When the crew of the Enterprise is called back home, they find an unstoppable force of terror from within their own organization has attacked Starfleet and everything it stands for, leaving our world in a state of crisis. With a personal score to settle, Captain Kirk (Chris Pine) leads a manhunt to a war-zone world to capture John Harrison (Benedict Cumberbatch), a one man weapon of mass destruction. As our heroes are propelled into an epic chess game of life and death, love will be challenged, friendships will be torn apart, and sacrifices must be made for the only family Kirk has left: his crew.

Regardless of how you feel about director J.J. Abrams, his high-octane 2009 reboot of the STAR TREK franchise, or his “Mystery Box” (AKA “Keep everything a secret even if that means lying to your fanbase”) approach to making movies, there is no denying the man knows how to craft a cracking good summer blockbuster. No denying whatsoever. Drop all the lens flares and convenient plotting jokes you want but none of that sh*t matters when a film is entertaining.

STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS is an incredible piece of entertainment. It’s action-packed; it’s chock full of fun performances; it has a deliciously ruthless villain in the form of Kha --er, JOHN HARRISON (Benedict Cumberbatch); it’s twisty enough to keep you guessing but visually impressive enough to make up for the fact some of those twists don’t quite work. To give you an idea of how thoroughly entertaining INTO DARKNESS (I refuse to acronym it down to STID) is, it somehow manages to be a time travel movie despite not having any actual time travel in it.

How does a movie that semi-revolves around time travel not have any actual time travel in it? Well, for starters, remember in Abrams’ first TREK pic when Nero (Eric Bana) and his giant mining ship, The Narada, laid waste to the USS Kelvin, forty-seven Klingon warbirds, most of Starfleet, Vulcan, and a good portion of San Francisco bay? Those events, along with the appearance of a genetically enhanced human named Kha --er, JOHN HARRISON who has spent the past 300 years in cryosleep, have changed Starfleet. Those events caused an organization series creator Gene Roddenberry envisioned as a space-borne humanitarian and peacekeeping armada to turn into a war machine.

See what I was saying about time travel with no time travel? Yeah, Nero legit traveled through time and JOHN HARRISON did the Rip Van Winkle thing but the former occurred in another movie and the latter goes down off-screen but …I’m not sure what I’m getting at here. I just really dug that the time travel stuff carried over and wasn’t dismissed as it usually is in most sci-fi sequels. Remember how the Enterprise whipped around the sun and traveled back to 1986 in STAR TREK IV: THE VOYAGE HOME? Or how it casually zipped in and out of wormholes in STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT? Remember how those events were never mentioned nor utilized again? That is not the case here. What happened in Abrams’ first TREK pic is still felt throughout the events of INTO DARKNESS.

In its own very cool geeky little way, Abrams’ alternate universe is the beginning of the darkest timeline glimpsed in the classic TREK episode “Mirror Mirror”. If Starfleet doesn’t quit building warships like the USS Vengeance (no spoilers here …but sweet baby Jebus is that thing MENACING) and waging secret war against unknown cultures, I wouldn’t be shocked in the slightest if Spock and Kirk sport evil little goatees in the next installment.

Honestly, my gripes with STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS are few. You’ll find my main complaint, which is basically six or seven mini-complaints, down in the LOW POINTS section. Don’t worry, it’s nothing too serious. I think. The good outweighs the bad here. Nearly 95% of this flick is a perfect entertainment. The other 5% is …eh. You’ll see in a second.

The film is much zippier and fun than the trailers, title, and marketing would have you believe; Benedict Cumberbatch makes for a great Kha …er, JOHN HARRISON and the bit where he annihilates an entire squad of Klingons (and their ships!) might just be the most badass TREK moment EVER; Bruce Greenwood and Leonard Nimoy clock in welcome cameos; the returning cast members (Pine, Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, John Cho, Anton Yelchin, Simon Pegg) and newcomers (Alice Eve, Peter Weller, Noel Clarke, Cumberbatch) mesh well and all deliver top notch performances; Abrams has dialed back the lens flares and pumped up the galaxy hopping and breathless action sequences; the IMAX 3D is used to great effect

Everything following Spock yelling “KHA --er, HAAAAARRRISSSONN!” is a complete mess. The scream, the Tribble, the crash, the 70s cop show foot chase through the streets of San Francisco, the final fight, the quiet reveal that [MEGA SPOILER ALERT!!!] death no longer exists in the Abrams TREK-verse, the refreezing of Kha --er, JOHN HARRISON, the first moments of the “five year mission” -- all very exciting stuff that serves only to undo the most powerful moment of the film.

Had Abrams ended INTO DARKNESS just moments before the scream, he’d have delivered a ballsy cliffhanger ending worthy of STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN and THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK. But because he goes all DARK KNIGHT and keeps things running for an unnecessary fourth mini-act, the entire film transforms from heartfelt (I dare you to not tear up when Spock deploys the Vulcan mind meld and salute) and thought-provoking (the bad guys are bad but exist in a very grey moral area) to daft (Death no longer exists!!) disaster porn (Are we to believe that the Earth of the future has no missile or laser defense system to protect itself?) in the space of one scream.

When this hits DVD and Blu-Ray, the recommended course of action is that you shut the film off before the scream hits. Do that and you’ve got yourself a damn near perfect piece of entertainment. Keep watching and you’ve got yourself a damn fine piece of entertainment that basically loses its f*cking mind for ten minutes.

Unnecessary fourth mini-act gripes aside, STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS is an incredible piece of entertainment that expertly dabbles in multiple sci-fi conventions while tweaking the established canon in very interesting ways. While I was initially put off by Abrams’ decision to focus more on action (which is more STAR WARS than TREK) than exploration (the TREK I was raised on), I get it now. Nero changed things. Kha --er, JOHN HARRISON has changed things. What was known is now unknown. Action-packed wasn’t a style choice; it was a matter of canon. Well done, Abrams. Well done.

Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.) wrestles with inner demons while contending with monsters of his own creation in writer\director Shane Black’s IRON MAN 3. Picking up shortly after the events of THE AVENGERS, Tony remains deeply haunted by the experience of traveling into another dimension in order to save New York City. Unable to sleep, he throws himself into his work with such intensity that it begins to take a heavy toll on both his mental health and his relationship with Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow).

