongo struggles to face his guilt and his tormented past. Ruriko for the uninitiated is a machine created by her scientist father who happens to be the creator of augments as well. Acting as a motivational figure for Hongo, Ruriko also acts as the voice of conscience begging for her best friend, Hiromi and her brother, Ichiro to give up on their evil plans.

Needless to say, fans of the series will be here for the action pieces which to be honest functions like a 70’s exploitation flick. Lots of bloody head-crushes, clumsy action choreography and obvious cheap visual effects included for good measure. We knew it’s all intended and deliberate by Hideaki Anno since he meant it to be a tribute to the original series. Still, you need to muster a good load of humour to withstand all the silliness littered throughout.

For those who grow up watching explosive Michael Bay’s Transformers theatrics, Shin Masked Rider honestly is not the movie for you. Definitely, it’s a good nostalgic treat for Kamen Rider fans however. There’s even a hint of a sequel if you are ready for more. For the rest of us, a single old-school dosage is more than enough.

MOVIE RATING:

Review by Linus Tee

Genre: Comedy
Director: Adele Lim
Cast: Ashley Park, Sherry Cola, Stephanie Hsu, Sabrina Wu, Ronny Chieng, Meredith Hagner, David Denman, Annie Mumolo, Timothy Simons, Daniel Dae Kim, Desmond Chiam, Baron Davis
Runtime: 1 hr 35 mins
Rating: R21 (Sexual Scenes and Nudity)
Released By: Golden Village Pictures
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 6 July 2023

Synopsis: From the co-writer of Crazy Rich Asians and the producers of Neighbors! This film will bring you a roller coaster of emotions, especially laughter! The hilarious and unapologetically explicit story of identity and self-discovery centres on four unlikely friends who embark on a once-in-a-lifetime international adventure. When Audrey’s (Ashley Park) business trip to Asia goes sideways, she enlists the aid of Lolo (Sherry Cola), her irreverent, childhood best friend who also happens to be a hot mess; Kat (Stephanie Hsu), her college friend turned Chinese soap star; and Deadeye (Sabrina Wu), Lolo’s eccentric cousin. Their no-holds-barred, epic experience becomes a journey of bonding, friendship, belonging, and wild debauchery that reveals the universal truth of what it means to know and love who you are.

Movie Review:

Joy Ride for sure is no Joy Luck Club even though they both have one thing in common- a cast comprising of almost entirely Asians. Produced by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg and directed by Adele Lim, writer of Crazy Rich Asians and Raya and the Last Dragon, Joy Ride is a raunchy comedy full of heart, friendship and cultural identities.

Audrey (Ashley Park) and Lolo (Sherry Cola) have been best friends since childhood. While Audrey is a high achiever aiming to be a partner in a law firm, Lolo is a self-proclaimed artist working on her penis related sculptures. One day, Audrey finds herself being assign to China on a working trip and she has no choice but to get Lolo along to be her translator. Tagging along is deadeye (Sabrina Wu), Lolo’s K-pop loving cousin. And later on, the trio also met up with Audrey’s college roommate, Kat (Stephanie Hsu), an up-and-coming movie star.

Things start to go downhill when Audrey’s client, Chao (Ronnie Chieng) insists on meeting Audrey’s birth mother (she’s adopted by an American family by the way) before signing on the contract and while on the way there, the girls encountered a drug mule along a train and lost their way in the countryside.

Joy Ride works like a female version of a typical frat-boy comedy with generous doses of sexual situations, crude gags and vulgarity thrown in. Not all the jokes land perfectly though especially a rowdy sex crusade with various players of a basketball team in a hotel which is more awkward than genuinely rib-tickling. For the record, there’s an ongoing gag about Kat’s tattoo which serves as the movie’s highlight when it is revealed. There’s even a cheeky, hilarious scene where the quartet has to imitate a K-op band in order to board a plane.

Sex jokes aside, Joy Ride fares better when it comes to the emotional aspect of things. Since Audrey is adopted by a white American family, she basically knows nothing about her own heritage and the last part of the story has her connecting to her actual roots with the help of her friends. True friendship really stands the test of time and maybe temper. There’s that feeling of warmth and deep bonding to the quartet’s rowdiness and squabbling by the end.

Lim’s directorial debut genuinely is a road trip worth taking. The cast is a godsend with Park, Cola and Hsu as the main standouts. Wu’s non-binary character doesn’t get much of a notice but that’s no fault of the performer. Joy Ride contains no hidden agenda nor is it a female representation kind of movie. Strictly speaking, if you love a laugh-out-loud time with your buddies, get on this ride.

