1) The Big Red One (Extended Edition)
Grim story of a WWII squad consisting of an anonymous sergeant and four long-time survivors who ignore the faceless replacements who continually arrive and die.
Lee Marvin (Dirty Dozen), Mark Hamill (Star Wars), and Robert Carradine (Revenge of the Nerds) star. The actions scenes were a bit of a let down, even by 1980's standards but solid performances all around make this one okay.
2) How To Train your Dragon
A hapless young Viking who aspires to hunt dragons becomes the unlikely friend of a young dragon himself, and learns there may be more to the creatures than he assumed.
Loved this little gem. I wasn't expecting much and I almost never watch cartoons, unless its classic 80's stuff. I've read a sequel is in works.
3) The Loved Ones
When Brent turns down his classmate Lola's invitation to the prom, she concocts a wildly violent plan for revenge.
Aussie teen torture porn/revenge with a lot of substance and originality. This ranks as one of my top 5 favorite horror films this year.
4) The Wackness
It's the summer of 1994, and the streets of New York are pulsing with Hip-Hop. Set against this backdrop, a lonely teenager named Luke Shapiro spends his last summer before university selling marijuana throughout New York City, trading it with his unorthodox psychotherapist for treatment, while having a crush on his stepdaughter.
A friend recommended this a week ago. Somehow it must have passed my radar because I was totally out-of-loop and had no idea of it existed. The movie poster caught my eye so I did a IMDB search and noticed the lead character is portrayed by Josh Peck (of Drake and Josh). At first I was a bit skeptical but then I remember he did a fantastic job with Mean Creek so I figured, 'Why not, download it?" and that's exactly what I did. The chemistry between Josh Peck and Ben Kingsley is fantastic and their relationship is makes the movie stand out from other coming-to-age films. Not only that but there's so much talent on board, its nearly impossible for a film of this caliber to be a total piece of shit. I'm going to pick this one up on DVD.