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MONCLER CELEBRATES WARMER TOGETHER WITH DE NIRO AND PACINOPosted on 16 Oct 2025 |
SYNOPSIS: When a titan music mogul (Denzel Washington), widely known as having the “best ears in the business”, is targeted with a ransom plot, he is jammed up in a life-or-death moral dilemma. Brothers Denzel Washington and Spike Lee reunite for the 5th in their long working relationship for a reinterpretation of the great filmmaker Akira Kurosawa’s crime thriller High and Low, now played out on the mean streets of modern day New York City.
MOVIE REVIEW:
Highest 2 Lowest is a reimagining of Akira Kurosawa’s 1963 classic High and Low, itself adapted from the American novel King’s Ransom. While the core premise remains intact across both versions, Spike Lee’s execution may prove divisive.
Marking his fifth collaboration with Lee (Inside Man, BlacKkKlansman), Denzel Washington stars as David King, a high-profile music mogul living in a luxury apartment overlooking the Brooklyn Bridge. While negotiating the buyback of his record label, King’s world shatters when his son, Trey, is kidnapped—only for him to later discover that the real target is Trey’s best friend Kyle (Elijah Wright), who also happens to be King’s godson and the son of his chauffeur, Paul (Jeffrey Wright).
This sets up the central moral dilemma: Will King hand over 17.5 million Swiss francs to save another man’s child or will he use the money to secure his company and legacy?
Lee’s film stays true to the themes of the source material, exploring King’s inner conflict as he weighs his crumbling business, his reputation, and the devastating consequences of refusing to pay the ransom. The tension between personal responsibility and moral duty keeps the drama compelling and thought-provoking.
Unsurprisingly, Washington delivers. As always, he commands the screen, embodying King as a sharp, unyielding businessman who nevertheless reveals moments of vulnerability. Every line carries weight—delivered with Washington’s signature mix of ease, pain and intensity.
Jeffrey Wright brings depth to Paul, a man with a troubled past who has since rebuilt his life as a devoted father. His relationship with King adds layers to the narrative, especially since King played a role in his redemption. Watching Wright go toe-to-toe with Washington only underscores his versatility.
Unfortunately, the film falters in tone and pacing. Lee struggles to decide whether this is primarily a crime thriller or a character study of a mogul’s downfall. The kidnapping unfolds abruptly, followed by a motorcycle chase that lacks real urgency. A later confrontation between King, Paul, and the antagonist is clumsy at best and downright cringeworthy at worst.
Even more distracting is the soundtrack. For a film centered on a music mogul, the score feels amateurish and wildly mismatched to the tone. It’s baffling that a story about a man with “the best ears in the business” could feature such uninspired music.
Beneath the uneven execution, there’s a sharper, better film struggling to break through. At its best, Highest 2 Lowest is gripping and powerful. At its worst, it’s frustratingly misguided. It tries to be everything at once—crime drama, morality play, industry critique but never fully coheres. That’s the real disappointment: Spike Lee’s films usually carry weight and purpose. Here, too much gets lost in the noise. (And let’s not even bring up his Oldboy remake.)
MOVIE RATING:
Review by Linus Tee
Genre: Comedy/Drama
Director: Jay Roach
Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Olivia Colman, Andy Samberg, Allison Janney, Belinda Bromilow, Ncuti Gatwa, Zoë Chao, Jamie Demetriou
Runtime: 1 hr 45 mins
Rating: M18 (Sexual Scene)
Released By: Walt Disney
Official Website:
Opening Day: 4 September 2025
Synopsis: Life seems easy for picture-perfect couple Ivy (Olivia Colman) and Theo (Benedict Cumberbatch): successful careers, a loving marriage, great kids. But beneath the façade of their supposed ideal life, a storm is brewing – as Theo’s career nosedives while Ivy’s own ambitions take off, a tinderbox of fierce competition and hidden resentment ignites. The Roses is a reimagining of the 1989 classic film The War of the Roses, based on the novel by Warren Adler.
Movie Review:
Marriage can be one of the hardest things in the world to sustain. There are countless books and videos on how to keep love alive but one piece of advice always surfaces: communicate clearly and often.
In hindsight, the Roses should have followed that advice from the very beginning. Theo (Benedict Cumberbatch), a successful architect turned stay-at-home dad and Ivy Rose (Olivia Colman), an up-and-coming chef turned thriving restaurateur, find their marriage unraveling.
More than a decade in, Ivy feels jealous and regretful for missing out on most of her twins’ milestones, while Theo believes Ivy has neglected her family in pursuit of her expanding crab shack business. Attempts at rekindling things through a short vacation or marriage counseling only fan the flames.
