Director: D.J. Caruso
Genre: Action & Adventure
Studio: Dreamworks Video
Rated: PG-13

The "cell phone thriller" is becoming a genre unto itself, and "Eagle Eye" should be considered a key example of the form. Frankly preposterous but compulsively watchable, this movie puts Shia LaBeouf in a mess of trouble instigated by a mysterious telephone voice. If he doesn't follow orders, dire things will happen--although when he does follow orders, the consequences are pretty dire, anyway. Also being blackmailed is a single mom (Michelle Monaghan) receiving similar phone calls. Why are they being jerked around by the purring female voice, and why is the road leading to Washington, D.C.? Actually, you won't have time to contemplate these questions, because director D.J. Caruso (who guided LaBeouf in "Disturbia") keeps the action going at the customary breakneck pace. This is a wise move, because the real questions you'd likely be asking have to do with the plausibility of events on a minute-by-minute basis (most notably: how could Mysterious Phone Voice possibly know that the two pigeons would survive the hoops she makes them fly through, each one more death-defying than the last?). The actors tumble through this mayhem like scattering bowling pins, including Billy Bob Thornton and Rosario Dawson as government agents. Nobody has time to make much of an impression, and LaBeouf has much less room for puppydog charm than he did in "Disturbia". Even that would be all right within the movie's berserk parameters, but the really irritating thing is the way the tacked-on final scenes reverse what would have been a heroic climax. No guts, no glory. "--Robert Horton"




Stills from "Eagle Eye" (Click for larger image)

Studio: Fox Searchlight
Rated: PG-13

In "Another Earth" and "Sound of My Voice", Brit Marling has made a big splash as a rising starlet with serious screenwriting chops and a charismatic presence that's only partly based on her ethereal beauty. In "The East", a quasi-political thriller that she cowrote with director Zal Batmanglij, she heads a cast of appealing young actors who flesh out a gripping story about a radical cell of eco- and social activists whose operations cause real harm that may or may not be justified. Marling plays Sarah, an undercover agent for a private security firm hired by huge (read: evil) corporations that have been hacked, hit, or targeted by the increasingly damaging antics of the shadowy, off-the-grid operations of the East. First it's an engrossing spy tale as Sarah infiltrates the group, then it takes us deeper into the increasingly ambiguous moral actions of individual members as well as their Big Pharma, Big Oil, Big Agra prey. Sarah becomes conflicted about her own allegiance to her employer, a boyfriend who knows nothing about her job, her complicity in the near-terroristic strikes, and the reverse Stockholm Syndrome she experiences as a full-fledged member of the East. Her fidelity to the job (embodied by Patricia Clarkson, wonderful as a mother-like boss who values money more than morals) is seriously undermined by the devotion she sees in the kind, gentle souls who have dedicated their lives to radical change. Foremost among them are the de facto leader, Benji (Alexander Skarsgård), and the fiercely committed Izzy (Ellen Page), both of whom have histories that Sarah discovers gradually and which make them even more nuanced and sympathetic regardless of their overt--or covert--activities. Sarah and Benji believably fall for each other in spite of Sarah's divided loyalties and Benji's nagging suspicions. There's also a sexual tension between Sarah and Izzy, who represent extremes of ideology that move closer together as their individual values are shaken. Apart from its political point of view, which wisely remains fluid right to the end, "The East" is a terrifically entertaining and suspenseful thriller with real emotional chords, cleverly designed capers, a gifted ensemble cast, and a script that is very smart for its thematic arc as well as its realistic voice. East is east and west is west? Not so much. Orienteering is appropriately skewed by the shattered moral compass of "The East". "--Ted Fry"

Director: Q. Allan Brocka
Genre: Comedy
Studio: Ariztical
Rated: Unrated

"Eating Out" is worthy of two stars only because it isn't completely repulsive and amateurish. That would be one star on Amazon because they don't allow users to enter "no stars".

Eating Out is a silly film premise that warrants no more than a comedy sketch in a Mad TV episode: straight boy pretends to be gay in order to bed a hot women who only falls for gay men. That's the premise folks! Nothing more, nothing less.

The guy who plays Shawn Pyfrom's boyfriend on "Desperate Housewives" is one of the stars. He's attractive enough and he can act (though he'll win no awards for it). Jim Verraros (one of the American Idol rejects) is in it too and to be kind...he's not horrible.

The women in this film all seem to be from "Bad Acting 101" as none of them can deliver a line without it sounding like it's got quotes around it. The "straight" boy's parents are absolutely painfully bad actors.

This is apparently some sort of a well regarded film in gay circles. Why? I don't get it.....Is it because two of the actors have some dubious credentials?

Geez, I thought we were moving beyond the whole "gay guerrilla" filmmaking level. As I've said in previous reviews, this whole "homospoitation" (as in "blackspoiltation" films) film aesthetic was old once the first few came out. If there isn't something new to be said about being gay or something clever or at least saying it in a quality way, then for Pete's Sake stop trying to say it!

Don't bother.

Director: James Bolton
Genre: Drama
Studio: Picture This
Rated: Unrated

This earnest drama depicts not so much a May/December relationship as a February/June affair between a 15-year-old and a 29-year-old. Eban (Brent Fellows) has come back to his former hometown of Seaside, Oregon, after being driven from Seattle by a controversy at the school where he taught. Soon he meets Charley (Giovanni Adrade), a teenager whose mother has died and whose father is a jerk, and before long they fall in love. "Eban and Charley" depicts a fantasy for those who like their lovers young; Eban acts with complete reserve and restraint, while Charley makes the first move and proclaims that age shouldn't matter if they love each other. The actors give extremely naturalistic performances that some viewers will find painfully tedious and others may find refreshing. The movie also features a soundtrack by Stephin Merritt of indie-pop band Magnetic Fields. "--Bret Fetzer"

Director: Rob Connolly
Studio: Independent Edge Films
Rated: R

Elliot Baker seizes the chance to develop a better relationship with his sons when his ex-wife, Karen, and her new husband take a vacation and leave the boys with him. What starts as a bonding opportunity turns into a nightmarish adventure when they get stranded in a deserted cabin near the lake as night falls and a snowstorm rages. Bradley, 15, and Caleb, 12, quickly learn more about their father and what they truly mean to him in this gripping tale of family and survival

Director: Yurek Bogayevicz
Genre: Drama
Studio: Miramax
Rated: R

EDGES OF THE LORD is a film that, once seen, creates in the viewer the need to call every friend and recommend their seeing it. As conceived and directed by Yurek Bogayevicz and by using primarily a Polish cast shot on location in various areas of Poland, this film appears to be a simple tale of courage of a young Jewish boy Romek (Haley Joel Osment) whose parents wisely see the encroaching genocide by the Nazis and out of love, teach their son the basics of Catholicism so that Romek can pass as a Catholic and be placed with a Catholic family in order to save him from the Nazi exterminations.

Romek lands with a family whose children include an older child Vladek (Richard Banel) and a younger Tolo (Liam Hess). The family understands that Romek is a Jew and even the young children incorporate that fact into their cohabitation. The village priest (Willem Dafoe) likewise takes Romek under his wing and in a touching scene while the priest is cutting the 'hosts' for Catholic communion from a wafer sheet, he tells Romek that the uneven portions are the 'edges of the Lord' and therefore Romek may eat them as a Jew without betraying his own religious beliefs.

The boys are part of a circle of preadolescent friends which includes one girl Maria (Ola Frycz) who slowly warms to Romek. In the priest's cataclysm class the children are assigned roles as Apostles and Tolo assumes the identity of Jesus. It is this assumption of the life of Jesus (sneaking a crown of rose thorns under his cap, tying himself to a tree ('cross'), and ultimately making a sacrifice for Romek in imitation of Christ's mission) that provides some of the more exquisitely beautiful moments in this lovely film.

The story can be watched and absorbed on many levels: the effect of the atrocities of the Nazi occupation on Polish Jews, the sanctity of the family unit and the terror of living in an occupied country in the time of war, the delicate line children tread to become adults, the inhumanity of man as contrasted to the profound humanity of man - all of these threads are woven into this Polish tapestry of tremendous emotional impact.

While the performances by Osment and Dafoe are expectedly fine, the roles of the Polish actors - especially the incandescent Liam Hess as Tolo - are extraordinary. This is truly a masterful work that deserves a very wide audience. Highly Recommended! Grady Harp, January 2005

Director: Stuart Gordon
Genre: Drama
Studio: First Independent
Rated: R

William H. Macy, a longtime collaborator of David Mamet, takes on one of Mamet's biggest, ugliest creations in the title role of "Edmond". Edmond drops out of his ordinary life after a chance encounter with a fortune-teller, and cruises through a New York inferno that leads to murder. It also leads to a great deal of the clipped, counter-punching dialogue that Mamet is famous for, although at times the film plays like a monologue interrupted by peripheral blips on Edmond's skewed radar. Mamet's subject is the frenzied reaction of the modern male to the narrowing of his domain, a crisis that drives Edmond to the familiar touchstones of bar, peep show, and whorehouse, none of which provide the solace he thinks they should. The 2005 film is based on Mamet's 1982 play, and somehow the picture might have had more pop if it had been filmed closer to that time, when panicked masculinity was a fresher subject. And the text is a kind of dark, horrific fable that probably worked better in the stylized realm of the stage than on film. Stuart Gordon directs with a blunt forward motion that foregrounds the most unsavory aspects of the material (fans of his "Re-Animator" should note the presence of Jeffrey Combs as a snotty hotel clerk). Except for Macy, cast members come and go in the episodic flow, some of them (Joe Mantegna and Rebecca Pidgeon) identified with Mamet's work. Julia Stiles plays the unfortunate waitress who falls into Edmond's path, and Bai Ling, Denise Richards, and Mena Suvari are women of the night who want to charge Edmond too much money. But it's Macy's show, and he mercilessly gets inside Edmond's bad self: a monster of entitlement and self-delusion, given to epiphanies that lead nowhere except his own ego. "--Robert Horton"

Director: Fred Durst
Genre: Drama
Studio: Overture Films/Anchor Bay Entertainment
Rated: R

