CNY Movies 2023: What Else To Watch Besides Jack Neo’s The King Of Musang King
The King of Musang King (opens Jan 21)
Jack Neo pulls a double shift as writer/director and actor in his latest, a middle-age love story between two durian farmers Mao Sha (Neo) and Mei Lian (Yeo Yann Yann). But their budding romance hits a bump when Mei Lian’s estranged hubby returns.
SAY HUAT? This is a tough call; flip a coin to decide. Shoot, all this talk about durians is making me hungry.
Sakra (now showing)
Donnie Yen battles cancel culture — and a confusing conspiracy — in his adaptation of Louis Cha’s wuxia classic Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils that’s more Wong Jing (he’s the co-producer) than Tsui Hark. Oops.
SAY HUAT? If it’s Donnie Yen fighting you want to see, I'm betting my ang bao money on John Wick: Chapter 4, in cinemas on March 23.
What! The Heist (opens Jan 19)
Mark Lee’s other CNY offering sees him as an also-ran actor (and one-time Golden Horse Award contender…just like Lee!) recruited by a crime syndicate (led by Henry Thia; he's in The King of Musang King too) to pull off a $100 million lottery scam.
SAY HUAT? At 104 minutes, it’s the shortest Asian title here. For that reason, it’s already a winner. Huat ah!
Operation Fortune: Ruse De Guere (opens Jan 19)
Guy Ritchie enlists frequent collaborator Jason Statham to lead a team of spies — Audrey Plaza, Josh Hartnett, Cary Elwes, and Bugzy Malone — to steal a WMD from Hugh Grant’s billionaire arms broker. Think Ocean’s Eleven meets Snatch.
SAY HUAT? A CNY movie with ‘fortune’ in the title. What’s not to like?
Plane (opens Jan 19)
Gerard Butler plays a Singapore-based(!) pilot forced to land his passenger aircraft on militia-occupied territory during a terrible storm. Good thing he used to fly with the RAF. That, and he has Mike Colter (Luke Cage) watching his six.
SAY HUAT? Who’s in the mood to play a game of ‘F*** Off’ with Gerard Butler? Good luck.
Babylon (opens Jan 19)
There’s stuff for grown-ups, too! Oscar-winner Damien Chazelle’s follow-up to First Man is a homage to the cesspool that’s 1920s Hollywood, as seen through the eyes of a lowly Mexican-American film assistant (Diego Calva). The star-studded, three-hour R21 spectacle stars Brad Pitt, Margot Kidder, Tobey Maguire, Jovan Adepo, and Olivia Wilde.
SAY HUAT? Did someone order some Oscar bait?
Mummies (opens Jan 19)
There’s stuff for kids, too. This animated feature — from Spanish production house 4 Cats Pictures — follows three mummies who travel through a portal to present-day London in search of a family heirloom. Featuring the voices of Joe Thomas, Sean Bean, and Hugh Bonneville.
SAY HUAT? Mummy. Money. Sounds good to us. Where do we sign up?
Jung_E (on Netflix Jan 20)
Here’s something cheery (not!) from South Korea: a post-apocalyptic story of an AI scientist (Kang Soo-Youn) who plans to end a civil war by cloning the brain of a heroic soldier — her mother (Kim Hyun-Joo). Sounds like The Tomorrow War meets Ghost in the Shell.
SAY HUAT? It’s from Yeon Sang-Ho, the director of Train to Busan. Enough said.
Devotion (on Netflix Jan 20)
True story of two US Navy fighter pilots — Jesse Brown (soon-to-be-MCU-villain Jonathan Majors), the first Black aviator in the US Navy history, and his wingman, Tom Hudner (Top Gun : Maverick’s Glen Powell) — during the Korean War.
SAY HUAT! For those who can’t get enough of Top Gun: Maverick…
A Guilty Conscience (opens Jan 21)
Hong Kong comedian Dayo Wong shows off his serious side as a barrister trying to redeem himself after messing up a child abuse case that landed his innocent client in prison for 17 years.
SAY HUAT! A timely movie to make us reflect on our life?
The Wandering Earth II (opens Jan 22)
More doomsday stuff. Wu Jing and Andy Lau star in the prequel to the 2019 sci-fi epic — both based on a novel by Hugo Award-winning author Liu Cixin — that follows the struggle to build huge propulsion engines on Earth’s surface to help mankind find a new home.
SAY HUAT? This a go-for-broke blockbuster, with bonkers SPFX, that needs to be experienced on the big screen. The problem is its near three-hour runtime. Then again, if you survive Avatar: The Way of Water, this should be nothing, right?
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