Movie Rating:

(Ride along this energetic, raunchy journey with four wild young women)

Review by Linus Tee

Genre: Disaster/Action
Director: Um Tae-Hwa
Cast: Lee Byung Hun, Park Seo Jun, Park Bo Young, Kim Sun-young, Park Ji-hu
Runtime: 2 hr 10 mins
Rating: PG13 (Some Violence)
Released By: Golden Village Pictures
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 24 August 2023

Synopsis: The world has been reduced to rubble by a massive earthquake. While no one knows for sure how far the ruins stretch, or what the cause of the earthquake may be, in the heart of Seoul there is only one apartment building left standing. It is called Hwang Gung Apartments. As time passes, outsiders start coming in to Hwang Gung Apartments, trying to escape the extreme cold. Before long, the apartment residents are unable to cope with the increasing numbers. Feeling a threat to their very survival, the residents enact a special measure.

Movie Review:

Korean superstar Lee Byung-hun has starred in a couple of disaster-themed movies particularly Ashfall and Emergency Declaration in recent years. And yet again, he is putting his good looks and acting into Concrete Utopia, a disaster movie that is more of a thoughtful affair than an intense rollercoaster ride.

Instead of a lavish, CGI-heavy scene that depicts a massive earthquake hitting the city of Seoul, Concrete Utopia opens with the aftermath of the disaster. A single apartment building is left standing among the ruins and a group of survivors are making their way there to seek shelter from the winter cold.

Out of nowhere, a certain Kim Young-tak (Lee Byung-hun) is voted as the resident’s delegate after he displayed an act of bravery during a fire case. He leads the residents to “evict” the non-residents out of the building and helped establish a fair system of distributing food and water when supplies become scarce. He also leads a team of able men to scour food and water from the ruins and soon becomes the de facto leader of the building. Min-seong (Park Seo-joon), an ex-public servant is also tasked by Kim to become the leader of the patrol team given his military experience while his wife, Myeong-hwa (Park Bo-young) contributes her nursing skills.

You might be thinking so what is director Um Tae-hwa brewing in the end given the movie still has more than 90 minutes to go. A survival tale set in a post-apocalypse world? Maybe a pending virus outbreak or are you expecting more aftershocks?

It turns out Um has more tricks up his sleeve despite the original material being based on a webtoon. Conflicts start to occur among the residents after some are found out to be hiding non-residents or “cockroaches” as they are termed in their apartments. Myeong-hwa for one struggles with the fact that the refugees are going to freeze to death and Min-seong believes this is the only way to survive in their current predicament.

To add to the problem, the residents find it harder and harder to search for available edible food supplies and the more they venture out, the more danger they faced. Desperation turned them into looters and other survivors are baiting their time to attack the residents.

Um reserves the best for last as Kim Young-tak’s identity is revealed to be a non-resident of the building. As to why and how, credit has to go to the writers for painting a complex, engrossing character, one that Lee Byung-hun fully immersed himself into. Lee’s acting talent again comes to place whose transition from a quiet loner to a ruthless, maddening leader is the standout of the flick. Brief flashbacks of Kim and Min-seong are also shown showcasing the true nature of both men before the disaster. In a way effectively explaining why their lives has turned into a complicated, contradicted mess.

Instead of a predictable, CGI disaster movie that plays faithfully to the Hollywood handbook of massive natural disasters, Concrete Utopia touches on many thought-provoking themes such as the true evil nature of human beings and most of all, Korean’s obsession with home ownership. Do you play the hero or devil when you are trapped in an impossible situation? As Myeong-hwa finds out in the finale, there is still a rational way out of any dire circumstances.

Movie Rating:

(An unexpected intense, meaningful disaster movie featuring a standout performance from Lee Byung-hun)

Review by Linus Tee

Genre: Action/Thriller
Director: Neill Blomkamp
Cast: David Harbour, Orlando Bloom, Archie Madekwe, Darren Barnet, Geri Halliwell, Djimon Hounsou, Josha Stradowski, Thomas Kretschmann, Pepe Barroso, Maeve Courtier-Lilley, Daniel Puig
Runtime: 2 hr 14 mins
Rating: PG13 (Some Coarse Language)
Released By: Sony Pictures
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 24 August 2023

Synopsis: Based on the true story of Jann Mardenborough, the film is the ultimate wish fulfillment tale of a teenage Gran Turismo player whose gaming skills won a series of Nissan competitions to become an actual professional racecar driver. 

Movie Review:

Finally, here comes a movie that is based on a videogame that doesn’t sucks big time. The hurdle isn’t that high in the first place to overcome, good news is Gran Turismo not only manages to but also came in at quite a high score.

Based on the real-life story of British motorsports racing driver, Jann Mardenborough (Archie Madekwe) who first started his career as a “Gran Turismo” gaming expert in Wales. Jann’s life and career took a major turn when he came out as the winner at the GT Academy and went on to participate in the professional circuit.

Along for the ride is Danny Moore (Orlando Bloom), a Nissan motorsport executive who first mooted the idea of turning a video gamer into a racing driver. Then there is Jack Slater (David Harbour), a harsh racing trainer and engineer who takes a no-holds-barred approach to things.