The nervous charisma of indie leading man Jesse Eisenberg (The Squid and the Whale, Adventureland) carries The Education of Charlie Banks, a story of doomed ambition, hopeless yearning, and lingering guilt. When teenaged Charlie Banks (Eisenberg) witnessed a handsome bully named Mick (Jason Ritter, Freddy Vs. Jason) beat up two other boys, he tells the police--but then, feeling like a rat, withdraws his testimony so that Mick gets released. A few years later, when Mick suddenly appears at Charlie’s dorm for a visit, Charlie lives in dread that his betrayal will be revealed. But as Mick successfully woos the girl Charlie’s in love with, Charlie and Mick grown enmeshed in mutual envy and reluctant admiration. The Education of Charlie Banks aspires to be a preppy version of The Great Gatsby (just to make that clear, the characters twice make references to F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel), peppered with philosophical allusions to Hannah Arendt and Jacques Derrida. Unfortunately, despite Charlie and Mick’s backstory, these kids just don’t have enough of a past to seem driven or haunted--they just flounder like any other bunch of boozing, horny college students. Mick comes across as a junior-varsity Tom Ripley, more stalker than star-crossed. Still, it’s a surprisingly smooth-flowing movie from Fred Durst, the former lead singer of rap-metal band Limp Bizkit. Also featuring Eva Amurri (Saved!). --Bret Fetzer

Get to Know the Cast From The Education of Charlie Banks

Eva Amurri (Mary)


Jason Ritter (Mick)


Jesse Eisenberg (Charlie)



Stills from The Education of Charlie Banks  (Click for larger image)

Director: Steven Spielberg
Genre: Drama
Studio: Image Entertainment
Rated: R

The King of England finds his throne in peril when he brings his lover, Gaveston, enraging the current queen who goes on a rampage of vengeance.

Director: Richard Bell (IX)
Genre: Drama
Studio: Tla
Rated: NR

In this poignant, soul-searching drama, Pip Anders has just turned eighteen and finds himself estranged from his family and living homeless on the streets. As he attempts to sort out his young life with the help of a local priest (Alan Cumming), he listens to a tape left to him by his deceased grandfather Jason (voiced by Ian McKellen), telling of his own experiences at age eighteen trapped behind enemy lines in battle. Although decades apart, the two young men must face their difficult parallel lives, each on an uncertain journey of redemption and self-discovery.

Director: Achero Manas
Genre: Art House & International
Studio: Film Movement
Rated: Unrated

EL BOLA, winner of 4 Goya Awards in Spain including Best Picture, is the December selection in The Film Movement Series. Subscribers to Film Movement receive a socially important film to own on DVD each month. The film poignantly parallels the lives of a caring father unable to connect with his willful but son, and that of distant Pablo (El Bola) and his abusive father who is incapable of giving him the love he needs, replacing it with something far more sinister. One imprints his son in an improbably gentle manner with a tattoo stylus, the other brutally with his fists. Told alternately through both the childrens' and adults points of view, Achero Manass El Bola is a stirring narrative that lodges in the memory.

Director: Agustí Villaronga
Genre: Art House & International
Studio: Picture This Home Video
Rated: Unrated

Unrequited homosexual yearning explodes in a coastal hospital just after the Spanish Civil War. Parental advisory: graphic violence and sex. Set against the backdrop of the Spanish Civil War and its aftermath, El Mar tells the story of three young friends, Tur, Ramallo, and Francisca, who witness a brutal killing when a classmate avenges his father's assassination upon another schoolmate, and then kills himself shortly thereafter. This secret will haunt Tur, Ramallo, and Francisca for the rest of their lives. Years later, the muscled, womanizing Ramallo reunites with his childhood friends when all three find themselves quarantined in a tuberculosis sanatorium. Ramallo, hiding a secret rent-boy past, bristles against the mandatory isolation. Tur, now thin and pale, leans on religious fanaticism to avoid acting on his sexual urges towards Ramallo. Francisca, now one of the nuns, helps ease the pain of the dying. Together again in this lonely outpost by the sea, they revisit their dark childhood and quickly become tormented by death, religion, and sex.

Genre: Music Video & Concerts
Studio: Sony
Rated: NR

An Amazon friend suggested this DVD for me because he knows I like Judas Priest and hard rock/heavy metal. He was right. This collection is fantastic---a definite must for any Judas Priest fan! It has some of their MTV videos as well as live footage. The sound was so incredible on my home theater system; I felt I was attending the concert! Enjoy this, sit back and relax...

Director: Gus Van Sant
Genre: Crime
Studio: Hbo Home Video
Rated: R

A violent incident rocks the students and faculty at a high school in Portland, Oregon.

Director: Neill Blomkamp
Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Rated: R

In the year 2159 two classes of people exist: the very wealthy who live on a pristine man-made space station called Elysium, and the rest, who live on an overpopulated, ruined Earth. Secretary Rhodes, a government official, will stop at nothing to enforce anti-immigration laws and preserve the luxurious lifestyle of the citizens of Elysium. That doesn't stop the people of Earth from trying to get in, by any means they can. When unlucky Max is backed into a corner, he agrees to take on a daunting mission that if successful will not only save his life, but could bring equality to these polarized worlds.

