Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011)

Okay, confession time- this is my first "Planet of the Apes" movie. I have never seen the Charlton Heston original. Hell, I haven't even seen the crappily reviewed Tim Burton film with Helena Bonham Carter and Mark Wahlberg.

But I have to say, despite my lack of experience with the "Apes" franchise, this one grabbed my attention right away. This is up there with Neill Blomkamp's "District 9" as science fiction at its most emotionally charged, tinged with social commentary.

This is a star-studded cast -- James Franco, John Lithgow, Tom Felton of the "Harry Potter" films -- and yet the film belongs to the apes. These CGI wonders are incredibly realistic, and through the magic of modern technology, given the facial expressions of actors.

Tucker and Dale vs. Evil (2010)

"Tucker and Dale vs. Evil" is a willfully ridiculous, ridiculously bloody, balls-out and slightly touching film that allows the hillbillies to be the heroes for a change.

Tucker and Dale, far from the chainsaw-wielding, pig-raping rednecks we have come to expect from horror movies and West Virginia jokes, are just trying to have a nice time at their vacation home when out of the blue come a group of college kids who also want to have a nice time... but quickly become an incompetent lynch-mob over a series of misunderstandings.

The progression of the plot is super simple -- somehow, under various circumstances, these doltheads keep killing themselves all around Tucker and Dale's vacation home. Meanwhile, lovelorn Dale (Tyler Labine) harbors a crush on one of the college girls (Katrina Bowden,) while Dale (Firefly's Alan Tudyk) encourages him to believe in himself.