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Rob N Roll: Aaron Kwok, Lam Ka-tung ham it up in darkly comic crime drama

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Rob N Roll: Aaron Kwok, Lam Ka-tung ham it up in darkly comic crime drama

3.5/5 stars

The criss-crossing paths of several robbers and robbers-to-be form the darkly comic premise of Rob N Roll, a character-driven crime drama that lives on the melodramatic flourish of its trio of lead actors, Aaron Kwok Fu-shing, Lam Ka-tung and Richie Jen Hsien-chi.

Lam plays Robby, a downtrodden taxi driver who is being driven over the edge by the constant discord at home caused by his elderly mother – his pregnant wife longs to move out of their cramped flat. Meanwhile, his father has been taking shelter, without paying, in the nursing home run by Robby’s buddy, Fai (Jen).

The latter isn’t doing any better. A widower with a young daughter to provide for, Fai is heavily in debt and struggles to keep his business afloat – not that he runs the home purely for the money. Somehow this kind-hearted man gets the idea of committing a robbery.

Before they can secure a gun, however, the two middle-aged losers inadvertently become involved in the fallout from an armed robbery led by Mui (Kwok), a former pro wrestler and self-proclaimed “tough bandit, not a killer” from a fictional rural town, whose alternately polite and unhinged temperament hides a traumatic past.

Directed by long-time assistant director Albert Mak Kai-kwong from a screenplay he co-scripted, this confidently narrated tale of misfortune and coincidences is diverting to watch, at times even bringing to mind Johnnie To Kei-fung’s twisty capers, but is also far too convoluted to be truly captivating.
Lam Ka-tung (front) and Richie Jen in a still from Rob N Roll.

Not one but two heists take place in Rob N Roll’s first act to set up the ironic sequence of events to come; meanwhile, the bags of money have been swapped, misplaced and stolen so many times through the course of its story that viewers may find it hard to be bothered beyond a certain point.

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This is, ultimately, showtime for the bucktoothed Kwok, who has a field day portraying Mui with his eccentric demeanour. Veterans David Chiang Da-wei, Lam Suet and Michael Wong Man-tak make an impression in gangster roles, but the police characters played by Maggie Cheung Ho-yee and Leung Chung-hang feel perfunctory.

For a film that weaves together its various plot lines so meticulously at first, Rob N Roll has a difficult time tying up the loose ends for its criminal protagonists – a predictable outcome, perhaps, given the restrictions on Hong Kong-mainland film co-productions giving lawbreakers a glorious send-off.

(From left) Lam Ka-tung, Aaron Kwok and Richie Jen in a still from Rob N Roll.

Still, there’s no denying that Mak has come up with an offbeat tragicomedy populated with believably human characters. You may not remember exactly what Robby, Fai and Mui have gone through, but you should certainly be able to recognise the way they talk and behave.

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Movie Reviews

Super Duperr Movie Review: A wild ride filled with laughter and emotion

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Super Duperr Movie Review: A wild ride filled with laughter and emotion

The Times of India

Apr 07, 2026, 3:24 PM IST

3.0

Super Duperr is a riot in all senses of the word. A wild ride filled with laughter and emotion it presents an unusual matchup of traditional and modern values.Rohit (Lalit Prabhakar) and Isha (Vidula Chougule) are a young couple trying to make their mark in the entertainment industry. They take their relationship to the next level and purchase a flat in Mumbai with their savings. It is here that they realise that they have fallen for a scam when the same house is sold to and currently occupied by a rural family. What follows is a series of clashes and learning moments that test the morality of both parties. The story is a fun take on a series of real world scams and as such has a very interesting premise. The Sameer Asha Patil film however chooses to take a detour in favour of certain stretched out gags and slow motion shots. What could have been a deep exploration of the two worlds colliding, ends up being a formulaic checklist of a wedding song, an action sequence and a few slapstick gags. These are passable of course, but the ho-hum nature of the story’s progression feels under utilized. Super Duperr does offer impactful emotional sequences, notably the equation between the parents (Shashank Shende and Nirmiti Sawant) and his eldest son (Hrishikesh Joshi). The music and cinematography are well executed and add abundantly to the viewing experience. Super Duperr set a rich tapestry only to ultimately doodle in a corner. While it could have benefitted from adding more inter-family interactions, it remains a good watch for this weekend.

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Why Critics Despise The Super Mario Galaxy Movie (But Audiences Love It)

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Why Critics Despise The Super Mario Galaxy Movie (But Audiences Love It)

The verdict is in, and critics have widely panned The Super Mario Galaxy Movie while audiences have universally praised the family-friendly sequel. This follow-up to the fan-favorite The Super Mario Bros. Movie has been in theaters for about a week since its debut on April 1, and it has already had the best box office opening in 2026, earning more than $190 million over its 5-day domestic weekend. Worldwide, it has amassed $372 million, making it the fifth largest global opening ever for an animated film. Despite the movie being a massive box office hit, however, the review scores are terribly low for the video game adaptation, and there are several reasons why.

