Director: Steven Spielberg
Genre: Action & Adventure
Studio: Dreamworks Video
Rated: PG-13

History will place an asterisk next to "A.I." as the film Stanley Kubrick "might" have directed. But let the record also show that Kubrick--after developing this project for some 15 years--wanted Steven Spielberg to helm this astonishing sci-fi rendition of "Pinocchio", claiming (with good reason) that it veered closer to Spielberg's kinder, gentler sensibilities. Spielberg inherited the project (based on the Brian Aldiss short story "Supertoys Last All Summer Long") after Kubrick's death in 1999, and the result is an astounding directorial hybrid. A flawed masterpiece of sorts, in which Spielberg's gift for wondrous enchantment often clashes (and sometimes melds) with Kubrick's harsher vision of humanity, the film spans near and distant futures with the fairy-tale adventures of an artificial boy named David (Haley Joel Osment), a marvel of cybernetic progress who wants only to be a real boy, loved by his mother in that happy place called home.
Echoes of Spielberg's "Empire of the Sun" are clearly heard as young David, shunned by his trial parents and tossed into an unfriendly world, is joined by fellow "mecha" Gigolo Joe (played with a dancer's agility by Jude Law) in his quest for a mother-and-child reunion. Parallels to "Pinocchio" intensify as David reaches "the end of the world" (a Manhattan flooded by melted polar ice caps), and a far-future epilogue propels "A.I." into even deeper realms of wonder, even as it pulls Spielberg back to his comfort zone of sweetness and soothing sentiment. Some may lament the diffusion of Kubrick's original vision, but this is Spielberg's "A.I." (complete with one of John Williams's finest scores), a film of astonishing technical wizardry that spans the spectrum of human emotions and offers just enough Kubrick to suggest that humanity's future is anything but guaranteed. "--Jeff Shannon"

Director: Árpád Sopsits
Genre: Drama
Studio: Picture This
Rated: Unrated

Nine-year-old Aron finds himself abandoned at a bleak orphanage by his recently divorced and despondent father. The ultra-strict nature of the institution comes as a complete shock to the boy, and he must frequently endure beatings both from the staff and the other boys. He finds solace in a special relationship with his young classmate Attila. And that sexual awakening gives him the courage to lead his peers in revolt. In Hungarian with English subtitles.
Awards / Festivals: Best Foreign Language Film - Official Academy Awards entry from Hungary, Grand Prize - Montreal World Film Festival, Alfred Bauer Award - Berlin International Film Festival - Official Selections: Chicago, Toronto, Vancouver, Sydney International Film Festivals (among many others)

Director: John Singleton
Genre: Action
Studio: Lionsgate
Rated: PG-13

High school seniors Nathan and Karen find a website with photos of children who are missing or believed abducted. One of the photos is of Nathan as a child, putting into question the identities of the couple whom he's always called Mom and Dad. Contacting the site to learn more only results in Nathan becoming the target of an intense, high-tech, international manhunt. Before his "parents" can explain themselves, they are executed by hired guns, and Nathan is on the run with Karen in tow (who just happened to be there at the wrong time). Phone use by either of them only connects directly to a man claiming to be C.I.A., in whom they find reasons not to trust. With encroaching shootouts, car chases, hand-to-hand combat and explosions around them, this seems quite much for a mere case of child abduction, and Nathan can only rely on the wrestling, boxing and martial arts skills taught by his "dad" to protect both himself and Karen as they follow a lead to find Martin, Nathan's biological ...

Director: Timur Bekmambetov
Genre: Action, Fantasy, Horror, Thriller
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Rated: R

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter explores the secret life of our greatest president, and the untold story that shaped our nation. Visionary filmmakers Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov (Director of Wanted) bring a fresh and visceral voice to the bloodthirsty lore of the vampire, imagining Lincoln as history's greatest hunter of the undead.

Director: Steve Pink
Genre: Comedy
Studio: Universal Studios
Rated: PG-13

Justin Long has been hovering on the edges of movies like "The Break-Up" and "Dodgeball", providing little comic bursts that are often funnier than the rest of the movie. In "Accepted", Long plays Bartleby Gaines, a fast-talking slacker who, when he gets rejected by every college he applied to, invents a phony college to get his parents off his back. Unfortunately, the website his best friend creates is too effective--hundreds of other rejects apply and are accepted. Instead of revealing the hoax, Gaines decides to forge ahead and let the students create their own curriculum, little suspecting that their school is obstructing the expansion plans of the nearby snobbish college. "Accepted" is much better than you might expect, given the low bar set by most campus comedies; it aims for, and sometimes achieves, the blend of slapstick and social satire that "Animal House" embodied. Long proves to be a charming leading man without losing his quirky comic sense and the supporting cast is consistently entertaining, particularly stand-up comedian Lewis Black, who delivers a variety of sardonic rants about society. "Accepted"'s critique of conformism is glib--you wish they'd given it a little more bite--but it's still valid and a pleasant sliver of substance in an otherwise vapid genre. "--Bret Fetzer"

Director: Laurent Jaoui
Genre: Art House & International
Studio: Picture This
Rated: NR

Much to her consternation, this 35-year-old, flight attendant mother, Valrie (Anne Coesens of MA VIE EN ROSE), must deal with her (frequently arrested) 16-year-old son, Tom (discovery Alexandre Hamidi). On an especially hectic morning, on their way to the airport, mother and son have a heated argument that distracts her from her driving. When a mammoth truck looms straight ahead, she must swerve into a ditch to avoid a head-on collision.
The car flips over, and they both end up in the hospital, but Valrie falls into a coma. When it is realized that she can no longer even recognize her own son, the Department of Social Services places Tom in a group home. Now he is forved to cope with a host of other young punks as well as a headmaster with some pointed ideas about how to rehabilitate his charges. Despite his own personal problems (and at great risk), Tom sneaks away from the group home and dedicates himself to helping his mom recover her memory.

Director: Julie Taymor
Genre: Drama, Fantasy, Musical, Romance
Studio: Revolution Studios
Rated: PG-13

Across The Universe is a fictional love story set in the 1960s amid the turbulent years of anti-war protest, the struggle for free speech and civil rights, mind exploration and rock and roll. At once gritty, whimsical and highly theatrical, the story moves from high schools and universities in Massachusetts, Princeton and Ohio to the Lower East Side of Manhattan, the Detroit riots, Vietnam and the dockyards of Liverpool. A combination of live action and animation, the film is paired with many songs by The Beatles that defined the time.

Director: Pamela Romanowsky
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Studio: RabbitBandini Productions
Rated: R

As a writer stymied by past success, writers block, substance abuse, relationship problems and a serious set of father issues, Elliott's cracked-out chronicle of a bizarre murder trial amounts to less than the sum of its parts. Not long into the 2007 trial of programmer Hans Reiser, accused of murdering his wife, the defendant's friend Sean Sturgeon obliquely confessed to several murders (though not the murder of Reiser's wife). Elliott, caught up in the film-ready twist and his tenuous connection to Sturgeon (they share a BDSM social circle), makes a gonzo record of the proceedings. The result is a scattered, self-indulgent romp through the mind of a depressive narcissist obsessed with his insecurities and childhood traumas.

