Monsters vs. Aliens

It speaks to the strength of The Burning’s reputation among cult-film fans that what’s most memorable about the 1981 slasher is not that it was written by the Weinstein brothers, nor that it represents early appearances of the likes of Jason Alexander, Holly Hunter and Fisher Stevens. It’s that its Cropsy is just a damned good villain.

Nightfall

As Simon Lam gets older, he gets better. The veteran actor has appeared in such in seminal HK action films of the 1990s as Once Upon a Time in China (opposite Jet Li) and Bullet in the Head (directed by John Woo); in the aughts, he graced audience and critical favorites Election and Ip Man.

Grand Duel

Lee Van Cleef enjoyed a secondary career in Italy cranking out spaghetti Westerns, with little regard to quality. However, 1972’s Grand Duel — aka The Big Showdown — is deserving of its Grand label. No wonder Quentin Tarantino borrowed its sweeping theme song by Luis Bacalov for Kill Bill; you'll recognize it in two notes.

The Last Stand

Early in The Last Stand, the small-town sheriff played by Arnold Schwarzenegger says, "It's my day off. Should be a quiet weekend." That's the new way of saying, "I've got one week to retirement," because it signals — with flashing neon and everything — that life is going to royally upend those plans.

ed/Movie%20review%20thumbnails/monsters.jpg" width="150" align="right" vspace="10" border="0" />First off, let me say that the trailers to "Monsters vs. Aliens" do it no favors.

For whatever reason, the marketing geniuses at DreamWorks Animation opted to spotlight some of the more humor-challenged moments involving bathroom humor and a mention of "boobies." The good news is that the picture is much better than its trailers let on " one of the better efforts in the DreamWorks canon.

Still, the folks at Pixar don't need to lose any sleep just yet. "Monsters vs. Aliens" doesn't aspire for more than comedy. It's light, playful and boasts genuine laughs, but it lacks the depth and memorable characters that have made Pixar the go-to studio for family-friendly animation.

Loaded with winking references to monster flicks of the 1950s, this 3-D yarn unfolds after a meteorite strikes Modesto, Calif. (the hometown of George Lucas, for those keeping score of inside jokes), shortly before the wedding of Susan Murphy (voiced by Reese Witherspoon, "Four Christmases"). The space-borne goo transforms perky Susan into a 49-foot, 11-inch giantess with white hair and a provocatively ripped bridal gown.

She is then whisked away by a crusty general (Kiefer Sutherland, TV's "24") to a top-secret government agency where she is housed alongside monster knockoffs of '50s-era sci-fi: mad scientist Dr. Cockroach (Hugh Laurie, TV's "House"), the Missing Link (Will Arnett, "The Rocker") and a gelatinous doofus dubbed B.O.B. (Seth Rogen, "Pineapple Express"). The creatures eventually win their freedom when Uncle Sam needs them to battle Gallaxhar (Rainn Wilson, TV's "The Office"), an evil space alien intent on conquering Earth and renaming it " wait for it " Gallaxhar's Planet.

GAGS APLENTY
There are gags aplenty to keep "Monsters vs. Aliens" moving at a brisk clip. Much of it is inspired, such as a climactic battle in which Susan uses a couple of convertibles as makeshift Rollerblades to traverse the Golden Gate bridge. Stephen Colbert, he of Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report" fame, has some brief but memorable turns as the voice of the president of the United States.

And in a genre that is usually male-centric, the movie deserves props for its story of female empowerment, as Susan's newfound power opens her eyes to the jerkiness of fianc

The Burning

Dexter: The Seventh Season

Nightfall

Grand Duel

The Last Stand

Monsters vs. Aliens