Tony has only started to appreciate the gravity of his problems when an enigmatic terrorist named the Mandarin (Ben Kingsley) hijacks the airwaves and threatens to bring America to its knees with a painful series of "lessons" that even President Ellis (William Sadler) won't be able to ignore. When Tony's former security guard Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau) is badly injured in an explosion caused by one of the Mandarin's agents, the vengeful playboy issues a public threat that results in his home being completely destroyed in a devastating attack, leaving him to face his enemy with only one badly damaged prototype suit.

Fortunately, Tony isn't on his own, and with the help of James Rhodes (Don Cheadle) and a young boy named Harley (Ty Simpkins), he pieces together the mystery of the Mandarin, whose final "lesson" promises to be the most painful of all.

Superhero threequels are notoriously tricky to pull off. The third installment almost always makes enough bank to keep the franchise rolling ...but when are they ever any GOOD? For every one good threequel (THE DARK KNIGHT RISES) there always seems to be four subpar ones just waiting to disappoint by cramming too many new faces (SPIDER-MAN 3), spin-off nonsense (BLADE: TRINITY), unnecessary comedy (SUPERMAN 3), outlandish day-glow set retcon (BATMAN FOREVER), or pointless character deaths (X-MEN: THE LAST STAND) into the mix.

To be honest, I fully expected IRON MAN 3 to be a subpar threequel.

Why? Well, for starters, IRON MAN 2. I like that flick but know full well it’s a bit of a hot mess. The characters no longer seemed to click (Tony was suicidal, Pepper actively hated him for most of the film, and Rhodey 2.0 up and steals an Iron Man suit mere moments after delivering a speech about how he just convinced the military out of storming in and STEALING THE IRON MAN SUITS!), the plot was jumbled (I’m still reeling from the fact that “Demon In A Bottle”, one of Iron Man’s most important storylines, was compressed into a seven minute action bit), and the villains never really got their sh*t together (Why exactly did Justin Hammer give full control of a motherf*cking robot army to a convicted sociopath like Ivan Vanko?). Oh and don’t even get me started on the fact IM2 is more a prequel to THE AVENGERS than a sequel to IRON MAN. I’m all for in jokes and references but IM2 went too far.

Another reason I fully expected IM3 to be subpar was because THE AVENGERS was so above par. Not only did that flick make like 1.5 BILLION dollars at the box office, it also successfully managed to combine four separate franchises into one new franchise while leaving room for future installments in the separate franchises. That’s unheard of! That’s crazy! That’s awesome! That’s something I totally wouldn’t want to be the follow-up to! Even if IM3 makes a billion dollars at the box office, it’ll be considered a financial disappointment. Think about for that a sec.

But the biggest reason I expected IM3 to be subpar was the marketing campaign. Every trailer, TV spot, and poster released thus far has been visually impressive but tonally worrisome. It’s all been disaster porn spliced with terrorist imagery (yes, I know the first IRON MAN mined similar territory but once was enough) and the INCEPTION “Brahhhhmmmm!” sound for good measure. If it wasn’t Tony’s Malibu mansion being razed or him bleeding out inside his suit, it was The Mandarin -- a character whose big screen makeover has transformed him from a uncomfortable Fu Manchu clone into a uncomfortable Osama Bin Laden clone -- teaching “lessons” to those who opposed him. My gut feeling was that the suits at Marvel Studios had deemed genius-billionaire-playboy-philanthropist Tony Stark too playful and given him a “grim and gritty” DARK KNIGHT makeover.

Thankfully, my gut feeling was wrong. The marketing was Marvel Studios playing “Bait And Switch”. It served only to get you into the theater so they could reveal as IRON MAN 3 a GREAT threequel. Color me surprised.

Gone are most of the problems that derailed IM2 (No extraneous subplots!) and threequels in general (No Evil or Emo Tony!) and in their place are clever twists, smart writing, and characters you can actually care about again. Writer/Director Shane Black has crafted a jazzy bit of superhero cinema that effortlessly blends elements from film noir, James Bond, and superhero satire with the already familiar. Had I just followed Wesley Snipes’ advice and bet on Black instead of worrying about the threequel curse, IM2, and marketing, I’d have saved myself some serious fanboy headaches.

Not only is Black is one of the most underrated directors (KISS KISS BANG BANG, his previous collaboration with Robert Downey Jr, was/is AMAZING) and writers (dude wrote LETHAL WEAPON, THE LAST BOY SCOUT, and THE LONG KISS GOODNIGHT!) working today, he’s exactly what this franchise needed. Marvel Studios took a big risk bringing him in to replace Jon Favreau (fanboys never like it when a director doesn’t finish off the trilogy) and that risk paid off. Black’s direction is exciting (the character stuff pops just as much as the action) and his contributions to the script (co-written with Drew Pearce) are unmistakable.

If you’ve ever seen a Black film then you know what to expect: Witty dialogue (tempered to fit the PG-13 but still full of snarky venom), a Christmas setting (which is weird to see in a movie being released in May), interracial “buddy cop” action (Tony and Rhodey’s mid-film shootout with The Mandarin’s thugs could’ve easily been a promo reel for Kilmer-less KISS KISS BANG BANG 2), meta-narration (Tony actually rewinds the narration at one point to give it a little more punch), funny thugs (James Dale Badge and Stephanie Szostak absolutely nail their few minutes of screen time), and a precocious but charming tyke (played by Ty Simpkins who was strangely excluded from almost all the marketing material despite being on-screen just as much as Don Cheadle and Gwyneth Paltrow). Only thing missing here is an R rating but Black did manage to score IM3 a very hard PG-13. Dude burns to death in the finale. TWICE. Keep that in mind if you planning on bringing someone along who is adverse to that sort of thing.

Acting-wise, do I really need to tell you RDJ, Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, and Jon Favreau deliver solid performances? I shouldn’t need to. You’ve seen the other two IRON MAN pics and THE AVENGERS so you already know this quartet is awesome. They’re extra awesome in IM3 because Black has tapped back into the chemistry they had in the first IRON MAN. No unnecessary conflicts (see Tony-Pepper, Tony-Rhodey, Tony-Happy, Tony-Everybody in IM2), shortchanged relationships (Where were Happy and Rhodey during THE AVENGERS?) contrived love triangles (see Tony-Natasha-Pepper in IM2) here.

