Should You Watch... KUMANTHONG 2 JACKPOT ISLAND? A ridiculously unnecessary sequel (Vietnam)

Just to prove it has tenuous links to the previous film, this movie picks up after the conclusion of the first movie. Ffresh after killing her murderous husband, A now pregnant Soi and her dad board a boat to an island to start a new life.

But desperate for her children to see the face of their father, she starts to practice black magic howver is stopped by her father. But not soon enough, as it unleashes a new, terrible curse on the island.

Fast forward around 30 years later, and a group of friends lead by a woman with a severe leg injury, her adopted sister, her boyfriend, a magician and two travel guides/Instagram streamer idiots head to the island for her birthday.

Lo and behold, things start to happen on this cursed island. Visions are experienced, death occurs, the truth is revealed and more weak links to the first movie are shoehorned in to remind you that there is a better movie out there you should be watching

MY THOUGHTS

Where do you start with this disaster?

Firstly the first movie didn’t need a sequel, since it was based on a real event. So making it a sequel is shoehorning characters into an original story

That’s what this is – this is a modern style horror movie about annoying people who film everything they do. Luckily its not found footage

Watch the video for my full review

DETAILS

Genre Horror Thriller
Director Lê Bình Giang
Starring Tran Nghia, Sam
Original Title Đảo Độc Đắc - Tử Mẫu Thiên Linh Cái
Alternative Title Jackpot Island: Kumanthong Returns
Country of Origin Vietnam
Release Date December 12 2022

Should You Watch... SAKRA? Donnie Yen's First Movie of 2023 - Is It Any Good? (Hong Kong) 天龍八部之喬峰傳

A series of high profile murders occur where clan leader Kiu Feng seems to be the main culprit. Desperate to clear his name and prove he is innocent, he leaves his clan – well more like is he forced out of the position – and comes across a face-changing thief called Zhu.

She gets critically injured while Kiu Feng is fighting, and he vows to take her to a medical practitioner. At the same time he makes a promise to her to reunite her with her family.

But the clans and masters keep hunting down Kiu Feng as they discover his blood family are actual their mortal enemies, which leads to a showdown with both the people who killed Kiu Feng’s parents and the people who set him up.

MY THOUGHTS

To be honest I don’t know if I have captured the story correctly as I’ve never seen the original movies or series, nor have I read the book, so I went into this one completely fresh in the story department

But one thing I am is a fan of Donnie Yen movies – especially more of his mid naughties content as that’s when I really got into his movies with the first Ip Man movies.

I’ve missed a lot of his pre-Ip Man movies, which means I’ve missed a lot of his more fantasy and wuxia style flicks.

However, I know a bad movie when I see it, and quite frankly this one is terrible.

If I was to try and put my finger on what was bad, unfortunately it all comes back to one thing – Donnie Yen. 

Watch the video for my full review

DETAILS

Genre Wuxia Action
Director Wai-Man Cheng, Donnie Yen
Starring Donnie Yen, Cya Liu, Kara Hui
Original Title 天龙八部之乔峰传
Alternative Title Demi Gods and Semi Devils
Country of Origin Hong Kong
Release Date January 19 2023 (Hong Kong), January 16 2023 (Malaysia)

Should You Watch... JAILANGKUNG SANDEKALA? Kimo Stamboel's Creepy Jungle Spirit Doll Spin-off!

A family on a road trip stops by a picturesque lake to take a rest when their youngest child, Kinan, mysteriously goes missing after he interacts with a strange looking doll.

With the help of the local police, a search team looks for him, but Sandra, his mother, and Niki, his step-sister, start to experience supernatural incidents after Niki retrieves the same doll.

Alongside the police chief’s nephew Faisal, Niki investigates the parallel’s between Kinan’s disappearance and the cases of other missing children until she opens up a portal belonging to the spirit who is responsible.

MY THOUGHTS

Going into this movie with the understand that Kimo Stamboel is the director, one half of the famous Mo Brothers duo, was enough to get my attention. I loved his previous film Macabre, so my expectation was hoping it would something closer to that than his other 2022 film Ivanna.

