"13 Assassins" (2010)

Starring Koji Yakusho, Hiroki Matsukata and Takayuki Yamada
Written by Daisuke Tengan
Directed by Takashi Miike
Rated R - Violence, gore, nudity
Running Time: 126 Minutes
Trailer

I thought the trailer for Takashi Miike's "13 Assassins" looked pretty cool, but the limited time it was playing near me, I wasn't able to get out to the theatre to see it.  Thankfully, Netflix comes through in a pinch and delivers it via their 'Watch Instantly' streaming service.

In 1830s Japan, a young lord adopted by the family of the ruling Shogun is revealed to be a deeply corrupt individual.  Naritsugu (Goro Inagaki) rapes and kills without any regard for others, seeing his servants as property he need not respect in any fashion.  Another member of the Shogunate, Doi (Mikijiro Hira) orders a decorated Samura named Shinzaemon (Koji Yakusho) to assassinate Naritsugu in order to save the people from his tyranny.

Shinzaemon begins to gather his friends and students together, including his nephew Shinroku (Takayuki Yamada), his student Hirayama Kujuro (Tsuyoshi Ihara), his friend Kuranaga (Hiroki Matsukata), Kuranaga's students, enemies of Naritsugu, and more.  Soon he has gathered a group of 13 warriors who are prepared to give their lives for honor to save the people from the wrath of Naritsugu.

They set out their plan to intercept Naritsugu on his journey from city of Edo to the territory of the Akashi clan.  Thinking that Naritsugu has a mere 70 warriors as an entourage, Shinzaemon and his men prepare a trap in the town of Ochiai, ready to turn the entire town into a vicious set of booby traps to ensnare and destroy Naritsugu.  But when Naritsugu arrives, Shinzaemon and his men make a startling discovery: instead of 70 men, the 13 assassins face an army of 200 troops.  But the men have pledged their lives to this mission, and quitting is not an option.

'Star Trek: Voyager' Season Two (1995)

Starring Kate Mulgrew, Robert Beltran and Robert Picardo
Created by Rick Berman, Michael Piller and Jeri Taylor
Based upon 'Star Trek' created by Gene Roddenberry

The captain and helmsman of Voyager.  SERIOUSLY.

The second season of "Star Trek: Voyager", and the show's first full season (the first was truncated due to a January launch for UPN), is damn near a disaster.  While the first season was decent but slight entertainment, the second season features some truly atrocious episodes that drag the whole thing down, even if the majority of them are still fairly decent.

In the series premiere, "The 37s," Voyager comes across a human colony in the Delta Quadrant populated by the descendants of people abducted from Earth in the late 1930s.  Frozen in stasis they find a number of those 20th century abductees including... Amelia Earhart (Sharon Lawrence), the legendary female pilot who disappeared on her flight around the world.  Captain Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) offers her crew the opportunity to stay on the planet with the human colony, but in the end, the entire crew decides to stay on board Voyager for the journey home.

Throughout the course of the season, Voyager will deal with the fallout of Seska's (Martha Hackett) defection to the Kazon.  Seska has allied herself with Maje Culluh (Anthony de Longis) of the Kazon Nistrim, and devised a plan to rob Voyager of its advanced technologies.  To this end, another traitor aboard Voyager, Michael Jonas (Raphael Sbarge) begins feeding the Kazon information, and even helps to sabotage Voyager's systems.  Ultimately, this will lead to a showdown between the Voyager crew and the Kazon, one that could cost the crew everything.

'Star Trek: Voyager' Season One (1995)

Starring Kate Mulgrew, Robert Beltran and Robert Picardo
Created by Rick Berman, Michael Piller and Jeri Taylor
Based upon 'Star Trek' created by Gene Roddenberry

The seeds for "Star Trek: Voyager" were laid throughout the last season of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" and the first two seasons of "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine."  The introduction of the Cardassian border struggles and the Maquis resistance group laid the foundations for a new 'Star Trek' series to launch the United Paramount Network, or UPN.