Director: Matteo Garrone
Genre: Art House & International
Studio: First Run Features
Rated: NR

After multiple reviews, annotations, articles and notes about the film you haven't seen you usually grasp something. And this something is usually an idea based on some key words. Now imagine that you memorized (like I did) the following key words for "The Embalmer": thriller, taxidermy, corpses, mafia, unexpected twists. And you read the following lines on the box-cover as well: "diabolical thriller", "seductive and suspenseful", "profoundly creepy", "bizarre twists", "perverse and chilling"... I guess you'll get the idea and you'll be expecting something extraordinary won't you? Especially knowing it's an Italian movie...
But you will not find anything of the listed above in "The Embalmer". Well, there is a story of human obsession with homoerotic overtones and with a murder, but the film is just so lingering and dull. It seems like for the first hour nothing happens on screen at all. And you realize all your expectations are ruined.
Don't get me wrong - this may not be a bad movie, maybe you will like it but I just want to warn everyone who's expecting some intense thriller - it's not intense it's more like boring.
I gave it three stars more for what this movie could have been, not for what it is.

Director: Peter Hyams
Genre: Action & Adventure
Studio: Universal Studios
Rated: R

After a two-year hiatus that included recovery from heart surgery, Arnold Schwarzenegger returned to the big screen in November 1999 with "End of Days", a Thanksgiving turkey if ever there was one. Overcooked and bloated with stuffing, this ludicrous thriller attached itself to the end-of-the-millennium furor that kicked in a year too early. A prologue begins in 1979 with panic in the Vatican when a comet signals the birth of a child who will, 20 years later, become the chosen bride of Satan, destined to conceive the devil's spawn between 11 p.m. and midnight on December 31, 1999. It's hard to decide who has the more thankless role--Robin Tunney as Satan's would-be bride, or Schwarzenegger as Jericho Cane, the burned-out alcoholic bodyguard assigned to protect the girl from Satan, billed as "The Man" and played with cheesy menace (and an inconsistent variety of metaphysical manifestations) by Gabriel Byrne.
With kitschy character names like Jericho and Chicago (Arnie's partner, played by Kevin Pollack) and lapses in logic that any 5-year-old could spot, "End of Days" is a loud, aggravating movie that would be entertaining if it were intended as comedy. But Schwarzenegger and director Peter Hyams approach the story as an earnest tale of redemption and tested faith, delivering a ridiculous climax full of special effects and devoid of dramatic impact. You're left instead to savor the verbal and physical sparring between Satan and Jericho, resulting in the most thorough pummeling Schwarzenegger's ever endured onscreen. Of course he eventually gets his payback, just in time for New Year's Eve. Perhaps he was touched by an angel. "--Jeff Shannon"

Director: James Ponsoldt
Genre: Drama
Studio: Modern Man Films
Rated: R

The story of the five-day interview between Rolling Stone reporter David Lipsky and acclaimed novelist David Foster Wallace, which took place right after the 1996 publication of Wallace's groundbreaking epic novel, 'Infinite Jest.'

Director: Gavin Hood
Studio: Summit Inc/Lionsgate
Rated: PG-13

In the near future, a hostile alien race has attacked Earth. If not for the legendary heroics of International Fleet Commander Mazer Rackham (Ben Kingsley), all would have been lost. In preparation for the next attack, the highly esteemed Colonel Hyrum Graff (Harrison Ford) and the International Military are training the best and brightest young children to find the future Mazer. Ender Wiggin (Asa Butterfield), a shy, but strategically brilliant boy is pulled out of his school to join the elite.

Director: Gary Wicks
Genre: Drama
Studio: TLA Releasing
Rated: NR

A stylish British thriller about a male prostitue who becomes involved in a web of murder and deception. Stars Mark McGann, John Benfield and Daniel Newman.

Director: Justin Benson
Genre: Fantasy, Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Studio: Snowfort Pictures
Rated: Not Rated

This mind-bending thriller follows two brothers who receive a cryptic video message inspiring them to revisit the UFO death cult they escaped a decade earlier. Hoping to find the closure that they couldn't as young men, they're forced to reconsider the cult's beliefs when confronted with unexplainable phenomena surrounding the camp. As the members prepare for the coming of a mysterious event, the brothers race to unravel the seemingly impossible truth before their lives become permanently entangled with the cult.

