There is a story somewhere in Ninja Assassin that involves Ninja clans being hired by governments for 100 pounds of gold to assassinate people. That however is completely secondary to what a ninja film is about. Training sequences, a loved one being killed and thus revenge being in order and lots and lots of violence. The thing that makes the Ninja so cool is they are mercenaries, they have the best toys they don’t just punch and kick they hide in the shadows and then attack the whole honor of facing your opponent is lost on them it’s all about getting the job done and not showing weakness.

Ninja Assassin stars Asian sensation Rain as Raizo the orphan taken in by the “black sand” Ninja Clan and taught to become a lethal killing machine. His father Ozuna (played by noted ninja badass and godfather of the film genre Sho Kosugi) orders the killing of a fellow student who Raizo has romantic feelings for which leads Raizo to begin to reconsider his commitment to his clan and ultimately the catalyst for Raizo going against his adoptive father. This is mostly told through flashbacks while Raizo is protecting a Europol researcher Mika (Naomie Harris) who has discovered the truth about the Ninjas and there connection to world governments. The story is ridiculous and does just enough to keep the flow going from one action sequence to the next; but thats the point the movie is called Ninja Assassin the title sells you what the film is all about.

While not for everyone in fact if you don’t have an affinity for Ninjas chances are you will think this is horrible, but for what it is, it’s fantastic a true ode to Ninja Awesomeness.

Taking place in the mid 80’s Precious tells the story of an illiterate teen who get’s kicked out of school for being pregnant with her second child and enrolls in an alternative school in hopes that learning to read and write will change her life.

Precious has an awful life in addition to being completely illiterate and not having any friends her mother both physically and mentally abuses her, hurling a frying pan one minute and saying she should have aborted her the next.  Precious is also pregnant with her second child from being raped by her father, her first child suffers from down syndrome and is called “Mongol” short for Mongoloid. If that is not enough she learns she has HIV.

Where Precious shines is in the acting department somehow director Lee Daniels has taken a cast not knowing for serious acting, stripped away any level of glamour and pulled out a handful of great performances.  The normally over the top and completely obnoxious Mo’nique gives a stellar performance as the lazy abusive mother not only does she look like a complete mess ,there is some actual emotion that I didn’t think Mo’nique was even capable of. Mariah Carey does a complete 180 from her glitter role and shows up makeup free and virtually unrecognizable as a social worker; given how completely awful she was in Glitter you can’t help but be a little impressed by her.

Precious is receiving a lot of early Oscar buzz although the film is being touted as inspirational this is a film that is almost entirely depressing and the uplifting feel good moment is when you realize how this is the life that many in this country lead and your glad it’s not yours.

Jackson Curtis (John Cusack) is a divorced dad and failed writer when he takes his kids to Yellowstone on vacation he meets the host of a conspiracy radio show who tells him about the coming destruction. At the same time Dr Adrian Helmsley (Chiwetel Ejiofor) is working with the government on what the time frame for impending destruction is.

The best part of 2012 is the destruction LA goes into the ocean, Vegas gets destroyed, Yellowstone park erupts, Hawaii becomes a pool of Lava a Tidal wave hits DC and that is just in America

Unfortunately with a running time of two hours and thirty eight minutes you need more than just destruction primarily some characters you care about.

Watching Jackson race the family through LA always an inch in front of the cracks in the earth while everyone around him dies is interesting.

When Jackson gets to the airport with his family and they have to once again race against the cracks in the earth to get airborne not as interesting. (For some reason catastrophe creates stunt pilots, for there is no other reason as to why you would fly an inch off the ground and almost get swallowed by the destruction rather than fly away from it.)

Jackson and his family get to Yellowstone this time they have to race the crumbling ground in a Winnebago. New mode of Transportation same old scene.

After Yellowstone we do a new version of the airplane scene,  just barely able to take off? This time in Vegas with a bigger plane.

This type of thing goes on for close to three hours, the film is all visuals and no substance, Billions of people are dying and we watch Cusack’s clan? It would have been better if they focused on multiple families trying to survive instead of one ridiculous tail.

If only Roland Emmerich could understand that less is more then he could have made a very entertaining hour and a half disaster flick instead of a 2 hour and 38 minute disaster of a flick.

When his wife leaves him reporter Bob Wilton (Ewan Mcgregor) heads to the Middle East determined to embed himself in Iraq and become the journalist he always wanted to be. While in Kuwait he meets Lyn Cassady (George Clooney) who takes him into Iraq while telling him the tales of the First Earth Battalion, the Army’s attempt to make super soldiers through the use of psychic powers.

This movie is sometimes humorous and extremely quirky it starts off with an odd sense of intrigue as we learn about the different combat techniques and paranormal skills that were utilized by the army. Through the use of multiple flashbacks we learn how and why the First Earth Army was created and ultimately abandoned, at the same time Bob and Lyn go on a Middle Eastern road trip. That includes being kidnapped and a lot of being stranded in the dessert.  Three quarters of the way through the movie loses steam and turns into a jumbled mess. Spacey and Bridges are mostly wasted with Bridges sleepwalking through his role as Django as if he were in a sequel to the big lebowski. Spacey’s character is weak and doesn’t work as the nemesis of the film.

Clooney’s Dialog is the high light of the film unfortunately that is usually followed up with a unnecessary flashback. There are multiple funny scenes that work individually but when pieced together don’t quite work. Never really committing to any one type of genre allows it to maintain its quirky sensibility however it also is its major drawback. Its like a friend who has had to much to drink it starts off funny but by the time the last of the drinks kicks in its no longer funny and just an irritant you want to go away.