The Lowdown: A crew of astronauts on the International Space Station gets more than they bargained for when a Martian soil sample they've retrieved proves to contain an extraterrestrial biological entity. The Lowdown: A largely derivative sci-fi thriller that falls short of its prodigious potential.

The Story: A former competitive motorcycle racer and an undercover FBI agent team up to investigate corruption within the California Highway Patrol. The Lowdown: A redundant reboot of a TV show that should have already been forgotten, Dax Shepard fails in his attempts at both action and comedy.

The Story: A group of teens finds alien amulets that give them superpowers and place them in the midst of an intergalactic conflict over a cosmic MacGuffin. The Lowdown: An uninspired rehashing of a TV show primarily remembered for being painfully bad in the first place, this low-brow cash-grab bears all of the deficiencies of a Michael Bay…

In Brief: Director and veteran editor Chuck Workman may not break any new ground in this documentary examining the life and career of Orson Welles — but that's because there's very little material on the subject that hasn't been covered extensively. What distinguishes Workman's film is the adroitness with which he composes his collection of…

The Story: After an accidental overdose (or possible suicide attempt), a retired ad exec whose life was defined by ambition and isolation enlists a young obituary writer to help rectify her reputation in the hopes of earning a write-up that will cement her legacy. The Lowdown: An uneven film that suffers from poor writing and direction in spite…

The Story: A group of office workers is locked in a building and forced to murder each other in order to escape. The Lowdown: A proficient piece of gory genre filmmaking that doesn't dazzle but never bores.

The Story: An intelligent and independent woman in a provincial French village is imprisoned by the monstrous inhabitant of a spooky castle, but she finds there's more to him than meets the eye. The Lowdown: A faithful adaptation of the 1991 animated classic that is defined by its technological accomplishments but runs longer than it needs to and…

In Brief: The Asheville Film Society's Budget Big Screen series makes its triumphant return with one of the strangest (and best, in my opinion) films ever made – Alejandro Jodorowsky's magnum opus, The Holy Mountain. The Chilean-born writer-director-actor had come to the attention of John Lennon and Yoko Ono when his previous film, El Topo, played at the Elgin Theater…

The Story: A young orphan overcomes trauma with the help of his surrogate family. The Lowdown: A rare children's film that respects its target audience's intelligence, dealing with mature themes in an accessible way and offering hope while avoiding saccharinity.

The Story: A group of scientists and a military escort explore a mysterious uncharted island in the South Pacific in the final days of the Vietnam War. The title should give you some indication of what they find. The Lowdown: A fun, if not overwhelmingly thought provoking, giant monster film that promises bigger (pun intended) things on the…

The Story: A curmudgeon must reexamine his long-held assumptions when confronted with a tangible reminder of his first romance and its involvement in the tragic death of a close friend. The Lowdown: An interesting concept underserved by a truncated narrative and a relatively unlikeable protagonist — but largely redeemed by excellent performances from Jim Broadbent and Charlotte Rampling.

In Brief: As with many of Ingmar Bergman's late-period works, Cries and Whispers was a divisive film on its release in 1972, and might still be just as divisive today. Also indicative of Bergman's auteurial signature is the film's incomparable conflation of beauty and brutality, and this may well be one of the most difficult Bergman films to watch.…

In Brief: One of my favorite Robert Mitchum performances, and one of the best ever portrayals of Raymond Chandler's character Philip Marlowe, Dick Richards' 1973 Farewell, My Lovely holds its own against the best nostalgia noir of the '70s, Chinatown included. Marlowe is the role Mitchum was born to play, and even in his late 50s he fits the bill…

The Story: In 2029, a worse-for-wear Wolverine is confronted with a twelve-year-old daughter created from his genetic material, and must help her evade dangerous pursuers on her way to sanctuary in Canada. The Lowdown: Logan has always been the best there is at what he does, and now there's finally a film that does him justice.

The Story: A group of Jewish children hidden in Vichy France must outrun the encroaching Axis powers in the final days of World War II. The Lowdown: A movingly sentimental portrait of a child's experience of incomprehensible strife, and a great way to start a conversation with kids about the significance of a tragic chapter in world history.

The Story: A teacher's wife is assaulted, leading him on a dark quest to find the culprit. The Lowdown: Asghar Farhadi continues to mine low-key, personal stories for incredible drama with the help of two outstanding performances from Shahab Hosseini and Taraneh Alidoosti.

The Story: An African prince marries an office worker in 1940s London, and their struggle to defend their marriage against overwhelming personal and political opposition has broad-reaching international ramifications. The Lowdown: A rousing story of defiance in the face of bigotry that boasts excellent performances and a moving message.

The Story: A high school senior killed in a car accident after she leaves a party must repeat her last day until she presumably learns some sort of karmic lesson. The Lowdown: Combines Hollywood's current affinity for rehashing old ideas and adapting young adult novels into one extraordinarily lazy, low budget package that might appeal only to…

In Brief: Director Louis Malle's attention to performance is on full dispalay in this thoroughly '90s update of Chekhov's Uncle Vanya, retiming Malle with his My Dinner with Andre stars Wallace Shawn and Andre Gregory for the first time in ten years. It's a remarkable deconstruction of one of Chekhov's most frequently revisited works, with a gutted theatre…

The Story: An aging father tries to reconnect with his uptight adult daughter, whose resistance prompts him to insinuate himself into her life through a series of increasingly strange gestures. The Lowdown: Is it a comedy? Is it a drama? I'm not quite sure — but I can say with absolute certainty that it's great.