新神榜：哪吒重生

　　幕府末期，群雄并起，日本上下动荡不安。在英豪辈出的时代，坂本龙马以其卓越的气魄和超前的思想在历史中占有一席之地。影片则主要描述坂本龙马被暗杀前最后两日的生活。
　　庆应三年十一月十三日，京都下着冰雹，坂本龙马（原田芳雄 饰）栖身于海援队经常落脚之地近江屋。“大政奉还”后局势愈加不稳，此时的坂本已被佐幕派和勤王派双方视为危险人物。无所事事的坂本与妓女厮混，更因手枪不慎走火引来刺客。昔日好友中冈慎太郎（石桥莲司 饰）和萍水相逢的右太（松田优作 饰）放下屠刀，与坂本结为挚友。慎太郎因此入狱，坂本与右太将其救出。后右太被杀，坂本与慎太郎密商逃亡之事的午夜，死神的罗网却已悄悄张开……

明嘉靖三十七年，宦官权倾朝野。方术国师为谄媚监首厂公，提出以“活虎心”炼丹，用以“壮阳重生”。故东厂在猛虎出没地——西南边陲小镇设立“司礼猎场”，猎捕猛虎用以炼化。但没有想到，此举使得奇异病毒进入老虎体内，让老虎发狂，并形成瘟疫迅速传播......

清朝末年，一代宗师太极拳高手杨崇武（于海 饰）一家隐居杭州西子湖畔。杨崇武与妻子慧娘（胡慧中 饰）晚年喜得贵子杨学文（吴京 饰）。学文自幼天资聪慧，生性好武，而杨父怕他惹事闯祸，每日督促儿子苦读诗书，不准他外出。学文暗中偷学父亲的太极拳，并自创了一套辫子神功，平日勤加苦练，习得一身好武功。
　　适逢钱塘江边举行祈雨祭祀，学文和表弟偷偷前去参加龙王祭。在祭典上，学文遇见了留洋归来的千金小姐曹央云（钟丽缇 饰），学文一见钟情。为了追求央云，学文参加了革命党。他的辫子神功在禁鸦片运动中大显神威，学文与央云感情日益加深。然而向中国走私鸦片的帝国主义分子却并不善罢甘休，暗中设下阴谋诡计，一场殊死搏斗旋即展开。

Director Gary Hustwit (Helvetica, Objectified) completes his design film trilogy with Urbanized. Exploring the design of cities with the world’s foremost architects, policymakers and engaged citizens, Urbanized frames a global discussion about how the design of our cities affects our lives.

　　Having witnessed his junkie father killed Russell Stevens grows up to become a policeman and make a difference. When he is offered an undercover job by Gerald Carver he accepts and begins to build a relationship with David Jason in order to get to the main dealers. However as he is forced to deal drugs and kill to keep his cover he finds the lines between cop and criminal being lost – is he a cop pretending to be a dealer or a dealer pretending to be a cop?
　　Larry (as he was then) Fishburne's first lead role was a typically dark vehicle. The story is the usual one of cop losing himself when undercover, however it manages to be more than that for most of the time. Co-written by Tolkin, who wrote The Player, this naturally has a nice cynical edge to it when it looks at the US's hypocritical approach to drug control and the political links between the street hustlers and the political high rollers who court respectability. The story does eventually settle into a traditional setting but even then it works well as a thriller.
　　The multi-talented Bill Duke directs well with a gritty feel and a few nice touches. However several things are a bit iffy. For most of the film Fishburne's narration/voice over is a bit like a cross between Apocalypse Now and Blade Runner – it comes across as a little too dark and heavy and also explains things like we can't figure it out ourselves. However once you get into the film it's not as big a deal. My main problem lies with the characters.
　　Fishburne is excellent, a real model of underlying anger and violence, Goldblum is good but perhaps a little OTT on the yuppie/violence thing, but there's good support from Smith and Spin City's beautiful (and often underused – but not here) Victoria Dillard. However the two main white characters (Goldblum and Smith) are both smeared with racist insinuations – Smith appears to insult his black officers and doesn't care about the junkies, while Goldblum is fascinated about all things black and talks about them as wild beautiful beasts and loves having sex with "black'. These things aren't a major problem, but with basically only two white characters in it, it's a little worrying that both are given that edge.
　　However these are minor complaints that get lost with a good thriller. Fishburne excels and Duke delivers a story that is a good thriller but also has a jaded, subversive edge.