I will preface this review by saying that this is a very well made film with top notch blood-spurting, makeup and digital effects, great cinematography, and excellent sound production. The viewer must keep in mind that it is intended to be a fun horror romp, and should not be taken too seriously. it's an anything goes horror flick with many redeeming qualities. A true fan of horror comedy (this film tries hard), one who can check his or her brain at the door, will have a few chuckles, and even maybe a guffaw as the film unfolds.

A few familiar faces in the cast include Priscilla Barnes and veteran character actor Tracey Walter, who serves up a few rather unintriguing lines as a patron of the truck-stop diner, and returns in the end to help out a survivor.

Trailer Park of Terror does have a hot blonde in the beginning...

... which takes place at the trailer park sometime in 1980 or 81, where Norma (Nichole Hiltz), our hot blonde born into the wrong way of life, is bothered, berated and bullied by the trailer trash on her way to meet her ticket out of that hell hole: her boyfriend Aaron. On her way out of the park her story is musically narrated by a side-burned southern-rock guitar-Elvis with bad Billy Ray Cyrus hairdo and a Billy Idol lip (played by Myk Watford).

But alas, her runaway dream is not to be. Aaron is inadvertently off-ed by the trailer trash and as Norma runs away from the hokey pokey she encounters a mysterious southern-rock-devil-went-down-to-Georgia stranger (Trace Adkins) who gives her a new ticket. A ticket for revenge in the form of a gun. But it comes with a hefty price tag.

Returning to the trailer park Norma makes quick business of all those who harassed and humiliated her. Then she sits next to the fat lady she shot through the mouth, where she turns on the propane gas, lights up a smoke and waits for the explosive fire to seal the deal. Singing her "come to me Satan" song.

Jump ahead, through a montage of newspaper clippings and signs posted on bulletin boards flashing across the screen, we're clued in to a trend of missing persons cases. Finally the somewhat nauseating camera pans end and we arrive in 2008, outside a roadside diner where a busload of kids from a church retreat group have stopped for some drinks and snacks before they continue their journey back from a week of finding salvation for their various depraved activities. Apparently the week at camp didn't work. But they learn what they should be repentant of as the film moves on.

We're briefly introduced to the characters that will take us through the rest of the film, but not really enough to care about what happens to them, except for maybe the goth chick played by Jeanette Brox. I'm partial to goth chicks.

After shoplifting porn, attempted sex in the bathroom, and a certain favor in exchange for drugs, the unsaved are back on the bus. The film does have it's share of bad one-liners, evident by the first lame line delivered by the porno-shoplifter kid on the bus when asked to check his cellphone for service. He lamely quips, "looks like a dead zone." Groan. The commercials from a cellphone company that rhymes with horizon are comical, but the line did not work here.

I don't want to give away the whole story. Suffice to say the bus is rendered inoperative, and a thunderstorm dumps buckets of rainwater on them as they seek refuge at... you guessed it, the Trailer Park of Terror. Hey, the real horror has only just begun.

Now we get into some real gruesome gore effects, and finally a decent dose of humor. See, the trailer trash are still there, haunting the place where they died, in the form of crazy, red-neck zombies hell bent on having a good gruesome time.

Perhaps the funniest bit comes after our side-burned southern-rock guitar-Elvis with bad Billy Ray Cyrus hairdo (sans Billy Idol lip, you'll see why) is blown apart when he accidentally steps on his own claymore mine as he chases the goth chick through the woods. One of his cronies attempts to reassemble him with duct tape and a staple gun. This is when we realize the movie is supposed to be a comedy/horror, and it might work there on out after all.

Things get a little inflated as our zombie rocker jams from atop his public address platform narrating the depraved scene unfolding in one of the trailers below. And the intensity elevates right to the crash up ending.

Ultimately the film ends up growing on the viewer. Well it grew on me. Check your brain at the door, it's just entertainment of a sort. It was funny in parts, and well made. I might watch it again.

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"Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" (My 0-10 rating: 7)
Director: David Yates
Screenplay: Steve Kloves, based on the novel by J.K. Rowling
Cast: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Helena Bonham-Carter, Jim Broadbent, Robbie Coltrane, Michael Gambon, Alan Rickman, Maggie Smith, David Thewlis
Time: 2 hrs., 35 min.
Rating: PG (scary images, some violence and vulgarity, mild sensuality)

No surprise. "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" needs one rating for the ardent Harry Potter student and follower and an entirely separate one for the casual film goer who just wants to see an entertaining movie. For the former, it's a magnificently detailed and textured, faithful film interpretation from the J.K. Rowling books. For the latter, it's over-indulgence in the above at the expense of a need for a compelling narrative.

Which is all to say that if you're not a Harry Potter devotee, you might find more than a few yawns arising.
Being an aficionado of the motion picture arts at their deepest, I personally found the film astonishing in its ultimately thorough treatment of the details of antiquity and the richness of textures to ever corner of every frame. I saw nothing in particular as to great artistry in the dialogue or performances, everybody and everything adhering unerringly to the books. All the great drama of life and death and morality is there, the dark ambiguities existing between good and evil, all at the loss of fancy and magic of the previous chapters. But there's a distinct lacking in dramatic ups and downs, with long dwellings on unremarkable points.

Be aware, however, all ye uninitiated. You will feel left out on many an occasion when the content depends upon your subtle understandings of all previous material.

As to the now grown-up characters, they're charming, very logically presented and developed.

With ever more elaborate Harry Potter discussion happening worldwide, dissecting its meanings with all the fervor attendant to the Star Wars series, you probably should see this even as a non-follower. True, it cares little for gripping you in the ways of modern mainstream film making of dark suspense thrillers. Its devices are not the obligatory thrusts of the genre. It's far more deliberative. But it's high art.

And now the Death Eaters assault the realms of the Muggles and the wizarding as they spiral down in a mighty attack out of the sky in spooky vapor trails which pass unseen by the Muggles as the demons lay desolation upon the city of London and smash the Millennium Bridge.

Now cut to Professor Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) as he appears at a railway station for the purpose of getting to his prize student, Harry (Daniel Radcliffe). Harry is a bona fide adult at this point, looking much more settled and obviously dealing with his hormones as he looks forward to his impromptu date. Ah, but no, says Dumbledore, you have a demanding, uncompromising mission to accomplish.

So Harry, guided and secured by the professor's arm, surges forth at the now mandatory warp speed. And here, in the dark of night, they arrive in a small, isolated village where they enter what is apparently a totally trashed house. And what better place to meet the new visiting professor of the upcoming school year. He is former potions professor Horace Slughorn (Jim Broadbent).

It is Dumbledore's goal to tempt Slughorn back to Hogwarts, there to meet work with Harry in order to probe the professor's mind in finding a primary clue regarding the Dark Lord. And why would Slughorn hook onto the urgent lead? Well, you see, he at one time had a child wizard protege named Tom Riddle. That child wizard grew up to be, of course, Voldemort. But meantime, Harry's student nemesis, Draco Malfoy, is conspiring to a terrible crime the sole purpose of which is to pave the way for a Voldemort's comeback.

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Wizards, vampires, werewolves and other supernatural beings are the most popular themes in the movies today. Best selling books and blockbuster movies like Twilight and the Harry Potter series are the few examples of these. Magical characters plus the power of advance technology makes this kind of movies a real treat to younger audiences.

For over several decades Disney has been waving its magic wand, creating fantasy and making it real on the silver screen and on TV. Disney had been known to deliver the best fantasy movie. To add on the long list is the upcoming Wizards of Waverly Place the Movie. This telefilm (movie made for TV) is and adaptation of the Disney Channel hit series Wizards of Waverly Place or just known by its tween and teen audiences as WOWP.

Wizards of Waverly Place The Movie is all about the adventure of the Russo family as they went to a vacation on the Caribbean resort where Mr. and Mrs. Russo met. The adventure (or misadventure) starts when Alex was upset that she must go with family for the Caribbean trip. Alex conjures a spell that reverses her parents' momentous first meeting, the spell had puts the Russo family's very existence in question. The only solution to reverse the spell is to find the all-powerful "Stone of Dreams". To find the Stone of Dreams, Alex and Justin set out to the jungle. Meanwhile, Max remains with the presence of their squabbling parents scrambling to find the way to make their parents fall in love again.

The movie will star the same cast in Wizards of Waverly Place TV series. Alexandra "Alex" Russo (played by Selena Gomez), she is the middle child and the only girl and the family. Alex is characterized by being spunky, sarcastic, a fashion lover, street smart, and quite mischievous. Justin Vincenzo Pepe Russo or Justin (David Henrie), he is the eldest of the Russo siblings.

He is intelligent, mature, and responsible, but is always picked on by his younger sister Alex. He is knows a lot in magic and being predicted to become a powerful wizard. Max Russo (Jake T. Austin), Max is the youngest in the family. He is always found to be doing unpredictable things and occasionally getting in trouble. However, he can be relied on to think of unorthodox solutions to the unusual problems that can confront a young wizard. Jerry Russo (David DeLuise), he is the father of Justin, Alex and Max. He runs the family's sandwich shop and trains the Russo kids in magic. When he was young, he was also a wizard.

