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Konstantinos Koutsolitas is a visual effects supervisor for American films like Guardians of the Galaxy and 300: The Rise of an Empire. You might have guessed by his name that he is Greek, so it is natural that his first directing effort would be Greek. The Winter is about a struggling writer who tries to hide his failures that he left behind in London from his noisy and intrusive family. Dimitri Gounaras (Vangelis Mourikis) moves back to the deserted ancestral home of his father, which has been abandoned for some time. There is madness in the house, or perhaps just in members of his family, and there are ghosts lurking, real or imagined.

With The Choice, there have now been 11 movies based on the work of mega-selling author Nicholas Sparks. (Eat your heart out, John Grisham.) However, I'm pretty sure that even the most ardent Sparks fan/apologist caught on to the author's formula about 8 or 9 tearjerkers ago, and practically every one of those clichés is in full force here. But while The Choice calls back to the most successful Sparks adaptation, the movie also explores a less glamorous side of romance that we're not used to seeing on screen.

The setup is actually quite elegant in its simplicity: a man protects his house — and the terrified little girl who bursts into it one day — from a cold-blooded killer. Despite becoming a bit tedious in its middle section and a little improbable during the finale, Standoff absolutely lives up to its title. The movie is carried by a pair of strong lead performances and subtly effective stylistic touches from its first-time director.

Ever since Narc and Training Day became critical and financial successes, it seems everyone has tried to follow the formula of corrupt cops and their partners trying to do the right thing.  Factor in the society outlook on dirty cops; Badge of Honor at first glance would appear to be a sure-fire hit. Unfortunately, it’s a misfire that never seemed to have much of a chance. When we first meet Jessica (Mena Suvari), she is a beat cop who is called in with her partner checking in \on a domestic disturbance report.  Things get out of hand, and her partner overreacts with extreme force and beats a suspect. 

Say Uncle. That’s U.N.C.L.E., otherwise known as the United Network Command for Law and Enforcement. Starting in 1964, The Man From U.N.C.L.E. was one of a flurry of shows to take advantage of the new James Bond craze. It featured many of the same elements as the super-spy films. You had sophisticated spies in tuxedos. There were plenty of gadgets. And there were constant threats of world domination, mostly from the evil counter organization, THRUSH. The two top spies for the good guys were Napoleon Solo (Vaughn) and Illya Kuryakin (McCallum). The Bond references were never subtle and always intentional. Ian Fleming himself consulted on the show and named Napoleon Solo after a Bond character. Together Solo and Kuryakin would travel around the globe, saving the world from almost certain doom.

Ever since Twilight and The Hunger Games have taken off to become successful young-adult franchises, it would seem studios have scooped up just about every young-adult property in hopes of catching this magic (or money) in a bottle.  While these cash-cow franchises continue to pop up, it sadly seems these dystopian titles lack the quality of their predecessors and bring nothing new to the screen either.  When it comes to The 5^th Wave, we are given a little hope that perhaps this time, now that the villains are aliens, that we may get something new; unfortunately, this is a wave that smacks its audience in the face with more of the same old story we’ve been tired of for some time.

I Believe In Unicorns is a small independent movie that few people will see. It’s the kind of film experience people don’t see much of because the culture is saturated with pre-packaged product. That’s probably a bad thing. The film is by writer/director Leah Meyerhoff, and one of the stars is her mother, Toni. Leah doesn’t have much of a resume aside from a number of shorts, one of which is included on the DVD. Twitch is an early inspiration for the feature film. In both versions, Toni plays a wheelchair-bound woman cared for by her teenage daughter. This is clearly a very personal project for Leah and Toni, who is afflicted with MS.

As soon as you see the opening credits to The Last House, you have a pretty idea that you're not in Kansas anymore, which was quite strange for me, since I'm supposed to be in Florida. Director Sean Cain lets you know up front that the film will challenge your ability to keep up. It doesn't help that you get an intercut of actor Ezra Buzzington spouting some kind of philosophy that makes no sense, partly because you can't  understand everything he's even saying. Sadly, the film doesn't come with subtitles, so it appears that Cain just doesn't want you to get comfortable at all. Well... mission accomplished. So, is that a good thing or a bad thing?

"A long time ago in a galaxy far far away..."

It sure does seem like it was a long time ago since Star Wars was actually very good. It doesn't matter if you thought Empire or Jedi was the last good film; few people that I've encountered mentioned the more recent trilogy in the same sacred breath as those original films. Star Wars gave us swashbuckler adventure in the spirit of the early serials. Then it was about a mythical epic story that swept a generation into its colorful universe. What George Lucas created in the late 1970's will never die.