Despite being a modern reworking of both the 1981 novel "The War of the Roses" and its 1989 film adaptation directed by Danny DeVito (and starring Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner), The Roses falls flat. Ironically, two of Britain’s finest contemporary actors, Cumberbatch and Colman, headline the project and deliver sharp, convincing performances as a once-loving couple turned bitter rivals. Their efforts, however, cannot mask the shortcomings of the film itself.
Director Jay Roach (Austin Powers, Meet the Parents) and screenwriter Tony McNamara (The Favourite) take the bones of the source material but sand it down into something resembling a safe, commercial rom-com. The energy, chaos and biting satire of the earlier versions are stripped away, leaving behind mild verbal sparring that rarely lands beyond a snicker.
Those expecting scuffles and slapstick violence will need to wait until the final 20 minutes, when Theo’s meticulously designed home (funded, ironically by Ivy) becomes the stage for mayhem. By then, the pacing has dragged, with much of the film devoted to petty sabotage and simmering jealousy that never quite escalates into anything memorable.
The supporting cast includes Andy Samberg and Kate McKinnon as the Roses’ American friends, along with a brief but scene-stealing cameo by Allison Janney as Ivy’s no-nonsense divorce lawyer. McKinnon provides the biggest laughs with her politically incorrect advances toward Theo but overall, the supporting players leave little impression.
In the end, this is the least satirical take on The War of the Roses yet. It’s less dark, less witty and ultimately forgettable. Marriage woes are as old as time but it’s surprising to see a 2025 adaptation so toothless in exploring them.
Movie Rating:
(Even an ensemble cast giving it their all can’t save this weakly written comedy)
Review by Linus Tee
Genre: Drama/Crime
Director: Derek Cianfrance
Cast: Channing Tatum, Kirsten Dunst, Peter Dinklage, Ben Mendelsohn, LaKeith Stanfield, Juno Temple, Melonie Diaz, Uzo Aduba, Lily Collias, Jimmy O. Yang, Tony Revolori
Runtime: 2 hr 5 mins
Rating: M18 (Sexual Scene)
Released By: Shaw Organisation
Official Website:
Opening Day: 23 October 2025
Synopsis: Based on an unbelievable true story, Roofman follows Jeffrey Manchester (Channing Tatum), an Army veteran and struggling father who turns to robbing McDonald's restaurants by cutting holes in their roofs, earning him the nickname: Roofman. After escaping prison, he secretly lives inside a Toys "R" Us for six months, surviving undetected while planning his next move. But when he falls for Leigh (Kirsten Dunst), a divorced mom drawn to his undeniable charm, his double life begins to unravel, setting off a compelling and suspenseful game of cat and mouse as his past closes in.
Movie Review:
Derek Cianfrance has long been known for his intimate, character-driven dramas — no distracting CGI, no flashy tropes, just good old-fashioned storytelling. Films like Blue Valentine and The Place Beyond the Pines stand as proof of his gift for human emotion and authenticity. After a five-year hiatus, Cianfrance returns with Roofman, a surprisingly delightful romantic crime caper based on a true story.
Channing Tatum, eager to shed his Magic Mike image, plays Jeffrey Manchester, an ex-Army veteran arrested during his daughter’s birthday party for robbing 45 McDonald’s outlets in a desperate attempt to support his estranged family.
But Manchester’s story doesn’t end behind bars. He escapes from prison and finds an unlikely hiding place — inside a Toys “R” Us store. For weeks maybe months, he survives on M&Ms and baby food, showers in the store’s restroom and lives off the merchandise after hours. “It’s not the body, it’s the mind that keeps you alive,” he says at one point. He even begins a romantic relationship with Leigh Wainscott (Kirsten Dunst), a divorced employee at the very same store.
At first, Roofman seems too absurd to be true until you realize Jeffrey Manchester actually existed and remains incarcerated in a North Carolina correctional institute until 2036. Cianfrance treats the story with a light, whimsical touch, balancing humor and heart so effectively that even the most outlandish moments feel oddly believable. Manchester’s elaborate disguise to Leigh as a supposed government agent living in a secret building is both clever and comical.
Manchester himself is portrayed as a man with a good heart perhaps the kindest thief you’ll ever meet. In one memorable scene, he gives his coat to a hostage locked in a freezer. Yet, the film never fully explores why he turned to crime in the first place. Was it desperation, an inability to adjust to civilian life, or simply a misguided attempt to provide for his child? Roofman hints at these motivations but leaves them open-ended, much like life itself.
