1. THE BOOK THIEF:

Based on the best-selling novel by Markus Zusak, this is a marvelous story of World War II, a young German girl, her adoptive parents, and a backdrop of Nazi book-burnings and persecution of Jews.  She is Liesel played to perfection by Sophie Neliesse, born in Windsor, ON, but raised in Montreal.  She explores her new world after her mother is forced to give her up, befriends a young Jewish man that the family harbors under the stairs, and changes not only her own life, but the lives of many around her with the books that she steals before they are burned. Rated PG.

2. HOMEFRONT:

Jason Statham stars  as a former DEA agent who, as a single dad, leaves that life behind and goes to live with his daughter Maddy (Izabela Vidovic) in a small southern backwater to get away from all the baggage.  It isn’t long before he butts heads with the local drug lord played by James Franco, Maddy is kidnapped, and the chase is on.  Winona Ryder and Kate Bosworth also star. Rated 14A.

3. THE OUTSIDER:  

British action star Craig Fairbrass is Lex, a mercenary fighting in Afghanistan who is called home to Los Angeles to identify the body of his daughter who has died.  When he arrives and the morgue drawer is opened, he sees that it is not her.  So now he needs to identify the young woman who has been killed, and he needs to find his daughter who is missing.  James Caan, Shannon Elizabeth, and Jason Patric also star in a knock-‘em-down thriller as Lex goes head-to-head with anyone in his way. Rated 14A.

Joyful Noise (2012): 

Yes, you can see the story's end ten minutes in, but that doesn't make this church-based dramatic comedy any less fun.  Part of it is the casting with Queen Latifiah and Dolly Parton heading up opposite factions in terms of who should be leading the choir in a small town congregation.  Latifah is Vi Rose Hill, and she has a specific idea as to what it will take to get to a national competition and win all the marbles, while Parton is G.G. Sparrow, and she has ideas of a very different sort.  An excellent cast that includes Keke Palmer and Courtney B. Vance, this was Dolly's first big-screen movie in 20 years.   Rated PG.

Project X (2013):

A raunchy teen romp about a house party gone wild is made more credible by the fact that it's based on an actual event which occurred in Australia.  The parents are away, the teens decide to have a part ... and they post it on myspace.  Before you can say "social media" more than 500 people have shown up, and at the end of the party more than $20,000 in damage had been inflicted on the home.  The director equipped the extras with smart phones and had them shoot video and used it in the final cut.  As we move towards spring break time, movies such as this are in great demand!  Rated 18A.