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There Will Be Blood adapted from the 1920’s novel “Oil” is true to the title but only after about two and a half hours have passed in this circa 1900 epic drama. Meantime for the first 20 minutes you start to believe that there won’t be any dialogue yet the basis of the story unfolds articulately thanks to the talent of Daniel Day Lewis. As we’ve come to expect, when he does finally speak he brings a fresh new character from his acting arsenal, in this case Daniel Plainview a California silver miner who instantly changes careers when his mineshaft started gushing black gold. As a moderately successful and abundantly resourceful oil man looking for new business he comes to a westerly town sitting on a lake of crude and proceeds to swindle the town in whatever unscrupulous ways that he can. There Will Be Blood also stars Paul Dano who barely said anything in Little Miss Sunshine’s but he spouts a litany of religious rhetoric as Eli Sunday, an evangelical preacher. As the years pass these two tangle in an ever escalating power struggle but the unstoppable Plainsview is so corrupted by the lure of petro-prosperity that nothing, not prayer, not conscience not even family can bring about his redemption.

In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale is a big budget, filmed in Burnaby, Lord of the Rings Wannabe. Jason Statham is a boomerang tossing farmer who spent his life pulling turnips yet mysteriously is a skilled swordsman. Although it’s delightful to see some local actors land good parts, the rest of the casting seems to have gone to the lowest bidder.  Burt Reynolds is King Konreid of this magical medieval-like kingdom. His nephew is plotting to kill him with the aid of Gallian the evil and sinister rogue magi somewhat miscast with Ray Liotta since he has trouble emoting sinister or evil. Leelee Sobieski as Muriella the king’s loyal but wayward daughter perhaps killed two birds with one plane ticket by filming this at the same time as Walk All Over Me. At any rate she got to suit up in her cool Joan of Arc armour again. When Farmer’s family is torn apart by the monstrous Krugs via orders channelled to Gallian henchmen (who appear to have oil based heads), he reluctantly allies himself with the King. This actually sounds more interesting than it is but if all you want is bloodless swordplay then you’re in luck because that’s 90% of what you get with In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale.

First Sunday is the latest make work project for Ice Cube who produced this forgettable comedy. He plays Durell, a down on his luck dad sharing custody with his ex who is making noises about leaving town. The tough luck is usually the result of trying to prevent the latest lamely set up catastrophe brought on by his best friend LeeJohn played by Tracy Morgan. Morgan’s misguided hubris is killer on 30 Rock but with nothing to deliver here it doesn’t stand alone for long. As a wad of quick cash would keep Durell’s son in town these two hatch a scheme to steal the receipts from the local church’s First Sunday celebration. This ends up in a prolonged hostage situation with the literal movers and shakers from the congregation where everyone gets cozy courtesy of a lot of manufactured sentimentality. Some standouts in this blacktacular event include Katt Williams as the rambling choir master and Keith David, here applying his trademark hair-trigger temper to the character of  Judge B. Bennet Galloway. You may enjoy buying the soundtrack for First Sunday but the movie itself may be the last to see on any day of the week.

Persepolis was an ancient capital of Persia the ruins of which sit in southern Iran so the title is fitting for this animated adaptation of Marjane Satrapi's semi autobiographical graphic novel. Although from France very little of the story takes place there or Europe in general. “Marji“ is born in Tehran during the time of the Shah and her pre-teens were as a westernized middle class school girl. Glossed over but important is the fact that she has a distant royal pedigree which could have been perilous until that monarchy was ousted in the ‘80’s. She rejoiced with her family at what the future held after the fall of that oligarchy as friends and relatives were released from prison but that former unease was replaced by different terror as the new fundamentalist government became ever more totalitarian. Marjane’s irrepressible independent thinking along with the war against Iraq cause her concerned family to send her to a Viennese school however culture shock eventually sends her packing home to be with her free thinking moderate family. They conform to fundamentalism in public but act more rationally behind closed doors and so like Persepolis, the Tehran she once knew is also in ruins. At a time when Dick Chaney was inches away from making Iran the third theatre of Middle Eastern engagement this is no cartoon – it’s a sober second look at a people who have really had enough.

Also out this weekend:
The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: A Veggie Tales Movie

Mad Money borrows heavily from Fun With Dick and Jane as Diane Keaton and Ted Danson are Bridget and Don Cardigan, a heartland middle class couple who suddenly find themselves with no visible means of support and no marketable skills. A desperate Bridget takes a janitorial job at the Federal Revenue Bank where she hatches a scheme to steal worn out currency destined for shredding. She enlists the aid of single mom Nina Brewster (Queen Latifah) and married airhead Jackie Truman (Katie Holmes) for a systematic daily removal of a few handfuls of very filthy lucre. Months later when everyone else wants to quit while they’re ahead Bridget wants more and conflicts start to arise. Mad Money is the type of film that will make you mad if you spent money to see it. Here we thought that the most evil spawn for Katie Holmes was being a Surri Surrogate for L. Ron Hubbard and a talent like Keaton should have learned some kind of lesson from the truly terrible Because I Said So.

Cloverfield is about as far away from a field of clover as you can get. As we find out during the ominous opening credits it’s the name assigned to a video found in the area formerly know as Central Park. What follows is the videography playback of a particularly bad night in the Big Apple as for a tense 88 minutes we get a cross between The Blair Witch Project and Godzilla. It starts with upwardly mobile twenty-something New Yorkers gathered at a Park Avenue suite for a farewell party honouring a friend whose new corporate vice-presidency will relocate him to Japan. While making video send-offs we see relationships unfold among the revellers but that’s soon overshadowed by the drama that suddenly explodes outside. A monster of no fixed origin manifests itself by the statue of Liberty and proceeds to deposit its ravenous young on the streets of Manhattan. The military are called in but as one commander puts it “we don’t know what it is but it’s winning”. New York is doomed and the only question remains will our departing VP be re-united with his true love before the military reins shock and awe down on the mysterious monster last seen in the area eventually known as Cloverfield.

Also out this weekend:
27 Dresses
and
All Hat

Untraceable stars Diane Lane as Jennifer Marsh, a single mom agent with the Portland Oregon branch of the FBI. On some kind of stress duty following the death of her husband killed in the line of duty she’s become a computer geek out of necessity but feels quite at home with her naturally nerdy co-workers who spend their days busting cyber criminals. The job gets intense however when a super hacker with a grudge starts torturing innocent people to death on the net in real time - a process exacerbated by the number of hits his “KillWithMe” website gets as ghoulish voyeurs by the millions log on to watch. Of course he’s evil genius enough to make his IP address impossible to trace but as Marsh and her team begin the gradually unlock the mystery they themselves become the target of the cyber terrorist who is able to hack into their laptops and even their GPS systems. Although the set up for the final confrontation between Marsh and the techno-nasty doesn’t compute, the rest of the scenario is plausible while making a subtle statement about society’s growing detachment and is intense enough to make me think twice about ordering the “On Star” option with my next vehicle.

Rambo like last years Balboa is another rest-on-your-laurels make work project for Sylvester Stallone who not only stars in but wrote and directed the picture. We first met the brooding John Rambo in the 1982 filmed in BC First Blood and 26 years later he’s still not over the post traumatic stress of Viet Nam. He’s now a recluse in Thailand wrangling cobras for snake charmers who entertain the tourists. He’s fairly close to the border with Burma the brutalized country where children are forced to fight or risk reprisals against their families and where genocide masked civil war has raged unabated for years. When American missionaries with medical supplies arrive asking Rambo to take them up river into the war zone he refuses until the only female among them successfully pleads their case. Kudos to Stallone for drawing attention to yet another deplorably forgotten pocket of misery in the world and up until the end of the missionary’s perilous journey the story has an engaging edge. However word gets back that the God squad has been taken captive and their pastor again enlists Rambo to escort a rescue team or mercenaries back into Burma things start to get surreal. Action fans won’t be disappointed but the violence gets cartoon-y in the predictable showdown of 6 guys against 100 soldiers, most of who were probably pressed into service.

U2 3D is not just a film, it’s an experience as U2, one of the world’s most enduing rock bands recorded the Latin American portion of their Vertigo tour in the IMAX format. Because it’s in 3D the intimacy is unprecedented as you’re right there on stage with The Edge, Larry Mullen Jr. and Adam Clayton and when lead singer Bono reaches out in a close-up you feel obliged to reach back and shake hands, yet you also have a great perspective to enjoy the clever staging to its fullest. It’s fascinating that a group of Irishmen are so adored in so much of the Spanish speaking world but in deference to that one song sung in Spanish by Bono whose vocals are totally spot on, stretches his range to a place heretofore unheard and is the highlight of the concert. U2 3D appears to be one night in Argentina was actually seamlessly edited from shows in seven cities and it’s a knockout, as a matter of fact it’s probably the best concert movie that you will ever see.

Starting Out in the Evening stars Frank Langella who has made no attempt to age gracefully since drawing first blood as a the lead in 1979’s Dracula. However the jowly character of his new millennium face is perfect for his portrayal of Leonard Schiller a retired New York English professor with a bad heart and author of 4 published novels that never got read much. The completion of his current tome proceeds at a snails pace not only because of creative juices drying up but distractions like his daughter Ariel (Lili Taylor) with relationship issues and a chiming biological clock. Then one day Heather Wolfe (Lauren Ambrose) a shiny happy researcher working on a degree enters his life and he really gets thrown off his game. She turns out to be his biggest and probably only fan who feels that once her thesis is published the world will see renaissance of Schiller appreciation. The ongoing debate between the two is engaging as she tries to break through his guarded persona but things get a little creepy when their relationship briefly gets romantic. Starting Out in the Evening starts out even but like its protagonist has a hard time coming up with a satisfactory ending.

How She Move stars Rutina Wesley as Raya Green, a bright young woman with a plan for success whose dreams are shattered when private school funds dry up and she has to return to the delinquent breeding grounds of her old Toronto neighbourhood. Step dancing which was featured in last years Stomp the Yard has come a long way from its African roots to the point where it’s a big influence even in today’s Jane-Finch corridor. With big prize money up for grabs Raya sees competing at step as her ticket back to the Ivy Leagues when it appears that getting a scholarship is not an option. The biggest obstacle in a never ending series of heartbreaking hassles is that to get the high dough she has to compete on a men’s team. Plaudits to Canadian choreographer Tre Armstrong playing Raya’s sometimes friend but most of the time rival who also co-directs Wesley along with Vancouver’s Brennan Gademans and Toronto’s Dwain Murphy as members of the step crew Raya tries to break into. How She Move is an Astral Media film that is a treat for fans of urban dance juxtaposed against a decent story of teens coping with the troubles of youth.

Steep has nothing to do with tea fanciers who prefer a strong brew. The stars of this documentary are about as diametrically opposed as you can get from teetotallers although they don’t get high on anything but adrenalin. They’re all extreme skiers, a sport that started in the 1980’s French Alps. As a matter of fact for a while it looks like Steep is nothing more that a rehash of 1988’s cult film The Blizzard of AAHHH's but gets back on track (showing props to the Canadian Rockies and surprisingly no deference to Warren Miller) with what today’s thrill seekers are doing. Commercial ski hills in the USA are pretty restrictive so these crazies trek and helicopter to ever more remote and perilous heights and it won’t come as a shock that BC and Alberta are prominent destinations along with Iceland and Alaska. Although the talking head dudes fawn to a mystic extreme when pontificating about their sport, amazing stunt and scenery like this are usually generated by a computer and in Steep they’re the real heart stopping deal.

Also out this weekend:
Meet the Spartans
Sunday
Yaariyan
Santoori

Over Her Dead Body stars Desperate Housewife Eva Longoria Parker. Marriage may have made her name longer but this movie won’t do the same for her career. In a role that’s nothing to trumpet about she plays Kate, basically the same character we see as Gabrielle Solis who dies after a ridiculous ice sculpture mishap on her wedding day. Kate’s A-type personality rubs the pearly gate greeter the wrong way and she’s sent back to earth with no clear mission. She assumes she’s back to keep her former fiancée Henry (Paul Rudd) from getting involved with Lake Bell in a well played breakout role as Ashley the psychic. Ashley is an earthy beauty in contrast to the hot sophisticated Kate but sparks fly after Henry’s sister introduces them in hopes that channelling the departed intended will end his year long funk after losing his almost bride. That Ashley can’t figure out that Dan (Jason Biggs) is so smitten with her that he pretends to be gay just to be around her doesn’t speak well of her extra sensory perception but then a psychic isn’t really necessary to foretell the outcome of anything in the painfully predictable Over Her Dead Body.

Poor Boy's Game is yet another boxing film this time set in Halifax against a backdrop of prejudice that we like to believe doesn’t exist in this country. Joining an adept group of Canadian actors is Danny Glover as George, the dockworker father of Charles, a severely brain damaged son. Suspending disbelief that any minor in Canada would serve anywhere near 10 years incarcerated for anything, the film opens with the parole of Donnie Rose (Vancouver’s Rossif Sutherland – Keifer’s half brother) who is the author of Charles’ situation. George’s first instinct is to confront Donnie with a revolver but thinks better of it. Meantime the black community comes up with a better revenge – entice the pugilistic Donnie into a one sided boxing match with Ossie Paris, a title fighter who happened to have been trained by George. As the fight day draws near racial tensions heat up but for George and Donnie it’s a time for anger to abate. Their mutual change in attitude is puzzling until their face to face at the scene of the assault on Charles. Poor Boys Game is a game production but not quite a knockout.

They Wait is a supernatural suspense thriller based on Chinese superstition. With Feng Shui and other oriental beliefs having a moderating influence in Vancouver life it’s a natural that the story is obviously set in our city although it’s never acknowledged as anything other than The Pacific Northwest. Jaime King (Goldie in Sin City) plays Sarah who is married to Jason (Edmonton’s Terry Chen) a North American born entrepreneur. They’re living in Shanghai taking care of business and Sammy their ghost preoccupied son when they’re called home due to an untimely death during Hungry Ghost Month – or is it untimely?  While on this side of the Pacific Sarah and her son come down with a case of I-see-dead-people and their sixth sense has something to do with unsettled spirits whose bones are no longer allowed to be buried alongside their ancestors due to communist regulations in China. When Sammy becomes possessed by a vengeful ghost his mom sets out to save him and in the process literally and otherwise discovers some ugly family skeletons in the closet. They Wait is an interesting take on Chinese folklore but you can probably stand the wait for They Wait on DVD.

Love and Other Dilemmas apparently had its biggest dilemma regarding the decision on when to release this goofball comedy since it’s a 2006 movie. You’ll recognize locations in East Vancouver and most of the cast from Corner Gas in this story of Ginger Shapiro (played with some intensely comic moments by Gabrielle Miller) who tries to lift the curse of the last three generations of her family which has seen pregnant brides witness the wedding day deaths of their fiancées and subsequent abandonment by their resurrected souls. In order to break this hex no setbacks - not burglary, not kidnapping, not water breaking, not even the apparent dreaded death of her groom can stand in the way of Ginger’s march to the altar. Being a fan of most of the cast members, my dilemma with Love and Other Dilemmas is that I’m nowhere near loving the movie they find themselves in.

Also out this weekend:
The Eye (with Jessica Alba) The ring, The Grudge
And
Strange Wilderness (with Steve Zahn, Jonah Hill and Justin Long)

Fool's Gold is a comedy adventure about treasure hunting. That explains the gold part but the fools part may refer to otherwise venerable actors who here mistakenly believe they’re pulling off convincing foreign accents. Donald Sutherland comes up short doing a haughty British lilt while Britain’s Ray Winstone who did sound American in last years Oscar winner The Departed can’t master a southern drawl here and Scotland’s Ewen Bremner should have a better ear for accents considering the open car doors along side of his head. The action takes place in the Caribbean so no excuses have to be made for a mostly shirtless Matthew McConaughey and the endless close-ups of the striations of his deltoids and trapezius. He plays Finn (cute name for a scuba diver) going through a divorce with his wife Tess played by Kate Hudson who is fed up after 8 years chasing their dream of finding a sunken treasure (on the strength of some convoluted logic that makes differential calculus look like child’s play). He however has run afoul of a local gangsta rapper and finding the loot is literally a matter of life or death. He convinces her and billionaire yachtsman Nigel Honeycutt (Sutherland) to take one final crack at finding the lost bullion. With kudos’ to Alexis Dziena who redefines the term airhead as Gemma Honeycutt, Nigel’s daughter by a much younger Vegas cocktail waitress, Fool’s Gold isn’t exactly golden cinema but it’s a pleasant enough distraction.

In Bruges takes place in a Belgian town famous for medieval architecture. Two Irish hit men find themselves there on the lam having just capped a priest on a job that went terribly wrong for Harry, their London boss played by Ralph Fiennes. Colin Farrell is Ray the pugnacious gunman who will duke it out with absolutely anyone be it women, dwarfs or Canadians. Ken the other more refined trigger man is played by Brendan Gleeson – not as pretty or well known as Farrell and Fiennes but twice the actor (and both of those guys are really good!). In case you haven’t guessed by now this is a comedy and one of the most hysterically fully ones you’ll ever see if you like black humour graphically splattered with blood. Ken quite enjoys the sightseeing but Ray can’t wait to get back to drinking and fighting back home – that is until he is enchanted by one of the locals. But why Bruges? Well it turns out Harry has another job for them on the continent but when Ken’s conscience gets the better of him Harry has to book a trip the Belgium to take care of his own dirty work. Here we are only in February and In Bruges is already on my top 10 list for 2008.

 Vince Vaughn's Wild West Comedy Show is really Vince Vaughn's Wild West Comedy Show 30 Days and 30 Nights, Hollywood to the Hinterland. It was actually filmed in 2005 and maybe it took so long to get released because it takes a little over a year to say the full title. Actually it took that long to edit the movie out of 600 hours of footage but the title says it all as The Wedding Crasher star got an idea a few years back to do something akin to what Buffalo Bill used to do, thus the Wild West moniker. With the aid of long time show biz friends producer Jon Favreau and Peter Billingsly (Ralphie from A Christmas Story all grown up) and unknown L.A. comics Ahmed Ahmed, John Caparulo, Bret Ernst, and Sebastian Maniscalco they hit the road for a month of one nighters featuring skits and stand-up and drop in celebrities. Clearly Caparulo is the most gifted of the quartet but what a break this film is for all four. Vince Vaughn's Wild West Comedy Show gets real documentary creds too as along the way they created history capturing possibly some of the last footage of the late Buck Owens as well as providing kind relief to then recent victims of Hurricane Katrina.

Normal was filmed on Southern Vancouver Island with Oak Bay standing in for any upscale seaside Wasp ghetto that you might want to name. A cast of local a-list actors portray an ensemble of characters that seem to be unrelated but actually have a teen vehicular fatality in common. Oh yeah, and not one of them is anywhere near normal. Matrix star Carrie-Anne Moss is an obsessive compulsive mom whose perfect son perished in the accident with Victoria’s young big screen veteran Cameron Bright as her neglected other son. The latest magazine boy toy Kevin Zegers is a troubled teen with attitude just out of Juvie Hall and having an affair with his step mother played by Camille Sullivan. Callum Keith Rennie is an alcohol abusing college professor whose marriage is a shambles and whose writing career has stalled. When he’s not hand holding his autistic brother he’s sleeping with Lauren Lee Smith as his painfully inquisitive student. This all sounds pretty hot but really, despite fine performances all around we don’t get enough insight into their characters to care much about them. The only thing normal about Normal is the pat Hollywood tricks used to allegedly satisfy the inherent conflicts.

Also out this weekend:
Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins

Definitely, Maybe definitely may be the most successful acting stretch for Kitsilano Secondary grad Ryan Reynolds. As New Yorker Will Hayes the trade mark spot on delivery of witty one liners is still there but rolled way back. On top of that he does a very passable job as a romantic lead, laudably without even a flash of his buffed torso. Little Miss Sunshine Abigail Breslin is Maya his pre-pubescent daughter who after the first day of sex education is relentless in her inquisition about the days lesson as it pertains to her separated parents. To placate her curiosity he gives an outline of the three loves of his life, one of whom is her mom but all three broke his heart so assumed names are used to protect his soon to be ex-wife. The story flows through the 90’s and reveals his relationship first with Elizabeth Banks as Emily, then Rachel Weisz who plays Summer, Emily’s former college roommate. We first meet her as the paramour of Hampton Roth, the best role in a while for Kevin Kline. Then there’s The Wedding Crashers Isla Fisher as April who Will met while working his way up as a political back room puppeteer campaigning for Bill Clinton. Written and directed by Canada’s Adam Brooks Definitely, Maybe gets a little formulaic resolving what we all know has to be the right outcome but other than that the writing is smart and the on screen chemistry is fissionable.

The Spiderwick Chronicles stars Mary-Louise Parker as Helen Grace a mom who as her marriage is collapsing has to leave New York along with her 3 children and move into an inherited rural Victorian mansion. Swashbuckling Mallory (Sarah Bolger) is the oldest and the others, Jared and Simon are twins, both played by the amazing Freddie Highmore (just 15 on opening day) who is doubly impressive as these siblings have completely different personalities. Jared, the most troubled of the three is the fist to discover the secret of the mansion formerly owned by their uncle Arthur Spiderwick (David Strathairn). Arthur discovered that the world is filled with faeries, brownies, sprits, goblins and a few other invisible creatures and had spent his life amassing his Field Guide to the Fantastical World Around You. He even designed a glass to see these magic beings even when they choose not to appear to humans. Aware of the power of such knowledge the faeries 80 years previously had spirited Spiderwick away. The ogre Mulgarath voiced by Nick Nolte wants the Field Guide so that he can dominate the world and will stop at nothing to get it - well almost nothing, as Arthur had surrounded the house with an impenetrable protective circle. However if Mulgrath can trick the children into bringing the book outside the circle then there’s a chance that he can possess it. The Spiderwick Chronicles is the movie adaptation of a series of 5 children’s books aimed at kids 10 and up and anyone under 10 might be advised that this film could be too intense. That said, the story is great with eye popping CGI and plenty of action.

Step Up 2 The Streets is a sequel of sorts to 2006’s Step Up but isn’t a step up at all. Meantime veiled in all the fancy footwork is the same race plagiarism that has stretched from Elvis to Eminem and includes the Stones and The Beatles. I’m talking about predominantly white people taking a predominantly black art form and without improving on it, have more success with it. Briana Evigan plays Andie a troubled orphan adopted by her mom’s best friend and growing up in the same black neighbourhood as Tyler Gage which brings back the only star of the original movie Channing Tatum. Andie finds a longed for fraternity with a street dance crew but for the crime of dancing on the subway she’s threatened with relocation to Texas unless she can make it into Gage’s alma mater which is Baltimore’s answer to Julliard. He gets her an audition and then disappears and we’re introduced to a whole new cast of characters played by unknown actors, most of who prove to be more magnetic than Andie and her eventual love interest. Step Up 2 The Streets starts off promising but soon deteriorates into a fairly cliché format that has evolved for the recent rash of movies built around radical dance routines and was done better in this years Canadian production How She Move. Every plot point is weak but lets face it the plot is only there to set up the next dance sequence and those are progressively more creative and explosive thus providing redemption to an otherwise stumbling movie.

The Band's Visit (Bikur Ha-Tizmoret) is an Israeli/ Egyptian co-production that has spent the past 6 months being lauded on the film festival circuit. About the only recognizable star of this low budget charmer is veteran Sasson Gabai who we know from action roles with Stallone and Van Damme. Here again he’s in a paramilitary role albeit much more light hearted  as Lieutenant-colonel Tawfiq Zacharya a by-the-book Egyptian police commander who takes enormous pride in leading a small brass band that his higher-ups feel is superfluous. They’re desperately trying to get to an engagement at the opening of an Arab arts centre but with no room at the inn (because there is no inn) these musicians find themselves stranded in an Israeli desert town where they must rely on the kindness of the locals, many of whom seem to have memories that stretch back to the Six Day War. Most of the story revolves around Tawfiq’s budding relationship with Dina a soft hearted café owner played by the well preserved Israeli veteran actor Ronit Elkabetz who is unstoppable in her crusade to crack the shell of this bolt upright commander. Tawfiq also warms up to one of his underlings who is his exact opposite. He’s a skirt chasing, lax Muslim with a taste for whiskey who also spends time helping a shy local get busy with a female admirer. With its rib tickling unforced humour The Band’s Visit plays sweetly.

Also out this weekend:
Up the Yangtze
Jodhaa Akbar
Jumper

Vantage Point amalgamates a variety of sub plots on the way to revealing a tense action packed drama. These underpinnings unfold from the point of view of the main characters at noon on a special day in Salamanca Spain. A tourist with a video camera played by Forrest Whittaker, Dennis Quad and Matthew Fox as two secret service agents, Eduardo Noriega as a Spanish undercover cop, a hard nose news director played by Sigournay Weaver whose character takes a less than subtle swipe at the complicity of today’s embedded journalists, and John Hurt as the President of the United States who arrives to support of an anti-terrorist summit.  As he walks across the stage in the crowded city square two shots ring out and the President is down. That’s followed by a distant explosion just before the dais evaporates from a massively powerful incendiary device. By repeatedly replaying the scenario from the vantage point of each of the principals we are able to piece together the assassination plot based on what they each see. Fans of high intrigue and hot car chases and stuff that blows up real good will make a point to take advantage of Vantage Point.

Be Kind Rewind is Jack Black’s first outing for 2008 marking a return from his serious acting guy to his manic whack-job guy. As Jerry he’s literally the trailer trash proprietor of an inner city auto wrecker who spends a lot of time at the adjacent dilapidated video store run by a Mr Fletcher (Danny Glover) who revels in the fact that Fats Waller used to live in his run down digs. The store is an unexplained dinosaur that hasn’t embraced DVD’s and only rents out tapes albeit at a bargain price.  When Mr Fletcher leaves town he puts his dying business in the charge of Mike his assistant played by Mos Def. During his watch a high voltage accident turns Jerry’s head into an industrial strength magnet which manages to degauss Fletchers entire inventory. No problem, Mike and Jerry use a clunky VHS video camera to re-shoot the complete catalogue and restock the shelves with their amateur remakes. Rather than bring admonition the campy knock offs become much in demand. At this point it would be kind to rewind to the part where it got good but unfortunately it lapses into uncomfortable silliness. There was a long wait for Be Kind Rewind as the release date kept getting pushed but now that it’s here even huge fans of Jack Black still might want to wait a little while yet for it to come out on DVD - something tells me that won’t be long at all.

Garbage Warrior is a documentary focussing on the life work of Michael Reynolds, an unconventional architect who like R. Dean Taylor has done a lot of time in Taos New Mexico but unlike Taylor he’s not on the lam he’s off the grid. In the middle of the desert for 35 years he’s been perfecting what he calls earthships – self sustaining houses made of garbage! They heat themselves, have their own water supply and can grow food. With global warming so top of mind you’d think that he would be hailed a hero but actually a political tide turning did just the opposite and bureaucrats end up shutting him down. His only recourse is to fight laws with lawmakers and he hops into his used cooking oil powered truck and heads for the snake pit that is the state legislature to try to get a bill passed that will allow him to continue his work. Politics proves disheartening but rays of hope come unexpectedly from areas of complete despair – the 2006 south Asian tsunami and Hurricane Katrina. Garbage Warrior is a pretty uplifting story that offers a glimmer of hope for the planet and a reminder that the only people who really fail are the ones who stop trying.

Charlie Bartlett is a filmed in Toronto movie about a 17 year old going on 40 played by Anton Yelchin. He lives in palatial digs with his chauffeur and Marilyn (Hope Davis) his over medicated mom with a shrink on speed dial. Dad’s location is a mystery for a while but it eventually becomes apparent that Charlie is a bit of a chip off the old block. Despite his privileged lifestyle private school is not for Charlie – not by choice but by expulsion. He ends up in the dreaded public school system with the accompanying yellow bus, hallway locker politics, security cameras and ubiquitous teenage angst. Charlie’s crested blazer and attaché case make it a bit hard to fit in until he discovers how he can market his years of psychoanalysis and more importantly his access to psychotropic drugs. Ironically his pharmaceutical nemesis is Robert Downey Jr. the high school principal but he eventually turns out to be somewhat typecast when his own dependency demons become known. Things get complicated when Charlie gets involved with Susan played by Kat Dennings who is not only beautiful but like Charlie kind of edgy. So what’s the problem? She’s also the principal’s daughter. Putting another spin on teenage high school hijinks Charlie Bartlett is not entirely unflawed but still a well acted and entertaining distraction.

Semi-Pro is the latest over the top comedy for Will Ferrel, this time taking a jab at the styles and the mindset of the seventies showcased in the context of a long defunct basketball league called the ABA. Sporting a trendy ‘fro and short shorts he plays Jackie Moon, a Flint Michigan entrepreneur who fluked a #1 disco hit and used the proceeds to buy a sports franchise. Ironically called the Flint Tropics as most of the action takes place in the snow, he’s also the team coach and power forward but he’s not really skilful at any of his jobs. His real talent is dreaming up crazy promotions to bolster the spartan crowds. When word gets out that the NBA wants to amalgamate his troubles appear to be over but the terms of the takeover are unacceptable. That scenario gets fleshed out and resolved in large part via a sub plot involving Woody Harrelson as Monix, a former champion literally washed up as he’s traded to the Tropics for a washing machine. As the chain smoking hard drinking play by play announcer Lou Redwood, Toronto’s Will Arnett here redeems himself from that painfully unfunny The Solomon Brothers and Patti Labelle is featured in a delightful cameo. It’s hard to imagine lampooning the already self parodying fashions of the era but here that’s subtle and ingenious and Ferrel’s trademark silliness once again really works. Unlike fans of the Flint Tropics star player, fans of the star of Semi-pro will be lined up to see this movie.

The Other Boleyn Girl is yet another retelling of the tempestuous time of King Henry VIII and the mother of Queen Elizabeth I. Anne Boleyn ended up as his Queen but it was her sister Mary who first caught the King’s attention which actually made Anne refers to herself as the other Boleyn girl. Sir Thomas Boleyn the weak but ambitious father of these girls, aware that Henry’s first wife was barren conspired with his brother in law the Duke of Norfolk to turn Anne into a kingly concubine in hopes that she will bear a son which will set the family fortune. When Mary is the one that Henry desires the plan is adjusted but Anne’s jealousy puts everything in jeopardy so she is exiled from court. In France she acquires the potential to be truly vicious and when Mary and Henry start to look shaky she’s called back to save the day. She turns out to be as capable of being unscrupulous as her father and uncle. The film tends to flash past her time as queen at light speed but then we’ve seen that all before. Actors in minor roles had stronger performances but Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johansson are believable as Anne and Mary although being sisters you’d expect them to have the same accent and surprisingly good as Henry is Eric Bana. Reminiscent of A Lion in Winter’s story of a previous Henry this too is rich in family political back stabbing and nasty court intrigue.

