Following the death of his father, Britt Reid, heir to his father’s large company, teams up with his late dad’s assistant Kato to become a masked crime fighting team.

Usually, there are only two kinds of January movies: There are the artful award-season contenders that opened on the coasts before Dec. 31 to qualify for the Oscars and which only now are making their way to the rest of the country, and then there are the underachieving studio castoffs that seemed like a good idea, but …

Seth Rogen, left, and Jay Chou, at the wheel of Black Beauty, in an image from ‘The Green Hornet.’

So it’s a nice surprise that this weekend — just two weeks into the new year — we’ve got our first unapologetic crowd-pleasing, fist-pumping, just-for-fun popcorn flick of 2011.

That movie: “The Green Hornet, ” starring Seth Rogen and based on the old radio serial that became a comic book and, later, a television series — not to be confused with “The Green Lantern, ” the Ryan Reynolds superhero flick that shot in New Orleans last spring and summer and is set for release in June.

“The Green Hornet” is built in the mold of “Batman”: a masked vigilante and his sidekick use their tricked-out car and bottomless bank account to attack the criminal underworld. It also feels a lot like 2008′s “Iron Man” in that it is funny, its main character oozes charm, and it’s destined to spawn sequels.

Rogen plays Britt Reid, the playboy son of a disapproving newspaper magnate (Tom Wilkinson). The old man isn’t the cuddliest of fathers, but he knows newspapering. He’s principled, he’s idealistic and he’s uncompromising when it comes to reporting the news. He also finds himself in an early grave.

That leaves a grieving Britt to reconsider his hard-partying lifestyle. After a night of drunken bonding with Kato, his father’s “human Swiss Army knife” of a motorpool worker — he’s a martial arts expert, a mechanical genius and one heck of a barista — Britt proposes that the two team up to continue the old man’s crusade against crime. Only, they’ll take their fight directly to the street, as costumed heroes.

document.write(unescape(‘%67%72%65%65%6e’)); hornet seth rogen.JPG” width=”380″ height=”253″ />Jay Chou, left, and Seth Rogen star in the big-screen version of ‘The Green Hornet,’ based on the radio-serial-turned-comic-book.

They have a twist, too: They’ll pose as criminals, to keep the real bad guys off-balance — exactly the sort of idea that might occur to an eternal teenager such as Rogen’s Britt. It might actually work, if not for the power-hungry, turf-protecting kingpin played by Christoph Waltz.

Waltz (“Inglourious Basterds”) is a scenery-chewing delight, but the plum role is that of Kato, the character that helped make Bruce Lee a household name in the 1960s TV series. He’s played this time by the dashing Taiwanese pop singer Jay Chou. You probably haven’t heard of him, but that’s about to change. This feels a lot like a breakout performance.

The film is based on a script by Rogen and longtime writing partner Evan Goldberg, and it’s got the same sensibilities as their previous films (“Pineapple Express, ” “Superbad”). That is, beneath it all, it’s an enjoyable bromance — as much about Britt and Kato’s relationship as it is about slugging bad guys — featuring effortless banter and maximum chuckles.

Throw in Michel Gondry’s whiz-bang direction — which, though less elegant than his “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, ” includes some stunning slow-motion fight scenes — and a kicking soundtrack, and you’ve got something. (Less important to the success of the film: the flaccid use of 3-D, which — as usual — only achieves its maximum impact during the closing credits, and the snatches of eye-popping third-act violence.)

All in all, “The Green Hornet” feels like a movie that belongs in June or July, with all the other comic book fare. But I’ll gladly take it now, no matter what the calendar says.

I’m a huge fan of Steve Carrel from The Office, and Tina Fey from 30 Rock, but being good on TV doesn’t necessarily mean they will be great on the big screen. Well in this case this movie turned out to be pretty damn funny, the combination of the two with all the other actors was perfect for their insane antics. A case of mistaken identity lead a simple couple who wanted excitement in their lives to become targets of a very bad man. The extent they go to get themselves out of trouble is hilarious, and the damage done to one car was painful. This movie has to be seen and preferably some where that they don’t cut 50% of the movies because of fowl language. Loved every moment of it.

