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SCARLETT JOHANSSON AND HER CLONES FRONT PRADA CAMPAIGNPosted on 20 Sep 2025 |
SYNOPSIS: Stranded in a rainforest, a group of circus performers must evade a monstrous giant snake and a single-minded poacher with a ruthless motive.
MOVIE REVIEW:
Before you catch Jack Black and Paul Rudd in the upcoming Anaconda reboot this Christmas, why not warm up with a direct-to-streaming Chinese remake of the 1997 cult hit? Aptly titled Anaconda: Cursed Jungle, this version puts its own bloody spin on the creature-feature classic.
The screenplay is credited to a writer who goes by the name foxfoxbee best known for Coffin Mountain Ancient Tomb and The Lord of the Monsters and a frequent collaborator of the Xiang brothers, who directed this remake. Don’t worry if you’ve never heard of their work—we hadn’t either.
That said, the script is mostly a backdrop for the Xiang brothers to unleash their violence and mayhem. The setup is simple: a group of circus performers are lured by their shady new boss to a remote location for their acts. To get there, they board a boat helmed by an old captain (Paul Che). Along the way, they rescue a stranded poacher named Jeff (Terence Yin), whose true motive soon emerges: he plans to capture the world’s most valuable anaconda and strike it rich. Easy, right?
Of course, subtle drama isn’t the filmmakers’ intention—this isn’t Jane Austen. They know audiences came for carnage, so the snake attacks begin almost immediately, even in the prologue. Any fleeting attempts at character development like the sleazy new boss flirting with a performer or some half-hearted banter among the troupe are quickly cut short by another round of anaconda assaults.
Terence Yin clearly inherits the role once played by Jon Voight, gleefully hamming it up as a deranged opportunist. The rest of the cast is a mix of fresh or unfamiliar faces, aside from a few recognizable names: Lok Tat-wah as a fake Taoist priest, Paul Che as the grizzled captain and Taiwanese variety show regular Jiu Kong making a cameo as the ringmaster. Taiwanese actress Nita Lei anchors the film as the plucky female lead and while her performance is only serviceable, it at least provides a steady center amid the chaos.
The biggest surprise, however, is the visual effects. Produced by Chinese VFX houses, the CGI snakes look far better than expected outclassing all of the direct-to-video Anaconda sequels and in some moments even rivaling the 1997 original. The Xiang brothers stage several tense, well-executed set pieces including a boat ambush and a handful of rainforest chases that deliver genuine thrills.
In the end, Anaconda: Cursed Jungle is the very definition of a guilty pleasure—a shameless, gleefully gory remake officially backed by Sony Pictures. We can’t believe we’re saying this but it’s actually fun.
MOVIE RATING:
Review by Linus Tee
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BOOK REVIEW #52: HITS, FLOPS AND OTHER ILLUSIONS: MY FORTYSOMETHING YEARS IN HOLLYWOODPosted on 22 Sep 2025 |
SYNOPSIS: Inspired by the provocative real-life story of the visionary founder of online dating platform Bumble, “Swiped” introduces recent college grad Whitney Wolfe, played by Lily James, as she uses extraordinary grit and ingenuity to break into the male-dominated tech industry and launch an innovative, globally lauded dating app (two, actually), paving the way to becoming the youngest female self-made billionaire.
MOVIE REVIEW:
Lily James returns to familiar territory, once again stepping into the shoes of a real-life figure — this time portraying Whitney Wolfe Herd, co-founder of Tinder and the founder of Bumble.
Swiped positions itself as an underdog, female-empowerment story, chronicling Whitney’s uphill battle against the chauvinism of Silicon Valley’s male-dominated tech world circa 2012. While the film highlights how stacked the odds were back then, it stops short of reflecting meaningfully on how much or how little the industry has truly changed since.
The narrative traces Whitney’s early role in developing Tinder, once touted as the world’s most popular dating app. Her relationship with fellow co-founder Justin Mateen (Jackson White) sours and when things turn personal, she’s unceremoniously pushed out of the company by CEO Sean Rad (Ben Schnetzer). Branded with a bad reputation and silenced by an NDA, Whitney seems cornered until Russian venture capitalist Andrey Andreev (Dan Stevens) approaches her with the idea of launching a rival dating app: Bumble.