Penelope is a modern fable about a lonely girl born with porcine features. Now even after a Lindsay Lohan weekend at a fight club Christina Ricci is incapable of looking ugly so sticking a prosthetic pig nose on her sure isn’t going to do the trick, as a matter of fact it kind of makes her cuter. Never the less this exponentially endearing story has her as the end victim of a long awaited Wilhern family curse put on her ancestors by the town witch whose daughter was defiled by an earlier Wilhern. This curse seems to have anticipated modern medicine as her proboscis is immune to plastic surgery so to avoid embarrassing publicity her mom (Catherine O’Hara at her jangled nerves best) goes so far as to fake Penelope’s death and keeps her in lifelong seclusion. The curse will only be lifted when she finds true love with "one of her own kind" so mom goes on a fiancée crusade as soon as Penelope comes of age. James McAvoy is Max who seems to be one young man from big money eager to accept her but mysteriously declines. We’re left to believe that he’s just as shallow as the other snobby self absorbed suitors set up by Mrs Wilhern, one of whom was so mortified by the encounter that he collaborated with a pint sized paparazzi carrying a giant grudge to bribe Max into courting Penelope. When you toss in one of the movies produces (Reese Witherspoon) as Annie a blonde biker who befriends Penelope there’s a confusing array of accents presented that leave one wondering on what side of the Atlantic the story plays out (I think it’s England), but that doesn’t really spoil the fun of this romantic comedy.

City of Men is from the same people who gave us the highly acclaimed 2002 City of God. Here once again we visit the pathetic and dangerous slums high on the hills overlooking Rio de Janeiro. The only returning actor is Douglas Silva but as a completely different character here named Acerola (Ace). Although not real brothers he and Darlan Cunha’s character Laranjinha have looked out for one another since childhood. Now in their 18th year Ace, hardly able to keep himself out of trouble is a father who will soon have to be a single parent as his wife is forced to take work in another city. For the long abandoned Laranjinha fatherhood is also an issue but in a different way. He’s embarrassed that following his 18th birthday his father will forever be officially listed as “unknown” so he’s on a mission to track the man down. While these two seek paternal clues a drug war breaks out in their neighbourhood which like a civil war often sets brother against brother. Allegiances chosen and the terrible truth about Laranjinha’s father set the lifelong friends on a potentially deadly collision course. City of Men is another triumph with an intriguing story played out against the backdrop of one of the worlds most spectacular cities.

College Road Trip was premiered by 650 CISL on Wednesday and is the latest comedy for Martin Lawrence. I’m not always his biggest fan but since he’s portrayed as married to a Realtor and as I recently went on a college road trip with my oldest my curiosity was piqued. As James Porter Lawrence is a terminally anal Chicago police chief. Raven-Symoné of TV’s That’s So Raven is perfect as Melanie his bubbly and driven high school senior daughter who is becoming less and less controllable. She wants to go to Georgetown but naturally he wants her to go to college close to home. Rather than let her drive to Washington DC with her schoolmates, James insists on taking her saying that he wants to go on a bonding experience but really he wants to use the 3 days to try to talk her into going to Northwestern. On the trip Melanie is increasingly mortified by her father’s behaviour and her brother stowing away with his pet pig in their police vehicle doesn’t help. As each gag is set up and executed, some work and others don’t. I know it’s wrong but there’s something satisfying about seeing a cop get tazered. Oddly, a rave up karaoke on a bus of Japanese tourists really rocks and a sky diving bit works until it references an earlier wedding scene which turns out to be too much of a coincidence. That’s followed by a golf cart jousting match that misfires. As you can probably guess the humour of College Road Trip isn’t scholarly but you just might find it worth the trip.

10,000 B.C. is an adventure not so much prehistoric as un-historic since it features bronze-age tools and pyramid construction about 5000 years too soon. In the time of the mammoth this is a story of two literally star crossed lovers D'Leh and Evolet who seem to have a mystical destiny. Evolet is kidnapped by marauders and taken into slavery along with most of their mountain village and after a forced march from snow to jungle to arid desert they’re pressed into service for the Pyramid God. For most of the film we see D’Leh following Evolet waiting against all odds for his chance to rescue her. The dialogue here is laughably corny and spoken mostly in English with a curious Middle Eastern accent that fades in and out. With virtually all of the actors unknown save for narrator Omar Sarif, 10000 B.C. features some impressive special effects but it is definitely not a movie ahead of its time.

The Bank Job is based on true events and will likely have Jason Stratham fans lined up to watch him do his usual job of bringing sympathy to low life characters. The Bank is Lloyds bank in London on Baker Street and takes place about 7 years before Gerry Rafferty made that road famous. Stratham plays “Terry” although names have been changed to protect the guilty. He’s a shady car dealer and a family man who can’t get ahead so when Martine, an old flame played by Boston Legal’s Saffron Burrows approaches him about doing a bank heist he finds the idea irresistible. A group of amateur thieves is hastily assembled to burrow under the vault which may sound cliché but things turn out to be anything but routine. Martine it seems has another agenda – she has her eye on one particular safety deposit box which is loaded with blackmail evidence that winds through the halls of power and all the way to Buckingham Palace. Also secured in the vault is a ledger belonging to a porno baron with a litany of payoffs to the police. Even though they made off with a bigger cache than the Great Train Robbery the toughest part was then surviving dirty cops, hit men and powerful politicians- all of which makes The Bank Job a thriller heist film that will do the job of putting money in the bank.

Miss Pettigrew Lives For a Day stars Frances McDormand sporting a passable British accent as Guinevere Pettigrew a dignified London governess who has fallen on hard times. As the UK teeters on the brink of WW2 she appears to be at war with herself because her overwhelming sense of propriety puts her at odds with the hedonistic upper class that she’s sent to cater to by her employment agency. Amy Adams totally nails her role as Delysia Lafosse, a vacuous and promiscuous American stage actress. Upon her dismissal Guinevere becomes desperate and fraudulently answers Delysia’s request for a “social secretary”. The two are only together for a 24 hour period but in that time Guinevere discovers she has a flair for the job as she lands her boss a plum role while putting her love life in order, no small feat as Delysia has three lovers. On top of that Guinevere provides some invaluable service to other members of the upper crust despite her discomfort with their behaviour. Miss Pettigrew Lives For a Day is probably the first of a handful of sweet and charming movies that we traditionally see released in the lag time between the Oscars ant the summer blockbusters.

The Counterfeiters is based on true events and takes place in several concentration camps starting just before the Second World War. Karl Markovics is marvellous as Salomon Sorowitsch, a master forger and loan shark who has almost perfected making counterfeit US greenbacks when he gets busted. He is found guilty however of the far more heinous crime of being Jewish and is sent to the first of the camps established long before the final solution. Apparently no stranger to incarceration he’s aware of how to survive in prison and cheats death for some time using his artistic abilities. When the Nazi’s come up with a plan to win the war by flooding Britain and America with counterfeit money Sorowitsch becomes invaluable and in the worst days of the Holocaust he and a handful of printing artisans live a relatively privileged life while manufacturing fake bank notes. As a sociopathic criminal Sorowitsch has less of a problem justifying their actions in the name of survival but there are those on his team who feel their actions are prolonging the war and Jewish persecution. This leads to sabotage which causes tension with those who want to survive and Sorowitsch has to be wilier still to keep the group focussed and avoid turning on one another or the consequences will be fatal. The Counterfeiters is this years Academy Award winner for best foreign language film and justifiably so.

