During the Chinese Taiping Rebellion in the 1860s in the late Qing Dynasty, General Qing-Yun (Jet Li) is the only survivor of his slaughtered troops. In his aimless wanderings after, Qing-Yun encounters a woman who nurses him back to health. Qing-Yun is then welcomed into a group of bandits by Wu-Wang (Takeshi Kaneshiro) only to find the woman who had helped him is wife to other bandit leader Er-Hu (Andy Lau). The three men form a blood pact to always look out for one another, and Qing-Yun convinces the bandit leaders to join the Qing Army in an attempt to give them their financial independence. Qing-Yun assumes the leadership role and what follows is two hours of epic battles, confusing Chinese politics, love-triangles, and a test of fraternity, not to mention eight wins at the Hong Kong Film Awards including director, picture, and actor.

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Unlike Greg, I’m a pretty big fan of period pieces. Give me a movie about a bad ass queen, throw in some sweet costumes and some romance, and I’m sold. This being said, a lot of historical dramas tend to be on the dull side, and The Young Victoria, even with all its glorious costuming and beautiful locations, falls into this category.

Most films about Queen Victoria have focused on her later years, of which there were many, considering she was the longest reigning monarch Britain has ever seen. Not much has made mention of her earlier years, which were filled with overbearing advisors, copious wooing, and political strife. The Young Victoria aims to portray Victoria before the stiffness the era that bears her name would later be associated with, as well as the beginning of her long love affair with Prince Albert.

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Based on the Jon Ronson book of the same name, The Men Who Stare at Goats follows the 'true' story of a reporter, Bob Wilton, (Ewan McGregor), trying to lose himself in the romance of war after his marriage fails. Bob gets more than he bargains for when he meets an alleged special forces agent, Lyn Cassady (George Clooney), who reveals the existence of a secret psychic military unit whose goal is to end war as we know it. Having heard some truth to his tales Bob dives in and follows Lyn on his 'mission'. Is Lyn crazy or is he a super soldier member of The New Earth Army?

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Don’t get me wrong, I love Nick Hornby, author of About a Boy and High Fidelity. But, he has the awful knack of making women either stone-cold bitches or pristine virgins, with most of his female characters severely lacking realism. I knew Hornby had crafted An Education’s screenplay, based on the short memoir by British journalist Lynn Barber, but while watching the film, I kept forgetting about his involvement—and I mean this as a compliment. Jenny, the female protagonist in An Education, played subtlety and beautifully by relative newcomer Carey Mulligan, was so dimensional and relatable that I got swept up into her world wholeheartedly.

Read more about An Education after the jump!

It's easy to think up a post-apocalyptic world and how you would inhabit it; round up a couple of friends and family members, hoard your resources, and loot a local Wal-Mart of guns and supplies before holing up in a safe place with those you care about. But what would you realistically do?

There's no electricity, there's no communication, and you have no idea what's going on outside besides knowing civilization is coming to a end.  Nearly all of humanity has been wiped out by some unknown cataclysm, and those who remain are either well-armed xenophobes or canabilistic mauraders.  The sun has become obscured by a blanket of ashy grey sky, and plant and animal life is all but extinct. 

That's the life that is depicted in the bleak and haunting future in the John Hillcoat directed Cormac McCarthy adapation The Road. The story centers on an ailing father (Viggo Mortensen) traveling south with his son (Kodi Smit-McPhee) when he realizes they cannot survive another winter at their present location. The journey follows the father as he wields a pistol with two bullets to protect his son from cannibals, starvation, and everything else the cruel world has to offer him and his uninitiated young boy.

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