SNOWPIERCER (2013)

In the near future, scientists release chemical CW7 to finally combat global warming - which instead starts a new ice age that kills off nearly all life.  By 2031, survivors live circling the globe on a constantly-running super-train, whose movement sustains its eco-system and therefore all life on it.  The train's also developed its own class system; the rich and powerful at the front of the train enjoying untold luxuries, the quality of life dropping as you go down the train to the general populace in the end cars - the poor, starving class beaten down by their "superiors".  It's all run by the deity-like Mr. Wilford, the mystery man at the engine - and the target of a group of rebels at the train's end led by Curtis (Chris Evans) and his wise mentor Gilliam (John Hurt); a courageous group determined to claw, scratch and kill their way to the engine and Wilford - to live as equals or not at all.  What they find along the way makes for some stunning cinema ... and a hard-to-forget film, even if the ending doesn't quite live up to the promise of all that came before. (rated R)  ****

SNOWPIERCER trailer 

PETALS ON THE WIND (2014)

It's been ten years since the events of Flowers in the Attic, and "perfect" siblings Christopher (Wyatt Nash), Cathy (Rose McIver), and Carrie (Bailey Buntain) Dollanganger are mourning the death of their guardian, Dr. Sheffield, who took them in soon after they escaped the attic.  Determined to forge a career in ballet, Cathy enters into a relationship with a volatile principal dancer in New York, who gets her into his company there - even as the darkness of their past (and rich-bitch mother) still haunt them, payback always hovering in the back of Cathy's mind.  Packed with as much melodrama, over-the-top story, and the siblings-who-are-more-than-siblings Ick Factor you'd expect if you've read the novel (even with major book-to-film plot changes), POTW definitely benefits from the recasting of McIver (Nash was good as well, though I was sorry to see Mason Dye go), the sequel much more fun to watch than Flowers.  Definitely "guilty pleasure" material ... though what the hell was with having so little Ellen Burstyn in this one?! (TV-14)  ***

PETALS ON THE WIND trailer

UNIDENTIFIED (2013)

Admittedly, I would watch anything Parry Shen is in; he's one of the most likable, watchable, natural actors working today, and has been since Better Off Tomorrow.  That said, I still don't get the negative reviews I've read for Unidentified.  True, the film doesn't always seem sure of what genre it wants to be; about four friends who go to Vegas for a shady poker game, then end up on the run from a loan shark before ending up stranded in the Nevada desert with extraterrestrials, this part comedy, part science fiction, part horror, part buddy film is helped greatly by Shen and the always-excellent Eddie Mui, who - along with Colton Dunn and Eric Artell - help the film's slower first third give way to a healthy dose of suspense and creepiness until The End.  Go in with the right frame of mind - that this isn't Gandhi, but a low-budget buddy/road trip comedy/alien invasion horror film with good special effects and better-than-average acting, designed to entertain - and there's no reason not to enjoy the ride. (not rated)  ***1/2

UNIDENTIFIED trailer

THE LEGO MOVIE (2014)

As someone who didn't play with Legos much as a kid, I was completely bowled over by this film - easily one of 2014's best.  The storyline's simple: per a prophecy, lowly Lego construction worker Emmet (Chris Pratt) is thought to be the new "Special" by a rebel group of master builders when he discovers the missing "piece of resistance," the only thing able to stop the machine the evil Lord Business (Will Ferrell) is going to use to destroy all the Lego worlds.  So various Lego-ites, including many recognizable film, book and TV characters (Best. Batman. EVER.) band together to help a nobody save the world ... a world that just pops on-screen, beautifully rendered and wholly believable, in a film that kids will love, while at the same time adults will enjoy, laugh at, and "get" (there's even a sort of Orwellian theme going on), as well.  One of the best animated films ever made, I think The Lego Movie - had it been released just a few months earlier - might easily have snagged the Oscar from Frozen.  Yeah, it's that good. (rated PG)  *****

THE LEGO MOVIE trailer

TRUST ME (2013)

Howard Holloway (Clark Gregg) is a former child star in Hollywood, who now represents young talent as an agent - or at least, does so when super kid's agent Aldo Shocklee (Sam Rockwell) isn't stealing even the most moderately-decent talent from him (often by any means necessary).  When Howard accidentally comes across a genuinely gifted fourteen-year-old named Lydia (a quite impressive Saxon Sharbino), up for the lead in a new series of big-budget Hunger Games-style films, and finds potential love in a beautiful neighbor (Amanda Peet), it seems as if the "bottom-feeder" agent is on top of his game at last.  But this is L.A. - where very little, if anything (or anyone) is what it seems for Howard, something that Trust Me echoes as a film; it's not the comedy the poster and trailers imply, but more of a dark comedy-drama that even comes with touches of film noir.  Written and directed by Gregg as well, it still an impressive film that - if a bit uneven - does VERY much paint the industry as exactly what it is (wow, does it).  That he captured perfectly. (rated R)  ***

TRUST ME trailer

BLACK WIDOW (1987)

Catherine (Theresa Russell) is a beautiful young woman who has married and murdered three millionaires for their insurance.  With each one she changes her appearance, dons a new name, and spends months researching the man's personal and professional life, boning up on whatever interests he has until she can discuss them like her own.  She makes each death look like accident or illness, and vanishes soon as she collects her inheritance - seemingly unstoppable until ambitious Justice Dept. investigator Alex Barnes (Debra Winger) stumbles upon a clue pointing to one of the deaths as murder - and becomes obsessed with Catherine when she just misses preventing her latest kill.  Taking a leave from her job, Alex trails Catherine to Hawaii, ingratiating herself into Catherine's world even while trying to find a way to stop her.  One of the best "guilty pleasures" ever; one you'll watch over and over again, thanks to the blistering chemistry between Winger and Russell.  Surprising, just how good this is. (rated R)  ****

BLACK WIDOW trailer

HAUNTERS (2010)

Cho-In is an angry young man with a dark gift: he can completely control the mind of anyone within his line of sight, making them do his will.  He's had this ability since childhood, and now - bored and insolent - uses his "talent" to rob pawn shops.  Kyu-Nam, a kindhearted young man who lost his job at a scrapyard after a horrifying accident, lands a job with the Utopia pawn shop ... which not only crosses his path with Cho-In's, but puts them in direct combat when Cho-In - during the robbery - discovers Kyu-Nam is the first and only person, EVER, whose mind he can't control.  From here the film becomes a battle of good vs. evil (with occasional touches of humor to lighten the mood), Kyu-Nam determined to stop the crazed Cho-In, who's gone on a killing spree to destroy him.  Wonderfully tense, the film's only let down is in never revealing how Cho-In got his power - or why Kyu-Nam is impervious to it.  But for sheer suspense, a few great set pieces, and the intense performances of the two leads, Haunters is an engrossing watch. (not rated) ***1/2

HAUNTERS trailer

BELLS ARE RINGING (1960)

Judy Holliday was a vivacious talent whose premature death robbed the film industry of her comic genius.  The Oscar winner lit up any project she appeared in, and never was that more evident than in this musical comedy, where she even makes lackluster co-star Dean Martin shine.  Here she plays Ella Peterson, a Brooklyn answering service operator who somehow can't seem to stay out of the personal lives of her clients (using information gleaned from one, say, to benefit another).  No one knows her as Ella, as she sort of "plays" different characters on the phone, depending on the client's needs - but when she's forced to come to the aid of a struggling writer (Martin) who knows her only as "Mom" on the phone, Ella finds herself falling in love - and her life becoming a lot more complicated.  A subplot involving gangsters is fun, if a bit silly, but with a stellar supporting cast, a wonderful score, and plenty of laughs, Bells Are Ringing remains at the top of my favorites list over thirty years after I first saw it. (not rated) ****1/2

BELLS ARE RINGING trailer

ALL ABOUT EVE (1950)

Winner of six Oscars, including Best Picture, and #90 on IMDB's list of 250 best films of all time, All About Eve is the story of what happens when a shy, timid ingenue in New York City, Eve (Anne Baxter) manages to get a backstage introduction to her idol, revered (though aging) stage legend Margo Channing (Bette Davis, in many ways playing herself, particularly in this stage of her life and career at the time) ... and the complications that arise when Margo and her friends take the innocent girl under their collective wings, only to realize she may not be as innocent as she seems.  The writing bristles, razor-sharp, from beginning to end, the performances (even a fresh-face Marilyn Monroe, in a small role, livens up the proceedings) all Oscar-worthy, in what has been termed (rightly) by many as not only THE quintessential film about the New York theater scene ... but "the perfect film" as a whole.  (not rated)  *****

ALL ABOUT EVE trailer

VALLEY OF THE DOLLS (1967)

Guilty Pleasure: "Something that you shouldn't like, but like anyway."  Movie lovers have at least a few, this one often at the top of the list.  Chronicling the story of three young women - Anne (Barbara Parkins), Neely (Patty Duke) and Jennifer (Sharon Tate) - who each enter show business and pay the price for it (often with "dolls" - pills - as a backdrop), Valley of the Dolls was based on the scandalous (for its time) Jacqueline Susann novel ... and in itself became scandalous by just how badly made, badly-acted, and badly-written a film it was.  Yet, on a daytime drama level, there is something mystically watchable about it; something that sucks you in through the lunacy, the overacting, and will soon have you watching it for the tenth or twentieth time, quoting lines and lyrics back to it like The Rocky Horror Picture Show.  A train wreck of a film, yet one you can never tire of, or quite turn away from when it comes on cable.  As addicting as "dolls" themselves. (rated PG-13)  **1/2(film) ****(watchability/awesomeness)

VALLEY OF THE DOLLS trailer

THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE (1972)

The Queen Mother of all "disaster" films - which hit their stride in the 1970's - remains the best, as well as the first movie my parents let me go to see in a theater alone, as a kid.  It remains on my all-time favorites list, to this day, and still holds up as a thrilling, tense story of what happens when a once-luxurious ocean liner, on her last voyage before being consigned to the scrap heat, is hit by a 90-foot tidal wave and turned upside down in the middle of the ocean.  Gene Hackman leads an all-star cast as Reverend Scott, who no matter what will fight to the end to lead a small group of like-minded survivors, after the ship capsizes, through the upside-down boat to the top (formerly the bottom) in search of rescue ... even as the ship is sinking further and deeper into the ocean as they do so.  The film, nominated for eight Oscars (and winning one, plus a non-competitive Oscar for visual effects) is a riveting dramatic thriller deserving a place on anyone's "must-see" list - then, now, and always. (rated PG)  *****

THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE trailer

VAMPIRE ACADEMY (2014)

If you can keep the characters and their roles straight - the Moroi are the royalty (mortal vampires who don't kill, but feed only off willing donors), the Dhampir (half human-half vampire) are their guardians, and the Strigoi are those who've actually killed a human and turned insane/evil, intent on turning or killing off the Moroi - and Vampire Academy is a good, light, action comedy-drama that has no problem sucking you in (pun intended) about Dhampir Rose (Zoey Deutsch) and Moroi princess Lissa (Lucy Fry) who are dragged back to St. Vladimir's School, after spending a year on the run, to face an even bigger threat when it looks like someone is stalking Lissa.  Based on a series of YA novels, the film knows when - and, more importantly, when NOT - to take itself seriously, which definitely makes the film more enjoyable (even with a few undeveloped characters in the mix).  Nice job, enough so I'd even watch the sequel the end of this films so wickedly sets you up for ... (rated PG-13)  ***1/2

VAMPIRE ACADEMY trailer

THE FLU (2013)

On a broader scale, The Flu is a well-made thriller about what happens when the only survivor of a shipment of illegal aliens smuggled into the Seoul suburb of Bundang, Korea, goes on the run in fear of his life ... carrying a super-contagious virus without a known cure.  Between him and the two smugglers who find the shipment of dead bodies, soon many of the city's residents are ill and dying, the military sent in to seal off the city and contain the disease.  On a more human scale, the story revolves around city rescue worker Ji-goo, and doctor In-hye, who search the city for the surviving illegal, whose blood may contain the only hope for a cure.  Add In-hye's young daughter, who accidentally stumbles across the sick man, and The Flu becomes a stylish, suspense-filled race against time that keeps you on the edge of your seat until the very end, while never losing the human touch of caring about what happens to the lead characters and one spunky little girl. (not rated) ****1/2

THE FLU trailer

POMPEII (2014)

Those who grew up watching disaster films produced and/or directed by Irwin Allen (The Poseidon Adventure, The Towering Inferno) should enjoy Pompeii.  For anyone else, it depends on your mindset going in.  Set in 79 A.D., Kit Harington ("Game of Thrones") stars as Milo, lone survivor of the Roman attack that slaughtered his entire Celtic tribe when he was still a child.  Now an adult and doomed to the life of a slave, Milo has learned to defend himself and fight - skills that bring him up to gladiator status, fighting in the arenas of Pompeii.  There, he meets and befriends Cassia (Emily Browning), daughter of the city's highest official and the girl he sets out to rescue when Mt Vesuvius blows, sealing Pompeii's fate forever.  If you can be okay with toss out story and characterization in favor of a colorful, action-packed film with kick-ass special effects once the volcano blows - and for what other reason would you really go into watching this film? - then it's a good ride and even better "guilty pleasure." (rated PG-13)  ***1/2

POMPEII trailer

I DO (2012)

Jack (David W. Ross), a handsome gay Brit living in New York City, acts as a second father to the wife and daughter of his brother Peter, who died seven years earlier when hit by a car.  Living in NYC for years, Jack's time here becomes threatened when he latest Visa extension is denied, and in a desperate attempt to stay in the country with his only family, he convinces his lesbian best friend Ali (Jamie-Lynn Sigler) to marry him - an act that puts a strain on both them and their friendship, especially when - soon after - Jack meets and falls in love for the first time with a soulful architect (Maurice Compte) who wins his heart.  I Do is a rarity - an indie film with performances of real emotional depth from the entire cast, without a false note; you will want to reach through the screen and shake Jack into making the right choice.  It's also a film that straight people need to see, showing not just the issues LGBT people face in situations like this, but also that we love just as deep, and just as hard ... making it just as right. (not rated)  ****1/2

I DO trailer