The A-Team

The A-Team may very well be summer 2010's most pleasant surprise. It's a balls-to the-walls action flick that owes more to 1980s action movies than it does to the '80s TV series that it's adapted from. The film captures the spirit of the show and the camaraderie among its titular quartet while jettisoning much of the campy humor and ramping up the action to almost absurd levels (a tank falls out of a plane for Pete's sake!). Indeed, there's an action set-piece seemingly every 15 minutes, and yet the movie isn't so breathlessly paced as to forget to pause to have some quieter moments (even if it's just banter).

We don't know much about who these guys were before they met each other save for B.A., the only one with a bit of backstory (enough to explain where his mohawk came from). We know Hannibal was in Desert Storm and that he and Face have been brothers-in-arms longer than the rest of the team, but otherwise these guys seem to live in the moment moving from one mission to the next until their military careers (and their sense of identity) are stripped from them. Performance-wise, the four main actors for the most part do a fine job in paying homage to their small screen predecessors even as they attempt to make these beloved characters their own.
review by IGN

The Karate Kid

As the remake's Mr. Miyagi substitute, Jackie Chan is solid as Mr. Han. Chan is a lovable presence in comedic roles, but in recent years has resorted too much to over the top mugging in projects far beneath him, such as The Spy Next Door. That being the case, it's nice to see him in a much more subdued and serious role here. Chan may not be the actor the late Pat Morita was (in a role that got him an Oscar nomination, no less), but he certainly gives one of his better performances in this film, including the key scene where a drunk Han reveals his tragic past to Dre.
As Dre, Smith -- son of the film's producers, Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith and just 11 when the film was shot -- is a strong young actor who is clearly very comfortable in front of the camera. Smith is charming and likable, even though he and Chan are never able to quite find the natural chemistry Ralph Macchio and Pat Morita had in the original – an inspired and unique pairing that was so integral to making that film, which certainly was derivative in many ways, work so well.

review by ign