The green hornet (2011)

Cool car, cooler sidekick, and lots and lots of green folding paper. That's the Green Hornet we all know and love.

Seth Rogen's take adds on the idea that Green Hornet's civilian persona - a rich, immature, bumbling twit - is identical to his superhero persona.

Hilarity ensues.

Read my full review at Fridae, first published on 26 January 2011.

Uncle Boonmee who can recall his past lives (ลุงบุญมีร:ะลึกชาติ) (2010)

A man dying from a terminal illness begins to see visions of past lives while being visited by ghosts and monsters.

Those who aren't familiar with Thai culture and politics may watch this as a quirky and meandering Magic Realist drama.

Those familiar with Thai culture and politics will recognise an aggressively irreverent screed against the various elites of Thai society.

Read my full review at Fridae, first published on 26 January 2011.

Fair game (2010)

The Bush II administration dicked around with an FBI agent's career, outing her undercover status in an act of political revenge.

This film is based on the book that's based on the real events.

Liberal Hollywood bait this may be, but it has the sense not to become a shrill polemic.

Read my full review at Fridae, first published on 12 January 2011.

Lover's discourse (恋人絮语) (2010)

Everyone wants to make a Paris Je'taime these days.

Here, we have 4 quirky short films about love and romance in Hong Kong.

The offbeat storytelling revolves around the moment love is found and lost, and questions the norms of the romantic genre, as it's been written for the past 20 years in Hong Kong.

Read my full review at Fridae, first published on 12 January 2011.

Coursier (2010)

Coursier is basically Taxi done with motorcycles.

A speed courier gets into big trouble when everyone from the cops to the mob wants to get their hands on a certain delivery package...

The comedy lies in how the singular MacGuffin gets exchanged for other MacGuffins in quick succession in the midst of crosses, double-crosses, and triple-crosses.

Read my full review at Fridae, first published on 12 January 2011.

Rabbit without ears 2 (Zweiohrküken) (2009)

The previous installment was a standard romcom about a couple who can't stop hating each other.

This follow-up takes the other standard track about a mismatched couple who are so improbably together, they might as well be apart - apart from their sexual chemistry.

The gimmick is it's the same couple. The twist as it turns out is the two films feel so standalone, they didn't even need to be linked that way.

Read my full review at Fridae, first published on 12 January 2011.

The Fighter (2010)

Mark Wahlberg stars as a boxer who must come out of the shadow of his troubled elder brother and the white trash family that's been managing his career since forever.

This biopic doesn't tell a new story or even put a new spin on a very old story.

It just has some of the best ensemble acting of 2010.

Read my full review at Fridae, first published on 5 January 2011.

The last days of Emma Blank (De laatste dagen van Emma Blank) (2009)

An ailing head of a family lives out her last days as queen of her domain with her entire family playing out their roles in her crackpot vision of what the good life should be.
The comedy comes from watching how badly people react when they are forced into creatively, uniquely bad situations.

You may watch this with Glen Goei's The Blue Mansion, as a "family drama as political allegory" double-bill.

Read my full review at Fridae, first published on 5 January 2011.

Saw 3D (2010)

The Saw films are all about the satisfaction of seeing and hearing people die in gory ways in a reality game show format.

This one is no different. Just that it's the first in 3D. And hopefully if there aren't any more sequels, it'll be the only one in 3D.

Knowing how James Wan has made far more creative horror flicks since the original Saw, we hazard he would've done something different here.

Read my full review at Fridae, first published on 5 January 2011.