Director: Jon Favreau
Genre: Action & Adventure
Studio: Sony Pictures
Rated: PG

"Zathura", a smart and stylish kid's adventure, launches into action when Danny (Jonah Bobo) twists the key of a dusty science fiction game--a game that unleashes a localized meteor shower and wrenches Danny's house into orbit around a distant ringed planet, bringing Danny's brother Walter (Josh Hutcherson, "Kicking and Screaming") and sister Lisa (Kristen Stewart, "Panic Room") along. Soon a defective robot, a rangy astronaut (Dax Shepard, "Without a Paddle"), and an alien spaceship enter the picture. Only by completing the game can the kids return their house to its proper space-time coordinates, but the game board falls into the hands of some nasty, carnivorous lizards. "Zathura" has some obligatory emotional conflict and resolution between the two brothers, but that's pretty much beside the point; what makes "Zathura" a delight is the wonderful design, the skillful escalation of disasters, and the adroit direction of Jon Favreau ("Elf"), who is quickly becoming the go-to guy for mass-market movies with wit and timing. Some situations may be too intense for younger kids; Favreau ratchets up the suspense at a few points. Based on the book by Chris Van Allsburg ("Jumanji"). Also featuring Tim Robbins ("The Shawshank Redemption"). "--Bret Fetzer"

Director: Ben Coccio
Genre: Drama
Studio: Homevision
Rated: Unrated

"We are the Army of Two!" So begins the video diary of Andre (Andre Keuck) and Cal (Calvin Robertson), two best friends and alienated high school students who have meticulously planned a "big-ass mission" that will shock and terrify their community. They have officially declared war, stockpiled their weapons, and set the day now, "let the countdown begin." Make no mistake: "Zero Day" is not a ""Blair Witch"" stunt. With his uncanny unprofessional cast and unflinching intimacy, director Ben Coccio’s award-winning first feature is a disturbingly authentic and harrowing look at a tragedy as unthinkable as today’s headlines.

Director: Martin Curland
Genre: Comedy
Studio: Tla
Rated: Unrated

"Part horror movie, part randy teen sex farce, [Zerophilia] takes the premise that some organisms are capable of mutating gender to suit their surroundings and extends it to an Oregon undergrad whose extra chromosome allows him to alternate between male and female. Martin Curland's endearing debut delivers a ripe conceit in such gendermorphic times, ... it could conceivably spawn an entire genre of imitators." -VARIETY

Director: David Fincher
Genre: Drama
Studio: Paramount
Rated: R

Closer in spirit to a police procedural than a gory serial-killer flick, David Fincher's "Zodiac" provides a sleek, armrest-gripping re-invention of the crime film. It surveys the investigation of the Zodiac killings that terrorized the San Francisco Bay area in the late -60-early -70s; Zodiac not only killed people, but cultivated a Jack the Ripper aura by sending icky letters to the newspapers and daring readers to solve coded messages. But the film's focus isn't on the killer. We follow the reporters and detectives whose lives are taken over by the case, notably an addictive crime writer (a sartorially splendid Robert Downey Jr.), an awkward editorial cartoonist (Jake Gyllenhaal), and a hard-working cop (Mark Ruffalo). Fincher and his brilliant cinematographer Harris Savides are deft at capturing the period feel of the city, without laying on the seventies kitsch, and James Vanderbilt's script doles out its big moments to major and minor characters alike. Fincher's confidence is infectious; the movie glides through its myriad details with such dexterity that even the blind alleys and red herrings seem essential. The well-chosen cast includes unexpected people popping up all over: Anthony Edwards as a lunch-bucket homicide cop; Charles Fleischer as a mysterious suspect; Elias Koteas and Donal Logue as small-town policemen whose districts are hit by Zodiac; Chloe Sevigny as Gyllenhaal's sweet-natured wife; Brian Cox as the media-friendly lawyer Melvin Belli, so famous he once appeared on "Star Trek"; and the mighty John Carroll Lynch, as a supremely creepy suspect. The film is based on non-fiction books by Robert Graysmith (he's portrayed by Gyllenhaal), although Fincher and co. did extensive research on their own. The result is a propulsive whodunit without (thus far) an ending, but the uncertainty makes the film even more intriguing. "--Robert Horton"

Beyond "Zodiac"
The Zodiac (2005)
Curse of the Zodiac (2007)
The Novel Stills from "Zodiac" (click for larger image)

Studio: Platinum Disc
Rated: Unrated

Director: Peter Hewitt
Genre: Comedy
Studio: Sony Pictures
Rated: PG

Jack Shepard a.k.a. 'Zoom' is an out-of-shape auto shop owner, far removed from the man who once protected the world's freedom. Reluctantly called back into action by the government, Jack is charged with turning a rag tag group of kids with special powers into a new generation of superheroes to save the world from certain destruction. Based on Jason Lethcoe's popular graphic novel "Zoom's Academy for the Super Gifted."