But, as awesome as the Downey-Paltrow-Cheadle-Favreau combo is, Guy Pearce as AIM head honcho Aldrich Killian and Sir Ben Kingsley as The Mandarin steal the movie right out from under them. Do yourself a favor and just go into IM3 knowing these two knock it out of the park. Don’t read anything about their characters. Don’t read any spoilers. Don’t even let your buddies try to tell what happens with these two. No joke. If you go into IM3 fresh like I did and allow the twists and turns to shock you like they shocked me, you’ll be blown away. I guarantee it.

Black’s top notch direction and writing. Brian Tyler’s jazzy score. Simpkins, Pearce, and Kingsley’s performances. The Air Force One sequence. The Mandarin’s big reveal. The Iron Man army. Hot Pepper. The post-credits scene. The cameos from Shaun Toub (Yinsen!), William Sadler, Miguel Ferrer, and Stan Lee.

The biggest problem in IM3 is the script. While awesome due to Black’s contributions and nowhere as wonky as IM2, a good bit of IM3’s plot and character motivations -- I’d say probably around 45-50% -- make absolutely no f*cking sense. [SPOILER ALERT!!!] Why doesn’t Tony enlist The Avengers or SHIELD to help battle The Mandarin? Why does Tony give The Mandarin his home address but not bother prepping for his arrival? Why does Killian infect Pepper with Extremis? Why does Maya (Rebecca Hall) betray Killian to warn Tony and Pepper but then betray them because she never betrayed Killian in the first place? How does Extremis work exactly? Why does it heal people but also allow them to breathe fire and sometimes explode? Why is Tony’s armor bio-coded to only him and Pepper but Rhodey’s can be used by anyone? If Tony can remote control the suit using his funky Google glasses, does that mean ANYONE can remote control it? Why does Tony spend so much time repairing the Mark 42 armor when all he had to do was tell JARVIS to send the remaining 41 to help him? Why does Tony even need to be Iron Man when JARVIS could just as easily control the suits and never run into the problems of needing to sleep or being corrupted by evil? Why did Tony wait so long to have the shrapnel around his heart removed? So many questions!!!

IRON MAN 3 is fun. Early marketing had me worried it would be a dour DARK KNIGHT-esque journey into darkness but the final product turned out to be quite the opposite. While some of the twists are pretty controversial (I suspect a good many people are going to have problems with The Mandarin) and there are a quite a few plot issues (most of which will probably be cleared up in the “Deleted Scenes” section of the DVD/Blu-Ray), I had a blast with it. Definitely a GREAT threequel and a right proper way to end the IRON MAN franchise if Downey opts not to return.

A novelist (Ethan Hawke) and his family become the targets of a supernatural entity when he uses found footage to unravel why and how his home's previous occupants were murdered.

From the director of THE EXORCISM OF EMILY ROSE (Scott Derrickson), one of the guys at Ain’t It Cool News (C. Robert Cargill AKA “Massawyrm”), and the producer of the PARANORMAL ACITIVITY series (Jason Blum) comes SINISTER, an original horror pic (shock!) that combines the “found footage”, J-horror, snuff film genres into one delightfully sinister package. Yeah, I dropped a title pun. Deal with it.

Ethan Hawke plays Ellison Oswalt, a true crime novelist who seeks inspiration for his latest opus by moving his wife (Juliet Rylance) and two children (Clare Foley, Michael Hall D’Addario) into a home whose previous occupants were brutally murdered. Ellison soon discovers a box of Super 8 tapes in the attic of his new house, and watches in horror as images of various families being murdered flicker before his eyes. The deeper Ellison investigates the disturbing case, the more he begins to fear he has stirred an ancient evil that won't rest until it has claimed his entire family.

What really makes SINISTER one of the year’s best spookfests and not just some really f*cked up episode of THE TWILIGHT ZONE is the expert way director Scott Derrickson handles the proceedings. A lesser director would’ve simply relied on cheap thrills and jump scares but not this guy. Derrickson (who damn near wasted all the goodwill earned from EMILY ROSE by helming the reboot of THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL) goes for the slow burn, opting to dole out the chills in small effective doses and infuse every scene -- whether it be the money shots of Ellison staring in slack-jawed terror awe (Is that a thing?) at family snuff films or something simple like him having an argument with his wife -- with palpable dread. Very impressive.

Equally impressive is how easily Hawke takes a douchebag like Ellison (He drinks! He smokes! He rejects authority! He watches sick puppy snuff tapes when alone in his office! He ignores his wife and kids after moving them into a crime scene!) and transforms him into someone genuinely likable. Hawke has always been one of my favorite underrated actors (see EXPLORERS, WHITE FANG, BEFORE SUNRISE, TAPE, HAMLET, DAYBREAKERS) and I knew he’d bring the goods but this is very much a case of “the actor elevates the material”. A lesser actor wouldn’t have been able to make you care. Hawke does.

The hauntingly nihilistic finale. Hawke’s performance. Fred Dalton Thompson and James Ransome turn in solid supporting work as the local cops who help/hinder Ellison. The way Vincent D’Onofrio effortlessly Skypes his way into the film so he can deliver a massive info-dump. The unrelenting brutality of the snuff tapes.

Bughuul (AKA “Mr. Boogie”) is an interesting villain who could’ve been great had he been fleshed out a bit more. Here’s hoping future installments (as Stu says in Wes Craven’s SCREAM, “These days, you gotta have a SEQUEL!”) dig deeper into his backstory.

If you see only one new horror film this Halloween, see SINISTER. The direction is expert, the script clever, the performances above average, the scares genuinely scary, and the twists appropriately twisty. PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 4 and SILENT HILL: EXPOSITIO …er, REVELATIONS 3D are fine if you want some cheap familiar thrills. But if you want some gruesome delights that will stick with you long after you’ve left the theater, SINISTER is the way to go.

It has been five years since Katie (Katie Featherston) murdered her sister and disappeared with her infant nephew, Hunter, in tow. Now, a new family is about to fall prey to nighttime terrors. A mysterious accident next door leads to teenage Alex (Kathryn Newton) and her family becoming the temporary guardians of Robbie (Brady Allen), a very creepy neighbor boy. Cameras installed throughout Alex's home capture the sinister events that unfold after Robbie's arrival.

