"Beware, O Beautiful Ones," the title tells us--beware, indeed, because Ranbir Kapoor is already scorching his way to the top in this, his second film, and setting hearts on fire along the way. Kapoor--the grandson of the granddaddy of Indian film, actor Raj Kapoor, and the cousin of actress Kareena Kapoor--has the talent to match his pedigree and it shows even in this predictable, albeit entertaining movie about a commitment-phobe who gets a comeuppance.
Directed by Go Ohara (the action director of Death Trance), Geisha Assassin follows the story of Kotono (newcomer Minami Tsukui), a beautiful geisha who inherits a secretly-guarded sword and uses it to pursue Hyoe, the man who killed her father. Throughout her quest to face-off against Hyoe, Kotono battles Japan s most notorious female ninjas and assassins only to learn a hidden secret.
A powerful story of life on the border between the United States and Mexico, Bordertown is based on the hundreds of women working in American-owned factories who have been brutally raped and murdered in Juarez, a city gripped by fear. The attacks have been covered up by the local authorities, and still continue today. When editor of the Chicago Sentinel George Morgan (Sheen) sends ambitious reporter, Lauren Adrian (Lopez), to Juarez, Mexico to investigate the murders, what she finds is the story of a lifetime.
Far North is an eerie, somewhat dystopian fantasy starring Michelle Yeoh as Saiva, a determined survivor who has been on the run in a glacier-ridden, polar region of the Earth for years. Constantly staying a step ahead of a mysterious, conquering army ever since they destroyed her family and village, Saiva has raised a child, Anja (Michelle Krusiec), in a constant state of fear. Keeping apart from other human company, Anja, now a young woman, becomes interested in living a fuller life when a stranger, Loki (Sean Bean), turns up.
This 1993 international hit by Ang Lee is a funny and poignant story of a gay, Taiwanese-American man who goes to some lengths to fool his visiting family that he's actually straight. The results are far more complicated and entertaining than anyone could have guessed. The film seems all the more rich now since Lee has become a major Hollywood director: that same sensitivity and mild bemusement he brought to such stories of manners as Sense and Sensibility and The Ice Storm in recent years are in full bloom in this earlier work.
It's not necessary to see the first Swordsman before you see Swordsman II--though some of the characters are the same, the cast is almost completely different. Into the thick of a clan feud in long-ago China comes young swordsman Ling (Jet Li), who has a romantic attachment to the leader of one side of the feud (Rosamund Kwan). However, on the other side is an evil sorcerer, Asia the Invincible (Brigitte Lin), who has found a magical scroll that will give the user formidable powers if the user castrates himself.
Like Moliere, which was released in theaters around the same time, Becoming Jane isn't a conventional biopic. Instead, Julian Jarrold (White Teeth) expands on events from Jane Austen's life that may have shaped her fiction. To his credit, he doesn't stray too far from the facts. In 1795, 20-year-old Jane (Anne Hathaway with believable British accent) is an aspiring author. Her parents (Julie Walters and James Cromwell) married for love, and money is tight. They hope to see their youngest daughter make a more lucrative match, and there's a besotted local, Mr.
Screen legend Tony Curtis leads an all-star international cast in this hilarious, romantic and action-packed romp! Set in glorious Monte Carlo, this hugely entertaining follow-up to Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines follows the dashing Schofield (Curtis) as he teams up with the scheming Sir Cuthbert Ware-Armitage (Terry-Thomas) in a zany, winner-take-all car rally beset with scheming competitors, treacherous cliffs - and a very beguiling blonde (Susan Hampshire.)
Set in Singapore in 1977, That's the Way I Like It follows Hock (Adrian Pang), a Bruce Lee fan, as he discovers the joys of disco when he's dragged unwillingly to Saturday Night Fever. Initially bored, he comes to life when he sees the slick dance moves. He starts taking classes with his friend Mei (Medaline Tan), who, unbeknownst to Hock, wishes they were more than friends. Meanwhile, Hock is smitten with another girl in the class, whose boyfriend isn't pleased. Fortunately, Tony Manero himself (Dominic Pace) comes down off the screen to give Hock advice.
Not even close to his best work, Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou--far from a favorite of Chinese authorities, and frequently harassed and stymied in his career--creates an impressive-looking period piece in this gangland story set in the 1930s. Gong Li (Raise the Red Lantern) gives a colorful performance as a nightclub diva who is the mistress of a mob boss. Told from the point of view of a boy (Wang Xiaoxiao) sent by the gangster to wait on the arrogant singer, the story follows these characters over several days as they flee Shanghai to hide out in the countryside.