Clearly modeled after prestige tech dramas like The Social Network (2010), Steve Jobs (2015) and Hulu’s The Dropout (2022), Swiped ticks the right boxes: a true story, a groundbreaking product, a disruptive cultural impact and a strong central figure. Yet despite that setup, the film feels oddly safe and uninspired. Even Whitney’s personal subplot, a romance with a cowboy named Michael comes across as distractingly tacky.
Writer-director Rachel Lee Goldenberg makes a genuine attempt to frame Whitney as a visionary but the portrait never digs deep enough. Beyond her marketing savvy at Tinder and her role in building Bumble with ex-colleagues, audiences leave with little real insight into who Whitney Wolfe Herd is. The film touches on weighty themes but shies away from exploring them with the boldness or urgency they deserve.
Still, Lily James remains a bright spot. Just as she impressed in her transformation as Pamela Anderson, she is compelling here, her charisma keeps the story watchable even when the script falters. Dan Stevens, meanwhile, brings unintentional humor with his exaggerated Russian accent.
Goldenberg may not reach the sharpness of David Fincher or the intensity of Danny Boyle but Swiped is at least a competent effort. It’s decent as a glossy biopic about a tech giant just not as daring or memorable as the woman at its center.
MOVIE RATING:
Review by Linus Tee
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GUCCI UNLEASHES THE TIGERPosted on 24 Sep 2025 |
Genre: Action/Thriller
Director: Tzu-Hsuan Hung
Cast: Austin Lin, Vivian Sung, Wang Po-chieh, Lee-Zen Lee, Yao Yi Ti, Kent Tsai, Frederick Lee
Runtime: 1 hr 58 mins
Rating: NC16 (Some Violence)
Released By: Golden Village
Official Website:
Opening Day: 25 September 2025
Synopsis: Three years ago, during a night of typhoon, bomb disposal expert Song Kang-Ren had acted upon a threat in a cinema bombing. Proceeding without being instructed by commander Li Jie, he went single-handedly to the scene and successfully defused the device. But unknown to him, a second bomb hidden in a nearby department store exploded later on, resulting in mass casualties and over a hundred wounded. Though eulogized as a national hero, the immense guilt drove him to resign, and his wedding ceremony to his fiancée Huang Xin was indefinitely put on hold. Today, three years later, a memorial event reunites the past tragedy participants. Song, Huang Xin, and her mother board a southbound high-speed train—only to be caught in yet another bomb crisis. An explosive has been planted on the train, and with just 96 minutes before it reaches the final station, Song must cooperate with the police to stop disaster from striking once again. As time ticks away, buried truths from three years ago begin to resurface. The choices made back then are revealed to be the catalyst for the current threat. The bomber demands that a long-standing police cover-up is brought to light, and the identity of the actual mastermind slowly comes into focus. Faced with the lives of his family and hundreds of passengers, Song Kang-Ren must confront his ultimate regrets. Willing to sacrifice all that he has, he races against time to prevent another catastrophe—seeking redemption, and a glimmer of hope amidst the chaos.
Movie Review:
Already a box-office hit in Taiwan, 96 Minutes proves that a US$5 million disaster thriller doesn’t need to stick to its title length or real-time storytelling to keep audiences hooked. Why the film isn’t actually 96 minutes long is something you’ll discover along the way.
One of Taiwan’s hottest leading men, Austin Lin, takes on the role of A-Ren, a bomb disposal expert haunted by PTSD after failing to save innocent lives in a shopping mall bombing three years earlier. In the present day, the supposed mastermind believed to have died in that attack resurfaces with a chilling threat: two bullet trains racing from opposite directions are armed with explosives. Among the passengers caught in the crisis are A-Ren himself, his girlfriend Huang Xin (Vivian Sung), his former superior Li (Lee Lee-Zen) and even his mother.
The demand is brutally simple: A-Ren must reveal the truth about the mall bombing from three years ago or hundreds of terrified passengers will pay with their lives.
Billed as Taiwan’s first high-speed rail disaster thriller, 96 Minutes has the spectacle and scale of a Hollywood blockbuster with slick CGI and a pulse-pounding setup. For the first 30 minutes, it delivers exactly what it promises—a white-knuckle race against time, reminiscent of Speed (1994). How can A-Ren and Li possibly defuse a bomb on a bullet train that can’t be stopped without triggering catastrophe?
