Six years after extraterrestrial creatures infected Northern Mexico, photojournalist Andrew Kaulder is tasked with getting a newspaper owner’s daughter, Sam, across the infected zone and back to the United States. This fairly obscure low-budget independent disaster picture features a well-written script and a palpable sense of danger throughout.

Grade: B+.

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With his old teacher, Auntie Margaret, on her deathbed, lounge singer Jonny Kealoha decides reluctantly to honor her request to take over her hula school, readying the seven male haumana (students) for an upcoming hula competition. This independent feature gives the audience an insider’s glimpse into a beautiful, ancient culture.

Grade: A-.

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Peter Jackson returns Middle-Earth to the big screen with the first installment of The Hobbit, a single Tolkien work stretched into three blockbuster films. This one delivers a background look at the adventurers before embarking on an audacious journey with a lot of fun jokes and thrilling action sequences.

Grade: A.

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In this Australian TV drama, we follow the work and lives of six employees of a high-class Melbourne brothel, get an inside look at some of the customers, the conflict between romantic partners, and the dangers these women face. High production values and engaging storytelling make this show entertaining.

Grade: A-.

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Tom Cruise stars in this stark science fiction action picture about a repairman who fixes drones on Earth after a war causes humanity to leave. After a few things go wrong, he begins to question his mission and purpose, discovering the truth about the war and his part in it.

Grade: B+.

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Six astronauts travel to Europa, the ice moon of Jupiter, in this documentary-style found-footage science fiction thriller, on a privately funded mission to drill through the surface to probe the liquid core beneath. The talented cast, tight minimalist storytelling, and scientifically-plausible plot keep the audience in suspense.

Grade: A-.

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Hilary Swank and Richard Gere lend their considerable talent to a star-studded cast in a poorly-scripted attempt to dramatize the life of Amelia Earhart. Somehow, whoever wrote this picture turned an amazing life full of dramatic accomplishments into a tepid retelling of facts, completely unworthy of its namesake.

Grade: C.

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In this drama that takes place in a series of Los Angeles bars, multiple stories interweave through the lives of a handful of eccentric characters. Despite a few strange twists and turns, this small humorous noir picture holds together as a character study, with smart hip writing and solid acting.

Grade: B.

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Dakota Skye has a superpower: the ability to see the truth any time somebody lies. When her boyfriend’s best friend comes to visit, she can’t figure out why it doesn’t work on him. This sweet indie romance doesn’t take itself too seriously, but features plenty of endearing and funny moments.

Grade: A-.

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This Norwegian picture dramatizes the long voyage of Thor Heyerdahl aboard the balsa raft, Kon-Tiki, breathing new life into the historic journey. While the original expedition carried a film camera and shot an Award-winning documentary, this engrossing modern retelling fleshes out this story and gives it new depth.

Grade: A.

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