Justin Lin

Better Luck Tomorrow and Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift director Justin Lin takes a comic look at a longstanding bit of cinema mythology with this mockumentary exploring the making of Bruce Lee's unfinished final film Game of Death. When martial arts star Lee died in 1973 after having shot roughly twenty-minutes of the full-length feature, director Robert Clouse vowed to complete the film using a Bruce Lee look-a-like. Though the film was eventually released into theaters in 1978, fans continue to debate just how much involvement Lee had in the making of the film nearly three decades after the fact. Perhaps viewers will never know for certain just how much of Lee they are seeing in the final product, but in this knowing satire director Lin offers a hilarious look at how things might have gone down while simultaneously skewering mainstream cinema for it's stereotypical treatment of Asian-American actors. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

A poor but ambitious young man strives to make good in one of the most competitive institutions on Earth in this military drama. Jake Huard (James Franco) is a young man from a small Maryland town who grew up in a blue-collar family with few opportunities. Wanting to make something of himself after completing high school, Jake set his sights on attending the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, where he narrowly makes the cut and becomes one of the 1,200 applicants selected for the freshman class. Jake finds that life as a "plebe" is intellectually challenging and physically punishing, and he soon develops a powerful adversary in Midshipman Lt. Cole (Tyrese Gibson), his training commander, who pushes Jake to the limit to see if he has what it takes. Standing on the razor's edge of failing as both a student and a soldier, Jake makes a brave but dangerous gesture toward proving himself by entering the Brigade Championships, a Naval boxing competition where he'll go into the ring against the best fighters in the Navy -- including Lt. Cole. Jake soon has one person on his side when he strikes up a friendship with Ali (Jordana Brewster), a pretty young officer who believes Jake has what it takes to go the distance. Annapolis also stars Donnie Wahlberg, Chi McBride, and Vicellous Shannon; the film was directed by Justin Lin, who debuted with the acclaimed independent feature Better Luck Tomorrow. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A group of unlikely high school students take up crime as an extracurricular activity in this independent drama. Ben (Parry Shen) is a 16-year-old high school student who is the living embodiment of the stereotypical Asian overachiever. Ben obsessively studies even though he gets straight A's, takes part in a dizzying variety of school activities and community volunteer work, which he thinks will look good on his resume to colleges, and is even a member of the basketball team, even though he spends most of the season riding the pine. Ben also hopes being part of the team will help him win the heart of Stephanie Vandergosh (Karin Anna Cheung), a cute but equally obsessive girl who is on the cheerleading squad. When the big man on campus, Daric (Roger Fan), publishes an article in the school newspaper that points out Ben's true role on the team is to add a touch of ethnic diversity to satisfy Board of Education requirements, Ben is so embarrassed he quits the team and imagines his academic future going up in smoke. Daric seizes the opportunity to propose that he and Ben go into business, creating and selling detailed cheat sheets for school tests and placement exams. The cheat sheets are an immediate hit, and soon Ben and Daric advance to other forms of low-level crime, including drug dealing and fencing stolen goods. Before long, Ben and Daric are joined by a handful of friends -- Ben's close friend and part-time kleptomaniac Virgil (Jason Tobin), Hong Kong gangster wannabe Han (Sung Kang), and Steve (John Cho), a kid from a wealthy family who happens to be dating Stephanie -- but they soon find themselves moving deeper into the criminal underworld than they ever anticipated, and things get ugly when they try to move on. Better Luck Tomorrow was enthusiastically received in its screenings at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

This free-flowing feature film, marking the directorial debut of video-maker Quentin Lee, episodically chronicles the personal insights and reflections of four young men. In the first, a young director discusses his homosexuality and how it inspires his films to be interesting and different. Though the film is somewhat fragmented, Lee covers a broad array of topics ranging from condom ads, mother killers, vampires, Hong Kong soap operas, music, and Chinese food. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide