‘CONTAGION’

★★★ (out of four)

A fast-paced procedural documenting the likely effects of a new worldwide epidemic, the film has all the hallmarks of a sophisticated Soderbergh production: a gritty feel and urgent tone; plenty of jump-cuts and carefully edited montages; a sprawling cast of A-list actors in modest supporting roles, etc. But also present is the odd and unsettling remoteness that Soderbergh typically displays when he’s in studio mode. Everything is so precisely staged, each camera angle and edit so obviously and meticulously tweaked, that Soderbergh’s true filmmaking voice often seems in danger of disappearing into an abyss of overly polished, studio-sanctioned “technique.”

‘RED STATE’

★★★ 

“Red State” is an especially surprising and most welcome game-changer for Kevin Smith, who has built a career out of straight comedies predicated on crude sex and fart jokes. The film represents a giant leap forward for him as a filmmaker, and is indeed the only Smith film that suggests any interest in actual cinematic technique. I was initially skeptical when he claimed that producing and distributing the movie himself allowed him the opportunity to deliver the visionary, uncompromising, totally kick-ass horror flick he intended to make, free from the studio interference that allegedly ruined several of his previous works. Yet it appears there’s something to these claims, and upon seeing the film it is clear that Smith has intentionally bucked every genre convention and audience expectation imaginable. He fought the system, and he’s come out on top.

‘FRIGHT NIGHT’

★★

This layering of rich characterizations, alternately gentle and pointed humor, and philosophical subtext (the most dense I’ve seen since in a comedy since “Leaves of Grass”) can probably be attributed to screenwriter David Schisgal, a former Harvard philosophy student with a background in documentaries, rather than studio stooge Jesse Peretz. The director showcases an unusual visual flair, and it’s rare that modern comedies are able to invoke subtle flashes of New Wave or otherwise impressionistic influence, as Peretz does here. But it is ultimately the strength of the film’s script and performances that set it apart.

‘RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES’

★★★ 1⁄2

More morality play than typical summer blockbuster, this “Planet of the Apes” envisions a not-too-distant future in which human greed and arrogance lays the groundwork for the primate-run society first seen in the 1968 film with Charlton Heston. Our primary human protagonist is medical researcher Will Rodman (James Franco, looking way too spaced out to be believable as an M.D.), an altruistic lad who is working tirelessly to find a cure for Alzheimer’s, the disease that is slowing destroying his father (John Lithgow). After a lab mishap involving an aggressive ape leaves him without a prime test subject for his regenerative “cure,” Will secretly takes home that ape’s offspring, named Caesar (played by Andy Serkis, king of the blue-screen), to conduct private research.