Tatum, however, is a revelation. His character may be morally conflicted but Tatum’s warmth and sincerity make it hard not to root for him. Even when he deceives Leigh, his quiet vulnerability wins audiences over. Dunst, meanwhile, remains effortlessly magnetic — her chemistry with Tatum anchors the film’s emotional core. The supporting cast is equally strong: Peter Dinklage plays the mean Toys “R” Us manager Mitch; Ben Mendelsohn appears as a chatty pastor and LaKeith Stanfield lends depth as Manchester’s army buddy, Steve.
Despite being based on a true crime, Roofman blends romance and redemption into a feel-good, crowd-pleasing mix. Tatum finally proves himself as a capable dramatic actor without relying on his trademark physique (though, yes, there’s a brief nude scene that actually serves the story).
At its heart, Roofman is a wildly entertaining, heartfelt tale of survival, reinvention, and the absurd lengths people go to for love. It’s the kind of film that reminds you why Cianfrance remains one of the most humanistic filmmakers working today.
Movie Rating:
(A crime caper that’s both heartfelt and amusing — Roofman is one crazy, surprisingly touching ride)
Review by Linus Tee
Genre: Action/Crime
Director: Darren Aronofsky
Cast: Austin Butler, Regina King, Zoë Kravitz, Matt Smith, Liev Schreiber, Vincent D’Onofrio, Griffin Dunne, Benito A Martínez Ocasio, Carol Kane
Runtime: 1 hr 47 mins
Rating: M18 (Coarse Language And Violence)
Released By: Sony Pictures
Official Website:
Opening Day: 23 October 2025
Synopsis: Hank Thompson (Austin Butler) was a high-school baseball phenom who can’t play anymore, but everything else is going okay. He’s got a great girl (Zoë Kravitz), tends bar at a New York dive, and his favorite team is making an underdog run at the pennant. When his punk-rock neighbor Russ (Matt Smith) asks him to take care of his cat for a few days, Hank suddenly finds himself caught in the middle of a motley crew of threatening gangsters. They all want a piece of him; the problem is he has no idea why. As Hank attempts to evade their ever-tightening grip, he’s got to use all his hustle to stay alive long enough to find out… Caught Stealing is directed by Academy Award® nominee Darren Aronofsky, screenplay by Charlie Huston, based on his book of the same name.
Movie Review:
If there’s one thing about Darren Aronofsky, it’s that he never repeats himself. From a harrowing drug addiction drama to a washed-up wrestler, a biblical epic and an obese English teacher, Aronofsky consistently surprises audiences. Now, he’s back with Caught Stealing, an ultra-violent crime thriller starring the increasingly magnetic Austin Butler.
Based on Charlie Huston’s cult pulp novel not exactly a household name but Huston himself penned the screenplay. Caught Stealing introduces us to Hank Thompson (Butler), a former baseball player turned bartender. There’s a chilling reason behind his fall from grace and the film repeatedly reminds us why his past continues to haunt him. Hank numbs his days with alcohol, shares tender daily phone calls with his mother and maintains a loving but casual relationship with Yvonne (Zoë Kravitz), a paramedic.
Things unravel when Hank’s punk-styled neighbor Russ (Matt Smith) leaves for England to tend to his ailing father, asking Hank to care for his cat, Bud. But Bud isn’t the only baggage Russ leaves behind. Soon, two menacing Russian thugs and a Puerto Rican gunman (Bad Bunny) come knocking, searching for Russ. Hank’s life starts to spiral into chaos. Add a tough cop named Roman (Regina King) and two ruthless, bearded Jewish assassins played by Liev Schreiber and Vincent D’Onofrio and Hank finds himself in serious trouble.
There’s a lingering expectation that Hank might evolve into a hardened antihero who dishes out vengeance. But Caught Stealing isn’t that kind of crime thriller. From the moment he gets his bruised kidney removed, Hank endures every blow imaginable. Perhaps it’s a subtle message: Hank must confront his past instead of drowning in booze and ignoring his lost potential in baseball.
Aronofsky and Huston keep the pace relentless, leaving little room to breathe amid the constant chases. Double-crosses and sudden deaths abound, true to the genre’s mobster roots. Russ provides a touch of comic relief and his cat Bud might just deserve a pet Oscar. But in Hank’s world, humor is scarce.
Cinematographer Matthew Libatique collaborating with Aronofsky for the tenth time clearly relishes shooting on location. Though set in 1990s New York, the film convincingly blends backlot grit with authentic cityscape, creating a vivid, believable atmosphere. Even if Caught Stealing doesn’t capture a wide audience, it stands as one of Aronofsky’s most accessible works. It’s a relentless crime caper that prioritizes character study over spectacle. That said, there’s a standout car chase through Flushing Meadows Corona Park in Queens, home to the iconic Unisphere.
If you’re drawn to manic violence, outrageous characters, and the ever-charming Austin Butler fighting to survive the chaos, Caught Stealing is worth your time.
Movie Rating:
(It may have the vibe of a B-movie, but with Aronofsky’s steady hand, it becomes a wild, stylish ride)
Review by Linus Tee
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ROBERT REDFORD (1936 - 2025)Posted on 16 Sep 2025 |
Genre: Romance/Fantasy
Director: Kung Siu Ping
Cast: Greg Hsu, Angela Yuen, Jack Tan, Stephen Tung, Chan Fai Hung, Thor Lok, Natalie Hsu, Yoyo Tse
Runtime: 1 hr 55 mins
Rating: PG13 (Some Violence)
Released By: Purple Plan and Golden Village
Official Website:
Opening Day: 3 October 2025
Synopsis: After a massive earthquake, the world is split into two—Aurora Zone and Evergreen Zone—separated by the Wall of Gravity, which distorts time and gravity differently on both sides. One day in the Aurora equals an entire year in the Evergreen. The barren Evergreen suffers from shortages of clean air, flowers, medicine, and even food. On her first weekly visit to the Evergreen, Anne-Jean, a member of the White Doves from the Aurora, runs into a thirteen-year-old petty thief named Tato, who falls in love with her at first sight. Wanting to be closer to her, he decides to join the White Doves.
Movie Review:
It was envisioned as a tender, dreamlike moment. Anne-Jean, the heroine, was to rise gently into the air, while Tato, the male lead, would soon follow, floating toward her until the two hovered together in the skies. The scene was probably meant to capture the feeling of love so powerful that it transcends gravity itself.
But when the sequence played out on screen, the intended magic didn’t quite take flight. The CGI effects, which were supposed to lend a sense of weightless wonder, looked a little awkward. Instead of gasps of awe, some chuckles were heard at the preview screening we were at.
The two characters’ ability to float stems from the strange physics of their world — one torn apart by an earthquake that split it into two realms: the Aurora Zone and the Evergreen Zone. Between them stands the Wall of Gravity, a divide where time and gravity twist and fold in unpredictable ways. In this fractured reality, a single day in the Aurora equals a whole year in the Evergreen. This crucial bit of world-building is revealed through text at the very start of the film — so make sure you’re not late for the movie.
Anne-Jean (Angela Yuen) hails from the Aurora Zone, a land of abundance and light — a stark contrast to the Evergreen, where people struggle daily with polluted air and scarce medicine. She’s part of the White Doves, a compassionate team of doctors who cross into the harsh Evergreen to bring aid and hope. It’s there that she meets 13-year-old Tato, and — as the script would have it — the two form a bond that blossoms into love. Thanks to the warped flow of time between the two worlds, it doesn’t take long before Tato grows up into the handsome Greg Hsu. (Remember: a day in the Aurora equals a year in the Evergreen.)
And so it begins — a romance that viewers can sense from the outset is headed for a less-than-perfect ending. Directed by Kung Siu Ping, this high-concept film brims with ambitious ideas that sound compelling on paper but turn convoluted — and at times unintentionally silly — when translated to screen. The overcomplicated storytelling distracts from what should have been the emotional core: the bittersweet love between Anne-Jean and Tato. One can’t help but wonder if the film might have resonated more deeply had it been grounded in a simpler, more relatable setting.
But all is not lost. Die-hard fans of the ever-charming Greg Hsu will no doubt flock to cinemas to support their idol. The Taiwanese star delivers a decent performance, and it’s easy to see why he remains such a bankable leading man, with his effortless charisma and soulful gaze. Angela Yuen holds her own as Anne-Jean, convincingly portraying a woman torn between love and destiny. Elsewhere, Malaysian actor Jack Tan turns in a touching performance as Tato’s long-suffering younger brother, while veteran Hong Kong action choreographer Stephen Tung adds gravitas as the enigmatic ferryman. This ambitious project is an uneven film, but one lifted — at least partly — by its cast.
