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Salt 
Before there was CGI, there was the CIA.  And the FBI. And the KGB.  And back then, the organizations with those initials were responsible for our spy thrillers.  They renew their rivalry in the new Angelina Jolie thriller Salt, and fittingly, the movie is a throwback to days when stunts – not special effects – drove an action movie... As much of a throwback as Salt is, it also make some strides.  Salt is clearly intended to be a new action movie franchise, and there aren’t that many like it headlined by a woman.  In fact, Salt was written for man, but Jolie proves a good actor in good, athletic shape is a good actor in good athletic shape, regardless of gender.
Full review at moviejungle.com 

Inception  
Is it all just a dream?  In the middle of a summer of lackluster sequels and unimaginative ideas, has the creator of the cult hit Memento put together a movie with just as fantastic a concept?... Is a thought-provoking action flick also the best movie of the summer?  No, you’re not dreaming, but you’ll question what’s real and what isn’t as you remain glued to Christopher Nolan’s Inception...  No matter how twisted or ludicrous a dream gets, you will buy into it.  Nobody ever does anything corny like sit straight up, look at the camera and scream.  The only ones screaming will be Nolan’s Hollywood rivals – who are probably wishing they had Cobb in their employ.  The germ of an idea behind Inception would have been worth stealing. 
Full review at moviejungle.com

Grown Ups

Before and after he was a Hollywood heavyweight, Adam Sandler has populated his movies with his friends. With Grown Ups, the actor/writer/producer may be taking this “Six Degrees of Adam Sandler” to the extreme. The movie is peppered with people he’s worked with in all stages of his career.  This is either a Sandler Vanity Project or a tender reunion of friends, depending on how you look at it.  And how you look at it may depend on how much you like these friends...  It may be a disappointment for their fans to see them all in “Dad mode,” but that’s not to say it isn’t funny.  Mostly, it’s funny watching the five friends interact.  They do nothing but trash talk each other in a comfortable way only close friends can.   
Full review at moviejungle.com

Splice  
Technology has gotten more advanced since Dr. Frankenstein put an abnormal brain in a corpse to create artificial life.  The new Splice is a much more modern tale, but the lesson is the same: don’t play God.  Bad things will happen.  But before we get too bogged down in morality, what really has to be said about Splice is: it’s a lot of sick fun. .. You’ll admire this story, even as you think only an abnormal brain could have come up with this.
Full review at moviejungle.com

Shutter Island  
What exactly are we looking at as we wind through the Shutter Island labyrinth?  That’s the fun of the movie, as Leonardo DiCaprio starts to question who he can trust, what their motivations are and what’s even real in the first place.  And there are real surprises.  I admit at one point I was disappointed when I thought I had it all figured out – and thought the solution was something I’d seen before in better movies.  But the story fooled me...  Director Martin Scorsese lets the movie go too long.  Once the final secrets of Shutter Island are revealed, he really needed to go to black and put up the credit “Directed by Martin Scorsese.”  Instead, what was explained to us once is then acted out for us, and then explained again ad infinitum.  There’s even a scene that perhaps even the most avid Scorsese fan – with all the graphic imagery that comes with the distinction – might find too much.  Martin, there was no need to go crazy.
Full review at moviejungle.com

Sherlock Holmes 
Robert Downey, Jr. is to Sherlock Holmes what Johnny Depp is to Pirates of the Caribbean – the right guy to guide a hard sell but good idea to the masses.  And by Jove, the old chap pulls it off strikingly.  When we like Downey (as we did in Iron Man), he’s a bit of a cad but also charming, witty and self-effacing.  He brings all that to Holmes and throws in a convincing English accent while he’s at it.  He’s buff, but not enough to make you think he can clean everyone’s clock.  He’s going to have to use his mind... Director Guy Ritchie slows the action down enough to let us hear Holmes think – and then he strikes, throwing punches that hit as hard as they do in any other Ritchie film.  It’s modern special effects fighting set in old England – and it works. 
Full review at moviejungle.com

Invictus  
"Last month, this critic was totally manipulated into liking the sports movie The Blind Side. I knew it was a corny movie, but I stand by my review, even if I knew I was being manipulated as it happened.  How did I let that happen?  Sandra Bullock and the people behind The Blind Side know a good sports story can rally an audience to their point of view and provide a giant shared feel-good moment.  Director Clint Eastwood knew it too while making Invictus, and South African President Nelson Mandela knew it while setting in motion the real-life events that inspired Eastwood’s film...  It’s an inspiring story, and just like Mandela and Eastwood wanted, I bought into it."
Full review at moviejungle.com

Fantastic Mr. Fox  
"At first glance, The Fantastic Mr. Fox seems like it’s a kids' movie. It’s a stop-motion animation fable based on a book by Roald Dahl, about a fox who retired from chicken-stealing but comes out of retirement to steal from a trio of evil farmers. The cat-and-mouse game that follows is as funny as any Looney Tunes cartoon where animal and human do battle. And it’s very, very funny.  But it’s not funny because of animals getting flattened by anvils or because they use props that they ordered from Acme. It’s because it’s written for the screen and directed by Wes Anderson, who gave us the modern classics Rushmore and The Royal Tenenbaums. Fans of those movies (this critic included) love those films for their dry humor and quirky characters. Fantastic Mr. Fox is in the same tradition as those films; the only difference is the quirky characters are talking animals."
Full review is at my examiner page...   please click here for more...

The Blind Side  
"There are certainly some eye-rolling cornball moments in the trailer for The Blind Side.  “You’re changing that boy’s life,” says a friend of adoptive mother Sandra Bullock.  “No, he’s changing mine,” she answers back predictably.   But The Blind Side is the opposite of a movie where the only good stuff is given away in the trailer.  While I knew which lines would make me roll my eyes, I don’t think I rolled my eyes any other time.  The Blind Side may be a corny story, but it’s also a true story.  And it’s a story well-told."  
Full review at moviejungle.com

This Is It 
Whether he was performing, simply walking through a crowd or sitting in his thinking tree in that TV special from several years ago, you couldn’t look away from him.  Sadly, the gifted performer gave us few actual performances in the last few years and more train wreck moments than we can recount in this space.  But in This Is It, even though he may not have intended for us to see it, he finally gives us real performances.  He finally gives us something good to look at and reminds us of his considerable gifts... In the interviews he gave in the last several years, Jackson gave off the image of a mousy little boy and a victim to the world.  Fans of his music will love seeing him take charge:  telling a musician to wait for his cue, letting the sound engineer know the mix is too loud or explaining why there needs to be a long pause so that the music can “simmer.”  It’s a reminder he was a creative force.
Full review at moviejungle.com

Zombieland  
"It’s fitting that a rag-tag team of zombie killers are on an odyssey to an amusement park in Zombieland, since the creators are aiming for a thrill ride that leaves a smile on your face... If you’ve seen any other zombie movie you know how this all goes... It’s been done, well, to death.  We’ve seen everything from the gross-out metaphors of the George Romero Living Dead films to Michael Jackson’s Thriller.  We’ve seen it as a comedy before in Shaun of the Dead.  For director Ruben Fleischer to have a film that’s going to stand out among the bodies, he had to have something original.  So he went for strong, funny characters portrayed by strong, funny actors."
Full review at moviejungle.com

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs  
"I can’t forecast it for sure, but if there’s justice, the much beloved book Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs is about become a hit movie as well.  It’s a comedy that will make everyone in the family laugh out loud.  And that’s not because adults watching will get in touch with their inner child or because the humor is lowest common denominator jokes about bodily functions.  It’s because some things are just plain funny and very clever."    
Full review at moviejungle.com



The Informant!  
"Matt Damon gives a great performance in The Informant!, and director Steven Soderbergh has delivered another bit of quirky fun.  But the real star of The Informant! would be Damon’s inner voice, which goes absolutely everywhere...  He goes from focusing on the task at hand to wondering how some other guy got such a big office to imagining calling his home phone and hearing himself answer to wondering how a polar bear knows he has a black nose.  His disjointed thoughts are hysterical, and they also mean we never know what Whitacre is going to do next.  Neither does anybody else onscreen, which makes The Informant! so entertaining."
Full review at moviejungle.com



District 9     
          District 9 is an obvious allegory to issues or racism and segregation.  It tells you right upfront that the aliens could have landed anywhere – but they chose Johannesburg, South Africa.  They’re stranded and are going to have to live among the South Africans, so along comes a new apartheid, with the aliens forced to live in slum called District 9.
          That’s some pretty heavy stuff – the kind of stuff the best science fiction deals with well.  And District 9 is absolutely the best kind of science fiction.  But before you have a chance to get too bogged down in the deeper meaning, the action happens.  A hapless drone (outstanding newcomer Sharlto Copley) is assigned to head up the relocation of the aliens from District 9 to what’s essentially an internment camp. Things go bad for him, things go bad from the aliens, and then the action begins.
          And then this potentially heavy message movie becomes way freaking cool.
          Peter Jackson is the big name attached to District 9.  The Lord of the Rings auteur is its producer, but he lets director/writer Neill Blomkamp step up as the real star.  His film is unique in its look and incredible to look at.  Much of it is shot documentary style – with experts talking about the landing and the events that unfold.  The documentary parts are so good, I almost wish the entire film was shot that way (maybe the DVD will have more?). 
          Then there are the "prawns."  That’s the slur the South Africans use to describe their new neighbors who look a lot like sea creatures.  They walk onscreen flawlessly as if they really were there.  And they’re so ugly.  It almost made me feel like those lousy humans onscreen who wanted to get rid of them:  they are really, really disturbing to look at.  But I did.
          For sci-fi fans starved for something good this summer, this is it.  Terminator Salvation was a disappointment, Transformers 2 stunk and Star Trek now seems like so long ago.  By the way, did you notice that as good as the latter was, it didn’t have the social relevance the franchise has been known for?  It makes it seem like a really long time since we’ve had anything comparable to District 9.

