The Host

It's becoming more clear every year. While the American movie market takes a dive, Foreign cinema is on a roll. The latest flick to rock South Korea is a Korean-Japanese co-production that wraps horror, comedy and political satire into one cool monster movie that both defies logic and amuses to the max. An American official orders his Korean assistant to dump down the drain a bunch of old formaldehyde bottles, thus poisoning the Han River and creating a squid-like icky beast with (of course) razor-sharp teeth that eventually terrorizes and snacks on the tourist-filled river bank. The Host pays homage to the slew of cold-war films where mutant insects on atomic steroids wreak havoc on humans, but here we also get some poignancy as a dysfunctional family pulls together to save their schoolgirl daughter and defeat the beast. The film makes social and political jabs wherever it can and we Americans deserve it. If you can laugh at yourself, you'll love The Host.

The Secret

Have you heard The Secret? For $30 bucks you too can learn how to have the world eating out the palm of your hands. Um, sure. Now I'm not saying that this new DVD, book and audio book is bunk but after watching the 90-minute movie, I'm not quite ready to say, "Oh my God, this changed my life!" The Secret has been touted on Oprah and in The New York Times, becoming the hottest thing to trample America since Bikram yoga and Starbucks. It's basically a glorified infomercial that drolls on and on about the Law of Attraction - like attracts like; believe that good things will happen to you, picture good things happening to you, and they will come; wealth, love, happiness, you name it. This is really nothing new nor 'revolutionary'. Peter Pan sang in 1953 "Think happy thoughts and up you go!" I'm either absolutely brilliant or totally clueless. I got The Secret's point in the first 15 minutes. Hearing personal growth experts like Joe Vitale, Bill Harris, Bob Doyle hammer home the idea that our minds create our reality was just overkill. But maybe others need to hear the same thing repeated a hundred different ways. Maybe you need examples of how to think positively. If you do, then you'll love this movie and what it just may do to your life- or at least your attitude.

300

Sin City meets the History of Ancient Greece. In 480 B.C. a Spartan army of 300, led by King Leonidis, held their ground against a massive Persian contingent set to crush and enslave these Greeks. Believing in democracy and freedom, the warriors marched off in their underwear to wield spears and shields in the Battle of Thermopylae and a suicide mission to honor their king and kingdom. Any homophobic man watching this adaptation of Frank Miller's graphic novel will squirm in his seat and undoubtably find the sweaty, bare-chested he-men outrageously flaming but you gotta think -1) this is Greece - land of homosexuality; 2) this is Greece in B.C. -when this sort of thing was only broken up by the occasional orgy; 3) who the hell cares when you're a woman watching these insanely gorgeous non-CGI'd bodies? Shot almost entirely against a green screen, with settings and effects inserted by computer, the look of 300 is as stunning as the actors' physiques. The movie was dark, unapologetically bloody, preachy and thrilling. Despite its predictability and heavy-handedness, 300 is Saturday matinee material all the way. But keep the kiddies and homophobes away.