Godzilla:  

This is a very polarizing version of the classic monster film from 1954 in which the gigantic creature destroys Tokyo.  In an effort to update it, a malfunctioning nuclear facility in Japan is the centre of a mystery which reveals a pair of gigantic creatures known as Mutos, which now threaten all of mankind.  It takes Godzilla a while to show up, but when he does, it’s worth the wait and well worth the action that follows.  Great special effects although the story gets a little muddy at times … but who sees a Godzilla movie for the story?  Brian Cranston stars.  Rated 14A.

The Fault In Our Stars:   

Shailene Woodley is just superb in this story, based on the best-selling novel by John Green, of a young woman with a terminal cancer diagnosis.  That sounds like a downer, but stick with it ... she meets a young man (Ansel Elgort) at a support group that she attends only to appease her parents, and soon they are an item, albeit a cautions one.  Before you start to think that it’s “Love Story” with Ryan O’Neil and Ali McGraw all over again, give it a chance  - this movie is not a film about dying of cancer, but rather about living with it.  The young actors are superb, the story makes abundant sense, and even the sad outcome, the inevitable one, is palatable and somehow very right.  Rated 14A.   

The German Doctor:   

This South American film is based on the little-told story of a family that befriended a German doctor in Patagonia in 1960, 15 years after the end of WWII, in which one of their daughters falls in love with the man.  He is Dr. Josef Mengele, the Nazi Angel of Death, the man who used young Jewish children as his surgical and research subjects, and who was responsible for the gruesome deaths of untold thousands or more.  An unusual movie with a very different kind of approach – one that almost makes us think that Mengele couldn’t have been all that bad ... for a time.  And then, reality.  Rated 14A.

Space Warriors (2014):  

Filmed on location at Space Camp, the NASA facility at Huntsville, Alabama, this surprisingly good family film offers a lot of actual science along with the fiction. Jimmy (played by Thomas Horn from Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close) wants to go to Space Camp because he has his heart set on becoming an astronaut.  His parents, played by Dermot Mulroney and Mira Sorvino, forbid it.  In previous generations, a kid like this, bent on his dreams, would run off and join the circus ... Jimmy runs off and joins Space Camp anyway despite his parents ruling.  Once there, he fits in with the science-oriented young people, and it's not long before a real emergency out beyond the orbit of the International Space Station creates as situation that only the youngsters can fix ... and they are off to space.  Josh Lucas and Danny Glover also star.  Rated PG and easy to recommend for the entire family.

The Motel Life (2012):  

A dark, brooding, and depressing film that co-star Kris Kristofferson says it's the best movie he has ever been in.  Emile Hirsch (Into the Wild, Lone Survivor) is Frank Lee.  He and his brother Jerry, struggling to survive on the margins of society in Reno, Nevada, live in a cheap motel.  A hit and run accident forces them to leave their motel home and to leave Reno, going on the lam.  There are some thrilling moments, and the casting, which includes Dakota Fanning, as well as Kristofferson, is solid.  Rated 18A.