I absolutely love the PARANORMAL ACTIVITY films. Have since the first and likely will till the last. Any horror franchise that consistently and effectively scares the living daylights out of me is aces in my book.

This is, in my humble/pointless opinion, the new FRIDAY THE 13th: Fan-friendly scarefests made on the cheap that blatantly recycle the plots their predecessors, arrive around the same time each year, and deliver just enough chills and new plot info to keep audiences coming back for more.

Quick recap: The first PA, like the first F13, is a bonafide horror classic. It’s a scary-as-hell two-person affair (Micah Sloat and Katie Featherston) that deserves a permanent spot in your Halloween queue …if you’re capable of dealing with director Oren Peli’s preference for suspense over gore, the “found footage” genre (an acceptance that the characters will be carrying cameras with them for the entire runtime is mandatory for this genre to work), and single location (a non-descript split-level home buried deep in the suburbs). If you can’t deal with any of those elements then you can go ahead and clock out of this review now because PA4, along with parts 2 and 3, strictly adhere to that formula.

PA2 expanded the mythos a bit (the spirit haunting Katie and her sister Kristi has been around since they were children) and delivered a funky prequel/sequel narrative (the first 90 minutes are set BEFORE the events of PA, the last 8 are set AFTER) but faltered slightly due to unlikable characters (both Kristi and Daniel prove themselves to be grade A douchebags) and some gaping plot holes (Why doesn’t Ali just show Daniel the footage and why is she missing in the finale?).

The less said about PARANORMAL ACTIVITY: TOKYO NIGHT, the better. It was a Japanese spin-off released concurrently with PA2 that’s been more-or-less retconned out of the current continuity. TOKYO NIGHT is the FRIDAY THE 13th: A NEW BEGINNING of the PARANORMAL ACTIVITY series.

For PA3, directors Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman created not only the best PA sequel (yes, I’m including PA4 in that remark) but one of the finest full-on horror prequels (pic takes place in 1998 and features kid versions of Katie and Kristi) ever made. It cleared up most if not all the lingering questions presented by the first two films (Toby the Not-So-Friendly Ghost!) and blew up the mythos in unexpectedly awesome ways (witches!). Even if this series isn’t your bag, I dare you not to watch the final act of PA3 and agree it is some seriously riveting scary sh*t.

Unfortunately, PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 4 is a letdown. Joost, Schulman, and (MILD SPOILER ALERT!!!) and Featerston have returned and made a straight-up sequel to PA2 (PA3’s prequel angle could’ve easily further exploited since the tapes seen at the beginning included a few labeled “1992”) but it’s one that will make zero sense to newcomers and likely only appeal to hardcore fans.

The plot is solid but a blatant amalgamation of PA2 (parents ignore daughter who suspects and detects, ahem, paranormal activity) and PA3 (kids in peril), the scares effective but derivative (PA3’s oscillating fan still reigns supreme!), the suspense build-up palpable but expected (small scares lead to moderate ones which lead to FIVE-TO-TEN MINUTES OF SHEER TERROR!), the characters relatable but dense (at least this installment offers up a reason as to why no one is checking the footage), the plot twists significant but underwhelming (anyone who’s seen the trailers already knows Katie and Hunter are going to pop up at some point), the final act unnerving but incredibly familiar (it’s a remix of PA3’s finale which itself was a remix of THE LAST EXORCISM’s finale).

Long story short, everything in PA4 has already been done before. I guess this was bound to happen since all great horror franchises ultimately succumb to blatant repetition (F13 hit this point with the very first sequel) but I was really hoping PA would be different. Oh well. Maybe PA5 (already greenlit) and the Spanish-language PA spin-off pic (which is teased after the credits of PA4 so stick around) freshen the franchise up a bit.

Leads Kathryn Newton and Matt Shively are both insanely likable, so much so that you’ll hate seeing them get put through the supernatural wringer. Expect to never look at Microsoft Kinect, Skype, webcams, Pop Chips, and children named Robbie the same way again after seeing this flick.

The webcam surveillance set-up is interesting but flawed since it would stop recording the second someone closed the laptop. Also if you plan on seeing PA4, AVOID all available promo material. The misleading trailers feature stuff not in the final film and the clips available online are loaded with spoilers.

PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 4 is a lot like FRIDAY THE 13th: THE FINAL CHAPTER; it’s a fun sequel that shamelessly recycles what came before but doesn’t offend thanks to some incredibly likable characters, solid scares, and a memorable finale. This installment certainly won’t win the franchise any new fans but old ones will have a good time.

As a retired CIA agent with a particular set of skills, Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) stopped at nothing to save his daughter Kim (Maggie Grace) from Albanian kidnappers. When the father of one of the kidnappers (Rade Serbedzija) swears revenge and takes Bryan and his ex-wife Lenore (Famke Janssen) hostage during their family vacation in Istanbul, Bryan enlists Kim to help them escape, and uses the same advanced level of special forces tactics to get his family to safety and systematically take out the kidnappers one by one.

Director Olivier Megaton and writers Luc Besson & Robert Mark Kamen don’t know who you are. They don’t know want you want. If you are looking for a good sequel to the 2008 sleeper hit TAKEN, I can tell you they haven’t provided one. But what they have provided is a very particular set of clichés; clichés they’ve acquired over very long careers. Clichés that make them a nightmare for people who desire sequels that feature logical storytelling, coherent action sequences, and non-stereotypical villains. If you go see TAKEN 2 now, that’ll be the end of it. They will not look for you. They will not pursue you. But if you don’t, they will send Liam Neeson to look for you, he will find you, and he will kill you.

Okay …maybe I went too far with that last line. Neeson isn’t coming to kill you or me. It’d be cool if he was (let’s be honest, “Death by Neeson” would be an AWESOME way to go out) and you might want him to after witnessing this half-assed, pseudo-remake, cash-grab, totally unnecessary sequel but he’s not. The reality of things is Neeson probably wouldn’t be very upset if you didn’t see TAKEN 2. Dude recently admitted he thought the first one was straight-to-DVD material and that he needed convincing -- I’m guessing a truck full of money driven by a Fox exec was involved -- to do the sequel.