Director: Roger Michell
Genre: Drama
Studio: Paramount
Rated: R

A red hot-air balloon floating gracefully over the green English countryside leads to a shocking death in "Enduring Love", an eerie and hypnotic movie based on a novel by Ian McEwan. Two men tried and failed to help, and afterwards Joe (Daniel Craig, "Sylvia", "The Mother") finds himself being stalked by the hungry-eyed Jed (Rhys Ifans, "Vanity Fair", "Human Nature"). Like a gangly wraith, Jed follows Joe and begs him to recognize the passionate love Jed feels certain was sparked by the balloon accident. Jed's obsession crawls into Joe's head and his life, clawing at his happy relationship with his girlfriend Claire (Samantha Morton, "Morvern Callar", "Minority Report") and derailing Joe into an obsessive spiral of his own. "Enduring Love" builds the taut delirium of a Hitchcock movie. Ifans, best known for his comic performances, curls his tall frame into a seemingly helpless but creepily aggressive shuffle; the haunted eyes of Craig and Morton make the crumbling of their relationship as suspenseful as Jed's stalking. Director Roger Michell ("Notting Hill", "Persuasion") uses fresh, jarring images and sinuous visual rhythms to craft a tight thriller with unsettling emotional layers. "--Bret Fetzer"

Director: Jason Friedberg, Aaron Seltzer
Genre: Comedy
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Rated: PG-13


By dint of the inexplicable popularity of their send-up of movie genres in the parody movies "Scary Movie" and "Date Movie", writer/director duo Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer probably got an epic-sized bucket of cash for this hastily stitched pastiche of drive-by entertainment. There's no particular variety of movie they were sent to send up this time, unless big box-office grossers has now become a genre in and of itself. If so, "Epic Movie" may well qualify as part of that league itself. Very little expense has been spared to make so-called "comic" references to a slew of mostly recent blockbusters--"The Chronicles of Narnia", "Borat", "Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle", "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory", the "X-Men" and "Harry Potter" series, "Superman Returns", "Nacho Libre", and "The Da Vinci Code" to name a few--and it's assumed we've seen them all. In a goofy thread of a story about four orphans plucked from some of the above, battle must be done through various bastardized plots from same so that a prophecy can be fulfilled and they can assume their rightful place as rulers of a sacred land. Lots of crotch kicks, fart, urine, and vomit jokes speed by as we pass through Willie Wonka's factory and a magical wardrobe with an unusually interesting assortment of look-alikes and name actors caught up in the gag mix (some of it legitimately funny). Darrell Hammond, Crispin Glover, David Carradine, Kevin McDonald, Carmen Electra, Kal Penn put on game (and sometimes gamy) faces, and it's definitely a hoot to watch comedy improv alums Fred Willard and Jennifer Coolidge as Aslo the Lion and the White Bitch do battle in a Narnian good vs. evil character smackdown. As lame as you already expect a movie like this to be, anything that can throw together an homage to C.S. Lewis alongside MTV's "Punk'd" in less than 90 minutes can't be all bad. --"Ted Fry"

"Epic Movie" Extras
Watch the writers and producer talk about how adding song and dance made Epic Movie a smash.


Beyond "Epic Movie"
More Comic Spoofs
More Kal Penn Films
More From 20th Century Fox


Stills from "Epic Movie"

Director: Stefen Fangmeier
Genre: Action & Adventure
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Rated: PG


While it owes much of its appeal and appearance to the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, "Eragon" can stand on its own as an enjoyable fantasy for younger viewers. Faithfully adapted from the bestselling novel by teenage author Christopher Paolini, this boy-and-his-dragon tale offers clean, fast-paced family entertainment without compromising the darker qualities of Paolini's novel (the first in what is known as the "Inheritance" trilogy). The plot centers on 17-year-old peasant farmboy Eragon (played by appealing newcomer Ed Speleers) who discovers a mysterious blue object that turns out to be an egg that eventually hatches to reveal Saphira, a blue-scaled dragon that quickly grows to full-size. According to prophecy, Eragon is destined to be a dragon-rider like those who once protected a benevolent kingdom, thus reviving an ancient conflict against the army of King Galbatorix (John Malkovich), a former dragon rider who turned to evil, now in alliance with a! dark-magic "Shade" sorcerer named Durza (Robert Carlyle). While the movie serves up familiar fantasy elements and offers little if anything new to fans of the genre (or anyone who's read the books of Anne McCaffrey and Ursula K. Le Guin), it's visually impressive (especially the dragon scenes, with Rachel Weisz providing the telepathic "voice" of Saphira) and full of timeless wisdom, much of it delivered by Eragon's heroic mentor Brom (Jeremy Irons), himself a former dragon rider with memories of past battles and hope for Eragon's future. Add a fair warrior-maiden named Arya (Sienna Guillory) and you've got all the ingredients for a worthwhile (if not particularly original) fantasy that points directly to a sequel. Whether that's a good or a bad thing is up to individual viewers to decide. --"Jeff Shannon"
"Eragon" Extras Christopher Paolini talks to us about his book and film inspirations and makes recommendations for fans of "Eragon", click here to view the complete list.
Build and customize your very own dragon with "Volksdragon".


Beyond "Eragon"
Eragon (Inheritance Trilogy, Book 1)
The "Eragon" Community on Amazon
"Eragon" Collectibles Stills from "Eragon"

Director: Mikael Håfström
Genre: Action, Crime, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Studio: Summit Entertainment
Rated: R

Ray Breslin is the world's foremost authority on structural security. After analyzing every high security prison and learning a vast array of survival skills so he can design escape-proof prisons, his skills are put to the test. He's framed and incarcerated in a master prison he designed himself. He needs to escape and find the person who put him behind bars.

