Brian T. Nakamoto

The Warrior's Way

The Warrior's Way is a stylized samurai-ish western with CG sets along the lines of the 300. The film has appealing aesthetic—particularly the costumes—and eccentric characters played by competent actors. (Danny Huston excels at playing creeps.) However, the movie as a whole feels like a tired mashup of ideas that have already been done. It never feels like the protagonists are ever in jeopardy, or that there won't be a generally happy ending. In retrospect, it's also odd that the Asian antagonists simply don't focus on the assassin's target instead of the assassin's failure to carry out his final mission.

Batman: Year One

Bruce Timm and the rest of the Warner Bros. Animation crew continue to deliver animated DC Comics stories worthy of the big screen. Batman: Year One (PG-13) is based on Frank Miller's graphic novel of the same name. The film focuses on the origin of the friendship between Batman and Jim Gordon. At times, it feels like the title could be Commissioner Gordon: Year One, which is not a negative because the young lieutenant's background is made equally interesting. Catwoman's abrupt cameo could have been cut out.

The Thing

The Thing turns out to be a prequel of The Thing, John Carpenter's 1982 cult classic horror-sci-fi flick. Also set in 1982, the 2011 backstory mostly explains what happened at the Norweigian outpost. There are plenty of connections made for fans of Carpenter's movie, and the director even exploits gotcha moments for those famililiar with the first film. Mary Elizabeth Winstead plays a strong female lead reminiscent to Sigourney Weaver's character in Alien. The new Thing falters somewhat when too much CG is used in an attempt to outdo Rob Bottin's practical effects, but it's still a better beginning than Episode I.

Tucker and Dale vs Evil

Tucker and Dale vs Evil is a mildly entertaining horror-comedy about a group of vacationing college students who mistake a couple of hillbillies to be kidnapping killers. Ongoing misunderstandings between kids and moutain men are tenuously sustainable, and one of the reinforcers is sort of explained towards the end. Fans of Firefly will enjoy Alan Tudyk's role as one of the main backwoods characters. Katrina Bowden plays the gratuitous horror film hottie who is unfortunately unconcious through much of the movie.

X-Men: First Class

X-Men: First Class is an excellent prequel that makes up for The Last Stand travesty. First Class explores the origins of the most well-known Marvel mutants, Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr. It's refreshing to watch their reasoning for how to handle non-mutants develop without being patronized by the story tellers. Magneto makes a pretty good case against Professor Xavier's desire for brotherly love between non-mutants and mutants. Luckily, the telepath is on our side!

Red State

Kevin Smith's Red State is a damning social commentary about relgious extremists, and government bureaucracy. Radical Christian fundamentalists are antagonizing a small "red state" town, eventually elevating their tactics to trap people in their fortified compound. The local sheriff calls in federal agents, and events eventually escalate to be eerily reminiscent of the FBI's 1993 stand-off with the Waco, Texas Branch Davidian compound. As with the Waco siege, there's really not much to be happy about in this film save for some great performances by the likes of Michael Parks and John Goodman.

Hanna

Hanna features a lot of interesting locations, action, and a score by The Chemical Brothers. Cate Blanchet plays a creepy CIA character who is out to tie up loose ends from her earlier work at the agency with an ex-agent played by Eric Bana. He has raised Hanna so she might one day avenge her mother. Growing up in isolation and training on a daily basis to be a deadly assassin has naturally made Hanna socially awkward. Watching her enter society in order to seek out vengence is an entertaining journey even though her father's plan is risky and complex. One wonders why he didn't just plot to help her out carry out revenge together.

Gamer

If John Leguizamo shows up as an eccentric character, you might be watching a film about a dystopian future. Gamer is set in a universe where Michael C. Hall runs a powerful video game company (albeit with security similar to Sony) that puts gamers in control of actual human avatars who are controled by nanites. There's a hedonistic Second Life-like game, and a violent FPS featuring Gerard Butler. The movie's whole premise begs the question: Why doesn't Dexter program his nanites to get players to use them directly to achieve his end game?

The Adjustment Bureau

The Adjustment Bureau is an entertaining, modern thriller based on Philip K. Dick's short story, Adjustment Team. Matt Damon plays a popular New York politician who discovers a secret organization that is determined to control his fate. Damon's character refuses to believe that he does not fully control his own destiny, but cannot deny the incredible power wieled by the Bureau. His love for a woman eventually drives him to risk everything and challenge the Bureau, which he must surmise can't be undefeatable given that they were forced to reveal their identiy to him.

Vengeance

Vengeance (a.k.a. Fuk sau) is not what this movie watcher expected based on the American marketing. It's also nothing like (the slightly better) Taken, a weak comparison made by some reviewers. Vengeance is about a father who hires hitmen to take out everyone responsible for murdering his daughter's family. Production quality is solid, and there are some interesting twists throughout that make this film slightly deeper than a typical shoot 'em up. Vengeance is apparently the third of a loose trilogy that includes The Mission, and Exiled.