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Victoria and Lily (Megan Charpentier and Isabelle Nelisse), who are left in the woods for 5 years after their father goes missing in a fit of extreme depression and rage. Brought back into society the two are bizarrely feral, something kept them alive in the woods, but it hardly seems human. Now it’s up to the girl’s uncle (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) and his girlfriend Annabel (Jessica Chastain) to rehabilitate and raise the girls as best they can. But a dark and twisted force seems to be at play—Mama, the “thing” that kept the girls alive in the woods has followed the girls to their new home. What does Mama want, and can the family give it to her? Sufficiently creepy, Director Andres Muschietti, employs a handful of scare tactics to work on the psychology of the audience, turning the thumbscrews just right to elicit appropriate squirming in your seat. Albeit, some of the subplots come across a little trite or too convenient, but the general premise is still solid. Conjuring imagery from something Grimm, haunting musical scoring that feels inspired by Danny Elfman, stirred in with the blood and art of Tim Burton and del Toro, this sinister tale will spook you but leave you with a smile. Mama is rated PG-13.

Picking up shortly after the terrorist attacks on 9/11, Zero Dark Thirty is the compressed history of the political relations between the United States and the Middle East. Detailing the work of the C.I.A., counterintelligence gathering, military strategists, White House operations, and ultimately the Navy S.E.A.L. team responsible for the elimination of Osama bin Laden. Told in riveting detail, albeit sometimes embellished for cinematic purposes, the film serves as an extended lesson on U.S. history, diplomacy, and what might be otherwise termed “black ops.” Directed by Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker), we’re once again given plenty to sink our teeth into, with an ensemble that includes masterful performances from Jessica Chastain and Jason Clarke. Gritty, tense, and unrelenting to the final frame this is not a feel good film; however, the film does provide for important insight answering many of the who, where, what, why and hows of our current political situation. Worth your consideration, just remember it’s a lengthy beast clocking in at 2 hours and 37 minutes in length, lay off that beverage eh? Zero Dark Thirty is rated R.

1949 Los Angeles, a Jewish mobster by the name of Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn) was looking to stake his claim on the Wild West disregarding the pressures of the mafia in Chicago and New York. Wild eyed and raw with power Cohen seemed unstoppable, until what seemed like the last honest police chief, Chief Parker (Nick Nolte), put a plan into action– an assembly of elite but honest and tough cops to secretly take down Cohen’s operations piece by piece. Headed up by Sgt. O’Mara (Josh Brolin) and his friend Sgt. Wooters (Ryan Gosling), this gangster squad would have to work fast and dangerously to make their mark, not all would survive, and what about the dame in distress (Emma Stone)? Crossed somewhere between Dick Tracy, Bugsy, and Tombstone, Gangster Squad serves as a mish mosh of untimely art deco, zuit suit riot-esque Hollywood confusion. With throwbacks to the gangster films of days gone by, it’s a little hard to take this “historically inspired” film terribly seriously. Cheese whiz good guy rhetoric rings throughout, and the overall story reads like a predictable comic book. Still, if you’re up for a mindless popcorn chomper, this may have some legs…maybe broken at the knees, but still legs. Gangster Squad is rated R.