This weekend, two new movies opened that TGATP thoroughly enjoyed! Starring Jason Stratham, Safe is an action-packed, thrill-ride with snappy dialogue. And The Raven is a great period piece for John Cusack and Edgar Allan Poe fans!

American Reunion is the perfect film to lift you out of any lingering Winter blues and get you chuckle ready for Spring. The gangs all back just as we came to know and love them!

It’s the Oscar holiday weekend! Check out my predictions – in bold is who TGATP would like to see win, underlined are my predictions to win.

Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn and starring Ryan Gosling and Carrie Mulligan, Drive is the best film noir of the new millenium and one of the best films of the year! I predict Oscar nods for Refn, who won best director for Drive at Cannes, Brooks for Supporting Actor, Drive for Best Movie, and maybe even, Gosling for Actor.

The remake of Fright Night is one of the rare times when the new version is better than the original! Thanks to the menacing performance by Colin Farrell and great direction and pacing from director Craig Gillepsie, this film delivers some truly terrifying moments. Do not expect the same horror lite that the original movie delivered; there are some really scary moments in this one.

More gross than scary, Final Destination 5 is cheesy good fun! After viewing the FD series, you will never be able to look at tanning beds, accupuncture, or laser surgery the same way again!

This week, there are two new films that I can recommend that you see. For thought-provoking thrills see The Rise of the Planet of the Apes, the prequel to the Planet of the Apes series, which tells the story of how the world gets taken over by the apes in a compelling and plausible way. Then for laughs, check out the Ryan Reynolds/Jason Bateman vehicle “The Change-Up” manages to keep you rolling in the aisles while still making you think.

Tree of Life, like a Seinfeld episode, is about nothing. Highly pretentious in its experimentalism, this film is only for two types – the most ardent of film aficionados or stoners, who will marvel at the visuals.

The Lincoln Lawyer is the first great film of the year and the best courtroom thriller since Presumed Innocent! Based on the bestseller by Michael Connelly and directed by Brad Furman, this film snaps, crackles, and pops! Matthew McConaughey is in sizzling form as Mitch Haller, a LA attorney who runs his practice from the back of his chauffeur driven Lincoln.

It is very important going in to understand that The Adjustment Bureau is NOT “Inception” or “the Matrix.” I expected a story as intricate and amazing as those films and was sorely disappointed. More a romance than sci-fi, it is a shame that the studio didn’t just market it as such, instead of trying to dupe us into thinking it is more than it is. That said, there are few films more charmingly romantic than this.

Cast: Jason Statham, Ben Foster, Donald Sutherland, Tony Goldwyn, Mini Anden, James Logan, Jeff Chase, Christa Campbell, John McConnell
Director: Simon West
Screenwriters: Richard Wenk, Lewis John Carlino; Story by Carlino
Producers: David Winkler, Bill Chartoff, Rene Besson
Executive producers: …

Any opportunity to see TGATP fav gal, Angelina Jolie, in kick-ass mode, is a treat.  As regular readers of this column, you know, I adore her.  But while I didn’t hate Salt, I didn’t love …