Movie Rating:
(A high-concept but uneven romance that manages to stay afloat with the cast's earnest performances)
Review by John Li
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MCDONALD'S HK CELEBRATES 50 YEARS WITH A "CHEF NIC" STARRING SHORT FILMPosted on 17 Sep 2025 |
Genre: War/Thriller
Director: Zhao Linshan
Cast: Jiang Wu, Wang Zhiwen, Li Naiwen, Sun Qian
Runtime: 2 hr 6 mins
Rating: M18 (Violence and Disturbing Scenes)
Released By: Shaw Organisation
Official Website:
Opening Day: 2 October 2025
Synopsis: In 1945, in a desperate attempt to reverse their inevitable defeat, the Japanese Unit 731, which invaded China, secretly conducted inhumane research on biological warfare and extensively captured civilians for live human experimentation in the Pingfang district of Harbin. Vendor Wang Yongzhang and others were forcibly taken to a "special prison." The Japanese military deceived them with the false promise that "cooperating with health checks and epidemic prevention research would earn them freedom," subjecting them to extreme tortures such as frostbite experiments, poison gas tests, and live dissections...
Movie Review:
‘Wang Yongzheng, your story is terrible!’
So goes the final line of the historical thriller ‘731’, and indeed, some may very well feel likewise about Zhao Linshan’s movie.
It is a sombre fact that the Japanese had carried out biochemical experiments on the Chinese during their period of occupation; in particular, at the brink of losing the war, we are told that the Japanese grew desperate and decided to abandon moral and ethical safeguards in a bid to try to gain an upper hand over the Allied forces.
‘Unit 731’ is one such facility in Harbin, run by the sadistic Dr Shiro Ishii (Yasuyuki Hirata). This is where our protagonist Wang is brought to, after being arrested by the Japanese for stealing one of their revolutionary water filters that can apparently turn urine into drinkable water (I kid you not).
There, at the dreadful Unit 731, Wang quickly confesses that he is not the anti-fascist resistance hero Wang Yongzheng, but just someone with a similar surname; to his surprise, the prison official Yoshiko Inamura (Feng Wenjuan) gives him a new lease of life by assigning him to distribute the daily rations of food and apples to his fellow inmates, as well as take up janitorial duties along the facility’s corridors.
That privilege allows Wang to see firsthand the atrocities being committed at the facility, what with all sorts of experiments being conducted on its inmates. It is pretty gruesome stuff we warn you, including ripping the skin off arms, frozen arms being chopped off, gassing, electrocution, organs being cut out and left hanging, and last but not least, plague-infested fleas and rats.
Inspired by his fellow cell mate Du Cunshan (Wang Zhiwen), Wang musters his courage to devise a plan to break out his fellow inmates during the celebration of the Yamakasa Festival. Without giving away too much, let’s just say that it doesn’t go well for Wang, Du as well as their other cellmates Sun Mingliang (Du Ziye) and Gu Boxuan (Li Naiwen); even so, Wang’s actions turn him into an unexpected hero amongst his fellow inmates, so much so that he eventually lives up to the name of Wang Yongzheng.
If it isn’t obvious, Wang is a fictional character, created by Zhao and his co-writer Liu Heng for the sake of establishing a narrative arc for their movie. It is fortunate that they were able to convince veteran actor Jiang Wu to headline the movie, because he brings more gravitas than the role in fact deserves; like he did in ‘Let the Bullets Fly’, Jiang proves adept at juggling both comedy and pathos, and injects just the right dose of both to avoid turning Wang into a caricature.
The same however cannot be said of the movie, which often struggles to find the right tone. Is it meant to be a tragicomedy? Or a sober reminder of one of the darkest periods of the Japanese aggression? Perhaps in order not to come off too similar with other such historical epics, ‘731’ avoids being a straightforward portrayal but rather a stylised account of what happened. And perhaps because it had to appease the censors, Zhao’s true vision had ended up being diluted and diminished into something that never quite manages to find the right chord.
And that is ultimately what bedevils ‘731’, which as important as its subject matter is, comes off too artificial, embellished and trivial to make much of an impression. It is also not biting enough to be satire, and leans at times too heavily on gratuitous scenes of gore and violence in order to shock and awe. ‘731’ ends up being a Frankenstein of a movie, and frankly a frustrating watch that isn’t as terrible as some have proclaimed it to be, but nowhere near the blockbuster it promised to deliver.
Movie Rating:
(A stylised account of one of the darkest chapters of the Japanese aggression, '731' doesn't do justice to history nor to the artistic license that director Zhao Linshan hopes his audience will extend to this historical drama)
Review by Gabriel Chong
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SCARLETT JOHANSSON AND HER CLONES FRONT PRADA CAMPAIGNPosted on 20 Sep 2025 |
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