Daybreakers

Rating: R

Movie Release Date: January 6, 2010 (United Kingdom) / January 8, 2010 (USA)

DVD Release Date: May 11, 2010

Plot 411: In a world of 95% vampires/5% humans, vampires must find a way to manufacture blood in order to survive.

Review: Ed (Ethan Hawke) is working to find a viable substitute for human blood to feed the entire world as the population of humans rapidly dwindles. He works for a man named Charles Bromley (Sam Neill), who runs a blood farming company, but is ethically torn. He struggles to keep his own humanity and views humans as a endangered species rather than a food supply. Luckily, there is a group of renegade humans who fight against the vampires in hopes of finding a cure to vampirism. Led by Audrey (Claudia Karvan) and Elvis (Willem Dafoe), the group also searches for wayward humans and tries to provide a safe haven for them. This is an interesting horror, sci-fi movie because it can also serve as an allegory for the present time. Just as we consume our natural resources, the vampires literally consume them by feeding on them. They live in a society that condones the wastefulness and single-mindedness of gluttony just as we seem to. It is only a matter of time before we face a similar fate if nothing is done to change our ways.

Watch It: For a moral gem within a genre film.

Skip It: If you're looking for good special effects. The CGI is pretty awful, but there's a ton of blood and guts.

New York, I Love You

Rating: R

Movie Release Date: October 16, 2009

DVD Release Date: February 2, 2010

Plot 411: Life and love in the city that never sleeps.

Review: The through line of this movie is the lives and loves of the people of New York. Similar to Paris, je t'aime, this movie is essentially a love letter to New York. However, the vignettes in this version are more interconnected than its predecessor, and there are no slides demarcating locations or titles. Treated as short films, some segments are more effective than others. My personal fave is the story about the bickering old couple, which starred Eli Wallach and Cloris Leachman. In contrast, another good one is about first love and starred Anton Yelchin, James Caan, Olivia Thirlby and Blake Lively. Other notable stars include Natalie Portman, Bradley Cooper, Orlando Bloom and Ethan Hawke.

Watch It: To see a crap ton of stars playing unexpected roles against the backdrop of New York's skyline.

Skip It: Because there's no real rhyme or reason to the stories.

White Fang

Rating: PG

Movie Release Date: January 18, 1991

DVD Release Date: April 23, 2002

Plot 411: Jack London's classic tale about the bond between a boy and his dog in the Yukon.

Review: I was not even a tween, let alone a teen, when I saw this film, but afterward I had a huge crush on Ethan Hawke. Lesson learned? A guy who loves dogs (or in this case a wolf dog) is a keeper. Hawke plays Jack Conroy, a gold prospector trying to fulfill his dad's last wish. The audience follows him to Alaska where he learns to pan for gold with his father's cohorts Alex Larson (Klaus Maria Brandauer) and Skunker (Seymour Cassel). The pitfalls of goldmining and the harsh environment of the Klondike are hellacious and awe-inspiring at the same time. Conroy's path crosses with that of a mistreated wolf dog named White Fang. He rescues the animal and their faithful bond begins. I'm a sucker for movies in which animals play a big role. I'm hard pressed to think of one that I didn't like. Because of this, I must acknowledge my positive bias for this movie despite a lot of plot hiccups and the fact that it strays a bit from Jack London's original plot. The Alaskan landscape is captured beautifully in all its harshness. How do they get the animals to act and react the way they do? Amazing! This movie is both snuggly cute and tear-jerkingly sad at times. Make sure you've got a box of tissues handy.

Watch It: For the breath-taking shots of scenery blankted in white snow.

Skip It: If you're a tradionalist and like London's plot just the way it is.

Before Sunset

Rating: R

Movie Release Date: July 2, 2004

DVD Release Date: November 9, 2004

Plot 411: Jesse and Celine from Before Sunrise are reunited nine years after that fateful night.

Review: You cannot watch one movie without the other. They go hand in hand. This is why I had to watch this movie after watching Before Sunrise. I just had to know what happened next for these characters. Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy reprise their roles as Jesse and Celine. The two meet again in a bookstore where Jesse is doing a book signing and interview. He's become a bestseller and this is the last day of his European book tour. The book's plot? Of course, that one fateful night nine years ago. I love how the characters instantly reconnect despite all the time and life that has separated them for so many years. You can see how they've both grown and aged, yet they are essentially the same two twentysomethings from years ago. This movie really reveals the fallout of that one night they spent together and how it effected them emotionally. It's gut-wrenchingly realistic but poetic in a slightly tragic way. Again, this movie lets the audience wonder what will happen next.

Watch It: Because these movies are like bookends and you cannot watch one without the other. It'd be a sin.

Skip It: If you haven't already seen the first movie. DO NOT watch them out of order. It's so much more meaningful as a two-part series.

Before Sunrise

Rating: R

Movie Release Date: January 27, 1995

DVD Release Date: November 30, 1999

Plot 411: Two strangers meet on a train, get off in Vienna and spend the night walking and talking together.

Review: God, this is one of the most romantic movies in the world to me and has, with its companion Before Sunset, jumped onto my favorite movie list. Jessie (Ethan Hawke) and Celine (Julie Delpy) meet on a train in Europe. He's going to Vienna to catch a flight home to America. She's on her way home to Paris. On an impulse, he convinces her to get off the train and spend the night walking around Vienna with him. They have this one unforgettable night together that changes their lives. The movie is seriously heavy on the dialogue, but that's what is so wonderful about it. It's about two people connecting as they discuss love, life and dreams. It's about how one fateful moment can impact your life forever. It feels like an intellectual romance, because there is so much meaning behind the words they speak to each other. The time Jesse and Celine spend together is almost as if they're living in a dream world. Time is standing still, yet it still ticks closer and closer to the moment when they must part from each other. This is a sweet, heart-wrenching movie that leaves the audience to draw its own conclusions.

Watch It: If you don't put much stock in fate and true love. While this might not change your mind entirely, it might just give you hope.

Skip It: If you still hope to see complexity in camera techniques and special effects. All of that "wow" factor is in the dialogue. Some of it also just naturally exudes from the landscape of the city.

Dead Poets Society

Rating: PG

Movie Release Date: June 2, 1989

DVD Release Date: November 10, 1998

Plot 411: A prep school teacher inspires his students to be individuals and fight against conformity.

Review: This is my favorite Robin Williams movie, which may be surprising to some as it is not a comedy. In this dramatic role, Williams plays an all-boys prep school English teacher who uses unorthodox methods to teach his students. Because his ideology and methods do not conform to the school's teachings, he is a rebel among the educators. Through him and his awkward but enlightening lessons, the boys learn to see through the veil of conservative b.s. and form thoughts and ideas for themselves. They learn to question everything in life and determine a moral code for themselves. In this timeless coming-of-age story, the boys learn difficult life lessons, experience hardships due to Puritanical beliefs and are forced to make life-changing decisions. Also starring in this film are Robert Sean Leonard and Ethan Hawke.

Watch It: If you're an English major, aspiring educator or anarchist.

Skip It: If you believe in tradition, honor, discipline and excellence at all costs.

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