This movie is a spin-off of the previous Jailangkung films, in where a doll is used as a catalyst to call the spirit of a departed loved one. Or in this movie, it’s also used as a lure to capture unsuspecting young children.

Being set in the forest, the movie oozes atmosphere. From the heavy rains to the mould-soaked interiors of the house, there is an immense feeling of dread throughout the film, intensified by brief horror scenes involving bodies with twisted necks. These bits are quite hair raising.

Watch the video for my full review

DETAILS

Genre Supernatural Horror
Director Kimo Stamboel
Starring Syifa Hadju, Dwi Sasono, Titi Kamal
Original Title Jailangkung Sandekala
Country of Origin Indonesia
Release Date September 22 2023

Should You Watch... THE WANDERING EARTH 2? Wu Jing and Andy Lau Are Saving The Earth 流浪地球2

As humanity faces the end of its existence due to the death of the sun, a plan is enacted that will save the planet – the Wandering Earth project, which involves moving the moon out of Earth gravitational pull and then, using 10,000 thrusters, push Earth out of orbit and into a new Solar System.

At the same time this project is occurring, an alternative metaverse project dubbed “The Digital Life” is being developed, in where all human consciousness is uploaded into a server where a digital instance of that person will live forever.

We follow three main story arcs – Liu Peiqiang from the first movie, who is an acclaimed astronaut working on the Wandering Earth project, Tu Hengyu played by Andy Lau who is a researcher for the Digital Life project who faces a moral dilemma in trying to preserve the memory of his dead daughter Yaya, and Zhou Zhezhi and his assistance Xiaoyi, who are the Chinese representatives in the United Earth Government forum who fight to ensure the success of the Wandering Earth project.

The movie follows the two or so decades before the commencement of the first movie, leading up to the construction of the Earth Engines, the development of the sophisticated AI that runs everything, the construction of the Underground cities and all the terrorist disasters that occur before the Wandering Earth project is enacted. 

MY THOUGHTS

The first thing you’re going to want to know is if this is a good film? Well it is, but it does come with a few massive caveats. For full enjoyment, this movie should really be experienced in the cinema on a giant screen. Like the first film, watching at home on a TV – regardless of the size – won’t do any justice to the film.

The movie is an utter spectacle, make no mistake about that. Cohesion of the story line and quite a lot of logic are put on the back foot, as action set pieces, explosions and lots of quick science adjacent talk take place to bamboozle the audience. 

This movie really does put the “fiction” in the genre “science fiction”. But then the idea of moving the Earth out of orbit using thrusters powered by a finite number for rocks for 2500 years would always borderline on the more fantastical part of science fiction. This is pure sci-fi, so if you’re a junkie for this style, then this movie has you covered.

If it could be likened to anything, perhaps shades of Day After Tomorrow and other big Hollywood environmental disaster blockbusters of the early naughties are the closest similarities. Since Hollywood stopped making movies like that, it good to see someone else take over. 

Watch the video for my full review

DETAILS

Genre Sci-Fi Action
Director Frant Gwo
Starring Wu Jing, Andy Lau
Original Title 流浪地球2
Country of Origin China
Release Date January 22 2023
Alternative Title The Wandering Earth Ⅱ

2022 Top 10 Highest Grossing Movies At The Box Office

Interested in what the top movies in Asian cinema were in 2022? Check out the three videos below - one for China, one for Korea and the other for Japan.

Admit None! 14 Asian Horror Movies Set In A Cinema!

I love horror movies that are set in cinemas! Or use the cinema as a backdrop. Maybe I am weird - check out my video on the topic and let me know what you think

And which ones you've seen!

Kisaragi Station (REVIEW) Japanese Horror Movie 2022

Long time since I have updated the page, but I have still been working behind the scenes to write and create reviews.

Kisaragi Station was a movie I was interested about, but I made sure I wasn't too excited about it. J-horror has been disappointing the last few years, so I didn't want to be let down.

But this movie was good. How good? Well check out my video review to really see what I thought of it. While you are at it, watch the trailer too!