In Theaters: 'Harold & Kumar Escape from Guanatanamo Bay'

Last time, Harold Lee and Kumar Patel just wanted some White Castle sliders. This time they have to escape from a U.S. military prison.

The pot-smoking duo returns with a load of new adventures in directors John Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg's "Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay." This latest addition brings back its tongue-in-cheek look at racial stereotypes along with a smorgasbord of gross-out humor and fart jokes. Although the film starts off slowly, its over-the-top storyline and skilled performances creates an entertaining experience.

The story picks up just as the last one leaves off with Harold (played by John Cho) and Kumar (Kal Penn) preparing to embark on a trip to Amsterdam in order to pay a surprise visit to Harold's new love interest, Maria (played by Paula Garcés). But during the flight, Kumar has a hankering to get high using his smokeless bong. When an older woman mistakes it for a weapon, all hell breaks loose and the two are sentenced to Guantanamo Bay.

"Guantanamo Bay" opens lethargically, giving moviegoers a recap of "White Castle's" ending and setting up the premise for what's to come. While there are moments to chuckle and grimace at – seminal fluid and poop jokes arrive in the first five minutes – the film doesn't pick up until after the two board their plane to Amsterdam.

The film avoids the pitfall of other comedic sequels whose writers fill their scripts with rehashed jokes. While it still has parts that are pulled from "White Castle," such as the similarity between the parachute and the hang-glider scenes, the majority of the humor is new. One of the best moments is a flashback to Kumar's college days and a distinctly different Harold comes walking in.

But the heart of the movie resides in its actors. Cho and Penn masterfully play off each other, creating an odd couple-esque chemistry. But the scene stealer is Rob Corddry, who plays the Homeland Security agent chasing the two friends. His performance as the overzealous and blatantly ignorant officer pushes the boundaries from bad guy to cartoonish super villain.

"Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay" isn't for everyone. Its grotesque humor and coarse language require a bit of a strong stomach. But beyond the scatological and sexual jokes, the film is a smart, satirical look at racial stereotypes in the U.S.

Album review: 'Story of a City' opens new chapter, blending Chinese instruments with hip-hop, jazz

Finding an identity is something many Asian Americans struggle with. But Dave Liang seems to have found his niche.

In 2006, the music producer reinvented the way Chinese instruments are heard with the album, The Shanghai Restoration Project – named one of AsiaXpress.com's top-five Asian-American albums for the year. Fusing the traditional sounds with modern hip-hop and jazz flavors, he created something he said mirrored his upbringing as a Chinese American.

Continuing with the formula, his latest album, Story of a City, is latest next chapter in his musical journey. Liang teams up a bevy of musicians to create a compilation filled with rich, tranquil tracks that produce chilled euphoria.

The lyrics aren't the strongest elements in the album, but they add an uplifting tone and are a vast improvement over those in its predecessor. For some songs, such as "Voices," the words add to the track's depth: "In our eyes we seek an answer / That our minds already know / That the truth lies not in secret / But the stories that are told."

Only one song, "Touchdown," becomes lost with the ramblings. Rather than having any reason, its filled with verses that simply rhyme. Then at 2:04, it sounds as if Natural Fact runs out of things to say with an awkward pause to the song.

Di Johnston, one of the staples of the debut album, reunites with Liang in the song, "Preface." It opens with simple string plucks overlaying a snapping percussion loop. A rolling piano melody enters with Johnston's synthesized and harmonized vocals, adding to richness of the music.

One of the best songs is "Last Night Of The Dynasty." It opens with sharp horns that are played over subdued rattling percussion with a hollow kick. Low piano notes enter with Julie Anne Sgroi's sweet vocals, as the song adopts a mellow tone. Soft bell notes play along with various synth sounds in the background.

According to his MySpace, Story of a City is based on Shanghai's tale at the turn of the 20th century – a step forward from the '30s Shanghai jazz that influenced his first album. Keeping stride with his album's theme, Liang has himself progressed, creating a soothing set of aurally pleasing songs that sets a new standard in the genre he invented.