Unfortunately, the momentum begins to sputter as more characters enter the picture. A disgraced physics tutor, Liu Kai (Wang Po-chieh), whose family ties somehow intersect with the crisis, complicates matters further. Li carries secrets of his own, while A-Ren wrestles with crushing survivor’s guilt. And, as with most disaster thrillers, a handful of selfish and frustrating passengers are thrown in to test everyone’s patience including the audience’s.
At its core, 96 Minutes isn’t just about survival; it’s about confronting the ghosts of the past and navigating impossible moral dilemmas. Director and co-writer Hung Tzu-hsuan Kong deserves credit for avoiding a purely formulaic approach but the heavy emphasis on tears, guilt, and emotional baggage often weighs down what should have been a sharper, tighter thriller.
By the time the film reaches its climax, it feels at least 20 minutes too long—you may find yourself glancing at your watch, wondering whether the ordeal will, in fact, last 96 minutes or more. Still, there are bright spots: it’s refreshing to see Austin Lin and Vivian Sung step out of their usual comfort zones to play grittier, tougher roles and keen-eyed viewers may recognize Frederick Lee among the trapped passengers. Who he plays, though, is best left for you to discover in theaters.
Movie Rating:
(While it falters in sustaining tension over its two-hour runtime, 96 Minutes redeems itself with polished production values and a bold attempt to expand Taiwan’s genre filmmaking)
Review by Linus Tee
Genre: Action
Director: Dante Lam
Cast: Huang Xuan, Yu Shi, Zhang Hanyu, Duan Yihong
Runtime: 2 hr 10 mins
Rating: NC16 (Violence)
Released By: GV
Official Website:
Opening Day: 11 September 2025
Synopsis: OPERATION HADAL is the big budget sequel to the Chinese action blockbuster, OPERATION RED SEA.
An offshore platform, Deep Blue 3, located in Chinese territorial waters, has been forcibly occupied by mercenaries. In response, the Chinese Navy sets sail to repel the invaders, while the Jiao Long commando team fights bravely to reclaim control of the platform. As this high-stakes deep-sea battle unfolds, the mercenaries' conspiracy is gradually revealed, presenting the Chinese Navy with unprecedented challenges.
Movie Review:
Few Hong Kong directors can do adrenaline-pumping spectacle like Dante Lam, and it is no wonder after a track record of blockbuster hits like ‘Operation Mekong’, ‘Operation Red Sea’ and ‘The Rescue’ that he would be given a whopping RMB$1 billion to devise his own sequel to ‘Operation Red Sea’.
Never mind if you did not see its gritty, intense and frankly very well-done predecessor, ‘Operation Hadal’ is pretty much a standalone follow-up, even as it sees the return of the elite Jiaolong (a.k.a. Sea Dragon) unit. This time though, they have clearly been given a tech refresh, seeing as how in the opening sequence they are seen flying across the ocean using jetpacks to mount a surprise counter-attack on a group of foreign mercenaries who have seized a Chinese oil rig.
It is also the first sign that ‘Operation Hadal’ is less grounded than ‘Operation Red Sea’, and indeed, Lam, with his ‘The Rescue’ screenwriter Zhi Yaqing, spins a wholly fictional tale about an unexpected nuclear threat by a rogue military commander of the state of Siekerman. In addition to having surreptitiously established two nuclear armed bases as well as a number of mid-sized nuclear bombs atop an underwater volcanic fault, the state of Siekerman also possess advanced submarine capabilities, supersonic missiles and – get this – mechanical combat dogs.
Like we said, Lam isn’t after realism in his latest show of bombast; instead, for a good two-and-a-half hours, he aims to numb his audience’s senses with non-stop, frenetic action. Whether is it submarine versus submarine combat, or Jiaolongs versus the Siekerman military on the underwater Sun and Moon bases (I kid you not), Lam shows no restraint unleashing gunfight after gunfight, explosion after explosion, so much so that before the first half-hour is over, you’ll be exhausted from the sheer onscreen mayhem.
Lam also lets loose his worst excesses, throwing any hint of nuance far out the window. Barely bothering to justify the East versus West contrast, Lam paints the Siekermans as a bunch of American-accented terrorists who have no qualms to unleash nuclear havoc upon the world. Neither too does he hold back portraying the patriotic Jiaolongs as the saviours of the day, and if you might believe him, the guardians of world peace, complete with shamelessly jingoistic shots and proclamations.
