Ride On
Out in cinemas 13 April (Available at Shaw Theatres)
Stars: Jackie Chan, Liu Haocun, Kevin Guo
Luo (Chan) is an old, over-the-hill stuntman who has fallen upon hard times. At least he still has his trusty horse, Red Hare, for company. Alas, debt collectors threaten to take the horse away and Luo has to reconnect with his estranged daughter, Bao (Liu), to try to salvage the situation with the help of her meek boyfriend, Mickey (Guo). When his fight with the debt collectors is recorded and goes viral on social media, the old man and his horse get enticed back into show business. He then has to choose between his rejuvenated career or his family.
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Jackie Chan: Not yet riding off into the sunset
The action and martial arts superstar has been acting for six decades, will turn 69 this month, and still has several trademark projects in the pipeline.
There’s not a lot more to say about Jackie Chan today, except that he’s still Jackie Chan, albeit somewhat older than most of us remember him.
Even if he can’t outrun Father Time, especially since he has suffered multiple injuries doing his own death-defying stunts for decades, Chan continues to make movies, including those that fuse his love for kung fu and action into his trademark entertainment format.
In a recent interview, he has called making movies “just a part of my daily routine”. Considering the fact that Chan started his career in the 1960s as a child actor, was a stunt performer opposite Bruce Lee, and has had movie credits in every single decade since, this is verifiably true.
The list of his great movies are too many to name, although Drunken Master, Project A, Police Story, Armour of God, Crime Story, and Rumble in the Bronx should always be part of the conversation about which ones were his best.
Approaching the 2000s, Chan started transitioning to Hollywood, where he made broad action comedies such as Rush Hour and Shanghai Noon, and voiced Master Monkey in the Kung Fu Panda animated movies.
In more recent times, Chan has remained prolific, with seven film credits between 2019 and 2021. The Best Picture at the 2023 Academy Awards, Everything Everywhere All at Once, was actually written for Chan, before Michelle Yeoh took on the lead role.
This year alone, Chan has five credits, including his latest action-comedy, Ride On, an underdog story of a stuntman and his horse.
In it, Chan plays Luo, a man estranged from his daughter, who needs her help as he faces crippling debts amid a failing career. Despite having a knee injury, Chan put off surgery in order to complete the film, a testament to his never-say-die spirit still going strong.
The screen legend can next be seen, or rather heard, in the upcoming Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem animated film – voicing Master Splinter, who else – and he has also signed up for the long-awaited sequel, New Police Story 2.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie
Out in cinemas now (Available at Shaw Theatres)
Stars: Chris Pratt, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Day
This new animated fantasy brings to life the beloved characters of the Mario video game franchise, reimagining them for a new generation of fans, 30 years after the last attempt to adapt them for the big screen. Mario (Pratt) and Luigi (Day) are brothers who also work as plumbers with monogrammed caps. Though their temperaments differ, with Mario being the plucky one while Luigi is timid, the siblings will soon have to play important roles as they get caught up in a titanic struggle, with the nefarious Bowser leading an army against Princess Peach (Taylor-Joy) and her Mushroom Kingdom.
Evil Dead Rise
Out in cinemas 20 April (Available at Shaw Theatres)
Stars: Lily Sullivan, Alyssa Sutherland, Morgan Davies
Beth (Sullivan) and her older sister Ellie (Sutherland) have been estranged for some time. After a long journey, Beth visits Ellie, a single mother struggling to raise three kids, in Los Angeles. The reunion takes a nightmarish turn, not because of any usual family drama, but because a mysterious book found in Ellie’s apartment building turns out to be an ancient text, one capable of unleashing demonic forces. As Ellie’s appearance and demeanour start to change, Beth and the children need to fend for themselves in order to stay alive.
Beef
Out now, Netflix
Stars: Steven Yeun, Ali Wong, Joseph Lee
Two strangers facing a crossroads in life become adversaries after nearly getting into a car accident. Each facing their own demons after their lives haven’t turned out as they had hoped, Amy (Wong) and Danny (Yeun) share a few things in common. They both have short tempers, they both have reached breaking point and after a fleeting road rage incident, where he nearly backs his car into hers, they both refuse to back down. Theirs is a game of one-upmanship that affects their families, the authorities and anyone who gets in their way.
Dead Ringers
Out 21 April, Prime Video
Stars: Rachel Weisz, Britne Oldford, Poppy Liu
Elliot and Beverly (both played by Weisz) are twins. The sisters pursue identical professional interests and become gynaecologists. While they both appear to be the other’s mirror image – dead ringers, if you will – their personalities are not quite the same. One is more confident, while the other seems more shy. Together, they plan to set up a birthing centre, one that would challenge the old ways and bring women’s health forward. However, their methods revolve around not only their expertise, but also a radical new approach that tests ethical boundaries.
Peter Pan & Wendy
Out 28 April, Disney+
Stars: Jude Law, Alexander Molony, Ever Anderson
There are lost boys, lost girls and a boy who refuses to grow up. There’s also an evil pirate who’s missing a hand. Throw in a little fairy dust and you have a familiar tale that has been told on both stage and screen. Wendy (Anderson) and her brothers live in England and are visited by a strange boy, Peter Pan (Molony), who wants to take them to a place called Neverland. With a leap of faith, and a little magic, the new friends make the whimsical journey successfully, but attract the attention of the pirate, Captain Hook (Law), who is Pan’s nemesis.
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