House of Wax (2005)

There's some innovation in the endscenes as our heroes, feet sinking into stairs, run around a house literally made of (melting) wax but otherwise this is a mediocre teen slasher, just an episode of "Halloween" or "Friday the 13th" but with a backstory that tries to justify a patently ridiculous contrivance: the story takes place in a long-lost small American town made entirely of wax.

★★☆☆☆

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The China Syndrome (1979)

A morning news presenter of puff pieces (Jane Fonda) with aspirations for harder-hitting investigative stuff hits the jackpot when an incident occurs at the nuclear power plant that she and her cameraman (Michael Douglas) happen to be visiting, but how critical was the event, how can they get their story to air on a corrupt news network, and how can the slow-burn thrills end without the movie simply snapping suddenly to black, are the questions that ratchet up the tension to meltdown-levels in this solid thriller.

★★★☆☆

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