Peculiar Reviewer

Tim Burton 's latest, Dark Shadows , sees him returning back to his classic comedy-with-a-shot-of-goth, reminiscent of his Beetlejuice days . A delightful relief from the mainstream, the film is loosely based on the Gothic soap opera that aired from 1966 to 1971, which has since enjoyed status as a cult TV show. The undead Barnabas Collins ( Johnny Depp ) is cursed to be a vampire in the year 1760 by a bitter femme of whom he did not return her request for eternal love. Released from his coffin to exist in a slightly different 1972, Barnabas returns to his mansion at Collinwood to become a part of the living Collins clan, who is a family that is just the right brew of strangeness I'd like to be undead with . Chloë Grace Moretz ( Let Me In , Kick-Ass ) is the David Bowie, T-Rex loving, angsty teenager living in her own created ambiance . Michelle Pfeiffer is timeless, gracing us with her Gothic stairway entrance. Helena Bonham Carter plays the pill-popping psychiatrist w...

Hammer Horror rises from the grave with their latest horror-thriller The Woman in Black . Post-Potter Daniel Radcliffe is the young lawyer that travels to an unsettling village where he discovers the rancorous ghost (or undead?) of a scorned woman who is terrorizing the local living. Screenwriter Jane Goldman ( Kick-Ass , X-Men: First Class ) builds the horror slowly, killing us softly with her tone. The bleak atmosphere. The chasing shadows. The creepy score. (Mother) Mary Shelley would be proud. Hammer Horror history has been made with The Woman in Black being their highest grossing film yet, earning $20 million opening weekend. Remember the time when things on-screen were frightening for just being uncanny? There wasn't entirely a reason for them to be there, yet they just are, and that is what scares us. Expect the unexpected.

A brief playground fight leads to an awkward deliberation between the children's parents in Roman Polanski 's ( The Pianist, Chinatown ) delightful black comedy Carnage . Based on the play God of Carnage by Yasmina Reza, this film's bare bones dialogue and tense confrontation between the two couples is reminiscent of the masterpiece Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? , and Hitchcock's Rope. From the first glimpse of the credits zooming in on us, we know that all will be exposed, in due time. Kate Winslet ( Eternal Sunshine, The Reader ) perpetually delivers, and the perfectly cast John C. Reilly ( Cyrus, The Hours ) does classic-Reilly. Polanski, who is not shy with the up close(-up) and personal shots of his characters, has been able to capture perfect comic timing. I'm talking riotous. For a movie that takes place primarily in the same living room, you've got to have an absurdly talented cast to keep the audience interested. Carnage knows exactly what...

Two words: Meryl Streep . Virtually unrecognizable, Streep removes herself completely, becoming the United Kingdom's first female Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. The Iron Lady fought for power in a male-dominated party, as did Streep fight to save this film. Mamma Mia! Phyllida Lloyd's showy editing techniques are merely a distraction from the storyline, and our focus on Streep, who delivers as if completely unaware of the camera. Watch as Meryl's penetrating performance takes over, albeit the director should have taken her job as seriously as Thatcher did. Streep's iron fist dominates both the UK, and the picture. Academy Award nom number 17?   

The year was 1927. Just as the talkies were coming along and beginning to evade the era of the silents, Kinograph's George Valentin ruled the title card film screens with that teeth-for-days face. Before the silent film star abruptly fades away with silence, he meets the fledgling, yet talented actress Peppy Miller. I know what you're thinking: we don't need another A Star is Born remake, right? Well, this one changes the game, and the color, and removes the chatter. Apparently, the stars Jean Dujardin and Bérénice Bejo rehearsed their dance scenes in Gene Kelly and Debbie Reynold's studio! But, The Artist does more than just sing in the rain...It danced its way into nostalgic black-and-white hearts from here to eternity.