Director: Sebastián Cordero
Studio: Magnolia Home Entertainment
Rated: PG-13

When unmanned probes suggest that a hidden ocean could exist underneath Europa's icy surface and may contain single-celled life, Europa Ventures, a privately funded space exploration company, sends six of the best astronauts from around the world to confirm the data and explore the revolutionary discovery. After a near-catastrophic technical failure that leads to loss of communication with Earth and the tragic death of a crew member, the surviving astronauts must overcome the psychological and physical toll of deep space travel, and survive a discovery on Europa more profound than they had ever imagined.

Director: Paul W.S. Anderson
Genre: Adventure, Fantasy, Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Studio: Golar Productions
Rated: R

In the year 2047 a group of astronauts are sent to investigate and salvage the long lost starship "Event Horizon". The ship disappeared mysteriously 7 years before on its maiden voyage and with its return comes even more mystery as the crew of the "Lewis and Clark" discover the real truth behind its disappearance and something even more terrifying.

Director: Baltasar Kormákur
Genre: Action, Adventure, Biography, Drama, Thriller
Studio: Working Title Films
Rated: PG-13

On the morning of May 10, 1996, climbers from two commercial expeditions start their final ascent toward the summit of Mount Everest, the highest point on Earth. With little warning, a violent storm strikes the mountain, engulfing the adventurers in one of the fiercest blizzards ever encountered by man. Challenged by the harshest conditions imaginable, the teams must endure blistering winds and freezing temperatures in an epic battle to survive against nearly impossible odds.

Director: Michael Thornhill
Genre: Drama
Studio: Ariztical
Rated: X (Mature Audiences Only)

Provocative and controversial THE EVERLASTING SECRET FAMILY traces the life of a young man, simple named "The Youth" and his companionship with "The Senator" (Arthur Dignam). Publicly the Senator is a popular, powerful and happily married man but privately he harbors deep sexual fantasies. We bear witness to the Ancient Athenian courtship between the Senator and the Youth. The Youth, and several other young men, are recruits from an exclusive school for the purpose and pleasure of the world in which the Senator and his friends privately live. Nestled in contemporary Australian society, this intelligent, sensual film based on the novel of the same title by Frank Moorhouse will tantalize the imaginative and terrify the reserved.

Director: Richard Levine
Studio: IMAGE ENTERTAINMENT
Rated: R

Liev Schreiber (Salt) heads an all-star cast in this warm and wise comic drama as Ned, a loving husband and devoted father dealing with life's curveballs. He's got a stressed-out wife (Helen Hunt, As Good As It Gets) an independent teenage son (Ezra Miller, City Island), and an embittered father-in-law (Brian Dennehy, Silverado) who's turning his home upside down. Ned's job writing a scandalous TV series for a demanding boss (Eddie Izzard, Valkyrie) is unfulfilling, and late night rewrites with a sexy co-worker (Carla Gugino, Entourage) might just push him over the deep end. This modern family story by Nip/Tuck producer/writer Richard Levine is filled with heart, humor and life's unexpected twists that teach Ned that marriage and parenthood don’t always go according to the script.

Director: Jeff Beesley
Genre: Comedy
Studio: Anchor Bay
Rated: NR

I have not watched this one yet? But my son watched it. It is a good movie for teens.

Director: Woody Allen
Genre: Art House & International
Studio: TLA Releasing
Rated: NR

Ryan and Grant are the model of a perfect, urban gay couple. And they're getting married. The ceremony is set to be a small affair with only immediate family on the invite list. What could possibly go wrong? The answer isn't everything, it's Everyone, as five couples - and all their baggage - show up, ensuring this 'day to remember' will not soon be forgotten.

Director: Liev Schreiber
Genre: Adventure
Studio: Warner Home Video
Rated: PG-13

A young Jewish American man endeavors to find the woman who saved his grandfather during World War II in a Ukrainian village, that was ultimately razed by the Nazis, with the help of a local who speaks weirdly funny broken English.

Director: Mikael Håfström
Genre: Art House & International
Studio: Magnolia
Rated: R

Based on the novel, "Ondskan", by Swedish author Jan Guillou, "Evil" questions the very definition of the term by telling the story of Erik Ponti (Andreas Wilson), a high-schooler who confronts his violent past in order to overcome it. Directed by Mikael Håfström ("Derailed"), the film opens with Erik being expelled from high school for fighting, then being transferred to the militaristic academy, Stjärnsberg, as his last chance for graduation. Having been raised by a weak mother and an abusive stepfather, Erik's worldview is skewed by a sensitivity to injustice, so that when upper-classmen bully him and his best friend, Pierre Tanguy (Henrik Lundström), Erik is plagued by his desire to handle situations violently. Once Pierre teaches Erik about Gandhi, Erik quickly grasps the non-violent idea of mind over matter since he was forced to transcend physical pain as an abused child. However, when Erik does get his revenge on both his father and his schoolmates, his violence is justified. "Evil" sophisticatedly examines violence from the perspectives of its perpetrators and victims, showing how violence breeds violence. In learning how self-loathing begets violent behavior, protagonist Erik Ponti does much more than become a better person in the film. He becomes a living example of how an "evil" person can be multi-faceted, thus complicating an oversimplified concept of good versus evil. "--Trinie Dalton"

