Pandorum

Rating: R

Movie Release Date: September 29, 2009

DVD Release Date: January 19, 2010

Plot 411: Two members of a spaceship flight crew awaken after a long sleep and are completely disoriented and must figure out what happened.

Review: Bower (Ben Foster) wakes up suddenly and frees himself from a hyper-sleep capsule in a ship that has lost its power. At first he doesn't know who he is and his memory is fragmented. An hour later, his superior officer Payton (Dennis Quaid) awakens as well. The two decide to explore the ship and find the nuclear reactor in order to jump start the power. On Bower's journey, he meets exceptionally powerful humanoid creatures that are quick and deadly. He also meets surviving ship members and they must piece together their collective memory in order to figure out what has happened. This was an awesome sci-fi action thriller. It even leans toward horror more than most sci-fi movies. The practical effects used for the creatures are great. Unfortunately, it's difficult to see much of them until almost the end. The movie did a good job creating a feeling of isolation, desperation and confusion. As a viewer, I felt caught up in Bower's world. What's happening? Who are these people? Where are they? Is it an alien? The audience can definitely relate to his situation because it's as baffling for us as it is for him. They even include a foreign language, which I'm pretty sure is Vietnamese, without subtitles to add to the confusion. Also in this film are Antje Traue, Cung Le and Cam Gigandet.

Watch It: Because the general concept is pretty awesome and there are so many possibilities.

Skip It: If you're into the technical aspects about space flight and things of that nature. Who knows how accurate this is even if it is set in the future?

Cold Creek Manor

Rating: R

Movie Release Date: September 19, 2003

DVD Release Date: March 2, 2004

Plot 411: Fed up with city life, a family moves into an old manor and weird things begin to occur around the home.

Review: Cooper (Dennis Quaid) and Leah (Sharon Stone) decide to move to the country when their son is almost killed in an automobile accident. They purchase an old home and begin to renovate it. However, when Dale (Stephen Dorff), the former owner and an ex-con, returns to the home and offers to help with the renovations, weird things begin to happen around the home. Dorff did a good job at playing two sides of the coin, which kept the audience guessing as to his real motives. Was he just trying to get back on his feet or did he have a grudge about being kicked out of his family home? Besides Dorff, there wasn't really anything else that was interesting about the film. Despite trying to create suspense and tension, the film was just lukewarm. I kept waiting for something supernatural to happen, because of the location, age and condition of the home. However, I guess that's a different kind of movie altogether. Also in this film are Juliette Lewis, Christopher Plummer and a youn Kristen Stewart.

Watch It: If it happens to be on TV (like I did).

Skip It: If you're looking for a movie with a possessed house or upset spirits.

Any Given Sunday

Rating: R

Movie Release Date: December 22, 1999

DVD Release Date: September 1, 2000

Plot 411: A once-great football team has had several bad years and the new owner and veteran coach butt heads on coaching methods.

Review: Coach D'Amato (Al Pacino), who has led the Miami Sharks to several championships over the years, is caught in the crosshairs of new owner Christina (Cameron Diaz), who has just inherited the team from her father. Believing that D'Amato is over-the-hill and his teaching methods are outdated, she hires a new offensive coordinator (Aaron Eckhart) to breathe some life into the team. Christina is a shrewd woman and successful finances is a top priority for her. Because of this and many losing seasons, she plans on replacing D'Amato at the season's end. When injuries strike the team, third-string quarterback Willie Beamen (Jamie Foxx) leads the team to several wins after some initial setbacks. He soon becomes arrogant and this causes friction between him and many of the other players. This movie gives audiences a good look at the inner workings of professional sports - the good and the bad. It comments on how the sport is promoted, scrutinizes the coaching and players, their motives and commitments, looks at the luxurious and lavish lives that the players' families are privy to and the corruption within the sport. It's a stark contrast to the typical fan's point of view and also parodies many within professional football. Also in this film are LL Cool J, James Wood, Dennis Quaid, Lauren Holly, Matthew Modine and John C. McGinley.

Watch It: For one of Diaz's few serious roles. She's actually pretty good in this one.

Skip It: If a straight football movie is what you're looking for. This is more about the people than it is about the sport.

The Day After Tomorrow

Rating: PG-13

Movie Release Date: May 17, 2004 (Mexico) / May 28, 2004 (USA)

DVD Release Date: October 12, 2004

Plot 411: Environmental changes around the world cause great devastation and millions of fatalities.

Review: When scientist Jack Hall (Dennis Quaid) presents his findings on global warming, his words are not taken seriously by anyone except his colleagues, a Scottish professor and a NASA meteorologist (Tamlyn Tomita). They build a model that forecasts global devastation is imminent. At the same time, weird weather phenomenon is already happening and it is causing great confusion around the world. Jack and his group relay their findings to authorities and he and his colleagues set off for New York to find his son Sam (Jake Gyllenhaal). Sam and his classmates are in NYC for a school trip and must find a place to take cover when a massive tidal wave crashes down on the city. They join many other people in the library as the temperature outside drops dramatically and ice and snow replace the sudden ocean swell. Can the group stay alive long enough for Jack to come to the rescue? I'm not sure why people are so fascinated with end-of-the-world movies. yet every couple of years there's a new one that portrays worldwide destruction, and with the advances in technology, the depictions become more and more real. This movie is typical of this genre and contains lots of CGI, action and drama. It leaves you gripping the armrest of your chair with each and every close call. What is really awesome is the power of nature and how it is demonstrated in this film. Many of the tallest buildings are dwarfed by the tidal wave. Entire buildings and structures are buried beneath the snow. Even the Statue of Liberty doesn't have a chance against Mother Nature. The movie is exciting and dramatic, but I don't know how real the science behind the plot actually is.

Watch It: For gigantic CGI effects that still hold up.

Skip It: Because why would you want to witness the end of the world? That's just so disheartening.

Smart People

Rating: R

Movie Release Date: April 11, 2008

DVD Release Date: August 12, 2008

Plot 411: A surly and pompous English professor begins a relationship with a former student and is reunited (unwillingly) with his wayward brother.

Review: It's been a while since I've experienced a character I really hated, but then again I've never experienced Lawrence Wetherhold (Dennis Quaid). The very sad and ironic part about it is that this character could be based on any number of English professors I had in college as well. This movie really highlights the arrogance of academia, so much so that it is almost unforgivable. Luckily, Wetherhold's character arch is such that you begin to see the frost melt off his exterior and almost glimpse a real, live, beating heart. Wetherhold is a widower who has lived his life with a barrier between him and the world. The heartache experienced from the loss of his wife has created a gigantic emotional void. This behavior has affected his family - daugther Vanessa (Ellen Page) and son James (Ashton Holmes). Vanessa has been forced to take over as head of the household despite the fact that she is the youngest. While it would seem she is emotionally mature, I think it actually stunts her emotional growth and warps her identity. Her brother, on the other hand, is severely withdrawn from his family as if he is a castaway. He has self-esteem issues as his father doesn't seem to acknowledge his brilliance because he is too focused on his own successes and failures. Wetherhold meets Dr. Janet Hartigan (Sarah Jessica Parker), his former student, at the ER after an accident. A former lover of English, Hartigan had a schoolgirl crush on Wetherhold as a college freshman and is still intrigued by him. She believes he's different from the man she once knew. They begin a rocky relationship that, in essence, wakes Wetherhold up out of his stupor. Added to this already disfunctional family is Chuck (Thomas Haden Church), Wetherhold's adopted brother, who is a delinquent and slacker in so many ways but still appears to be the most intelligent person of the bunch. The movie's humor is really specific because, as the title indicates, the characters are all smart people. The intelligent, verbal sparring that flies between characters is creative and so perfect for that academic world they all come from. Page, especially, does a really good job at the deadpan, yet biting, assaults.

Watch It: For another good Ellen Page that's a little more grown up than Juno.

Skip It: If I already lost you when I said "academia."