While Neill Blomkamp is known for his flashy visual style and disappointing storytelling in movies liked Elysium and Chappie, Blomkamp seems to be on the right track with Gran Turismo. While the movie indeed features numerous driving and racing sequences, the core of the story lies in the development of the characters whom are considerably realized to the fullest especially with the relationship between Jann and his mentor, Jack.

Jack is the surrogate father to Jann on the racing track as the story goes. From his initial mistrust in the gamer to being a motivating, counselling figure to Jann after a trauma left him uncertain of his future racing career. Those nice quiet moments help to develop the characters and story further unlike another racing theme franchise who has mainly the word, “family” mouthed repeatedly and ended up as mere empty internet memes.

Though limited to a handful of scenes, there’s an emotional side portrayed to Jann’s parents as well. However, Djimon Hounsou and Geri Halliwell (Yes that’s Ginger Spice!) make up for the lack of screentime by giving it all with Hounsou playing the relatable, typical “Asian” dad who doesn’t understand his videogame playing son and Halliwell playing the ever supportive Western mother.

Archie Madekwe (Midsommar) is serviceable enough as the lead and his character has this ongoing thing about Kenny G and Enya which is both funny and real by the way. David Harbour (Stranger Things) no surprise here steals and elevates the show with his very likeable Jack Slater and Orlando Bloom is perfect as the smooth-talking executive.

With a good mix of CGI and physical action, the racing action is generally exhilarating and far more realistic than the F&F franchise. Again, Blomkamp and his team must be credited for making it as real as possible despite the material being based on a videogame. As mentioned prior, Gran Turismo can easily be turned into a messy, loud chaotic CGI fest by Blomkamp and thankfully it’s not in the end.

Definitely Blomkamp’s best movie after his District 9.

Movie Rating:

(Gran Turismo is a winner for fans and non-fans alike)

Review by Linus Tee

Genre: Horror/Thriller
Director: Patrick Wilson
Cast: Patrick Wilson, Ty Simpkins, Hiam Abbass, Sinclair Daniel, Andrew Astor, Rose Byrnem
Runtime: 1 hr 47 mins
Rating: NC16 (Horror)
Released By: Sony Pictures
Official Website:

Opening Day: 12 July 2023

Synopsis: In Insidious: The Red Door, the horror franchise’s original cast returns for the final chapter of the Lambert family’s terrifying saga. To put their demons to rest once and for all, Josh (Patrick Wilson) and a college-aged Dalton (Ty Simpkins) must go deeper into The Further than ever before, facing their family’s dark past and a host of new and more horrifying terrors that lurk behind the red door. 

Movie Review:

For non-Insidious followers out there, this latest entry of the successful horror franchise from James Wan and Leigh Whannell is a direct sequel to the Insidious: Chapter 2 (2013) following two prequels which focused more on retired demonologist Elise Rainer (Lin Shaye). With that being said, even if you have not been following the franchise closely, you will still be able to keep up and enjoy Insidious: The Red Door as a stand-alone horror thriller.

Set nine years after the event that haunt the Lambert family, Josh’s (Patrick Wilson) memories of The Further have been repressed but his family life is in some sort of ruins. His mother has just passed. He is divorced from his wife, Renai (Rose Byrne) and his relationship with his eldest son, Dalton (Ty Simpkins) is strained. In short, Josh’s mental state is worrying consider he continues to experience supernatural entities and dreams.

In the meantime, Dalton despite having his mind wiped off as well begins to venture back into The Further using a method called astral projection. He even ropes in his fellow college classmate, Chris Winslow (Sinclair Daniel) in joining him in his experiments. Of course, that ominous gateway doesn’t lead one to Disneyland but the return of the infamous lipstick-face demon.

Without the participation of long-time Insidious creators, Wan and Whannell (who only has a story credit this time), The Red Door suffers as a result of a weak story and under-developed scares. To be fair, Wilson who also makes his directorial debut here delivers an entry that focused primarily on family trauma and psychotic fear. The frequent appearances of a man dressed in 70’s outfit heralded of what exactly happened to Josh’s absence father in the past. The latter’s constant blaming of his late father reminds viewers of his current estranged relationship with Dalton and it’s no surprise that there is going to be a big reconciliation in the end

The scares are few and far if you are here to scare yourself silly although there’s one particularly terrifying scene set inside a MRI scanner. There’s a couple more jump scares littered all around including Josh playing a memory cardboard game. Yet again, the scares are not exactly spine-chilling or memorable. Even the entities appearing to haunt Dalton are equipped with cheap Halloween make-up that effectively lower the scary factor.

The origin of lipstick-face demon continues to remain a mystery. God knows how he ended up as the ruler of The Further but it’s evident that the demonic entity possesses a myriad of abilities that allowed it to transcend bodies and realms. In the end, Wilson’s direction and the screenplay by Scott Teems (Halloween Kills) fails to bring the story of the Lambert family to a rousing closure. Much of the hauntings occurred insignificantly like a TV-like horror fare and the plot development doesn’t add much to the entire experience. Fortunately, the character of Chris Winslow provides some need be comedy bits while father-son, Josh and Dalton mostly bore us with their hazy and foggy stares.

Movie Rating:

(Low on genuine scares and underwhelming storyline, an unremarkable entry in the Insidious franchise)

Review by Linus Tee

Genre: Comedy
Director: Josh Greenbaum
Cast: Will Ferrell, Jamie Foxx, Isla Fisher, Randall Park, Brett Gelman and Will Forte, Josh Gad, Harvey Guillén, Rob Riggle, Jamie Demetriou, Sofia Vergara
Runtime: 1 hr 33 mins
Rating: M18 (Coarse Language and Sexual References)
Released By: UIP
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 17 August 2023

Synopsis: They say a dog is a man’s best friend, but what if the man is a total dirtbag? In that case, it might be time for some sweet revenge, doggy style. When Reggie (Will Ferrell), a naïve, relentlessly optimistic Border Terrier, is abandoned on the mean city streets by his lowlife owner, Doug (Will Forte; The Last Man on Earth, Nebraska), Reggie is certain that his beloved owner would never leave him on purpose. But once Reggie falls in with a fast-talking, foul-mouthed Boston Terrier named Bug (Oscar ® winner Jamie Foxx), a stray who loves his freedom and believes that owners are for suckers, Reggie finally realizes he was in a toxic relationship and begins to see Doug for the heartless sleazeball that he is. Determined to seek revenge, Reggie, Bug and Bug’s pals—Maggie (Isla Fisher; Now You See Me, Wedding Crashers), a smart Australian Shepherd who has been sidelined by her owner’s new puppy, and Hunter (Randall Park; Always Be My Maybe, Aquaman), an anxious Great Dane who’s stressed out by his work as an emotional support animal—together hatch a plan and embark on an epic adventure to help Reggie find his way home … and make Doug pay by biting off the appendage he loves the most. (Hint: It’s not his foot).

Movie Review:

Revenge is best served cold. And Strays: Doggy Style has gone all out to epitomise the adage! Two-year-old Reggie, who views the world and his dog-dad with rose-tinted glasses refuses to believe that Doug, who deals with almost every addiction under the sun after a nasty breakup would go to just about any lengths to leave him out in the cold. But as soon as winsome Reggie crosses paths with freedom-loving, foul-mouth Boston terrier, Bug, a stray that firmly believes that owners are for losers, things take a wild turn! That’s when the mission begins where the hounds swear to make despicable Doug pay big time for being heartless. And non-stop hilarity ensues!

If you were wondering where the talking animals movies went, look no further. The pure fun and no preachy business or virtue signalling that is undeniably a subversion of all the canine flicks we’ve known and loved through the years, puts a mature twist on the talking dog cliché. It’s basically Homeward Bound for this generation except with a vendetta and that too with a vicious-looking capital “V”.

Directed by Josh Greenbaum and coming from the makers of Cocaine Bear, 21 Jump Street and Ted, the sui generis comedy launches without much further ado with a narration by the soon-to-be-abandoned border terrier who is seen naively chasing two butterflies in the field and reminiscing on how wonderful life has been of late.

The R-rated talking animal movie, features dogs from all walks of life. A failed police canine who is now a therapy dog, a once home-owned three-year-old terrier that has proudly earned its name as a stray and an attractive Australian Shepherd that has been neglected by her owner. And to elevate the game of humour to a whole new level, there’s a cameo by a narrator dog that happens to know just too much of its owner’s deep, dark secrets, only to have no one listening to it!

Although it parodies other dog movies like A Dog Way’s Home and A Dog’s Purpose, it lends a fresh perspective to have our canine buddies discussing real life issues. This goes to say that the genre has indeed matured along with its target audiences and we have officially evolved from Air Buddies to Strays: Doggy Style!

Far from heart-wrenching Hachiko, beneath the gruff layers of crude slapstick humour and a script that is littered with expletives, this bow-wow comedy that is understandably forbidden to minors delivers a message that cuts deep. With tears rolling down our aching cheeks after hoots of laughter, bouts of indescribable sadness set in as soon as Reggie who believes that the best relationships are the hardest ones gets conflicted about if he wants to seek revenge or let go of the idea that seems diabolically brilliant and justifiable at the same time! What elevates the entire experience as an adventure is the fact that the loquacious foursome serve their soul’s purpose while on their ‘way back home’.