Also out this weekend:
Black & White
Dolphins and Whales 3D: Tribes of the Ocean

Never Back Down is a film that was bound to be made. More movies are made about boxing than any other sport and with ultimate fighting making fast inroads into the boxing market it was only a matter of time before we saw a film using mixed marshal arts as a backdrop. Sean Ferris is troubled teen Jake Tyler suffering perpetual hostility over the death of his father. His mother, who seems to hold him responsible, uproots her family from Iowa to Orlando so that her youngest son can capitalize on a tennis scholarship. Thanks to the ubiquitous internet and cell phone downloads it doesn’t take long for his hot tempered reputation to catch up to him. As it turns out Orlando is also the home of an underground fight club for teens organized by a swaggering pretty boy rich kid who is relentless in baiting Jake into a dust up. After a humiliating defeat Jake seeks training from the legendary Jean Roqua who teaches him that revenge is not the answer but eventually the choice has to be made not to walk away. As Roqua, Oscar nominee Djimon Hounsou is again a commanding presence on screen. Thanks to some credible writing characters are fleshed out pretty well and dialogue is engaging so that the story isn’t just an excuse to set up the next fight scene but when characters do square off the choreography is convincing and exciting. The on screen chemistry is electric between Ferris and Amber Heard as Jake’s love interest so with all the action and romance Never Back Down could be the perfect date movie.

Sleepwalking is how Nick Stahl as James Reedy describes his life and puts the blame squarely on the shoulders of his abusive father played by Dennis Hopper. Moose Jaw substitutes for an American prairie whistle stop in a northern state where years ago Reedy and his pregnant sister Joleen (Charlize Theron) had escaped the wrath of dad. Now 12 her daughter Tara is a bright and beautiful child living a hard life as her dad is in jail and she and mom are facing homelessness. Joleen imposes herself on the terminally lost Reedy in his fleabag apartment and then takes off. Hardly able to take responsibility for himself he somehow has to cope with taking care of his niece on the verge of womanhood. With no money, no job and eventually homeless himself he retreats to the only refuge he can think of, his father’s farm. Dads abusiveness especially transferred from Joleen to Tara forces Reedy to grow a backbone but that lead to a fatal conflict with his father. Although attracting some big Hollywood names like Woody Harrelson along with Theron and Hopper, Sleepwalking is really about the relationship between Reedy and Tara played by AnnaSophia Robb who should have a stellar future by the way. Unfortunately the movie suffers from too much left unresolved and unexplained in the separation and reuniting of Tara and Joleen.

Funny Games is an American remake of a 1997 Austrian film again written and directed by Michael Haneke taking another crack at it, this time with an all star cast. Naomi Watts is Ann a loving wife to George played by Tim Roth and nurturing mother to Devon Gearhart as little Georgie. We get some telegraphing of the nihilistic turn of event to come as their Vivaldi is overdubbed by Marilyn Manson as they play guess the classic while motoring in their SUV with sailboat in tow on the way to vacation in their gated Long Island summer digs. Ann is surprised by Paul, a saccharine polite young man who appears to be from the neighbour’s house but when he’s joined by Peter, another preppie teen in white gloves we soon realize that the two aren’t so well mannered after all. These two psychopathic gamesmen manage to take the family hostage for 12 hours of frightening evil games that they seem to have a genius for creating. The way violence is not shown but still terrifies is brilliant but the slow pace is irritable. Michael Pitt is Peter who shows a lot more depth than in Silk, his last outing occasionally addresses the audience directly which is ineffective. At one point he’s frantically looking for the remote control but I had him beat by about half an hour hoping to fast forward somehow. Funny Games is a stylish and tense drama that is uncomfortably unwatchable.

CJ7 is the latest offering from Hong Kong director Stephen Chow in which he also stars as a coolie labourer who starves himself and lives in a hovel so that his son can get the advantage of a good education by going to a private school. His shopping mall is the garbage dump where he picks up all the necessities like shoes (slightly worn). His son played blithely by an un-credited youngster is somewhat oblivious to the bullying of more privileged fellow students but when one brings a robotic toy called the CJ1 to school the son insists on having one of his own. His father stumbles upon a marvellous substitute which turns out to be a tribble-like critter that has shaken loose from a flying saucer. When the creature turns out to be less than the toy he envisioned trouble ensues but this creature with a fluffy head and a Gumby body turns out to be miraculous after all. Chow is the man responsible for giving us the hilarious Kung Fu Hustle and although this comedy is not so over-the-top his off beat sense of humour is ever present in CJ7.

Doomsday
Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour
Horton Hears a Who!

Drillbit Taylor stars Luke Wilson again with his patented self assured delivery this time as a homeless panhandler and small time crook who answers an online ad for a bodyguard posted on the internet by some bullied high school freshmen. They are Wade and Ryan perfectly cast with Nate Hartley and Troy Gentile a junior Mutt and Jeff pair targeted on the first day of school by the sadistic Filkins played by Alex Frost. Since Drillbit is the only bodyguard to respond that will work for what they have within their budget he gets the job. His original motive is to fleece the kids for what he can but then he starts to care about them. To try to keep up the charade is clearly a challenge but even though he’s obviously over his head his fast often nonsensical talking keeps the boys believing that he’s legitimate. Surprisingly we see a lot of Canadian references in Drillbit Taylor which is no doubt due to Vancouver screenwriter Seth Rogan wearing is heart on his sleeve. He’s given us better scripts but this one still gives us some genuinely original entertainment despite its predictability.

Married Life actually has more to do with death than life, as in love dying and murder. This filmed in Burnaby post war drama stars Chris Cooper rock solid as ever playing Harry Allen who unlike most men after years of marriage ironically feels that love should be more than just sex. He’s found satisfaction by taking p with Kay, a much younger woman played by Canada’s Rachel McAdams who has a knack for effortlessly sliding into roles that are circa 1940. Also well cast for suave god looks is Pierce Brosnan as Richard Langley, a swinging bachelor who is Harry’s lifelong best friend. Friendship however is swiftly forgotten when Richard too is smitten by Kay. Patricia Clarkson is sublime as Pat, Harry’s pleasant and obliging wife. He’s convinced that if he leaves her for Kay the humiliation will be too great and he can’t abide causing that kind of pain, so he plans to poison her instead. As it turns out Pat isn’t the withering flower he imagines as we find out via her friendship with Tom played by Langara College grad David Richmond-Peck. Meantime Harry’s future with Kay is anything but sure thanks to Richard and tension mounts as his plan to do in Pat continuously falters. Married Life has a plot appearing to have been peeled off a silver screen from the era in which it is set, so if you’re a fan of those movies, you’ll really like this one.

Days of Darkness alludes to the renaissance of the dark ages which is one of the many delightful ironies of the film. Marc Labrèche stars as a Quebec civil servant who is so bored and frustrated that he constantly retreats into vivid daydreams, usually erotic, often medieval and almost always involving Diane Kruger. From his Laval suburb where all the houses seem similar the castles that permeate his fantasies he commutes every day for hours to Montreal’s Olympic Stadium which may be crumbling but apparently is just fine for government employees and the desperate people who seek their help. His job provides a subtext for hysterically scathing barbs against bureaucracy gone mad. When his loveless marriage to an over the top a-type personality Realtor played with high octane by Sylvie Léonard goes through a trial separation he thinks he may have found his soul mate while speed dating but it’s not until his ailing mother takes a turn for the worse that he realizes what has to be done to achieve happiness. What it is we’re not absolutely sure but it’s nothing like before. Days of Darkness is another brilliant and satirically biting flight of fantasy from Quebec wunderkind Denys Arcand.

Also out this weekend:
Shutter
The Grand
Grand Canyon Adventure: River at Risk
Race

Run Fatboy Run is written by and stars Simon Pegg, two of the same jobs he had for last years hilarious Hot Fuzz. Missing this time is the frantic editing which was a big part of the charm of that movie. The somewhat TV like feel to this picture may be due to director David Schwimmer who seems to have found some new “Friends” in England. Pegg plays Dennis who 5 year ago was engaged to Libby (Crash star Thandie Newton) a woman clearly out of his league. Having left her standing at the altar and pregnant he’s spent that time being a god father to his son (who doesn’t appear at all to be related to his mother)  and trying to redeem himself all the while letting himself go motivationally and especially physically. Libby meantime has moved on, hooking up with Hank Azaria’s Whit – a rich. Successful, well mannered American and for Dennis seems someone he can never match wits with. Whit also runs for charity and due to that Dennis becomes convinced that completing a marathon will win his life back. All he needs to do is quit smoking, lose 40 pounds and find a charity to run for. Thankfully something comes up in erectile dysfunction. Endearing standouts are Harish Patel as Denis’ landlord and Dylan Moran as his best friend, best man and cousin of his best girl. Run Fatboy Run is an easy to take by the book romantic comedy but the formula doesn’t totally stand in the way of quite a few good laughs.

21 is the magic number in Blackjack which in this film is no longer a game of chance. 21 is also a magic age for the gifted MIT students portrayed in this fact based story. Following on hot success in The Other Boleyn Girl and Across the Universe Jim Sturgess plays Ben Campbell who is so smart that he’s easily accepted into Harvard Medical School. Not so easy is paying for that education. He’s short listed for a big scholarship but that list still has 75 names on it and only one gets the cash. He’s warily lured into a mini mensa group partly because of the easy money but mostly because of Jill Taylor, the hottest female on campus played by Kate Bosworth who still sizzles no matter how they geek-out her hair. These 6 mathletes led by Kevin Spacey’s Micky Rosa their learned but larcenous teacher, go to Vegas on the weekend to beat the system out of millions. Counting cards is not a felony in Nevada but it’s still looked upon dimly by casino enforcer Cole Williams (Laurence Fishburne) and when he suspects someone of doing it their subsequent “chat” seldom leads to a return trip to Vegas. Although Rosa is magnanimous while the team is winning, his nasty streak is far more profound when cockiness leads to their system breaking down. With the temperament of Rosa and Williams, in 21 blackjack may be rendered no longer a game of chance but successfully beating the odds is very chancy.

Honeydripper is the name of a ‘50s Alabama juke joint and Danny Glover’s Tyrone “Pine Top’ Purvis is its piano playing proprietor. The club is deep in debt and losing the competition for the local clientele of soldiers and cotton pickers to “Touisaint’s” the swinging spot across the way. For a winner takes all weekend he fires the soulful grande dame that regularly sings flawlessly to a Spartan audience and advertises that “Guitar Sam” has been booked at the Honeydripper for an explosive Saturday night. When his salvation take ill Purves makes a deal with the devil, Sheriff Pugh (Stacey Keach) in order to procure someone posing as Guitar Sam long enough to make off with the evenings receipts. The charm of Honeydripper isn’t so much the story as the feel we get thanks to Director John Sayle’s who has most of his actors performing live rather than lip syncing and takes us back to a place where the blues begat rock and roll.

Stop-Loss is nondescript armyspeak for what amounts to a back door draft where technically members of the US armed forces can be compelled to potential indefinite service in combat no matter what is stated in their contract for enlistment. This is the catch that Sgt Brandon King played by Ryan Phillippe gets snarled into ironically because he’s too good a soldier. Rather than being rewarded for exemplary leadership he’s called back to Iraq while lesser but more willing soldiers are discharged. As a trained fighter his first inclination is to confront the system and he goes AWOL seeking justice. Through a series of implausible scenarios his options soon boil down to just one which is to go completely underground. At a time when the subject is so relevant this would seem to be grist for some pretty compelling drama. However in the end our storytellers seem more interested in not offending the US Army than truly making a statement which leaves Stop Loss a little nondescript itself and at a bit of a loss.

Snow Angels is a Halifax filmed movie about a small Midwest USA town not only frozen in time but just plain frozen – a town where the snow drifts before high school football season is over. Michael Angarano plays Arthur, a trombonist in the school marching band and the only character whose future looks bright which is ironic for a trombonist. Even though his parents are on the verge of divorce there is optimism because the nerdy but cute new girl in class is attracted to him and love is in the air. He works is a no star Chinese restaurant alongside his first crush, his former babysitter Annie played by Kate Beckinsale. She’s recently divorced and having an affair with Nate who is married to Barb. Nicky Katt and Amy Sedaris with their quirky portrayal of small town personae as Nate and Barb is another brief respite from the tension and misery that otherwise permeate this drama. Annie and Barb are best friends at work until Barb finds out about the affair but the rift can only last as long as it takes for the worst possible crisis to occur, at which time Barb is there to comfort Annie. All the while we also see Sam Rockwell as Glenn the unemployed, alcoholic, Jesus freak, ex-husband of Annie now living with his parents. The story takes us through 3 weeks in the late fall that lead up to Annie’s crisis which compounded by Glenn’s failed attempt at reconciliation compels him to a moment of tragic action. Despite implications in the title there’s not much about Snow Angels that is either pure or heavenly.

Superhero Movie
The Singing Revolution

Leatherheads is a romantic comedy set in 1925 during the early days of pro football. This was before Kevlar and faceguards when the only headgear was a pretty flimsy leather helmet thus the title. This was also long before million dollar signing bonuses and even though college football drew big crowds, at the professional level it seemed to have no future. George Clooney as smooth as ever plays Jimmy 'Dodge' Connelly a middle aged pro with no other marketable skills so when his team folds he dreams up a desperate scheme to get the best college player, Carter Rutherford into the pros. John Krasinski with much of the same boyish charm that makes him so endearing on TV in The Office plays Carter. Both he and Dodge fall for Renée Zellweger’s character Lexie Littleton, a wise cracking reporter looking for dirt in the irritatingly perfect Carter. What saves this movie is the well timed witty dialogue between Lexie and Dodge but even though Leatheheads is a movie about football it’s not a football movie. The action is minimal except for the speed with which the game goes from bust to boom which seems unlikely.

The Ruins takes us to Mexico where two couples in their early 20’s are enjoying their last couple of days of lolling around the pool sipping margaritas. Unlike a lot of gross-out films, this one features actors with some chops. Richmond’s Shawn Ashmore (Iceman from The X-Men), Jonathan Tucker from The Black Donnely’s, Jena Malone from Into The Wild, and Laura Ramsey star as Eric, Jeff, Amy and Stacy respectively. Joe Anderson from Across the Universe with a spot on German accent plays Mathias, a fellow reveller who tempts them into one last shot at adventure before heading back to school by visiting a little known archaeological dig. Despite trepidations expressed by the locals they venture off to a vine covered pyramid but once they climb it they are forced to stay by armed villagers who speak an unknown language. The vines as we find out have some nasty abilities not the least of which is being able to do more impersonations than Rich Little. Conveniently Jeff is a med student which allows for a fair amount of surgery that is continually required - of course without anaesthesia. From the best seller The Ruins, author Scott B Smith also wrote the screenplay for this squirmy, turn-your-head-away yet oddly satisfying movie.
 

