Director Ishiro Honda’s original 1954 version is a somber, tragic treatise on the consequences of atomic power — a subject painfully familiar to Japan, it being less than 10 years since the end of World War II — with the title terror aroused from prehistoric slumber by atomic testing in the Pacific.

History’s most notorious grave robbers are the subject of this ghoulish black comedy that marks director John Landis’ first feature in more than a decade. An opening title card sets the tone for the story: “This is a true story. Except the parts that are not.

Laurence Fishburne recreates his Tony-nominated role — scoring an Emmy nomination as Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie — as Thurgood Marshall (1908-’93) in this filmed version of his one-man show, filmed at the Eisenhower Theatre at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC.

The star-studded lineup of contestants and interested onlookers includes ever-reliable Ray Winstone, Jason Statham, Alexander Skarsgard, Ben Gazzara, Curtis “50 Cent� Jackson, Emmanuelle Chriqui (in a tiny role) and Mickey Rourke, who did the movie no favors by bad-mouthing it in print.

Dirk Bogarde stars as Nicholas Whistler, a jobless writer who is hired on as a courier, unaware that his new employer is British Intelligence, which promptly sends him on a job behind the Iron Curtain. Whistler’s a decoy, but he doesn’t know it… yet..

Writer/director Cody Jarrett knows well the trappings, and incorporates them with an appropriately sleazy flair, augmented by a hilarious score by Michael Cudahy and Aeriel Stiles and David E. Diano’s intentionally cheesy cinematography (even the film stock looks cheap!).

Using bits and pieces of footage culled from over 80,000 YouTube submissions worldwide, director Kevin Macdonald and editor Joe Walker have fashioned a kaleidoscopic tour of the planet as seen through the eyes (and cameras) of its people, across different continents and different cultures over a 24-hour period.

This sleek and stylish crime series, which ran 1986-’88 on NBC, never achieved the ratings success of executive producer Michael Mann’s “Miami Vice� but nevertheless had a fervent fan base.

The story shifts back and forth through time, as Oliver reflects back on Hal’s life. Once widowed, Hal came out of the closet and spent his last years content in his identity, even after being stricken with terminal cancer.

Terrence Malick’s latest film — only the fifth in his almost 40-year career as a director — is a visually stunning, emotionally absorbing, almost indescribable conglomeration of imagery and ideas.

What makes this 1957 courtroom drama an enduring classic? Simple: Perfect story. Perfect cast. Perfect execution. The result? Perfect movie. On a sweltering day in New York City, 12 jurors sit in deliberation of a young man on trial for killing his own father.

Hackman’s Harry Caul is the best surveillance expert in the business. For the right price, he’ll eavesdrop on anyone, yet he’s fiercely and obsessively protective of his own privacy. When he thinks he’s listened in on a murder being plotted, his whole world falls apart.

Hosted by Brian Peck, who played “Scuz� in the original film and appeared in two of the follow-ups, this thorough and enjoyable — to say nothing of thoroughly enjoyable — chronicle examines the film’s origins, its often-tumultuous production, and subsequent status as a cult classic.

The first, best screen adaptation of HG Wells’ The Island of Dr. Moreau retains the power to shock nearly 80 years since its 1932 release.

Hip hop meets sci-fi in writer/director Joe Cornish’s flashy, funky, cult-friendly debut feature. The film takes place one fateful night in and around a London housing block, when small meteors begin falling to earth. These aren’t ordinary meteors, but the first wave of an alien invasion.

An affectionate, low-budget black-and white horror spoof that marks a tour-de-farce for writer, producer, director, editor, special effects wizard and leading man Joshua Kennedy who was all of 16 when he made it. Hey, Orson Welles was 26 when he made Citizen Kane,.

Having begun his career in nudie cutie films, Lewis scored with gore in Blood Feast (1963), Two Thousand Maniacs (64), The Wizard of Gore (1970) and others. Trashed by critics and condemned in some communities, they were cheap, cheesy and immensely profitable.

Sophie Vavasseur gives an intense, credible performance as Emma Evans, a typical teenager whose expected adolescent angst is compounded by hallucinations, blackouts and seizures. As Emilys behavior begins to alter, it has severe physical and psychological effects on both her and her family.

This is prime exploitation moviemaking, with plenty of sleaze and sadism on display throughout. Yet its surprisingly well-made, with nice work from top-billed Christopher George as the maverick cop on the Exterminators trail and Samantha Eggar (slumming a bit) as a sympathetic doctor who manages not to get caught in the crossfire.

Blue Sunshine was the street name of a particularly potent strain of LSD that was popular among college students at Stanford University in the 1960s. Now, a decade later and a decade older, theyre starting to rapidly lose their hair and then (even more rapidly) their minds, going into sudden psychotic rages.