Director: Lucile Hadzihalilovic
Genre: Horror, Mystery
Studio: Les Films du Worso
Rated: Not Rated

Nicolas is a boy living on a remote island set in the future, or another planet - or is it a dream? His village consists of white-painted houses located above the sea with a volcanic rock and black sand coastline, populated by young women and boys all of a similar age to Nicolas. Whilst swimming, Nicolas makes a discovery in the ocean, which is shrugged off my his mother, who, like all the women in the town has tied-back hair, is pale and wears a simple thin beige dress. Nicolas is curious, thinks that he is being lied to and starts to explore his environment, witnessing some unsettling scenes. He then finds himself taken to a hospital-like building where he along, with the others, undergoes a series of medical procedures by the women, dressed as nurses. He is befriended by one nurse, who becomes instrumental in the film's denouement. The film is not easy to categorise; it is not only enigmatic but beautifully filmed with deeply poetic imagery. It reflects the fear of the unknown, ...

Director: Ridley Scott
Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama
Studio: Chernin Entertainment
Rated: PG-13

Epic adventure Exodus: Gods and Kings is the story of one man's daring courage to take on the might of an empire. Using state of the art visual effects and 3D immersion, Scott brings new life to the story of the defiant leader Moses as he rises up against the Egyptian Pharaoh Ramses, setting 600,000 slaves on a monumental journey of escape from Egypt and its terrifying cycle of deadly plagues.

Director: William Friedkin
Genre: Horror
Studio: Warner Home Video
Rated: R

Director William Friedkin was a hot ticket in Hollywood after the success of "The French Connection", and he turned heads (in more ways than one) when he decided to make "The Exorcist" as his follow-up film. Adapted by William Peter Blatty from his controversial bestseller, this shocking 1973 thriller set an intense and often-copied milestone for screen terror with its unflinching depiction of a young girl (Linda Blair) who is possessed by an evil spirit. Jason Miller and Max von Sydow are perfectly cast as the priests who risk their sanity and their lives to administer the rites of demonic exorcism, and Ellen Burstyn plays Blair's mother, who can only stand by in horror as her daughter's body is wracked by satanic disfiguration. One of the most frightening films ever made, "The Exorcist" was mysteriously plagued by troubles during production, and the years have not diminished its capacity to disturb even the most stoical viewers. The film is presented in letterbox format on digital video disc, with a soundtrack that's guaranteed to curdle your blood. Don't say you weren't warned! "--Jeff Shannon"

Director: William Friedkin
Genre: Horror
Studio: Warner Home Video
Rated: R

Director William Friedkin was a hot ticket in Hollywood after the success of "The French Connection", and he turned heads (in more ways than one) when he decided to make "The Exorcist" as his follow-up film. Adapted by William Peter Blatty from his controversial bestseller, this shocking 1973 thriller set an intense and often-copied milestone for screen terror with its unflinching depiction of a young girl (Linda Blair) who is possessed by an evil spirit. Jason Miller and Max von Sydow are perfectly cast as the priests who risk their sanity and their lives to administer the rites of demonic exorcism, and Ellen Burstyn plays Blair's mother, who can only stand by in horror as her daughter's body is wracked by satanic disfiguration. One of the most frightening films ever made, "The Exorcist" was mysteriously plagued by troubles during production, and the years have not diminished its capacity to disturb even the most stoical viewers. The film is presented in letterbox format on digital video disc, with a soundtrack that's guaranteed to curdle your blood. Don't say you weren't warned! "--Jeff Shannon"

Director: Renny Harlin
Genre: Horror
Studio: Warner Home Video
Rated: R

"This movie is cursed!" exclaimed movie-magazine headlines regarding "Exorcist: The Beginning", but those dire warnings turned out to be exaggerated. Considering a tumultuous production history that actually "did" seem cursed, Renny Harlin's much-maligned prequel to "The Exorcist" is a surprisingly competent, serious-minded shocker filled with the same anxious foreboding that made the 1973 original so phenomenally effective. The story lacks focus and feels cobbled together (perhaps the result of its tortured development, which included the untimely death of original director John Frankenheimer), but Stellan Skarsgård is well-cast as Father (now Mr.) Merrin, a lapsed Catholic priest summoned to East Africa in 1949 to retrieve a demonic idol. He discovers a buried church, a vast underground cavern, demonic possession, and a legacy of carnage that preys upon guilt-ridden memories from his parish in Nazi-occupied Holland. Harlin delivers the gross-out moments that Warner Brothers demanded, but otherwise shows remarkable restraint while cinematographer Vittorio Storaro delivers doom-laden visual atmosphere. It's not the classic many were hoping for--not even close--but it's still a win-win scenario for horror fans, since it's rumored the unreleased and "abandoned" version directed by Paul Schrader will be paired with this film for its DVD release. Comparisons will no doubt prove interesting. "--Jeff Shannon"

Director: Oliver Hirschbiegel
Genre: Art House & International
Studio: Sony Pictures
Rated: R