Julie & Julia   
"It’s like a female version of The Godfather Part 2.  Two of the better actresses working today appear in the same movie, but their scenes are set decades apart, so we never see them together.  Instead, we watch how two lives in separate times can be so similar and how one can cast a heavy shadow over another.  Director/writer Nora Ephron (who’s given us some of the very best chick flicks) takes each of their stories and serves them to us in just the right doses.  She goes back and forth to show how each of their quests changes their lives and their relationships.  It’s fascinating to see how these journeys of self-discovery can affect those around them:  not just in the home but in their social circles. 
Full review at moviejungle.com






(500) Days of Summer  
"If you’ve ever been in a long-term relationship, then you’ve lived at least 400 of the 500 “Days of Summer.” But while they’re familiar situations, there’s nothing familiar about the movie. It jumps from, for example, Day (40) to Day (279) then back to Day (55); the jumps illuminate the different ways the relationship grows and/or deteriorates. It tells its story out of order and somehow it makes more sense than if it was traditionally linear. Ever been in relationship trouble that you didn’t see coming?   They and the audience don’t see the warning signs, but since the story’s told out of order, you experience their moments of clarity as they do. You’re right there with Tom as he thinks, “Oh yeah, I should have seen that coming.”
Full review at moviejungle.com

Year One  
"One of the best things about Year One is there’s barely a trace of Year 2009...  The two primitive men wandering the Earth have a modern attitude for sure, but at no time in this new comedy do they wink at the camera and imply they’re really 2009 men in ancient times...  It’s been a long time since we’ve had a good solid Biblical comedy.  The last one I can think of is Mel Brooks’ History of the World Part I... We never got a History of the World Part II.  So until Mel Brooks gets to it, I’d be up for Harold Ramis’ Year Two."
Full review at moviejungle.com

Easy Virtue 
"Jessica Biel takes her shot at respectability – not by actually going on stage and doing a play, but by doing a movie based on a classic play.  And she pulls it off.  It’s probably a back-handed compliment, but that’s the biggest surprise in Easy Virtue.  Biel’s never been a bad actress, but her work would probably not be described as highfalutin’.  She’s not who you’d expect in a comedy set in 1920s England, based on a play by Noel Coward and starring actors of the caliber of Kristin Scott Thomas and Colin Firth. 
Full review at moviejungle.com

Ghosts of Girlfriends Past 
"It’s got to be hard to write a romantic comedy that’s original – whatever twists in life you hand your leads, the audience pretty much knows how it’s going to turn out.  Ghosts of Girlfriends Past gives itself an inventive twist, although it makes the writer’s dilemma worse.  It’s the umpteenth movie to employ the theme of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol... again, the audience pretty much knows how the movie about a bitter individual visited by three ghosts who want him to change his ways is going to turn out.  So I give Ghosts of Girlfriends Past credit:  it’s actually pretty enjoyable."  
Full review at moviejungle.com

The Brothers Bloom   
What we have in The Brothers Bloom is a familiar story to fans of heist movies:  a couple of con men hoping to pull off one last job.  And wouldn’t you know it?   Their mark is a beautiful woman named Penelope who Bloom can’t help but feel drawn to.  But writer/director Rian Johnson peppers the movie with all kinds of original touches that make it at times life-or-death dramatic or at other times pretty darn funny.
Full review at moviejungle.com

Tyson
"The documentary is the story of a man who’s seen drama after drama, tragedy after tragedy, and who largely fails to accept responsibility for his role in it...  Tyson’s story has been told many times by sports journalists, but not like this.  With the exception of a few sound bites from news footage, the only voice you hear is that of Tyson himself...  Boxing movies are almost always the best sports movies – there’s so much drama to be gleaned from a one-on-one fight between two souls.  Mike Tyson is fighting his own soul – and doesn’t even know it.
Full review at moviejungle.com

Watchmen
"If Superman and Spider-Man are “comic book movies,” Snyder’s films are true “graphic novel movies.”...  The world of Zack Snyder’s Watchmen is exactly the world of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ Watchmen.  When a conventional novel is turned into a movie, readers can watch and judge whether or not it’s what they imagined.  But a graphic novel already has everything drawn for you.  And Watchmen recreates the visionary images exactly."
Full review at www.moviejungle.com
 
Defiance
"Defiance shows the Jews during World War II doing something they don’t do a lot in the movies – fighting amongst themselves...  Defiance is complex and fascinating – because it was all so real. It shows how the complexities of war trickle down to the simple man trying to live the simple life – even a way simple one."
Full review at www.moviejungle.com





The Wrestler
"The Wrestler is the greatest movie ever made about pro wrestling. Granted, that wouldn’t be hard, as it’s never been captured right on film.  It’s always portrayed as if it was a real sport and not scripted entertainment – and is almost always used for comic relief... It’s the first time pro wrestling has ever been photographed correctly on film – you hear the guys talk to each other, you hear the grunts, and you hear the hits.  And you’ll wince while you see The Ram get pieces of glass picked out of his back.  It looks both scripted and real."
Full review at www.moviejungle.com

Gran Torino  
"You can’t honestly expect Clint Eastwood to go quietly.  The auteur can’t make his last appearance without making some kind of statement... Eastwood the director makes violent movies, but he always manages to say something about the violence – whether it’s in the boxing ring or on the battlefield.  Still, even if you’ve never heard of Clint Eastwood or know nothing about his movie history, Gran Torino stands on its own as a movie about a guy trying to change his environment and do one last decent thing before he goes away."
Full review at moviejungle.com

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
"The new movie starring Brad Pitt faces some big competition at the box office on a very busy Christmas Day, and while it’s hard to say how this 2 hour and 45 minute movie will do on its opening weekend, it’s probably safe to say it will age better than any of those others... the story of a man who ages backward – is easily one of the best movies of the year.  It is Forrest Gump-like in its scope, and like Forrest Gump, it is full of all kinds of sentimental moments and scenes that make you ponder the meaning of the world and your place in it. "
Full review at moviejungle.com

Slumdog Millionaire
" It sounds like it could be a Saturday Night Live skit – a poor man from the slums of India goes for it all on the Hindi version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?.  Actually, I’m pretty sure it was one, called “Who Want To Eat?”  It was funny to watch, but if you say the title out loud, you realize what’s being joked about.  Slumdog Millionaire can make you smile, but it’s an intensely dramatic and well-layered story... This is the most suspenseful game of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? ever played."
Full review at moviejungle.com

Milk
"With all due respect to those who have fought and are still fighting the fight, onscreen at least – the first half of Milk seems familiar.  As a narrative, it plays out like any other movie about a civil rights champion...   The second half though gets a little more interesting.  If you’re on the fence about seeing it, there’s a big reason to go:  the acting, particularly Sean Penn’s.  The guy once famous for beating up photographers is totally believable as Harvey Milk.  Penn’s Milk is gentle, he’s effeminate, he’s slight, he’s not that sure of himself early on – and he’s totally believable."
Full review at moviejungle.com

Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist 
"Sometimes, stuff ends up on your iPod that you don’t even remember putting on there.  It’s probably a deep track on a soundtrack or something that got moved over when you dubbed the entire album.  It’s the kind of song that makes you feel cool because you think you’ve discovered something.  Someday, the young talent involved will be stars.  Alright, alright… you get it.  I’d like to think director Peter Sollett will appreciate the musical analogies, as he’s put together one of the better comedies about rock and roll we’ve seen in a long time."
Full review at moviejungle.com




Religulous
"Comedian Richard Belzer, a frequent guest on Bill Maher’s Real Time, once had a great little gag after telling some religious-themed jokes.  “God… I kid God.  But that’s because I know God has a sense of hu...”  (He grabs his heart, falls over)...   Bill Maher’s subjects in the documentary Religulous often ask him:  “What if you’re wrong?”  After Religulous, he’d better hope God has a sense of humor... He’s a comedian, not a journalist – and he goes where the jokes are.  I laughed my proverbial ass off.  I sure hope God has a sense of hu…"
Full review at moviejungle.com

The Lucky Ones
"The lucky ones are anyone in the audience who likes drama about current events but doesn’t want it to be heavy-handed.... There are no lengthy talks about what we are or aren’t doing over there, nobody has a total mental breakdown, and the way people react to them is the way we’ve seen people react to vets they meet in their real life. Subsequent to seeing the film, I read that by design, they don’t even mention the word “Iraq” in the movie – and darned if that isn’t correct."
Full review at moviejungle.com

Lakeview Terrace 
"If you saw the trailers, you know a lot of what happens next – which is too bad, because a lot of what happens next is pretty interesting. Thanks to Samuel L. Jackson, you still pay close attention to the movie and are afraid for the Mattsons...  Jackson never lets you forget Abel is the kind of guy who will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy his brothers."
Full review at moviejungle.com

Tropic Thunder
"A couple of controversies have stormed around Tropic Thunder, but if you can pay attention to what’s really being laughed at, you’ll laugh right along with it.  Actually, you’ll laugh pretty hard.  Director/writer/star Ben Stiller uses Tropic Thunder to poke fun at some Hollywood pretension.... He can laugh at all of it – and luckily, he can encourage some A-listers to laugh along with him. "
Full review at moviejungle.com

You Don't Mess With The Zohan    
 … you would also think you don’t mess with a sensitive subject like the violence in the Middle East, but Adam Sandler and crew do take it on in You Don’t Mess with the Zohan.  Other filmmakers in the post-9/11 world have bravely taken on the subjects of terror and the unease in that region – big names like Steven Spielberg, Oliver Stone, and George Clooney.  You know those names, but off the top of your head, can you name the movie?  Probably not.  No one went.   But an Adam Sandler movie that makes fun of both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?  People are going to go.  And people are going laugh.  Because somehow, he actually makes it work...   If you don’t want to read as much into the message of Zohan as I have, you don’t have to.  It’s still just an Adam Sandler movie that relies on bare asses about every fifteen minutes to get a laugh.
Full review at moviejungle.com


The Dark Knight  
"Movie critics and comic book fans (OK, mostly comic book fans) will always debate what the best comic book/super hero movie is.  As of this summer, they have to hit “reset.”  Not just because Iron Man is so good, but because The Dark Knight is absolutely fantastic.  It has twists and turns, high adventure, an engaging love triangle and solid performances from Oscar-winning and Oscar-nominated actors.  It just so happens the lead wears a cape and the antagonist wears clown makeup.  Take the above elements and throw in elements from the DC Comics and fans of the genre may just have the best… comic book movie… ever."
Full review at moviejungle.com 

Journey To The Center Of The Earth
"There’s something kind of quaint about a 3-D movie based loosely on a classic sci-fi novel being out in theaters this summer.  That’s not a knock – it’s a compliment.  It’s hokey, it’s old-fashioned, it’s family-friendly, and it’s also quite a bit of fun... The deliberate pacing should make this easy for kids to watch and enjoy.  And parents can take heart that it’s a pretty harmless movie.  There’s not a dirty word uttered (when you think you hear one, it’s a joke), and even when there are giant monsters, we don’t get treated to a fecal matter joke like other recent movies have felt a need to throw in."
Full review at moviejungle.com

The Love Guru
"I’m going to be rooting for Mike Myers because this comedy about a self-help guru is going to be a tough sell.  To Myers’ credit, he’s often followed his own inner guru when it comes to comedy.  He’s known his strength is characters, not playing a wise-cracking version of himself put into comedic situations.  That’s why Austin Powers, Dr. Evil, Dieter, Linda Richman and Wayne Campbell have endured.  He’s also trusted that if he thinks it’s funny, we might too.... He was right again.  This is funny.  (And yes, I may the only one who thought so back when this was written).
Full review at moviejungle.com

Indiana Jones & The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
"It’s been an exciting last few years for those of us of a certain age – the fanboys who were part of the movement as dolls became action figures so they were acceptable for us to play with.  As adult movie-goers, we’ve watched as the Sith got their revenge, as Superman returned, as Batman began again and as James Bond entered the Casino Royale.  Now, Indiana Jones is back in his hat with his whip by his side, to entertain a group of us who bought all the DVDs of our heroes and aren’t quite ready to fully grow up.  Indy’s back in action, and as we watch, we can forget that we’ve all grown a bit ol… uh oh, wait a second...  Still, I’m quibbling, only because I hold Raiders in such high regard.  It is something of a national treasure.  Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is no national treasure, but it’s better than National Treasure… or any other Indiana Jones ripoff.  So I’m glad they dug up the old fossil.
Full review at moviejungle.com

Young @ Heart
"I’ve never liked the Rapping Granny.  I’m not picking on any particular elderly lady; I’m talking about the concept that shows up in unimaginative commercials or sitcoms or hack films...  So a whole movie of rapping – or in this case rocking—grannies and gramps made me a little skeptical. The documentary Young @ Heart follows the choral group of the same name, made up of a couple dozen septuagenarians and older, singing rock and roll from James Brown to Talking Heads to Sonic Youth...  But think for a moment about why this band’s members can’t stay the same as the years go on. Young @ Heart addresses that without getting overdramatic. It’s not maudlin when the inevitable happens – it’s real and dignified."
Full review at moviejungle.com

Iron Man
I could write a lot more on Iron Man, but I saw it a couple of weeks late and it became a huge hit anyway.  As Marvel Super Hero movies go, it's the best debut yet.   Better than the first Spider-Man, better than the first X-Men, but I'm not sure it's better than Spider-Man 2 or X2...  They gotta call the sequel Iron Man Lives Again.

The Rolling Stones - Shine A Light
I'm biased as a huge Stones fan, but this was great to watch.  Martin Scorsese favors Mick Jagger over Keith Richards in the shots he chooses to use, but when you've got a frontman like that running around, you use the best shots.  The duets are the best part, especially a killer blues jam with Buddy Guy on "Champagne And Reefer."  Like any of my bootlegs, I could do without yet another version of "Brown Sugar" or "Satisfaction," but it's worth it to get "Loving Cup" and "As Tears Go By."

A Mighty Heart
          If you followed the sad story of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, you know how it ended—which could have ruined this mostly procedural drama about the hunt for his kidnappers.
          However, we ignorant Americans really don’t know all that much about Pakistan or what it’s like to be a journalist there, so for those who want to learn, A Mighty Heart is fascinating.  When I first thought about the Pearl story, I foolishly imagined the guy out in the middle of Afghanistan somewhere, grabbed by cave-dwelling members of the Taliban, but Pearl and his wife Mariane (Angelina Jolie) were staying with friends and U.S. allies in Pakistan.  They were very much at home there, holding dinner parties and discussing world affairs and philosophy with their international friends and keeping in touch with the rest of the world via the internet and cell phones.
          I’d like to think that’s something that Daniel and Mariane Pearl would have wanted me to get out of this movie.  Mariane spends much of the movie not only waiting for word on her husband but appearing on TV or in front of the police defending the couple’s presence in Pakistan in the first place.   It sounds very Lifetime-Movie-Of-The-Week, but its authenticity and a strong performance by Jolie keep it above that level.
 
Leatherheads
          It’s not quite football’s Bull Durham, but it could have been – and that’s enough to get it a recommendation.
          Like Bull Durham, Leatherheads takes place with a “minor” league sports team, but in 1925, the minor team are the professionals and the major leagues are the colleges.  With no helmets and no rules, guys who love the game of football will play in pastures or wherever they can get a crowd to show up and play the game. 
          Bull Durham had respected veteran Crash Davis as its lead character;   Leatherheads has Dodge Connelly (Crash?  Dodge?) played by director and star George Clooney.  It’s the first time as a director that Clooney’s really had to direct himself as the star.  Sure, he had a hand producing and casting other movies, but this time, he’s completely the leader of the team – and it’s obvious the guy knows his own charm.  In a 1920’s setting, he is very much an old school leading man from a different era– a movie star.
          He pairs himself with a reporter played by Renee Zellweger, who herself is a formidable presence on the screen.  I’ve always admired her acting, but at the risk of sounding superficial, was never that into her looks.  Maybe it’s because she’s the only female with any screen time, but she stands out here, and is as much a glamorous old school movie star as Clooney – they’re a great couple you could picture in a black and white feature.
           Enter Leatherheads’ version of Nuke LaLoosh – The Office’s John Krasinski.  He’s a college star persuaded to do the unthinkable and turn pro.  Dodge knows his team – and his business – need a star if they’re going to succeed, and Krasinksi’s “Bullet” Carter Rutherford is the man.  He’s not only a football standout but a war hero who’s captured America’s heart.   (I sense the often political Clooney is up to something here).  “Bullet” draws crowds and suddenly pro football is no longer a joke.
          With its black and white photos and small town charms, Leatherheads also seems to come close to being A League Of Their Own – but there’s a turnover.   Zellweger’s reporter looks into Bullet, and the movie becomes more about whether or not there’s a “swift boat” thing going on here than it is about whether those leather helmets will ever become what we’re used to today.  It’s an alright storyline (covered better and with more reverence in Letters From Iwo Jima or perhaps with more at stake in the 2004 Democratic Presidential Campaign), but fans hoping for a truly great sports movie might feel a little cheated. 

The Bank Job 
I've been remiss at writing a full review of this outstanding movie -- it's a great heist film featuring some ordinary guys in way over their heads. 

The Other Boleyn Girl
"The idea of a movie with Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johansson fighting over the same man would get a green light. Certainly a Woody Allen could turn it into some kind of comedic farce, and certainly the two have the dramatic chops to make it a Closer-type story that touches on the sometimes harsh realities of relationships in 2008.  But The Other Boleyn Girl raises the stakes – it throws in the King of England and a true-life juicy story that forever changed an entire country... It’s a juicy, juicy story alright, and if it wasn’t based on some historical fact, you’d think it was as ludicrous as any nighttime soap. Any member of the Church of England will tell you though the story has some real importance."
Full review at moviejungle.com

In Bruges
"Like Colin Farrell’s hitman-in-exile, I too had no idea where Bruges is. (It’s in Belgium, and for your purposes while reading, it’s pronounced “Brooj” like “Rouge.”)... One’s first thought that the notoriously hard living Farrell is playing a hitman would be that Ray would be a gritty tough guy. He’s tough for sure, but surprisingly funny. He’s blunt (he doesn’t like Bruges because he wasn’t raised on a farm and he’s “not a retard”), boyish (he has to stare at a movie shoot because they’re “filming midgets”) and full of great lines (were I British and crude, I’d use a priceless line about John Lennon often)... Behind the comedy though is a tragedy as Ray deals with a horrible mistake. Ken becomes his counselor, and Brendan Gleeson proves a worthy partner to Farrell. He’s just as funny, witty and adds even more depth."
Full review at moviejungle.com

The Spiderwick Chronicles
"The Spiderwick Chronicles is almost a reverse-Chronicles of Narnia... Really, this is a kids’ horror movie. With a whimsical-sounding word like “Spiderwick” in the title, parents could be forgiven for thinking this is a light-hearted little fairy tale. But the goblins are serious about getting a hold of Jared and well – killing him to get the book. They come at the Grace family full-throttle, and I can’t help but think a more sensitive kid would be absolutely freaked out. Big kids? They’ll love it. The goblins are gross but hard not to stare at. Jared, Simon and their sister are good kids, who the kids in the audience will root for to get away—even if they’re looking at it through their fingers as they hide their eyes."
Full review at moviejungle.com

There Will Be Blood
          It’s not called There IS Blood, it’s called There WILL BE Blood.  It’s an ominous title, giving you the feeling that something very, very bad is going to happen.
          Paul Thomas Anderson has created a movie where tension is very high and where for long stretches, when you stop and think about it, nothing all that much really happens.  But you just know something will.
          That’s largely due to the considerable presence of Daniel Day-Lewis as oilman Daniel Plainview, who as I write this is a shoe-in for an Oscar nomination.  Plainview moves into a small barren town to drill for oil and practically takes it over through force of personality.  He’s not necessarily the most successful oilman to ever drill, but he can bully his way right into the lives of these unsuspecting and simple folk.  Even when he’s saying nothing, you’re watching him.  And you’re afraid of him.
          His main opposition is a squirrelly little wannabe preacher who wants to use Plainview’s oil money to build his own congregation.  He’s played by Paul Dano, who was so memorable for his silence in Little Miss Sunshine.  It’s fascinating to watch him preach.  He’s got the townspeople hoodwinked, but Plainview ain’t having none of it.  What’s best for the town of Little Boston, Middle of Nowhere?  The preacher’s Church of The Third Revelation or Plainview’s Church of Black Gold?  You KNOW that’s going to come to a head and well.. There will be blood.
          The script and the acting build tension well, but perhaps nothing will make an audience more tense than the soundtrack.  Jonny Greenwood’s music (it’s rare I care enough to look up the score to give someone credit) is ominous, grating, over-powering and sometimes absolutely annoying.  It may even make some audiences turn on the movie – that’s if they’re able to keep themselves from being hypnotized by it.  You’ll realize how strong it is when it abruptlly stops – and then the silence is effective too.
          There Will Be Blood is long, foreboding and challenging.  There Will Be Squirming if you go.  But stay with it.  You’ll have to see what happens.

Juno
          Some have said Juno is on its way to being this year’s Little Miss Sunshine or Napoleon Dynamite.  And for theirst ten minutes, I thought to myself, this movie is trying real hard to be this year’s Little Miss Sunshine or Napoleon Dynamite.
          But I’ll be damned if Juno’s quirky charms, as annoying as they were at first, didn’t eventually win me over. 
          Juno is a smart teenager who did a dumb thing—she got pregnant.  She’s smart enough to know the best thing for the baby is to give it up.  She’s also smart enough to know one good way to deal with such a sad situation is with humor.  Finally, though, we get some reminders she can do dumb things—and she does a couple that keep this dramedy moving along. 
          You could argue that teenage pregnancy is no laughing matter, and of course it isn’t—but Juno’s director Jason Reitman and first-time screenwriter Diablo Cody treat it with warmth, sensitivity and realism.  Cody is a former stripper, who may know something about smart people doing dumb things.
          Juno’s star should become a star after this.  My fellow fanboys will remember Ellen Page as Kitty Pryde in the X-Men movies, but this is her coming out performance.  She is sometimes hysterical while never letting you forget what she’s dealing with.  You feel sorry for her, especially when you realize she’s in over her head.
          Ellen Page is deservedly getting a lot of attention, but let me heap some praise on the reunited stars of Arrested Development:  Michael Cera and his TV dad Jason Bateman.  Cera will be best remembered this year for his sweet guy in Superbad, but he proves he’s got some depth too as Juno’s Baby Daddy.   Bateman is wonderful as the adopted father.  I’ve liked him for awhile and have gotten a kick out of him on both Arrested Development and as an ancillary member of the so-called Frat Pack.  He isn’t as big a star as your Wilsons, Vaughns or Stillers, but he’s provided some good laughs in supporting roles in their movies.  Here, he’s not all that funny—he plays a complex character that could be a bit polarizing to some in the audience.  But he’s very, very good.
           Jennifer Garner is just as good as Bateman’s baby-obsessed wife, as are veterans like JK Simmons and Alison Janney as Juno’s parents.  They help add both the drama and the comedy to this dramedy.  But they stay enough in the background to let Ellen Page have her breakout moment.


Dreamgirls
           It is of course very ironic that the star of the movie musical about fame and who deserves it is someone who only finished seventh when she was on American Idol. 
           Sure, Jamie Foxx, Beyonce and Eddie Murphy get top billing and are bona fide movie stars, but Jennifer Hudson steals the show to the point where you have to call her the star. 
          Dreamgirls, based on the long-running Broadway hit, is the story of The Dreamettes, which is pretty much the story of The Supremes.  Like Florence Ballard in the real life drama, poor Effie (Hudson) is moved to the back of her group as she watches a music mogul turn the prettier Deena Jones into the star she deserves to be. 
          But by the time Effie sings “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going,” Hudson is a star.  For that few minutes, Foxx, Beyonce and Murphy… heck, even Fantasia… don’t matter.  She owns the movie at that point.
          That’s not to say the others in the movie aren’t good.  Shockingly, another supporting player steals the scenes he’s in.  Shockingly, that player is a supporting player.  Superstar Eddie Murphy is willing to take third billing to play one of his best characters ever.  Murphy is fantastic as James “Thunder” Early, an amalgam of James Brown (who we ironically lost as Dreamgirls opened), Little Richard, Marvin Gaye and a handful of other influential music legends.  Murphy was meant to play Early:  director James Condon needed someone who could be comic relief, but could also sing and dance.  In the setting of Dreamgirls, Murphy never becomes the James Brown caricature he was on Saturday Night Live.
          Condon (who wrote this screenplay as well as Chicago’s) is not blessed with a great cast but with great music to drive the movie.  These are not typical show tunes:  they are tributes to some wonderful American sounds:  Motown, soul and R&B.  Jamie Foxx’s Curtis Taylor, Jr. (essentially Motown’s Berry Gordy) controls and shapes his artists, and while he’s at it, controls and shapes a large chunk of the music scene.  The songs in Dreamgirls—which didn’t exist in the eras they’re put in—provide an amazing musical history lesson.  Even when Deena sings a soulless disco song or Jimmy Early sings a soulless ballad, you’ll appreciate the care that went into the song, and despite yourself, you’ll even find yourself liking the soulless music.  That’s because Taylor knows how to give the public what they want.
          Actually, so does Bill Condon.

I Am Legend
          The less said about I Am Legend, the better I think.
          In the spirit of the barren wasteland Will Smith finds himself in, I won't write that much.  I'll be almost as quiet as the movie's soundtrack and the deserted streets.
          That's because I didn't know much going in, other than I Am Legend was based on a book and was very similar to the classic The Omega Man.  So I liked watching how Smith and his dog struggled to survive in a completely abandoned Manhattan.  A virus forced the city to be evacuated, and those who were left behind all perished.  Smith, conveniently, is both a solider and scientist, so he can fight to survive and spend time in his lab working on a cure.
          And that's all I want to say about it, because if I'd known more, I would have been disappointed.  Others I've talked to about it either already knew some things or found more details on the internet-- and if I'd known what they know, it wouldn't have been nearly as suspenseful.
          Me-- I was glued to every move Smith and his loyal companion made as they worked their way through the streets on their own, not knowing what could be coming around the corner next.  Certainly it helps that Smith is that Tom Hanks-kind of actor who we can enjoy in comedy and drama, and like Hanks in Castaway, we can stand to stick with when he’s the only human in sight.
          So if you looked stuff up… shhh. 
          I Am Done.

Breach
          It’s a spy movie even I can understand, which makes it a pretty good one.
          Espionage is never really all that easy to grasp.  You’re dealing with trying to figure out who’s on who’s side, combined with the very complex nature of government and bureaucracies.  Watch Syriana if you want to see how those issues can become a giant overrated mess.
          But Breach isn’t really about the true life spying that Robert Hanssen did in what was called the worst spy case in American history.  It’s about the complexities of his own personality as well as the FBI’s efforts to take him down.
          FBI agent Robert Hanssen, you may remember, was arrested in early 2001 for spying on the U.S. government and selling secrets to Russia over a period of several years.  He was one of the most respected and accomplished agents in the bureau and was a devoted family man and extremely devout Catholic.  But he also led a secret life involving not just spying, but pornography and strippers.
          The almost-always great Chris Cooper (Adaptation, American Beauty) is great again as Hanssen.  He is a strong presence in any room he’s in.  When he barks out advice to fellow agents on security, you know he knows what he’s talking about.  When he tells his protégé he needs to pray more, you know he believes it.  And when he mulls over what he’s done, you know it’s about more than just money. 
          The protégé is played Ryan Phillippe, who is working as a double agent against Hanssen.  He’s been assigned to work with him and learn what he can, but while he does, he’s taken in by Hanssen’s authority and confidence.  If you watched the news, you know how this all turns out, but it’s fascinating to see how it did.
          It’s also fascinating to look for little touches about how the world has changed.  Hanssen was a big story in early 2001, but you may have forgotten him because of other national security issues that obviously became very important later in 2001.  Little touches like mentioning Louis Freeh, John Ashcroft and even Bill Clinton remind you of the world pre-9/11 and how different national security was.  It wasn’t that long ago, but watching Breach, you’ll see what they’re using for computers and how the FBI worked.  You’ll feel like you’re in the world before Microsoft Vista or Jack Bauer entered our lives. 

The Pursuit of Happyness
          Chris Gardner, the stockbroker-in-training played by Will Smith in The Pursuit of Happyness (there’s a reason for the misspelling) points out the founding fathers didn’t say we were all entitled to happiness; rather, we’re all free to pursue it.
          Gardner pursues it, and boy, he gets no guarantees it’s going to work.  You will feel for this guy as he encounters obstacle after obstacle.  (I hate to give away too much of Gardner’s real life story for fear of giving away the ending of the movie.)  He is struggling with what was clearly a bad business move (selling what seems to be glorified x-ray machines),  his marriage is in trouble, he owes back taxes and he’s just shy of having nothing.  So to fix it?  He takes an unpaid internship to learn how to be a stockbroker:  with no guarantee it will all work out.
 Some would say it’s foolhardy, but I would think anyone who watches The Pursuit of Happyness will find Gardner’s pursuit an inspiration.  This is a decent, hard-working guy who wants to better himself and provide for his son, and he wants to do it himself. 
          It is one of Will Smith’s better performances in a while.  With his moustache and just a touch of grey hair, he is far from the Fresh Prince or Hitch.  You won’t think of the movie star but rather the working class guy Smith is playing.
          Ironically, one his co-stars hasn’t paid his dues in the workplace and struggled hard to get a big role in a major motion picture.  That would be Jaden Smith, Will’s son, who plays Chris' son.   Smith is talking a lot in the press about Gardner’s pull-yourself-up-by-the bootstraps story, but it’s a little hard to ignore the fact that he just handed his kid a job.  That said, he’s a very talented little actor who is given a lot to do, and I give him credit:  it has to be hard for a little kid to act out hard times with his real dad. 
          As the hard times keep piling up, the movie can be a little stifling.  If you’ve ever faced some hard financial times or been—ahem—laid off, you may relate and start thinking about worst-case scenarios.  But you’ll stick with it because you’ll be rooting for this guy’ pursuit to turn out alright.

Fred Claus
          In one scene in Knocked Up, one of Seth Rogen’s stoner friends asks Katherine Heigl’s E! News Reporter if she knows Vince Vaughn and if he’s cool.  “You know, because he seems like a cool kind of guy to hang out with.”
          Should said stoner be concerned that his idol has made a family-friendly kid movie?
          I’d lay odds he was a Will Ferrell fan who didn’t stop liking Ferrell after Elf, and he’ll be relieved to know Vaughn doesn’t sell himself out to make Fred Claus.  True, he’s not sleeping with bridesmaid after bridesmaid and the language is so sanitized that when someone says “what the hell?,” it’s very jarring.  But he retains enough of his cool factor as Santa’s brother Fred for his fans not to be disappointed.  It really is like Ferrell doing Elf, or even like Bill Murray doing Scrooged.  Kids may get their first exposure to Vaughn as Fred Claus, and not know until years later about the raunch.
          The movie itself probably won’t be a prime time holiday staple in the years to come, but it will be a pleasant enough way to pass a Saturday afternoon when it makes its way to HBO or TNT.  Adults will like it mostly for the scene where Fred attends a sibling therapy group for jealous brothers.  Fred Claus will ultimately be a jealous sibling to the aforementioned Elf or Scrooged, but it’s funny enough for a viewing in 2007.

American Gangster
My apologies for no full review yet... Very quickly, let me say I'd see any gangster movie starring Denzel Washington and I'd see any gangster movie starring Russell Crowe.  A gangster movie with both as the leads?  I was there, and it was worth it.

Martian Child
          Martian Child is a lot like its title character— it’s gentle, harmless and just a little off—even though deep down, he’s like any other kid.
          Simply, it’s the story of John Cusack looking to adopt a child and forming an attachment to Dennis (Bobby Coleman), a 10-year-old who thinks he’s from Mars.  When they first meet, Dennis sits inside a box because of what the sun could do to him.  He wears a weight belt to keep himself from floating away and is convinced the mothership is coming back for him someday.
          Martian Child the movie is a lot like "the other kids"—you can probably guess pretty much how the story will resolve itself.  There are things that will happen in any movie about a single father and an adopted child.  But along the way, there are some pleasant surprises that help this movie stand out. 
          Here’s how a typical Hollywood hack would have constructed it:  Cusack’s single dad would be like a professional athlete or something like that, would be a big time womanizer and having a kid would be the furthest thing from his mind—until he met Dennis and his life changes.  The hack would have Dennis follow him around until he caves and takes him in.
         Cusack instead is a widowed science fiction writer who is very slowly pursuing a romance with an old friend (trust me—very slowly).  Most refreshing to see:  he wants to adopt, right at the onset of the movie.  He wants someone to take care of—and as someone who was misunderstood as a child, he looks or someone who could have been him.
         Then it plays out pretty much like you expect, but that’s ok.  It’s a sweet little story, and Cusack is very likable and deals with Dennis very well.  They have their moments, but there’s never an overly dramatic scene where one gets too upset with the other and gives into histrionics just to show off as an actor. 
          It’s actually very down-to-earth.

Michael Clayton
          Patience please, it will be worth it.
          George Clooney is the title character in Michael Clayton, a lawyer for a big name firm at the center of a controversial case.  He’s a former litigator, who’s now relegated to the role of “behind-the-scenes fix-it man.”  If you need a problem to go away, call Michael.
          Things aren’t going all that smoothly for Michael when the movie starts though.  He seems to have something of a gambling problem, someone has blown up his car and one of his closest friends at the firm has lost his mind.   Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal is calling his firm for comments on a rumored settlement with a powerful corporation, and the spokesperson for that corporation is having hot flashes in the ladies’ room and looks paralyzed with fear.
          But why?
          Again, patience, please.  It will all be explained eventually. 
          But my plea for patience is really to get you into the theater.  I’d hate for you to think it’s too convoluted and too frustrating to enjoy.  (Clooney’s Syriana from last year comes to mind as an intriguing mess).  Michael Clayton will hold your interest as it unfolds, and it has a great payoff.
          When I say Michael Clayton will hold your interest, that’d be both Michael Clayton the character and Michael Clayton the script.  Clooney does a great job with this guy—a talented but morally-conflicted lawyer who wonders if he’s on the right side of things.  As to the script (by writer and director Tony Gilroy, also responsible for two of the Bourne movies), it’s very layered and very interesting—but when all is said and done, it makes complete sense.  What starts with a car blowing up ends with one of the better closing credit ideas in a long time.

Shoot 'Em Up
          The title tells you exactly what this movie is, but in case you miss it, the creators of Shoot ‘Em Up want you to know this is really just a cartoon.  Clive Owen’s “Smith” chomps on carrots and even asks “What’s Up, Doc?” of the Elmer Fudd-like Paul Giamatti.
           Smith does pretty much everything with his gun-- or while shooting.  That’s also spelled out for us right from the get-go, when he even finds a way to use the gun to deliver a baby.  The mother doesn’t make it through that delivery though, and for reasons unknown to Smith, an army of gunmen want that baby.  Like Bugs Bunny or maybe the Road Runner, Smith grabs the baby and is on the run for 87 violent—but fun—minutes.
           There’s not all that much more to it really, unless you throw in the lactating prostitute Smith enlists to watch the baby.  She’s played Monica Bellucci, who played Mary Magdalene in The Passion Of The Christ.  So yes, she, Owen and Giamatti have all been in higher-brow fare, but all three know exactly what kind of movie they’re in here and just go for it.  They let the sound guy fire up the Nirvana and Motorhead music and let the bullets fly.

Superbad
          When you were going through your awkward teenage phase, I know it didn’t feel funny, but think about it:  it really was.
          Nothing was more important than the opposite sex, and there was very little you wouldn’t do to impress them.  For reasons you didn’t even understand, drinking parties were pretty important too, and you would go to great lengths to make the right impression.
          And you looked like an idiot.  I don’t care if you were captain of the football team or the chess club, you looked like an idiot.  Judd Apatow and Seth Rogen know this and use it to get huge laughs in the incredibly funny Superbad.  Apatow, the director of The 40 Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up, produced this film, written by his Knocked Up star Rogen.  They excelled at adolescent humor with adult stars, so there was no reason to think they wouldn’t get it right with real adolescents.
          Seth (Jonah Hill) and Evan (Arrested Development’s Michael Cera) are just right as two best friends out to impress the girls they have crushes on.  They figure the best way to do that is provide the booze for one of the last big parties of the school year.  They don’t go to a lot of parties, and their quest to get to just this one goes wrong at every turn.  Their misadventures include a buddy with a fake ID screwing everything up, a run-in with two cops that are pretty much grown-up versions of themselves and a party that’s creepy for reasons that are hard to quite grasp.
          Superbad ties those misadventures together very well.  Rogen and co-writer Evan Goldberg have written some great little predicaments for these kids, but more importantly, they’ve written great dialogue for them.  Sorry parents, but kids trying to be cool do talk this way.  Rogen and Goldberg are great at working pop culture references into dialogue without feeling the need to explain it to the audience.  You either know who Zack Morris is or you don’t.
          Jonah Hill—a relative unknown—gets Seth just right.  This kid is a foul-mouthed, trash-talking overconfident fool.  There is no reason for him to have the confidence he does, but like many a nerd before him, he does (I maintain that’s the difference between a nerd and a geek). 
         Their friend with the fake ID is about to become a cult hero to the high schoolers who shouldn’t be allowed to see this movie but will anyway.  I encourage anyone who looks like him to be a geek, not a nerd, and embrace what you are-- because for the rest of your high school career, you are about to be called “McLovin.”  Just go with it, and the other awkward idiots will love you for it.

Stardust
          What’s nice about Stardust is that’s probably it—it’s a pleasant and inventive self-contained story.  It likely won’t be a Harry Potter/Lord Of The Rings multi-part epic, but a 2 hour experience fans will always remember fondly.
          Stardust is based on a novel by fantasy and comic book writer Neil Gaiman (whose Sandman is among the best comic book works ever created).  It’s a fairy tale about old England and a mysterious wall on the outskirts of one village.  If one can get by the ancient guard at the wall’s opening, he will step into a magical world full of witches, wizards, magic and ghosts. 
          A young man named Tristan (Charlie Cox, the lowest profile of the film’s high profile stars) takes a chance and goes off into that world—he’s heard a falling star has landed over the wall, and he wants to bring it to the woman he loves to prove he’s worthy of marrying her.  The star is actually a person (Claire Danes), and Tristan isn’t the only one after her.  An aging decrepit witch (Michelle Pfeiffer) wants the star’s heart to give her eternal youth, and the princes of the kingdom want the gem she wears around her neck because it will make whoever has it the heir to the throne.
          It sounds pretentious, but it’s really a lot of fun.  Those princes are hysterical in their hatred for each other, and not to give anything away, but their deaths (and after-lives) provide some great dark comedy.  Robert DeNiro is among the big stars with a supporting part.  He’s a pirate, and at first, you’ll think he’s really just there to parody his mob roles.  His Captain Shakespeare has a pretty funny secret.
          DeNiro is just one of the big name actors having fun in these very different parts.  You can also look for Peter O’Toole, Ian McKellan, Rupert Everett, Ricky Gervais and Sienna Miller in smaller parts.  The most notable though is Michelle Pfeiffer as evil witch Lamia (cutting and pasting a line from the Hairspray review:  “Where has she been anyway?”).  It’s fun to see her having fun, although for long-time admirers of Ms. Pfeiffer and her appearance, it’s a little frustrating to still not really know how she looks after a long absence from the screen.  In Stardust, she’s ancient, then she’s young and vivacious, then her age starts to show, then she’s young again… where are the camera tricks and where is the real Michelle Pfeiffer?
          Years from now, fantasy fans will look back fondly on Stardust and say:  “Oh yeah, Michelle Pfeiffer (or Claire Danes or Robert DeNiro) was in Stardust.  I love that movie.”  And I suspect one reason they’ll look back fondly is that after its fairy tale ending, there were no more.  Neil Gaiman is one of the few comic book writers to actually end a series and walk away from it without letting it pass on to another writer.  I suspect he knows when enough is enough, and the magic of Stardust will stay behind that mysterious wall.

Talk To Me
          In fame and notoriety, radio host Petey Green falls somewhere between Howard Stern and Good Morning Vietnam’s Adrian Cronauer.  While not “The King of All Media,” he had a huge following in Washington, DC in the 60s and 70s among the African-American community.  And like Cronauer, he was a guy who just wanted to entertain but found himself in the middle of a very volatile and emotional situation.
          Green (Don Cheadle) is hired by uptight programmer Dewey Hughes (Chiwetel Ejiofor) to shake up a DC rhythm & blues station.  The just-released convict does just that, making his bosses nervous but becoming a hero to his listeners.  He becomes even more important to all sides when Martin Luther King, Jr. is assassinated. 
         It’s a mostly great movie thanks to the work of the very versatile Don Cheadle.  It’s not surprising, knowing he played the lead in Hotel Rwanda and pulled off Sammy Davis, Jr. in HBO’s The Rat Pack.  He gives the assassination of Dr. King its proper respect, stands up for the black community, handles the complexities of a charismatic convict-- but most importantly:  he’s hysterical.  Even without the weighty issues, this would have been a very good comedy.
          About three-quarters of the way through, Talk To Me decides it’s also about the Petey Green-Dewey Hughes partnership.  Unfortunately, Hughes is not the personality Green is.  True, he’s supposed to be blander so I mean no offense to Chiwetel Ejiofor who does what he’s supposed to.  But when you make your movie about a blander personality, your movie gets a little dull.
          Still, Petey Green’s shadow is cast over the scenes he’s not in, so the problems toward the end don’t ruin it.  Talk To Me is an entertaining look at a guy who in a different era could have been The King Of All Media.
          (The movie’s liberal use of the “n” word and its radio theme make it something those who had a strong opinion either way on the Imus story should check out.  I wish Mr. Imus had a forum right now to talk about it).

The Simpsons Movie
          The Simpsons is the funniest TV show ever created.  I don’t even want to argue about it (or maybe I do.  Click the e-mail link on top of the page).
          So is The Simpsons Movie the funniest… movie… ever?  No.  But while it doesn’t rank as high as some of Springfield’s best moments, it certainly holds its own when compared to standard ones (and it’s easily better than the show has been the last couple of seasons).  What we’re really watching is a multi-part Simpsons episode, to be continued immediately.
         Fans of the show will not be disappointed, and there’s frankly no reason non-fans shouldn’t enjoy it.  You don’t have to know who the Sea Captain or Bumblebee Man or Lenny or Carl are to know that they’re funny (I think everyone gets at least a moment onscreen.  I’ll have to find a cast list to be certain).   The Simpsons is not the X-Files.  All you need to know is they’re a family of five in a fictional town called Springfield.  Dad Homer is a screw-up, Mom Marge is a worry-wart, son Bart is a brat, daughter Lisa is a smart activist, Maggie is a baby, and eventually they get themselves in some kind of trouble. 
         I will always defend The Simpsons' morality, no matter how poor an example Homer or Bart set.  The show also has some of the sweetest moments you’ll ever see, which reaffirm the importance of family.  There is at least one moment in the movie that could bring a tear to the eye.
         Most of the moments though are just plain laugh out loud funny.   It will require repeated viewings to really get all the moments down.  As of this writing, Bart steals the show for me.  He’s great when he taunts Homer about how he thinks neighbor Ned Flanders is a better father, the scene where we see “little Bart” is wonderfully clever, and Bart makes for a very funny drunk.  (I swear it’s “family-affirming.”)
         As I think about it, maybe Mrs. Hoover doesn’t get a line?  I’m not sure about Jimbo either.  Or maybe I just want those e-mails.
 
Hairspray
          Everybody in Hairspray is just so happy to be there. 
          They’re full of pure joy at almost all times, singing and dancing non-stop (thankfully, it’s a musical).  Even the black kids in detention-- segregated from everyone else-- spend their time dancing and celebrating.
          If it were Up With People, it would get annoying fast, but in Hairspray, the mood is infectious.  That’s mostly thanks to the wonderful work by standout performers including John Travolta, Christopher Walken, Michelle Pfeiffer, Queen Latifah and Nikki Blonsky.
          Wait… who?
          That name again is Nikki Blonsky, a teenage unknown given the lead role in a movie requiring her to sing, dance and be funny in front of more-seasoned A-listers.  Like her character Tracy, she becomes a star you have to like despite the odds against her.  Fans of the original John Waters movie and the Broadway musical that followed know this story:  Tracy auditions for and becomes a star dancer on the early 1960s American Bandstand-like Corny Collins Show, despite her weight problems and the fact that the show has always embraced more traditional beauty.  Everybody ends up loving her, but Tracy doesn’t take time out to bask in her new fame.  Instead, she fights to get the show integrated, so that the black kids can dance more often than just the once-a-month “Negro Day.”
          Everybody rallies around Tracy, just like the audience will get behind Blonsky.
          Everybody else is pretty good too.  Michelle Pfeiffer makes a welcome return to the movies (where has she been?) as the station manager determined to keep Tracy and the black kids off the air (that sounds weighty, but her performance is less George Wallace and more Cruella De Vil).  Queen Latifah is as good as ever, and teen queen Amanda Bynes proves she does have some adult-sized talent. 
          The second most talked about performance in Hairspray will be John Travolta as Tracy’s mother.  He’s in drag like the late Divine was in the first movie and is clearly having a lot of fun under that fat suit.  He is sometimes a little hard to understand, but the personality he gives the mom is enough to make up for that.  Of course, if you have John Travolta in a musical, you have him dance.  He and Christopher Walken as Tracy’s dad (himself an accomplished dancer) share a great dance scene. 
         Watching the two of them together in this campy movie, you almost forget they were each in Pulp Fiction.  They’re having so much fun, you forget the edgier stuff.  Heck, this movie even made the anti-segregation movement seem kind of fun. 
 
Sicko
          In some ways, Sicko is the opposite of Fahrenheit 9/11.  (Fahrenheit opened with the tragedy of 9/11 and ends with the kind of humorous George W. Bush quote that fills up “Bushism” 365 day calendars.  Sicko begins with a poor choice of words from Bush and works its way into a 9/11 tie.)
          Oh, don’t get me wrong:  this is still a Michael Moore movie, but the writer/director/provocateur steps back a bit, not even appearing on camera for about 45 minutes.  He doesn’t have to get in people’s faces to tell these stories of the out-of-control cost of healthcare; they tell themselves.  One gentleman had two fingers severed and actually had to choose which one to save because he couldn’t afford to keep both.  Frustrated insurance company employees talk about the nightmare of telling clients their claims have been denied and the tricks they use to make the system work to their advantage.
          Moore does very well explaining how the United States got to this point, and even the conservatives who won’t see a Moore movie on principle will appreciate how he skewers Hillary Clinton.
          He does drive home one point to death:  that what we pay outrageous amounts of money for is free in other countries.  There are only so times you can watch a guy in a baseball hat ask “What do you pay for this?”  (The answer every time:  “Nothing.”)  It probably wasn't necessary to go to four different countries to repeat the same question.  
          There is only one real trademark “Michael Moore stunt,” and it’s a good one.  Toward the end (it’s made news so I feel okay giving it away), Moore somehow escorts 9/11 rescue workers into Cuba to get them healthcare they aren’t able to get here. 
         Is it journalism?  No, of course not.  It’s a Michael Moore movie.  But if you’re happy paying what you do for healthcare, you be sure and let him know.

A Mighty Heart
           If you followed the sad story of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, you know how it ended—which could have ruined this mostly procedural drama about the hunt for his kidnappers.
          However, we ignorant Americans really don’t know all that much about Pakistan or what it’s like to be a journalist there, so for those who want to learn, A Mighty Heart is fascinating.  When I first thought about the Pearl story, I foolishly imagined the guy out in the middle of Afghanistan somewhere, grabbed by cave-dwelling members of the Taliban, but Pearl and his wife Mariane (Angelina Jolie) were staying with friends and U.S. allies in Pakistan.  They were very much at home there, holding dinner parties and discussing world affairs and philosophy with their international friends and keeping in touch with the rest of the world via the internet and cell phones.
          I’d like to think that’s something that Daniel and Mariane Pearl would have wanted me to get out of this movie.
          Mariane spends much of the movie not only waiting for word on her husband but appearing on TV or in front of the police defending the couple’s presence in Pakistan in the first place.   It sounds very Lifetime-Movie-Of-The-Week, but its authenticity and a strong performance by Jolie keep it above that level.
          As for Daniel Pearl's tragic death and what we see onscreen:  the movie stays in line exactly with what the Pearls would want us to see.
 
Surf's Up
          Once those penguins marched and captured the hearts of the world, it was probably inevitable that other filmmakers would try to capitalize on the success of March of The Penguins.
          Last year, we got Happy Feet, appealing to an audience that maybe doesn’t want to think that much about the penguins but would rather take in their cuteness.  Surf’s Up also knows penguins are cute, but it manages to be—believe it or not—a little more sophisticated and subtle.
          Surf’s Up is the story of Cody Maverick (Shia LaBeouf), a young penguin who dreams of becoming a champion surfer.  He’s inspired by the legend of “Big Z”, a surfing penguin legend who he spent time with as a chick.  He gets his shot at the big time when he enters a tournament inspired by the legend of Big Z himself.
         The movie is made to look like a documentary, with characters addressing the camera and techniques like grainy “file footage” showing us flashbacks.  The characters are as laid back as your average surfer.  They tell little jokes and then offer clever asides that are often very funny.
          The voice work is very good—LaBeouf and the cast take just the right tone for the movie’s dry humor.  The standout would be Jeff Bridges as “The Geek,” an odd surfing guru who is a little bit of Yoda mixed with Jeff Bridges’ The Dude from The Big Lebowski.
          The penguins in Surf’s Up actually reminded me of the Geico Cavemen, if that makes any sense.  They are creatures that shouldn’t have their wit or level of sophistication—but they do.  Cody and Big Z would be very successful commercial pitchmen for sunscreen or something like that.
          As much as I like dry humor though, I wonder if kids will get it.  If you’re hoping the movie will keep your kids occupied, I think the tone may be just a little too laid back.  Kids at my screening got restless, hoping for a little more splash from their surfing.  But then again, they may be taken in by the visuals, which are sometimes great-- the computer-animated waves are like radical, dude.

Grindhouse
          It’s a shame the DVD for Grindhouse will be split in two, since it's really designed to be a 3-hour experience.  Of course, it’s probably an experience that should be had in a movie theater and if people aren't going,  at least the DVD plan could get more people to watch these two very entertaining stories.
          Let me explain for anyone who isn’t a die-hard Robert Rodriguez or Quentin Tarantino fan.  Grindhouse is a double feature homage to the trashy exploitation films of the early 70s.  It is two-movies-in-one, with pseudo-trailers at the beginning and in between.  While both stories take place now, the film looks like it hasn’t been taken out of its canister since 1974.  The audio breaks up, an occasional hair will move across the screen, and there are even reels “missing.”  Grindhouse even includes a “Now Our Feature Presentation” reel with graphics that guys in sideburns and leisure suits once thought were very slick looking.  It’s a whole lot of fun.
          Actually, it’s a whole lot of sick fun.
          The more entertaining movie is the first, Rodriguez’s Planet Terror.    The plot isn’t as important as the images and the goofy dialogue.  Zombies are taking over a small town, and it’s only hope is a drifter with a dark secret, an amazing proficiency with weapons and an ex-girlfriend with a gun for a leg (Rose McGowan providing the iconic image of the film).  Limb, blood and puss fly everywhere in this epic battle.  It’s gloriously ridiculous.
           Death Proof almost made me try a little stunt.  As I watched, I thought I might have to put Planet Terror under “Go See” and Death Proof under “See If You Want.”  Death Proof isn’t as action-packed as Planet Terror, but it’s very interesting, especially if you’re a fan of Tarantino and his dialogue.  We follow a never-better Kurt Russell as he follows groups of young women.  His “Stuntman Mike” is a serial killer with an intriguing method of operations.  It’s mesmerizing watching him stalk his prey.
          Unfortunately, some of his prey are the centerpiece of an excruciatingly long diner scene that comes nowhere close to the superior diner scenes in Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction.  So take this advice:  when you see Rosario Dawson sit down, take the bathroom break you’ll want during this three hour plus experience.
          But get back in time for the car chase, which is just fantastic.  It was so good, Death Proof moved back into the “Go See” category.  The stunt work is great, as is Russell’s acting through the whole thing.
          I refuse to give away the ending, but I’ll say this:  it’s perfect.  By that, I don’t mean it’s a clever plot resolution.  I mean the exact final second of film is great.
          The real highlights of Grindhouse are the fake trailers before and between Planet Terror and Death Proof.  I would love to see Grindhouse 2, made up of a double feature of Thanksgiving and Werewolf Women of the S.S.  Sadly, Grindhouse’s initial box office take will mean no sequel, but I urge you to get this experience in at a theater while you can.  If you like this stuff, you’ll love a stop at the Grindhouse. 

Blades Of Glory
         Will Ferrell must want to be asked back every year to be a presenter at the ESPYs.  The star of Kicking & Screaming and Talladega Nights is starring in another sports movie, where he gets to take his big and less than athletic frame and put it into an arena it has no business being in.
          He is Chazz Michael Michaels, a rock and roll figure skater who’s really just Talladega’s Ricky Bobby sporting the mullet Ricky Bobby’s fans had.  His main rival is Jimmy MacElroy, played by Napoleon Dynamite’s Jon Heder.  Ricky Bobby is all attitude and does his routines to Billy Squire’s “The Stroke.”  Jimmy is more delicate.  As Chazz describes him he’s “like a 15 year old girl but not hot.”  The two end up in a fight on the ice and are banned from the sport. 
           But they find a loophole—they can be a team.  So Chazz and Jimmy become the first all-male figure skating duo.
           It’s as ridiculous as it sounds.  It’s also very funny.  The choreography is hysterical as the two perform in some oddball and even awkward positions.  The movie includes the best use ever of Aerosmith’s cheeseball ballad “I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing.”  None of the skating is as funny as a foot chase late in the movie where the hunted and the hunter keep their skates on the whole time.
           Ferrell is the guy for this kind of comedy, and his fans will eat it up.  Heder still strikes me as a kid out of his element in the big movies.  Napoleon Dynamite was one thing, but he really doesn’t have the presence to pull off another character.  He’s probably funny among his friends, but he doesn’t compare to the more seasoned members of the cast.  They include some TV comedy all-stars: SNL’s Amy Poehler, her real-life husband Will Arnett from Arrested Development and The Office’s Jenna Fischer.
          Skating enthusiasts may appreciate the cameos from stars like Peggy Fleming, Dorothy Hamill and Brian Boitano.  They may wish they were in a classier production, but if they can laugh at the outfits, the music and the routines, then so should the fans.

Black Snake Moan
            It’s not as lurid as it all sounds.
           Black Snake Moan is the story of an old bluesman, who chains a half-naked white trash nymphomaniac to a radiator in his home.
          OK, maybe it is pretty lurid, especially if you look at the movie poster of Bluesman Samuel L. Jackson standing over the Nymphomaniac Christina Ricci, who’s chained and at his knees.
          From the opening shots of real life blues legend Son House talking about the meaning of the blues and of Ricci and boyfriend Justin Timberlake... um… indulging her mania… you think this will be a lurid classic.  You think to yourself that this could be the Snake-Titled Cult Movie that Jackson didn’t get to experience with Snakes On A Plane.  But Jackson doesn’t have Ricci chained up for lascivious reasons, he’s keeping her there until The Devil leaves her.  It’s not about sex, it’s about redemption.
          It’s also about comedy, believe it or not.  There are some good moments of dark humor that come out of having a half-naked white trash nymphomaniac tied to a radiator in your home.  It’s almost a twisted Three’s Company.
          Jackson is great as our bluesman looking to redeem Ricci and himself, but you knew he would be.  Ricci is great as the girl who doesn’t understand her own issues or how far she’s fallen, but you probably knew she would be.  And Justin Timberlake?  He’s good.  His music may not be for you, but the former N’Syncer is actually a pretty talented actor.  His character may seem like a throwaway at first, but there’s more to him than meets the eye.  If you feel like the guy is everywhere, he probably is—but he’s earning it.
          Black Snake Moan’s redemptive theme will keep it from being the lurid cult classic you might have hoped it would be, but it’s still a unique movie that shouldn’t disappoint. 

The Astronaut Farmer
          It’s kind of like Field Of Dreams In Space.
          That’s not to say The Astronaut Farmer is a science fiction movie, although you do have to suspend some belief if you’re going to buy into the idea.
          Billy Bob Thornton plays the conveniently named Charles Farmer.  He’s a former astronaut and family farmer who never gave up on the dream of going into space.  In fact, he’s built a rocket in his barn, and he insists on launching himself into orbit.
          Everyone thinks he’s crazy, and if you apply common sense, everyone is right. There is no need for him to put his family’s welfare and finances at risk for such a thing that benefits nobody but himself.  Child welfare really should be concerned, the government really should be checking on where he got all that rocket fuel and what he’s going to do with it, and everybody in town really should be whispering behind his back.
          But gosh darn it, everyone involved is so down-to-earth and friendly, and Charles is so determined without being arrogant or rude, you want to see that rocket take off.  The people around him have their doubts, but they also have Charles' best interests at heart.  They don’t want to squash his dream, they just want to make sure he's alright.  That’s even true of the little town’s public officials, who are also Charles' childhood friends.  Even one of the most prominent of his detractors,  a friend from NASA, hopes deep down that ol' Charles Farmer can pull this off. (He’s played by a big star who is uncredited.  I won’t spoil it, but he’s very good here.)
          Charles keeps his family involved the whole time (including the excellent Virginia Madsen as his wife), guaranteeing the movie will get consistent play on cable family channels for years to come.
          It's all gentle Americana-- a movie about a farmer and an astronaut?  How could it not be a feel good film?  

