Joel Silver Movies

In a future where the masses are systematically put to death upon reaching a certain age, those who attempt to cheat death are dubbed "runners" and pursued by formidable operatives known as Sandmen. Logan is a Sandman who is fast approaching that fateful age, and when he decides to run, the stage is set for the ultimate chase. Former commercial filmmaker Joseph Kosinski makes his feature directorial debut with a low-tech sci-fi thriller written by Tim Sexton, and inspired more by William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson's 1967 novel than the 1976 feature starring Michael York and Jenny Agutter. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

DC Comics' two-fisted, beer-swillin' bounty hunter, Lobo, makes his trip to feature film-land with this Warner Bros. production, spear-headed by director Guy Ritchie. Don Payne provides the scripting duties on a story that sees the heavy metal antihero making his way to Earth to hunt down three intergalactic outlaws. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, All Movie Guide

A man (Liam Neeson) wakes up from a coma while on a business trip to Europe only to find that some other man has taken his identity and stepped into his life. Diane Kruger and January Jones co-star. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, All Movie Guide

V for Vendetta director James McTeigue re-teams with that film's producers Larry and Andy Wachowski for this action-packed tale of a skilled assassin who was trained by a mythical secret society, and patiently awaits the day he will avenge the death of his best friend. Swept off the streets as a young boy, Raizo (Korean pop star Rain) is transformed into an unstoppable killing machine by a secret society known as the Ozunu Clan. The Ozunu Clan is so proficient at keeping their existence a secret that most people think they are only a myth, but the moment Ozuno assassins kill Raizo's friend, their days in the shadows are numbered. In the aftermath of that killing, Raizo stages a daring escape, subsequently biding his time until the day he can take the entire Ozunu Clan down.

Later, in Berlin, Europol agent Mika Coretti (Naomie Harris) discovers a money trail connecting multiple political murders to a mysterious network of elusive assassins from the Far East. While her superior Ryan Maslow (Ben Miles) orders Mika to back down and stop asking questions, she stealthily begins searching through classified agency files on a relentless mission to discover the truth about the murders. Singled out as a target as a direct result of her investigation, Mika is marked for death by lethal Ozunu assassin Takeshi (Rick Yune). Just as Mika is about to be silenced forever, Raizo saves her from certain death. But Raizo knows that Takeshi and the rest of the Ozuno Clan won't stop until he and Mika are both dead. Now, as Raizo and Mika are hunted through the winding streets of Europe, their only hope for survival is to trust one another and stay alive long enough to bring the Ozunu empire crumbling to the ground. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

An outwardly angelic little girl displays an unforeseen devilish streak upon moving into the home of her new adoptive parents in this shocker starring Peter Sarsgaard and Vera Farmiga. In the aftermath of a miscarriage, prospective parents Kate (Farmiga) and John (Sarsgaard) find their lives turned upside down; their marriage is falling apart, and the demons of Kate's past begin manifesting themselves in a series of horrifying nightmares. Deciding that the best means of achieving some semblance of normalcy is to simply adopt, the dejected couple visits a local orphanage. There, they are both drawn to a nine-year-old girl named Esther. But Esther isn't as sweet as first impressions suggest, and almost immediately after welcoming the young child into their home, Kate and John suspect that something is terribly wrong with their adoptive daughter. Kate can see right through Esther's seraphic charm, though her attempts to convince everyone else of the truth go unheeded by her skeptical family and friends. By the time anyone bothers to take Kate seriously, it may be too late to prevent a devastating tragedy from unfolding. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's famous super-sleuth, Sherlock Holmes, gets an update with this adaptation of Lionel Wigram's comic book series by writer/director Guy Ritchie (RocknRolla) starring Robert Downey Jr. as the titular detective, with Jude Law stepping into the shoes of his sidekick, Dr. Watson. Heading up the rest of the cast are RocknRolla's Mark Strong as the film's villain, Blackwood, and Rachel McAdams portraying the love interest, Irene Adler. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels director Guy Ritchie heads back to the London underworld for this hyperkinetic crime comedy concerning a shady land deal that leaves every schemer in the city determined to get rich or die trying. When a Russian mobster orchestrates a lucrative real estate scam, every criminal in London wants a piece of the action. Greed is the universal language, and everyone from unrelenting crime boss Lenny Cole (Tom Wilkinson) to street-smart criminal One Two (Gerard Butler), corrupt accountant Stella (Thandie Newton), and unpredictable punk rocker Johnny Quid (Toby Kebbell) seem to speak it fluently. As the bullets start to fly and the double crosses multiply, there's no telling who will walk away with the fortune after the gun smoke has cleared. Jeremy Piven, Chris "Ludacris" Bridges, and Quantum of Solace Bond girl Gemma Arterton co-star. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Dark Castle Home Entertainment and Warner Premiere collaborate for this shocker about a film fanatic whose quest to procure a print of a notorious slasher movie leads him and two friends on a trek into the backwoods where the film was originally shot. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Her faith shaken by a family tragedy from which she was never quite able to fully recover, a professor of theology from Louisiana State University moonlighting as a debunker of unexplained religious phenomena finds herself faced with an apocalyptic series of events that seem to reflect the ten plagues of Exodus in director Stephen Hopkins' Southern gothic chiller. The terrified citizens of Haven, LA, have been beset by swarms of locusts and watched as rivers turned to blood. As if that wasn't enough to put the fear of God into any Bible-reading Christian, ominous rumors of a local swamp cult have left many of the small-town citizens turning to prayer for fear that the end is finally nigh. Enter Katherine Winter (Hilary Swank), a skeptical myth-buster and renowned theology scholar with a special knack for spotting religious trickery. Though at first exceedingly confident that she will uncover a human component behind the otherworldly occurrences, Katherine quickly learns that just because one doesn't believe in the supernatural doesn't necessarily mean that it doesn't exist. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

