Kung Fu Mama movie notable first for its heroine’s willingness to debase herself (“I’m a bad mother…a worthless ghetto gangster piece of trash”) in her efforts to win sympathy for her one-good-thing quest to save her kidnapped kid from a nasty organ-harvesting operation. Notable second for its crazypants lighting: a single nighttime set features separate sections bathed in glows of blue, red, green, and yellow, for no reason other than low-budget cool. Notable third for its sly shift from basic genre outing to self-conscious genre outing — you may find it tricky to say exactly when it starts, but by the time Mom asks the nurse keeping her in the hospital if she’s seen any movies featuring this sort of scenario, it’s clear you’ve arrived. Notable finally for making the most of its limited resources: trying mightily to squeeze as much juice from a moped chasing an outboard skiff along a rural river as a Bond movie might have gotten from a superbike zipping after a speedboat through Venice. Star Veronica Ngo takes her lumps with aplomb, and director Le-Van Kiet knows how to film a fight scene. (2019) — Matthew Lickona
This movie is not currently in theaters.