Soon-Teck Oh Movies

The alienating effects of racism are explored in this auteurist debut from editor, producer, writer, director, and star Abraham Lim. Set and shot in Kansas City, Roads concerns the inner rage of Johnson Lee (Lim), an Asian-American man who -- spurned by the death of a loved one and the casual racism all around him -- has withdrawn from farm-belt society. He takes to dodging freight trains at night, a pastime which quickly gets him in trouble with the law. Sentenced to picking trash off the sides of roads, Johnson becomes friends with the road crew's foreman, Daryl Logan (Gregory Sullivan). As Daryl and Johnson share their stories of bigotry, they come to a higher understanding of the modern-day Midwest. Legendary filmmaker and Kansas City native Robert Altman co-produced Lim's low-budget labor of love. ~ Michael Hastings, Rovi

Inspired by a familiar Chinese folk tale, this $90 million animated Disney drama follows the adventures of a young woman in ancient China. Character animator Tony Bancroft and 17-year Disney veteran Barry Cook (Captain EO, Tron, Trail Mix-Up) formed the directing team with production design by Hans Bacher (Balto), and work on the film began 2 January 1995 under the working title The Legend of Mulan. While the merciless Shan-Yu (Miguel Ferrer) leads invading Huns over the Great Wall, young Mulan (Ming-Na Wen, with singing by Lea Salonga) sees a matchmaker about her matrimonial future. Mulan's views on accepted marriage traditions prompt the ballad, "Reflection," as she hopes for a recognition of her true self. To repel the Huns, a man from each family is required to join the Imperial Army. When Mulan's elderly father Fa Zhou (Soon-Tek Oh) volunteers, she objects. He warns, "I know my place. It is time you learned yours." Mulan, however, cuts her hair, dresses as a man, and is ready for military camp, prompting the concern of her First Ancestor (George Takei), who converts an inanimate incense burner into the 18-inch high comedic dragon Mushu (Eddie Murphy). With Mushu hidden in her clothing, she joins a group of raw recruits under the command of Captain Shang (B.D. Wong, singing by Donny Osmond). During an ambush by the Huns in a mountain pass, Mulan steps in to turn defeat into a victory. Mulan was the first Disney feature from the company's 200,000-square-foot Orlando facility (now known as Walt Disney Feature Animation Florida). ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi

On the planet Simarka, the SG-1 team mets the Mongol-like Shavadai warriors, who have relegated their women to a state of near-slavery. This rouses the feminist ire of team member Samantha Carter (Amanda Tapping), who nonetheless saves the life of the Shavadai chief's son Abu (Jorge Vargas). Later kidnapped and bartered off as "property", Samantha tries to foment a women's rebellion against the Shavadai--and also attempts to smooth the path of romance between Abu and Nya (Crystal Lo), daughter of an enemy warlord. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This independent debut film for writer-director Chris Chan Lee follows the adventures of a group of eight L.A. teenagers on the last night before their high school graduation. Sin Lee (Michael Chung) can't join in the fun his friends have planned, because his parents are making him mind their grocery store. The store is robbed at gunpoint, and the thieves make off with $1,500. Sin tells his friends that his father won't let him go to college unless he gets the money back. The young men and women decide to find the thieves and the money, and spend a wild and dangerous night trying to recover the loot. ~ Michael Betzold, Rovi

In this exciting actioner, maverick ex-Philadelphia cop Mike "Street" Justus lands in Southern California, rounds up a gang of ex-cons who owe him favors and violently purges a Los Angeles suburb of the hard-core crooks who plague it. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Embracing the supposed nihilism and cynicism of the "slacker" generation, S.F.W. (1995) caused nary a blip on the media-saturated cultural radar screen that it criticized. Stephen Dorff stars as Cliff Spab, an aimless, hard-drinking youth. Spab becomes a national hero when he is one of several people held hostage by gun-toting terrorists in a convenience store. He doesn't care much about his own life or anything else, and his attitude of "So f---ing what?" translates into debates with his terrorist captors and gloomy pronouncements that charm viewers. After a month-long siege, a crisis erupts when the store runs out of beer and junk food, so Cliff finds himself a free man whose celebrity image is emblazoned on t-shirts and whose presence is requested at a rock concert where he is required to do nothing other than appear. In the meantime, Spab's girlfriend Wendy (Reese Witherspoon) becomes a ubiquitous talk show guest. Ostensibly a satire of the celebrity-obsessed culture of the 1990s, the film was withheld from distribution for a year because of thematic similarities to Oliver Stone's Natural Born Killers (1994). ~ Karl Williams, Rovi

Garibaldi tries to interfere when an old friend prepares to participate in the "Mutai", a deadly nonhuman Martial Arts combat. Elsewhere, Ivanova comes to grips with her father's death with the help of Rabbi Koslov (Theodore Bikel). Fans of Harlan Ellison will enjoy the fleeting in-joke involving Ivanova's reading preferences, while boxing devotees should take note of the name of the character played by guest star Greg McKinney. Originally telecast on May 25, 1994, TKO was written by Lawrence G. DiTillio. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The tenth season of Murder, She Wrote begins as Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury) travels to Hong Kong, where she attends a banquet honoring a high-profile American businessman. With Jessica in attendance, a murder is a foregone conclusion--and sure enough, the businessman is poisoned to death. Coul this be tied in with the dead man's efforts to merge with the head of a controversial Chinese manufacturing firm? The answer may be within a hundred-year-old egg that Jessica holds in her well-manicured hand. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Made for cable TV, the story involves a wealthy man who believes that a series of people have wronged him during his life. He invites the seven persons to his private island under the pretense of rewarding them for their good deeds, but they soon find out that his plan is much more devious. ~ John Bush, Rovi

An arrogant Detroit cop (Jay Leno) must work with his efficient Japanese counterpart (Pat Morita) to corner an evil ganglord. ~ John Bush, Rovi

With this melodrama about a Chinese immigrant couple trying to succeed in the harsh realities of Margaret Thatcher's economically depressed England, the sobering social commentary of director Mike Newell's television work met the airy charm of his romantic films. After their wedding in Hong Kong, Lily (Sylvia Chang) and Chen (Danny Dun) arrive in London's Chinatown to begin building a life together in the West. After five years working as a waiter in an expensive Chinese restaurant, Chen and his wife welcome a son, and Lily's older sister Mui (Jodie Long) follows them to London and moves in with them. Chen has finally raised enough capital to start his own business, which takes off, and his family seems to have achieved the ideal of modern capitalist success. Soon, however, Chen is caught up in a violent feud between rival Chinese gangs, each of which wants to muscle in on his lucrative outfit. Soursweet (1989) was based on a novel by Timothy Mo. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi

In this crime drama, a Manhattan police detective looks into the strange death of a peer who was ritually killed in Chinatown. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi