CHAPPiE (2014)

District 9 - loved it.  Elysium - liked it.  But Neill Blomkamp's newest, Chappie, is the best of the trio - his most energizing, emotionally-involving and funniest film yet, featuring a virtuoso performance by Sharlto Copley (never seen on-screen, as he voices the title character).  Set in a near-future Johannesburg overrun with crime, Chappie opens looking like a vintage Mad Max film but plays out at first like RoboCop, via tech genius Deon Wilson (Dev Patel) who's created programming leading to an army of robotic cops that are taking a huge bite out of crime at last.  Deon's co-worker, ex-soldier Vincent (Hugh Jackman), is shut out with his older crime-stopping creation at the company, but when Deon is kidnapped and forced to put his new artificial intelligence program into the half-destroyed body of a former robot cop, the remarkably childlike and human Chappie is "born" ... and Vincent is out for blood.  Chappie is a marvelous, funny, very moving portrait of humanity, as seen through the eyes of one just learning how to be human.  Truly wonderful. (rated R)  A

KINGSMAN: THE SECRET SERVICE (2014)

Imagine the coolest James Bond film.  Then imagine it as directed by Quentin Tarantino, with graphic violence and tons of dark humor ... and you have the hybrid gem that is Kingsman: The Secret Service, starring Colin Firth as Harry Hart, a gentleman spy in England who - to repay a debt to the man who saved his life a decade ago by sacrificing his own - enlists the man's now-grown son Eggsy (Taron Egerton) as his protege in the Kingsman agency.  Just in time, too; as Eggsy and his fellow recruits begin training, tech giant Richmond Valentine (Samuel L. Jackson) puts into action a plot to take over the world with a shocking plan that will "solve" the global warming crisis for good.   Directed by Kick-Ass helmer Matthew Vaughn and with an incredible ensemble cast, Kingsman: The Secret Service is brilliant, violent, funny, completely bonkers ... and I loved every minute of it.  The church scene alone will have your jaw dropping open about a foot. (rated R)  A

BALLET 422 (2014)

Ballet 422 is a documentary about one of the most prestigious dance companies in the world, the New York City Ballet - and in particular the efforts of Justin Peck, dancing with the company as one of fifty members of  the corps de ballet for seven years, to choreograph and stage the company's 422nd original ballet ... in just two months.  From day one of rehearsal to opening night, the film is very much an interesting progression of watching the performance come together, and the is never boring - but at only 75 minutes and with no insights into Peck's mind, thought processes or insecurities via voice-over narration or interviews (ditto for the company members), the film lacks a strong emotional or dramatic core that would have given it more depth than a simple narration of events.  A good behind-the-scenes view of putting a ballet together, for lovers of ballet or not; just could have been better, resonating more with viewers emotionally, if we could have seen into the hearts of Justin and/or the dancers. (rated PG)  B-

PROJECT ALMANAC (2014)

Have loved time travel films since watching Rod Taylor in The Time Machine as a kid.  Even as the credits started rolling for Project Almanac and I saw "MTV Films", I still had high hopes.  David Raskin (Jonny Weston) is a science geek in suburban Atlanta whose biggest dream is to get into MIT.  He's over the moon when he makes it but then learns $40K of the tuition isn't covered by scholarship, and in his efforts to find a way to raise more money comes across a videotape of his seventh birthday party (the day his father died) ... where he spots a glimpse of his adult self in a mirror.  He and his friends discover his father had started working on a time machine, which they complete, and though at first things are great eventually bad choices lead to disaster (big surprise).  The shaky-cam "found footage" stuff here is bad enough, some viewers will likely be made sick watching, and while a good effort the ending is flat and co-producer Michael Bay certainly leaves his mark with cool special effects and set pieces over developing characters we care about. (rated PG-13)  C+

THE WAY HE LOOKS (2014)

Sometimes a film comes along that reminds you how simply an effective, beautiful story can be told on-screen; such is the case with The Way He Looks, about Brazilian high school teenager Leonardo (played to perfection by Ghilherme Lobo), blind from birth, who mostly spends his days hanging out with his bestie Giovana and trying to prove to his overprotective parents that he's old enough to start being more independent.  Then a new student - Gabriel - arrives at school, changing the dynamics of Leo's and Gia's friendship as the duo becomes a trio ... and Leo's feelings for Gabriel grow beyond those of friendship.  The film's beauty lies in the way it honestly, poignantly depicts the pangs of first love, your first crush, and how those feelings of both melancholy and innocent bliss are universal to us all, regardless of gender or sexual orientation.  A great with and cast, with particular kudos to Ghilherme Lobo, who brings such depth and heart to Leo; so much so, I couldn't believe it when I learned he was a sighted actor in real life. (not rated)  A

KILLER TOON (2013)

Couldn't turn down this premise: Ji-yun, a young artist in South Korea, has gained fame and fortune turning out graphic novels of horror and violence.  She's passed her deadline when finally emailing her latest manuscript to her publisher, who has stayed in the office late waiting for it - and the next morning the lady publisher is found dead, face cut up and her own eye gouged out ... in exactly the same manner as an identical character in the opening scene of Ji-yun's new story!  Even the crime scene photos are duplicates of images Ji-yun has already drawn, leading the police to suspect her - but the killing and suspense and tie-ins to Ji-yun don't stop there.  Neither does the suspense, the scares are nicely stretched out and creepy for the first hour or so before the film slows down a bit but picks up again toward the end, with a finale that might be confusing for those who haven't been paying attention all along.  Atmospheric and worth watching, even with a slightly weak ending. (not rated)  B+

200 POUNDS BEAUTY (2006)

Hanna is an overweight young singer with a great voice who works two anonymous jobs - as a phone sex operator, and as the real singing voice of a rising Korean pop star.  Her self-esteem is so low, she can't confess her love to Sang-jun, the music producer who hired her as a ghost-singer; even her father, living in a nursing home, thinks she's her mother, often asking his "wife" why she's gaining weight.  But a failed suicide attempt leads to Hanna's dropping out of sight for a year, during which she gets head-to-toe plastic surgery that turns her life around when she finally re-emerges, unrecognizable, as the thin, beautiful Jenny.  Working again with a clueless Sang-jun, "Jenny" becomes the star Hanna always wanted to be - but the greatness of 200 Pounds Beauty is in its straight-up message of just how much beauty on the outside may corrupt beauty on the inside, if you let it.  It's an homage to the "fat and ugly," people who spend their lives in the shadows - yet who, like flowers, need to bask in the sun to have any hope of growing at all. (not rated)  B+

THE ROAD WITHIN (2014)

Robert Sheehan and Dev Patel never cease to amaze me.  Here Sheehan plays Vincent, a young man with Tourette's Syndrome living in Nevada with his divorced mother, who's just passed away.  Vincent's father, who long ago abandoned his son, has aspirations of a political career so decides to tuck Vincent away in a treatment center.  There, Vincent meets his roommate Alex (Dev Patel) - a germaphobe with severe OCD - and the streetwise, anorexic Marie (Zoe Kravitz), and when the chance comes to steal the car of the woman running the center, Dr. Rose (Kyra Sedgwick), the trio suddenly find themselves on a road trip to the ocean, where Vincent can scatter the ashes of his mother - Dr. Rose, with Vincent's dad, in pursuit.  Funny and sad, heartbreaking and uplifting, a fine cast (especially the three leads, of which Dev Patel turns in the best performance of his career so far), make The Road Within a touching dramedy of friendship and fitting in - even if fitting in only with those who love you most. (rated R)  A-

RIDE (2014)

At first glance, Ride would seem to be one big cliche.  Helen Hunt (who also wrote and directed) plays single mom Jackie, an intellectual, anal-retentive book editor in New York whose son Angelo (Brenton Thwaites - who, somehow, gets better looking and more skilled as an actor with each role), an aspiring literary writer, is about to visit his dad in Los Angeles for the summer, before starting college in NYC in the fall.  The mother-son bond between them is strong - almost a death-grip, when it comes to Jackie - and when, early on in the summer, Angelo decides to forego college and stay in California, enjoying sun, sand and surf, Jackie reacts by flying out to L.A. without warning to bring him home.  But what sounds like a cliched plot actually becomes much more under Hunt's strong lead performance and intelligent script.  Her chemistry with Thwaites also rings very true, and with David Zayas and Luke Wilson adding comic support, Ride contains more depth and originality than one might first think, when watching it.  And, thanks largely to Hunt, it's well worth your time. (rated R)  B

4TH PERIOD MURDER MYSTERY (2009)

Some films demand you just check logic at the door and enjoy the ride ... which is why I loved 4th Period Murder Mystery, a fast-paced thriller set in a high school in South Korea, about the smartest, most popular guy in class, Jeong-hun, who is framed for the murder of his biggest rival.  He finds the body along with a dowdy, true crime-obsessed classmate everyone calls Curtain (because she never pulls her long hair back from her face), who instead of reporting the death works with Jeong-hun to try and find the real killer in just forty minutes (the length of time for 4th period), before their fellow students come back to class.  From there the film sucks you in as clues are followed, chases happen around the school, and tension builds tight as a piano wire (sprinkled with perfect touches of comedy).  The murder itself is handled a bit lightly and a few burps in logic occur, but all is easily forgiven in favor of one funny, suspenseful, and outright fun rollercoaster ride of a film. (not rated)  A-