Midnight Son (2011)

Geez another Vampire movie? Yeah but these don't sparkle! Actually there are only a couple in the whole movie. Things set up sort of like a guy was born with it and as he approaches his middle 20's his need for blood starts to burn within him. Requiem for a Dream meets The Hunger. They go at it like an addiction with the lead suffering from all number of heroin style side effects. Nice and moody with a heavy dose of urban seasoning... think of this as Vampire Noir. Very nicely done squeezing fresh juice out of this old turnip. Recommended.

Dead Season (2012)

ZOMBIES! Another B zombie movie, but this is a good example instead of a train wreck. Most the movie takes place on an island resort (that our main characters had to travel to via boat) that is being run as a proto military compound. Despite shortcomings in acting and FX the story really shows serious thought into how people would manage the coming zombie apocalypse. Patrols, food gathering, prime directives.. and the inability to beat the stupid out of some people. If you are an avid fan of the genre I would say a viewing would be worth your time.

Cell Count (2012)

A mysterious illness threatens humanity but one scientist offers a cure. Basically unless this shows up on the late late late show and you are too drunk, stoned or lazy to find the remote I would stay away from this one. This is the type of movie that give B movies a bad name. Terrible cliched acting (the mad scientist sounds like a NAZI? why not a big scar and a monocle too), lame FX, and just when the movie is coming to an end they start making Matrix like references and the movie ends in the middle of some non sequitur that leaves you thinking the plug got pulled during production and they are trying to pay off the bill in the editing studio. Way too much toe cheese and not enough cracker. I actually misread the IMDb rating on this and thought it was a 8.3 (83 votes) instead of the 3.2 or 2.3 it really has. Bad dog no biscuit!

Battle of the Pacific (2012) AKA Oba: The Last Samurai (2011)

The battle for Saipan during WWII. The original title is more appropriate for this movie but hey at least the dubbing is good! Much like Clint Eastwood's Letters from Iwo Jima (2006), this is told largely from the Japanese perspective or at least not overly 'YAY AMERICA!'. This isn't a big Hollyweird production so FX are modest and sweeping panoramic shots are minimal. Think of this more a story of the Japanese version of Thermopylae with a small band of Japanese soldiers dodging 1000 times their number. Some great notions of Japanese honor and culture alongside some of the anti-American propaganda those who aren't students of the era may not know. If you are a fan of intelligent war movies this is tailor made for you. Not to say the mindless ones (Full Metal Jacket, Apocalypse Now) aren't fun and enjoyable watches. Obviously some of the accuracy is a matter of opinion but overall a solid docudrama. A worthy tribute to a forgotten hero. Recommended.

Walk All Over Me (2007)

Missing cash, the three stooges of bad guys, a dominatrix, and her shit magnet cousin all collide in the suburbs of Vancouver. How I missed this until now is beyond me. Granted I went into this expecting more Dancing at the Blue Iguana than Shoot the Hero, but what I got was an enjoyable watch with a sliver of weird. This is another Leelee Sobieski showcase movie so if you can't stand her stay away from this. Personally I liked it, very entertaining, and should appeal to those who enjoy underdog makes good style stories but with humor instead of tears. Like many movies of this type not everything lines up well but this one hides it better than most. I wish they would have spent more time playing in the dominatrix dungeon but alas no...lol. Enjoy!

The Woman in the Fifth (2011)

A disgraced professor moves to Paris to be closer to his daughter and instead finds himself on a road into the weird. Okay I am going to admit I don't have a full handle on this movie yet and will watch it a couple more times to try to understand just what the hell happened. It had no trouble holding my attention and every time I thought it had picked a direction it turned out to be misdirection. I'm half of a mind to think that the movie is about the guy going crazy but there are murders and an apparent kidnapping so..? You have all the makings for a steamy romance, murder mystery, crime action.. but after setting those up it doesn't go through any of those doors. Something to challenge the mind or cosmic muffin? Hell I don't know! If you are tired of watching the same old shit and want to jump off into something adultish and different this isn't a bad pick. Still wondering... Oo

The Hunger Games (2012)

In the future as a punishment for some past rebellion, each year communities must send 2 chosen by lot to compete in a last man standing, kill or be killed free for all. You know what they call Hunger Games in Paris? Battle Royal with cheese. Basically this is Twilight meets Battle Royal with way too much vanilla dressing. Its not a total waste of time as some scenes are memorable (hallucination hornets anyone?) but I found it not only overly predictable but stale and cliched. I thought the Rodney King tie in was way over the top doing little more than reinforcing a negative stereotype. On the up side the 'pre-story' is decent and I liked the juxtaposition of a Metropolis style high tech society with the Russian style village living surviving on squirrels and rough bread.

A Thousand Words (2012)

A literary agent gets a cosmic kick in the ass after a visit to a new age spiritual guru. Eddie Murphy and Dream Works go together like milk and oatmeal. Familiar, nourishing, great for kids, bland and boring. Think of this as Liar Liar (1997) with a cup of willow bark tea and a namaste instead of sugar and screaming. Nice family friendly viewing, easy to watch, even the outrageous stuff is time tested and non threatening. Still a good message and an overall positive experience. Something you can watch with the kids without being bored or horrified. Coming in at a viewer friendly 90 minutes there is no reason not to make this a rental.

Gone (2012)

A woman swears she was kidnapped and escaped but when police find no trace she is committed. Two years later she is convinced he has returned to get her. A fairly entertaining movie that uses a constant thread of unlikely and hard to swallow events to move things forward. The lead is the same gecko eyed player from the recent Red Riding hood reboot but not as annoying in this role. Things stay fairly brisk throughout so after the first 20 minutes it had no trouble keeping my interest. For fans of 'fuck you for not believing me even though there was nothing to corroborate my story' movies this one is tailor made for you.

Jeff, Who Lives at Home (2011)

A zen loser gets to play hero for a day. This is a cutesy sort of random style movie about a day in the life for a mother, her stoner son who lives in her basement, and his middle management brother. This is one of the better 'safe date' movies I've seen in awhile. Its humorous without zingers, love without syrup, being zen and at one with the cosmos while wandering around like a complete jackass, pretty much a movie where the players pretend they are real people. And to top it off they have a slow pitch bid in favor of older women 'experimenting' with lesbianism. (Susan Sarandon played mom so it wasn't a hard sell for her). So as a gal you don't have to worry about tentacles coming on because you're scared and guys you get to show how open minded and well balanced you are on this safe movie date. It is a feel good movie, done very well, and yes you will want to clap at the end. Oh just an FYI- if you are in a hotel room with someone and your spouse doesn't know about it and its not part of your job, regardless your state of dress when you get caught, YOU ARE CHEATING!

Twixt (2011)

A 'bargain basement Stephen King' author (Val Kilmer) winds up in a sleepy little town where nothing is as it seems. Bruce Dern plays the multi-talented sheriff/wood-smith/bat expert/would be author who seeks to co-write a novel utilizing an unusual corpse in the morgue as the center piece with the washed up town novelty. So at this point I was thinking cheesy Salem's Lot knock off when out of the blue everything takes a hard left turn and corkscrews deeper and deeper into weird, dark and not so scary. By the time everything is said and done the object of Val's demise is his salvation! Slick bit of enjoyable film making that has your head bobbing in agreement with the ending. If you are the type who isn't afraid to sop up chocolate syrup with a piece of toast you may find this a very tasty bit indeed! I didn't know this was a Coppola film until just now. Recommended.

Wanderlust (2012)

A NYC couple has the rug pulled out from under them and leads them on a journey into the weird. If you have been wondering what Jennifer Aniston has been up to lately well here ya go. This is a very enjoyable low-key comedy/feel good movie that mostly takes place in a dropped out of time commune in Georgia. A few moments aside (a prolonged starring into a mirror scene working up the nerve to have sex with a smoking hot goddess had me on the verge of turning it off.. another 10 seconds and this review wouldn't exist) its about 60 minutes of amused grinning with 10 minutes of set-up/wrap-up on either end. The peyote tea bit is definitely the high point of the watch, breaking from the low key understated humor of most the rest of the movie, and had me guffawing in appreciation. Some impressive male frontal nudity aside (and one rather disturbing scene of nudists running) the film is largely family friendly and a sure treat for some easy feel good vibes. Recommended.

Piranha 3DD (2012)

The prehistoric flesh eating fishes are back! Boobs, blood, bad acting and worse sight gags are whats on the menu with this 'ah gee its rated R' pre-teen boner fest. There is no shortage of naked and barely clothed women running around, a few new ways to gross people out, and a couple scenes that you will want to see again despite how painful it is. Definitely mindless fun! Make it a drinking night tag team with Club Dread (2004) and enjoy the goof fest!

