As scary movies make their comeback on the big-screens, Oscar-winning actresses like Hilary Swank get in on the genre, in this case a classic “intellectual up against the unexplainable” entry. Swank is a deeply skeptical scientist who travels to the Deep South to debunk rumors of the visitation of the Ten Plagues upon a Louisiana town. Naturally, her rational explanations for rivers turned to blood and the like begin to fall apart as she meets up with the potentially evil little girl (AnnaSophia Robb) who seems to be the source of all this Biblically-proportioned unpleasantness.

If you’re a Parker Posey fan, then you don’t even need a description of this film—you’ll see “new movie” and “Parker Posey” and you’ll rush right in and rent the DVD. If you require a little more information, then let me tell you that director Zoe Cassevetes’s big screen debut is the best romantic comedy that you’ll see this year. While the outline of the plot is no great shakes (semi-neurotic 30-something New Yorker can’t find a good man, then, maybe, finds one), Posey owns this role and makes it charming beyond belief.

The Grand Jury Prize winner at Cannes this year and part of an interesting to-be-continued trilogy project (the second and third movies will feature the same characters, but have different directors), Red Road is a terse thriller that will keep you riveted as the mysterious connections between an ex-con and the woman who spots him on Red Road’s video surveillance camera and then begins to stalk him begin to emerge.

An animated time traveling romp from Disney, based on the children’s book “A Day with Wilbur Robinson” by William Joyce. Orphan/inventor Lewis encounters the entertaining Robinson family of the title in the year 2037 as he embarks on a fantastic journey in search of his mother.

Critics agreed that this is Tyler Perry’s best film to date, but suggest that there is room for improvement in this romantic comedy/melodrama with a heart. Idris Elba stars as Monty, a single father struggling to gain custody of his daughters with the help of Julia (Gabrielle Union), his unlucky-in-love lawyer.

A rather silly movie that places Zach Braff in all manner of tough situations. Tom Reilly loses his job in Manhattan and is forced to move his wife (Amanda Peet) and newborn child to his wife’s hometown where he humbles himself in working for his father-in-law. Meanwhile, his wife’s old flame (Jason Bateman) begins his evil, passive aggressive machinations to worm his way into the family.

Although this 2006 thriller stars big name actors Morgan Freeman and John Cusack, it passed pretty much under the radar, garnering little critical attention at all. Freeman plays a hit man out to fulfill his contract and generally mucking up Cusack’s bereaving family’s hiking trip.

Richard Gere stars as Clifford Irving, the journalist who captured that attention of the nation with his exclusive interview with famous recluse, Howard Hughes. Unfortunately, Irving never got the interview, but that didn’t stop him from pulling off the infamous hoax of the title. A really enjoyable movie directed by Lasse Hallström (Chocolat, Cider House Rules).

I can recommend this movie to two segments of the population: first, fans of Rupert Grint, the ginger-haired actor best known as Ron Weasley in the Harry Potter movies; second, pre-teen boys who find nothing funnier than a good fart joke. Thunderpants, the heartwarming story of a gassy boy who achieves fame and success, is, as you can imagine, rife with this sort of humor.

Thirteen year old Emerson hasn’t quite been introduced to “normal” life yet. He’s home schooled by his very liberal parents, Kaya and Rog and spends most of his free time with his parents’ friends, doing what they do (smoking pot, taking naked saunas, you know, the usual). When Kaya decides to mix things up by sending Emerson to public school she expects their family life to “normalize”—this doesn’t quite happen, actually. A film-festival favorite.

Horror movie sequels tend not to be, um, shall we say, “good”. 28 Weeks Later is a notable exception. Whether you enjoyed 2003’s clever and original 28 Days Later or you’re just a fan of zombie-rampage movies, pick up this on-the-edge-of-your-seat chiller which picks up, more or less, where the first movie left off.

A cute film based on the events from the life of the actress Elizabeth Shue. Her brother, Andrew, directed this movie which follows the teenaged Gracie, the only girl in a family of boys, a talented soccer player and all-around fire-cracker. When tragedy hits the family, Gracie rises to the occasion and does exactly what all the naysayers insist she can’t or shouldn’t do. You go, Gracie! Elizabeth Shue plays Gracie’s mother. How confusing is that?

If you like dogs or are a fan of Molly Shannon (the Mary Katherine Gallagher character from SNL), you will be taken in by Mike White’s dark comedy/romantic comedy. If you are emotionally destroyed by movies where people are devastated by the loss of their beloved pets, you should probably rent another movie. Sorry. The dog dies.

Katherine Heigl and Seth Rogan in a comedy directed by Judd Apatow. It’s a good movie—everyone agrees. Just give up and rent it already. You’re not impressing anybody by being “above it all”, you’re just setting yourself up to be not in on the jokes later. Rent it! Thank you.

James McAvoy does a creditable Hugh Grant impersonation in this Brit flick as the self-deprecating but loveable university student Brian Jackson, a simple man who wants nothing more than to be a contestant on a game show. Set in the 80s, it has a killer soundtrack. A definite must for you Anglophiles out there.

A clever how’d-he-do-it murder-mystery/investigation/courtroom drama starring Anthony Hopkins as an unassuming engineer with a dead wife, and Ryan Gosling as the prosecutor who just knows that Hopkins did it. He totally knows it, but dangit, how can he prove it? He’s totally going to figure it out, though, you can tell. Both actors are great here—lots of palpable tension to cover up for the completely far-fetched plot devices.

To promote his film and recommend actress Laura Dern’s nomination for an Oscar, director David Lynch sat on a street corner with a horse and a placard with Dern’s name on it. The horse has nothing to do with the movie, but it got probably got people’s attention. Lynch fans will find much to sink their teeth into. Neophytes might want to dive into the visual representation of what happens in Lynch’s mind with this one.

“Stone Cold” Steve Austin has a gun! He’s in El Salvador! Watch out, bad guys, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin is kicking butt and taking names! Did I mention he has a gun?

Sorry to disappoint you—this isn’t the Russell Crowe, Christian Bale film yet. You’ll have to wait a few more months for that one. What we have here is Delmar Daves’ 1957 original starring Glenn Ford and Van Heflin. The storyline is basically the same, but if you saw James Mangold’s reinterpretation, you’ll quickly see that we’ve got two essentially different films on our hands here.

Joshua Jackson (ER) is Duncan—young, irresponsible and close to his grandparents, who even hook him up with their nurse, Kate (Juliette Lewis). This wouldn’t be a movie if Duncan fell in love and lived happily other with his grandparents’ blessing, so let’s just say Duncan’s grandfather (a top-notch Donald Sutherland) becomes gravely ill and suicidal just as things start looking up for the fellow. A good film that you probably missed on the screen.

If you didn’t catch the first two seasons of this fantastic Canadian TV series, grab them now and get yourself up to speed. Paul Gross, Martha Burns, Don McKellar, Mark McKinney, and the rest of the stellar ensemble cast are back for the third and final season of this hit show about the ghost-plagued, madman-managed, financially-troubled New Burbage Festival. This time, the Shakespearean troupe takes on King Lear. Sarah Polley joins the cast as Sophie, the festival’s Cordelia.

Director Neil Armfield brings Luke Davies' novel Candy: A Novel of Love and Addiction to the screen with Heath Ledger, Abbie Cornish and Geoffrey Rush. Armfield organizes his film three acts, following the lovers played by Ledger and Cornish through their drug-addicted descent from Heaven, to Earth and into Hell.

Steven Soderbergh plays out his neo-noir film in post-war Berlin—Jake (George Clooney) is the moral American journalist caught up in treachery and deception, trying to find where he stands with the two-faced Tully (Tobey Maguire) and his troublesome ex Lena (Cate Blanchet).

After actress Annabelle Gurwitch was fired by Woody Allen, she took to the streets to gather evidence that she was not alone in her state of forced unemployment. This semi-documentary comedy shares dismissal tales and career advice from Sarah Silverman, Tim Allen, Andy Dick and more.