Director: Olivier Ducastel, Jacques Martineau
Genre: Art House & International
Studio: Fox Lorber
Rated: NR

Unlike many gay-themed films, "Adventures of Felix" isn't about how the title character comes out of the closet, falls in love, or contracts HIV. We meet Felix (Sami Bouajila), who is of Arab descent, after these things have already come to pass. He and his partner live happily together in Dieppe, and his condition is under control. When he loses his job, he decides to travel to Marseilles to meet the father who left before he was born. Thus begins a road trip that is divided into five parts ("My Grandmother," "My Sister," etc.) as Felix meets strangers who help him out in various ways and come to fulfill these roles. By the time he reaches his destination, he realizes that family is what you make it. It may sound simplistic, but Olivier Ducastel and Jacques Martineau spin the tale in an engaging manner, and Bouajila is a real find. "--Kathleen C. Fennessy"

Director: Robert Rodriguez
Genre: Action & Adventure
Studio: Dimension
Rated: PG

Writer/director/editor/special-effects-supervisor Robert Rodriguez ("Spy Kids", "Desperado") continues to storm the movie world with "The Adventures of SharkBoy and LavaGirl in 3-D". A young boy named Max (Cayden Boyd) finds the real world crashing into his dreams: His parents fight, bullies harrass him at school, and his teacher advises him to get a grip on reality. But Max's faith in his fantasies is so strong that his superheroic creations SharkBoy (Taylor Lautner) and LavaGirl (Taylor Dooley) crash into Max's classroom and take him off to rescue the fantastic planet he dreamed up. Towards the end, "SharkBoy and LavaGirl" crumbles with clumsy story gaps and bland moral advice, but most of the movie explodes with visual invention. A clockwork villain with electrical limbs commands an army of extension-cord snakes; SharkBoy uses his claws to engrave a diagram of the solar system into a chalkboard; LavaGirl's burning feet melt an ice bridge as she runs across it. It's disappointing that Rodriguez's storytelling flounders, but sections of deliciously fluid movie-making make "The Adventures of SharkBoy and LavaGirl in 3-D" worth seeing nonetheless. Also featuring David Arquette ("Eight Legged Freaks"), Kristin Davis ("Sex in the City"), and George Lopez ("Real Women Have Curves"). "--Bret Fetzer"

Director: Derek Lee, Clif Prowse
Genre: Action, Adventure, Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Rated: R

This terrifying horror thriller follows two best friends who set out on the trip of a lifetime around the world. Their journey, documented every step of the way, soon takes a dark and unexpected turn after an encounter with a beautiful woman in Paris leaves one of them mysteriously afflicted. Winner: Best Picture (Horror), Best Screenplay (Horror), Best Director (Horror) at Fantastic Fest, and recipient of awards of recognition from the Toronto International Film Festival and the Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival. AFFLICTED is one of the most suspenseful and original action horror debuts in a generation.

Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Genre: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Rated: PG-13

A crash landing leaves Kitai Raige and his father Cypher stranded on Earth, a millennium after events forced humanity's escape. With Cypher injured, Kitai must embark on a perilous journey to signal for help.

Director: John Huddles
Genre: Drama, Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Studio: Phase 4 Films
Rated: R

Faced with an impending nuclear apocalypse, a group of twenty college students must determine which ten of them would take shelter underground and reboot the human race. The decision quickly becomes deadly as each in the group turns against each other in a desperate fight for survival.

Director: Agnieszka Wojtowicz-Vosloo
Genre: Drama, Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Studio: Lleju Productions
Rated: R

After a horrific car accident, Anna (Ricci) wakes up to find the local funeral director Eliot Deacon (Neeson) preparing her body for her funeral. Confused, terrified and feeling still very much alive, Anna doesn't believe she's dead, despite the funeral director's reassurances that she is merely in transition to the afterlife. Eliot convinces her he has the ability to communicate with the dead and is the only one who can help her. Trapped inside the funeral home, with nobody to turn to except Eliot, Anna is forced to face her deepest fears and accept her own death. But Anna's grief-stricken boyfriend Paul (Long) still can't shake the nagging suspicion that Eliot isn't what he appears to be. As the funeral nears, Paul gets closer to unlocking the disturbing truth, but it could be too late; Anna may have already begun to cross over the other side.

Director: Antonio Campos
Genre: Drama, Mystery
Studio: MPI HOME VIDEO
Rated: Unrated

High school loner Robert (Ezra Miller of TV s Californication) would rather surf the web watching extreme videos than make friends at his prestigious boarding school. So when he s forced to take part in a campus activity, Robert naturally chooses a film-making class, which has the added attraction of Amy (Addison Timlin), his sort-of girlfriend. When they unintentionally videotape the accidental overdose of two popular girls, Robert becomes the least likely person imaginable to be assigned the task of creating a soothing memorial tribute. In his bold, audacious debut, writer-director Antonio Campos creates a mood of suspense and mystery worthy of his idol Stanley Kubrick. Afterschool marks the emergence of a major new talent in film.

Director: Mikael Salomon
Genre: Action & Adventure
Studio: Live / Artisan
Rated: PG

New York, the City That Never Sleeps, is trapped in a nightmare of horror and destruction when a massive earthquake rocks the unsuspecting city. Countless lives are lost, families are torn apart, and chaos runs rampant as the Mayor (Charles S. Dutton) and former Fire Chief (Tom Skerritt) race to enact a city-wide emergency plan. The two men also face personal devastation and uncertainty as their own family members lie buried in the toppled infrastructure. Sharon Lawrence, Lisa Nicole Carson and Cicely Tyson also star in this incredible story of undying courage in the face of unimaginable human tragedy.

Director: Henry Hathaway, George Seaton
Genre: Action & Adventure
Studio: Good Times Video
Rated: G

One of the first of the big disaster films, this stodgy Hollywood product lumbers and creaks as it tries to sort out the various plot threads of Arthur Hailey's doorstop of a novel. Set at (what else?) a busy metropolitan airport, it details what happens one eventful night when, among other things, a huge blizzard threatens to disrupt air traffic for the airport manager (Burt Lancaster) even as a suicidal bomber (Van Heflin) heads into the air with mayhem on his mind. There's also an impish old lady (Helen Hayes, who won an Oscar for this role) who specializes in sneaking aboard airliners, and the married pilot (Dean Martin) is having an affair with a stewardess (Jacqueline Bisset). An old-fashioned movie that inspired a bunch of sequels, the "Airplane" spoofs, and a host of other disaster films. "--Marshall Fine"

Director: Jerry Jameson
Genre: Action & Adventure
Studio: Good Times Video
Rated: PG

Airport '77 is the story of bazillionaire Phillip Stevens (a slumming James Stewart) who is jetting some of his friends and colleagues and others on a luxury 747 to view his art collection which is going to become a museum, because, as we learn later...he has A FEW MONTHS TO LIVE!!! Unfortunately, some hijackers unleash some gas on the passengers and plan to swipe the artwork. But the plan goes awry when the plane crashes into the Bermuda Triangle.
Quite realistic, don't you think? The problem is the movie is boring. None of the characters make an impression. Let's see, there's the feuding couple with the wife who cheated on her husband, but that's never mentioned again; the old lady renewing a friendship with an old man; some kids who like to play Pong; a blind pianist who sings about seeing through "the eye of the beholder"; a bartender whose wife is about to give birth to twins, etc., etc. What are their names? I don't know, all I know is that they're bland characterizations meant to sustain interest before the big crash scene. Jack Lemmon is the pilot, and Brenda Vacarro is Eve, his love interest. They generate no heat at all.
To make a boring movie short, I just found this film bland and uninteresting. The big rescue scene is silly, and everything leading up to it is a waste of time. George Kennedy, who appeared in every Airport movie as Patroni, has about one minute of screentime here wherein he does nothing. Most of the movie is spent with people staring vacantly out the window, or squealing in pain. Much like the viewer would do.

Director: Jack Smight
Genre: Action & Adventure
Studio: Good Times Video
Rated: PG

Sequel to the first film, AIRPORT (1970), with George Kennedy returning as "Joe Patroni" in this second story.
I will not reveal the disaster in this film so the first-time viewer can be surprised.
Charlton Heston plays "Alan Murdock".

The Pilots: Efrem Zimbalist Jr, Ray Thinnes, Erik Estrada.

The Stewardesses: Karen Black, Christopher Norris, Laurette Spang, Irene Tsu.

