Monsters vs. Aliens

Susan Murphy (Reese Witherspoon) is hit by a radioactive meteor on the day of her wedding to weatherman Derek Dietl (Paul Rudd), absorbing a substance called quantonium and growing into a giantess. Alerted to the meteor crash, the military arrive and capture Susan. She is labeled a monster, renamed "Ginormica", and sent to a top-secret facility containing other monsters: B.O.B. (Seth Rogen), a brainless, indestructible gelatinous blob; Dr. Cockroach, Ph.D. (Hugh Laurie), a mad scientist with the head and abilities of a cockroach; the Missing Link (Will Arnett), an amphibious fish-ape hybrid; and Insectosaurus, a colossal grub that is even larger than Susan. The monsters are forbidden to have any contact with the outside world; while the other monsters have been living contentedly with this lifestyle for the past 50 years, Susan feels incredibly isolated and immediately misses her family, friends, and fiancé.

An alien named Gallaxhar (Rainn Wilson) detects the quantonium radiation emanating from Earth and deploys a gigantic robotic probe to find it and extract it from its source, Susan. After a botched attempt by the President of the United States (Stephen Colbert) to make first contact with the robot, it begins destroying everything in sight. General W.R. Monger (Kiefer Sutherland), head of the monster-containment facility, convinces the President to use the monsters to fight the robot. The monsters accept the mission with the promise of freedom if they succeed. Arriving in San Francisco, Susan is chased by the robot across the city to the Golden Gate Bridge, where the monsters are able to defeat the robot.

Now free, Susan reunites with her family and introduces them to the monsters, who are dejected after innocently causing a panicked ruckus. She meets up with Derek but he breaks up with her to prevent her from overshadowing his career. Heartbroken, Susan meets up with the other monsters when she is abducted by Gallaxhar, who kills Insectosaurus when he tries to save her. After being chased around the ship by Susan, Gallaxhar extracts the quantonium from her body, returning her to her normal size. He then proceeds to clone himself into an army so he can invade Earth.

B.O.B., the Missing Link and Dr. Cockroach infiltrate Gallaxhar's ship and rescue Susan. The monsters flee into the ship's power core where they hack into the control system and activate the ship's self-destruct sequence. Susan escapes but the other three are trapped. Susan confronts Gallaxhar, who tries to escape with the quantonium, and attempts to force him into releasing her friends. When Gallaxhar says he cannot reverse the sequence, Susan takes the quantonium back and absorbs it, restoring her to her gargantuan size and allowing her to save her friends. The monsters leap out of the exploding ship and are rescued by General Monger on the back of the newly-revived Insectosaurus, who had sealed his own body in a cocoon and transformed into a flying butterfly-like form.

The monster team receives a hero's welcome upon their return. Derek attempts to get back with Susan for the sake of interviewing her that could benefit his career; insulted, Susan publicly humiliates him instead, declaring her place is with her monster friends. At that moment, the team is alerted to a monster attack near Paris and set off to combat the new menace.

The Super Dimension Fortress Macross: Do You Remember Love?

The film revolves three chief characters, Hikaru Ichijyo (a hot-shot pilot), coquettish pop-star Lynn Minmay and the Fortress' first mate Misa Hayase. This story is framed by a war between humans and the alien Zentradi over possession of the space fortress Macross, which harbors tens of thousands of human civilians from Macross City. Crew and civilians know Earth was attacked but do not know the fate of the humans on Earth. However, it is revealed that the all-male Zentradi are fighting a war against their female counterparts: the Meltlandi; both genders, bred for war, are eventually stricken by their contact with Protoculture (human culture), particularly due to music and love.

Do You Remember love? begins in media res with the SDF-Macross trying to evade the Zentradi at the edge of the solar system. The Space Fortress houses an entire city with tens of thousands of civilians who are cut off from Earth. During the latest assault, Valkrie pilot Ichijo Hikaru rescues pop idol Lynn Minmei. This fateful meeting leads to a relationship between the singer and her #1 fan.

