Capsule reviews of movies opening in theaters this weekend.
"Bangkok Dangerous" -- A hit man (Nicolas Cage) bumbles through Thailand shooting people and finding romance in this remake of a 1999 Thai-language hit. Directed by the Pang brothers, the Hong Kong filmmaking duo responsible for the original film and the 2003 Chinese thriller "The Eye." Not screened before press time. Opens everywhere Friday -- Mike Moody
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"The Wackness" -- Like "Definitely, Maybe" from earlier this year, the coming-of-age dramedy "The Wackness" asks us to dig deep within our nostalgia wells and reminisce about the mid-1990s.
Summer of 1994, to be exact. That's when writer-director Jonathan Levine graduated from high school, like his film's sullen hero, Luke Shapiro (Josh Peck), who deals pot from an Italian-ices cart in the New York City heat. (Levine, though, protests in the film's production notes, "I never sold weed, I swear.")
The setting means we're in store for plenty of rap (Notorious B.I.G., Tribe Called Quest), references to Kurt Cobain and "Forrest Gump," Giuliani-bashing and privileged white kids liberally peppering their speech with words like "mad" and "dope."
It all feels self-conscious and it makes Luke feel like an annoying type, even though Peck, a long way from the Nickelodeon sitcom "Drake & Josh," shows some believable glimmers of vulnerability beneath the bravado. Opens Friday only at Carmike 20, 3003 S Expressway 281, Edinburg -- Christy Lemire/AP