Walk The Line    
          Johnny Cash stood behind many causes, including the musicians he believed in. He did it from the beginning when he insisted June Carter join him on the road, he did it in the middle when he sang with African-Amercian musicians on his variety show, and he did it toward the end when he covered material written by Nine Inch Nails and Soundgarden.
          So Johnny wouldn't be offended that everyone is comparing the new movie about his life to the movie last year about the life of Ray Charles. They're obvious comparisons. Both are movies about tortured geniuses who came from humble beginnings, lost a beloved family member, got addicted to drugs and changed music forever with their definitive recordings. A year ago, everyone said Jamie Foxx deserved an Oscar for playing Ray Charles, and deservedly so, many are saying the same thing about Joaquin Phoenix's Johnny Cash.
          Which movie you'll like better will depend on your personal tastes of course. Me, I'm giving a slight edge to Ray because it makes better use of the music. That's tough to say because if I'm choosing who to listen to, I give the edge to Cash. Still, it's great to be able to debate the strengths of two such great movies.
          So let's give the Cash story its due. The movie starts with Cash as a child, covers his first recordings and ends with the 1968 recording of Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison.  There's a lot more to cover with Johnny Cash, but moviemakers know audiences love a good love story.  The real focus is Cash's long courtship of June Carter.  As a fan, he was enamored with her, and he couldn't get her out of his mind, even while each were married to other people.  Now, it's hard to imagine one without the other (the Cashes even died four months apart), but it took forever for them to get together.  It's a passionate story but not a romantic one.  These two "sinned" to get together, and the movie doesn't ignore that.  You feel sorry for Mrs. Cash #1, which adds to Phoenix's portrayal of a conflicted man.
          This performance is Phoenix's best by far.  There was a lot to Johnny Cash. A recent box set was divided into three titles based on the themes he sang about: Love, God, Murder. He sang hymns and he sang about shooting a man just to watch him die. That's a complex guy with a lot of passion, and Phoenix captures him. Just before he sings Folsom Prison Blues at his audition, producer Sam Phillips tells Cash he doesn't "believe him" when he sings gospel. Cash asks angrily: "you don't think I believe in God?"  Love, God and Murder are all in that scene, and they're all in Phoenix. He doesn't pull off a metamorphisis like Jamie Foxx did in Ray, but he puts so much passion into his performance, that you know he's playing Johnny Cash.
          And even more gutsy, Phoenix dares to do the singing himself. It's especially brave when you realize he had very little musical training before the film and comes pretty close to one of the most unique voices ever. Music aficionados will appreciate the scenes showing Cash's first recordings at Sun Records and his camaraderie with fellow pioneers Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis. If you've got guys like that practically living together, there's probably a whole other movie right there.
          No offense to some of the other good performances in Ray, but what that movie lacks compared to Walk The Line is a strong co-lead performance. Reese Witherspoon has never been better. She's always been able to pull off cute, which makes her a good choice for the perky, funny and beloved June who joins Cash on tour. She's even better as the woman fighting her attraction to this tortured, flawed genius (like her song says: "It burns, burns, burns...") and as the woman who saves him.
          The day after I saw Walk The Line, I thought I might add to my Johnny Cash collection. There was just one other guy in the CD section, and I had to wait for him to get out of the Cash section so I could look. Hopefully that's happening in CD sections all over.

War Of The Worlds   
          Fine, he's marrying Katie Holmes. Fascinating, he's been squirted by water. OK, he's fighting with Brooke Shields over anti-depressants.
          The thing that needs to be said in advance of War Of The Worlds is: Tom Cruise is starring in a Steven Spielberg sci-fi movie.
          Remember E.T.? Close Encounters Of The Third Kind? Even Minority Report, also starring Cruise? Spielberg knows his way around sci-fi.
          In an odd way, I'm glad that Cruise and his couch-jumping has distracted from the content of the movie. (As an aside, Cruise was nutty on Oprah, but it's not like he was on Charlie Rose jumping on the desk. Did you hear the screaming idiots in Oprah's audience? He gave them what they wanted.) I'm glad my first look at the "tripods" coming out of the ground or at the carnage they leave behind was on the big screen. The visuals are astounding.
          There are two scenes that really stand out. One, when the tripods first emerge from the ground and begin their attack. From the special effects to the sheer panic they cause, the scene is unbelievable. A thirty second snippet from that scene in a commercial could have had people talking more about the movie and a little less about Cruise's love life.
           I in no way want to compare the fantasy of War Of The Worlds to the real life horrors of D-Day, but watching that scene I couldn't help but think of the opening of Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan.  In both, Spielberg crafts an extended scene of sheer chaos that you cannot look away from, no matter how bad it gets.
          Then there's a scene where Cruise and daughter Dakota Fanning are holed up in a basement with a survivalist played by Tim Robbins. It's very similar to the scene with the kids and the raptors in the kitchen in Jurassic Park. And just as nerve-wracking.
          This is a lot darker than say Independence Day, which had a similar theme. Of course when that came out, the idea of our national monuments being attacked seemed like science fiction.  Now, we've lived a little bit of this movie (Fanning asks "Is it terrorists?" while she runs for her life).  Real life may have made Spielberg "turn" on his former extra-terrestrial subjects.
          So while we do get some chuckles out of watching Tom Cruise try to handle his kids, there's nothing like Will Smith or Randy Quaid's Independence Day characters in War Of The Worlds. There is certainly no President Bill Pullman rallying the country to fight back either. Cruise's only real concern is his family's survival. He is in no way an action hero in this. Be warned if you take your kids, there is some really grisly stuff. Very far from E.T.
          Cruise himself is fine. He brings star power to the movie, but not necessarily a performance that somebody else couldn't have done. That said, he's a big movie star and we like him-- so we're going to root for him in impossible odds. And we also root for him as he tries to protect and bond with his two kids. Fanning as his daughter continues to impress.  She's an amazing little actress.
          I was not thrilled by the ending. I thought we invested a lot of time in this world crisis to have it end too abruptly. I'm told that ending is faithful to the book, but this is a movie. I've never read a book with an "abrupt ending." I don't suddenly flip the page and think "It's the last page already?"
          In keeping with the movie's spirit, I'll end the review abruptly.  Go to War.

The Weather Man   
          Nicolas Cage's Dave Spritz is a pretty good weatherman, but he's not nearly as good at forecasting his life as he is the weather.  He's struggling to patch things up with his estranged wife, his daughter lacks motivation, his son is in drug rehab, and he's intimidated by the reputation of his father (Michael Caine), a Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist.
          Heavy stuff, but before the audience can get too depressed, Cage gets hit in the face by a Wendy's Frosty.  Then by a taco.  Then by a Big Gulp.  Few things are funnier than someone getting smacked in the face by something so silly, especially when that someone has that deadpan, morose Nicolas Cage face. 
          There are all kinds of dark laughs like that.  The Weather Man makes especially good use of four-letter words-- delivered at just the right time in just the right way.
          It may not be for everyone-- the things Spritz deals with are pretty depressing, and if you're not in the mood, you may not laugh.  At least one situtation takes a very serious turn, making a dark comedy into a darker film for a little bit.   However, if you're the type who chuckles at life's ironies, even when they're happening to you, you'll identify with the poor guy.
          Memo to my friends in the biz:  I know the preferred term is "meteorologist," but they make a point in this movie to point out that Spritz is not a scientist.  And I didn't name the movie.  So no need to throw Big Gulps.

Wedding Crashers            
           Wedding Crashers is "Old School" comedy.
          I don't say that because it stars Vince Vaughn and one of the Wilson brothers.  I say that because 25 years ago, this would have starred Chevy Chase or Tim Matheson.  Ty Webb or Otter would have thought of crashing weddings just for the chicks.
            Wedding Crashers is the first really good comedy of the summer, and the first raunchy sex comedy in a long time to be funny.  Vaughn and Owen Wilson hit "wedding season" hard every year.  They make up names and backgrounds, crash weddings, and make sure they're the life of the party.  It's all to make sure they go home with a bridesmaid, who is all emotional after the big day. 
          Eventually, they crash a wedding hosted by the Secretary of the Treasury (Christopher Walken).  Wilson falls for one of his daughters (The Notebook's Rachel McAdams), while Vaughn attracts another daughter, who turns out to be something of a stalker.  They end up spending the weekend with the whole Kennedy-like family, where there are more problems.  (There's that "old school" comedy again.  Who makes better villains for characters like Otter than rich boyfriends or fathers?)
          Wedding Crashers owes most of its success to Vaughn and Wilson, who while playing sexist pigs still manage to be very likable.  (Women have asked me about this movie, mostly because they like these guys.)  Their relationships with the women are less important to the movie than their relationship with each other.  It's fun to watch them work as a team at the weddings-- and struggle to keep the team together while they try to get through their weekend with Walken's family.
          I'm liking this team of actors (Vaughn, Owen Wilson, Luke Wilson, Ben Stiller, Will Ferrell, Jack Black... am I missing one?) who seem to keep appearing in each other's movies.  In any movie starring one of them, you get at least two more.  They're putting out consistently funny movies (brilliant films like The Royal Tenenbaums to stupidly funny things like Dogdeball and Anchorman), and at least seem to enjoy working together.   Remember when the grouping was Chevy Chase, Bill Murray, Harold Ramis, Dan Aykroyd, John Candy, et. al.?  Hopefully the modern grouping has more "old school" hits to come.

These would be the movies in current release or from the recent past that I'm recommending.  I'm exaggerating a bit, but consider these your Empire Strikes Backs... your Naked Guns... your When Harry Met Sallys...  if these were bands, they'd be Van Halen or The Rolling Stones...