Jackie Chan.

Jet Li.

Two names that are spoken with reverent tones in movie martial arts circles. For their entire illustrious movie career, neither has starred in a movie with the other.

In 2008, that all changed.

The Forbidden Kingdom, directed by Rob Minkoff (The Lion King, Stuart Little 2, and The Haunted Mansion) and written by John Fusco (Hidalgo and Young Guns I and II) is a knock out, free for all, no holds barred ,re-imagining of the ancient Chinese epic "Journey to the West."

The main character is a socially inept teenager from South Boston named Jason Tripitikas who lives his life by martial arts movies. One day, while visiting a small pawn shop in Chinatown looking for bootlegged DVDs, he catches a glimpse of an ancient staff sitting in the back room. The discovery begins his journey, as he is thrust into the past to fulfill an ancient prophecy by returning the staff to the petrified remains of the Monkey King, and end the reign of the vicious Jade Warlord.

Along the way he is befriended by Jackie Chan's character Lu Yan (who is based on the mythological Iron-crutch Li, one of the Eight Immortals and Taoist Saint), Jet Li's character The Silent Monk and Yifei Liu's character Golden Sparrow (which was the name of Cheng Pei Pei's character in numerous Shaw Brothers films).

During their travels to the Five Elements Mountain, they are confronted by minions of the Jade Warlord who wish to steal the staff as well, so that it can never be returned to the Monkey King.

Of all the acting, Jet Li steals the show as the stoic and uncompromising Silent Monk. He actually portrays another character in the film as well, but I won't spoil anything. 

Jackie Chan is Jackie Chan, and although he does have a few comedic moments, he is more serious than some of his other Hollywood roles.

To further capture authenticity, the movie was primarily filmed in China. Locations such as the Gobi Desert, Anji bamboo forest in Jiangsu and Hengdian World Studios all serve as backdrops to this incredibly beautiful film.

Peter Pau is the director of photography for this movie, and if his previous credentials as D.P. of numerous action/fighting movies isn't enough, he truly steps it up in this film. The editing, taken care of by Eric Strand, is solid as well.

The Final Kingdom takes a classic Chinese legend and adapts it for a new age. It is a fun, enjoyable ride that opens up the world of Chinese myth to younger viewers and reminds all of us adults that fantasy fun is never forbidden.

Christian Bale once again does a spectacular job portraying a Batman who is dangerously balancing between doing what is right and giving in to his emotions and doing something rash. He seamlessly goes from playboy gone corporate worker to a man who will do anything it takes to do what he thinks is right. However, what we think is right isn't always right. Does this lead him down a path of darkness?

Angelina Jolie, James McAvoy, Morgan Freeman, Thomas Kretschmann
Screenplay by Michael Brandt & Derek Haas and Chris Morgan
Based on characters created by Mark Millar and J.G. Jones
Directed by Timu Bekmambetov

Steve Carrell, Anne Hathaway, Alan Arkin, Dwayne Johson and Terrence Stamp
Screenplay by Tom J. Astle and Matt Ember
Based on characters created by Mel Brooks and Buck Henry
Directed by Peter Segal
 
In 1965, when James Bond was dominating the big screen, and one year before Mission: Impossible hit the airwaves, Mel Brooks and Buck Henry intoduced Get Smart, a spy parody starring Don Adams as Maxwell Smart, Agent 86, and Barabara Feldon as the sexy Agent 99. Get Smart is best remembered for such staples as "The Cone of Silence" and "The shoe phone," and is a series that we grew up with and enjoyed. It has spawned one big screen incarnation already, the disaterous 1980 film The Nude Bomb, as well as TV reunion movie and a very short-lived followup TV series starring Andy Dick.
 
Thankfully, the series recieves a much better tribute in this new remake, with Steve Carrell taking over as Max, and Anne Hathaway as 99. True, this movie isn't going to be confused with high art, and has its share of shortcomings, but in what has proven so far to be an extremely weak movie month, apart from Kung Fu Panda, is a welcome excursion into dumb fun.

Mark Wahlberg, Zooey Deschanel, John Leguizamo, Betty Buckley.
Written and Directed by M. Night Shyamalan
 
In 1999, a little movie called The Sixth Sense came out of nowhere to wow audiences and critics with its freshness, interesting characters, and mind-blowing twist ending. It became a huge blockbuster, and earned its no-name writer-director, M. Night Shyamalan, two Academy Award Nominations. Everyone agreed this guy was going to be huge. And no one was proclaiming this louder than Shyamalan himself.
 
Over the years, with the exception of the hit of Signs, which was a solidly entertaining, if scientifically ludicrous, film, we have seen that the Emperor has no clothes.  Shyamalan has proven to be Hollywood's least versatile major filmmaker, rehashing the same formula over and over again, with each variation becoming more preposterous and insipid.
 
For a while, the buzz has been that The Happening, Shyamalan's much touted "First R-Rated Movie," might be his worst yet. But it turns out it's not a matter of where it ranks among Shyamalan's worst movies, but where it ranks among the worst movies of all time.
 
The story centers around Elliot Moore (Mark Wahlberg), a math teacher in Princeton, New Jersey, and his wife Alma (Zooey Deschanel.). Elliot and Alma are having problems. What these problems are exactly, we don't know. We do know that Alma keeps receiving calls from a man named Joey, though she keeps this a secret from Elliot, and that Elliot's fellow teacher and best friend Julian (John Leguizamo), dislikes Alma. In fact, he really dislikes her. Why is never made clear, but between the dialogue and Leguizamo's performance, you get the uncomfortable feeling that Julian suspects Alma may in fact be the Anti-Christ.