Even more egregious is his sheer unwillingness to give any shade of character to the Jiaolongs. Besides Zhang Hanyu as the fearless commander of the PLA Navy’s state-of-the-art Longjing submarine, as well as a special appearance by Duan Yihong as the commander’s superior, the rest of the Jiaolongs are indistinguishable from each other , sans maybe for a magic-eared sonar specialist, whom in the film’s most deus-ex-machina moment is able to differentiate the sound of a decoy from that of the whirring of a submarine engine. Lam has assembled a credible ensemble of young actors to play the Jiaolongs, but hasn’t bothered to lend any sufficient definition to any of their characters to make much of an impression.
What Lam succeeds in doing is amping up the military action to unprecedented proportions in Chinese cinema – oh yes, even more than before, Lam has thrown aside all inhibitions to revel in his biggest budget yet and his most extensive array of PLA hardware. To be sure, ‘Operation Hadal’ isn’t unwatchable if you’re a hardcore action junkie; but everyone else looking for anything more will be sorely disappointed that there is hardly anything beneath the metal, the posturing, and the sensory overload.
Movie Rating:
(All empty bombast and nothing more, this follow-up to 'Operation Red Sea' is a tedious and frustrating watch)
Review by Gabriel Chong
Genre: Romance/Drama
Director: Kogonada
Cast: Margot Robbie, Colin Farrell, Kevin Kline, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Sarah Gadon, Billy Magnussen, Jodie Turner-Smith
Runtime: 1 hr 49 mins
Rating: PG13 (Coarse Language)
Released By: Sony Pictures
Official Website:
Opening Day: 18 September 2025
Synopsis: Some doors bring you to your past. Some doors lead you to your future. And some doors change everything. Sarah (Margot Robbie) and David (Colin Farrell) are single strangers who meet at a mutual friend’s wedding and soon, through a surprising twist of fate, find themselves on A Big Bold Beautiful Journey – a funny, fantastical, sweeping adventure together where they get to re-live important moments from their respective pasts, illuminating how they got to where they are in the present…and possibly getting a chance to alter their futures.
Movie Review:
Do you want to embark on this big, bold, and beautiful journey?
Trust us, you’ll probably regret it after spending 109 minutes with Colin Farrell’s David and Margot Robbie’s Sarah.
Two strangers, David and Sarah, first meet at a mutual friend’s wedding and then again at a cheeseburger joint, where Sarah’s car won’t start in the parking lot. David offers her a ride, and their chance encounter evolves into a surreal journey. Guided by a GPS robot (Jodie Turner-Smith), they stumble upon a series of mysterious doors that transport them to pivotal moments in their past. David is taken back to his high school play, where he’s rejected by his crush while Sarah finds herself revisiting her favorite art museum.
At first, A Big, Bold and Beautiful Journey seems like it might be a whimsical, time-traveling adventure something akin to a live-action Studio Ghibli film. The quirky visual effects, stylized vignettes, and production design certainly set the stage. Even the perpetual rainfall against mismatched bursts of sunshine feels like a bold, fantastical flourish.
But the script, written by Seth Reiss, quickly falters. Both David and Sarah are broken individuals clearly destined for each other yet paralyzed by fear of intimacy. Their odyssey is less a grand adventure and more a meandering therapy session, dragging the audience through their unresolved regrets in order to justify their future together.
Sarah carries guilt for not being at her dying mother’s bedside and for abandoning a loving boyfriend. David wrestles with the fallout of breaking off an engagement. These could have been poignant explorations of grief and loss but the narrative keeps us emotionally distant. Scenes, like David comforting his own father at a hospital over the premature birth of his son, feel oddly disconnected and unnecessary.
The film also squanders its strongest moments. An early sequence at a quirky car rental agency run by Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Kevin Kline is hilarious and sets up expectations for an eccentric, genre-bending adventure. Instead, the movie serves up no less than five repetitive, talk-heavy “healing” sessions between David and Sarah, robbing the story of momentum and charm.
Kogonada, a filmmaker celebrated for his meditative indie style, struggles with the demands of his first studio feature. While the visuals are undeniably striking, they can’t rescue the sluggish pacing or emotionally flat script. Even Colin Farrell, usually magnetic, seems adrift while Margot Robbie’s attempt at a post-Barbie dramatic turn lands with a thud. Not even Ghibli’s frequent collaborator Joe Hisaishi’s score manages to stir the imagination.
