Fast Five

Rated PG13 for action, violence, some sexuality, brief language

Starring Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Jordana Brewster, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Tyrese Gibson, Ludacris

Picking up exactly where the 4th installment left off, Dom is sentence for his crimes and being bussed off to prison when his sister Mia and her boyfriend  - the former FBI agent and fellow street racer Brian O'Connor - speed up alongside the bus, tipping it over and busting just Dom out. Now fugitives, the trio flees to Rio in hopes of waiting things out until the whole mess blows over.

Desperate for funds, Mia and Brian meet up with Vince (from the 1st movie) and agree to a quick and easy job he's found out about which includes jacking 3 cars off a train. Dom gets involved as well, however the plan doesn't go as planned as it turns out the guys that set up the job have ulterior motives. After Dom sends Mia off in the car the others had the most interest in, all hell breaks out and several DEA officers on the train get shot and killed in the process.

Curious as to why they were so interested in that one particular car, Dom and Brian strip it down and discover a microchip that contains all the safehouses for Rio's main druglord.

Not only do they have the local druglord's henchmen after them, but now, because of the dead DEA officers, they also have tough as nails US DSS agent Luke Hobbs hot on their trail, wanting to recapture our trio.

Tired and wanting to live a normal life (not to mention Mia is pregnant with Brian's child), with the help of friends from all the previous installments, they decide to rob the druglord and go into hiding in a country where they can't be extradited.

Not only do we have the car chases with flashy cars we've come to expect from this series, but now there's the "impossible heist" element (reminiscent of Ocean's 11 or The Italian Job) added to it as well.

Gotta admit, this franchise works much better with Vin Diesel in it than it did without him in the 2nd installment (and technically the 3rd, although in the timeline that one takes place at the end of the series). Having The Rock hot on his tail also adds to the fun and it's a battle of brawn when the 2 have a bit of a hand to hand showdown.

If you liked the original The Fast and the Furious as well as the series' 4th installment Fast and Furious, you'll definitely enjoy Fast Five as it's much of the same fun adrenaline rush we've come to expect from these films.

The Bank Job

Rated R for language, violence, nudity, sexuality

Starring Jason Statham, Safron Burrows

Based on London's "Walkie Talkie Robbery" of 1971, this is probably the first really good movie of the 2008, if you can get past the first 20 minutes. And no, it's not just because I think Jason Statham is f'ing hot.

Before the opening credits, I felt like I was watching a porno at the amount of sex and nudity that were being shown, and then after the credits, there's quite a bit of T&A in a scene that takes place in a bar for a bachelor party and another scene that takes place with gov't officials in a whorehouse. But once you get past the 20 min, the rest of the film was great, as you make sense of everything you had seen prior.

Michael X is a black activist with a dirty record of his own. After assaulting some guy of importance and being taken to court for it, they decide to try and press him on drug charges as well. However, as leverage, he claims to have some steamy photos of someone in the royal family on vacation, and he plans to use them to keep out of jail. In order to make sure these photos don't see the light of day, London's MI-5 comes up with a plot to pass info onto a group of former thieves that the vault which the photos are stored in will have its alarm disable for 1 weekend only, in hopes that their mole can get the photos for them.

Although the heist itself is done by the first half to 2/3rds of the movie, the aftermath of the the heist is where things really start to pick up, as the vault they broke into and stole items from stored even more pictures of public officials in compromisable situations, as well as information on crooked cops. Now the unknowning police aren't the only ones after our band of thieves!

Not one for the kiddies, but if you can sit through the first 20 min or so of random T&A (which it all makes sense in the aftermath of the heist), definately don't miss this one, as plot-wise, it really is the best film of the year so far.

And although Jason Statham does go a little bit Transporter at the end, he really does a good job actually getting to act in this film, rather than just beat bad guys senseless while looking-good.