Peculiar Reviewer

From the very beginning, The Hunger Games had me enthralled with its eccentric storyline. The Fifth Element 's spawn, The Hunger Games is set in a future where the Capitol (the rich) pick boys and girls from one of the twelve Districts to fight to the death, while broadcasting the game on live television for all to see. The film critiques our reality obsessed nation, taking it further with spectators being engrossed with a game where young people are forced to kill each other. 24 will fight, and only 1 will come out alive and be able to return home. The filmmaker produces a raw tension that can cut like a bow-n-arrow. Don't be swayed by the reviews about the excessive shaky camera ala Blair Witch - because it is utilized only during tension-filled scenes, drawing you further into the action. You've seen Jennifer Lawrence kick ass before in 2010's Winter's Bone , and she's back with a vengeance as Katniss (the coolest name for a female heroine ever). Shown ...

Now in its fourth season on Logo , RuPaul's Drag Race is the only essential reality series on television- in the search to find America's next Drag superstar. America's Next Top what? Project who? If you're not watching this show, what the frock are you doing? Ladies, put down that busted brush and take ample notes from these ladyboys. Currently an upcoming spin-off All Stars: RuPaul's Drag Race is accepting fan votes to pick their favorite queens from the series. The chosen queens will return with a vengeance Fall 2012 in another chance to avert lip-syncing for their lives, and snatch the coveted crown. Did someone say Cher? Team Chad Michaels or bust! So fasten your seat belts, it's going to be a bumpy night on Monday @ 9/8c!

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...

Only four more days remain until the official 84th Academy Award nominees will be announced on Jan. 24th, yet I couldn't wait. So after careful consideration and several glasses of wine, I've concocted a list of my own predictions. 2011 had a lot of hits. But it also had a plethora of misses. Naturally, my keen eye for a stah-pictcha has helped me to dodge the lot of them. Thankfully we can rest freely knowing that Oscar-host-heavyweight Billy Crystal will steer the show in a better direction than last year's train-wreck hosts James Franco (pretty boy) and Anne Hathaway ( Catwoman ). Oscar night is Sunday, February 26th , so get your ballots and red faux carpets ready for the main event! And the predictions are... Best Supporting Actress, Octavia Spencer - The Help ( She'll be celebrating with her famous pie)   Best Supporting Actor, Kenneth Branagh - My Week With Marilyn (He should know Sir Laurence Olivier best- he used to write him letters!) Best Actress , Mer...