The Passengers: Gloria Swanson, Helen Reddy, Martha Scott, Norman Fell, Jerry Stiller, Conrad Janis, Myrna Loy, Susan Clark, Brain Morrison, Alice Nunn, Sid Caesar, Charles White, Linda Blair, Nancy Olson. Football players: Jim Plunkett, Gene Washington.

Also in the film: Terry Lister, Dana Andrews, Bob Hastings, Beverly Garland, Kip Niven, Larry Storch, Ed Nelson.
Alan Fudge is "Danton"--the controller intructing "Nancy".

Famous line: "There's no one left to fly the plane!".--said by Karen Black.

Nicest line: "Every morning is beautiful. You're just too young to know".--said by Gloria Swanson.

DVD released by Goodtimes in 2001 is in wide-screen and a bonus is production notes. Subtitle options: English, French, Spanish.

The airline movie that Sid Caesar and Myrna Loy are watching is American Graffiti (1973).

This was Gloria Swanson's first film in 22 years and she looked beautiful at the age of 75. Also on this plane is Nancy Olson. They were in Sunset Blvd. (1950).

Followed by Airport '77 (1977)
The Concorde...Airport '79 (1979).

Director: Sasha King, Brian O'Donnell
Genre: Drama, Family, Romance

Benny, a college freshman at the University of Akron, Ohio meets and falls for fellow freshman Christopher at a football game. With the support of their families and friends they embark on a new relationship. But a tragic event in the past involving their mothers soon comes to light and threatens to tear them apart. Akron is a moving family drama and a sensitive young adult love story of two young men falling in love in the Midwest and their will to overcome the most painful of truths.

Director: Geoffrey Sax
Genre: Action & Adventure
Studio: Weinstein Company
Rated: PG

A James Bond-style action-adventure film for the tween and teen set based on Anthony Horowitz's book "Stormbreaker," " Alex Rider--Operation Stormbreaker" is a fast-paced action film shot in and around London that's bursting with suspense, intrigue, high-tech gadgetry, martial arts moves, and intense chase scenes featuring everything from cars and motorbikes to helicopters, quad bikes, bicycles, and horses. Alex Rider (Alex Pettyfer) thinks he's just an ordinary 14-year old kid, but when the uncle that raised him (Ewan McGregor) dies, he soon discovers that his uncle led a secret life as an intelligence agent and that he was secretly grooming Alex for a similar future with special intelligence division MI6. Motivated by revenge against his uncle's killers, Alex takes up where his uncle left off in the investigation of computer mogul Darrius Sayle (Mickey Rourke), delving into his seemingly philanthropic plan to supply a whole new breed of laptops to school children throughout the United Kingdom. Alex's undercover investigation quickly reveals Sayle's true motive and, without any real support or protection from his MI6 supervisors Alan Blunt (Bill Nighy) or Mrs. Jones (Sophie Okonedo) or his quirky housekeeper Jack Starbright (Alicia Silverstone), Alex must somehow prevail against the dangerous Mr. Sayle to safeguard the lives of thousands of innocent people. Comparable to "Spy Kids" and a step above "Agent Cody Banks", "Alex Rider--Operation Stormbreaker" is an intense, believable film that will captivate viewers ages 10 and older. Bonus features include featurettes focusing on making the book into a film with author and screenwriter Anthony Horowitz, the extensive stunt work performed, the logistics involved in shooting a horse chase through Hyde Park and Piccadilly, visual effects by Baseblack, casting Alex, and the choreography of martial arts master Donnie Yen. "--Tami Horiuchi"

Director: Ridley Scott
Genre: Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Studio: Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
Rated: R

Almost eleven years after the futile and disastrous expedition on the distant moon LV-223, the deep-space colonisation vessel Covenant equipped with more than 2,000 colonists in cryogenic hibernation, sets a course for the remote planet Origae-6 with the intention to build a new world. Instead, a rogue transmission will entice the crew to a nearby habitable small planet which resembles The Earth. The unsuspecting members of Covenant will have to cope with biological foes, beyond human comprehension. Ultimately, what was intended as a peaceful exploratory mission, will soon turn into a desperate rescue operation deep into the cold infinite space.

Director: Sarah Kernochan
Genre: Comedy
Studio: Miramax
Rated: PG-13

When Odette (Gaby Hoffman) gets kicked out of her coed school for plotting to lose her virginity ("All I Wanna Do" is set in 1963), her parents send her to Miss Godard's Preparatory School, an all-girls school that tries to instill independence in its students. Her roommates turn out to be the school's troublemakers--Verena (Kirsten Dunst), Tinka (Monica Keena), and their friends Tweety (Heather Matarazzo) and Momo (Merritt Weaver). Though Odette initially resists (not because she wants to stick to the rules, but because she hates the whole school so much she won't even join the rebels), she gradually becomes part of the rambunctious circle. Due to financial trouble, the school's trustees decide to merge with a nearby boys' academy, despite the furious protests of Miss Godard's headmistress (Lynn Redgrave). Verena echoes the headmistress's sentiments and launches an offensive of pranks to discredit the visiting boys, even though the struggle splits apart her own social group. Though "All I Wanna Do" is being marketed as a goofy romp, it walks a line between a coming-of-age comedy and a young feminist manifesto (as one might imagine from the movie's previous title, "Strike!"). It's a tricky combination, but writer-director Sarah Kernochan succeeds--she also wrote "Impromptu", which similarly mixed tart yet sympathetic humor with subtle political commentary. The direction is tight and the script allows its heroines a surprising complexity. The cast of rising young stars, also featuring Rachael Leigh Cook, is superb throughout. Strongly recommended. "--Bret Fetzer"

Director: Robert Schwentke
Genre: Action, Adventure, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Studio: Lionsgate
Rated: PG-13

After the earth-shattering revelations of INSURGENT, Tris must escape with Four and go beyond the wall enclosing Chicago. For the first time ever, they will leave the only city and family they have ever known. Once outside, old discoveries are quickly rendered meaningless with the revelation of shocking new truths. Tris and Four must quickly decide who they can trust as a ruthless battle ignites beyond the walls of Chicago which threatens all of humanity. In order to survive, Tris will be forced to make impossible choices about courage, allegiance, sacrifice and love.

Director: Marc Moody
Genre: Comedy
Studio: Wolfe Video
Rated: Unrated

"Almost Normal" describes itself as ""Back to the Future" meets "Peggy Sue Got Married"," and that gives you a good idea of what this gay-themed comedy is all about. Like those earlier movies, it's good-natured, amusing, and conventionally mainstream in its storytelling... except, of course, for the fact that it's a low-budget contemporary fantasy intended (more or less exclusively) for a gay audience. It's also the kind of too-eager-to-please comedy (like "My Big Fat Greek Wedding") that you'll either love or hate in the first 10 or 15 minutes, but if you make it that far you may find yourself enjoying the movie's low-key charm and easygoing appeal. Granted, some of the acting (by a cast of complete unknowns) is amateurish and some of the dialogue is so bad it's laughable, but the "what if?" scenario yields a few interesting situations, satisfying a fantasy notion that many gay viewers will instantly identify with: What if you could relive your painful high-school days, only this time, instead of being in the ostracized gay minority, you discover that almost "everyone" is gay, and it's the straight kids who are "abnormal"?! That's the surprise in store for Brad (Andrew Keitsch), a gay, perpetually single 40-year-old teacher who crashes his car, is knocked unconscious, and has a "Wizard of Oz"-like dream in which he's back in high school, in an all-gay society where same-sex couples have children via sex with "parental partners," gym showers are co-ed, and straight kids are outcasts. It seems like an ideal situation, but "Almost Normal" has a lesson to teach about growing comfortable and content with one's own sexual identity, regardless of societal expectations. The role-reversal fantasy is treated far too literally, and it's not all that clever to begin with, but writer-director Marc Moody gives it a light spin that's harmless and well-intentioned. "Almost Normal" is the kind of movie that is typically found on the fringes of lesser-known film festivals, but it's likely to find an appreciative audience on DVD. "--Jeff Shannon"

Director: Nick Cassavetes
Genre: Crime, Drama
Studio: Universal Studios
Rated: R

1999, Claremont, California. Middle-class kids, in their 20s, talk trash, wave guns, hang out in a pack. Johnny Truelove, drug dealer and son of a underworld figure, threatens Jake Mazursky, an explosive head case who owes Johnny money; Jake responds by breaking into Johnny's house. On impulse, Johnny and a couple pals kidnap Jake's 15-year-old brother, Zach. Zach's okay with it, figuring his brother will pay the debt soon. Johnny assigns his buddy Frankie to be Zach's minder, and they develop a brotherly friendship. Zach parties with his captors as things begin to spin out of control. Group think, amorality, and fear of prison assert a hold on the pack. Is Zach in danger?

Director: Ken Russell
Genre: Horror
Studio: Warner Bros.
Rated: R

The main problem with this 1980 science fiction drama is that it is oh-so derivative. However, it is classier than your average "Wolf Man" rip-off, as Ken Russell directed it and the screenplay it is based on the 1978 novel by Paddy Chayefsky. However, Chayefsky so disliked the finished version of the film, with its preposterous ending, that he asked to have his name removed, with the credit for the screenplay attributed to his pseudonym, Sidney Aaron.
William Hurt, in his screen debut, plays the mad scientist who develops a kind of think tank that regresses him to a primal state. In other words, he enters a meek scientist, but emerges a hairy ape. The film's pacing is part of the problem, as it talks us to death in the beginning, than lapses into more typical fare, disregarding the intellectual aspects of the original material. This film marks the screen debut of Drew Barrymore. "--Rochelle O'Gorman"

Director: Marc Webb
Genre: Action, Adventure, Fantasy
Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Rated: PG-13

Peter Parker (Garfield) is an outcast high schooler who was abandoned by his parents as a boy, leaving him to be raised by his Uncle Ben (Sheen) and Aunt May (Field). Like most teenagers, Peter is trying to figure out who he is and how he got to be the person he is today. Peter is also finding his way with his first high school crush, Gwen Stacy (Stone), and together, they struggle with love, commitment, and secrets. As Peter discovers a mysterious briefcase that belonged to his father, he begins a quest to understand his parents' disappearance - leading him directly to Oscorp and the lab of Dr. Curt Connors (Ifans), his father's former partner. As Spider-Man is set on a collision course with Connors' alter-ego, The Lizard, Peter will make life-altering choices to use his powers and shape his destiny to become a hero.

Director: Marc Webb
Genre: Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Sci-Fi
Studio: Sony
Rated: PG-13

It’s great to be Spider-Man (Andrew Garfield). For Peter Parker, there’s no feeling quite like swinging between skyscrapers, embracing being the hero, and spending time with Gwen (Emma Stone). But being Spider-Man comes at a price: only Spider-Man can protect his fellow New Yorkers from the formidable villains that threaten the city. With the emergence of Electro (Jamie Foxx), Peter must confront a foe far more powerful than himself. And as his old friend, Harry Osborn (Dane DeHaan), returns, Peter comes to realize that all of his enemies have one thing in common: Oscorp.

Director: Courtney Solomon
Genre: Horror
Studio: Lions Gate
Rated: PG-13

With its brisk 83-minute running time, "An American Haunting" is compact enough to be recommended as an occasionally spooky sampling of historical horror. Based on Brent Monahan's novel "The Bell Witch: An American Haunting", which in turn was inspired by the only known case (from 1818-20) in which the U.S. government officially acknowledged a death by supernatural forces, writer-director Courtney Solomon's film is a well-crafted 19th-century case study involving Tennessee land-owner John Bell (Donald Sutherland), his worried wife Lucy (Sissy Spacek), and the terrifying abuse of their daughter Betsy (Rachel Hurd-Wood) by a malicious poltergeist. Intensified by excessive sound effects and a nerve-jangling score, these nightly hauntings won't scare anyone who's seen "The Exorcist", and they grow increasingly repetitious even as Spacek and Sutherland make the most of their underwritten roles. Solomon (who previously brought "Dungeons and Dragons" to the big screen) seems more interested in visceral terror than fleshing out the details of this interesting story of dark secrets and child abuse, and his over-used bag of tricks includes time-lapse footage, flashes of negative images, black-and-white (to signal an imminent haunting), and a variety of physical effects designed to keep your adrenaline flowing. It works, to a point (although the present-day framing scenes are completely unnecessary), and "An American Haunting" makes a good double-feature with "The Exorcism of Emily Rose", a far better film with similar subject matter. This good-looking, bleakly moody fright-fest is also noteworthy as the next-to-last screen credit for Adrian Biddle, the esteemed cinematographer of such high-profile hits as "Aliens", "Thelma & Louise", "The Mummy", and "V for Vendetta", the latter completed just prior to Biddle's fatal heart attack in December 2005."--Jeff Shannon"

Director: Tony Kaye
Genre: Drama
Studio: New Line Home Video
Rated: R

Perhaps the highest compliment you can pay to Edward Norton is that his Oscar-nominated performance in "American History X" nearly convinces you that there is a shred of logic in the tenets of white supremacy. If that statement doesn't horrify you, it should; Norton is so fully immersed in his role as a neo-Nazi skinhead that his character's eloquent defense of racism is disturbingly persuasive--at least on the surface. Looking lean and mean with a swastika tattoo and a mind full of hate, Derek Vinyard (Norton) has inherited racism from his father, and that learning has been intensified through his service to Cameron (Stacy Keach), a grown-up thug playing tyrant and teacher to a growing band of disenfranchised teens from Venice Beach, California, all hungry for an ideology that fuels their brooding alienation.
The film's basic message--that hate is learned and can be unlearned--is expressed through Derek's kid brother, Danny (Edward Furlong), whose sibling hero-worship increases after Derek is imprisoned (or, in Danny's mind, martyred) for the killing of two black men. Lacking Derek's gift of rebel rhetoric, Danny is easily swayed into the violent, hateful lifestyle that Derek disowns during his thoughtful time in prison. Once released, Derek struggles to save his brother from a violent fate, and "American History X" partially suffers from a mix of intense emotions, awkward sentiment, and predictably inevitable plotting. And yet British director Tony Kaye (who would later protest against Norton's creative intervention during post-production) manages to juggle these qualities--and a compelling clash of visual styles--to considerable effect. No matter how strained their collaboration may have been, both Kaye and Norton can be proud to have created a film that addresses the issue of racism with dramatically forceful impact. "--Jeff Shannon"

Director: Chris Weitz
Genre: Comedy
Studio: Universal Studios
Rated: Unrated

Anyone who's watched just about any teenage film knows that the greatest evil in this world isn't chemical warfare, ethnic cleansing, or even the nuclear bomb. The worst crime known to man? Why, virginity, of course. As we've learned from countless films--from "Summer of '42" to "Risky Business"--virginity is a criminal burden that one must shed oneself of as quickly as possible. And while many of these films have given the topic a bad name, "American Pie" quietly sweeps in and gives sex some of its dignity back. Dignity, you may say? How can a film that highlights intercourse with fruit pies, premature ejaculation broadcasted across the Internet, and the gratuitous "gross-out" shots restore the dignity of a genre that's been encumbered with such heavyweights as "Porky's" and "Losin' It"? The plot may be typical, with four high school friends swearing to "score" by prom, yet the film rises above the muck with its superior cast, successful and sweet humor, and some actually rather retro values about the meaning and importance of sex. Jason Biggs, Chris Klein, Thomas Ian Nicholas, and Eddie Kaye Thomas make up the odd quartet of pals determined to woo, lie, and beg their way to manhood. The young women they pursue are wary girlfriend Vicky (Tara Reid), choir girl Heather (Mena Suvari), band geek Michelle (Alyson Hannigan), and just about any other female who is willing and able. Natasha Lyonne as Jessica, playing a similar role as in "Slums of Beverly Hills", is the general adviser to the crowd (when Vicky tells her "I want it to be the right time, the right place," Jessica responds, "It's not a space shuttle launch, it's "sex""). The comedic timing hits the mark--especially in the deliberately awkward scenes between Jim (Biggs) and his father (Eugene Levy). And, of course, lessons are learned in this genuinely funny film, which will probably please the adult crowd even more than it will the teenage one. "--Jenny Brown"

Director: J.B. Rogers
Genre: Comedies
Studio: Universal Studios Home Video
Rated: Unrated

Bringing back the entire ensemble from the original hit comedy, AMERICAN PIE 2 finds Jim (Jason Biggs), Finch (Eddie Kaye Thomas), Kevin (Thomas Ian Nicholas), Oz (Chris Klein), and Stifler (Seann William Scott) reunited for the summer after their first year at college. When the boys rent a beach house, even more familiar faces--such as Vicky (Tara Reid), Jessica (Natasha Lyonne), and the Sherminator (Chris Owen)--begin to appear. Soon Jim discovers that the gorgeous exchange student Nadia (Shannon Elizabeth) will be making a romantic visit, and, in a panic, he heads for band camp to seek sex advice from the flute-playing Michelle (Alyson Hannigan).<br><br>A worthy follow-up to AMERICAN PIE, this outrageous and entertaining sequel flaunts even more absurd antics and unlikely couplings. Erotic attempts continue to go awry, and musical instruments still find their way into the most inappropriate places. And once again, Eugene Levy brings down the house as Jim's nerdy yet understanding father. Fans of the first film will not be disappointed.



Theatrical release: August 10, 2001



Muze/MTS Inc.

Director: Clint Eastwood
Genre: Action, Biography, Drama, History, Thriller, War
Studio: Warner Bros.
Rated: R

Chris Kyle was nothing more than a Texan man who dreamed of becoming a cowboy, but in his thirties he found out that maybe his life needed something different, something where he could express his real talent, something that could help America in its fight against terrorism. So he joined the SEALs in order to become a sniper. After marrying, Kyle and the other members of the team are called for their first tour of Iraq. Kyle's struggle isn't with his missions, but about his relationship with the reality of the war and, once returned at home, how he manages to handle it with his urban life, his wife and kids.

Director: Nima Nourizadeh
Genre: Action, Comedy
Studio: PalmStar Media
Rated: R

Small-town stoner Mike Howell (Jesse Eisenberg) spends most of his time getting high and writing a graphic novel about a superhero monkey. What Mike doesn't know is that he was trained by the CIA to be a lethal killing machine. When the agency targets him for termination, his former handler activates his latent skills, turning the mild-mannered slacker into a deadly weapon. Now, the utterly surprised Mike must use his newfound abilities to save himself and his girlfriend from getting wasted.

Director: Jesse Dylan
Genre: Comedy
Studio: Universal Studios
Rated: Unrated

The producers of the "American Pie" movies pushed their luck with a third slice of their lucrative raunchy comedy franchise, and "American Wedding" cooked up surprisingly well. It's the sourest serving of "Pie", with half of the original cast missing, and there's something undeniably desperate about comedic highlights (involving dog poop, a lusty old lady, two strippers to offset the absence of Shannon Elizabeth, and the ill-advised use of a trimming razor) that arise more from obligation than inspiration, on the assumption that "another" penile mishap is guaranteed to please. And yet, that's just what this movie does for devoted "Pie"-munchers: It gives 'em what they want, especially when the notorious Stifler (Seann William Scott) nearly ruins the frantic nuptials of Jim (Jason Biggs) and his band-camping sweetheart Michelle (Alyson Hannigan). Eugene Levy and Eddie Kaye Thomas also return for some reliable comic relief, but the one who's laughing most is three-time "Pie" writer Adam Herz--laughing loudly and often, all the way to the bank. "--Jeff Shannon"

Director: Andrew Douglas (IV)
Genre: Horror
Studio: MGM (Video &amp; DVD)
Rated: R

Most horror movies establish an atmosphere of normalcy, which they gradually rupture with spooky or creepy or stomach-churning images. "The Amityville Horror"--a remake of the 1979 movie about a possessed house that torments the family that moves into it--tosses normalcy out the window in the first five minutes, unleashing a nonstop barrage of unsettling camera angles, decaying wood and stained wallpaper, half-glimpsed shadows in motion, fast edits of grotesque ghosts, and dozens of other horror-movie devices. Whether you like the movie will depend on whether you like feeling slightly nauseated and cut off from any semblance of reality--for many people, that's why they go to horror movies. Others won't be able to suspend disbelief that anyone but an actor would spend the time necessary to develop Ryan Reynold's insanely buff physique, prominently displayed as he runs around wearing nothing but a pair of loose-fitting pajama bottoms. In addition to Reynolds ("Van Wilder", "Blade: Trinity"), the movie also features Philip Baker Hall ("Magnolia") and Melissa George ("Down With Love"). "--Bret Fetzer"

Director: Roger Spottiswoode
Genre: Drama, TV Movie
Studio: HBO Pictures
Rated: PG-13

This is the story of the first years of the AIDS epidemic in the United States and focuses on three key elements. Dr. Don Francis, an immunologist with experience in eradicating smallpox and containing the Ebola virus, joins the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to try and understand just what this disease is. They also have deal with bureaucracy and a government that doesn't seem to care. The gay community in San Francisco is divided on the nature of the disease but also what should be done about it. Finally, the film deals with the rivalry between Dr. Robert Gallo, the American virologist who previously discovered the first retrovirus and his French counterpart at the Pasteur Institute, Dr. Luc Montagnier, that led to disputed claims about who was first to identify the AIDS virus.

Genre: Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Studio: A.S. Films
Rated: See all certifications

In "The Andromeda Strain," a U.S. military satellite crashes in a small town and unleashes a deadly plague killing all but two survivors. As the military quarantines the area, a team of highly specialized scientists is assembled to find a cure to the pathogen code-named "Andromeda," and a reporter investigates a government conspiracy only to discover what he is chasing wants him silenced.

Director: Ron Howard
Genre: Mystery, Thriller
Studio: Sony Pictures
Rated: PG-13

When a murder of a physicist, Leonardo Vetra, finds a symbolist, Robert Langdon, and Mr. Vetra's daughter, Vittoria, on an adventure for a secret brotherhood, The Illuminati. Clues lead them all around the Vatican, including the four alters of science, Earth, Air, Fire and Water. An Assassin, working for the Illuminati, has captured four cardinals, and murders each, painfully. Robert and Vittoria also are searching for a new very destructive weapon that could kill millions.

Director: Gaby Dellal
Genre: Drama
Studio: Process Film
Rated: R

During the first snow of the year 3 year-old Nate Denton wanders away from his father's truck and disappears. The fevered search for him ends with the devastating discover of his tiny, frozen body. Nate's death throws the small foothills community of Angel's Crest into disarray. The inhabitants confront what Nate's death means to them and in the face of that struggle they deal with their own concepts of right and wrong.

Director: Steve Buscemi
Genre: Drama
Studio: Sony Pictures
Rated: R

Steve Buscemi subtly refines the prison drama in his second film, a rich character piece set in a ramshackle state penitentiary. Edward Furlong is a glum, drug-dealing, middle-class bad boy suddenly drop-kicked into a world in which his sneering defiance just makes him more attractive prey to hardened convicts. Willem Dafoe, a career felon who runs the prison's contraband network, takes the kid under his wing and his protection. He's obviously attracted to the pretty boy and that sexual tension buzzes throughout the film, but their friendship, which is much more complicated, becomes the center of the film.
Buscemi allows the story to trickle along, downplaying the usual prison clichés to delve into the often murky relationships between prisoners, the predatory pecking order, and the undercurrent of racial divisions. He suggests everything in glances, threats, and tensions that only rarely erupt into violence. The film lacks a strong narrative line, but Buscemi's sensitivity to his characters and his sharp ensemble direction provide generous compensation. Dafoe is brilliant as the smiling smooth operator, his shaved head and jagged-toothed grin suggesting both a threatening confidence, and Furlong ably registers the fear of his sheer defenselessness in this dangerous world. Tom Arnold shines as a terrifying bully and Mickey Rourke is almost unrecognizable as Furlong's cross-dressing cellmate with a honeyed Southern lilt and makeup that would make Tammy Faye Bakker proud. "--Sean Axmaker"

Director: Danny Perez
Genre: Horror
Studio: Traverse Media
Rated: Not Rated

In a desolate community full of drug-addled Marines and rumors of kidnapping, a wild-eyed stoner named Lou wakes up after a wild night of partying with symptoms of a strange illness and recurring visions as she struggles to get a grip on reality while stories of conspiracy spread.

Director: Peter Howitt
Genre: Action & Adventure
Studio: MGM (Video &amp; DVD)
Rated: PG-13

The term "suspension of disbelief" was invented for the idea that Ryan Phillippe could be a computer genius. As Milo, a slacker brainiac recruited by smilingly ominous software giant Gary Winston (Tim Robbins) to help build a global communications system, Phillippe still looks like a million bucks. He is also still doing the clenched, pouty grown-up voice that he always uses to show that he means business in this acting stuff (he's nothing if not earnest), and a pair of designer glasses completes the transformation. He's well matched in "Antitrust" by Claire Forlani, who, in turn, spends time pursing her lips and squinting her dewy eyes as Milo's troubled girlfriend, an artist who proves to be a liability when Milo discovers that Winston is killing off clever competitors like a dot-com führer. Robbins, looking like David Letterman, seems willing to either take his role dead seriously or goof around a bit, but director Peter Howitt doesn't know how to play any of it (the actor was better used as a grinning madman in another flawed paranoid thriller, the underseen "Arlington Road"). Without any underlying menace or enough satirical bite to keep it interesting, the whole thing slips by passively in a mindless matinee kind of way until the over-the-top finale. Production designer Catherine Hardwicke has had some big, glossy fun creating Winston's campus and ornate private kingdom, and there's the cheapest of kicks in seeing Robbins's Bill Gates taken down publicly, but the film is definitely junior league. "--Steve Wiecking"

Director: Woody Allen
Genre: Comedy
Studio: Dreamworks Video
Rated: R

Christina Ricci invigorates an even-more-neurotic-than-usual variation on the classic neurotic woman in this Woody Allen movie. Comedy writer Jerry Falk (Jason Biggs, "American Pie") is madly in love with Amanda (Ricci, "The Opposite of Sex"), even though they haven't had sex in six months. Falk meets an older writer named Dobel (Allen) who becomes a sort of accidental mentor, encouraging him to break free of Amanda and his clinging agent (Danny DeVito). The pace is sluggish, almost every scene feels like an outtake from an earlier, better Woody Allen movie (particularly "Annie Hall"), Biggs never seems comfortable with his dialogue--only Ricci makes her character her own, giving her own perverse comic spin to the proceedings. About three-fourths of the way through the movie, the story starts to feel fresher and more compelling, but by then it's too late. Also featuring Jimmy Fallon and Stockard Channing. "--Bret Fetzer"

Director: Gonzalo López-Gallego
Genre: Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Studio: Dimension Films
Rated: PG-13

In the early 70's, Commander Nathan Walker, Captain Ben Anderson and Lieutenant Colonel John Grey are assigned in a secret mission to the Moon to protect the USA from USSR using detectors. Nathan and Ben land on the Moon in the Liberty module while John stays in orbit in the module Freedom. They collect rock samples and bring them to the Liberty. They also find footprints and the body of a Soviet cosmonaut on the moon. Soon they hear weird noises and they find that they are not alone in the satellite.

Director: Bryan Singer
Genre: Drama
Studio: Sony Pictures
Rated: R

At the top of his game, Stephen King has a real gift for mining monsters--zero-at-the-bone horror--out of everyday faces and places. Adapted from a novella in the 1982 collection that also spawned "Stand by Me" and "The Shawshank Redemption", "Apt Pupil" looks at first as if it might draw authentically enlightening terror from the soul-cancer that makes blood relations of a Southern California golden boy (Brad Renfro) and an aging Nazi war criminal (Sir Ian McKellen). Turned on by a high-school course about the Holocaust, Todd Bowden (such a bland handle for this top-of-his-class sociopath!) tracks down Kurt Dussander, a former Gestapo killer hiding in the shadows of sunny SoCal. Blackmailing the old man into sharing his firsthand stories of genocide, the teenager trips out on the virtual reality of the monster's memories. There's perverse play here on the way a kid hungry for knowledge can bring a long-retired teacher or grandparent back to life. Truly superb as James Whale in "Gods and Monsters", McKellen brings subtlety to this Stephen King creepshow: his dessicated Dussander is like a mummy or vampire revivified by Todd's appetite for atrocity.
Considerable talent intersects in "Apt Pupil": It's director Bryan Singer's first film since "The Usual Suspects", that enormously popular, rather heartless thriller-machine. The outstanding cast also includes David Schwimmer as a Jewish guidance counselor pathetically impotent in the face of Todd's talent for evil, and Bruce Davison as Todd's All-American Dad, lacking the capacity to even imagine evil. And the story itself has the potential for gazing into the heart of darkness right here in Hometown, U.S.A. But "Apt Pupil" just turns ugly and unclean when it trivializes its subject, equating Holocaust horrors with slamming a cat into an oven or offing a nosy vagrant (Elias Koteas). Reducing the great spiritual abyss that lies at the center of the 20th century to cheap slasher-movie thrills and chills is reprehensible. Both Todd and the writers of "Apt Pupil" should have heeded the old saw: When supping with the devil, best use a long spoon. "--Kathleen Murphy"

Director: Ben Affleck
Genre: Drama, History, Thriller
Studio: Warner Home Video
Rated: R

Based on real events the dramatic thriller "Argo" chronicles the life-or-death covert operation to rescue six Americans which unfolded behind the scenes of the Iran hostage crisis focusing on the little-known role that the CIA and Hollywood played-information that was not declassified until many years after the event. On November 4 1979 as the Iranian revolution reaches its boiling point militants storm the U.S. Embassy in Tehran taking 52 Americans hostage. But in the midst of the chaos six Americans manage to slip away and find refuge in the home of Canadian Ambassador Ken Taylor. Knowing it is only a matter of time before the six are found out and likely killed the Canadian and American governments ask the CIA to intervene. The CIA turns to their top "exfiltration" specialist Tony Mendez to come up with a plan to get the six Americans safely out of the country. A plan so incredible it could only happen in the movies

Director: John Jacobsen
Genre: Drama
Studio: Ardustry Home Ent. L
Rated: R

If you've ever been a fan of the jam-band scene, and still maintain some intelligence or vestige of sanity, you will vastly enjoy watching this film, again and again. Not for the soundtrack (which includes such classics as Marley, Dire Straits, Phish and Winwood), not for the actors (although there are some good ones), not for the 'authentic' lot-scene ambience. You'll love this movie because it is so unbelievably lame, you will not be able to stop laughing.

From the early scene where Andrew asks Simon what music he listens to, Simon replies "what kind of question is that?" and Andrew declares, "That's only the most important question I could ever ask you," this movie is fully loaded with some of the cheesiest and most hilariously lame moments I have ever seen. Kate Matthews, the world's most unprofessional rehab counselor, flies off the handle with no more provocation than a little junkie 'tude, then laughs at Simon for ending up in rehab. Andrew comes out with lines like "ALWAYS check the hippie pouch," and introduces Simon to guys who blow into conch shells to determine the future. A lot of guys in the movie dance with their arms above their heads, looking like complete idiots. Jennifer and Trace laugh uproariously every time Simon says something naive or stupid, leading me to wonder, was nobody else willing to be their friend before he came along? In this movie, hanging out with someone for two hours makes you a friend for life.

