Title: Melancholia Directed by: Lars von Trier Starring: Kirsten Dunst, Charlotte Gainsbourg and Kiefer Sutherland Putting his antics aside, von Trier is indeed a talented filmmaker, though I doubt that’s ever been up to much debate. “Melancholia” is his newest film following the heavily controversial Antichrist which enraged and divided audiences due to its graphic imagery. But in “Melancholia”, we have a different type of animal, and I’d argue that it could be equally as controversial–just not necessarily in the classical sense (which involves gratuitous violence and sex in today’s entertainment world). Like a majority of his films (if not all), “Melancholia” stars a female protagonist surrounded by utter gloom…

Title: Spy Kids 4: All the Time in the World Directed by: Robert Rodriguez Starring: Jessica Alba, Jeremy Piven and Joel McHale Running time: 89 minutes, PG, Available on standard DVD and 3D A retired spy gets called back into her old job when her nemesis Tick Tock escapes from prison to help an evil mastermind named The Timekeeper, just as she is getting used to new mommyhood and bonding with her two stepchildren. I am not a fan of the Spy Kids series, in fact I still think Spy Kids 3:Game Over is one of the worst movies I have ever seen.  Spy Kids 4 doesn’t make me want…

Title: Mothman Directed by: Sheldon Wilson Starring: Jewel Staite, Connor Fox and Susie Abromeit Running time: 88 minutes, Not Rated It’s been ten years since an accident claimed the life of one of Katherine’s friends, and those involved buried a secret before she left town. Her editor gives her a new assignment: return to her hometown and cover the Mothman Festival. When she reunites with her old friends, the Mothman, a spirit of a murdered Native American chief that placed a curse on the town upon his death, arises to take revenge on those who have yet to pay for their crime. Firefly’s Jewel Staite gets a lead role in…

Title: 51 Directed by: Jason Connery Starring: Rachel Miner, Jason London and Bruce Boxleitner Running time: 90 minutes, Rated R After much pressure from the public and the media, the American government and military have conceded to allow entrance and tours in the famed Area 51 and Hanger 18, to give a preview of secret military inventions and to prove there is no such thing as aliens…until the “non-existent aliens” escape. Just so you know what you’re getting yourself into, I’ll give you two words: Syfy Original. The plot is very cliche and ultra lame. In the off chance the media were to run into the aliens, why would you…

Over a decade ago, Bryan Singer’s adaptation of the “X-Men” comic book franchise gave the modern superhero genre a kick in the pants, seeding action thrills with deeper ethical conflicts, and laying the groundwork for both the grander commercial success (think “Spider-Man”) and some of the more artistic-minded noodling of a wide variety of genre followers (see also: Ang Lee’s “Hulk”). A prequel to the original trilogy, director Matthew Vaughn’s ”X-Men: First Class” is a slick piece of pop entertainment marked by smarter than average characterizations and some solid performances, and it confirms that mainstream Hollywood studio films can indeed – with some effort, and the oversight of a savvy producer – still…

Science-fiction is often so terribly difficult to get right on screen because its makers get bogged down in minutiae, trying to craft expansive, futuristic and/or alien worlds, or over-explain the processes that differentiate and separate their plane of reality from that of the present day. “Source Code “, thankfully, is not one of those movies. It grooves, it pulses, it entertains — deftly balancing smarts with a streamlined aim to please. The sophomore effort of director Duncan Jones ( “Moon “), the high-concept techno-thriller is kind of amusingly impatient with some of the nitty-gritty specifics of its own conceit (“Every second explaining things puts more lives at risk!” one character…

Title: Fading of the Cries Writer-director: Brian Metcalf Starring: Jordan Matthews, Hallee Hirsch, Thomas Ian Nicholas, Brad Dourif, Mackenzie Rosman, Elaine Hendrix, Jessica Morris, Julia Whelan, Lateef Crowder A hobbled sci-fi thriller that cobbles together various disparate mythologies, the independently produced Fading of the Cries clearly doesn’t have the money to compete with the genre big boys, but it also lacks an imagination in presentation or execution that might enable it to escape the downward pull of its limitations. Writer-director Brian Metcalf utilizes special effects as a sort of tech-age concealer, to try to spackle over various production cracks and shore up narrative deficiencies, but the result is a risible hodge-podge…

Independent film production encompasses many challenges as well as an inherently skillful touch with the necessary art of compromise. But you wouldn’t always know it from interviews with filmmakers, many of whom have a tendency to latch on to one or two good anecdotes or merely fall back on thematic talking points when discussing their project. Refreshingly, writer-director Brian Metcalf is not of that ilk. His feature debut, the sci-fi-tinged adventure “Fading of the Cries”, faced many bumps and hurdles over the course of a 10-year period from initial conception to its eventual theatrical release this week, but perhaps none quite as rocky as a production cycle beset with fire, a compacted…

Its sequel, also from director James Cameron and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, was a worldwide smash that stood at the forefront of a special effects revolution, but a lot of folks forget the brutal, streamlined efficiency of 1984′s The “Terminator”, which laid all the groundwork for the labyrinthine Skynet conspiracies of a trio of other futuristic-killing-machine flicks as well as assorted media tie-ins and even, eventually, screaming Christian Bale soundboards. The film was part of distributor Sony’s first wave of Blu-ray titles five years ago (and arguably the most preferable, given company like “50 First Dates”, “Hitch” and “xXx”), but gets another pass with this special, limited edition Blu-ray release, in…

Title: Ghost in the Shell – Stand Alone Complex: Solid State Society Directed by Kenji Kamiyama Distributed by Manga Video & Bandai Entertainment Running time:  113 min, Not Rated, Available on standard DVD In the year 2034 and the section 9 field team is out to investigate a chain of suicides by Siak  Republic agents that are linked to a master hacker known as the “Puppeteer.” Meanwhile thousands of children go missing and are discovered to have had their cyberbrains replaced and identities modified to become the children of “Noble Rot” senior citizens, who are elderly patients in a hospice-like environment that are hooked up to a health care monitoring…