Violence is never the answer. Well, unless the question was really stupid.

Another trio of movies for your (dis)approval, spanning more than 25 years and taking place on three different continents. Yes, welcome to Movievangelist World Cinema. Hell, we've even got subtitles!

The title would make more sense if she wore an patch: "The Eye"

Otherwise, why wasn't it called "The Eyes?"

Regardless, this isn't the Jessica Alba suckfest that came out earlier this year. Heard that one blew, but that the original Hong Kong version was decent. That's what we're dealing with here, and it's solid, even if you have to read the movie.

A young woman who has been blind since an early age has cornea transplant surgery. Voila! She can see ... some creepy sh*t. Mainly it's dead people, or people about to be dead. This weirds her out, of course, but at least she isn't as annoying as the kid from "The Sixth Sense."

(Had to stop and think who that was. Oh yeah ... Haley Joel Osment. Puberty's a b*tch, man.)

We eventually learn what the deal is, and all in all, the story works. Some genuine chills here without resorting to too much gross-out stuff. And just when you think everything is OK, some more bad stuff goes down. Pretty good storytelling by the Pang Brothers, and too bad the tale has been sullied by Little Miss Alba's version.

Just not much of a budget: "Blood, Guts, Bullets and Octane"

I had been curious about this movie ever since seeing "Narc," the movie that got director Joe Carnahan noticed. This small-budget film preceded that, featuring no big names -- Carnahan is a lead -- some quick cuts, a bunch of jabbbering and generally low production values. That said, it's not bad.

Carnahan and his partner at a crappy used-car lot aren't having much luck selling cars. Kind of surprising, since both are rather unappealing guys. Then comes a deal they can't resist: keep a classic Pontiac LeMans convertible on the lot for a couple of days, and collect $250,000. What can go wrong? Glad you asked. As you guessed, the dopes decide to get cute. Never mind that everyone else who has touched the car has found trouble breathing. Things don't turn out so well for our heroes, either.

There's a clear Tarantino influence here, but that's all right. True, some of the dialogue is dumb. But some of it is funny. I actually thought Carnahan was OK, and it's a shame there isn't a quotes file on IMDB. And hell, if the budget really was only $7,300, you could do a lot worse than this -- from the script to the acting to the story. These guys put the "Clerks" crew to shame.

I might have cut these guys off at five or six: "The Dirty Dozen"

Here's a movie that comes on TCM all the time and that I recorded once or twice before but never got around to watching. Finally took care of that a week or so ago, but I'm not sure I'm better for it.

The story is simple: An Army major is ordered during WWII to train 12 convicts -- some sentenced to death -- and form a unit that can attack the Nazis at a French chateau. Why? Because the Army doesn't want to waste any real soliders on this silliness. Oh, and because the major (Lee Marvin) has pretty much p*ssed everyone else off.

The big thing here is the cast. Along with Marvin, there's Ernest Borgnine as a general and Robert Ryan as a colonel; these three get together again after "Bad Day at Black Rock" a dozen years earlier. Convicts include a noble Charles Bronson, a kooky Telly Savalas, a stoic Jim Brown (yeah, the football star), a young Donald Sutherland, and Trini "Lemon Tree" Lopez, whose casting seems to defy logic. The guy can sing, though.

Who am I missing? Oh yeah ... John Cassavetes, the best thing in the movie. We learn from the start that his character is a troublemaker -- even for these guys -- which obviously means he'll come around. Cassavetes easily outshines the others as the story drags on and on. Even when it's time for the bang-bang, that takes a long time to get going.

While there's some nasty stuff at the end, it takes way too much time to get there. Part of my problem may be the difference in eras; this kind of epic might have been more appreciated in '67. Then again, I've seen other long movies from long ago, and they didn't bore me as much. I guess the idea was for us to become invested in these characters. But ... there's a dozen of them! You could have taken 2 1/2 days, and I still wouldn't have kept Gilpin and Lever straight.

My advice: Pay attention when Cassavetes and Savalas are on screen, and when Marvin and Bronson are together. Otherwise, have something to read until the fireworks start at the end.