The Agatha Christie Hour, Set 2

Fans of the current state of television mystery shows, where crimes are solved with forensic evidence instead of the conversational skills of smart British people, may have a hard time adjusting to the slower pace of these clever episodes. The effort, however, will be worth it. Based upon the adventures of some of the ‘lesser-known’ protagonists invented by the Queen of Crime Drama, the stories are still clever and well-written and the acting from the series’ ensemble cast is superb.

Heartbreaker

Alex (Romain Duris) is more than just a gigolo. In fact, his services never include the physical act for which a gigolo is used. But if you want to break up a relationship, say that of a daughter in love with an unsuitable man, then Alex is the one who, for a price, can sweep her off her feet to show her what life has to offer her beyond the bad choice. Of course, it’s only a matter of time before Alex meets the woman he can’t convince to fall in love with him, and his failure drives him to romantic extremes.

Zorro: The Complete Series

Chances are that unless you have kids — or a child-like enthusiasm for Zorro stories — you probably missed this series when it was on the Family Channel. Now that it’s on DVD, you should give it a shot. Sure, the stories are a bit hokey at times, but the cast does a good job of selling them no matter how silly they get. Duncan Regher does a nice job in the title role, and the list of guest stars, ranging from Daniel Craig to Andre the Giant, is impressive. The extras, including the Douglas Fairbanks silent classic The Mark of Zorro, are excellent.

Enter the Void

Prepare yourself for a movie experience unlike anything you have seen in years. Whether or not that’s a good thing, however, will depend on your tolerance for director Gaspar Noé and his determination to push his audiences to the limit. (Anyone who watched the brutal murder by fire extinguisher in his last film, Irreversible, knows what that can mean). It’s the story of a brother and sister – he’s a junkie ad she’s a stripper – and what happens when one of them dies only to have their spirit roam around Tokyo looking at what it left behind until its time to be reborn.

Santa Sangre

It’s almost unfair to try and describe the plot to this Alejandro Jodorowsky film, because the story is just too bizarre. But here goes: A circus ringmaster is caught cheating with the tattooed lady by his wife. She kills him, but not before he cuts off both her arms. The son who witnesses all this is so traumatized he ends up in a mental hospital. Years later, his armless mother finds him and helps him escape. They soon get together — literally — to perform on the stage. It isn’t too long before the bodies start piling up around them. It’s weird and, in it’s own way, wonderful.

The Informant

After years of watching Matt Damon kick ass on a global scale in three Bourne movies, it takes a while to get used to seeing him as a flabby, toupee-wearing goofball in The Informant! That uncomfortableness you feel watching him, you discover by the end of this outrageous new comedy, is just one of the things that Damon and director Steven Soderbergh use to play with your head in this very smart and very funny movie. In The Informant!, Damon plays Mark Whitacre, an up-and-coming executive at a food additive manufacturer who becomes disillusioned when he uncovers a price fixing plot with global ramifications. Seeing himself as the guy wearing the white hat, Whitacre contacts the FBI and convinces them to start an investigation. The Informant! is the kind of movie that you will want to see a second time – at least – just to watch these two very talented filmmakers work their cinematic confidence game on the audience because even after you know where you will end up, The Informant! is still a hell of a ride.

Phantom, Requim for the Phantom, Part One

Good animes start with a strong story and peel away the layers to let the audience discover the mystery underneath it all. Phantom turns the usual on its head by giving us a string story n episode one and ten piling on the layers until you no longer know what story is being told, but you just can’t stop watching. A young tourist witnesses a brutal murder and barely escapes with his life. He wakes up in a dingy room with no memory of what happened or how he got there; in fact he has no memories at all. When an attractive young girl tells him he’s been selected to be trained as an assassin he thinks he’s having a nightmare. the fact that he turns out to be good — very good — at killing people doesn’t help. And if you think you now where the story is going to go, pay close attention because the end of Part One will floor you.