LUCKY NUMBER SLEVIN

Theater: Showcase Cinemas Stonybrook, Louisville, Kentucky

The beginning of the movie does not start out where you expect it to. And it's great.

You have Josh Hartnett being confused for someone else. Problem is, he's being confused by two rival mob bosses (Ben Kingsley and Morgan Freeman). Throw Lucy Liu in as the hot neighbor and Bruce Willis in as a hitman, and you have a mind-bending romp through a man's forced choice to serve one side or the other. And did I mention the NYPD is on his case now too?

It's filled with dry humor and surprises but doesn't get too clever for its own good. And Bruce Willis kills more people here than he does in 16 Blocks, I'm pretty sure ... and he's only a supporting character!

The movie won't keep you bored, may keep you guessing, and won't make you sorry you paid some money to see it.

See it if - you like being entertained in the theater; you were disappointed in Willis' previous outings.
Rent it if - go see it instead.

LORD OF WAR

DVD

A bullet is manufactured, packaged, sold, shipped, smuggled, lost, found, loaded, and shot into a person's head.

It's an inventive opening to the movie, dealing with Nicholas Cage's gun-running in the Cold War and after. Not high on moral value, except that perhaps giving people the means to kill each other is not the most noble of professions, it is a disturbing look at what happened specifically after the fall of the USSR and how all those cold war weapons vanished into third world countries.

It's one of those movies where you root for the bad guy because he's really the best person you have to root for. Would you rather root for the ruthless competition that car-bombs people, or the oppressive president of Liberia? Thought not.

It's not that inventive, but it's entertaining ... and recently, we can't really ask anything else from Nic Cage.

Rent it if - you like guns.
Buy it if - if you really like guns.

SLITHER

Theater: Movies Palace 6 Theaters, Elizabethtown, Kentucky

So I went to see a horror movie, hoping this would do for alien worms from outer space what Scream did to killers in masks ... unfortunately, it was low on wit.

Was it a bad horror movie? No. But not as tongue in cheek as I would have wanted. The recent Dawn of the Dead, with celebrity zombie sniping, I thought was great. This was ... not great. But have no fear, there is plenty of disgusting gore.

The story isn't that great, but it doesn't have to be. Alien pod impregnates man with worms, which impregnate woman who explodes giving birth to thousands of worms ... and anyone with a worm becomes a zombie/hive-mind person.

It stars the captain from Serenity, the receptionist from The Office, the father from Mallrats, and the bad guy from Payback ... how many obscure cast members can you get in one film?

My main disappointment was, while expecting a B-movie with funny parts, I got a REALLY B-movie with not enough funny parts ... what would Evil Dead 2 been without the comedy? Not good.

See it if - you want to see the first Serenity follow-on project for Nathan Fillion
Rent it if - you believe B-movies deserve your money at home as opposed to at the theater.