The Zentradi, meanwhile discover the debilitating and disruptive effect music has on the rank and file troops. Troubled by this, they capture Minmei, her cousin Kaifun, Roy Fokker, Hikaru and Hayase Misa. During an attack by the Meltrandi, Misa and Hikaru escape only to fold accidentally to a desolate world that turns out to be the Earth. As the two officers walk the blasted landscape of the now-desolate Earth they become closer. They also discover an ancient city of the Protoculture where the mysterious origins of the alien giants is revealed.

As the two galactic armies converge on the Macross, the conflict threatens to obliterate what's left of humanity whose only hope lies a song discovered by Misa and sung by Minmei.

The Matrix

Computer programmer Thomas A. Anderson leads a secret life as a hacker under the alias "Neo", and wishes to learn the answer to the question "What is the Matrix?". Cryptic messages appearing on his computer monitor and encounters with several sinister agents lead him to a group led by the mysterious Morpheus, a man who offers him the chance to learn the truth about the Matrix. Neo accepts by swallowing an offered red pill, and abruptly finds himself naked in a liquid-filled pod, his body connected by wires to a vast mechanical tower covered with identical pods. The connections are severed, and he is rescued by Morpheus and taken aboard his hovercraft, the Nebuchadnezzar. Neo's neglected physical body is restored, and Morpheus explains the situation.

Morpheus informs Neo that the year is not 1999, but estimated to be closer to 2199, and that humanity is fighting a war against intelligent machines created in the early 21st century. The sky is covered by thick black clouds created by the humans in an attempt to cut off the machines' supply of solar power. The machines responded by using human beings as their energy source, later growing countless people in pods and harvesting their bioelectrical energy and body heat. The world which Neo has inhabited since birth is the Matrix, an illusory simulated reality construct of the world as it was in 1999 developed by the machines to keep the human population docile in their captivity. Morpheus and his crew are a group of free humans who "unplug" others from the Matrix and recruit them to their resistance against the machines. Within the Matrix, they are able to use their understanding of its nature to bend the laws of physics within the simulation, giving them superhuman abilities. Morpheus believes that Neo is "the One", a man prophesied to end the war through his limitless control over the Matrix.

Neo is trained to become a member of the group. A socket in the back of Neo's skull, formerly used to connect him to the Matrix, allows knowledge to be uploaded directly into his mind. In this way, he learns numerous martial arts disciplines, and demonstrates his kung fu skills by sparring with Morpheus in a virtual reality "construct" environment similar to the Matrix, impressing the crew with his speed. Further training introduces Neo to the key dangers in the Matrix itself. Injuries suffered there are reflected in the real world; if he is killed in the Matrix, his physical body will also die. He is warned of the presence of Agents, fast and powerful sentient computer programs with the ability to take over the virtual body of anyone still directly connected to the Matrix, whose purpose is to seek out and eliminate any threats to the simulation. Morpheus is confident that once Neo fully understands his own abilities as "the One", they will be no match for him.

The group enters the Matrix and takes Neo to meet the Oracle, the woman who has predicted the eventual emergence of the One. She tells Neo that he has "the gift" of manipulating the Matrix, but that he is waiting for something, possibly his next life. From her comments, Neo deduces that he is not the One. She adds that Morpheus believes in Neo so blindly that he will sacrifice his life to save him. Returning to the hacked telephone line which serves as a safe "exit" from the Matrix, the group is ambushed by Agents and SWAT teams. Morpheus is captured, allowing Neo and the others to escape. They later learn that they were betrayed by the crew-member Cypher, who preferred his old life in ignorance of the real world's hardships and therefore made a deal with the Agents to give them Morpheus in exchange for a permanent return to the Matrix. The betrayal leads to the deaths of all crew-members except Neo, Trinity, Tank, and Morpheus, who is imprisoned in a government building within the Matrix. The Agents attempt to gain information from him regarding access codes to the mainframe of Zion, the humans’ subterranean refuge. Neo and Trinity return to the Matrix and storm the building to rescue their leader. Neo becomes more confident and familiar with manipulating the Matrix, ultimately dodging bullets fired at him by an Agent. Morpheus and Trinity use a subway station telephone to exit the Matrix, but before Neo can leave, he is ambushed by Agent Smith. He stands his ground and eventually defeats Smith, but flees when the Agent possesses another body.

