Hatchet II

Adam Green's sequel to his 2006 cult horror hit, Hatchet, gets released to the big screen this weekend and this time out it is unrated and uncut. Victor Cowley, played by genre favorite bad guy Kane Hodder, is back and is working his way through the the family of the kids who saw him killed as a child by his father. Outside of the buckets of blood and the in your face gore, plenty of genre favorites are back too including Tony Todd, Tom Holland, and Danielle Harris taking over the role of Marybeth. I did not see the first film, a situation soon to be remedied, but rarely does anything horror related get released unrated and uncut any more so I had to check this out and I even paid for my ticket. I knew I was in for a good old time when in the first kill of the film has Victor ripping out a man's large intestine, dragging him across the floor with it and then strangling him with the intestine until his head pops off in a geyser of blood - great stuff!

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Secretariat

One of the greatest race horses of all time stars in the latest Disney film to hit theaters for a sneak preview this weekend. The film stars Diane Lane as Penny Chenery who returns to her Virginia family home to help her ailing father after the loss of his wife and saves the family's horse business and reputation with the birth of a new foal that grows up and ultimately goes on to win the triple crown. Other cast notables are John Malkovich as Lucien Lauren the trainer, Margo Martindale as Mrs Ham the farm manager, and Nelsan Ellis as Eddie Sweat the horse's handler, who most will recognize as Lafayette from True Blood. Disney always deliveries in its bio pics and this one does not disappoint with re-enactments being augmented with actual footage from the time that I recall seeing live when I was a child. A great family film that make me nostalgic remembering watching all of the Disney classic films and cartoons on TV Sunday nights during The Wonderful World of Disney - good times.

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Case 39

Renee Zellweger has finally made it back to the horror genre in her latest film after a long hiatus since 1994's Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation. Zellweger stars as overloaded social worker Emily Jenkins who gets stuck with another case file that turns dangerous when the child's parents are stopped in the act of trying to burn their child alive in the kitchen's gas oven. Are the parents really insane or is there something else going on with innocent little Lilith played by Jodelle Ferland who we remember from other genre favorites like Silent Hill and Kingdom Hospital. The effects are rather tame and the story is nothing really new but the bathroom scene with Bradley Cooper is fun to watch and channels a bit of E.G. Marshall from Creepshow. If you want to see a good horror flick this weekend, go and see Let Me In instead.

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The Social Network

I have been looking forward to the release of this movie ever since first seeing the trailer and I can say the film does deliver and Jesse Eisenberg's performance is a tour de force. They say beware of the woman scorned but heaven help you if you are on the receiving end of a genius computer geek who can write code in his sleep, can hack networks in a single bound and is pissed because he just lost his girlfriend. As a friend on mine stated so aptly, this film is not about the rise of Facebook but rather the rise of an internet empire and the collateral damage to friends and enemies along the way. Justin Timberlake delivers a good performance as well as Napster founder Sean Parker but the question is will the singer turned actor ever go back to singing? Who cares about the singing but do go see this movie because it is incredibly good and entertaining to watch unravel.

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Let Me In

2008's Swedish sleeper hit, Let The Right One in, gets the American film treatment this weekend and stars our new favorite young actress, Chloe Moretz, just off her big staring role as Hit-Girl in Kick-Ass. Moretz stars as Abby, a twelve year old vampire who has been twelve for a very long time, who reluctantly befriends Owen, played by Kodi Smit-McPhee, a fellow apartment complex resident who is bullied at school and has no friends. Richard Jenkins plays Abby's father who must sacrifice himself to protect Abby from the local police when one of his dinner procurements goes horribly wrong. As remakes go this is a good one with more money for effects but it does not surpass the original film in any way. This is a great original story that everyone should see and will surprise you on just how good vampire stories can be.

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