The best character in the movie is Kevin, Simon's "demented friend" who is in a wheelchair and at death's door for reasons that are never explained (outside of Kevin saying "I had WAY too much fun"). He asks Simon about his experience at a concert, Simon replies, "I can't put it into words," and Kevin counters sagely: "You just did." When Kevin starts strumming his guitar, entire drum circles fall silent so he can play original compositions like "I Don't Mind Failing In This World"; creative works that make the Dude of Life seem like Mozart. He abruptly dies when the plot finds it convenient, leaving Simon - who has apparently hung out with him a handful of times - to bear the responsibility of scattering his ashes. Huh?!?

Add to this inexplicable flashbacks-within-flashbacks, the spectre of Simon's mother's death (also never explained; the movie suggests she had WAY too much fun as well), and a series of festivals and concerts during which you NEVER see a band or any musicians at all (except Kevin) and you have a film that will leave you scratching your head in puzzlement and laughing out loud at the ridiculousness of it all.

It's time to open the package!

Director: Denis Villeneuve
Genre: Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Studio: 21 Laps Entertainment
Rated: PG-13

When mysterious spacecraft touch down across the globe, an elite team - led by expert linguist Louise Banks - is brought together to investigate. As mankind teeters on the verge of global war, Banks and the team race against time for answers - and to find them, she will take a chance that could threaten her life, and quite possibly humanity.

Director: Gavin Wiesen
Genre: Drama, Romance
Studio: Goldcrest Pictures
Rated: PG-13

Believing the quote that you are born alone, die alone and everything else is an illusion, George doesn't see the point of life, school, or homework. Then he meets Sally and he now has a reason to go to school and make friends, even if he's not ready to admit to himself or to her that he likes her. The school's principal and art teacher introduce him to an alumni, and successful artist, Dustin, who can help guide George along life's path, but other distractions start surfacing, and George might not even be able to graduate from high school.

Director: Leslie Weinberg
Genre: Art House & International
Studio: Picture This! Home Video
Rated: NR

Jean-Pierre is a closeted gay university professor in his 50's, who has a hot 30-something Cuban boyfriend, Armando. Life becomes complicated for Jean-Pierre in "Le Hasard Fait Bien Les Choses" ("As Luck Would Have It"), a 2002 French-Swiss film, when he is appointed at random to be the legal guardian of street-smart 17 year old Antoine. Complicating the matter is the fact that records show that Jean-Pierre is technically married to a woman, a "marriage of convenience" years ago to allow her to gain Swiss citizenship. He can appeal the appointment as guardian, but it means further scrutiny to his life, having to have his wife (who is going through a nasty breakup from her lawyer boyfriend) available when a social worker comes to investigate his petition. Armando wants Jean-Pierre to be honest about his sexuality, but the older man fears loss of an important position at the university, and has been "living a lie" for so long that it has become second nature. As has been the case in many other gay comedies, such lies tend to get complicated, leading to misunderstandings between the lovers, blackmail from the father of Antoine's girlfriend, and a near fistfight with his wife's jealous ex-boyfriend. It also results in many laughs, in this delightful romantic comedy, beautifully photographed and delivered by a talented French cast, definitely more than one would expect from a film originally made for television.

DVD is in French with English or Spanish subtitles, no extras other than studio trailers. Rated R, no nudity or explicit scenes. I'd give it 4 stars out of 5.

Director: Tony McNamara
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Studio: Head Gear Films
Rated: R

ASHBY is a coming of age/approaching death comedy drama. A seventeen-year-old kid (Ed) trying to understand who he wants to be in the world, befriends a terminally ill ex-CIA contract killer (Ashby) who is trying to make peace with his life and God before he goes. 'Making peace' might just entail killing three old bosses who have tricked him into breaching his strange moral code.

Director: William Girdler, Joe Wiezycki, H.L. Zimmer
Genre: Horror
Studio: Image Entertainment
Rated: PG

Asylum of Satan (1971) - Lovely Lucina Martin suspects there's something wrong with the rest home where she's recovering from a nervous breakdown. Therapy includes covering a patient in bugs, setting another on fire, and tossing a third into a pool full of snakes. Then there's the hatchet-faced ghoul running around upstairs and a grinning demon lurking in the basement. Which is why Lucina believes that this is not a tranquil hospital but actually an Asylum of Satan! The first feature from William Girdler, director of "Three on a Meathook" and "The Manitou," is fun, gory drive-in fare direct from Jefferson County, Kentucky. "Satan's Children" (1974) - Runaway teen Bobby is given shelter by a friendly cult of Satanists, but his presence--and questionable sexuality--leads to conflicts within Satan's Children, especially after a lesbian member is damned to Hell. But Bobby proves to be one sick puppy, which he demonstrates in ways that would even make the devil smile. So hilarious, homophobic, and just plain insane, you'd think Lucifer himself was personally involved!

Director: Mary Stephen, ,
Genre: Horror/Suspense
Studio: Universe Laser (HK)

AUDITION is an art-house cult horror film that will be talked about for a long time to come. Ryo Ishibashi stars as Aoyama, a single father who has not dated since his wife died seven years earlier. To help find another woman to bring joy into Aoyama's charmless life, his best friend, television producer Yoshikawa, convinces Aoyama that they should add a fake part to a show they are auditioning actresses for--a role that will become Aoyama's real-life companion. After a series of comical auditions, in walks a woman whom Aoyama thinks is perfect--Asami, played by former model Eihi Shiina. But when Aoyama proves too tentative in his courting--and starts learning odd things about Asami's past--she decides to exact a revenge that filmgoers will never forget.<br><br>Director Takashi Miike's film, based on the novel by Ryu Murakami, begins like a slow-moving romance, carefully developing the characters and their maturing relationships. But suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, the mood and pace change, smashing viewers over the head with fast cuts between the past and the present, with dreamlike images that turn into torrid nightmares, with screams and shouts where there had been soft-spoken whispers, with blood and violence that replaces love and longing. The last section of the film is one of the most brutal torture scenes ever put on celluloid, and it is definitely not for the faint of heart. But even in its gore-filled shockingness, the film is beautiful to look at, a monumental achievement by a director willing to take chances and challenge his audience.



Theatrical Release: AUGUST 8, 2001 (NY)



Muze/MTS Inc.

Director: Kirsten Sheridan
Genre: Drama
Studio: Warner Home Video
Rated: PG

Music has long been considered a universal language with the power to bring people together, but can the simple act of playing music possibly unite a child with a mother and father who live in two different cities and don't even know of the child's existence? Having shared one extraordinary night, classical cellist Lyla Novacek (Keri Russell) and Irish singer and songwriter Louis Connelly (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) were a union meant to be that was torn apart by circumstances and a protective father (William Sadler). After eleven years, both Lyla and Louis have given up performing only to find that they are unhappy and searching for a sense of fulfillment that will ultimately lead both artists back to music and performing. Evan (Freddie Highmore) is an 11-year old orphan who's grown up hearing music in everything around him and is convinced that his real parents want him and will find him with the help of music. Driven by his innate musical genius and a powerful compulsion to perform before the world, Evan runs away from the orphanage and is initially taken in by a street man known as Wizard (Robin Williams) who encourages his musical talent and renames him August Rush and, later, by a local priest who arranges for August to receive a Julliard education. August is a child prodigy who excels beyond even the wildest expectations and earns the opportunity of a lifetime--a chance to perform in front of an enormous audience in New York's Central Park. The question is; can his performance possibly reach the audience August really craves? While elements of this film are completely unbelievable (take August's instant prowess on the guitar or his immediate and sophisticated grasp of musical notation and musical theory), the message of the universality of music and the notion that "the music is all around us, all you have to do is listen" is both compelling and powerful. "--Tami Horiuchi"

