Friday Features, Feb. 10, 2012

By Justin McCraw | February 10, 2012

Hello, and welcome to Friday Features, your source for the weekend’s top film releases. We take a look at each new release and give it a rating based on its Asian-American presence, or lack thereof. Most of the time, these are big feature films, but sometimes a smaller gem rolls our way. And, as always, if we’ve missed anything, let us know in the comments. So grab your popcorn, and prepare for this week’s Friday Features (links go to trailers).

Studio:
New Line Cinema

No. of AA: 0

Rating: F

Journey 2: The Mysterious Island

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson leads a cast of teen celebrities as they explore a mythical island. The 3-D glasses are optional, but the lack of Asian Americans is not.

Studio:
Spyglass
Entertainment

No. of AA: 0

Rating: F

The Vow

Rachel McAdams and Channing Tatum join forces for the Valentine’s Day tear-jerker of the season. The only thing we’re crying about is the lack of Asian-American faces.

Studio:
Lucasfilm

No. of AA: 0

Rating: F

Star Wars: Episode One, 3-D

The first prequel film to the cult-classic Star Wars, Episode One features lightsaber duels and possibly an Asian-American in the background somewhere. To its defense, this was a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…

Studio:
Amalgam
Features

No. of AA: 1

Rating: D

Rampart

Woody Harrelson, Sigourney Weaver, Cynthia Nixon, Ice Cube, Steve Buscemi, and the list goes on, all appear in this story of a dirty cop sent over the edge. Asian-American Chuti Tiu, who was Miss Illinois 1994, plays Harrelson’s lawyer.

Studio:
Universal
Studios

No. of AA: 0

Rating: F

Safe House

When a rogue agent (Denzel Washington) turns up at a U.S. embassy out of the blue, it’s up to Ryan Reynolds to protect him when his fellow CIA agents seem to turn against them both. I guess a South African setting didn’t lend itself to many Asian-American appearances.

Overall rating this week: D-

For scores, we look at a film’s IMDB profile and search for Asian-American cast members. We also check with the film’s website, if a cast list is available, and view the trailers.