A Maquis vessel commanded by a man named Chakotay (Robert Beltran) is lost in the Badlands near Deep Space Nine after an attack on a Cardassian ship under the command of Gul Evek (Richard Poe).  Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) of the Federation starship Voyager is assigned to enter the Badlands to find them, since her security chief, Lt. Tuvok (Tim Russ) was undercover aboard Chakotay's ship when it disappeared.

To do so, she enlists the help of a former Starfleet officer now incarcerated in a penal settlement, Tom Paris (Robert Duncan McNeil) who once served with Chakotay as a Maquis before being arrested.  Voyager enters the Badlands in search of the Maquis, but finds itself suddenly transported 75,000 light years across the galaxy to the unknown regions of the Delta Quadrant by an alien entity known as the Caretaker.  The Caretaker kidnaps members of the crew and conducts medical experiments on them, and then transports Ensign Harry Kim (Garrett Wang) and Maquis engineer B'Elanna Torres (Roxanne Dawson) to the nearby world populated by the Ocampa.

In her attempts to rescue them, Janeway forms an alliance with Chakotay and an alien junk dealer named Neelix (Ethan Phillips).  But doing so, they rescue a young Ocampa named Kes (Jennifer Lien) and run afoul of an alien race known as the Kazon.  To protect the Ocampa from the jealous Kazon, Janeway is forced to destroy the Caretaker's space station rather than let the advanced technology aboard fall into the hands of the Kazon.  Now, stranded 75,000 years from home, the Maquis and Starfleet crews must band together for their long, dangerous journey.

"Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen" (2010)

Starring Donnie Yen, Shu Qi and Anthony Wong
Written by Cheung Chi-shing and Gordon Chan
Directed by Andrew Lau
Rated R - Martial arts, war violence, language, brief nudity
Running Time: 106 Minutes
Trailer

Martial arts are so awesome.  There are few things I enjoy in a movie more than a good fight scene, and martial arts flicks usually manage to provide those in spades.

Chen Zhen (Donnie Yen) is among a group of Chinese sent to the front lines of France in World War I.  There, he tries to defend his men to the best of his abilities, but in the heat of battle, his best friend is killed.  Later, he returns to China having assumed the identity of his friend, Qi. 

There, he finds that China has fallen prey to the invasion plans of the Japanese.  In the city of Shanghai, Chen becomes manager of a popular nightclub called Casablanca, where many Japanese go to socialize.  Chen is also involved in the resistance movement against the Japanese, using his position at the club to gather information on them.  One night, he happens upon an assassination attempt against the son of a local warlord.  Donning a costume he sees on display at a nearby clothing store, he intercedes and saves the man's life.  In the process, he becomes a sort of local legend known as the Masked Warrior. 

Not long after, word is intercepted that the Japanese have put out a hit list on a number of powerful local Chinese, and the Masked Warrior takes it on himself to protect as many of them as possible.  One of these men is Chen's good friend, the editor of a local newspaper.  Unfortunately, Chen is unable to save him, and vows revenge. 

"The Last Airbender" (2010)

Starring Noah Ringer, Nicola Peltz and Dev Patel
Written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan
Rated PG - Fantasy violence
Running Time: 103 Minutes
Trailer

So what happens when you want to adapt a beloved animated series into a live-action feature film?  I tell you how it shouldn't go: don't try to compress an entire season of television into less than two hours unless you're willing to make a lot of sacrifices.

The setup of "The Last Airbender" is taken straight from the series: a young airbender named Aang (Noah Ringer) is found frozen in the ice by Katara (Nicola Peltz) and her brother Sokka (Jackson Rathbone).  Not long after, their Water Nation village is invaded by exiled Prince Zuko (Dev Patel) of the Fire Nation, who is seeking the Avatar - a legendary being capable of commanding the four elements, Earth, Fire, Air and Water, who is said to bring balance to the world.

Aang escapes from Zuko and his uncle, General Iroh (Shaun Toub), and along with Katara and Sokka decide to make their way to the northern Water city so that Aang can learn to bend water.  Along the way, they stop to free a few towns among the Earth nation, attempting to inspire a resistance against the conquering Fire Nation.  Meanwhile, Fire Lord Ozai (Cliff Curtis) commands Commander Zhao (Aasif Mandvi) to locate and kill the Moon and Ocean spirits, which will deprive the Water benders of their powers. 

'Star Trek: The Next Generation' Season Seven (1994)

Starring Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, and Brent Spiner
Created by Gene Roddenberry

Seven seasons.  "Star Trek: The Next Generation" lasted seven seasons.  A massive hit, breaking records for syndication, it rightly cemented its place amongst the greatest television shows in history.  By the time it ended, it had spawned a spinoff, "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine," with another, "Star Trek: Voyager" on the way... dozens of tie-in novels, comic books, action figures, and production had begun on a feature film continuation.

As the seventh season opens, Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart), Geordi La Forge (Levar Burton), and Counselor Troi (Marina Sirtis) have been captured by the android doppelganger Lore (Brent Spiner), who has manipulated his twin brother Lt. Commander Data (Brent Spiner) into joining him on a quest to eliminate organic life in the galaxy along with a gang of vicious former Borg drones.  Commander Riker (Jonathan Frakes) and Lt. Worf (Michael Dorn) are stranded on the surface of the planet, searching for their comrades.  In orbit above, Doctor Crusher (Gates McFadden) commands the starship Enterprise with an inexperienced crew of junior officers against the Borg ship.

That is only the beginning of this last batch of television adventures of the Enterprise-D.  This year, the crew will face a host of new dangers.  Captain Picard and Commander Riker will find themselves in a race against time to find an ancient Vulcan weapon before a group of vicious space pirates.  Geordi faces the loss of his mother, and the incredible hope that he may have found her on the surface of an inhospitable world.  Data will learn how to dream.  Worf will find himself thrust into parallel worlds, each more different and farther from home than the last.  Counselor Troi learns about a tragedy buried deep in her mother's past that could kill her.  Picard and Crusher must finally face their long-buried feelings for each other while trying to survive on an alien world at war.

And at the end of it all, the series finale will throw the crew into an adventure spanning decades that could mean the end of mankind before it even has a chance to exist. 

"Cowboys & Aliens" (2011)

Starring Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford and Olivia Wilde
Written by Damon Lindelof, Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci, Mark Fergus, and Hawk Ostby
Directed by Jon Favreau
Rated PG-13 - Sci-fi violence, language
Running Time: 118 Minutes
Trailer

I have to admit that much of my taste in movies and TV is based upon the interests of my father, who was very keen about introducing me to the things that he enjoyed when I was younger.  One of the things that I've never really managed to get, however, was his love of westerns.  While I've been able to enjoy the rare western ("The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" FTW), mostly it's a genre that I'm simply not fond of.

Of course, I am quite fond of things involving aliens from outer space.

Mixing these two genres is, in my opinion, a truly inspired premise.  It's too bad, then, that the film adaptation of "Cowboys & Aliens" doesn't seem to reach the full potential of that premise.

The story concerns Jake Lonergan (Daniel Craig) who wakes up one day in the middle of the desert with no memory of who he is, how he got there, or what the strange metal bracelet on his wrist is.  He makes his way to the small town of Absolution, where he runs afoul of local bully Percy Dolarhyde (Paul Dano).  Afterward, he's recognized by Sheriff Taggert (Keith Carridine) who places him under arrest.  Percy's father, former military colonel Woodrow Dolarhyde (Harrison Ford) arrives, accusing Lonergan of robbing one of his stage coaches.

Just then, something truly strange occurs: Flying machines buzz the town, kidnapping a number of the residents.  Lonergan manages to shoot down one of the machines with his bracelet.  Afterward, Lonergan and Dolarhyde, along with a mysterious woman named Ella (Olivia Wilde) who seems to know more than she's saying, Meacham (Clancy Brown) the town preacher, Doc (Sam Rockwell) owner of the saloon, Colorado (Adam Beach) Dolarhyde's right-hand man and an Indian, and other members of Dolarhyde's gang set off into the desert in search of their missing people - including Percy, the sheriff, and Doc's wife.