As Neo runs through the city toward another telephone exit, he is pursued by the Agents while "Sentinel" machines converge on the Nebuchadnezzar's position in the real world. Neo reaches an exit, but he is ambushed by Agent Smith and shot dead. In the real world, Trinity whispers to Neo that she was told by the Oracle that she would fall in love with "the One", implying that this is Neo. She refuses to accept his death and kisses him. Neo's heart beats again, and within the Matrix, Neo revives; the Agents shoot at him, but he raises his palm and stops their bullets in mid-air. Neo is able to perceive the Matrix as the streaming lines of green code it really is. Agent Smith makes a final attempt to kill him, but his punches are effortlessly blocked, and Neo destroys him. The other two Agents flee, and Neo returns to the real world in time for the ship's EMP weapon to destroy the Sentinels that had already breached the craft's hull. A short epilogue shows Neo back in the Matrix, making a telephone call promising that he will demonstrate to the people imprisoned in the Matrix that "anything is possible". He hangs up the phone and flies into the sky.

The Day the Earth Stopped

The film centers on Josh Myron (C. Thomas Howell) as nearly 700 gigantic interplanetary robots land on Earth.

As the robots are landing, two humanoids arrive, one male and one female (Sinead McCafferty). Both are eventually captured by the military who tries to communicate with them. Eventually, the female starts talking to Myron and reveals that she can read his mind along with others. Myron is told that the entire human race is a threat to the rest of the galaxy and unless she is shown the value of humanity by sunset, the planet will be destroyed.

Attempts to communicate with the robots fail as they vaporize anyone that tries to attack them or even fires a rifle to get their attention. An effort is made to destroy the robots using Sidewinder Missiles. The missiles are ineffective, and the attacking planes are destroyed by laser attack.

The woman, who reveals that her name in its closest English translation is Skye, also displays the ability to harness surrounding energy to protect herself. However, after using that, the military officer in charge of the "mission" starts to use a Taser on Skye, forcing Myron to intervene and be thrown off the project. He goes AWOL and as he is driving away, he is contacted by Skye telepathically and he returns to rescue her. The effort proves successful and starts a city-wide search for him and Skye.

The male also manages to escape as the robots begin a systemic attack on the planet, first with an EMP (which aides in Josh rescuing Skye). It's also discovered that the robots are slowing down the Earth's core and stopping the planet's rotation.

An effort is made to destroy one of the robots with a nuclear explosion, sacrificing 9000 inhabitants of a small island. When the bomb goes off, it is unclear if the robot is destroyed, but Skye feels the pain of the people dying and almost passes out. Josh takes the time to comfort Skye before the military finds them again. Myron and Skye come across a married couple and have to put the wife in the back, as she is in labor. The husband delivers the child, but is unaware of a complication until he realizes that his wife has stopped breathing. Myron hands the infant to Skye and is quickly told that she's holding the value of humanity. Myron and the husband desperately try to revive the wife but are unsuccessful. Myron realizes that the wife is dead and stops applying CPR. Skye, despite her earlier statement that she would not get involved, changes her mind and uses her powers to resurrect the wife.

Skye, now convinced of the value of humanity, needs to get to the closest robot to return home and end the invasion. Before they can get to the robot, Skye is shot by the military. Both are taken back to the base where Skye is treated for the injury as the planet's rotation stops and a major global earthquake hits.

The commander realizes, finally, that Myron was telling the truth and helps Myron move Skye to a vehicle. As they leave, they are chased by the psychologist, who is convinced that keeping Skye will prevent the robots from attacking further.