I’m trying to avoid the words “heartwarming” and “charming” in this review, but it’s hard to do. Based on the award-winning novel Pobby and Dignan, Peter Cattaneo directs this [insert appropriate but hackneyed phrase here] film about lost imaginary friends. Kellyanne Williamson’s imaginary friends, Pobby and Dignan, are her closest allies, but no end of annoyance to her family members who have to include the two invisible children in every activity or suffer Kellyanne’s anger and tears. When Mr. Williamson abandons the invisible companions in an opal mine, Kellyanne becomes ill with grief and her older brother spearheads a community-wide manhunt to bring them back.

In Isabel Coixet’s original and gripping film, the taciturn, anti-social, partially-deaf Hanna (Sarah Polley) connects with the bedridden and blinded oil rig worker, Josef (Tim Robbins), letting down her high defenses and sharing the horrors she experienced in her native Yugoslavia during the Balkan war. The two are separated, but before he finds her again, Josef first delves into Hanna’s history to uncover more of her secrets.

Morgan Freeman is an out-of work actor looking for inspiration in a shabby neighborhood grocery store where Paz Vega’s Scarlet works as a cashier. This charming, quiet film makes the most out of Freeman and Vega’s great performances.

Critics and moviegoers alike walked out of screenings of Tideland when it premiered in 2006. Now Terry Gilliam has released his controversial film on DVD and prefaces the feature with a warning to home-viewers: "Many of you are not going to like this film. Many of you, luckily, are going to love it. And then there are many of you who won't know what to think when the film finishes but hopefully you will be thinking." Check it out and see what you think of this “fractured fairy tale”.

A heartwarming tale of optimism from Mark and Michael Polish (Twin Falls, Idaho). Billy Bob Thornton is Charles Farmer, a small town man with astronomical ambitions. With Virginia Madsen, Tim Blake Nelson and Jon Gries.

Originally a mini-series on the Sci-Fi Network, this supernatural mystery features Peter Krause as a detective searching for the clues that will uncover the mystery of Room 10 of the Sunshine Motel—the source of numerous disappearances, including that of his daughter (Elle Fanning).

Fans of director Hal Hartley will want to see this movie, which picks up where the great Henry Fool left off, seven years later. Henry is missing, Fay is raising their son and Simon has been imprisoned for helping Henry escape. This sequel takes turns you wouldn’t expect, quickly metamorphosing into an international spy thriller with Parker Posey’s Fay Grim at the center of a dangerous mystery.

A surreal and gothic fairytale from the Quay brothers. The evil Dr. Droz kidnaps a beautiful and talented opera singer and involves a mild-mannered piano tuner in his diabolical plans. The film, while live action, features some of the eerie and fantastic animation for which the Quays have become famous.

Critics really liked Nick Nolte’s turn as a struggling alcoholic high-school baseball umpire in this 2006 film from James Ponsoldt. Trevor Morgan plays the teen with which Nolte develops a mutually-beneficial friendship, something that seems unlikely when the teen is caught vandalizing the umpire’s house.

A truly creepy stalker thriller that will leave you disturbed. Amy (Ana Claudia Talancon) thinks she’s met the perfect guy—they seem so much in common and share similar interests. Could this be because Doug (Colin Hanks) has secretly hidden cameras and microphones in Amy’s house and monitors her every move 24 hours a day? Might be. Great acting in this classic genre updated for the 21st century.

Two prostitutes from very different backgrounds meet through violent circumstance and become friends. An unflinching, unromanticized exploration of the relationships, dreams and desires of an often forgotten or sentimentalized class. An Independent Film Channel production, directed by Fernando León de Aranoa.

This children’s classic, written by Katherine Paterson in 1977, has been brought to the big screen by Rugrats animator Gabor Csupo. Young outsiders Jess and Leslie retreat to an imaginary world of their own creation, a kingdom of wonder where the two gain courage to face the bullying they receive at school and the problems Jess faces at home.