Sausage Party that pioneered the not-just-for-kids-animation craze and paved way for rib- ticklers like Strays: Doggy Style deserves some appreciation at this point. This most mature up-to-date talking animal film that has Doctor Dolitte taking a back seat, gives us a reason to expel a loud whoosh of relief. Most talking animal movies are hailed for their bad CG, toilet humour, lots of ‘I’m-not-crying-you-are’ moments and bad pacing. Thankfully, the makers didn’t opt for full on CGI for the dogs’ lip movements and that certainly made it a lot less uncanny. The talking paw pals’ facial composites look believably good.

If you undermine the strength of the plot, assuming that the humour sequences with the quadrupeds’ swearing to override the storyline, you stand corrected. There is much depth to this chatty caper where the main characters whip out, political, racial and of course sexual jokes in almost every scene. The live action feature casting the little potty mouths underscores the significance of great friendships, complicated situationships and unexpected virtues of couch humping alongside a powerhouse supporting cast that seems to have gone boldly out of its way to embody the what-not-to notion when making a movie. Mad respect for that!

The ‘magic’ shrooms (which are king oysters mushrooms that you can get at supermarkets by the way) scene that will have you rolling over is gold! The mail man scene proves that it has to be a universal trait among canines to detest postman or delivery man for no apparent reason. And what’s not to crack up about the fact that Jamie Foxx was casted to voice an adorable little terrier? Parenthetically, Randall Park who is the voice behind the Great Dane lent his vocals to one of the henchman’s character in PAW Patrol. It’s a shame that Snoop Dogg wasn’t part of the cast. That would have made Strays: Doggy Style a straight-up double “G”! If there can be anything possibly funnier than these uproarious sequences, it has to be parents taking their kids to this raunchy comedy with dirty humour, while being completely oblivious to its rating.

Besides some boo-hoo moments such as a stigmatic stance against certain breeds (rotties and dobes as baddies), what douses the mood on the low would be the narrative trailer that could have masked the crusade’s ultimate goal. The 93-minute tear-jerker ends up feeling like a rehash of the trailer itself.

Pervasive language (imagine more F-bombs than in The Wolf of Wall Street), crass dialogues, crude sexual content, drug references and cringey scenes, may be a tad bit overwhelming especially if you are Team Babe, Stuart Little, Milo & Ortis or the like. So, just do yourself a favour and give this worthy watch a pass. Strays: Doggy Style is exclusively here to smash your fondest memories of All Dogs Go to Heaven and it’s best if you let the narrative that unfolds in a dog’s perspective serve its purpose. Also, it’s not every day that we get to excuse a cute Boston terrier cussing away like a sailor, is it?

If you are an ardent fan of Cocaine Bear and Ted, then this side-splittingly funny escapade is here to stay (rent-free) in your mind. A sequel in the soonest future that promises to leave us in stitches would be just as rewarding! A resounding yes to another much-needed talking animal flick! Let Strays: Doggy Style woof its way to you on the big screen!

Movie Rating:

(With too many Dougs out there, Stray: Doggy Style serves as a reminder to spay, neuter and treat your fur babies right or else they will come back to bite you in places you wouldn’t have imagined, just like karma!)

Review by Asha Gizelle Mariadas

Genre: Action/Superhero
Director: Angel Manuel Soto
Cast:  Xolo Maridueña, Bruna Marquezine, Belissa Escobedo, Harvey Guillén, George Lopez, Raoul Trujillo
Runtime: 2 hr 8 mins
Rating: PG13 (Some Violence)
Released By: Warner Bros
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 17 August 2023

Synopsis: Recent college grad Jaime Reyes returns home full of aspirations for his future, only to find that home is not quite as he left it. As he searches to find his purpose in the world, fate intervenes when Jaime unexpectedly finds himself in possession of an ancient relic of alien biotechnology: the Scarab. When the Scarab suddenly chooses Jaime to be its symbiotic host, he is bestowed with an incredible suit of armor capable of extraordinary and unpredictable powers, forever changing his destiny as he becomes the Superhero BLUE BEETLE.

Movie Review:

Like this summer’s ‘The Flash’, ‘Blue Beetle’s’ arrival is clouded by the unfortunate perception of being an irrelevant left-over from a now defunct cinematic universe currently undergoing reinvention by new DC studio heads James Gunn and Peter Safran. That is despite being the first superhero movie for the Latino community – and we dare say, a pretty good one at that – and a solid origin story for a not particularly well-known character.

Much of its appeal stems from its lead star Xolo Maridueña (from ‘Cobra Kai’), who carries the titular role with real charisma. As the bright Mexican-American kid Jaime Reyes, whose path crosses with a mysterious scarab that turns out to be a sentient ancient alien tech with a mind of its own, Maridueña makes his character’s helplessness endearing and relatable. Even though the path Jamie treads from human to superhuman is pretty damn familiar, it is still one with plenty of charm and wit.