"Being a vampire sucks." This pretty much summed up the attitude of the protagonist of this heady CBS mixture of suspense and the supernatural. Alex O'Loughlin starred as LA private detective Mick St. John, who'd become an "undead" vampire way back in 1947 thanks to his fang-bearing former wife Coralyn (Shannyn Sossamon. Though obliged to drink blood and avoid sunlight to survive (luckily he was impervious to such usual vampire repellants as wooden stakes and garlic), Mick made the best of a bad situation by taking a job that allow him to work nights and to spend his days sleeping in a freezer; and, good-hearted soul that he was, Mick sidestepped the embarrassing necessity of killing people for their blood by forming a strong friendship with morgue attendant Guillermo (Jacob Vargas), who provided him with an endless supply of fresh corpses. Against his better judgment, Mick fell in love with a mortal, intrepid girl reporter Beth Turner (Sophia Myles), who worked for the Buzzwire news service and who frequently accompanied Mick during his investigations. Rounding out the regular characters were Mick's mentor and best friend Josef (Jason Dohring), a remarkably well-preserved 400 year old vampire who supported his luxurious lifestyle as a professional fund trader, and who lacked Mick's compassion for human beings but was willing to avoid biting necks when Beth was around; and police lieutenant Carl Davis (Brian White), who by default was the only entirely normal character on the show. Curiously, the vampiric elements of the series took a back seat to the detective work, which followed the "procedural" format of such series as Law&Order and CSI. Created by Ron Koslow of Beauty and the Beast fame, Moonlight first flapped its wings on September 28, 2007. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

When the lone survivor of the original excursion to The House on Haunted Hill dies under suspicious circumstances, her sister returns to the foreboding mansion to solve the mystery of her sibling's death in the feature directorial debut of former make-up special effects artist Victor Garcia (Hellboy). Back in 1931, malevolent doctor Richard Vannacut and his entire staff at the hilltop asylum were killed when the patients revolted and set the institution ablaze. Ever since then, rumors have persisted that the spirits of those consumed in the inferno still haunt the hospital. Those rumors seemed to be confirmed when, in 1999, billionaire Steven H. Price and his guests were viciously slaughtered in the refurbished mansion. Though the authorities officially blamed Price himself for the gruesome massacre, survivor Sarah Wolfe insists that there was indeed a supernatural element at play. Now, eight years have passed since that fateful night, and Sarah's sister Ariel - a successful editor at a popular men's fashion magazine - has just received word that Sarah has committed suicide. Immediately sensing foul play, Ariel's suspicions are confirmed when a strange book arrives in the mail shortly thereafter. Sent by Sarah just before she died, the book proves to be Vannacut's personal diary. According to the diary, which Ariel manages to translate with a little help from archeologist Richard Hammer, an ancient Baphomet idol is hidden somewhere deep within the sprawling estate. In her last days, Sarah had become convinced that the idol was the source of the house's evil. Richard, too, shares this belief, and with the help of graduate students Michelle and Kyle he is determined to find the idol. But Ariel isn't about to go on a ghost hunt in the same mansion where so may atrocities have occurred, at least not until she is kidnapped by Desmond Niles and his vicious band of mercenaries. They too seek the Baphomet idol, and they too will soon discover why few people who venture into the former asylum ever come out alive. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Santa's black-sheep brother gets a much-needed shot at redemption in this holiday comedy reuniting actor Vince Vaughn and director David Dobkin (Clay Pigeons, Wedding Crashers). It's not easy being the brother of a benevolent and beloved saint, and no one knows that better than Fred Claus (Vaughn). After struggling for years to live up to the example set by his younger sibling Nicholas (Paul Giamatti), Fred has finally given up. These days Fred is working as a repo man taken to stealing the items he repossesses, and his shady tactics have just landed him in jail. While Mrs. Claus vehemently insists that Fred fend for himself, Nicholas refuses to sit idly by as his brother rots in jail and agrees to set bail if Fred will repay the debt by coming to the North Pole and help make toys for the upcoming Christmas season. But Fred isn't nearly as productive as your average elf, and he's got quite an attitude to boot. With Christmas fast approaching and Fred threatening to sideline Nicholas' entire finely tuned operation, the brother that always struggled to get out from under his sibling's substantial shadow finds out just how far the patience of a saint can be pushed before jolly old Santa reaches his breaking point. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

A thesp-turned-crook gets a chance at career in movies as well as crime scene investigation in this offbeat action comedy with nods to Raymond Chandler. Harry Lockhart (Robert Downey Jr.) is a struggling New York actor who high-tails it to Los Angeles. Once there, Lockhart winds up at the posh home of the aptly named homosexual private eye Gay Perry (Val Kilmer) amid a lavish Hollywood party, hoping to score a life-changing role in a Hollywood feature. Harry becomes reacquainted with Harmony (Michelle Monaghan), a girl he had a major crush on in his small-town Indiana high school, who may be a bit more interested in him now than she was years ago. He takes both her and her girlfriend home with him, but -- in a moment of drunken stupor -- accidentally sleeps with the wrong woman. Meanwhile, when a series of female bodies turns up across L.A., Harry slowly breaks into detective work, mentored by Perry. The biggest twist? Shane Black riffs Adaptation and other films by having Harry (via satirical narration) write the movie while he is living it. Harry assures the audience that unlike Lord of the Rings, this one won't have 17 endings. Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang marks the first directorial credit for Black, who created the Lethal Weapon franchise. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide