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Serial killers intrigue me very much. It’s something about the dark side of human nature that seems unimaginable. This film was documentary director Nick Broomfield’s first film on serial killer Aileen Wuornos (the second used footage from this film and was released in 2003 to coincide with the release of MONSTER). The title of the film is perfect. Sadly enough, it seems that a good deal of the people in Aileen’s life tried to capitalize on her crimes.

This doc works as a sad postscript to the feature film MONSTER, which was one of the best films of 2003. Wuornos killed seven men, mainly truck drivers, in the early ’80s. She was a woman who pretty much got the roughest deal since birth. She was pretty much bred to become a killer. In a very emotional speech, Wuornos chronicles the beating and rape she endured from the first man she killed. She’s truly the only person in the film that I thought was honest.

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From director Robert Wise (WEST SIDE STORY, SOUND OF MUSIC) comes arguably the most influential sci-fi film of all time. This 1951 classic seems to hearken in the dawn of smart science fiction. The influences it had on future films is undeniable. The design of the 8-foot robot Gort (Lock Martin, INVADERS FROM MARS) is borrowed in films like THE IRON GIANT, BATTLESTAR GALACTICA and the upcoming SKY CAPTAIN. The atmospheric black-and-white photography and moralistic tale must have been a huge influence on THE TWILIGHT ZONE. ARMY OF DARKNESS uses EARTH’s secret phrase “Klaatu verata niktu” as the phrase Bruce Campbell can’t remember.

The story begins with a flying saucer racing to Earth at 4,000 mph, finally landing in Washington D.C. A tension grips the planet waiting for something to happen. Then we meet Klaatu (Michael Rennie, THE ROBE) who has come to Earth to give all its nations’ leaders a message. The film makes an intriguing comment about human nature and our inhumanity to each other. There’s a great sequence where Klaatu pretending to be a human named Mr. Carpenter is interviewed by a reporter about the aliens and because his answer isn’t the scared and dramatic response the reporter is looking for, Klaatu is quickly sidestepped.

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When it comes to the best of comicbook movies, they are always the ones that deal with the heroes like humans. We get to know what it’s like to be them. Hellboy (Ron Perlman, ENEMY AT THE GATES) is half-demon half-human, who is bright red, has a tail and files down his giant horns. To say he doesn’t fit into the world would be an understatement.

He works for the top-secret paranormal division of the FBI, under his adoptive father Trevor ‘Broom’ Bruttenholm (John Hurt, THE ELEPHANT MAN). His fellow “freak” partner is Abe Sapien (Doug Jones, ADAPTATION), a super-intelligent psychic who is half-man half-fish. The third member of the team has recently left to try and create a normal life for herself. Her name is Liz “Sparky” Sherman. She is pyrokenetic and when she loses control of her firestarter powers you better watch out. Unlike Hellboy and Abe, she looks normal. Added to the mix is rookie FBI agent John Myers (Rupert Evans, TV’s PARADISE HEIGHTS). This sets up a love triangle between Hellboy, Liz and Myers.

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This horror film is like a Chinese/Singapore SIXTH SENSE. Not that there is some big twist, but because the main character Mun (Angelica Lee, SUNSHINE COPS), after having a corneal transplant, starts seeing dead people.

Mun hasn’t seen since she was two, so at first she can’t tell the difference between real people and dead people. As her eyesight gets increasingly better, her dread, and that of the audience, begins to increase. There’s a scene in an elevator that is truly frightening. The only person Mun has on her side is her handsome young psychiatrist Dr. Wah (Lawrence Chou, HEROES IN LOVE). A great surprise midway through the film leads Mun and Dr. Wah to search out more information about the corneal donor.

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This indie romantic comedy stars Oscar winner Adrien Brody (THE PIANIST) as a slow, shy 28-year-old man named Steven, who has finally decided to quit his job and follow his dream of becoming a ventriloquist. He begins to take the dummy everywhere he goes. Will following his dream allow him to open up or make him hide behind something new?

Steven lives at home with his unsupportive parents (Jessica Walter, SLUMS OF BEVERLY HILLS and Ron Liebman, NORMA RAE) and his wedding planner sister Heidi (Illeana Douglas, GHOST WORLD), who is trying to get over her psychotic ex-fiancée Michael (Jared Harris, HAPPINESS), who keeps stalking her. Steven’s best friend is the wanna-be punk rock singer Fangora (Milla Jovovich, FIFTH ELEMENT). When he goes to the unemployment office to find work as a ventriloquist, Steven develops a crush on single mother, Lorena (Vera Farmiga, the new MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE). There relationship is bumpy, because she doesn’t like dating two men — Steven and his dummy.