Megaton, Besson, Kamen, and the Fox/Europacorp bean counters, however, want you to see TAKEN 2. They want you to see it …then see it again …then suggest it to your friends …and then go see it with them. So deep is their desire for your hard-earned moviegoer dollar that they, in an effort to guarantee box office dominance, simply photocopied the TAKEN script (a legitimate sleeper hit that grossed 226mil worldwide off a budget of 25mil), tweaked a few plot points (Lenore’s new husband becomes Kim’s new boyfriend, evil Albanian kidnappers are now the families of evil Albanian kidnappers, the pointless “Kim wants to be a singer” wraparound morphs into “Kim wants a license”, Paris subs for Istanbul, and so forth), expanded Grace and Janssen’s characters (Kim gets some action, both figurative and literal, this time around; Lenore spends most of the film unconscious or in a state of going unconscious) and then affixed a “2” to the end of the title so you would know this is a sequel and not a full-on remake despite the fact it basically is one.

Seeing Bryan (Neeson) throat-punch foreigners, shoot the sh*t with his CIA buddies (Leland Orser, Jon Gries, D.B. Sweeney), and teach his on-screen daughter how to successfully elude police during a car chase is so fun that it almost makes up for Megaton’s herky-jerky direction and Besson/Kamen’s sloppy script. The keyword in that last sentence is “almost”.

The PG-13 rating does TAKEN 2 no favors. Every punch is pulled, every gunshot muffled, every kill practically off-screen. Much like the first film and recent Besson-produced actioners COLUMBIANA and LOCKOUT, the inevitable “unrated” DVD/Blu-Ray of TAKEN 2 will likely be far superior to the theatrical release.

Despite my complaints and gripes, I actually did enjoy TAKEN 2. It may be a shameless carbon copy of its predecessor …but it’s an ENTERTAINING carbon copy, one that falls directly into the BEVERLY HILLS COP 2, DIE HARD 2, ANOTHER 48 HRS school of action sequels. It gives you what you came for (Neeson kicking ass and taking names) and absolutely nothing else. Take that as you will.

A feisty coed joins a collegiate a cappella group and upgrades their song selection for the 21st century during the run-up to a major competition in PITCH PERFECT, a melodic comedy from Tony-nominated Avenue Q director Jason Moore.

Drifting past the various cliques after arriving at college, Beca (Anna Kendrick) pays more attention to the jams pumping in her headphones than the people she passes on her way to class. But all that changes the moment she stumbles into the one place where every misfit has a voice – “The Bellas”, the campus a cappella group.

Although the competition amongst the singers proves surprisingly fierce, there's just one aspect of the group Beca can't wrap her head around: All of the songs they perform are at least a decade old. Convinced that they can do better by adding some contemporary tunes into the mix, Beca whips up an exciting new set list that will set the group apart and leave their rivals in the dust.

Do you enjoy mash-ups? Remixes? How about remix mash-ups? Do you like those? Hope so because if you don’t then you’re not going to have any fun with Jason Moore’s PITCH PERFECT. Personal enjoyment of this film is entirely dependent on whether or not you can handle a Script-O-Matic 3000 reworking of BRING IT ON, STICK IT, and GLEE.

Me? I like mash-ups …but PITCH PERFECT is a bit of a mess. The soundtrack had me tapping my feet (only the stuff in the actual film, the official soundtrack is comprised of alternate takes and is nowhere near as good) but the formulaic plot, and dozens of clichés it was rocking, had me tapping my watch. The performances were decent (Dane Cook clone Skylar Austin, Brittany Snow, and Rebel Wilson are the standouts) but character development was virtually non-existent (every character gets exactly ONE LINE to explain their behavior). The direction was competent (director Moore certainly knows how to stage an energetic musical number) but unimpressive (I expect more from the guy who was in charge of the Broadway’s LES MISERABLES for nearly thirteen years). For every one thing that works, there is something that doesn’t.

Anna Kendrick is the best/real/only reason to see PITCH PERFECT. This is Kendrick’s debut as a leading lady -- though one has to wonder why the hell she’s headlining a f*cking teen comedy after scoring a Best Supporting Actress nod for UP IN THE AIR -- and she doesn’t disappoint. Loved her performance (Kendrick transcends the lackluster material with ease), loved her voice (didn’t know she could sing), loved her chemistry with Austin (even though the film annoyingly/inexplicably builds their entire romance around for the final scene of THE BREAKFAST CLUB), loved her attitude (totally bought she’d be able to rally this rag-tag group of misfits together and lead them to “Regionals”).

Kendrick, the unexpected cameos (Elizabeth Banks and John Michael Higgins provide color commentary for the competitions, Christopher Mintz-Plasse appears as an over-caffeinated announcer, and Donald Faison, Jason Jones, Joe Lo Truglio, and Har Mar Superstar pop up as a washed-up a cappella group), non-blatant meta humor (keep an eye out for the “silent” Bellas), and barrage of witty one-liners (the majority of which are courtesy of Wilson and Hana Mae Lee).

I could’ve done without Amy’s (Wilson) odd bursts of racism, Aubrey’s (mega-hottie Anna Camp) explosive vomiting, the constant references to “nodes”, and man-child Treblemaker leader Bumper (Adam Devine). These bits were mildly cute at first, less cute the second time they rolled around, totally unnecessary by the third, and absolutely excruciating after that.

Despite some decent tunes and a winning performance from Anna Kendrick, PITCH PERFECT isn't worth a trip to the multiplex. It works but doesn’t, tries but fails, impresses but underwhelms. Very hit-and-miss.

PLOT: Seeking a fresh start, newly divorced Sarah (Elisabeth Shue) and her daughter Elissa (Jennifer Lawrence) find the house of their dreams in a small, upscale, rural town. But when startling and unexplainable events begin to happen, Sarah and Elissa learn the town is in the shadows of a chilling secret. Years earlier, in the house next door, a daughter killed her parents in their beds, and disappeared - leaving only a brother, Ryan (Max Thieriot), as the sole survivor. Against Sarah's wishes, Elissa begins a relationship with the reclusive Ryan - and the closer they get, the deeper they're all pulled into a mystery more dangerous than they ever imagined.

