Air Force chopper pilot Colter Stevens (Jake Gyllenhaal) finds himself in a commuter train heading into Chicago on a sunny Monday morning, chatting with attractive brunette Christine (Michelle Monaghan) who certainly acts as if she knows him. But he has no idea who she is, who he is, where he is and what's going on: his last memories were of flying a helicopter in Afghanistan. Christine refers to Stevens as "Sean" and says he's a school teacher. When he looks in a mirror, he's startled by the unfamiliar face that stares back at him.

Then the train is ripped apart by a bomb that kills everyone on board.

Turns out that Stevens is part of a top-secret military operation called Source Code and, as he gradually learns from his handler Colleen Goodwin (Vera Farmiga), he's going to be sent back to relive the same eight minutes prior to the explosion again and again until he can figure out where the bomb was and who planted it.

There are a lot of sci-fi action films that fall apart by the last reel, films that tax your ability to suspend disbelief until by the end you're just glad to get out of the theater (think of the recent remake of The Day The Earth Stood Still for an example). Source Code holds together remarkably well, with its slick design, constant twists and surprises, and a bad guy who wasn't at all obvious when we try to identify them along with Colonel Stevens. The story makes sense and while the end was a bit melodramatic, it was a satisfying, philosophical ending with a neat twist.

Tapping the considerable voice talents of George Clooney (Mr. Fox), Meryl Streep (Mrs. Fox), Bill Murray (Badger), Michael Gambon (Franklin Bean), Owen Wilson (Coach Skip), Willem Dafoe (Rat) and Jason Schwartzman (Ash), director Wes Anderson has managed to take the quirky children's story of the same name (by the talented Roald Dahl) and craft an engaging movie that is simultaneously edgy and delightful.

Like Where the Wild Things Are, the story of Fantastic Mr. Fox is deceptively lightweight: Mr. Fox, upon learning his wife is pregnant, swears off mischief and thievery, but in a sort of vulpes version of a mid-life crisis, later can't resist the urge to pull off one more great caper. His nemesis?  The three farmers across the valley, Boggis, Bunce and Bean.

Boggis (voiced by Robin Hurlstone) runs a chicken farm, Bunce (Hug Guinness) has a pig farm and Bean (Gambon) has a turkey farm and apple orchard, the latter of which he uses to produce hundreds of gallons of alcoholic cider. They are perfect targets for the sly and savvy Mr. Fox with his incessant plans. What he doesn't plan on is their aggressive response to the thefts...

Adding to the mix, Mr. Fox's brother is suffering from double pnemonia and nephew Kristofferson (Eric Anderson) comes to stay with them, pushing out their son Ash (Schwartzman), who acutely feels his inability to measure up to the talents and mystique of his cousin.

I wasn't entirely sure I liked Fantastic Mr. Fox when I first walked out of the theater, but it grew on me as I thought more about the story and how Anderson has turned a children's book into a film about finding yourself and your true purpose in life. A bit edgy and not without its moments of adult language and dialog, it's an interesting addition to the Christmas movie mix and worth seeing, though perhaps not for the youngest in your family.

The film is set in the present and, as we learn from main character and narrator Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg), everyone has turned into a flesh-eating zombie due to "patient zero" eating a virus-infected burger. I envision a really, really bad outbreak of E Coli. and think that those veggie burgers are sounding better all the time. Columbus explains "mad cow turned into mad person turned into mad zombie".

Columbus, named after the city he's trying to reach, hopefully to find his parents alive and well, has survived the zombie apocalypse by sticking to a set of survival rules, starting with Rule 1: Cardio. Zombies in this film can run pretty fast, so to survive you need to be in better shape than they are. Unfit humans don't last long in Zombieland.

Rule 2 is the importance of the "double tap": that second gunshot that ensures the zombie you've just shot, run over, or otherwise disabled is really, truly out of action. As he explains in the narrative, "a double tap helps you avoid being a human happy meal".

If that sounds twisted, troubling and shocking, this probably isn't the film for you, but if you're thinking "human happy meal" and grinning just a little bit, run, don't walk, to go see Zombieland!