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FLUSHED AWAY is the latest collaboration between DreamWorks and Aardman, the studio that created WALLACE & GROMIT, however this is the first time Aardman has made a CG feature, having used clay stop-motion animation in the past.

Roddy (Hugh Jackman, X-MEN series) is a posh pet rat that lives in Kensington. One day while his owners are away, a fat, disgusting sewer rat named, Sid (Shame Richie) comes bubbling up from the kitchen sink. Events transpire which lead to Roddy getting flushed down the toilet. Now in the sewer, Roddy discovers an entire city of rats. In an effort to get back home, he teams with the cockney boat captain Rita (Kate Winslet, TITANIC), who Roddy accidentally creates a great deal of trouble for with the gangster The Toad (Ian McKellen, GODS & MONSTERS) and his rat thugs Spike (Andy Serkis, KING KONG) and Whitey (Bill Nighy, PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN’S CHEST). As Roddy and Rita make their way to the above world, The Frog sends assassins after them to recover a stolen item that is key to his devilish master plan. At one point he has to call in the services of his French cousin Le Frog (Jean Reno, THE PROFESSIONAL) and his kung-fu henchmen to hunt down his missing power cable.

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Set primarily during the week between Princess Diana’s death and her funeral, this intimate portrait follows the differing reactions of Queen Elizabeth II and her subjects to the tragic event. Helen Mirren (GOSFORD PARK), playing The Queen, gives a simply remarkable performance that will be hard to top come awards season. However, her stellar performance does not overshadow the wonderful work of her co-star Michael Sheen (UNDERWORLD series), who plays the newly elected prime minister Tony Blair.

After the tragic death of Diana, the United Kingdom went into shock. Blair quickly made a statement calling Diana the People’s Princess while The Queen opted to keep the matter private, because Diana was no longer a royal. The unprecedented situation posed difficult questions in regards to what traditions to keep and which ones to bend. Prince Philip (James Cromwell, BABE) and the Queen Mother (Sylvia Syms, I’LL SLEEP WHEN I’M DEAD) steadfastly wanted to follow precedent while Diana’s former husband Prince Charles (Alex Jennings, BRIDGET JONES: EDGE OF REASON) understands that the celebrity-obsessed Britons want more than stoic tradition in this time of grief. At first, Blair agrees with his wife Cherie (Helen McCrory, CASANOVA) that the royal obsession with formal tradition seems far out of touch with the modern society.

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If Clint Eastwood had never acted and only directed, he’d still have made a huge impact on the landscape of cinema. FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS is the largest canvas he has painted on, delivering a thought-provoking and touching examination of what makes a hero.

The film deconstructs the iconic photograph of the flag raising on Iwo Jima. It happened at a time during WWII when support for the war was waning and money was running out to fund it. So the government called on the surviving men in the photograph to come home and tour the country, pushing the sale of war bonds to the public. The three survivors were John “Doc” Bradley (Ryan Phillippe, CRASH), Rene Gagnon (Jesse Bradford, HACKERS) and Ira Hayes (Adam Beach, SMOKE SIGNALS).

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Martin Scorsese is one of the all time greats and even when he’s working at half his game he still makes better films than 90% of the filmmakers working today. This film represents his most successful film since CASINO. He is the master of the crime drama and proves it once again.

Taking only the core themes from the Chinese film, INFERNAL AFFAIRS, Scorsese and screenwriter William Monahan (KINGDOM OF HEAVEN) craft a cat and mouse drama that takes on the stature of epic tragedy in the end. Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon, THE BOURNE IDENTITY) and Bill Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio, THE AVIATOR) were both born in the same poor neighborhood in Boston. However, they took different paths to the police academy.

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Todd Field’s IN THE BEDROOM was a masterfully observed piece that took a too often seen turn in the final act, however it was executed wonderfully even if it was a bit disappointing. For his second film, the story is again well observed and the ending is a grand accomplishment of writing. If you have seen the trailer for this film, you’ll have a completely wrong opinion about the film’s tone. The trailer makes it seem like a dark affair thriller, but in reality, the best description is to call it a more sardonic version of the AMERICAN BEAUTY themes.

Sarah Pierce (Kate Winslet, ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND) has a graduate degree in literature and never imagined she’d be a stay-at-home mom, taking trips to the park on a daily basis. She loathes the catty chatter of the three other women who frequent the park. They live by strictly regimented schedules, which drives Sarah mad even though she puts up with it. Then the “prom king” Brad Adamson (Patrick Wilson, HARD CANDY), a stay-at-home dad who comes to the park from time to time, returns.

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Writer/director Paul Schrader has always dealt with the line between sex and violence and how they cross. So who better to remake the 1942 sexually charged CAT PEOPLE? Basing the film on DeWitt Bodeen’s original book, adapted by Alan Ormsby, Schrader makes some interesting changes from the original film version, making the resulting film more visceral and a bit more daring thematically.

Irena Gallier (Nastassja Kinski, PARIS, TEXAS) was raised an orphan. She is finally found by her brother Paul (Malcolm McDowell, CLOCKWORK ORANGE), who invites her to come live with him in New Orleans. Right from the start, we see that Paul has an unhealthy attraction to his sister. Turns out they are descendents of the cat people, who transform into cats when they have sex with non-cat people and can only turn back after they have killed. When a prostitute is found murdered and Paul in the form of a black leopard is locked in the hotel room, animal control officers Oliver Yates (John Heard, BIG), Alice Perrin (Annette O’Toole, TV’s SMALLVILLE) and Joe Creigh (Ed Begley Jr., BEST IN SHOW) are called in. As Irena starts to believe that her brother is the leopard and that she may be one too, she begins a romance with Oliver, who used to be Alice’s lover. As Irena gets closer to Oliver and learns more about her past, the more frightened she gets.

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Cult films fall into two categories — 1) quirky films that a rabid fan based feel are truly underrated or 2) films that are bad for various reasons that take on an inspiring quality. FASTER, PUSSYCAT! KILL! KILL! is the quintessential definition of the latter.

Russ Meyer is the unchallenged king of sexploitation films. One could easily say that PUSSYCAT is his masterpiece. The pulp material drips with sex and violence, but still manages to contain a juvenile innocence. The story goes like this — a gang of badass go-go dancer have left town to go racing in the desert. Varla (Tura Satana, IRMA LA DOUCE) is the leader of the threesome. The large breasted woman is clad in black and never smiles. She’d kill a man just for looking at her the wrong way. Rosie (Haji, BEYOND THE VALLEY OF THE DOLLS) is her devoted girlfriend, who’d do anything for Varla. Billie (Lori Williams, IT’S A BIKINI WORLD) is sex-craved, wild, cocky and very irresponsible.

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This loose sequel to Dario Argento’s SUSPIRA takes the flaws of the first film and expands them. Where SUSPIRA gave us an underdeveloped main character, INFERNO barely gives us a main character. I was 40 minutes into the film before I knew who was the protagonist. The film is a prime example of style taking front seat to story.

Director Argento brings back the vibrant color scheme of SUSPIRA, but drops the fairy tale qualities that made the first film interesting. The film begins with Rose Elliot (Irene Miracle, MIDNIGHT EXPRESS) reading about the Three Sisters, who are all evil witches. She soon suspects that her apartment complex in New York City is home to the coven of one of the witches. She writes to her brother Mark (Leigh McCloskey, JUST ONE OF THE GUYS), who is studying in Rome, about investigating the coven located there. Accidentally leaving his sister’s letter behind in class, his friend Sara (Eleonora Giorgi) follows Rose’s clues to deadly ends. When Paul goes to visit Rose in NYC, he discovers a host of strange people living in her building and next door, who all could be involved in the Three Sisters mystery.

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George A. Romero is best known for his landmark zombie films such as NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD and DAWN OF THE DEAD. In MARTIN, the master of horror tackles vampires in an original and fascinating way.

We first meet Martin Madahas (John Amplas, DAY OF THE DEAD) as he rides the train — where he methodically sneaks into a woman’s sleeping car, drugs her, unclothes her, slits her wrists, drinks her blood then stages the scene to look like a suicide. Arriving at his stop, Martin meets his older cousin Tada Cuda (Lincoln Maazel, only film performance), who calls the teenager a nosferatu (or vampire) and promises to save his soul then kill him. Martin goes to stay with the superstitious Cuda and his granddaughter Christina (Christine Forrest, CREEPSHOW), who doesn’t believe like her grandfather that Martin is descended from a long line of vampires in the family, but in reality needs mental help not an exorcism.

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This silent masterpiece presents interesting questions when one watches it. How was this subject matter received in 1929 when it was first released? How has the meaning and sympathies changed or not changed? Despite lacking any nudity, why does this film still retain such a high erotic appeal?

In its time, the film was received with great controversy for its frankness toward its scandalous material. Star Louise Brooks’ sexual abandon and provocative allure must have been shocking in its day. Part of its erotic charge still remains for two reasons — 1) despite being benign by today’s standards we have a clear sense when watching this silent film that its trying to get away with something naughty and 2) Louise Brooks, who grabs one’s attention from the first frame and will not let go, which is exactly what her character is supposed to be. Brooks plays Lulu, a freewheeling flapper who uses her sexuality to move upward in the world. She’s a party girl, who likes having a good time and above all — having sex.

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