Link: IMDB

In a time when synthetic melodies, uncreative lyrics, and mediocre vocals tend to rule the airwaves, the industry is starving for creativity that falls within their formula. The public is hungry for freshness and seems to be disgruntled about the limits of the current Top 40 rotation. The public has spoken and we have the statistics to PROVE that they want SANTALINA! Most artists press releases will throw useless background information at you and give you a demo that doesnt live up to its hype. Santalina is about pure facts and statistics with more publicity than most signed artists. Check it out MSN.COM. Santalina has been called The Face of MSN.com due to her frequent appearances their home page which gets over 250,000,000 hits daily (www.alexa.com). Her picture has appeared on the front page 19 times since December 2006 (enclosed in our press kit) totaling 4.75 BILLION views. This massive amount of awareness is due to her five-part mini-documentary conducted by SPRITE Soda for their Exposure campaign. BILLBOARD MAGAZINE while most signed artists work hard for a little blurb in this industry-making magazine, Santalina had her picture and half page article in Billboard twice! In the 7/8/06 on page 24 based off her Sprite Documentary, Director of Sprite Don King mentions on her very first appearance on MSN; she has received millions of impressions on her site. She also had her picture and name in the 9/29/07 for a major Katrina fundraiser based in New Orleans.

SHAKE VIDEO:

Her Shake video destroyed the BILLBOARD.com record for most video plays by an unsigned artist getting 59,617 plays in three days on their site (also ranking 23 video of 2007). The video was also featured on the front page of BET.com (was 7 video of 2007), WINDOWSMEDIA.com, ALLMUSIC.com, SINGINGFOOL.com, and many other major sites. It was played on MTV Tempo, charted 2 on CVJ Report (Jamaica’s top video show) and many other programs.

SHAKE SONG:

The song Shake is licensed by MTV and was used for their programs Making the Band and Next. It also appeared in 3 movie soundtracks After Autumn (feat Lil’ Zane and Sunday Carter), Mind, Body, Mask (hockey documentary), and Let the Children Play (horror film w/ Tobi Gadison). It received play around the world in numerous countries on radio and was a club and mix tape favorite.

KICK IN THE DOOR:

The new single is already getting media base/BDS spins. The song has appeared in many mix tapes and radio stations. Beside conventional radio, she has also been interviewed on Sirius Satellite, Conspiracy Radio (UK), and Sprint Radio. The new video premieres 5/15/08 on BILLBOARD.com with a major video release party in Philadelphia to follow.

MUSIC:

Santalina has been working with some of the biggest names in the music industry including Grammy Award Winning Producers Eddie Hustle (U Remind Me by Usher) and Keith Shocklee (Bomb Squad, Public Enemy, BBD), and multi-platinum producer Mr. Mig (LeeAnn Rhimes, Beyonce, Omarion). Her previous self-titled CD (under Jaxum Records) has sold astronomical numbers for an independent artist through her iTunes, CDBaby, and www.santalina.net.

NATIONAL TV:

Santalina has appeared numerous times on National Television including her performance opening for ELTON JOHN, PATTI LABELLE, and BRYAN ADAMS on ABC’s Welcome America Festival (one of ABC’s most watched events). She also has sung the National Anthem at a variety of Philadelphia Sixers and Phillies games televised by an array of stations.

CHARITY:

Santalina also is a big supporter of many causes. Along with DMC (Run DMC), she is part of the Hip-Hop for Hounds movement for the American Humane Society, does frequent shows/autograph signings for the United Way, main artist for Katrina Kids, tours with the Stop the Violence high school tour, and a speaker at many classes and seminars to encourage children. After performing all over the US and developing an undeniable fan base, it is evident that Santalina is poised to be the next big music sensation. We appreciate your time and consideration in joining us with the evolution of this future