In the end, A Big, Bold and Beautiful Journey lives up to only two of its promises: it’s big and bold. Beautiful? Hardly. Moving? Not at all.
Movie Rating:
(We doubt you’ll want to embark on this big, bold and ultimately boring journey)
Review by Linus Tee
Genre: HorrorThriller
Director: Scott Derrickson
Cast: Ethan Hawke, Mason Thames, Madeleine McGraw, Demián Bichir, Arianna Rivas, Miguel Mora, Jeremy Davies, Maev Beaty, Graham Abbey
Runtime: 1 hr 54 mins
Rating: M18 (Violence and Gore)
Released By: UIP
Official Website:
Opening Day: 16 October 2025
Synopsis: Four years ago, 13-year-old Finn killed his abductor and escaped, becoming the sole survivor of The Grabber. But true evil transcends death … and the phone is ringing again. Four-time Academy Award® nominee Ethan Hawke returns to the most sinister role of his career as The Grabber seeks vengeance on Finn (Mason Thames) from beyond the grave by menacing Finn’s younger sister, Gwen (Madeleine McGraw). As Finn, now 17, struggles with life after his captivity, the headstrong 15-year-old Gwen begins receiving calls in her dreams from the black phone and seeing disturbing visions of three boys being stalked at a winter camp known as Alpine Lake. Determined to solve the mystery and end the torment for both her and her brother, Gwen persuades Finn to visit the camp during a winter storm. There, she uncovers a shattering intersection between The Grabber and her own family’s history. Together, she and Finn must confront a killer who has grown more powerful in death and more significant to them than either could imagine.
Movie Review:
COMING SOON
Movie Rating:
SYNOPSIS: An expert thief rolls out the biggest heist of his life in Play Dirty, an action-packed thriller from director Shane Black. Parker (Mark Wahlberg), along with Grofield (LaKeith Stanfield), Zen (Rosa Salazar) and a skilled crew, stumble onto a score that pits them against the New York mob in this gritty, clever caper.
MOVIE REVIEW:
Shane Black (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, The Nice Guys) returns to familiar territory after a seven-year hiatus and, of course, after helming the ill-fated Predator reboot in 2018.
Co-written and directed by Black, Play Dirty is adapted from the novels of the late Edgar Award winner Donald E. Westlake. Mark Wahlberg leads as Parker, a professional thief specializing in high-stakes, high-profit crimes.
At its core, Play Dirty is pulp novel material dressed up in a contemporary New York setting. The story follows Parker after he’s betrayed by Zen (Rosa Salazar), a member of his crew, during a robbery. Despite the bad blood, he’s forced to team up with her again—this time with a fresh crew to steal sunken treasure belonging to a mob syndicate known as “The Outfit.” Their ruthless boss, Lozini (Tony Shalhoub), has history with Parker, who’s technically banned from even setting foot in New York.
Naturally, Parker being Parker, he assembles his usual allies: Grofield (LaKeith Stanfield), Ed (Keegan-Michael Key), Ed’s wife Brenda (Claire Lovering) and a new getaway driver, Stan (Chai Hansen). As expected, the heist doesn’t exactly go according to plan.
Black’s signature mix of action, violence, and comedy keeps the film breezy for its two-hour-plus runtime. Some of the humor lands, some falls flat particularly with Stanfield’s Grofield, who shoulders most of the comic relief. The biggest laughs, however, come from Lozini’s perpetually unlucky henchman Kincaid (Nat Wolff), who suffers the brunt of Parker’s antics.
The set pieces are pure chaos: a messy, CGI-heavy car chase at a horse racing track early on and a thunderous train derailment sequence near the finale. The film is crammed with shootouts, chases and betrayals at every turn. Unfortunately, the relentless noise doesn’t disguise a muddled, twist-heavy narrative that feels more exhausting than thrilling.
As for Wahlberg, he’s essentially on autopilot. His Parker is indistinguishable from Spencer in Spencer Confidential (2020) leaving you wondering whether he’s supposed to be a master thief or just another tough ex-cop.
Ultimately, Play Dirty feels less like peak Shane Black and more like a director-for-hire job. It’s not his sharpest work, but if you’re looking for a streaming title filled with nonstop, over-the-top action and don’t mind a bit of narrative mess, it may scratch the itch.
MOVIE RATING:
Review by Linus Tee
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