There comes a point in the life cycle of every muscle-bound male action hero when he feels compelled to make a movie where he plays protector to one or more young kids. Harrison Ford did it in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Chuck Norris did it in Missing in Action III, Arnold Schwarzenegger did it in Terminator 2 (and, to a lesser extent, in Kindergarten Cop) and Jean-Claude Van Damme did it in Nowhere to Run. Heck, even Jason Statham did it once before in The Transporter 2 and that went over so well, now he's back for a second round.

Like a number of action heroes before him -- Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jean-Claude Van Damme to name a few -- Jason Statham gives (fake) fatherhood a try in his latest vehicle Safe, where he plays protector to a young girl (played by Catherine Chan) who is being pursued by the Triads, the Russian Mafia and the New York City fuzz. But don't worry, Statham fans: being in the company of a minor doesn't keep him from doing what he does best -- delivering epic beatdowns to bad guys dumb enough to stand in his way. On a recent publicity tour through New York (where Safe takes place, although Philadelphia subbed in for much of the shoot), Statham spoke to the press about the way he preps for his labor-intensive action movies, whether he's the modern-day Clint Eastwood and why he and Sylvester Stallone had tons of fun making The Expendables 2.

With the box office numbers in, the Jaden Smith-Jackie Chan remake of The Karate Kid has already been greenlit for a sequel. We're assuming that Jaden will return as the Kid, just as Ralph Macchio returned twice before him, but we hope that he'll also lend his fighting skills and shy-kid persona to some other classic 1980s roles. Here's what we were thinking...

The news that La Femme Nikita would be coming back with a brand new TV series came as somewhat of a shock -- after all, we still can't believe that the awesome French action film from 1990 managed to inspire such a terrible Bridget Fonda movie, let alone the hit Peta Wilson TV show that lasted five seasons. But then again, it is an awesome shoot-'em-up written and directed by Luc Besson, the godfather of modern French action films. Which got us thinking -- are there any other films in Besson's distinctively awesome body of work (including films he directed and films he just wrote) that would make kick-ass weekly TV shows? We found several, including one that's playing at the local arthouse cinema...

For those of you who were hoping that Ninja Assassin would be a historical exploration of what ninjas were really like, be warned: the filmmakers were not striving for realism. In fact, one of their biggest stylistic influences for this film was Ninja Scroll, a particularly gruesome bit of Japanese animation where blood shoots out like geysers, the ninjas move supernaturally fast, and one even travels through shadows like they're a network of tunnels. Needless to say, I was very interested to see how they would convey the feeling of that movie in live-action, given that a direct adaptation has been on the drawing board for years. In a word, they nailed it.

Are ninjas still cool? Are they becoming cool again? Because while the trailer for Ninja Assassin (by the director of V for Vendetta) looks awesome, it feels like we should have gotten this movie years ago, when ninjas were kinda in the limelight. Not before The Matrix, of course, because this movie uses a lot of that movie's bullet-time slo-mo action -- except here, it's shuriken time. Omar G. and Pablo G. watched the trailer, and they have plenty to say on the subject of ninjas, which has surely gotten them marked for death by several of the more secretive ninja clans out there. Watch what will surely be the last "Trailers Without Pity" below, or click here.

I am not an otaku. However, growing up watching Japanese animation and actually working at an anime magazine for a while has given me a strong appreciation for anime and manga, and I still try to keep up with what's going on in that world. So when I found out they were making a live-action adaptation of the popular anime Dragon Ball, which comes out this weekend, I paid close attention to what anime fans -- meaning my bitter, frequently drunk otaku friends -- were saying about this movie. Now that it's here, I figured I'd run down some of the biggest complaints from fans of the original cartoon and comics, just so non-fans can see why they should hate this movie so much. ...Although I'm sure the non-fans will have their own reasons to hate it.

Is there something like the SPCA, only for action stars that maybe aren't quite as youthful as they once were? I can't help but think someone, somewhere needed to step in where The Spy Next Door is concerned and get Jackie Chan out of there. As some former knock-'em-out stars start heading toward their fifties and beyond, they try to transition into more mainstream roles. This isn't always easy, and some missteps will be made. In Chan's case, the missteps are becoming full-fledged leaps, as news come down the wire that Billy Ray Cyrus and George Lopez have just been cast to co-star with him in the comedy about mistaken identities. The two latest additions play CIA agents. The lineup, the premise... the whole thing has a "direct-to-DVD" sort of feel to it.

More often than not, the news of an '80s movie remake would have me crying out "Why? Just... why?!" in a plaintive wail. But yesterday came news of a remake of The Last Dragon that has me clapping my hands like a kid who's just gotten a plastic pumpkin full of sweet, sweet treats. This is entirely because Samuel L. Jackson has been cast as the egocentric, larger-than-life, so-bad-he's-good villain known as Sho'Nuff. Originally played by the late Julius Carry, the self-professed "Shogun of Harlem" will once again face off against plucky young martial arts hero Leroy Green, but the plot will be updated for modern sensibilities. Which, sadly, probably means a dearth of those distinctly '80s tunes and no Vanity co-starring as the girlfriend.

Toyota's offshoot brand Scion was designed to appeal to teens and early twenty-somethings looking to buy their first cars. Their web site is so cool it makes cool people feel like nerds. It makes me feel like... what's one level below a nerd? Okay, maybe two levels. Anyway, I bought one of their cars a few weeks ago. Unfortunately for Scion's much wished-for youthful image, so did a lot of other people a wee bit outside the target age range. Variety reports that instead of breaking out the Geritol, Scion will try to appeal to the youth market by hiring Roman Coppola (CQ)to direct a series of short films called The Fist of Oblivion to run on the automaker's site starting in November. Its star will be an ex-cop kung-fu master who's hunting down a friend who framed him for a crime. Also, he's a puppet.