That credit however also belongs to the lively supporting cast that form Jaime’s lovable Mexican family, including Damían Alcázar and Elpidia Carrillo as his parents, Belissa Escobedo as his sassy younger sister, Adriana Barraza as his Nana, and George Lopez as his oddball Uncle Rudy. While Lopez provides plenty of cynical humour in the film, especially with his anti-government, anti-establishment, anti-superhero views, Barraza steals the last third of the movie when she transforms into a revolutionary to tot a huge disco-coloured mini-gun.

Kudos to director Ángel Manuel Soto and screenwriter Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer for bringing the whole Reyes family along for the ride. In particular, the finale, with its clean but unremarkable action, would have been a lot less interesting if not for the chaotic ensemble, which prove to be both delightful and unexpectedly poignant. Though it is hardly the first superhero movie to fall back on family for pathos ( ‘The Flash’ just did likewise), it is probably one of the very few in which the family saves the superhero, and the even fewer to give each member his or her own distinctive personality to let us truly get into every one of them.  

The involvement of these supporting players also reinforces its embrace of Mexican American culture – from the frequent Spanish dialogue to references to their culture, such as the telenovela ‘María del Barrio’ and the cartoon character ‘El Chapulin Colorado’, there is admirable effort to capture the authenticity of these characters as well as their lived-in experience, even though the larger setting is in fact a fictional immigrant suburb known as Edge Keys within a make-believe Texas coastal metropolis called Palmera City.

Even with Oscar winner Susan Sarandon happily hamming it as the meglomaniac villain Victoria Kord, too much of the rest of the movie feels awfully familiar. There is how foolishly naïve Jaime first turns out to be, thinking that he can appeal to Victoria’s henchman Ignacio Carapax’s (Raoul Max Trujillo) better side. There is also the cliché of the tragic death, which without giving too much away, ends up being a inflexion point for Jaime whether to fully embrace a killer instinct. And last but not least, there is the obligatory love interest in chic heiress Jenny Kord (Bruna Marquezine), whom Jaime joins forces with to oppose Victoria’s ambition to harness the power of the scarab to develop a private police force of cybernetic goons called the One Man Army Corps.

To be sure, what is familiar, even formulaic, doesn’t take away from what is fresh, and ultimately, ‘Blue Beetle’ remains a generally solid origin story for a lesser known superhero character. Is that enough for it to overcome scepticism from the general audience, given its fate and future in the DCEU? We doubt so, and would go so far as to say we now know why a reboot of the whole DCEU was inevitable. Yet for a late summer offering, and one that was initially meant for HBO Max, ‘Blue Beetle’ is definitely a worthy popcorn offering that packs humour and heart.

Movie Rating:

(An agreeable, if ultimately unremarkable, origin story that gets its charm and wit from a magnetic lead and a riotous supporting ensemble)

Review by Gabriel Chong

SYNOPSIS: Gal Gadot is Agent Rachel Stone, the only intelligence operative who stands between her global, peace-keeping organization and the loss of its most valuable — and dangerous — asset, codenamed: The Heart. 

MOVIE REVIEW:

Is Skydance projecting itself to be a movie production company for espionage action thrillers? With their recent outputs including 6 Underground, Without Remorse, The Old Guard and Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning just to name a few, the trend seems to say so. With the release of Heart of Stone on Netflix, let’s just say Skydance is definitely on a mission to conquer the genre.

Co-produced by and starring Gal Gadot as a female version of superspy Ethan Hunt. Her character is named Rachel Stone and she belongs to a shadowy global peacekeeping organisation called The Charter. The best part is the organisation is assisted by a powerful A.I. aka The Heart. And the movie opens with Stone infiltrating into MI6 as a lowly tech agent to assist fellow agents, Parker (Jamie Dornan), Yang (Jing Lusi) and Bailey (Paul Ready) in nabbing an arms dealer, Mulvaney currently located in a ski resort.

Does it matter why Stone needs to impersonate as a MI6 agent for a year to nab Mulvaney? What’s all that confusion over terms like Jack of Hearts, King of Clubs or King of Diamonds?

In the end, it doesn’t matter at all. Screenwriter Greg Rucka (The Old Guard) who started his career as a comic-book writer needs to first take some writing lessons from Christopher McQuarrie because Heart of Stone executes like a poor man version of McQuarrie’s Mission Impossible franchise. While the MacGuffin is established, the various characters are set, however the “heart” is missing.

The movie plods along from one mindless action set to another without much thought being given to the characters and development of the script. It’s all a flashy affair with all the outcomes entirely predictable apart from a small twist. There’s a hacker, Keya (Hindi actress Alia Bhatt) who wants to avenge the deaths of her parents and the ultimate villain whose craving for power and revenge is entirely bland and by-the-numbers. Even the MacGuffin in this case is just a mere A.I. tool for Matthias Schweighofer’s (Army of the Dead) tech character to play around with for most of the screentime.

That leaves Gal Gadot, the only and very reason why everyone wants to catch this flick. Similar to Dwyane Johnson, the Wonder Woman starlet possessed this strange power that despite the number of different movies she’s in, you can’t tell her apart every single time she is on the screen. That’s more of a compliment by the way, like it or not.

