STOKER
Starring: Mia Wasikowska, Matthew Goode, Nicole Kidman - Dir: Park Chan-Wook

When foreign directors relocate to Hollywood it can go either way but usually results in a downward trajectory. For every Ang Lee who has flourished, there are a dozen John Woos who were artistically muzzled by the system or simply failed to connect with American sensibilities.

With South Korea's Park Chan-Wook (Old Boy, Lady Vengence) it was anybody's guess, given his twin gifts for lyricism and brutality, not necessarily the right combo for Western tastes. He did, after all, have his lead actor in Old Boy eat, for real, a live octopus.

But Stoker is brilliant. Right from the mysterious opening credits with their clever unsettling editing and slightly off-kilter voice-over, you know you're in safe hands. They climax with a death in the family: Wasikowska's father, Kidman's husband, has died and the funeral attracts the presence of creepily charismatic Uncle Charlie (Goode), who comes to stay.
They are a strange family – Kidman at her fragile porcelain oddest – and Charlie has darker secrets to be revealed. People die; it gets intense. This is not a happy family. Actually, the less one knows about the plot, the better; ignorance, in this case, makes for cinematic bliss.

Wicked Uncle Charlie could be a wink at Hitchcock (Shadow of a Doubt), and the film's title, the family surname, seems to be a vampire nod. (There are no vampires). But this is far from just a bag of references. The horror elements may be muted but there is real emotional weight, a very modern sensibility, and a weird haunting atmosphere that lingers long after its end.

What with spending the last couple of weeks assessing the Best of 2013, I'm now way behind on movie reviews. (To see the ‘Best of' lists, check them out online at Sunlive.) So many movies, so little time...

Pain & Gain is really a companion piece to 2 Guns. That looked like a faux-Michael Bay actioner, this is a real Michael Bay actioner. Both are buddy flicks, and both star Mark Wahlberg. His partner in crime this time is The Rock, with Mr Johnson providing an entertainingly self-deprecating performance. They're bodybuilders, who decide to rip off their (criminal) clients and live the high life. It's a lot of fun, with the running gag being that – pumped up with motivation though they may be – these guys aren't too smart.

In a similar action/comedy vein, Red 2 is simply less of the same when compared to Red. The same crew turn up, do the same gags, and pick up a paycheque. If you liked the first one, you'll like this. Just not as much.

There is also a pair of fantasy movies of the type where a teenager suddenly discovers they're from a long line of something mythical and have to fight or go on quests or...whatever. The Harry Potter model. There's The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones which everyone else hated but I thought was okay. It has spunky teen Clary discovering she is actually a Shadowhunter and must fight forces of darkness. It's surprisingly violent and probably not suitable for younger viewers.

The other is Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters ( which again ruins its source material, misses the humour and irritates as often as it thrills. In it Percy (son of Poseidon), must find the golden fleece to prove he's no 'one quest wonder”.

With The Heat Hollywood again struggles to find a decent vehicle for post-Bridesmaids Melissa McCarthy. It's better than Identity Thief but her cop-buddy pairing with Sandra Bullock is largely an ill-judged laughter-free zone.

Funnier, though also struggling to fill its runtime with hilarity, is We're The Millers which certainly has its moments, but not enough. Jennifer Aniston has fun as a stripper and young Will Poulter is very funny but the story of an imaginary family, concocted to do a drug run to Mexico, rambles.

The Look of Love finds Steve Coogan in good form but Michael Winterbottom's biopic of London porn baron Paul Raymond feels surprisingly colourless.

The Frozen Ground is a pretty decent thriller: Nic Cage's dedicated cop, John Cussack's long-term serial killer. It's dour and serious, and the fact that it, apparently, sticks pretty close to the true story only makes it more depressing.