Happy Father’s Day! In honor of this groundbreaking article, which states, “Jude Law’s character in 2006 film The Holiday has been named the hottest film father in a recent poll,” I would like to talk about some Jude Law films that I’ve actually seen and liked (or would like to see, at least). Turns out he hasn’t done that many movies that pertain to my interests personally, but hey, he’s hot so who cares, right?

1. Alfie Just Kidding.

1. eXistenZ This might be the first Jude Law movie I’ve seen, and it’s certainly one I’d recommend. This sci-fi thriller is directed by the great David Cronenberg and has Jude playing a marketing trainee, stuck fleeing with the world’s leading virtual reality game creator, played by Jennifer Jason Leigh, after a group of people try to kill her. I don’t want to give much away about the movie, but if you like weird stuff or are familiar with Cronenberg’s work, I would check it out. If not, proceed with caution.

2. Gattaca And I guess this must be the best Jude Law movie I’ve seen. In another flick from his sci-fi days, Jude plays a genetically superior man to Ethan Hawke’s character (big stretch), who is not genetically engineered like the rest of them and therefore gets crapped on by modern society. Therefore, Hawke sets out to impersonate Law, whose suicide-attempt left him paralyzed from the waist down and super bummed out. Luckily, money solves everything, so Law is all set to sell his identity to Hawke, which isn’t quite as easy as either of them may be hoping for. With a classy blend of drama and sci-fi, this movie stretches far beyond a simple popcorn flick. Highly recommended.

3. The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus Perhaps best known as Heath Ledger’s final and unfinished performance, Jude, along with Johnny Depp and Colin Farrel stepped in to play the remainder of Ledger’s character for the scenes he was not able to complete. These scenes take place inside the imaginarium, which is an imaginary world created by Doctor Parnassus as part of a traveling show to the public. Directed by another great, Terry Gilliam, this movie is certainly a trip.

4. Repo Men I haven’t seen this movie yet, but was glad to hear Jude was revisiting the sci-fi genre, something that could have helped his street cred 5 or so years ago. As far as I know, the movie is set in the future where artificial organs can be bought on credit. Need a new heart? Sure, just sign this form. Six months later… Oh, you can’t pay for it? We’ll have to send Jude Law and Forest Whitaker in to get that heart back. Sorry dude! The movie should be something along those lines.

5. Sherlock Holmes This is another on my to-see list. This is one of those movies I’ll have to force myself to see, however. I mean, I’m sure it will be fun and entertaining, but I’ve never cared about Sherlock Holmes in the first place. Still, it’s nice to see Jude playing a character that isn’t a sex-god (unless we have differing opinions on the character of Doctor Watson… I guess I should see the movie before I talk). Plus, Robert Downey Jr’s been hitting it out of the park lately, with films like Zodiac and Iron Man. I hear the chemistry between Law and Downey is legit, so hopefully the movie will not disappoint!

That’s how Stephen King describes his books. I like his stuff a lot, but I can totally see where he’s coming from with that. He’s written billions of words and when you’re done reading one of his books, you may feel satisfied for a little while but soon enough you need to eat again. Or read. Whatever. Not talking about books anyhow, I’m talking about movies. Stephen King movies.

Carrie introduced us to ol’ Steve’s peculiar brand of ordinary people dealing with extraordinary situations. In this case, it’s the titular character’s realization that she’s got special powers.  These are, of course, hidden to her until the relentless torment from her high-school classmates and her overbearing mother reach a peak, at which point there’s really nothing to do but decimate her school and most of the town with it. Directed by Brian DePalma.

In The Dead Zone, Christopher Walken is Johnny Smith who, after a car accident leaves him in a coma, awakens to discover that he’s got special powers. Johnny can see into the past, present and future of a person simply by touching them. Unsure how to deal with this power, he considers withdrawing from the world, until he shakes the hand of an up-and-coming politician. Now Johnny must decide what do with the shocking knowledge he’s gained. Directed by David Cronenberg.

Creepshow, directed by George Romero, is a collection of five short horror stories all tied together in a horror comic book style like the classic Tales From The Crypt, which itself was made into a successful horror anthology show.

The Green Mile is  the name given to the Death Row cellblock at Cold Mountain Penitentiary. Here, there are sadistic guards and equally sadistic inmates, but there are also kinder and gentler types. One of the inmates, sentenced to death for the murder of two small children. Almost child-like himself, the guards soon discover that there’s more to this guy than meets the eye. Yep. He’s got special powers. Directed by Frank Darabont, who also did The Shawshank Redemption and the next one on our list. Frank seems to really get Stephen King’s stuff and he makes great movies from the source material.

The Mist is freakin’ scary. Seriously, the book creeped me out and the movie does as well. A mysterious cloud of mist envelops a small town in New England, leaving a small group of neighbors trapped inside a supermarket. Why? Because there are creepy scary monsters in the fog, that’s why! In the hands of another director, this might have been fairly typical of many Stephen King adaptations, but Mr. Darabont, as I said, gets Steve’s stuff, I guess.

Perhaps this one flew under your radar, but you don’t want to miss The Night Flier, the tale of an tabloid reporter hot on the trail of an apparent serial killer preying on small towns with tiny airports. Turns out this killer is far from ordinary (hey, it’s Stephen King, remember)… it’s a vampire!

The original Salem’s Lot was really pretty good for a made-for-TV movie. But the TNT miniseries staring Rob Lowe, Donald Sutherland, James Cromwell and Rutger Hauer is leaps and bounds better. When a vampire moves into that creepy old house, how come nobody notices?

Johnny Depp and John Turturro star in Secret Window, the story of recently-divorced writer Mort Rainey (Depp) who, while holed up in his remote lake house, is confronted by a crazed stranger named John Shooter (Turturro). Shooter accuses Rainey of plagiarism and demands justice. Things get ugly, even murderous, before the end of the movie. No, there are no special powers.

Other Stephen King titles in the store include The Shining, 1408, and Dreamcatcher.  Come on in and get spooked, why don’tcha?

If you’re a fan of either of these shows, today is your lucky day! All five currently-available seasons of Entourage have just hit the shelves. That’s around 33 hours of wannabe stardom! And, in case you’re wondering, season 6 will be out on June 22nd. Just so you know.

We also have all four seasons of the highly-rated Mr. Show, featuring the incredibly funny David Cross and Bob Odenkirk.

Other interesting titles headed straight for the Wall O’Cool: Japanese action/horror/comedies Battle Royale and Battle Royale II; the John Woo action classic Hard Boiled in a two disc special edition; Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall heat up the screen in The Big Sleep; classic horror in Wes Craven’s original 1977 The Hills Have Eyes and the 1980 people-who-can-make-your-head-explode-with-their-minds chiller Scanners from David Cronenberg!