THE RUNDOWN: Much like yesterday’s 31 DAYS OF HORROR entry THE SHRINE, Mike Tonderai’s HOUSE AT THE END OF THE STREET has a bit of an identity crisis. The trailers, promotional material, and filmmakers want you to believe this this flick is a suspense/supernatural thriller featuring a creepy little patricidal girl stalking HUNGER GAMES hottie Jennifer Lawrence. It IS that, if we’re being technical …but it’s also NOT that.

Allow me to explain: The thriller stuff only comes into play during the first five and last forty. During the majority of the first and second act, however, HATES (despite it missing a few letters, I find the acronym/hashtag for this flick appropriate and AWESOME) is an after-school special, a teen romance, a standard issue drama about a broken family, a not-so-standard drama about a very different kind of broken family, a cautionary tale about how gossip can corrupt society, AND a lightweight “girl wants to be a singer in a rock-and-roll band” tale.

Long story short, you’re enjoyment of this flick will be 100% dependent on whether you can handle a 70/30 mix of drama and horror. I didn’t mind the mix (I’m a sucker for teen dramas, especially when they feature a female lead as smoking hot as Lawrence) but you might. Do not enter this flick thinking it’s just another slasher with Lawrence as the “Final Girl” because it’s not. Matter of fact, the genre pic HATES pays homage to is one of the greats and one that isn’t given much love these days and that movie is…

Wait! Before we go any further, let me drop a warning: To discuss HATES is to discuss the big twist that occurs in the last act. There’s no getting around this. If I was to be coy and NOT reveal the twist, well, then I’d just be waffling around for four or five paragraphs talking about a movie in which a girl moves to a new town, doesn’t really fit in with the locals, bickers with her mom who’s recently divorced and only now has decided to be a real parent, and ultimately falls for the cute, but mysterious and misunderstood, boy next door. I’d just be digging deep into some teen drama that sounds EXACTLY like every other teen drama made in the last twenty years and nobody wants that. You want the “the good stuff”.

Which brings me to why I have to spoil the finale of HATES in order for you to understand why it worth two hours of your time. This is why I opted to NOT throw this review into the standard THEATRICAL REVIEWS section on the site and instead include it in this year’s 31 DAYS OF HORROR. This is place for SPOILERS. This is place where I can dig into the real reason you need/want to see this flick. This is hopefully the last sentence in this review that will begin with the word “this”.

Bail now if you wish to remain unspoiled!

Almost all of “good stuff” in HATES stems from the fact this flick is not just an okay teen drama but a full-on riff of Alfred Hitchcock’s PSYCHO! Oh yeah! Any Tom, Dick, or Harry can clone FRIDAY THE 13th, FINAL DESTINATION, or SAW but it takes a ballsy motherf*cker to photocopy the granddaddy non-monster horror pic of them al …alright, I went too far with that last sentence. This flick is good but maybe not that good but it is honorable the filmmakers went the PSYCHO route rather than going with what is popular at the moment and that should count for something.

Ryan is basically this generation’s Norman Bates, not that this flick or this character will ever achieve that level of respect. He’s a Norman who’s a fighter (pwns a townie bully towards the end without breaking a drop of sweat) and ladies man (no problems getting hot and heavy with hottie Alyssa) as well as a murderous psychopath (Norman prefers a stabbing knife and well-lit rooms, Ryan is all about snapping necks and lurking in the dark) with severe family issues (I’ll takes your domineering Mother and raise you an equally f*cked up stoner Daddy and a dead sister!). I’ll either of these over yet another silent madman or brainiac killer ensnaring hapless bastards with elaborate moral-based deathtraps any day of the week.

BODY COUNT: 6

BEST KILL: The opening double murder of Ryan’s parents is not only creepy effective but also the only bit of real horror you’ll be experiencing during the first hour of HATES.

NAKEDNESS: Jennifer Lawrence’s bountiful bosom attempts to escape the confines of her white tank top on more than one occasion …but never succeeds. Damn.

SIGNATURE MOMENT: Revealing Carrie Ann died years ago and nice guy Ryan is kidnapping co-eds, forcing them to live out his twisted sister (actual twisted sister, not the hair metal band) fantasies, and occasionally snapping their necks when they get out of line is crazy dark, especially for a PG-13 movie.

IDIOT MOMENT: I love how absolutely WRONG Sheriff Weaver (Gil Bellows) is in his assumption Ryan is just a “misunderstood kid”. Dude is the living representation of the IDIOT MOMENT.

FANBOY FACT: This project was originally announced in 2003 with Jonathan Mostow (BREAKDOWN, TERMINATOR 3: WAR OF THE MACHINES) directing and Richard Kelly (DONNIE DARKO, THE BOX) scripting.

VERDICT: Despite rocking a mild identity crisis (Teen family drama romance horror thriller musical?) and confusing ad campaign (each trailer promoted it differently and at least one flat-out lied); HOUSE AT THE END OF THE STREET was a genuine surprise. The effective performances (Lawrence, Shue, and Theriot all impress), plot twists (not all of them make total sense -- I’m still trying to figure out whether the aunt actually existed -- but the ones that do are memorable), spooky moments (great WAIT UNTIL DARK nod towards the end), visual cues (the final shot is a stunner), and PSYCHO homages definite pushed this above the average teen thriller.

The future America is an irradiated waste land. On its East Coast, running from Boston to Washington DC, lies Mega City One - a vast, violent metropolis where criminals rule the chaotic streets. The only force of order lies with the urban cops called "Judges" who possess the combined powers of judge, jury and instant executioner. Known and feared throughout the city, Dredd (Karl Urban) is the ultimate Judge, challenged with ridding the city of its latest scourge - a dangerous drug epidemic that has users of "Slo-Mo" experiencing reality at a fraction of its normal speed.

During a routine day on the job, Dredd is assigned to train and evaluate Cassandra Anderson (Olivia Thirlby), a rookie with powerful psychic abilities thanks to a genetic mutation. A heinous crime calls them to a neighborhood where fellow Judges rarely dare to venture - a 200 story vertical slum controlled by prostitute turned drug lord Ma-Ma (Lena Headey) and her ruthless clan. When they capture one of the clan's inner circle, Ma-Ma overtakes the compound's control center and wages a dirty, vicious war against the Judges that proves she will stop at nothing to protect her empire. With the body count climbing and no way out, Dredd and Anderson must confront the odds and engage in the relentless battle for their survival. It’s judgment time!

DREDD 3D is the best film adaptation of Judge Dredd fans are ever going to get. End of story. I don’t care how good any future sequels or reboots are because, cinematically, this is the best it is ever going to be for this character. Everything from this point forward is going to dig into origin, relationships, and character growth and that’s just going to f*ck the entire franchise up. That’s what bogged down and corrupted the 1995 Sylvester Stallone Dredd pic. That’s the stuff that basically damages ALL comic book movies.

What Dredd fans want, I assume, is simplicity. They want the big guy -- who is basically a future cop version of Dirty Harry (who scored five films and never once had to explain why he was the way he was) for those unfamiliar with the character -- cleaning up the streets of Mega City One by any means necessary. That’s it. They don’t want him discussing his feelings or lamenting about how he had to judge his own brother. And they certainly don’t want him getting all gushy and moon-eyed every time his partner Judge Cassandra Anderson enters a room. Dredd is the law, not some sensitive schmuck. That fluffy crap is for other, less badass, superheroes.

DREDD 3D is not fluffy. It opens with Dredd (Karl Urban) dropping some quick COBRA-style narration, a brief car chase to establishing how badass he is, a trip to the station to pick up new partner Anderson (Olivia Thirlby) who he’ll initially dislike but eventually grow to respect, and then the duo is immediately trapped inside a 200 story slum block by a vicious drug lord Ma-Ma (Lena Headey) who orders them dead. What follows is ninety minutes of non-stop action.

No silly subplots, bloated main storyline, or extraneous characters lets director Pete Travis (never would’ve guessed the guy who helmed VANTAGE POINT was capable of keeping things simple) and writer Alex Garland (writer of 28 DAYS LATER and SUNSHINE) keep things brutal, intense, and 100% true to the comics. The performances, while one note to those unfamiliar with the source material, are equally true and never degenerate into campy theatrics (an issue that kept the 1995 film adaptation from achieving greatness). Combine those elements with blistering hot action and a hard R rating and you’ve got yourself the cure for the common superhero blockbuster.

DREDD 3D certainly lives up to its title. There’s lots of Dredd and lots of 3D. As far as Dredd goes, Urban is the living embodiment of the character and he knows it. Bonus points to him for keeping the helmet on for the entire picture (a gesture that masks his ruggedly handsome face and forces him to mostly act with just his mouth but keeps things 100% true to the comics) and avoiding the urge to unleash a Stallone-y “I am duh LAW!” . As for the 3D, the “Slo-Mo” and “bullet time” bits are the clear standout sequences but the rest of the film doesn’t look half-bad either. Lots of depth and texture and all that non-“in your face!” stuff studios insist the format actually exists for.

The simplicity of the plot, fact the film is yet another entry into the “fight your way out of the block” genre, and final reveal the film is mostly just a set-up for much bigger Dredd adventures might turn some viewers off. I personally didn’t mind any of those aspects but felt a need to point them out for those who might.

I absolutely loved DREDD 3D. It’s pure uncut action crack, delivered straight to your brain in glorious ultraviolent 3D. Mix John Carpenter’s ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13 with a 80s action pic sensibility and a healthy, almost uncomfortable, dose of THE RAID: REDEMPTION and you’ll get a good idea of what to expect here.

In director Rian Johnson’s futuristic action thriller LOOPER, time travel will be invented - but it will be illegal and only available on the black market. When the mob wants to get rid of someone, they will send their target 30 years into the past, where a "looper" - a hired gun, like Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) - is waiting to mop up. Joe is getting rich and life is good... until the day the mob decides to "close the loop," sending back Joe's future self (Bruce Willis) for assassination.

A fanboy fever dream mash-up of the first two TERMINATOR movies, DONNIE DARKO, TIMECRIMES, PRIMER, and TWELVE MONKEYS, Rian Johnson’s LOOPER is a wonderfully dense bit of entertainment. You see the plot synopsis above? That’s just the first act. Virtually nothing from the remainder of the film, save for a couple of sweet money shots and the lovely Emily Blunt, has appeared in the trailers and marketing materials for this flick. Impressive.

Even more impressive is how deftly writer/director Johnson manages to mix elements from the film noir, romance, dystopian future, time travel, Cronenberg-ian body horror, smart sci-fi, telekinetic thriller, hardcore shoot ‘em up, character drama, and total mind f*ck genres into a wicked cool package that is arty while remaining mainstream. A package that also happens to include some brilliant character work from Joseph Gordon-Levitt (successfully managing, via prosthetic bits and vocal mimicry, to channel a young Bruce Willis) and Bruce Willis (his best work in years), a couple of impressive supporting turns from Jeff Daniels (who’s really been on a roll recently with this and THE NEWSROOM) and Blunt (who's performance that initially feels one note but quickly reveals many layers), and a trio of scene-stealing cameos from Garret Dillahunt (interesting to see him eschewing “guy who rapes then murders then rapes people” typecasting), Piper Perabo (shame she didn’t hit bigger after COYOTE UGLY), and Paul Dano (I guarantee you won’t forget brief turn as a “looper” who fails to “close his loop”).

If there’s a problem to be had with LOOPER it would be that the less you know about it, the better. I went into it thinking I knew pretty much everything there was to know and found myself pleasantly surprised that I didn’t. That’s something that happens very rarely when it comes to me and movies and I’m sure as hell not going to be the guy who spoils things and robs some fanboy or fangirl from having the same experience that I did. The less you know, the better. Trust me.

Just know that LOOPER is smart and thought-provoking sci-fi. This isn’t some brain dead epic with giant punchline-spewing robots punching each other out or aliens invading Earth so they can nuke all of our national landmarks then die because of something as simple as water or sunlight. Oh no. Everything here centers on the very real consequences of what happens when you tinker with the very fictional idea of time travel. The question isn’t just “How far would you go to save the world?” but also “How far would you go to save yourself?” Heavy stuff handled expertly.