Fans vs. critics on The Super Mario Galaxy Movie

As of April 6, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie has a mediocre 42% Tomatometer score from a total of 175 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes while holding a fantastic 89% Popcornmeter score from over 5,000 verified user ratings. That’s a stark 47-point difference between critics and users.

A similarly wide disparity can be found on Metacritic as well, where the sequel has a “generally unfavorable” Metascore of a 37 based on 45 reviews, despite it earning a “generally favorable” user score of a 7.9 (basically, a 42-point difference).

This gulf between professional reviews and user reviews for this sequel likely isn’t too surprising by fans of the original 2023 Super Mario Bros. movie. That film earned a 59% Tomatometer but a 95% Popcornmeter on Rotten Tomatoes, and it has “mixed or average” 46 Metascore but a “universal acclaim” user score of 8.1.

To be fair, the range of critic scores for the film is vast on Metacritic, with about seven reviews above a 60 and fifteen reviews below a 40. ComingSoon’s Jonathan Sim give it a “Good” 7 out of 10 rating, noting that “it doesn’t necessarily deepen the emotional or narrative complexity of the franchise, but it refines what worked before amplifies it on a grander scale.” However, many other reviews are far less kind, particularly the 0 out of 5 rating from The Times that calls the film “ugly, overbranded, lifeless digital marketing vomit” and a review from Vulture that says it’s like being “asphyxiated in a ball pit filled with candy.”

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Meanwhile, multiple user reviews on Metacritic are shocked at the reviews. One called the low Metascore “absolutely ridiculous,” while another asked readers to ignore the critics altogether. A different user wrote, “It’s wild to see professional critics giving this a zero. It feels like they’ve never actually picked up a controller.” And to that person’s credit, we did find that a few critics who gave low scores admitting that the film wasn’t meant for them or that they had never played a Mario game before. Indeed, the movie is chock full of Nintendo references and easter eggs, something that Mario fans will appreciate far more than anyone who doesn’t know or care about the difference between a Super Mushroom and a Fire Flower.

More broadly speaking, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie has more than several traits that critics tend to dislike but that audiences enjoy. The first is that it’s a quick-paced, action-packed film, which features a handful of battles with Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, Princess Peach, Toad, Fox McCloud, Bowser, Bowser Jr., and Wart. Another is that it’s a comedic adventure with cartoonish gags that are age-appropriate for kids and humorous to Mario fans who are in on the joke. On top of that, the film is a family-friendly video game adaptation, a genre that doesn’t usually score well from critics. A Minecraft Movie, another box office smash that earned $960 million worldwide (and also starred Jack Black), was equally slammed by critics with a 47% Tomatometer but lauded by audiences with an 84% Popcornmeter.

Taken altogether, the movie was almost made in a lab for reviewers to despise and for audiences to praise as a nostalgic love letter to Nintendo. Regardless, despite how critics feel, they’ll need to brace themselves for more, since the Nintendo Cinematic Universe is looking like it will come sooner than later.

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I Know Exactly How You Die – Review | Indie Slasher | Heaven of Horror

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I Know Exactly How You Die – Review | Indie Slasher | Heaven of Horror

Watch I Know Exactly How I Die on VOD

The director of I Know Exactly How I Die is Alexandra Spieth, who ensures a tight pace and some gorgeous shots. She previously directed Stag and created and starred in the web-series [Blank] My Life. The screenplay comes from Mike Corey, and I do really like the plot and evolution of this story.

As already mentioned, the star Rushabh Patel is the executive producer. As a result, this movie is billed as “Rushabh Patel’s I Know Exactly How I Die“, which I am not a fan of. Unless Rushabh Patel is famous in ways I am not familiar with – nor is IMDb, as this is his first and so far only credit there.

This is like people wondering if Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen is connected to Stranger Things, because the media keeps referring to it as a new show from The Duffer Brothers. Sure, they produced it, but Haley Z. Boston created the original story and wrote the screenplay. And she’s not even a newcomer.

Okay, rant over, but I just don’t understand the marketing and press decisions of it all.

Anyway, as already mentioned, the practical effects in I Know Exactly How I Die are gorgeous. Any slasher fan should enjoy the concept of the plot as well as those amazing practical effects. And yet, you will have to endure a little terrible CGI, but this is an indie production, so budget restraints come into play. Of course, so does choosing the best talent, and that did not happen for CGI here!

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I Know Exactly How You Die is out on VOD from April 7, 2026. You can rent it on Digital HD from your preferred platform, including Prime Video and Fandango at Home. The film will also be available on DVD.

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