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This twisting and complex supernatural thriller handles big issues of life and death. Jacob Singer (Tim Robbins, THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION) is a Viet Nam vet, who now works at the post office, despite having a doctorate. He is separated from his wife Sarah (Patricia Kalember, TV’s THIRTYSOMETHING) and is living with sexually provocative Jezebel (Elizabeth Peña, LONE STAR). Or is he?

He keeps having visions of demons and is tormented by the ghost of his dead son Gabe (Macaulay Culkin, HOME ALONE). He finds comfort in his longtime chiropractor Louis (Danny Aiello, DO THE RIGHT THING). Then Jacob meets up with his fellow soldier Paul (Pruitt Taylor Vince, MUMFORD) and things seem to get more complex.

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In chronicling slasher history, this film is better than FRIDAY THE 13TH, but doesn’t come close to attaining the near perfection of the original HALLOWEEN. The film has an intriguing premise, but suffers from a major pacing problem.

Larry Cotton (Andrew Robinson, CHILD’S PLAY 3) and his second wife Julia (Clare Higgins, THE HOUSE OF MIRTH) move into his old family home. There seems to be tension between them and we discover that Julia has had an affair with Larry’s brother Frank (Sean Chapman, GANGSTER NO. 1), who is the black sheep of the family. Making matters worse, Larry’s daughter from his first marriage Kirsty (Ashley Laurence, HELLBOUND: HELLRAISER II) doesn’t like Julia at all. I guess that’s for good reason.

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Made on a shoestring budget, this film really captures the feeling of the late 1960s. The story linked two symbols of rebellion — the motorcycle and the hippie movement. Time has only lessened the power of these images. Motorcycles are big business and the hippie movement looks like a failed frivolity. However, this film still lasts as a time capsule of the era’s feelings and ideals.

Wyatt aka Captain America (Peter Fonda, ULEE’S GOLD) and Billy (Dennis Hopper, APOCALYPSE NOW) have participated in a cocaine deal to get the money for a cross-country trip to Mardi Gras. Along the way, they stop at a farm and are inspired by the farmer’s life living off the land. Later they arrive at a hippie commune where they party and indulge in the drug-fueled climate.

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William Wyler is the director of some of the greatest films, including THE COLLECTOR, BEN-HUR, FRIENDLY PERSUASION, ROMAN HOLIDAY, THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES, JEZEBEL and THE LETTER. And all of those films came after this one, which is one of the best I have seen of his work.

Sam Dodsworth (Walter Huston, THE TREASURE OF SIERRA MADRE) is a self-made millionaire, who sells his automobile company so that his wife Fran (Ruth Chatterton, A ROYAL DIVORCE) and him can tour Europe. The drama of the film surrounds the bumpy relationship between Sam and Fran. The joy of the film is Huston’s portrayal of Sam Dodsworth — a one of kind movie character. He is so well realized that Huston becomes him.

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Before becoming the Oscar-winning director of THE LORD OF THE RINGS series, Peter Jackson made this satirical horror film, which is hands down the goriest flick I’ve ever seen. I mean blood and guts by the gallons. I mean characters taking lawnmowers to zombies. Do not watch this film while eating. It will make you nauseous. If it seems like you can’t stomach a movie like this than don’t watch it. This is for certain tastes only.

However, if you like dark, witty, inventive horror comedy than you have to see this film now. Lionel Cosgrove (Timothy Balme, LA VIE EN ROSE) is a weak momma’s boy. He lives to please his demanding mum (Elizabeth Moody, HEAVENLY CREATURES). She even follows him on a date with Paquita Maria Sanchez (Diana Peñalver, THE MOST AMAZING GAME), who feels that she is destined to be with Lionel even though a tarot card reading states that death hangs over him.

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Anna Foster (Mandy Moore, SAVED!) is the 18-year-old daughter of the U.S. President James Foster (Mark Harmon, FREAKY FRIDAY). Anna so desperately wants some freedom from the oppressiveness of being watched by Secret Service agents at every turn. The Fosters are going to Prague and Anna convinces her father to let her go out with the French president’s daughter Gabrielle (Beatrice Rosen), accompanied by only two agents Alan Weiss (Jeremy Piven, JUST WRITE) and Cynthia Morales (Annabella Sciorra, WHAT DREAMS MAY COME).

However, the President doesn’t keep his promise and sends out a horde of agents. When Anna discovers this, she runs away to the Love Parade, which he father strictly forbid her to go to. In her dash from the agents, she hitches a ride with a complete stranger named Ben Calder (Matthew Goode, Woody Allen’s upcoming MATCH POINT), who happens to be an undercover agent. So when the President finds out, he allows Anna to go with Ben so that she feels like she has some freedom.

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This is my second Takashi Miike film and it’s such a hugely different film from ICHI THE KILLER. Shigeharu Aoyama (Ryo Ishibashi, THE GRUDGE) is a widower. His son Shigehiko (Retsu Sawaki, HUSH!) is now a teenager and he wants to find a new wife. His friend Yasuhisa Yoshikawa (Jun Kunimura, KILL BILL: VOL. 1) presents an idea — they will hold a fictional movie audition for Shigeharu to meet woman. He quickly becomes enamored with quiet and shy Asami Yamazaki (Eihi Shiina), who has had a great lose in her past.

The film is a satirical look at relationships and the pursuit for the ideal mate. With a surprising ending (only surprising if you don’t know Miike really), the film has a pretty cynical view of male/female relations.

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The major problem with this film is that it takes a pretty creepy idea and makes it boring. The film deals with EVP (Electronic Voice Phenomena), which is the belief that ghosts can be recorded on radio and TV channels between frequencies.

Jonathan Rivers (Michael Keaton, BEETLEJUICE) is an architect, who loses a loved one. One day, Raymond Price (Ian McNeice, FROM HELL) comes to Jonathan and tells him that Jonathan’s loved one has contacted him through EVP means. Jonathan quickly becomes a believer and along with Raymond and bookstore owner Sarah (Deborah Kara Unger, SUNSHINE) they desperately try to contact the deceased.

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I was very impressed with director Guy Maddin after seeing his inventive DRACULA: PAGES FROM A VIRGIN’S DIARY. In his latest venture, he takes his vintage silent movie look to the next level. You know a Maddin film right from the start, because it uses the conventions and look of silent cinema as its style. In DRACULA, Maddin used the conventions for subtle satirical purposes. He does the same here, but to a more poignant and successful extent.

By toning down his exuberant style from DRACULA, he has crafted a satire on sadness. Set in 1933 in Winnipeg during the Depression, the legless Lady Port-Huntley (Isabella Rossellini, BLUE VELVET) issues a call to all nations to participate in a contest to discover what nation’s music is the saddest. The winner will receive $25,000.

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The plot structure of this film is very close to that of the book, THE DA VINCI CODE. Clues to a treasure/ secret are hidden within public documents or monuments/ works of art. I have not read THE DA VINCI CODE, but the movie is coming soon. But first we have this film, which on a very innocent level works really well. What kid hasn’t dreamt of a good ol’ treasure hunt? This film provides that fantasy. And with a PG-rating anyone in the family can enjoy it.

Ben Gates (Nicolas Cage, LEAVING LAS VEGAS) comes from a family that has been entrusted with the secret for finding a huge treasure, squirreled away by the Founding Fathers, Masons and Knights Templar. Ben’s grandfather John Adams Gates (Christopher Plummer, THE INSIDER) was the person who sparked the treasure hunt bug in him and his father Patrick Gates (Jon Voight, COMING HOME) has been trying to crush it, because he doesn’t want his son to waste his life like he did, looking for a treasure that might not exist.

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