It has its lax moments, but 'Captain Phillips' is a taut, effective thriller with two excellent performances by Tom Hanks and newcomer Barkhad Adbi.

For Whedonites, 'Much Ado About Nothing: A Film By Joss Whedon' is a journey behind the scenes of a quiet classic, for Shakespearians here is yet another way in which the immortal’s work remains so.

'Gravity' is one of the single most beautiful films ever made and the closest approximation most people will get to experiencing a space walk. After 90 minutes of weightless drifting the air in your lungs and the floor at your feet will feel wonderful.

This post examines how the movie 'Prisoners' brushes upon topics of law and justice in the United States beyond its most obvious one. It’s a story, and stories seldom provide answers. Stories raise doubt and ask questions which generate discussions. That’s where answers begin.

If one is capable of suspending both disgust and disbelief, 'Prisoners' becomes an intense, masterfully acted suspense-thriller which mentions but never pontificates on numerous larger issues within modern American life.

Under Hiroshi Yamauchi, Nintendo proved that it takes vision to strip down a product rather than dress it up. It’s much more lasting and, pun intended, game-changing to focus on the basics. It’s also a lot more difficult. The line between refreshing and shallow, or exploitatively nostalgic, is thin. When simple goes wrong, game over. When simple goes right, game on.

'The Family's dark edge and strong cast make it enjoyable, and its play on the image of Americans abroad is interesting.

The irony of the Capitol Couture fashion line is that in the Hunger Games books the Capitol citizens are not portrayed as beautiful. They are vacuous featherbrains easily duped by bright colors, melodrama and spectacle.They are caricatures the audience is meant to be repulsed by, not emulate.

In terms of B-movie essentials 'Riddick' delivers nasty deaths, turn-off-your-brain plot, neat technology, bad CGI and gratuitous nudity, yet the gaps between action scenes are too long and too stationary to carry through. The best creature features know how to play silence as terror; 'Riddick' treats silence as empty.

The overall effect of 'The Grandmaster' is like that of an 800-page novel in rich, luxurious, numbing prose. The surface is gorgeous and expansive, but the substance beneath can be summarized in a single paragraph.

'The World's End' has more giddy energy than a dozen joyless summer spectacles and proves that sometimes the end can be the best place to be.

There is some good material here and Hit Girl remains great, but often 'Kick-Ass 2' sets up for something outrageous and then cowers from it. “Have fun. That’s what it’s all about,” says Jim Carrey's character. Sadly, 'Kick-Ass 2' doesn't listen.

There is even greatness somewhere beneath the surface of 'Elysium.' But the film doesn’t do the needed digging to bring out its potential. It definitely packs a punch. It just doesn’t know where to aim.

'Breaking Bad' effectively stretches America’s “pull yourself up by your own bootstraps” mentality to its snapping point. It satirizes America’s private insurance health care system and demonstrates the price Americans must pay to continue living.

There were very few people in attendance when I saw 'Fruitvale Station,' but every one of us sat in shocked silence as the credits rolled. This is a film that deserves open and thoughtful discussion about why young men like Oscar Grant wind up in such situations and how we as a society can prevent this from happening again.