“Green Street Hooligans” chooses an unexpected entry point into this world. Its hero is Matt Buckner (Elijah Wood), a bright Harvard student kicked out of school two months before graduating after his roommate forces him to take the fall for some cocaine found in their room. The Harvard business is not convincing but motivates Matt to visit his sister Shannon (Claire Forlani) in London. Her husband, Steve (Marc Warren), more or less forces his brother Pete (Charlie Hunnam) to take Matt to a football match.

Wood, who can seem harmless enough to be cast as Frodo in “Lord of the Rings,” might appear to be the last person who’d be interested in the violent world of a firm. But the movie is about the way men who run in packs need to belong and to prove themselves. In a series of gradual stages, which are convincing because we see his early resistance wearing down, Matt tries to become accepted by the Green Street Elite. This involves fighting at their side, which he does with more recklessness than skill.

He has become addicted. He was a journalist at Harvard, an editor of the Crimson, and now he keeps a journal: “I’d never lived closer to danger — never felt more confident.” Life in the firm makes his previous life seem insubstantial and unreal; what is real is bonding with other men and beating the crap out of opposing firms.

Don’t assume you know who will die. It isn’t who you might think. Of the dead man, we are told: “His life taught me there’s a time to stand your ground. His death taught me there’s a time to walk away.” I guess the time to walk away is before you get killed standing your ground, unless you have a very good reason for standing it. The most frightening thing about the Green Street Elite is the members think they have such a reason, and it is loyalty to the mob.

Dwayne Johnson Returns on screen as “the Rock” in FASTER.  Although his charcter is officially titled “driver” old fans will recognize the on screen presence of the wrestler people loved to hate.  FASTER (Directed by: George Tillman Jr. Written by: Tony Gayton and Joe Gayton CoStarring: Billy Bob Thornton, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Carla Gugino, Maggie Grace) reminded me of the “Drive-in Films” of the 70′s when macho existentialists drove muscle cars across the California desert just for the pleasure of killing each other. Cars screeching backward, forward, and sideways, and when people in this movie die, they die brutally. But the script by Tony and Joe Gayton is just as interested in the ways guilt and vengeance can warp a soul, and it pulls a sharp performance from Thornton as a dirty little man trying to wash himself clean.

AntiHero Rock plays “The Driver,’’ released from a 10-year prison stretch embarks on a methodical quest to avenge himself against the crew that murdered his bank-robbing brother (Matt Gerald).  Billy Bob Thornton “The Cop’’ — who, when he isn’t shooting up heroin in toilets, is investigating The Driver’s long trail of bodies, and “The Killer’’ (Oliver Jackson-Cohen), a professional assassin hired to bring The Driver down.  The latter is both the movie’s most original creation and its silliest — a handsome yuppie software billionaire so bored with post-buyout life that he takes hit-man jobs for a dollar a pop. When he isn’t neurotically stalking his quarry, The Killer is fretting about emotional issues and proposing to his girlfriend (Maggie Grace of “Lost’’) via Bluetooth.

You can catch the big twist two thirds into the movie, as The Driver’s targets shift gradually from creeps to flawed dads to a testifying man of God (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje).  Overall I really enjoyed FASTER and although the movie felt a litte dry at times I still felt there was plenty of story behind each charcters (which I hope will lead to future spin-off movies). FASTER has the heart of a 70′s action movie with a subtle homage to Sergio Leone’s “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.’’ the later of which was a suprising after thought reveal thanks to the help of a ringtone.

The Warrior’s Way, a visually-stunning modern martial arts western starring Korean actor Dong-gun Jang who plays an Asian warrior assassin forced to hide in a small town in the American Badlands. Rounding out the ensemble cast are Kate Bosworth, Oscar-winner Geoffrey Rush, Danny Houston, and Tony Cox. The fantasy action film was written and directed by newcomer Sngmoo Lee, and is being produced by Barrie Osborne, Michael Peyser and Jooick Lee.