Shanghai (2010)

Yes, it's another director trying to remake Casablanca in an Asian locale - this time, Shanghai.

John Cussack plays Boggie's role. Everyone else (Gong Li, Ken Watanabe, Chow Yun-fatt) seems to be in just for the stunt casting and scenery chewing.

Will this effort be doomed to failure like most other adaptations and reworkings of Casblanca?

Read my full review at Fridae, first published on 30 June 2010.

Repo men (2010)

A satire that never really finds its own voice, Repo Men takes the premise of the organ donor sketch from Monty Python and the Meaning of Life and marries it to The Corporation and Logan's Run.

You're likely to be disappointed as Repo Men will remind you of these far better films, while not surpassing them in the least.


Read my full review at Fridae, first published on 30 June 2010.

9 temples (9 วัด) (2010)

In The Amazing Race of Thai horror film, our protagonists must visit 9 temples over a weekend in order to thwart a karmic curse.

Despite the comic potential of this premise, the film isn't played for laughs.

You may however appreciate the beautiful cinematography of director Saranyoo Jirelak, sometimes assistant director to the much more famous Wisit Sasanatieng (Tears of the black tiger, Citizen dog).


Read my full review at Fridae, first published on 30 June 2010.

The legend is born: Ip Man (叶问前傳) (2010)

Sequelitis strikes as Hong Kong's film industry struggles to churn out Ip Man biopics for a resurgent Chinese audience!

This time round, we learn that before his WW2 experience provided the basis of Fists of Fury, his life as a student in a martial arts school was a rerun of the same thing.


Read my full review at Fridae, first published on 23 June 2010.

Knight and Day (2010)

Romcom? Spy thriller? An espionage parody?

Knight and Day is all 3 at the same time when a top espionage agent snaps and starts to behave like a spy in a spy movie.

Tom Cruise is the spy who thinks he's a spy. Cameron Diaz is his abductee and romantic interest. Both don't fare well  under the spotlight of modern high definition cameras.


Read my full review at Fridae, first published on 23 June 2010.

She's out of my league (2010)

A departure from the raunchy romcoms of Judd Apatow, She's out of my league is an almost old-fashioned romantic comedy with fantasist ideals - with genders reversed as it's now the unassuming boy next door who gets his well-deserved Princess.


Read my full review at Fridae, first published on 16 June 2010.

The Karate Kid (2010)

Surprisingly superior to the original, 2010's The Karate Kid retreads the old ground of coming of age of a cultural outsider, his initiation into the responsibilities of adulthood via the philosophy and discipline of martial arts, and his bonding with a much older father figure.

It goes on to add, in its favour, an emotionally realism as it explores the themes of cultural isolation, bullying, and friendship.


Read my full review at Fridae, first published on 9 June 2010.

Baarìa (2009)

Mining his hometown for inspiration, the director of Cinema Paradiso delivers a most depressing film where three generations of a peasant family endure the bullying and depredation of landlords, industrialists, politicians, and soldiers.

It's a Grand Narrative as seen from the eyes of the little people.


Read my full review at Fridae, first published on 9 June 2010.

The A-team (2010)

Explosions, madcap capers, daring escapes, and a plan coming together...

The 2010 reboot of the A-Team changes its conceptual base from The Dirty Dozen, The Magnificent Seven, and Mission Impossible to the modern Ocean's series.


Find out what this does to the entire film in my full review at Fridae, first published on 9 June 2010.

Killers (2010)

The married couple with a deadly secret between them.

First, it was True Lies. Then it was Spy Kids. Now, we have Killers.

If Ashton Kutcher-exploitation doesn't work, does this mean we can stick a fork in the premise?

Read my full review at Fridae, first published on 4 June 2010.

About her brother (おとうと) (2010)

"The bonds of family bind both ways; they bind us up, support us, help us, and they are also a bond from which it is difficult, perhaps impossible to extricate oneself..."

About her brother examines, without resorting to melodrama or excess, or trite sentimentality, the relations between one disreputable person and his family.


Read my full review at Fridae, first published on 2 June 2010.