On the level of action extravaganzas, Heart of Stone is mostly on par with the James Bond and Mission Impossible outings with actual location shootings taking place in Portugal and Iceland instead of relying on greenscreen like say Ghosted. That said, Gadot of course is excellent as an action heroine, she just needs a stronger, more credible script to work her magic on.

MOVIE RATING:

Review by Linus Tee

Genre: Drama/Romance
Director: Celine Song
Cast: Greta Lee, Teo Yoo, John Magaro Park
Runtime: 1 hr 46 mins
Rating: PG13 (Some Coarse Language)
Released By: Shaw Organisation
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 24 August 2023

Synopsis: Nora (Greta Lee) and Hae Sung (Teo Yoo), two deeply connected childhood friends, are wrest apart after Nora’s family emigrates from South Korea. Two decades later, they are reunited in New York for one fateful week as they confront notions of destiny, love, and the choices that make a life, in this heartrending modern romance.

Movie Review:

‘Past Lives’ owes its title to the Korean concept of ‘In-Yun’, which refers to the providence that binds people across both past and present lives, such that they are bound to weave in and out of each other’s worlds. That is the fate which Na Young and Hae Sung have to confront over the span of more than two decades, learning ultimately about friendship, love, regret and what it means to move forward with the life that is here and now.

Already destined to be among the best movies of the year, it is the writing-directing debut of Korean-Canadian-American playwright Celine Song, who draws on her own life to make a film that is both beautifully restrained and brimming with feeling. Told in three acts, each separated by 12 years, it begins intriguingly with a shot of two Asians and a white guy seated at a bar, while voices offscreen speculate how they might be related to each other.

Act one begins 24 years earlier in Seoul, with Na Young and Hae Sung (played here by Seung Ah Moon and Seung Min Yim respectively) walking home from school mostly in silence, until Hae Sung chides Na Young for begrudging the one time he has beaten her in Maths at school. Na Young returns home to her parents packing their stuff as they prepare to immigrate to Canada, and when asked if she has settled on an English name, her father suggests she adopt the name Nora. Upon Na Young’s request, her mother arranges for her to have a play date with Hae Sung in the park before they leave for good, and after an afternoon out, Na Young and Hae Sung end up holding each other’s hands in the car on the way back, with her head on his shoulder.

The next act starts with the title card ’12 years pass’, with Na Young in college in New York City and Hae Sung just completed national service back in Korea (now played by Greta Lee and Teo Yoo respectively). While having a random chat with her mother on the phone about her former classmates, Na Young recalls her crush on Hae Sung, and after looking him up on Facebook, realises that he had left a message on the page for her father’s restaurant asking to find her. Before long, Na Young and Hae Sung are not only connected as friends on Facebook, but also chatting frequently with each other on Skype.

Alas, their long-distance relationship comes to an abrupt end when it dawns on Nora that it would not be possible for them to see each other physically until more than a year later and she decides that they should stop talking for a while so she can focus on her writing. Soon after, Nora attends a writers’ retreat in Montauk, where she meets Arthur (John Magaro) whom she will make love to and eventually marry. It is during that retreat however that she first describes ‘In-Yun’, but when asked by Arthur if she believes in it, Na Young dismisses it as just “something Korean people say to seduce someone”.

The third and final act though demonstrates how time (another “12 years pass”) changes perspective. On the guise of a vacation to New York, Hae Sung looks Na Young up, and after spending one day touring the city together, Na Young realises that he had specifically came to see her after breaking up with his girlfriend. It will take another day spent together for Na Young to recognise the feelings she has for Hae Sung, feelings that never quite went away since their childhood times back in Seoul and which are awakened seeing each other for the first time after 24 years.

It is only at this point that we realise the significance of the very first scene of the movie, because it is at the bar that Na Young and Hae Sung will confront how they feel and what it means in the context of their present lives. It is also at that setting that Hae Sung will bring up ‘In Yun’, wondering what they were to each other in their past lives and if things would have been different had Na Young not left all those years ago. Consider this fair warning that it does get achingly bittersweet, and perhaps even the most stone-hearted may find themselves moved to tears.

Indeed, Song’s true accomplishment is in how she taps her own life story to make us reflect on our own – the choices we had made and those that lie before us, the people we have met and the ones we have left behind, the connections whether as friends or lovers that we had forged at some point in our lives that we have lost with or over time, and last but not least the summation of all those could-have-beens and would-have-beens that we must learn to accept. It isn’t just Na Young and Hae Sung’s story per se that is moving, but in fact how real and relatable their story is to a certain chapter of our very own lives that gives it added poignancy.

