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Based on a book by Chris Van Allsburg who wrote JUMANJI, ZATHURA takes the same premise of JUMANJI where children get transported into a dangerous adventure after they begin playing a mysterious board game.

Danny (Jonah Bobo, STRANGERS WITH CANDY) looks up to his older brother Walter (Josh Hutcherson, RV), who has little time or regard for his younger sibling. Having to run errands, their father (Tim Robbins, MYSTIC RIVER) puts their older sister Lisa (Kristen Stewart, PANIC ROOM) in charge one day, but she is too busy to keep a constant eye on the battling brothers. In retaliation for being hit in the head, Walter sends Danny down the dumbwaiter into the dark, eerie basement where the young boy finds an old board game called Zathura. Danny convinces Walter to play with him, which sends their house careening into space. Eventually helping them overcome malfunctioning robots and evil alien Zorgons is a lost astronaut (Dax Shepard, WITHOUT A PADDLE).

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The star rating system really fails when it comes to reviewing a film like this one. A person’s own personal beliefs on the subject of drugs come into play when watching and appreciating (or not appreciating which ever the case may be) what the film is trying to do. I guess the best place to start is to present what apparently the filmmakers were setting out to do. They wanted to make an objective look at one man’s trip on LSD.

Directed by Roger Corman (THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH) and written by Jack Nicholson, the film stars Peter Fonda (EASY RIDER) as Paul Groves, a commercial director who is getting a divorce from his wife Sally (Susan Strasberg, PICNIC). Paul wants to experience an enlightening trip on LSD, so he enlists his friend John (Bruce Dern, DIGGSTOWN) to watch over him while he’s tripping. They go to a lavish hippie hangout in the Hollywood Hills where they get the LSD from Max (Dennis Hopper, RIVER’S EDGE).

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This Koran horror tale is part ghost story and part twisted stepparent tale. Soo-mi (Su-jeong Lim, upcoming I’M A CYBORG, BUT THAT’S OK) and Soo-yeon (Geun-yeoung Mun) have just returned from a mental institution after the death of their mother. Their father (Kap-su Kim) brings them to their country home where there stepmother Eun-joo (Jung-ah Yum, THREE… EXTREMES) lives.

Soo-mi and Soo-yeon are frightened of their stepmother, whose boisterous and blunt behavior is unnerving. Soo-mi watches over her meek and often silent younger sister like a mother, protecting her from potential torment of their stepmother. Making things scarier, a ghost begins appearing throughout the house. Soo-mi tries to explain the situation to her father, but he seems unaware of what is going on. Or maybe none of this is as it seems.

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Sasuke Sarutobi (Koji Takahashi, SANSHIRO SUGATA) is a legendary samurai of the Sanada clan who is tracking Toyotomi clan spy Takanosuke Nojiri (Kei Sato, THE SWORD OF DOOM). One day he meets the spy Mitsuaki Inamura (Rokko Toura, ZATOICHI AND THE CHESS EXPERT), who is trying to sell information to Nojiri and his master Shigeyuki Koremura (Eitaro Ozawa, SAMURAI 1: MUSASHI MIYAMOTO), which lead them to the whereabouts of leading Tokugawa spy Tatewaki Koriyama (Eiji Okada, LADY SNOWBLOOD).

Sasuke wants nothing to do with Mitsuaki’s plan because he fears that it will lead to another war, especially after he finds out that Mitsuaki has ratted out a Christian samurai named Yashiro Kobayashi (Yasunori Irikawa) in an effort to sneak by the cruel local magistrate Genba Kuni (Minoru Hodaka, MISHIMA: A LIFE IN FOUR CHAPTERS). While on his mission, Sasuke runs into Tokugawa assassin Sakon Takatani (Tetsuro Tamba, THE STORY OF RICKY), who wants to find Tatewaki for his own reasons. Sasuke also gets involved with Jinnai-Kazutaka Horikawa (Seiji Miyaguchi, THE SEVEN SAMURAI), an older statesmen who seems to be someone Sasuke cannot trust.

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This early expose on marihuana was bad in 1936 and has only become more and more hilarious over time. This oh, too serious examination of the scourge of reefer has absolutely nothing to do with the reality of the drug. Its attempt to scare the public into action only elicits laughs.

