Director : Prachya Pinkaew
Cast : Tony Jaa, Petchtai Wongkamlao, Pumwaree Yodkamol, Suchao Pongwilai, Wannakit Sirioput and Chumphorn Tepphithak

Synopsis
Booting lives in a small and peaceful village. One day a sacred Buddha statuette called Ong Bak is stolen from the village by a immoral businessman who sells it for exorbitant profits. It soon becomes the task of a young man, Ting to track the thief down to Bangkok voluntarily and reclaim the religious treasure.

Review
by Edward Tang

Tony Jaa. He’s a guy who has already reached acclaim with his first film, just like Bruce Lee did, what 35 years ago? Jaa’s skills outweighs his charisma as he is presented in his first feature film, Ong-Bak. It’s hard to live up to the hype this film has on it’s back, but it delivers every single moment of such. From the moment I saw Tony Jaa fight, I was awe struck on how well done these fights were, especially considering the idea of good action films hadn’t hit me in the land of Thailand. But what story was there is this film?

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Director : Tanit Jitnukul
Cast :  Voravit Kawepand, Jaran Ngamdee and Sririwat Chevasud

Synopsis
Sema, the son of a swordsmith, has just come back home from a sword fighting training institute. With his strong sword skills, he’s made a sword trainer in the household of Khun Ram. There, he met beautiful Rerai, daughter of Khun Ram and they felt for each other. Unfortunately, she’s already been engaged to Moo Khan against her own will. However, Sema and his company are mistakenly recognized as rebels and they had to flee a guerrilla band. Then he heard that Burmese had been rallying a large war, he rushed to the war scene and he couldn’t stand the sight of Thai soldiers being slaughtered. He then chopped off the head of Burmese General. Sema finally gained back his reputation, but he still had to fight for his own love.

Review
by Edward Tang

“Sema” is one of those films you pick up because of the box art. Noting that it reads on the cover “An epic action adventure from Thailand”, I was intrigued for sure. Then obviously recalling that I just had seen Ong-Bak a week earlier, I was eager to check this bad boy out. What Sema delivers is more or less a watered down epic that doesn’t deliver in the action department. Everything is just very basic, down to the story and the acting. See dumb kid, he wants to be a soldier, he becomes a soldier, he has a boner for the hot chick, they become friends, mean bastard army dude gets angry because he has a boner as well, and then from there things are sketchy. Basically the editing was so bad, I didn’t know what the f*ck was happening most of the time, but I still felt that they would deliver on the action side. I’m afraid it didn’t hit up once.

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Province 77 (Thai 2002)

Director : Smith Timsawat
Cast : Prinya Itachai, Matinee Kingpoyom, Erik Markus Schuetz and Pete Tongchua.

Synopsis
A recently immigrated Thai family struggles to survive in Los Angeles’ fast-paced consumerist culture, while still maintaining traditional values. The identity struggle affects Pat, a good boy tempted by a life of crime, and his sister.

Review
by Edward Tang

Well, I truly don’t know where to begin. Province 77 is billed as another version of real GANGSTA life in the likes of Better Luck Tomorrow and Boyz n the Hood. So in other words, sorry to those films for getting an unlucky comparison to a lousy film. Well I was going to try and not insult the film up front, but frankly it stinks of cliched moments and annoying characters that got older as the film went along. Granted, this film is based upon how a Thai family struggles to survive in their new environment but why is that interesting?

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Director : Namchoke Daengput
Cast : Shahkrit Yamnarm, Darawan Wilaingam, Suwannaparp, Suthida Harnwisej, Sattawat Dullayawijitt, Aadchara Luengsawat

Synopsis
In this explosive action thriller from Thailand set in Bangkok’s sizzling Yaowarat Chinatown district, the precarious truce between two mafia gangs. Yaowarat and Pahurad ended in violent gunfights when Kao, one of Pahurad’s hit man killed a Yaowarat member. In retaliation, Yaowarat enlists the help of Saleng, the best hit man in the business, to take Kao out.

Review
by Edward Tang

Hmm. Thailand gets another release via Tai Seng who usually bare bones it up for a decent film. On the cover is a guy holding two pistols ala God of Guns John Woo. I wonder if that interested me? Of course it did. “Yaowarat” tries to be a cool film and edgy, starting off with a gangster boss raping the shit out of one of his girls and follows with one boring film filled with nothing in between. There were some attempts at action, but they looked completely stupid. Take this out for example, one guy has one pistol, against four other guys with pistols. Now, how does this one guy kill two of them and still survive? The action-thriller promised in the synopsis is never really met, and what we are left with is something that resembles a gangster-drama-romance type story. So in the long run, the film isn’t that bad and for the most part I got enough out of it, but the editing and the annoying voice-overs left me wanting to go home.

