The Hunger Games (2012)

★★★½
The Hunger Games books carry the label of dystopian young adult fiction, but much like Robert Heinlein's juvenile novels (Have Space Suit—Will Travel is a standout), Suzanne Collins's stories have broad appeal that reaches well beyond the Y.A. demographic. She writes at a very high level and incorporates complex themes into a fast-paced narrative focused on combat and survival. Series protagonist Katniss Everdeen is plucky, cunning and resilient. She navigates a deadly contest planned and manipulated by gamemakers who have accepted the yearly sacrifice of children as a part of life. Their world of Panem consists of a highly centralized and authoritarian capital city (called the Capitol) and its 12 districts of varying degrees of poverty and disenchantment. Collins advances the plot efficiently and succeeds in simultaneously conveying Panem's geopolitical environment and maintaining a clear focus on Katniss's journey.

Hanging Up (2000)

★★
Nora Ephron's name will most likely forever be linked with chick flicks. It's ironic that her best work has nothing to do with that genre. In 1983 she co-wrote Silkwood, a fine film based on the true story of a nuclear factory employee uncovering corruption at the plant. Another notable film is My Blue Heaven (1990), starring Steve Martin as an oddball gangster hiding away while he awaits his court appearance. Ephron sometimes hits the target and dishes out something worth watching (1996's Michael), but lately I have found her films, whether written and/or directed by her, too cute for my tastes. I was unimpressed with her wildly popular Sleepless in Seattle (1993), and You've Got Mail (1998) was weak too. Now, she and her sister Delia have cowritten Hanging Up, which was directed by Diane Keaton, and again Ephron has created something with a warm and fuzzy exterior but with a shallow interior.

Hush (2008)

★★½
Hush (2008) is a taut little thriller taking place on a rainy night. It has a small cast and makes use of only a few locations. Like Duel's menacing truck driver, we have a villain here who drives a truck and remains largely unseen. I came across the trailer on a D.V.D. while I was watching another movie, and the concept intrigued me. Along a U.K. motorway, Zakes (William Ash) and girlfriend Beth (Christine Bottomley) tail a white cargo truck, the back door for which opens by accident and reveals a woman locked in a cage. That was enough for me. Movies with simple premises like this depend on imagination and clever plotting to make up for the lack of characters and settings, so seeing a movie like this succeed in achieving its objectives is very satisfying. There are hits and misses, to be sure, but the good ones, like the misunderstood Open Water, are treasures that are worth the trip to uncover.

Hardcore Henry (2016)

★★★
Hardcore Henry plays like a relentless video game. It's Doom gone off the rails. The entire movie is shot from the first-person perspective, and the hero runs, punches, kicks and shoots his way to the end. This is not a found-footage movie, which is also shot from in the first person and features dizzying camera movement. Instead, director Ilya Naishuller gives us a movie seen through the eyes of the hero as he navigates numerous obstacles in and around Moscow. He gives us plenty of original visuals and a few hilarious set pieces. Playing this material straight would have been a mistake. Doing so would have just taken a standard sci-fi/action movie and added a gimmick in a transparent attempt to shake things up. Instead, Naishuller is smart enough to see the possibilities that this kind of perspective can offer. He has an interesting story to tell, but he enhances its presentation by taking full advantage of the camera positioning (it was strapped to the performer's head) to give us shots that are unique, exciting and imaginative.

House (1986)

★★
There has been only one horror movie that made me scream out loud, and that was 1986's House, a horror/comedy production from the Friday the 13th team (producer Sean S. Cunningham, director Steve Miner). My dad took me to the theater to see it, and I remember the moment it happened. The entire theater blew up with a deafening noise. It was that good, and what made it better was the timing. I think we all expected something was going to happen after a well-placed false alarm, but it was scary anyway because of some effective editing and the gruesome special effects work. I'll go ahead and declare House's jump scare as one of the greatest in horror movie history, ranking up there with Wait Until Dark's iconic leap from out of nowhere courtesy of Alan Arkin. It doesn't matter that I was 10 years old when I saw it. A theater full of adults reacted the same way.

Her (2013)

★★★½
Spike Jonze doesn't direct many movies, but when he does he is guaranteed to give us something amazing. Even his weaker efforts (Where the Wild Things Are) have something to offer. He cut his teeth on music videos before getting his big chance to direct a feature. What a debut it was. Being John Malkovich (1999) is a masterpiece. It still resonates with me over 20 years later. It was fascinated with the thrill one could gain by temporarily escaping one’s own identity and live another life completely. Imagine being an introvert and suddenly thrust into a new body. You could behave in an entirely different manner and take risks that you wouldn’t otherwise take. Her, Jonze’s most recent movie, is along the same lines, and is his best project since that magnificent debut.

Hide and Seek (2005)

★★½
Robert De Niro is once again at the center of mysterious circumstances, which could be undone by a simple revelation that asks us to rethink everything in the film and reassemble it to form a new picture. The actor took part in the best twist ending I've ever seen, in Alan Parker's bloody Angel Heart, and here he is again to participate in another mind-boggler, only this time he's at the receiving end. His daughter, played by Dakota Fanning, has an imaginary friend named Charlie, who is responsible for the poltergeist-style haunting of his new home.

House of Wax (2005)

★★★
House of Wax follows the conventions of the slasher genre so precisely that it’s almost a waste of time to criticize it on that level. Like a James Bond movie or another retelling of Stevenson’s Treasure Island, the latest slasher movie adheres to rigid guidelines with a little tweaking to differentiate it from its predecessors. House of Wax turns out to be a lot better than it might at first appear, mainly due to said tweaking, a sly sense of humor, old-fashioned movie gore and a virtuoso finale.