At the feet of the robot, Myron is shot. The robot, reacting to a perceived threat, vaporizes the psychologist. The man arrives, sees both Skye and Myron possibly dead, and uses his own powers to revive both. Skye, in gratitude, hugs Myron before both the unnamed man and Skye are beamed aboard. The invasion ends and the robots depart the planet after inflicting major damage.

Push

During the opening credits, a narrator (Dakota Fanning) tells us how those with abilities have been involved with the government since 1945. The opening scene shows two Movers, Nick Gant and his father on the run from the "Division". Realizing that escape is impossible, Nick's father tells him of a vision he received from a Watcher; a girl will give him a flower and he is to do what she says in order to "save us all." He then throws him through an air vent as Agent Henry Carver (Djimon Hounsou) of Division arrives. Nick's father then fights the Agents, taking out only two (on screen) before he is killed while Nick escapes.

Ten years later, the American Division is testing a potentially deadly augmentation drug on a Pusher named Kira (Camilla Belle). While the test seems like a failure, when the doctor moves in to check Kira's pulse, she reveals herself to be alive (the one and only to ever live). Knocking the doctor out, Kira steals his card and a syringe which has the drug in it and escapes with the help of her enhanced abilities and interference from a nearly-catatonic Watcher.

Two days later, the scene changes to Hong Kong, where an adult Nick Gant (Chris Evans) is hiding from Division as an expatriate. Though he attempts to use his ability to make a living, he displays a poor skill at "moving" and is not successful at fixing a local dice game, leaving him in debt to a local Triad—which happens to be controlled by Bleeders bred by the now defunct Chinese Division. After making his escape from the gamblers, he returns to his apartment and finds that the American Division has located him. Two Sniff Agents, Mac and Holden (Cory Stoll and Scott Michael Campbell), demand to know if he has seen a certain girl. While Mac sniffs around Nick's apartment, Holden psychically reads about Nick's actions in this apartment, and finds out he hasn't yet met the girl. The two Agents then leave, taking Nick's toothbrush in case they need to find him again.

Blood: The Last Vampire

The story is set in the American Yokota Air Base located in post-WWII Japan, a few months before the beginning of the Vietnam War. Its main protagonist is a girl named Saya, who hunts hematophagous bat-like creatures called chiropterans for a secret organization known as the Red Shield.

Terminator Salvation

At the beginning, John does not start off as leader of the human resistance, but he will work his way up through the ranks in the film. He is also mistrusted by other soldiers due to his extensive knowledge of Skynet. McG said that it will be about the development of the Model 101 Terminator as well: scenes involve humans being captured and studied by Skynet in order to perfect their cybernetic organisms and John explaining "if we let these things go online, the war is over." Skynet captures Kyle Reese because it is aware Reese is John's father, and uses him as a bait in an attempt to kill John.

Star Wars

The prequel trilogy follows the upbringing of Anakin Skywalker, who is discovered by the Jedi Knight Qui-Gon Jinn. He is believed to be the "Chosen One" foretold by Jedi prophecy to bring balance to the Force. The Jedi Council, led by Yoda, sense that his future is clouded with fear, but reluctantly allow Qui-Gon's apprentice Obi-Wan Kenobi to train Anakin after Qui-Gon is killed by the Sith Lord Darth Maul. At the same time, the planet Naboo is under attack, and its ruler, Queen Padmé Amidala, seeks the assistance of the Jedi to repel the attack. The Sith Lord Darth Sidious secretly planned the attack to give his alias, Senator Palpatine, a pretense to overthrow the Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Republic. The remainder of the prequel trilogy chronicles Anakin's fall to the dark side, as Sidious attempts to create an army to defeat the Jedi and lure Anakin to be his apprentice. Anakin and Padmé fall in love and eventually she becomes pregnant. Anakin soon succumbs to his anger, becoming the Sith Lord Darth Vader. While Sidious re-organizes the Republic into the Galactic Empire, Vader participates in the extermination of the Jedi Order, culminating in a lightsaber battle between him and Obi-Wan. After defeating his former apprentice, Obi-Wan leaves Vader for dead - but Sidious arrives shortly after to save him and put him into a suit of black armor that keeps him alive. At the same time, Padmé dies while giving birth to twins. The twins are hidden from Vader and not told of their true parents. Tatooine has two suns, as it is in a binary star system. This shot from A New Hope remains one of the most famous scenes of the entire saga.

The original trilogy begins 19 years later as Vader nears completion of the massive Death Star space station which will allow him and Sidious, now the Emperor, to crush the rebellion which has formed against the evil empire. He captures Princess Leia Organa who has stolen the plans to the Death Star and hidden them in droid R2-D2. R2-D2, along with his counterpart C-3PO, escape to the planet Tatooine. There, the droids are purchased by Luke Skywalker, son of Anakin, and his step-uncle and aunt. While Luke is cleaning R2-D2, he accidentally triggers a message put into the robot by Leia, who asks for assistance from Obi-Wan. Luke later assists the droids in finding the Jedi Knight, who is now passing as an old hermit under the alias Ben Kenobi. Obi-Wan tells Luke of his father's greatness, but says that he was killed by Vader. Obi-Wan and Luke hire the Corellian space pilot and smuggler Han Solo and his Wookiee co-pilot Chewbacca to take them to the rebels. Obi-Wan begins to teach Luke about the Force, but allows himself to be killed in a showdown with Vader during the rescue of Leia. His sacrifice allows the group to escape with the plans that allow the rebels to destroy the Death Star.

Vader continues to hunt down the rebels, and begins building a second Death Star. Luke travels to find Yoda to become trained as a Jedi, but is interrupted when Vader lures him into a trap by capturing Han and the others. Vader reveals that he is Luke's father and attempts to turn him to the dark side. Luke escapes, and returns to his training with Yoda. He learns that he must face his father before he can become a Jedi, and that Leia is his twin sister. As the rebels attack the second Death Star, Luke confronts Vader under the watch of the Emperor. Instead of convincing Luke to join the dark side, the young Jedi defeats Vader in a lightsaber duel and is able to convince him that there is still some good in him. Vader kills the Emperor before succumbing to his own injuries, and the second Death Star is destroyed, restoring freedom to the galaxy.

Coraline

Coraline Jones moves into the Pink Palace Apartments in Ashland, Oregon with her loving but work-consumed parents . While exploring the nearby forest, Coraline encounters a stray black cat and a boy who tends it, Wybie Lovat. She also befriends long-retired actresses Miss Spink and Miss Forcible, and an acrobat named Mr. Bobinsky.

While exploring her apartment complex, Coraline finds a small door closed by bricks. Awakened that night by a button-eyed "jumping mouse," she follows it to discover a passage extending beyond the miniature door, which leads her to an alternate version of the house grounds called the "Other World." Upon arrival therein, Coraline meets button-eyed doppelgangers of her mother and father, who claim to be her "Other" parents. These figures guide her to a more luxurious and attractive version of the house and its surroundings. The Other Mother and Father celebrate her presence with delicious food, a beautiful, enchanted garden, and the affection Coraline feels she is missing in her own world.

Coraline continues visiting the Other World, where she is entertained by the "Other" versions of Wybie and the neighbors. The black cat, who can speak when in the Other World, informs Coraline that the Other Mother and her world are a trap set to entice children who believe themselves neglected. Coraline refuses to believe this until the Other Mother offers for her to stay in the Other World if she will sew buttons over her eyes. Coraline demands to return to her real parents, angering the Other Mother into assuming a wretched, gangly form and trapping her in a small room behind a mirror as punishment. There she finds three ghost children who previously fell into the hands of the Other Mother and lost their eyes and souls to her.

