Backseat

Two buddies head out on a road trip to Montreal to meet Donald Sutherland. Ben (Robert Bogue) is pulling his hair out dealing with his nympho girl friend while Colton (Josh Alexander) is trying to kick start his acting career. The trip turns out to be an internal soul search for the two friends as they unwittingly end up facing their idiosyncrasies, fears and the loneliness that you sometimes encounter in your 30s. A movie that is a comedy at heart but has a streak of honesty and reality running through it.

Rating: * * 

Tokyo Sonata

A family that is slowly splintering is the epicenter of the film. With his job being outsourced to China, Ryuhei Sasaki (Teruyuki Kagawa) goes from being Director of Administration to a man stands in line at the free food stall. Furtively hiding his layoff from his wife, he wanders the streets in a Murakami-esqe daze. Megumi (Kyôko Koizumi) is gracefully stoic as she puts up with her distant husband. Her teenage children meander while she clutches at the seams that hold her family together. The film is almost like reading a Murakami novel until a point. There Kiyoshi Kurosawa loses his grip on the viewer and you wait placidly for the end.

Rating: * * +

Loins of Punjab Presents

A spoof on American Idol and other singing competitions, featuring five Indian immigrants and one "I have a desi girl friend" firang, all vying for the prize of being the Desi Idol and supposed fame in a seedy Edison, NJ venue. The loaded cast and slightly nifty script almost delivers but flounders at the finish line and in some places on the way. However it is good for a few snickers here and there.

Rating: * *

The Karate Kid

A remake of the 84' classic film of the same name that sees Jackie Chan reappraising the role played by Pat Morita. Being set in China, the land of kung-fu, only makes the film more plausible. Young Dre Parker (Jaden Smith) is forced in to unfamiliar China when his mother moves there along with her job. He promptly eyes the local teenage bombshell much to the chagrin of the local kung-fu prodigy. Much Dre Parker ass kicking follows which brings Mr. Chan in to the scene, who plays an uncommonly serious role with no histrionics. The age old king-fu master-disciple story is retold in a modern Chinese setting and strangely enough the film is enjoyable in spite of the expected melodrama.

Rating: * +

La France

Camille (Sylvie Testud) snaps out of her idyllic existence in the north east of France during World War I, when she receives a letter from her husband saying that he is leaving her. Do not look for me he states very clearly. Nevertheless she sets out to look for him. She masquerades as a young boy and and falls in with a band of French soldiers. They walk, meander and talk with some mysterious purpose. The ending could not have come sooner, expect I don't remember much of it nor do I want to.

Rating: *

Devils on the Doorstep

Jiang Wen writes, directs and stars in this satirical tragic comedy set during World War II at the time of the Japanese occupation of China. A couple's lustful romp is rudely interrupt by the arrival of two prisoners in gunny sacks led by a gun toting mystery man. The command under gunpoint is to safeguard and interrogate them before he returns. One is a macho Japanese soldier bent on dying and the other a Chinese working as a translator for the Japanese. Set in a small country village in China, the film centers around the plight of the villagers and their attempt to deal with this bizarre situation. Grave as the scenario is, Wen figures out a way to bring the pun out in the situations. However when there are Japanese involved during tricky times one always must brace for the dark side.

Rating: * * *

Next Day Air

Donald Faison from the Scrubs makes a rare movie appearance as a pot smoking delivery man. He sets off a string of events by delivering some angel dust to the wrong address. At this point director Benny Boom throws in some out of luck hustlers, Latino drug lords, a bootlicious babe, sprinkles a whole lot of corny jokes and prays he has the second coming of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels,!  All he really did was piss some brothers off!

Rating: *