Jerry won the right to keep his powers by defeating his brother in the wizards' duel, but when he discovered that wizards cannot marry non-wizards, he relinquished his powers to his brother to marry Theresa. Theresa Russo (Maria Canals Barrera), she is Justin, Alex, and Max's mother. She is not a wizard but she knows about magical world. She helps run the sandwich shop and is very motherly, often treating her children like six-year-olds, much to their disapproval. She also does not like magic, and has expressed that many times. Harper Finkle (Jennifer Stone), she is Alex's best friend. She is hyper and optimistic. She has a big crush on Alex big-brother Justin. Alex and Harper do a lot together.

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Long before 2003 when Captain Jack Sparrow became a household name, there had been many films featuring actors wearing pirate costumes. 'The Curse of The Black Pearl', which was to be the first of the 'Pirates of The Caribbean' series was not a new idea, rather it brought swashbuckling up to date with a huge budget and twenty-first century special effects.

Right from the early days of film there have been many tales of buccaneers, buried treasure and buxom wenches to thrill audiences the world over. Everything about these tales of adventure in the high seas has always proved to be very popular with the public; the treasure maps, the creaking ships, the villains dressed in pirate costumes and the roar of cannons. It is something that appeals to a great many of us.

The child within us all loves the excitement and romance that is such a large part of these great movies. Just as many of us 'enjoy' being frightened by a good creepy film, we also love all of the adventure of a good swashbuckling epic.

Right from being children we are taught that pirate costumes are synonymous with adventure by being told stories such as 'Treasure Island' and 'Peter Pan'.

If you want to see some good movies prior to Johnny Depp becoming Captain Jack Sparrow, then there are some great ones to choose from.

'The Black Swan' was released in 1942. It starred Tyrone Power and Maureen O'Hara. Errol Flynn donned pirate costumes for several of his roles. Amongst his best films to be made were 'Captain Blood' and 'Sea Hawk'. Then there is 'The Crimson Pirate' from 1952 with Burt Lancaster playing Captain Vallo. Lancaster was a strong influence when writers created the character of Captain Jack Sparrow.

Returning to the theme of Peter Pan there was also the 1991 Steven Speilberg fantasy film, 'Hook' with Robin Williams, Dustin Hoffman and Julia Roberts. Indeed, Spielberg had already used the pirates storyline in 1985's 'The Goonies' the great effect.

So, out of the many films (and I have only mentioned a small amount) that have been made around this theme over the years, just who are the public's favourites? Who is more suited to wearing pirate costumes more than their counterparts? It may not be too much of a surprise to learn that Johnny Depp is one of the most popular choices. The other name that is mentioned more than most is Errol Flynn. Even after all of these years his roles are still incredibly popular with film-lovers.

It may be that Disney came up trumps when it dressed Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley in pirate costumes but the story is basically nothing that has not already been done before. 'The Curse of The Black Pearl' is a brilliant and highly enjoyable family film as are its sequels. It is important, however, that we don't forget all of the other great films of its kind that went before it. Many of these are still 'classics' as well.

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I was pleasantly surprised at Fred Durst's directorial debut. He seems to have a talent for this movie thing. I'm hoping it wasn't beginners luck. The film was well acted although there were no real huge name actors. Jesse Eienberg plays Charlie, and Jason Ritter plays Mick Leary, the neighborhood sociopath.

At 16, Charlie witnesses Mick issue a vicious beating to two jocks at a high school party. Nobody dares talk to the police, but Charlie's conscious gets the better of him and he decides to talk. At the behest of his best friend Danny, Charlie recants his statement and Mick gets away with the incident.

Three years later Charlie is a freshman and away at college when Mick shows up for a visit. This begins a game of cat and mouse between Mick and Charlie, leaving Charlie wondering if Mick knows he is the one who "ratted" him out to the cops. Mick is nice one moment, and threatening the next. He also woos the girl Charlie is in love with. Mick even goes as far as to sit in on Charlie's classes and begin to wear "preppie" clothes around campus.

The movie keeps you in suspense and you are always on the edge of your seat wondering what Mick is going to do next. You real feel sorry for Charlie especially when he begins to care for Mick. At one point, he says he feels it's his duty to protect Mick. I think Charlie wonders what would have happened had Mick experienced a different and seemingly better childhood.

Overall, the film is extremely thought provoking and is beautifully filmed. A lot of the campus filming takes place at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. I was quite surprised as I knew beforehand that the movie was directed by Durst. I'd recommend picking this one up and get ready to have some remembrances of your childhood and college days!

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With the release of Watchmen on DVD and Blu-ray on 07.21.09 (as the studio likes to promote the date), many people will see this "what-if" movie for the first time. For others, it will be a re-visit to the first significant movie of 2009 to address issues relevant to our recessionary lives. It also marked the current low of the stock market, being released on March 6th (03.06.09) when the DOW was at 6626.09. Since then, the market has rallied 40% until falling back in the last few weeks.

Watchmen is a "what if" movie; what if Nixon had a 3rd term in office and what if America won the war in Vietnam? Change an event here or there and we have an alternate reality to consider. Would it be better than our current situation? What if superheroes were on America's side, helping us win wars or prevent wars, discover new technology or change the balance of power?