Director: Roger Young
Genre: Drama
Studio: Sony Pictures
Rated: R

"Augustus" is equal parts history lesson and soap opera, and thoroughly engaging at all levels. Peter O'Toole plays Octavius/Augustus, heir to his doomed uncle Julius Caesar's command of the far-flung Roman empire. Surviving an assassination attempt and struck by news of the death of his old friend and ally, Agrippa (Ken Duken), in the same day, Octavius waxes nostalgic about his youthful exploits in Caesar's army (Benjamin Sadler plays the young Augustus in flashbacks) and his unprepared immersion in the deadly politics of the Mark Antony (Massimo Ghini) era. More immediate are Octavius' problems trying to stave off conspiracies by his wife Livia (Charlotte Rampling) to set up the emperor's stepson, Tiberius (Michele Bevilacqua), as heir, and talk his dutiful daughter Julia (Vittoria Belvedere) into a marriage she doesn't want. Roger Young ("Jesus") directs this highly watchable costume drama, and O'Toole's golden presence makes the ancient intrigues tragically human. "--Tom Keogh"

Director: André Øvredal
Genre: Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Studio: 42
Rated: R

Cox and Hirsch play father and son coroners who receive a mysterious homicide victim with no apparent cause of death. As they attempt to identify the beautiful young "Jane Doe," they discover increasingly bizarre clues that hold the key to her terrifying secrets.

Director: James Cameron
Genre: Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Sci-Fi
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Rated: PG-13

Here's what we had to say about the original theatrical edition of "Avatar" after seeing it on the big screen:

After 12 years of thinking about it (and waiting for movie technology to catch up with his visions), James Cameron followed up his unsinkable Titanic with Avatar, a sci-fi epic meant to trump all previous sci-fi epics. Set in the future on a distant planet, Avatar spins a simple little parable about greedy colonizers (that would be mankind) messing up the lush tribal world of Pandora. A paraplegic Marine named Jake (Sam Worthington) acts through a 9-foot-tall avatar that allows him to roam the planet and pass as one of the Na'vi, the blue-skinned, large-eyed native people who would very much like to live their peaceful lives without the interference of the visitors. Although he's supposed to be gathering intel for the badass general (Stephen Lang) who'd like to lay waste to the planet and its inhabitants, Jake naturally begins to take a liking to the Na'vi, especially the feisty Neytiri (Zoë Saldana, whose entire performance, recorded by Cameron's complicated motion-capture system, exists as a digitally rendered Na'vi). The movie uses state-of-the-art 3D technology to plunge the viewer deep into Cameron's crazy toy box of planetary ecosystems and high-tech machinery. Maybe it's the fact that Cameron seems torn between his two loves--awesome destructive gizmos and flower-power message mongering--that makes Avatar's pursuit of its point ultimately uncertain. That, and the fact that Cameron's dialogue continues to clunk badly. If you're won over by the movie's trippy new world, the characters will be forgivable as broad, useful archetypes rather than standard-issue stereotypes, and you might be able to overlook the unsurprising central plot. (The overextended "take that, Michael Bay" final battle sequences could tax even Cameron enthusiasts, however.) It doesn't measure up to the hype (what could?) yet Avatar frequently hits a giddy delirium all its own. The film itself is our Pandora, a sensation-saturated universe only the movies could create. --Robert Horton

Versions of "Avatar" on Blu-ray and DVD
Edition Format Release Date Special Features "Avatar" (Extended Collector's Edition) Three Blu-ray Discs Nov. 16, 2010 Three versions of the movie including the previously unreleased extended cut, plus more than eight hours of bonus features including over 45 minutes of deleted scenes, interactive scene deconstruction, "Pandorapedia", documentaries and featurettes, and BD-LIVE content (requires compatible player and Internet connection) "Avatar" (Extended Collector's Edition) Three DVDs Nov. 16, 2010 Three versions of the movie including the previously unreleased extended cut, plus more than three hours of bonus features including documentaries and over 45 minutes of deleted scenes "Avatar" (Original Theatrical Edition) Two-disc Blu-ray/
DVD combo Apr. 22, 2010 None "Avatar" (Original Theatrical Edition) DVD Apr. 22, 2010 None

Contents of the Blu-ray Extended Collector's Edition
What follows is the back-of-the box summary of the Blu-ray set's contents and then a complete listing of everything that's included.



Disc 1: Three Movie Versions Original Theatrical Edition (includes family audio track with objectionable language removed) Special Edition Re-Release (includes family audio track with objectionable language removed) Collector’s Extended Cut with 16 additional minutes, including alternate opening on earth
Disc 2: Filmmaker's Journey Over 45 minutes of never-before-seen deleted scenes "Capturing Avatar": Feature-length documentary covering the 16-year filmmakers’ journey, including interviews with James Cameron, Jon Landau, cast and crew "A Message from Pandora": James Cameron’s visit to the Amazon rainforest The 2006 art reel: Original pitch of the "Avatar vision" Brother termite test: Original motion capture test The ILM prototype: Visual effects reel Screen tests: Sam Worthington, Zoë Saldana Zoë’s life cast: Makeup session footage On-set footage as live-action filming begins VFX progressions Crew film: "The Volume"
Disc 3: Pandora's Box Interactive scene deconstruction: Explore the stages of production of 17 different scenes through three viewing modes: capture level, template level, and final level with picture-in-picture reference Production featurettes: "Sculpting Avatar", "Creating the Banshee", "Creating the Thanator", "The AMP Suit", "Flying Vehicles", "Na’vi Costumes", "Speaking Na’vi", "Pandora Flora", "Stunts", "Performance Capture", "Virtual Camera", "The 3D Fusion Camera", "The Simul-Cam", "Editing Avatar", "Scoring Avatar", "Sound Design", "The Haka: The Spirit of New Zealand" "Avatar" original script "Avatar" screenplay by James Cameron "Pandorapedia:" Comprehensive guide to Pandora" Lyrics from five songs by James Cameron The art of "Avatar": Over 1,850 images in 16 themed galleries ("The World of Pandora", "The Creatures", "Pandora Flora", "Pandora Bioluminescence", "The Na’vi", "The Avatars", "Maquettes", "Na’vi Weapons", "Na’vi Props", "Na’vi Musical Instruments", "RDA Designs", "Flying Vehicles", "AMP Suit", "Human Weapons", "Land Vehicles", "One-Sheet Concepts")
BD-Live Extras BD-Live extras require a BD-Live-enabled player and an Internet connection. The following extras may be available a limited-time only and are subject to change over time: Crew Short: "The Night Before Avatar"; additional screen tests, including Stephen Lang, Giovanni Ribisi, Joel David Moore, CCH Pounder, and Laz Alonso; speaking Na’vi rehearsal footage; Weta Workshop: walk-and-talk presentation

Director: Joss Whedon
Genre: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
Studio: Marvel Studios
Rated: PG-13

Tony Stark creates the Ultron Program to protect the world, but when the peacekeeping program becomes hostile, The Avengers go into action to try and defeat a virtually impossible enemy together. Earth's mightiest heroes must come together once again to protect the world from global extinction.

Director: Anthony Russo
Genre: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
Studio: Marvel Studios
Rated: PG-13

As the Avengers and their allies have continued to protect the world from threats too large for any one hero to handle, a new danger has emerged from the cosmic shadows: Thanos. A despot of intergalactic infamy, his goal is to collect all six Infinity Stones, artifacts of unimaginable power, and use them to inflict his twisted will on all of reality. Everything the Avengers have fought for has led up to this moment, the fate of Earth and existence has never been more uncertain.