... hot, sweet, and thoroughly mixed up.

After some family weirdness, Bella arrives a new high school in mid-term. Even when she receives a warm welcome, her mood stays as dark as the grey skies over the Pacific Northwest. Soon, she meets Edward, a Steppenwolf character. He's handsome enough, but a loner and a mystery, the kind that Bella would like to solve. When she's assigned to his lab bench in science class, he nearly bolts like a spooked horse. That just tweaks her interest even more.

Then an out-of-control car nearly crushes her. Edward 'pushes her out of the way,' or so she tells people. The truth is far stranger, though, and leads her to solve his mystery. That (plus the fact that he just saved her life) just commits her to him even more. Much to everyone's surprise, including his own, he reciprocates. Although Bella's father worries that he's a little old for her - if he only knew! - only a biologically driven tension really invades their happiness. Oh, and a couple of thoroughly bad badguys.

Some nice moments follow, including a "meet the family" scene with more than usual awkwardness. We see some realistically poor teen judgement, too, the kind so believably motivated by an overheated romantic sense. Giving away much more of the plot would mean giving too much away, but there's some good action, fearful moments that never go too far, and charming humor at the family baseball game.

This could have been a mess of a genre-hopping teen romance flick, but the pieces came together nicely. Maybe it won't be one for the ages, but it looks like one of the better date movies in a long time, especially for the teen demographic.

-- wiredweird

akoto seems ordinary enough. She has her friends, goes to school every day, and makes her way through those confusing early teen years. Then, one day, she hears a noise in the school science lab. When she goes to investigate -- well, something happens, or seems to. After school, on her way home, her bike's breaks fail on a steep hill. She careens in front of a rushing train, with no way to avoid being hit. Then, quite suddenly, she appears back in the school again, a few hours before her date with death.

Somehow, she has developed the ability to go backwards in time, but with memory of that possible future. Then, over the next few days, she learns to leap at will. Life in early teen years gives plenty for her to want to do over, including romantic embarrassments involving her friends or herself. This ability has its limits, though, including a countdown that mysteriously appears on her arm. Then she discovers that she unwittingly took this ability away from someone else.

You won't find mega-mechs or flying swordsmen in this peaceful but engaging movie. You will find a few other manga stereotypes, including impossibly thin and leggy figures and shortie schoolgirl uniforms. Accept the conventions and look elsewhere for bam-pow excitement. This kid-safe movie offers some chaste teen romance and mystery, and some undefinable bit more. Give it a shot.

-- wiredweird

Phase IV (Saul Bass, 1974)

Mid-seventies killer-bug flick of the type that was so popular right about then, but pretty good for having such a sedate pace. Two scientists, Lesko (Michael Murphy) and Hubbs (Nigel Davenport), head out into the American desert to study killer ants, but soon find those ants are far more intelligent than they-- or anyone-- had originally believed. After their initial attempt to kill the ants, they find Kendra (the late Lynne Frederick) hiding in the basement of a nearby house, and she, too, becomes part of the team when the ants isolate their base and start with concerted attacks.

Unlike most killer-bug movies, the ants in Phase IV never really show any supernatural powers; they do their thing not by having super-instincts (or, god help us, telekinesis), but by doing what ants do-- chewing through wires, building nests, biting people, that sort of thing. (Well, okay, not the whole time. But the supposed supernatural-ant-powers that crop up we never get any details about. It's like showing the monster's shadow rather than spending $15 million on special effects to show the monster, and by the time you get that far, it's almost believable.) It's almost minimalist in comparison to such flicks as Them! or Night of the Lepus. And therein lies its strength; the horror of the thing is that it halfway makes sense. It doesn't bludgeon the viewer about the head in any way.

This was Bass' only feature-length film (he spent most of his career as a title designer), and it makes one wonder what could have been had he chosen to direct a few more movies. Well worth seeking out. *** ½