Every performance in LOOPER -- including the ones given by Noah Segen, Pierce Gagnon, and Qing Xu who I failed to elaborate on in the review section -- is a keeper. If you’re a fan of Johnson’s previous films BRICK and THE BROTHERS BLOOM then you already know of his reputation as an “actor’s director”. Solid acting in his films is not a surprise. What might shock you, however, is Johnson picked up the ability to craft a wicked mean action scene somewhere between this and BLOOM. Blew my mind to see him unleashing John Woo level shoot-outs and BOURNE brutal fisticuffs alongside the smart sci-fi. Extra points for giving Gordon-Levitt a blunderbuss. That’s 100% badass.

Gordon-Levitt’s constant narration was a little too BLADE RUNNER theatrical release for my taste but I understand why it’s here. No explanation of the world Johnson has crafted would’ve pushed the film completely into “art house” territory and made it impossible to market to the masses.

In case you haven’t picked up what I’m laying down, LOOPER is brilliant. I’d absolutely be thrilled if it became an across-the-board cult smash like ROBOCOP, THE TERMINATOR, or DISTRICT 9. Yeah, the graphic violence (big body count here) and gratuitous nudity (courtesy of Perabo) might throw some off …but I think the mainstream, the art crowd, and the fanboys will find a lot to love here.

The Umbrella Corporation's deadly T-virus continues to ravage the Earth, transforming the global population into legions of the flesh eating undead. The human race's last and only hope, Alice (Milla Jovovich), awakens in the heart of Umbrella's most clandestine operations facility and unveils more of her mysterious past as she delves further into the complex. Without a safe haven, Alice continues to hunt those responsible for the outbreak; a chase that takes her through digital recreations of Tokyo, New York, Washington, D.C. and Moscow, culminating in a mind-blowing revelation that will force her to rethink everything that she once thought to be true. Aided by newfound allies and familiar friends, Alice must fight to survive long enough to escape a hostile world on the brink of oblivion.

RESIDENT EVIL: RETCON 3D …er, I mean, RECYCLE 3D …ah, I mean, RETRIBUTION 3D is less a film and more an endless loop of Milla Jovovich money shots. Yeah, I know that’s this franchise’s bread and butter and I really shouldn’t complain because very few ladies kick ass as impressively as Jovovich but at least the previous installments made an some attempt to tell a semi-cohesive story. This one does not.

Rather than crafting an actual true blue follow-up to the events of AFTERLIFE, writer/director Paul W.S. Anderson has instead opted to full-on reboot the franchise with a massive retcon of all previously existing plotlines (do your best not to laugh when Alice suddenly just regains her powers because the plot demands it) and characters (main baddie Wesker is now a good guy and fan favorite characters Chris Redfield, Claire Redfield, and K-Mart disappear with no explanation). To make matters even more confusing, Anderson then trots out a few familiar faces (Sienna Guillory, Oded Fehr, Michelle Rodriguez, Colin Salmon, Boris Kodjoe, and even The Red Queen clock in extended cameos) and scenarios (whole sequences and locations from the first film, APOCALYPSE, EXTINCTION, and AFTERLIFE are recycled) in some kind of strange effort to make this a 10th anniversary reunion “clip show” film. That’s right; RETRIBUTION is a franchise reboot that wants to remind you of the better times but also wants to simultaneously dismiss them. Ugh.

Even MORE confusing than everything listed above is that RETRIBUTION also appears to have been created simply to usher you from one installment to the next. In essence, the entire film is a ninety minute long pre-credits sequence. What little plot exists here is just a thread to string the recycled bits along and get you to the big twist at the end which really isn’t much of twist because the first teaser trailer for this flick actually spoiled it.

Don’t believe me? Just watch this trailer and you’ll see what I mean.

You see that big reveal of Alice standing on top of the White House, armed to the teeth and ready to take on thousands of zombies, beasts, and dragon demons? That’s the LAST SHOT OF THE MOVIE! Seriously. The FIRST second of official RETRIBUTION footage, excluding the dopey Sony fake-out commercial, is the LAST second of the actual movie. That’s just false advertising, people. I went into this expecting a massive “Alice VS Everyone” brawl and instead got barely edible leftovers. Not cool.

Something like 90% of the runtime is spent watching Alice protect a little deaf clone girl (a plot thread I’m sure Anderson was hoping would invoke memories of “Newt” in ALIENS but instead reminded me of Seline’s daughter in UNDERWORLD: AWAKENING) while gunning her way through a massive underground facility (shades of “The Hive” in the first EVIL pic) where the Russians have built giant recreations of the locations seen in the previous installments.

Then 9% of the film is spent following a bunch of generic mercs attempt to rescue Alice who really didn’t need their help in the first place. Fans of the RESIDENT EVIL games might get a kick out of seeing Johann Urb as Leon Kennedy, Kevin Durand as Barry Burton, and Bingbing Li as Ada Wong as the mercs …but their presence is of zero consequence. They’re just fan service fodder being used to fill in the cracks of Anderson’s creatively bankrupt screenplay.

Lastly, there’s 1% set-up for the sequel. That little three minute capper, which features three major plot twists in a row, is the best part of this entire film. If you’re a fan of this franchise and get a chance to watch just that 1% and skip the preceding 99%, I suggest you take it.

Milla Jovovich and Michelle Rodriguez, even when saddled with awful material, are still total badasses. The opening credits (lifted from the teaser trailer for DEAD ISLAND), fake-out suburban zombie apocalypse (lifted from Zack Snyder’s remake of DAWN OF THE DEAD), and x-ray bone snapping moments (lifted from THE STREET FIGHTER) were visually impressive.

Sienna Guillory as Jill Valentine. I’m not sure what happened to Guillory’s looks and acting abilities between this and RESIDENT EVIL: APOCALYPSE but she no longer has “it”. As in, she’s virtually unrecognizable now (my guess is that she’s went under the knife quite a few times) and appears to no longer know how to act. Her performance in RETRIBUTION is easily the worst I’ve seen all year. Oded Fehr and Bingbing Li (who had most her dialogue redubbed in post-production) don’t fare much better.

Fans and non-fans alike will likely be pissed off and completely confused at the next level f*ckery going down in RESIDENT EVIL: RETRIBUTION 3D. I know I was. Don’t waste your money (spent damn over thirty bucks to see this in IMAX 3D) on this one. If you need a big screen action boost, catch DREDD 3D or LOOPER instead.