Inspired by a famous 1971 psychological experiment, Oliver Hirschbiegel's German-language movie "The Experiment" finds a group of 20 volunteers randomly divided into 12 prisoners and eight guards and asked to play out their roles for a fortnight while scientists study their reactions. A conflict arises between undercover reporter Fahd (Moritz Bleibtreu), a con with a hidden agenda, and the apparently mild-mannered Berus (Justus von Dohnanyi), a guard with a megalomaniac streak. The film begins as a psychological drama as ordinary people settle into the game, with joking displays of resistance by the "prisoners" greeted with increasing brutality from the "guards," but detours into suspense and horror as Fahd, who needs the experiment to get out of hand in order to make his story more saleable, deliberately ratchets up the tension between the factions only to see the situation spiral nightmarishly out of control as various test subjects in both camps edge closer to snapping.
With a terrific display of ensemble acting and unforced use of the popular claustrophobic semi-documentary look, Hirschbiegel's movie takes its time to get underway, with apparently irrelevant cutaways to Fahd's outside girlfriend (Maren Eggert), but works up to a powerful second half that delivers a sustained symphony of psychological and physical anguish. "--Kim Newman"

Director: Stephen Daldry
Studio: Warner Home Video
Rated: PG-13

"Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" touches the viewer to the very core. In the way that "Titanic" and "The Sweet Hereafter" depicted tragedy by pulling back at the pivotal moment, only increasing the heartache portrayed, "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" shows the massive losses experienced in New York on September 11, 2001, through the lens of one young boy. Thomas Horn plays Oskar, a boy devoted to his dad (played by Tom Hanks, in flashbacks), who is lost in the attacks on the World Trade Center. The devastation of that day shudders through Oskar's family, including his mother, Linda (Sandra Bullock, in a subdued and affecting turn). Young Oskar is lost in the broken new world, but suddenly finds a purpose: a key left by his father. As "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" progresses, Oskar focuses on the key as a way to connect to his lost father--but finds, instead, connections in the unlikeliest of places. Horn is a wonder in his leading role, and commands attention even as his emotions are scattered. Hanks and Bullock are excellent, as always, though they are more incidental to the film than the viewer might have hoped. Standing out in the cast is Max von Sydow, a mysterious mute whom Oskar meets on the New York subway, and who becomes the most unlikely of guardian angels. Based on Jonathan Safran Foer's best-selling novel, which was able to depict a bit more wry humor to leaven the heartbreak and history lessons, "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" nonetheless faces human tragedy straight on, and shows how a broken family can be rebuilt, one small key, one subway ride, one awkward hug at a time. --"A.T. Hurley"

Director: David Moreau, Xavier Palud
Genre: Drama, Horror, Thriller
Studio: Lions Gate
Rated: PG-13

The violinist Sydney Wells has been accidentally blinded by her sister Helen since she was five years old. She submits to a surgery of cornea transplantation, and while recovering from the operation, she realizes that she is seeing dead people. With the support of Dr. Paul Faulkner, Sidney finds who the donor of her eyes was and they travel to Los Llanos in Mexico to resolve the mystery of her visions.

Director: Tim Blake Nelson
Genre: Drama
Studio: Lions Gate
Rated: R

The film unfolds in a series of interlocking scenes, all occurring at different times. The tale being told concerns the arrival in a small Oklahoma town of an ex-con (Kevin Anderson), who developed a prison-correspondence romance with shy Martha Plimpton. In the present, Sheriff Hal Holbrook is investigating a murder, and the flashbacks to Anderson and Plimpton, as well as another series of flashbacks involving a quiet, somewhat disturbed teenager (Nick Stahl), to show us what led to the murder. The film is a quiet exercise in despair and inevitable tragedy, with excellent performances, and a marvellous script. A fine example of a well-executed feel-bad film.

The soundtrack is a 2.0 mix, but is a very successful one. The format is 1.85:1 widescreen (though not, as far as I can determine, anamorphic).

The basic menu and 1997 release date might lead you to expect another bare-bones disc, but along with the trailer (triggered when you select the Lions Gate logo) there is a full commentary by writer/director Tim Blake Nelson. Though he engages in some unnecessary plot explanation, he speaks well, and reveals plenty of information on how individual scenes were done, who's who in the film, and what his intentions were.

Gruelling, but recommended, this is a fine example of quality low-budget suspense.

Director: Richard Clabaugh
Studio: IMAGE ENTERTAINMENT
Rated: Unrated

In the near future as fear of terrorism escalates, privacy is a luxury of the past. Now, in people's homes, on the streets, in the workplace, everyone is constantly being watched by mobile robotic cameras known as "Eyeborgs." But are the cameras just watching...or are they up to something else? As an increasing number of people die in bizarre ways, federal agent Gunner Reynolds (Adrian Paul, TV's Highlander) is determined to find out after he realizes that a camera has recorded an event much differently than he recalls.

Director: Avery Crounse
Genre: Drama
Studio: Velocity / Thinkfilm
Rated: R

I didn't know what to expect when I started this film, but by the end I really found the characters endearing and the dialogue was very funny. I laughed out loud several times and even shed a little tear at the end. If you enjoy witty banter with some heartfelt moments, you ought to give this movie a look.