With the help of the Other Wybie, Coraline escapes to her own world, only to find her real parents kidnapped by the Other Mother. Aided by the black cat and a seeing stone given to her by Spink and Forcible, Coraline returns to the Other World seeking to free her parents and the ghost children by challenging the Other Mother to a game. One by one, she finds the children's "eyes" (or rather their souls) and destroys the inhabitants of the Other World guarding them. She also finds her parents and tricks the Other Mother into opening the door to her own world, deliberately claiming that they are behind it, to make her escape, closing the door on, and severing, the Other Mother's hand.

Though her parents are safe (with no memory of the incident) and the ghost children have moved on to the afterlife, Coraline's task is not done. Coraline realizes that the Other Mother will try to enter her world to reclaim her, and goes to drop the only key to the door connecting their worlds down a well on the premises. The Other Mother's severed hand enters Coraline's world and attempts to retrieve the key, but it is destroyed by Coraline and Wybie and dropped down the well with the key. Having rid the world of the Other Mother, Coraline has a gardening party with her parents and neighbors.

Astro Boy

Set in futuristic Metro City, Astro Boy is a young robot with incredible powers created by a brilliant scientist in the image of the son he has lost. Unable to fulfill the grieving man's expectations, Astro Boy embarks on a journey in search of acceptance, experiencing betrayal and a netherworld of robot gladiators, before he returns to save Metro City and reconcile with the father who had rejected him.

Mutant Chronicles

The story is set in the year 2707. The film's version of the world is loosely based on that of the Mutant Chronicles role-playing game, where nearly everything is powered by steam, and mankind has exhausted Earth’s natural resources. The protagonists must battle against mutant creatures accidentally unleashed upon the planet.

Trick 'r Treat

Trick 'r Treat is an upcoming horror film. It was written and directed by Michael Dougherty and based on his short film Season's Greetings. Originally slated for an October 5, 2007 release, it was announced in September 2007 that the movie has been pushed back. Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures are slated to release the film at an undetermined date. IMDb currently has the release date set for April 24, 2009.

plot

The film is an anthology of five Halloween-related scary stories. One thing that ties the stories together is the presence of Sam, a mysterious pint-sized trick-or-treater with a burlap pumpkin mask who makes an appearance in all the stories, and who may only be costumed as a child.

Nothing is what it seems when a suburban couple learns the dangers of blowing out a Jack-o-Lantern before midnight; a terrifying principal (Dylan Baker) with a serial killer attitude teaches one neighbor the true meaning of Halloween; Laurie (Academy Award-winner Anna Paquin), a young woman dressed as little red riding hood, is stalked by a mysterious hooded figure at a local Halloween Festival; a group of pranksters goes too far and discovers the horrifying truth buried in a local urban legend of a school bus massacre; and a cantankerous old hermit (Brian Cox), is visited by a strange trick-or-treater (Sam) with a few bones to pick.

Things turn deadly as strange creatures of every variety — human and otherwise — try to survive the scariest night of the year.

Naruto: Shippūden the Movie 3

The opening scene of the movie shows Naruto fighting a monster, only to be killed by it. The setting then goes back to a few days previous, where a man named Yomi (the word meaning the Japanese underworld) attacks a shrine to retrieve the spirit of Mouryō, a demon who attempted to take over the world and create his "Thousand Year Kingdom". Since he is lacking a body, Yomi offers his as a temporary substitute until they can retrieve Mouryō's original one.

The only threat to Mouryō's plan is a priestess known as Shion, who can seal his spirit away once more. He raises a stone army from their slumber to attack the rest of the world while his four subordinates go to kill Shion. They are given special chakra creatures to enhance their strength.

To deal with the threat, Konohagakure sends out many advance teams to stall the stone army. Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno, Neji Hyuga and Rock Lee are sent to guard Shion and deliver her to the shrine where Mouryō's body is kept. They fend off her four would-be assassins, who exhaust themselves in a failed attempt to kill Naruto. Shion tells Naruto of his upcoming death; while initially skeptical, her assistant Taruho explains that Shion can see the future, and all 100 predictions she has made have come true. As they head for the shrine, the group is ambushed once again and split into two teams. Lee kills one of his opponents by eating an alcoholic candy to get him into Drunken Fist, while Naruto is kept busy by his. Neji tells Sakura to escape with Shion, unaware that his two opponents are actually just one man and a puppet. Sakura is disabled by the remaining ninja and Shion is killed.