In Theaters: 'The Eye'

Jessica Alba plays Sydney, a blind violinist who receives a cornea transplant that helps her see for the first time in 15 years.

But she soon discovers that there's more than meets the eye when she starts to see dead people.

Based on the 2002 Hong Kong movie of the same name, "The Eye" is the latest in Hollywood's long line of Asian-movie remakes. While most of these reinterpretations are absent of the original's essence, directors David Moreau and Xavier Palud stay true to the storyline. While the exaggerated horror build-up music is overused and some questions remained unsolved, its interesting premise and simple, straightforward storytelling creates a mildly entertaining, uncomplicated viewing experience.

Despite Moreau and Palud's effort, "The Eye" is not a horror movie. It wasn't in the 2002 Hong Kong version and it isn't now. It moves more like a psychological thriller since Sydney is the only one who is directly affected by this. But it seems like every couple of minutes, the rising orchestral sounds enter, building up to nothing. After 20 minutes, the effect becomes washed out.

There were many plot sequences that raised questions, but were ultimately left answered. In one scene Sydney ends up at a burned down Chinese restaurant, but there's no reason why she was there. True it was an element to show that she could see dead people, but so were about half a dozen other scenes before it.

However the movie's premise is interesting and the directors' told it in a way that draws the audience into the film. Rather than trying to complicate matters by adding elaborate backstories to flesh out the characters, they accepted the story as what it is: a woman gets an eye implant, sees dead people and wants to know why. No sappy love stories, no forced family dilemmas, just a straightforward plot-driven story.

"The Eye" is by no means a masterpiece, but it's not supposed to be. It's engaging and stays relatively faithful as a remake to a solid film – that's about all that can be asked. And if nothing else, Jessica Alba provides nice eye candy.

In Theaters: 'Summer Palace'

Yu Hong's just a small-town girl, living in a lonely world. But when she leaves to go to a university in Beijing in the fall of 1988, she meets her lover, Zhou Wei, and her life completely changes.

Director Lou Ye ("Purple Butterfly") follows the story of the young couple's relationship amid the backdrop of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests in "Summer Palace." Drawing parallels between Yu's sexual exploration and China's political system, Ye creates an intriguing character case study with socio-political undertones. While certain parts of the film dawdles, its unhurried pace is an inviting lull as the characters' growth and regressions unravel onscreen.

Serving as both a strength and a weakness, the film's gradual pace produces a slice-of-life tone. Certain scenes, such as those building the relationship between Zhou and Yu, overstay their welcome. It's one thing to show them riding bikes together, but it becomes monotonous when they just keep going. But more often than not, the tempo allows viewers to absorb the movie.

The backbone of the film resides in its ordinary, yet complex characters. Yu, played by Lei Hao, is confused about what she wants in life, leading to rash decisions that affect others in her life. At times it's difficult to understand her off-beat mindset, but therein lies her charm.

"Summer Palace" is a captivating, albeit slow film into Yu's and Zhou's worlds. This isn't a feel-good movie, nor is it one that is dark and depressing. Rather it's a viewing into the lives of intricate individuals who are trying to figure out who they are in this world.

In Theaters: 'Rambo'

"Rambo" can best be described in two words: Blow'd up.

Rather than crafting a well thought-out script, Sly Stallone decided that John Rambo's latest adventure should just be about blood, violence and things getting blow'd up.

Not that there's anything wrong with that. In fact, the 93-minute flick is like a shoot-em-up video game, jam packed with badass action sequences where Rambo and his band of mercenaries slaughter the evil Burmese soldiers.

True, the acting's bad, the dialogue's lame and the violence is graphic – in one scene, Rambo rips out one of the bad guy's throat – but it's exactly what's expected when coming into a new Rambo movie.

