Johanna Ray Movies

Writer and director Gregg Araki revisits the day-glo universe of sex, drugs, and random perversity that informed his early films in this over-the-top dark comedy. Smith (Thomas Dekker) is an 18-year-old film student who is bisexual and has a ravenous erotic appetite; his best friend is Stella (Haley Bennett), who prefers the company of women but is just as enthusiastic about pursuing new lovers. Smith has been haunted by a series of recurring dreams featuring two beautiful women, one dark and enigmatic, the other similarly spectral with flaming red hair. This wouldn't bother him, except that the women from his dreams have begun appearing in real life -- Lorelei (Roxane Mesquida), Stella's new partner, is a magic aficionado who's a dead ringer for the dark-haired woman, and the red-haired girl (Nicole LaLiberte) is being pursued by a gang of masked assassins. Has Smith stumbled into a plot with possible world-changing consequences? Or is this all just the product of some hallucinogenic cookies he was served at a party? Kaboom received its world premiere at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Abel Ferrara's cult crime drama Bad Lieutenant is given a sister film with this Werner Herzog-helmed production that takes its inspiration from the original, but focuses on new characters and plotlines. Nicolas Cage steps into Harvey Keitel's mold of a corrupt and drug-addled police officer, with the scummy setting moving from New York City to New Orleans. Eva Mendes, Val Kilmer, and Xzibit co-star in the Nu Image/Millennium Films picture. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, Rovi

A group of hardened Nazi killers stalk their prey in Nazi-occupied France as a Jewish cinema owner plots to take down top-ranking SS officers during the official premiere of a high-profile German propaganda film. As far as Lt. Aldo Raine (aka Aldo the Apache," Brad Pitt) -- is concerned, the only good Nazi is a dead Nazi. Raine's mission is to strike fear into the heart of Adolf Hitler by brutally murdering as many goose-steppers as possible, or die trying. In order to accomplish that goal, Lt. Raine recruits a ruthless team of cold-blooded killers known as "The Basterds" which includes baseball-bat-wielding Bostonian Sgt. Donnie Donowitz (aka "The Bear Jew," Eli Roth) and steely psychopath Sgt. Hugo Stiglitz (Til Schweiger), among others. When the Basterds' secret rendezvous with turncoat German actress Bridget von Hammersmark (Diane Kruger) goes awry, they learn that the Nazis will be staging the French premiere of "The Nation's Pride," a rousing propaganda film based on the exploits of German hero Fredrick Zoller (Daniel Brühl), at a modest theater owned by Jewish cinephile Shoshanna Dreyfus (Mélanie Laurent), posing as a Gentile after the brutal murder of her family by the ruthless Col. Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz). As the Basterds hatch an explosive plan to take out as many Nazis as possible at the premiere, they remain completely oblivious to the fact that Shoshanna, too, longs to bring the Third Reich to its knees, and that she's willing to sacrifice her beloved theater in the process. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Saw series mainstay Darren Lynn Bousman reunites with Twisted Pictures producers Oren Koules and Mark Burg for this futuristic shocker detailing a terrifying epidemic of organ failures. The denizens of planet Earth have been devastated by inexplicable and widespread organ failures, and as a result scientists begin planning a substantial organ harvest. Though an innovative biotech conglomerate subsequently offers the fearful public a means of maintaining their health by enacting a series of hassle-free organ payment plans, things begin to get messy when it's revealed that the financed body parts are subjected to legal default, and that failure to maintain proper payment will result in forceful repossession of the organs. Paul Sorvino and Spy Kids' Alexa Vega star alongside celebrity socialite Paris Hilton in the Lionsgate film. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

When three females are brought together as part of a malevolent plan, their worst fears soon become a terrifying reality in a dark thriller from writer Jake Wade Wall and director John Simpson. A traumatized woman being questioned by a cop and a psychiatrist realizes that a clown, a hotel, and a convoy could hold the secret of stopping a relentless serial killer before he strikes again. As children they were best friends; as adults Tabitha, Shelby, and Lisa have wandered separate life paths. Now, inside a chilly prison chamber, three women and a group of other potential victims must fight for their lives, or lie down and die for another's amusement. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

In the small hours of the night, when one man's life explodes into sudden chaos, a simple telephone call to his former best friend will forever change the lives both in ways that neither could have ever anticipated. It's 2:00am, and Terry Seville's telephone is ringing. On the other end of the line, the panicked voice of Terry's high school buddy Craig Blackshear begs for help. It's been a while since Terry and Craig have parted ways, but by the sound of Craig's voice things are looking pretty dire. Upon making the decision to reach out and lend Craig a helping hand, the demons of the past will emerge to spin a complicated web of lies that threaten to turn deadly. One thing is for sure: By morning there will be a new obituary in the New Essex Beagle. The only question that remains now is whose. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Director Brian De Palma returns to the helm for the first time since 2002's Femme Fatale with this stylish screen adaptation of James Ellroy's novel detailing one of the most notorious unsolved murders in Hollywood history. Elizabeth Short (Mia Kirshner) was a struggling actress looking to make a name for herself in 1940s-era Tinseltown. Unfortunately for Elizabeth, it was her grim fate that would ultimately overshadow anything she would accomplish during her short and tragic career. When police discover Elizabeth's body cut clean in half and with all of her organs missing, ex-pugilist detectives Lee Blanchard (Aaron Eckhart) and Bucky Bleichert (Josh Hartnett) are the men charged with cracking the case and apprehending the killer. This isn't your average murder case, however, and as Blanchard's marriage to Kay (Scarlett Johansson) begins to suffer due to his obsession with the sensational crime, his partner Bleichert discovers a troubling link between the victim and the mysterious Madeleine Linscott (Hilary Swank), a prominent socialite and the daughter of one of the town's most connected key players. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

A cozy coffeehouse serves as the setting for director John Cosgrove's over-caffeinated tale of sexual peccadilloes and complicated relationships starring Mena Suvari, Katherine Heigl, and Breckin Meyer. It's a typical lunch hour in London, and The Black Cat Café is fast filling up with patrons whose sexual lives have become a tangled web of infidelity, kinky idiosyncrasies, and betrayal. Stoned on some of the most potent weed in jolly old England, a neurotic young commitment-phobe attempts to keep his cool when he has an unexpected run-in with his bitter ex-girlfriend. But he's not the only one whose secrets are about to come out today, because after a shy young lady is forced to fend off a boorish blind date whose preconception of her couldn't be more wrong, a possessive boyfriend discovers that his current girlfriend was once a well-known adult film star. Later, after a fragile old lady mistakes a patron for the ex-husband she once found in a compromising position with a kinky prostitute and a high-powered attorney discovers that her husband-to-be likes to dress in ladies' clothes, the manager's boyfriend claims that a recent ménage à trois is perfectly forgivable since it was conducted with a pair of identical twins. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

A real-life series of killings that held Los Angeles, CA, in the grip of fear during the late '70s provides the inspiration for this tense crime drama. Kenneth Bianchi (C. Thomas Howell) is a nebbishy security guard who lives with his mother in Rochester, NY, and dreams of becoming a police officer. After Bianchi's application to join the Rochester police is turned town, he takes his mother's advice and moves out to Glendale, CA, where she arranges for him to stay with his cousin, Angelo Buono (Nicholas Turturro), who works in auto repair. When he's unable to get a position with the Glendale Police Department, Bianchi steps outside the law and, claiming to have a degree in psychology and a license to practice, sets up shop as a counselor. While Bianchi never had much luck with women in Rochester, Buono gives him some advice and sets him up on a few dates; soon Bianchi has a string of girlfriends, though things become complicated when one of his steady girls, Claire Shelton (Allison Lange), becomes pregnant and moves in with him. As Bianchi becomes increasingly obsessed with sex, he and his cousin join forces to set up a prostitution ring, which quickly earns them the enmity of a group of career criminals. When Bianchi and Buono discover that they have been double crossed by one of the hookers in their stable, the two men rape and murder the woman in the back of a car; Bianchi discovers he enjoys the thrill of killing, and soon he and Buono begin committing a string of sexually tinged murders throughout the Los Angeles area, with the press soon dubbing the culprit "The Hillside Strangler." The Hillside Strangler was one of two identically titled films based on the same true story that were released in 2004; the other was directed by Chris Fisher and starred Clifton Collins Jr. and Tomas Arana as Bianchi and Buono. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

David Lynch wrote and directed this look at two women who find themselves walking a fine line between truth and deception in the beautiful but dangerous netherworld of Hollywood. A beautiful woman (Laura Elena Harring) riding in a limousine along Los Angeles' Mulholland Drive is targeted by a would-be shooter, but before he can pull the trigger, she is injured when her limo is hit by another car. The woman stumbles from the wreck with a head wound, and in time makes her way into an apartment with no idea of where or who she is. As it turns out, the apartment is home to an elderly woman who is out of town, and is allowing her niece Betty (Naomi Watts) to stay there; Betty is a small-town girl from Canada who wants to be an actress, and her aunt was able to arrange an audition with a film director for her. Betty befriends the injured woman, who begins calling herself "Rita" after seeing a poster of Rita Hayworth. While Betty's audition impresses a casting agent, and she catches the eye of hotshot director Adam Kesher (Justin Theroux), Kesher's producers and moneymen insist with no small vehemence that he instead cast a woman named Camilla Rhodes. As Rita attempts to put the pieces of her life back together, she pulls the name Diane Selwyn from her memory; Rita thinks it could be her real name, but when she and Betty find a listing for Diane Selwyn and visit her apartment, they discover the latest victim of a mysterious killer who is eluding police detective Harry McKnight (Robert Forster). Rita's emotional identity soon takes a left turn, and it turns out that neither woman is quite who she once appeared to be. David Lynch originally conceived Mulholland Drive as the pilot film for a television series; after the ABC television network rejected the pilot and declined to air it, the French production film StudioCanal took over the project, and Lynch reshot and re-edited the material into a theatrical feature. The resulting version of Mulholland Drive premiered at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival, where David Lynch shared Best Director honors with Joel Coen. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

In this disturbing psychological drama, Molly Parker plays Leila, a receptionist at a rundown hotel who pads her paycheck by turning tricks with the hotel's customers. When she meets Gary (Callum Keith Rennie), a brutish psycho, Leila endures his physical abuse with troubling insouciance, preferring his rough treatment to the passionless marriage waiting for her at home. Some clues to her demeanor are given in a parallel story, in which a young girl plays powerless witness to her mother's sexual encounter with the girl's violent uncle. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, Rovi

With suspense in the De Palma tradition, this thriller from Michael Steinberg (Bodies, Rest & Motion) hinges on the killer of cheating Karen Christianson (Chelsea Field), survived by her husband Ben (William R. Moses), troubled teen daughter Ellie (Julia Stiles), and little sister Inger (Vanessa Zima). At the gated tract-house community where they live, homicide detective Boland (Michael Parks) keeps his eye on a variety of suspects -- prissy Mrs. Potter (Linda Hart), womanizing Lawson Smith (Patrick Muldoon of Starship Troopers); and au pair Lena (Swedish actress Louise Myrback in her film debut). Shown at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi