One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

The movie revolves around a group of students, one of whom discovers the remnants of an extra biological entity that comes to life upon being placed in a fish tank, coming to the realization that aliens had gained control of their high school teachers and their attempts to uncover the queen alien in a concerted effort to search for an effective method to annihilate the queen so as to vanquish all alien parasites inhabiting their human hosts and to restore life back to normalcy; and introduces two attractive actresses, one assuming the role of heroine (namely, Jordana Brewster) - who will take you breath away, and the other the role of villain/alien (namely, Laura Harris) - who will knock the breath out of you.The best thing about the film is its cast. It is probably because director Robert Rodriguez had been making a name for himself with films like "El Mariachi", "Desperado" and "From Dusk Until Dawn". Of course many of the younger actors were just starting out. But practically every actor is perfect in their role. Imagine a school with Bebe Neuwirth as the Principal, Salma Hayek as the school nurse and Robert Patrick as the Coach. Piper Laurie makes a rare appearance as the school's drama teacher. The students include Elijah Wood as the geek, Josh Hartnett as the troublemaker, Shawn Hatosy as the earnest jock, Jordana Brewster as the pretty girl Clea Duvall as the goth girl and Laura Harris as a sweet and naive new student from the south. The movie is well scripted, performances commendable, the special effects excellent and the action sequences exciting and fun.Overall rating: 8 out of 10.

The Faculty (1998): Dir: Robert Rodriguez / Cast: Elijah Wood, Jordana Brewster, Josh Hartnett, Laura Harris, Clea DuVall: Suppose to represent false identities where aliens poise as teachers for no real reason other than these films love picking on teenagers. It feels like an attack on teachers and authority with the students retaliating at these aliens poised as teachers. Why don't the aliens just stick to the old fashion stealing of the lunch money? These aliens constantly drink water as their source of life. Somebody needs to get them drunk. That ought to screw with their world domination plan. Elijah Wood plays a wiz kid who senses that something is wrong. Laura Harris plays a sunny girl who tries desperately to fit in. Josh Hartnett sells illegal items. Jordana Brewster rounds out the cast discovering a body in an office closet. Lame plot followed by routine hack fest where teenagers become cafeteria food to aliens. It is as juvenile as a horror film can get and contains as much stupidity as the screenwriter can pack in. Directed by Robert Rodriguez who applies the same graphic action that ran rampant throughout his From Dusk Till Dawn, with fine visual effects but acting is bad. For a superior recommendation I recommend the 1978 version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, which was much more fun and inventive. Pointless blood and guts should be avoided by everyone, including aliens. Score: 3 / 10

Word of advice for writers, if your story idea is unoriginal then referencing that fact can give your story more credibility. However referencing how unoriginal your idea is repeatedly will only hammer home the point that we, the audience, should be watching better films.That brings us to the oddity that is The Faculty. This film is entirely a product of its time. You tell right away this film was conceived in an office somewhere to be popular with the MTV generation. The soundtrack is a hodgepodge of what you'd hear on the radio at the time. The setting the film up as a high school version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, or rather The Puppet Masters as the film is oh so willing to remind us, feels like shameless pandering. You can even see the jock vs outcast sentiment echoing through American youth at the time, the same sort of cultural sentiment which only a year later escalated into the Columbine Massacre. The film's saving grace was the fact it occurred at a time in which R rated films could be marketed to youths, because let's face it the film wouldn't have worked without the gore and the monster effects.The casting is really off here. Sure there are some great actors. There's also a rare on screen appearance by Jon Stewart. But all in all the casting choices give the film a lack of cohesion, like they just threw a bunch of random people in a movie.There are some great moments in the movie. It's probably worth a watch for the curious, but I wouldn't expect much going into it. It's basically a high school version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers where drugs are used to save the day (it sounds more interesting that it is). There is a plot twist near the end that is is predictable only because of how stupid of a twist it is. You'll be saying to yourself, "I bet... No wait, there's no set up for it.... That's too stupid." The film could have been saved a little more if it played up it's campy elements more, played more to the underlying humor of the concept. There are moments where it does this, for instance the football game where the team has signs with "kill" and the coach is moving with such cartoonishly gleeful gestures. Moments like this are great. Sadly they are few and far between. It's hard to believe Robert Rodriguez directed this.

Invasion of the Body Snatchers comes to high school in this sci-fi horror flick directed by Robert Rodriguez with a script from Kevin Williamson. The faculty at an Ohio high school are taken over by aliens and it's up to a motley crew of subverted teenage stereotypes to stop them. The 'teenage' cast is great with Josh Hartnett a standout (despite his embarrassing haircut). The actors playing the faculty members are all good and seem to be having a fun time in every scene. Most of them are recognizable names like Famke Janssen and Robert Patrick but a lesser-known one that deserves some praise is character actor Daniel von Bargen, who sadly died earlier this year. In addition to Body Snatchers, we get homages and references to many other films, including The Breakfast Club, The Thing, and Terminator 2. Solid direction from Rodriguez and a funny, self-aware script from Williamson. Both men were in their creative prime here. Good soundtrack also helps. It's a fun movie that has only gotten better over time.