by Chauncey Telese

Happy New Year Everyone! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and are having a great start to your 2011. A few things before I get to this week’s film:

1. Congratulations to my St. Louis Rams, I know they practically gave away the division title to the Seahawks who went 7-9 and made the playoffs which is sad, but they really surprised me. I had them going 4-12 and I figured my hatred of Sam Bradford would reach a point that would rival Charger fans hatred of Ryan Leaf, but he found a way into my heart. Considering they went 1-15 last year and this year they won seven I am very optimistic about the future.

2. For anyone who makes a New Year’s Resolution do yourselves a favor and change them to goals because resolutions have the stigma of a 95% failure rate (I credit that to my new guilty pleasure “Million Dollar Money Drop” which is both the dumbest and yet most fascinating game show in a while), so rather then cave in when the going gets tough call it a goal so that way you have something to achieve.

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3. If you can rent the movie “Winter’s Bone” it flew under my radar for far too long and for people who like mysteries you’ll love it and even if you don’t watch it for Jennifer Lawrence’s performance. She won’t beat Natalie Portman but it is still one of the strongest female performances I’ve seen in a while.

4. Now that the NFL Playoffs are set my final Super Bowl Prediction is the Patriots (uggg I so hope Pittsburgh beats them but they won’t) over the Saints (I love Drew Brees but he’s had too many INTs this year).

And finally, congratulations to Stanford QB Andrew Luck for staying in school for his senior season even though it’s a forgone conclusion Harbaugh will not be there next year. That is a tough thing to do because the Panthers (or Broncos who’d trade up to get him) would pay him a lot of money and he is good enough to start in the NFL (as evidenced by his great performance in the Sugar Bowl). But good for him for wanting to get his architectural design degree.

Okay, onto this week’s movie. Instead of wasting your time and mine by reviewing “Season of the Witch” or “Country Strong” just know that Nicholas Cage is still in debt and it never bodes well when the best publicity your movie gets is that it’s star killed on “Glee” back in November. I have a treat, tonight I got to see “The Green Hornet” which opens next week. Since I heard Seth Rogen was staring in and writing the film I was excited and my excitement strengthened when I heard that Michel Gondry (“Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”) was directing and the villain would be played by Oscar winner Christoph Waltz (“Inglorious Basterds”). At ComiCon I was completely sold with their idea to convert the film to 3D because even at half speed it looked great. After getting to see the finished product I am pleased to report that my excitement didn’t get deflated one iota. This movie isn’t the kind that should have been released in the doldrums of January but rather in the summer time with all of the other big blockbusters.

Our story begins with a young Britt Reid getting yelled at by his father James Reid (Tom Wilkinson), a newspaper publisher, for stopping bullies at school. James thinks Britt is a failure and 20 years later Britt (Seth Rogen) is a party animal continuing to disappoint his father. James is murdered and Britt is given the keys to his dad’s newspaper and now searches for a purpose.

He finds purpose when he meets Kato (an electrifying Jay Chao) who not only made coffee for the Reids, but designed cars to protect James from dangerous criminals he reported on. Britt and Kato bond over their hatred of James and they decide to become superheroes, except they will act as villains. Britt makes his paper run stories about the Green Hornet and his new secretary, Lenore Case (Cameron Diaz), unwittingly guides Britt and Kato because quite frankly they don’t know what they’re doing. They become the target of Russian crime boss Chudnofsky (Waltz) who thinks they are the competition and he wants the two of them dead.

Throughout the movie we are treated to some awesome fight scenes, some clever dialogue, and some great comedy. Waltz is a great villain and in the beginning (where we get a great cameo that I won’t ruin) Chudnofsky is told he is old and no longer threatening and we see just how brutal he is. He gets to essentially play a more comedic version of the Jew Hunter and his double-barreled handgun is one of the coolest non-Bond movie weapons I’ve seen in a long time. The Black Beauty is also an awesome movie car and we get to see it in all of its glory a plethora of times throughout the movie. It shoots missiles, has two Gatling guns that come out of the hood and the suicide doors, and it has spikes that come out of the tires along with a bunch of other great gadgets. The 3D is fantastic and while it isn’t “Avatar” or “Tron: Legacy” it does a good job enhancing the bullets, the glass, and other objects that cross the screen. However, to me the real heart of the movie is the relationship between Britt and Kato.

Like most movies with Seth Rogen, this is about bromance. Britt and Kato’s back-and-forth practically make the movie. Chao has some great comedic chops and he plays off of Rogen perfectly. Britt and Kato begin to bond because of their strong dislike for James and they both realize that they have potential that is going to waste. Kato’s only skills are martial arts, his Kato vision (which is great in 3D), ability to build cars with weapons, and of course make a great cup of coffee. Britt is ambitious and while he’s not that intelligent, he does desire to do the right thing. Watching Britt and Kato become friends and the brothers they never had is compelling, even with the unnecessary feud over Lenore. Even when things go south between them (and it does) we see that Britt and Kato still care about each other. Their chemistry is phenomenal and I hope Jay Chao has a successful career in America.

I highly recommend this movie and it is far and away better then anything that will come out until about March.

Thank you for reading and stay tuned as next week I will review two pilots and the comedy “The Dilemma.” Remember you can see these and other fine films at your local Edwards.