No longer is John Rambo struggling with the notion that he was trained to be a killing machine. Instead he accepts and seemingly embraces it. It's who he is, and with that it makes for a much more entertaining viewing.

"Rambo" is not a piece of art; It's a guilty pleasure. It's nonstop action and over-the-top violence. And in the middle of Oscar season, it's a welcome mind-numbing breather in between watching the heavy, thought-proviking nominees.

Album review: Jinx, schminx, ‘We Brave Bee Stings And All’ shows sophomore success

Superstitions hold no power over Thao Nguyen.

In the Virginia-raised singer-songwriter’s second studio album, We Brave Bee Stings And All, Nguyen avoids the dreaded sophomore jinx and creates a body of work that far surpasses her initial endeavor. Her intricate lyrics and toe-tappinig melodies are laced across the 11-track alt-folk rock compilation.

The album opens with “Beat (Health, Life And Fire),” featuring Nguyen’s breathy, sustained vocals that lead sweet marxophone plucks over marching snares. Simple electronic guitar riff and a subdued trombone complement, creating a fully bodied sound.

“Yes, So On And So On” is a tranquil tune with simple guitar strums and piano hits lazily carrying the melody. Her lyrics about learning life’s lessons are among the best on the CD: “Loved large enough / To want to shrink / Been dumb enough / To start to think.”

The best song on the album is the chipper “Bag of Hammers.” Its bright, light-hearted guitar plucks and soft beat-boxing, produce a foot-stomping cadence over soothing euphony. But Nguyen’s lyrics invoke images of a scorned woman coming out of a relationship: “And as sharp as I sing / As sharp as I sting / It still soothes you doesn’t it / Like the lick of ice cream.”

Some artists struggle to produce anything worth listening to after their debut, but like a banjo-wielding bard slaying a high-level boss, Nguyen has leveled up and refined her skills in We Brave Bee Stings And All. The album’s thoughtful, melodic poetry carries the same impact no matter how many times they’re heard.

For more information about Thao with the Get Down Stay Down, visit http://www.thaomusic.com.

Album review: 'Slanted Eyes, Slanted Hearts' is a pleasing blend of old-school dance style and modern elements

It's been about two decades since synthpop was at the height of its popularity and groups such as Depeche Mode and New Order were leading the charge.

Just don't tell that to The Slants.

The Portland, Ore.-based band brings back the old-school electronic sound in their debut album, Slanted Eyes, Slanted Hearts. Taking the traditionally synthesizer-heavy music, they infuse rock and punk elements with a bit of Asian flare to produce an aurally captivating 11-track compilation.

Playing off their Asian theme, the album opens with the dance track, "Sakura Sakura." It begins with koto plucks that play the traditional Japanese folk song. Drum beats enter and slowly speed up until rich synths and electric guitars take over. Lead singer Aron Moxley's belts out heavy lyrics about overcoming discrimination in the CD's most racially charged song: "We sing for the Japanese and the Chinese/ and all the dirty knees, can you see me?/ We sing in harmony."

In "Haruki Murakami," Jen Cho reads an excerpt from one of the Japanese author's pieces. The passage is laid over echoing bell strikes, bright synths and bassy hums. It segues into the next track, "Love Within My Sins," which featuring a melodic bassline and sweet harmonies by Cho and Moxley.

The best song on the album is the catchy "Kokoro (I Fall To Pieces)." It begins with a percussive medley of kicks as a simple bassline enters. Hollow, resonating hits make up the melody as Moxley's vocals enter. The song's wide variety of sounds creates a rich blend that fills aural spectrum.

While most new bands require a grace period before being able to produce a cohesive sound, The Slants – who formulated their lineup in early 2007 – sound like they've been playing together for years. Slanted Eyes, Slanted Hearts is a rich collection of head-nodding, feet-stomping dance tracks that will attract old and new synthpop fans alike.

Three and a half stars out of four. For more information, visit http://www.theslants.com.