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THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO is one of the absolute best films of the year. Its sequel is not nearly as good, but that’s only because part of the joy of the first film was meeting the characters. The pull of the second installment is what do these characters do next. And just how badass can Lisbeth Salander get?

The film takes place a year after the events of the first film. Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace), the gothed out superior hacker with the photographic memory, returns to Sweden after living aboard, giving time for the criminal heat that she’s involved in to cool off. Her ally, journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist), has been trying to contact her to make sure she is safe. He knows Lisbeth Salander, so one wonders why he worries. She has a few reunions upon returning. She hooks up with her longtime lover Miriam Wu (Yasmine Garbi) and visits her court-appointed guardian Nils Bjurman (Peter Andersson), a sadistic man who Lisbeth has the upper hand on.
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This film reminds me so much of FROZEN RIVER, the great indie thriller from 2008. Both films follow poor women wrapped up in illegal activities. The wooded settings in winter add to the desperate tone of the narrative. Both follow resilient women and both were directed by women. And most importantly they’re one of the best films of their respective years.

All the characters in this tale seem vaguely related. But family is invoked when you need something from someone and that doesn’t guarantee anything. One character won’t even go and talk to her grandfather because she’s scared of him. Ree Dolly (Jennifer Lawrence,  TV’s THE BILL ENGVALL SHOW) though takes family deadly serious. She’s 17 and has had to drop out of high school so she can care for her mentally broken mother and two younger siblings. They live off the land eating squirrels and chopping wood from their timber land in the Ozarks. Her father is a meth dealer who just takes off for stretches of time. But now he’s been arrested and he’s put up his property for his bond. Sheriff Baskin (Garrett Dillahunt, TV’s THE 4400) comes by the house saying their dad is nowhere to be found and if he doesn’t make his court date they’ll lose it all.
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Martin Scorsese called this film one of the 11 scariest films ever made. I wouldn’t put it there, but it’s one of the best haunted house films. Director Peter Medak (SPECIES II) sets up his environment and utilizes it well in subtly unnerving ways. Common objects become frightening. And the ghost haunting the residents has as strong a motivation as any character.

In a devastating opening, composer John Russell (George C. Scott, PATTON) loses his wife and daughter. While he’s consumed with sorrow, he decides to take a job as a guest lecturer at a university in Seattle. Claire Norman (Trish Van Devere, THE DAY OF THE DOLPHIN) of the Seattle Historical Society offers him a legendary vacant mansion to rent for nearly nothing. The gorgeous Victorian home has been unoccupied for years, as the historical society worker Minnie Huxley (Ruth Springford, 5 CARD STUD) says, because the house doesn’t want people. The house has a dark past, which leads to Senator Joe Carmichael (Melvyn Douglas, THE OLD DARK HOUSE).

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Lucio Fulci has forged his name as a master of horror with his outlandish death sequences. He brings that style to this very loose adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe. It certainly does nothing for the classic tale.

An English town is plagued by gruesome deaths. Present at the deaths is a black cat with a mesmerizing stare. He belongs to former professor turned psychic Robert Miles (Patrick Magee, A CLOCKWORK ORANGE). He claims he can communicate with the dead and tries to record their voices. Drawn into the investigation of the deaths are American photographer Jill Trevers (Mimsy Farmer, AUTOPSY) and Scotland Yard inspector Gorley (David Warback, THE BEYOND). The question they need to answer is whether Miles controls the cat or if it’s the other way around.
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This true-life survival story makes you wonder how you would handle the same situation. If you were trapped in a remote canyon could you cut off your own arm with a dull blade? Danny Boyle’s film puts the viewer in that situation with all its physical and mental challenges. This is the rare thriller with an existential thread.

James Franco plays Aron Ralston, an experienced hiker, who took off by himself to hike Blue John Canyon in Utah. Even though he was a member of the search and rescue team, he told no one where he was going. While climbing down he canyon, a boulder broke loose and crushed his right forearm, pinning him between the rock and canyon wall. Chipping away at or trying to move the rock quickly proved futile. The title tells us how long he was stuck there with little food and water. His multi-tool was dull and could barely scratch his skin, so when he got desperate enough he broke the bones in his arm and used the pliers to snap the stronger tendons.
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