This turns out to be a ruse: the dead "Shion" is actually Taruho, who transformed himself into a copy of Shion to trick them into thinking they killed the real one. Shion explains that her power works by allowing her spirit to jump back in time at the moment of her death, thereby allowing her to avoid it by having someone die in her place. Naruto insists that he will not die, and likewise will keep Shion safe.

Thanks to Lee, Neji realizes that the remaining three ninja must keep replenishing their chakra to battle effectively. Naruto is sent on ahead with Shion, while Sakura and Lee trick their opponents into wasting their chakra on futile attacks. When it comes time to replenish their chakra, Neji disables the final ninja, who was providing it, leaving the other two powerless against Lee and Sakura.

At the mountain temple where Mouryō's body is kept, Naruto and Shion find the stone army waiting. Naruto holds the army back while Shion heads inside to begin the sealing ritual. Yomi is already inside, and tricks Shion into beginning the technique with him inside the barrier, allowing Mouryō's spirit to reunite with his body. Naruto comes to rescue her. About to see her prediction of his death come true, she uses her power to change Naruto's fate, intending to kill herself and Mouryō to save him. Naruto stops her seconds before her death, and uses Naruto-Shion Super Chakra Rasengan with both their chakra to destroy Mouryou. With Mouryō gone, Naruto asks Shion what she intends to do now. She replies that Mouryō was a demon caused by the dark thoughts of men, and that there is bound to be another Mouryō someday. Because of this, she says that she must continue the line of priestesses that will suppress demons like Mouryō. Then she asks Naruto if he will help (indirectly asking if he will father her child), which an ignorant Naruto happily agrees to.

Underworld: Rise of the Lycans

The battle between pleather-bound vampires and scrunchy-faced werefolk rages on, this time in a medieval setting, in Underworld: Rise of the Lycans. This time, FX guru Patrick Tatopoulos takes the directing reins and, in doing so, crafts what could be the best that the series has to offer. While still far too serious for its own good, this entry manages to thrill without falling back on its second-rate Matrix roots. With no frenetic gunplay and tight close-ups of latex-covered rumps, the picture is freer to focus on its mythology, which was always the best thing that B-flick series had going for it. Boosted by a fantastic performance by Bill Nighy, Lycans has just enough bite to keep one interested as the backstory is fleshed out in this singular take on the clash between the top two creatures of the night.

Filling in the tale first told in the original Underworld flick, the prequel recalls the time when vampires had enslaved the half-man, half-beasts known as the Lycans. The plot picks up where Viktor (Bill Nighy), the leader of this particular bloodsucking tribe, spares the life of the first Lycan he encounters, Lucien (Michael Sheen). As the years go on, the vampires take advantage of this new race by breeding them as their slaves and protectors. As fate would have it, Viktor’s daughter, Sonja (Rhona Mitra), falls in love with Lucien, which inevitably leads to the revolt of the Lycans, with Viktor on one side and the forbidden union of his kin and Lucien on the other.

As with many prequels, the trick is keeping an audience’s interest despite them already knowing how it will end. In this case, Rise of the Lycans is fairly successful. The change to a medieval setting certainly helps things, as do the meaty acting chops of its warring leads, Sheen and Nighy. Mitra once again does a formidable job, as does the impossibly deep-voiced Kevin Grevioux, as the future co-leader of his monster tribe. Though the story does fall more into archetypal forbidden love territory, it’s the cast — as well as the razzle-dazzle FX — that really keeps one’s interest. The inclusion of straight-up werewolves is a big plus, even if the difference between them and Lycans isn’t nearly as clear as it should be.

