The Grudge 2 (2006)

With director Takashi Shimizu on board, the sequel breaks up the plot with two unrelated storylines. One involves the sister (Amber Tamblyn) of surviving Karen (Sarah Michelle Gellar), sent to Japan to retrieve her. The other follows three schoolgirls who doom themselves upon entering the cursed Saeki home and one who unwittingly spreads the curse to her home in America. Shimizu attempts some very clever paranormal concepts but fails to juggle each successfully. Strangely enough, a far-fetched backstory for Kayako is included, which is very reminiscent of Ringu's Sadako. In a completely lackluster and at times depressing performance, Tamblyn ends up muting the thrills from the second half of the film.

2 peek-a-boos out of 5

THE SECOND CIVIL WAR [1997]

Director Joe Dante & co. craft together a wonderfully witty political satire with the curiously swept under the carpet comedy The Second Civil War.
An immigration controversy tears the United States of America apart, which eerily reflects exactly what is happening the States right now.
What's played for exaggerated laughs here isn't all that over-blown when you take into the consideration some of the ridiculous words spoken in politics this past year.  Tackling such weighty subjects as immigration, political racism, mass shootings, outsourcing might have been a bit tongue-in-cheek 20 years ago but today it's all too real.  It transforms the film from a goofy spit on the American way of yesterday and into a frighteningly prophetic hilarious mirror reflection of today.

3 orphan cards out of 5

WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT [1988]

Director Robert Zemeckis does an astounding job at adapting novelist Gary K. Wolf's Who Censored Roger Rabbit? into a big screen bonanza seamlessly melding classical animation with live action.

A definitive landmark in visual effects, Who Framed Roger Rabbit plays like a whacked-out golden age detective story where cartoon characters live side-by-side with the real world.  Filled with hilarious cameos from famous cartoon characters, well-paced action & storytelling, a Carl Stalling-esque jazz-infused orchestral score from Alan Silvestri, a delightfully twisted performance from Christopher Lloyd and jokes both obvious & buried deep in subtext that will please the whole family.  Movies like this don't come around often enough but that's what makes it all the more special.

5 booby traps out of 5

BLADE RUNNER [1982]

Film noir usually consists of the cynical detective, the femme fatale, a vast array of deadly thugs, corrupt policemen, endless rain and in Philip K. Dick's Blade Runner, android owls.

On & off director Ridley Scott's brilliant adaptation of the gritty sci-fi noir novel is essential viewing for space nerds and film buffs alike.  Having been tinkered with several times over the past 30 years, Blade Runner is made nearly perfect in every way in The Final Cut.  Sure the characters are still a bit boring but the story, setting, atmosphere, sets and photography make up for it with flying colors.

It's a breathtaking and believable film that still holds up strongly till this day.

5 Eyes Of Providence of 5