Besides Song’s treatment of her material, Lee deserves absolute credit for drawing us into her world seamlessly. Best known for her role in the Netflix comedy drama ‘Russian Doll’, Lee stuns in a star-making lead turn with a terrifically subtle and immediate performance. She communicates each and every unsaid emotion within Na Young effortlessly, and cuts to the heart of her character’s self-divided identity as a native Korean growing up in America. Yoo and Magaro carry their respective characters with grace and equanimity too, especially in how both Hae Sung and Arthur manage their own emotions as Na Young deals with her own.

If we seem to be waxing lyrical about ‘Past Lives’, that’s because it has been some time since we were this unexpectedly moved by a film of such intimacy. It is a truly emotional experience all right, a meditation on choice and destiny that will resonate with you long after the credits are over. Indeed, no matter what has happened before, or what we might think could have been, the life before us is what each of us has to come to terms with, deal with, and do so as gracefully as we possibly can.

Movie Rating:

(Subtle, moving and heart-breaking, this meditation on choice and destiny is an emotional rollercoaster that will have you reflecting on what was, what could have been, and the here and now) 

Review by Gabriel Chong

Genre: Drama/Comedy
Director: Da Peng
Cast: Huang Bo, Wang Yibo, Liu Mintao, Song Zuer, Yue Yunpeng, Xiao Shenyang, Zhang Zixian, Casper, Zhang Haiyu, Wang Feifei, Jiang Long
Runtime: 2 hr 4 min
Rating: PG
Released By: mm2 Entertainment
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 24 August 2023

Synopsis: Chen Shuo, who has been performing “commercial street dance” for a living, meets his "life mentor", Ding Lei, and joins the street dance club Exclamation Point. The dancers in the club have different personalities, and it was difficult for Chen Shuo to work with them. Gradually, Chen Shuo managed to integrate into the team. Exclamation Point is facing a disbandment and Chen Shuo encounters more obstacles along the way. The love for dance and support from their teammates enable Chen Shuo and Ding Lei to overcome difficulties and come back stronger. In the end, Chen Shuo and Ding Lei win the highest glory of their own. 

Movie Review:

Award winning Chinese actor, Huang Bo has played many roles in his career, including Sun Wukong in Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons (2013), an engineer who perfected the automatic flag-raising mechanism before the founding ceremony of the People's Republic of China in My People, My Country (2019), as well as a volleyball coach in Leap (2020).

What we did not expect him to portray is a veteran street dancer who is training and inspiring a younger generation of dancers. And a quick check online shows that current vice chairman of China Film Association was a dance instructor before he became an actor, and that explains where he got those eye popping dance moves.

In this comedy drama directed by Da Peng, Huang plays Ding Lei, the owner of a professional dance club who is finding all ways and means to increase exposure and gain recognition for his troupe. He meets Chen Shuo (the very popular Wang Yibo), a teenager who loves street dance and is pursuing his dreams – he is the likeable protagonist from a motivational movie whom you won’t bear to dislike.

Chen Shuo joins the club and meets other dance masters who slowly warm up to him. In an expected plot development, his journey hits obstacles and he has to work extra hard to continue chasing his dreams. Besides a snobbish big shot who may destroy Chen Shuo’s aspirations of dancing in a professional troupe, he also has to deal with family obligations which may deter him from being fully committed to his craft. And thanks to Huang Yibo’s extremely earnest persona, Chen Shuo is a character you’d root for all the way till the end credits roll.

When it comes to dance movies, the Step Up franchise comes to mind. There is also the Magic Mike series if you are in the mood to see Channing Tatum and his mates show off their moves on stage as male strippers. This Chinese production is definitely a notable entry to the genre. A hit in its home country when it was released earlier this year, the movie effortlessly became one of the biggest blockbusters at the summer box office, and it is easy to see why.

The movie carries a wholesome message about working hard for your dreams, and it is unapologetically positive in its storytelling. Chen Shuo is a hardworking young man who takes on less than glamourous projects to earn his keep, while seizing the opportunity to hone his dance skills. Back at home, he has a hardworking mother who is running a restaurant and an uncle suffering from a nervous breakdown. His father died some years back and the close knitted family is holding things together. It’s all very dramatic, but because of the perfect casting of Wang Yibo, you go along with this rather convenient backstory.

Huang Bo is also perfectly cast as a world weary performer who has seen quite a bit of injustice and unfairness in his career. But with the determination to produce a hit, he presses on and gets his troupe to do their best. This culminates in an unforgettable and very captivating finale where we witness a street dance competition where different troupes face off with their impressive moves. This is the highlight of the 124 minute movie, and your eyes will be glued to the screen for the 20 odd minutes where a stunning spectacle unfolds. You will hold your breath as Huang Bo shows off what he is capable of, and Wang Yibo’s final dance move creates a lasting impression.

Movie Rating:

(Huang Bo and Wang Yibo are perfectly cast in this unapologetically positive movie that features a stunning spectacle in its memorable finale)

Review by John Li