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Director : Wisit Sasasanatieng
Cast : Stella Malucchi, Chartchai Ngamsan

Synopsis

When Dum, a young peasant boy, falls in love with Rumpoey, the daughter of a wealthy city family, they vow that, whatever happens, they will one day be together…Ten years on, Dum is the notorious gang member “Black Tiger”. When he is commanded to execute police captain Kumjorn, Kumjorn has one last request – that Dum explain to his fiancée how he died. Dum realises that Kumjorn’s fiancée is, in fact, Rumpoey and is unable to ruin what he believes is her happiness. His decision to release Kumjorn is what finally unites the childhood sweethearts.

Review
by Liz Brkljac

This film assaults the eye with stunning colour: Bright pinks, lurid greens, bold yellows, giving it a cartoon like appearance. The characters, drawn large and vibrantly alive. Brightly painted backdrops add to the bright, cartoon like appearance. Even the blood, which there is plenty of, is the reddest you will ever see. An early scene is a shootout, featuring an unlikely, but accurate, shot whose mad trajectory finally reaches its target. There is a pause and the writer asks of the audience …….“Did you catch that? If not we’ll play it again”. His message printed on the screen. It is at this point that you realise that this highly luminescent movie is not going to be your usual run of the mill experience.

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Director : Sananjit Bangsapan
Cast : Chatchai Plengpanit, Saranyoo Wongkrachang, Suntisuk Promsiri, Bongkot Khongmalai

Synopsis
Forsaking his idealist past, Tanthai has become the
Thai underworld’s secret weapon: a remorseless contract killer able to dispatch any target? provided his price is met. But when Beum, a Machiavellian politician, hires
Tanthai to eliminate an upstart drug kingpin threatening Bangkok’s fragile criminal status quot, the lone wolf assassin’s ethical vacuum is inadvertently breached. Caught between rival Triad bosses, mercenary policemen and power hungry parliamentarians, Thailand’s deadliest assassin becomes the country’s most wanted target. As Bangkok boils over into a full-fledged gang war, Tanthai crosses gun barrels with a rival from out of his past and risks everything to answer a conscience he thought he’d long ago erased.

Review
by Edward Tang

II think this film had the potential to be something more than what it turned out to be. It had great cinematography (Considering this is a Thai film, it’s excellent), an interesting cast of characters and some good music. But that’s really it and what truly detracts from these smaller “good” things is the story and how it makes no fucking sense whatsoever. Granted, I didn’t expect a well thought out story but something that was barely adequate would have done well here. There are so many random characters and plot points that really make the film hard to understand: who is who and what their actions actually mean in the long run. Throughout the film I continuously asked my friends who this character was and what he was doing in the story, and they were as dumbfounded as me. I wanted to like this film but I was disappointed in the long run because there really isn’t anything in here that deserves a look.

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Director : Panna Rittikrai
Cast : Suebsak Pansueb , Sasisa Jindamanee , Piyapong Piew On , Noppol Gomarachun , Dan Chupong , Amornthep Waewsang

Synopsis
Deaw (Dan Chupong) is a Special Forces police officer that witnesses his partner and friend murdered when a drugs bust goes terrible wrong. Disheartened by this tragedy, he decides to join his sister and a troupe of elite athletes on a government sponsored charity event set to take place on the Thai/Burmese border.

Everything seems to be going to be going well, and Deaw is once again happy and fulfilled until…

A group guerillas arrived with a nuclear missile takes over the sleepy village, holding it hostage. The ransom they demand is the release of General Yang, one of the worlds most wanted drug lords. The clock is ticking. Can Deaw and the athletes rescue the village from the mercenaries? Can they save Bangkok from the imminent nuclear threat?

Review
by Edward Tang

A group of terrorists take a group of people hostage (Die Hard) and threaten to destroy Thailand (Under Siege) if they don’t release a drug dealer from prison (Air Force One). Born to Fight is the ultimate action movie cliché, right down to the down-on-his-luck asshole cop who happens to be in the area when a bunch of bad guys take it over.

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Director : Ekachai Uekron
Cast : Asanee Suwan, Sorapong Chatree, Orn-Anong Panyawong, Nukkid Boonthong, Sitiporn Niyom, Kyoko Inoue and Keagan Kang.

Synopsis
Based on the real life story of Parinya Charoenphol (Nong Toom), a Muaythai boxer who underwent a sex change operation to become a woman. The movie chronicles her life from a young boy who likes to wear lipstick and wear flowers to her sensational career as kickboxer whose specialty is ancient Muaythai boxing moves which she can execute expertly with grace and finally her confrontation with her own sexuality which led to her sex change op.

Review
by Edward Tang

“He fights like a man so he can become a woman”

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