SNOWDEN

"Plenty of other ways to serve your country," an army doctor tells nerdy-looking Edward Snowden (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) after he flunks out of special-forces training due to an injury. Of all those alternatives, Snowden chooses to expose all the dirty secrets of the American government on the Internet.

This drama-thriller about the world's biggest whistleblower in recent years is directed by conspiracy theory nut Oliver Stone, who basically has a bone to pick with everybody in power. So, obviously, Snowden comes across as a righteous, moral hero who gets his conscience pricked and then totally hammered by the powers that be.

"The NSA is really tracking every cellphone in the world," Snowden proclaims. Oh, come on. You mean, even my little old phone is tapped? Okay, better delete all those very shocking selfies with my pillow.

THE SHALLOWS

No, this is not a documentary about the Kardashians. It is Jaws meets Castaway meets Baywatch.

In this gripping, minimalist survival thriller, one native guy tells Blake Lively's character that the secluded beach she is on is every surfer's heaven - except that absolute hell lurks in a really big great white shark the size of a small boat in the shallow waters.

Lively gets stranded on a small crop of rock within reachable distance from the shore if she swims faster than Michael Phelps on a speedboat to outpace the beast.

Even after chomping on two unlucky dudes, the shark apparently still wants her.

Mrs Ryan Reynolds looks so hubba-hubba-hot, her appeal is truly pan-species.

Tay Yek Keak