On the downside, the picture is really missing that vampiric bite that it should have. While previous entries were hampered by their bloodsuckers manning handguns, this picture similarly falls back on swords and armor to get its toothy villains through the fight. Thankfully, one should know what to expect out of this series by now, which is partly what works best for this third feature. By switching things up just enough, Tatopoulos keeps the acting true while delivering on the massive action one would expect from hoards of lycanthropes storming castles filled with debutant vamps. While it may not be “Citizen Canine,” Rise of the Lycans tells its tale competently and without the derivative nature of its predecessors. While the genre world will still pine for a rock ‘em-sock ‘em brawl between the pillars of the monster world after seeing this, they could certainly do a whole lot worse than what’s on display here

The Watchmen

A complex, multi-layered mystery adventure, "Watchmen" is set in an alternate 1985 America in which costumed superheroes are part of the fabric of everyday society, and the "Doomsday Clock" - which charts the USA's tension with the Soviet Union - is permanently set at five minutes to midnight. When one of his former colleagues is murdered, the washed-up but no less determined masked vigilante Rorschach sets out to uncover a plot to kill and discredit all past and present superheroes. As he reconnects with his former crime-fighting legion - a ragtag group of retired superheroes, only one of whom has true powers - Rorschach glimpses a wide-ranging and disturbing conspiracy with links to their shared past and catastrophic consequences for the future. Their mission is to watch over humanity...but who is watching the watchmen?

Onimusha The Movie

Onimusha is Based on the Capcom video game.

In feudal Japan, 1582, the warlord Nobunaga is ambushed by ninjas, led by the brave samurai Samanosuke. Trapped, Nobunaga commits seppuku, but two sinister sorcerers reanimate Nobunaga's corpse with a half-human insect larvae. The resurrected Nobunaga orders the capture of two very special women to fulfill his evil plans.

When Britta, the daughter of a Dutch merchant, is abducted on board a ship by seemingly invincible warriors, her tutor and confidant Jacob pursues her captors, vowing to rescue her at all costs. Meanwhile, the beautiful Princess Yuki is also kidnapped, this time by ninjas that reveal themselves, incredibly, to be part spider. In search of Yuki, Samanosuke joins forces with Jacob to vanquish their common foe. In the Cave of Elders, he receives a magical sword that will slay all within its reach-friend or foe-and learns of a sinister ceremony at Inabayama Castle intended to blot out the sun.

Performing a dangerous, stealthy invasion of the castle, Samanosuke and Jacob find the women they love dressed as Moon Princess and Daughter of the Sun, ready to be wed to and ravished by Nobunaga. Aided by their allies, the two warriors attack the insectoid hordes, but Samanosuke falls in battle, seemingly dead. In a mystical encounter, he is given the option to survive and fight-but it comes at a terrible cost...

Drag Me To Hell

Director Sam Raimi ("Spider-Man" trilogy, "Evil Dead" series) returns to the horror genre with "Drag Me to Hell," an original tale of a young woman's desperate quest to break an evil curse.

Christine Brown (Alison Lohman) is an ambitious L.A. loan officer with a charming boyfriend, professor Clay Dalton (Justin Long). Life is good until the mysterious Mrs. Ganush (Lorna Raver) arrives at the bank to beg for an extension on her home loan. Should Christine follow her instincts and give the old woman a break? Or should she deny the extension to impress her boss, Mr. Jacks (David Paymer), and get a leg-up on a promotion? Christine fatefully chooses the latter, shaming Mrs. Ganush and dispossessing her of her home.

In retaliation, the old woman places the powerful curse of the Lamia on Christine, transforming her life into a living hell. Haunted by an evil spirit and misunderstood by a skeptical boyfriend, she seeks the aid of seer Rham Jas (Dileep Rao) to save her soul from eternal damnation. To help the shattered Christine return her life to normal, the psychic sets her on a frantic course to reverse the spell. As evil forces close in, Christine must face the unthinkable: how far will she go to break free of the curse?