Investors play "what if" all the time. What if you sold out before Lehman Brothers? What if you had listened to that hot tip about Apple or Google? What if oil goes back over $100/barrel?

The point is, we have choices and we make decisions all the time. But what if, as in Watchmen, we let the smartest person in the world decide for us. Whatever the results, if that person is so smart, it must be good for us. What if millions die? What if individuals closest to us die? What if we don't even know this smart person is making these decisions? Would we let the smartest man decide for us all?

During the Enlightenment, society let benevolent despots do exactly that, decide for us all. Even now, investors abdicate decisions to smart people (experts) who tell us when and what to buy. We may not know the reasons or the logic behind the expert's thinking, but we trust them. We believe they have the answers. Trust is the basis of confidence. Trust is also at an all-time low, with the Madoff-type frauds, the gaps in regulations and oversight and the general market system which seems to be an insider's game.

The audience cheered for Rorschach after he was attacked in the prison cafeteria. He beats the hell out of his assailant and then stares down the prison population with these words: "I'm not locked in here with you, You're locked in here with me!" Rorschach is the movie's symbol of truth and integrity and, even locked away, he is in the power position.

At the end of Watchmen, after all the battles and millions of deaths, even after Rorschach the narrator is splattered into a red ink blot in the snow by Dr. Manhattan, the truth lives on. The story will be told through the crank files of the newspapers, where Rorschach's journal tells all. The story comes full circle again, back to the death of the Comedian and the yellow smiley face.

As the Comedian remarks, "I thought I knew how the world worked - I did bad things, but it was war."

The movie is book-ended by two Dylan songs, The Times They are A'Changin' and Desolation Row. We are somewhere in between these two tunes, like the characters in Watchmen. If I can paraphrase Dylan, "the loser now, will be later to win, for the economy, it is a'changin."

We just don't know exactly when it will all be back to "normal", if ever, but the changes are starting with Watchmen.

You owe it to yourself and your sanity to check out this movie on DVD. We need the truth and a return to the yellow smiley face to our everyday lives.

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Many of us love to watch foreign language films. What is your favorite film? From which country? You might love to explore good cinema from all over the world, regardless of the native language. Films from the exotic countries of China, Colombia, Denmark, Finland, France, Hungary, Japan, Sweden and Spain are the only kinds you think of when you think movies. Those subtitles that so many find too excruciating to watch, add to the aura of your watching experience - in fact they become such a part of you that you think you're hearing English (or whatever), and so you don't even notice them! However it is sad that these great films that are often termed as "art house" or "independent" never receive more than a limited release and many are never played in major cinemas.

Going back some years, the only viewers for foreign films were the same who lined up to see the latest Jean Luc Godard, or Michelangelo Antonioni, or Akira Kurosawa. Foreign films became less appealing to audiences as the practices and themes of the French New Wave and other "foreign" schools were taken up by American directors, and several of the foreign filmmakers who made an impact, ended up in Hollywood. But are we saying there are no works of genius to see today? Surely not!

If works by Antonioni, Bergman, Fellini, Godard, Renoir, and Truffaut - are timeless today, masterworks by present day filmmakers such as Wong Kar Wai, Almodovar, Kiarostami, Ki-Duk-Kim, Majidi, and Del Toro, amongst many others, are just as winning and will be just as timeless tomorrow. Their films are not necessarily suffused with the kind of skepticism that formed the crux of the films that were released in the 60's - when people dashed in to see iconic films such as La Dolce Vita, Yojimbo and Shoot the Piano Player. World cinema today is a phenomenon that hardly conforms to the definitions set by the predecessors of the genre. Take movies such as Amelie, In the Mood for Love, Pan's Labyrinth, Y tu Mama Tambien, All About my Mother - all these are artistic and lucid films that are permeated with humane subjects such as life, love, death, identity and solidarity.

Watching these films can be an experience of reflection - you watch these with some thought rather than just taking them in. And of course they're great entertainment (as much as you might like to believe they're serious, uninteresting, mind numbing etc etc). Most of all, it is their artistic value that stands as superior, and the diverse cultures they represent make them a lot more interesting than Hollywood offerings. Even commercial foreign films are a lot more interesting owing to the knowledge they impart to us about the culture and background that made them.

While there is a deficiency in media and critical interest in foreign titles, there are few websites that are dedicated to movie reviews to find a foreign film that you may enjoy. Read reviews, pay attention, look at ratings and watch a preview of the movie before you decide to rent it out from a video store (quite a few of them have a shelf or two dedicated to foreign language films), or download it off the internet after having made your own judgment. Take my word on this - like it or not, you will be amazed by the insight these films will give you into the culture and life of another land.

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