Bill Harper (Kenneth Craig, only film performance) is a goodie goodie, who is dating the sweet girl next door named Mary Lane (Dorothy Short, THE LONE RIDE FIGHTS BACK). Ralph Wiley (Dave O’Brien, KISS ME KATE) has his eye on Mary while Blanche (Lillian Miles, THE GAY DIVORCEE) wants Bill. Ralph and Blanche both visit the apartment of Mae Colman (Thelma White, RIDE ‘EM COWBOY) and Jack Perry (Carleton Young, SPARTACUS), who get the kids hooked on pot, a drug the film claims is more deadly than heroin.

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Pre-dating FATAL ATTRACTION by 16 years, Clint Eastwood’s directorial debut is the grandmother of all “from hell” films. This one being the hook-up from hell.

Dave Garver (Eastwood) is a late night DJ at a small Carmel, California Jazz station. He hopes to move up to the big time in San Francisco soon. He’s a notorious lady’s man, who is point blank to Evelyn Draper (Jessica Walter, TV’s ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT) when he picks her up in a bar that he is trying to uncomplicate his life. Evelyn — who’s a fan of his show, often calling in and requesting “Misty” — seems fine with the terms. Then Dave learns that his old girlfriend Tobie (Donna Mills, TV’s KNOTS LANDING) has moved back into town and he wants to try a monogamous relationship for the first time in his life. However, the big wrinkle in this plan is that Evelyn keeps showing up unannounced and her behavior becomes increasingly more violent and erratic.

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The title sounds stupid, but the film is actually a really fun satire of 1950s alien invasion films. The Chiodo Brothers — Stephen, Charles and Edward — take the standard plotline for films like THE BLOB and INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS and turns it on its ear with the silliness of killer klowns from outer space.

Mike Tobacco (Grant Carter, FATHER’S DAY) and Debbie Stone (Suzanne Snyder, WEIRD SCIENCE) are at lover’s lane when they witness a giant shooting star. When they go to investigate, they discover a giant circus tent, which in reality is an alien spaceship. Inside the spacecraft, Mike and Debbie find cotton candy-looking cocoons with the dead bodies of townspeople in them.

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Woody Allen has never made another film so close to an Ingmar Bergman film as this one. From the somber subject matter to the visual style, this drama feels like Bergman.

The story chronicles how Eve (Geraldine Page, SWEET BIRD OF YOUTH), a perfectionist mother with emotional problems, effects the mental and emotional stability of her family. One day at dinner, her husband Arthur (E.G. Marshall, 12 ANGRY MEN) tells his family matter-of-factly that he is moving out of the family home to try out a trial separation from Eve.

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I have never enjoyed a Michael Bay film until this one. It’s a shame that it was a total disaster at the box office. With the film you get two films in one — an intriguing, moody sci-fi tale and a Michael Bay action film. They both work well, however, the thinking side of me is disappointed with the wasted potential of the second and third acts, which could have gone in many smart and provocative ways, but ended up turning into a chase flick.

Lincoln Six Echo (Ewan McGregor, TRAINSPOTTING) lives in a tightly monitored and orderly society after having been rescued from the contaminated outside world. Along with the other inhabitants of his world, they await the lottery, which provides them a trip to The Island, the only non-contaminated place still left on Earth.

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Lars von Trier is a very polarizing filmmaker. His cynicism borders on nihilism. He often takes truly innocent characters and subjects them to increasing amounts of unwarranted cruelty and injustice. For me, it worked to a masterful degree in BREAKING THE WAVES and less so in the heartrending DANCER IN THE DARK. Von Trier likes to work in trilogies, usually sharing themes not characters. This film, along with the two previously mentioned films, makes up his “golden heart” trilogy, where innocents are truly lost.

Here, the innocent and our conduit into the world of the story is Karen (Bodil Jorgensen), a quiet woman who has just experienced a mysterious tragedy. While dining in a nice restaurant, she meets Susanne (Anne Louise Hassing) and the mentally handicapped Stoffer (Jens Albinus, DANCER IN THE DARK) and Henrik (Troels Lyby). Most of the patrons seem uncomfortable and dismissive of Stoffer and Henrik as they wonder aimlessly around the restaurant. However, Karen gives a kind smile to Stoffer and doesn’t try to avoid eye contact with him like the rest of the people. When he grabs her arm and won’t let go, she is nice enough to escort him to the taxi, even going along for a ride with them. During that cab ride, we learn that the handicapped men are just play acting and that all three are part of a commune, which are trying to find their “inner idiot.”

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