Prometheus (2012)

Ancient writings send a group of scientists into deep space seeking the origins of man. Pitched as a 'prequel' to the Alien series this is the big summer bone being offered up to starving sci-fi movie goers. First off the FX are excellent, and the plot is strong (simple, but strong). This is a fairly straight up meat and potatoes film without many 'clever twists' despite its ending. There are enough obvious tie ins to the Alien franchise that they don't have to come out and point 'see! see!'(well okay at the end they do). I'm a little shocked at some of the reviews so far... I'm not sure how 'happy ending' ever made it into the discussion. I was okay with everything until about 40 minutes in where they decide not to carry sidearms into an unexplored foreign environment then just minutes later while in that unexplored environment its decided that breaking the seal on the space suits and taking off helmets is a good idea (really? you should feel like Guy from Galaxy Quest at this point). Things get fairly predictable from this point and everyone dies (oops sorry.. lol). While this is sub par for Ridley Scott notable sci-fi (Blade Runner, Alien) its really not such a bad film in the world of movies. Unfortunately I think a small angry group of vocal sci-fi purists will sink this via reviews and word of mouth. Myself I was disappointed but only in that I had such high expectations and was really looking forward to no filler sci-fi fare. So while I won't recommend you go see this in the theater, I wouldn't hold it against anyone who goes anyway. If you are a sci-fi fan you will see it eventually.

In Darkness (2011)

A based on true events story about a Polish plumber who hid a group of Jews in the sewers for over a year during WWII. This, like other movies of this type, is not an easy movie to watch. The film is well put together, not overly graphic, and emotionally challenging. While it doesn't have the scope of Schindler's List or the double fisted emotional pounding of The Grey Zone, nor the qualities of character of Return to the Hiding Place, it none the less is powerful film making and deserves to be seen. If the way some of the characters behaved is accurate its a wonder the Polish guy didn't shoot them himself. Recommended.

Jane Eyre (2011)

Apparently this story has been around awhile and had been remade more than a few times. If you are unfamiliar this is a drama/romance about an orphan girl become woman in I would guess early 1800's England. This was some great drama with a nice teaser in it. Aside from the stunning cinematography all the players are in A list form.. not only was my attention riveted to the screen for the duration, I could actually project myself into the scenes (fly on the wall of course). Nothing came across over melodramatic that wasn't supposed to. Great story. Traditional lessons to be learned, with the Jane character brushing sainthood. Yeah its a chick flick but its more proper romance than sappy gooey lets drink this poison and die together rot. Highly Recommended.

Contraband (2012)

When the brother in law winds up in the soup with the mob Mark Wahlberg's character has to jump back into the family 'business' to make things right. Pretty standard Wahlberg action flick.. this one centers around moving contraband on a large freighter. Tough guy gone straight has to bail his nutsack brother in law out of a fix while getting boned in the ass from his equally nutsacked best friend. So long story short nothing goes as planned (shocking I know!), Mark has to get his tough guy on, dodging bullets while playing nursemaid to a guy with the IQ of an eggplant. So its not a bad watch, just no surprises, nothing even remotely fresh, with the Kodak finish. If you are a fan of the genre there is nothing to make this one any better or worse than most of its kind.

Exit Humanity (2011)

19th century American zombies! This is a B-grade movie with outstanding presentation. They preface the story with a graphic saying zombies are popping up and a journal from the 19th century has surfaced which may give clues how to survive.. no current date is given and the whole of the movie is as told from the journal. Zombie FX are very good considering (they sort of look like ghouls) and the story comes together in a nice neat package. The movie is broken up into chapters and there is some animation (very cool pen sketch style) sparsely scattered throughout. Nice twist on the origin (zombie zero), with a human protagonist element as well. Its not going to win any awards but it was an enjoyable new flavor on a venerable subject.

Snow White and the Huntsman (2012)

Another retelling of the German fable made famous by Disney. This reminded me of Snow White: A Tale of Terror (1997) but with more frosting. Charlize Theron nails the evil queen but its really no surprise having her turn in masterful renderings. The FX are really good, the whole dark forest/fairy valley trek is visually very pleasing.. movie and fable fans will recognize a lot of blending from other sources to round out this version. (the fairies don't really look like the miner creatures from Galaxy Quest do they?). The story itself is fairly strong with the supporting cast turning in respectable work. On the downside I couldn't wrap my head around Kristen Stewart as Snow White (the fairest of them all? really?), I find her to be one of the worst dramatic players making the rounds coming in slightly worse than Margot Kidder with her Mr. Ed lip. All and all an enjoyable viewing experience, it wasn't great for me, but I didn't really feel cheated until buck 20 Snow White straps on full plate and gallops off to battle like she was born to it.. Oo.. This one won't be making it to my collection. Make this a matinee or rental.

The Pact (2012)

The death of her mother brings an estranged daughter back to the house that holds so many haunting memories. Not a bad little thriller here, has some cool goose pimply moments set up with atmosphere instead of something jumping at the screen. The director makes good use of 'whats expected' by not doing it and presents a nice mix of the super natural with the creepy with the 'well what were you expecting?'. A couple of the usual gaffs and one that stands out (click, click, bang!) and finishes with a Ross moment but nothing that really diminishes the experience.. if you are looking for something to get your pulse racing without making you pee your pants this wouldn't be a bad selection.