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More and more documentaries are getting theatrical distribution in the States. It’s the area of cinema that is most concerned with important cultural events. And the recent success of FAHRENHEIT 9/11 shows that if the topic is right; people will pay money to go see docs on the big screen.

BUS 174 is a film from Brazil, which chronicles Rio’s most famous hostage situation. Sandro do Nascimento was cornered robbing a bus and ended up taking the passengers hostage. The film goes into depth about Sandro’s life and what led to this incident. Sandro’s mother was murdered before him when he was very young. He ran away from his aunt’s house soon after and lived on the streets, which pushed him into the slippery world of drugs and robbery. The film, which uses amazing news footage of the crisis, pretty much proves that Sandro had no intention of hurting anyone on the bus; he just wanted to get away. After you see the scenes of Brazilian prisons you’ll truly understand why.

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When I first saw the trailers for this film I groaned with the idea that Hollywood was going to the well again with the “kid in an adult body” flick. However, I was surprised to find this film having as much in common with BIG’s premise as it does with IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE.

Jenna Rink (as an adult, Jennifer Garner, TV’s ALIAS) is a 13-year-old girl who wants to be popular. Her best friend is a chubby boy who likes photography named Matt Flamhaff (as an adult, Mark Ruffalo, YOU CAN COUNT ON ME). For her birthday party, Jenna invites the popular crowd, lead by Lucy “Tom Tom” Wyman (as an adult, Judy Greer, THE VILLAGE) who really just wants Jenna to do her homework for her. An awkward moment between Jenna, Matt and Lucy leads to Jenna making a wish to be 30, which comes true. She wakes up and her 13-year-old self has been propelled into her 30-year-old life where she is the editor of her favorite fashion magazine and dating a hunky hockey player named Alex Carlson (Samuel Ball, PUMPKIN). Confused, Jenna seeks out Matt and finds out that she has not spoken to him since the infamous birthday party.

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This film was the first theatrical release in the popular Japanese horror series and now it has come to theaters in the States (but a good indie video store may have an import to rent). Having seen the two preceding direct-to-videos in this series, I’m very aware of how this haunted house story came to be. This film recaps the murder that started the curse then jumps into how it continues.

Rika (Megumi Okina, ST. JOHN’S WORT) is a volunteer social worker, who is sent to the haunted house to check on an old woman (Chikako Isomura), who seems to be petrified with fear. Having seen the first two films in the series, I know what Rika is in for, but the film does a great job of creating its own dread. Once Rika is infected with the house’s curse – the curse moves from person to person. As the film goes along, we learn more about the old woman’s family and what happened to them inside the house. As the bodies pile up and others go insane, detective Toyama (Yoji Tanaka, TABOO), who has connections to the murders that started the curse, is assigned to investigate.

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This film was released in 2002 in China and was nominated for the 2003 Academy award for best foreign film. It has since sat on the shelves at Miramax waiting for a theatrical release. If you like CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON or KILL BILL than you should love this film. If you love beautifully shot films that jump off the screen with vibrant color than you will fall in lust with this film.

Director Yimou Zhang is best known for his film RAISE THE RED LANTERN, which also had a wonderful use of color. HERO begins with a nameless warrior (Jet Li, THE ONE) traveling to meet the King of Qin (Daoming Chen, INFERNAL AFFAIRS III) after he killed the top assassins Long Sky (Donnie Yen, BLADE II), Broken Sword (Tony Leung Chiu Wai, IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE) and Flying Snow (Maggie Cheung, POLICE STORY). Aiding Broken Sword is his dutiful pupil Moon (Ziyi Zhang, SHANGHAI KNIGHTS).

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This musical biography of Cole Porter is the first film that really deals with his bisexuality, which is good and bad at the same time. It’s good because it is interesting to see a real life person from the ’30s and ’40s who was not ashamed about his sexuality. However, the film ends up dwelling on the struggle between Porter’s homosexual urges and his love for his wife Linda (Ashley Judd, HEAT). Nonetheless, Kevin Kline (IN & OUT) leads a solid cast, which is lifted up past its problems on the wings of Porter wondrous songs.

The film has an ingenious structure having a dying Porter watching an otherworldly stage production of his life’s story. Likewise, the film uses tons of Porter music as dramatic montages of the events in Porter’s life. As the screenwriter Jay Cocks (THE AGE OF INNOCENCE) said at the screening I went to, “Porter said it better than I could.” In many cases the Porter songs take on more complex meaning knowing they were probably not written solely about a woman. Porter was a worldly man who lived life for all its vices without an ounce of shame. This often made him come off as insensitive, though he never seems to have cruelty in his heart, or apologies on his lips. Cole and Linda had an arrangement, but it seems to be very one sided with Cole able to write emotional lyrics, but not understand them fully. In some way it seems he is in a desperate search of the ultimate love that he can only find in his songs.

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