Under the Same Moon is the tender story of Rosario (Kate del Castillo), a young single mother and her 9 year old son Carlitos (an impressive Adrian Alonso) who must live apart but stay connected by observing the moon under which they both live. She’s an illegal alien in LA trying to earn enough for a better family life while he must stay in Mexico with his grandmother. When grandma suddenly dies, Carlitos courageously heads across the border alone to find his mother with the paid help of Marta -a stretch for Ugly Betty’s America Ferrera in a minor role. As Rosario is dodging the INS, the only thing that he knows about her location is the description that she often gives of things surrounding the payphone she uses to call him every Sunday. The boy’s first stop is Tucson the new home of his father who again abandons him. Against all odds Carlitos finally makes it to LA with the very reluctant help of a fellow illegal alien. With Under the Same Moon the question ends up being will he locate his mother who is on the verge of abandoning her dream and reunite with her before she hops a southbound bus.

Also out this weekend:
Kenny
Nim's Island
Sex and Death 101
Shine A Light
Spirit of the Marathon

Smart People sort of paraphrases the old adage “if you’re so smart what aren’t you rich?” but for the purposes here read “… why isn’t you’re life richer?”. Dennis Quaid stars as Lawrence Wetherhold, a widower and distracted professor who has faces a lot of rejection from publishing companies – almost as much rejection as his students have faced from him. His life hits a fever pitch after a trauma induced seizure leaves him unable to drive. Thomas Haden Church as his lackadaisical adopted brother Chuck comes to his unwelcome rescue as a rarely available chauffeur. Chuck moves into his house with Lawrence’s largely ignored son James and overachieving daughter Vanessa played by Ellen Page doing her trademark whip-smart teen routine. She’s a budding Republican with intimacy issues who takes a short but unhealthy interest in her uncle. She has also taken over the role of female head of the house but when Lawrence starts dating his ER doctor Janet (Sarah Jessica Parker) Vanessa adopts the role of saboteur. She comes by her relationship phobia honestly so dad keeping his budding romance from imploding becomes a question mark. Although the high IQ’s of the cast don’t seem to preclude them from the foibles of lesser mortals, as entertaining cinema Smart People seems to have been assembled by some very smart people.

Bella is the unlikely story of Jose, a promising New York soccer star whose career hits a wall at its inception when his vehicle is involved in a tragic but predictable pedestrian fatality for which he serves the unlikely prison term of 4 years. Wracked by guilt that leaves him a shell of his former self he works as a chef at the Mexican restaurant of his brother Manny who is as anal as Jose is dishevelled. When Manny dismisses Nina, one of his waitresses Jose mysteriously chases after her. When he finds out that she is pregnant he abandons his brother to the lunch crowd crush and spends a life altering day with her. Their platonic holiday is planned for the beach but fist up is a stop at his parent’s house where revelations flow freely to flesh out the characters and cement a lasting bond between Jose and Nina. All though it won the peoples choice award at the Toronto International Film Festival and is no doubt the darling of the religious right, Bella is a movie where outside of its flowery scenario not much is done beautifully. 

Street Kings refers to a band of can-do LA cops who get grizzly jobs done by operating outside of accepted and legal rules of engagement. They are given license by Forest Whitaker who puts all of his Oscar winning chops behind Jack Wander their politically ambitious Captain who knows how to pull strings. Most of the cops are played by TV recognizable actors like Jay Mohr and Amaury Nolasco but none are more daring than
Detective Tom Ludlow played by Keanu Reeves acting with some heretofore unseen skill and maturity. While in control on the job his personal life is a shambles and it gets worse when his estranged former partner (Terry Crews from Everybody Hates Chris) gets murdered because Ludlow looks suspicious especially to Internal Affairs Captain James Biggs (Hugh Laurie). Things get worse when Ludlow tried to track down the killers with help from a Detective Diskant (Chris Evans) and he ends up not only trying to figure out whose guilty but also who keeps setting him up. It’s actually pretty easy to guess but the action in Street Kings holds your interest until the pieces fall together to prove you right.

Also out this weekend
Prom Night
Persepolis
Viva
Krazzy 4
U Me Aur Hum

88 Minutes actually runs for 108 minutes and the believability goes downhill from there. Al Pacino stars as Dr Jack Gramm a forensic psychiatrist with the FBI who also teaches at the University of Washington (played by UBC). He lives a lavish lifestyle that appears beyond that of any cop or college professor for that matter and even though acting only as an advisor for the Bureau seems to have carte blanche powers for search and seizure. His star testimony has put away Jon Foster a heinous but charming serial killer played by perpetual cutie pie bad guy Neal McDonough who seems to have unrestricted media access although on death row. Hours before his execution Dr Gramm gets a call from someone with access to psychologically chilling information saying that he has 88 minutes to live and continues the countdown at various intervals. The stress is compounded by a stay of execution for Foster while a copycat serial killer continues his work and Gramm is suddenly under criminal investigation for perjured testimony. More pressure builds as it seems like his entire class is part of a conspiracy to free Foster. 88 Minutes features Supporting actors Alicia Witt and Amy Brenneman who are pretty good but the usually rock solid Leelee Sobieski stumbles. Meantime Pacino does his best with dialogue and hair that not even he can pull off.

The Forbidden Kingdom is an Americanized take on the high flying action tradition of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon which they amazingly managed to avoid screwing up. Michael Angarano is Jason a Boston teen with a jones for Hong Kong marshal arts movies which he purchases at a discount from a local Chinese pawnbroker. When some punks force him into robbing the pawn shop he takes possession of a fighting staff which magically transports him to ancient China on a mission to return the weapon to its rightful owner the imprisoned Monkey King. Jackie Chan is the drunken immortal Lu Yan who helps him in his quest and they are both eventually aided by Jet Li as the Silent Monk who has his own designs on the staff. The Monkey King is not all that accessible – standing in the way is the jade army lead by an ambitious warlord who has turned the Monkey King to stone. The Forbidden Kingdom marks the first time Jackie Chan and Jet Li have shared screen time and the original Bean town set up for the action to follow is pretty clunky but not to worry. The action is all that you want in a movie like this with a Kung Foolery twist – a lot of humour generously added to the mix.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall was written by and stars Jason Segel who we know from How I Met Your Mother and Knocked Up. This is another retelling of an unkempt geek who ends up with a smokin’ lady – in this case two of TV’s hottest females Kristin Bell and Mila Kunis. Segal is Peter, a reclusive slob with a dream job – doing the sound track for a CSI-like TV show. He’s also dating the star of the show Sarah Marshal played by Bell. She dumps him and when rebounding from one bed to another fails to erase her memory he takes the advice of his step brother and goes on a Hawaiian vacation. He should have known better than to head to a place Sarah always talked about because as it turns out she’s holidaying in the same hotel. Kunis is the hotel desk clerk who comes to Peter’s rescue and a relationship forms from there. Superbad and 40 Year Old Virgin alumni Paul Rudd, Jonah Hill and Bill Hader join the cadre of hilarious misfits that keep the laughs coming often and hardy making Forgetting Sarah Marshall not easily forgettable.

Ben X is the online moniker of a Belgian teen who is a master at playing “Archlord” over the internet where he most often teams up with the also anonymous Scarlite. In the game he is strong, powerful – everything that he is not in real life. Ben is autistic yet does very well in school where he is bullied unmercifully and is helpless to stop the persecution. Greg Timmermans is the impressive newcomer playing Ben whose pathetic solution to the problem is to contemplate suicide. When Scarlite suggests that they meet in person their rendezvous inspires the creation of that satisfactory end game. The mixture of intriguing gaming with live action sometimes presented documentary style make Ben X interesting. Also captivating is the insight into the world of autism and the underlying scolding with regards to bullying.

Emotional Arithmetic is a terrific venue for its cast of veteran actors. Set in rural Quebec
Susan Sarandon, Gabriel Byrne and Max von Sydow are Nazi death camp survivors finally reunited after 38 years. Sarandon is Melanie who lives on a hobby farm with David her retired professor husband played by Christopher Plummer displaying his trademark sophistication. They share the farmhouse with their grandson and a subdued Roy Dupuis their mature son who for some reason is estranged from the mother of his child. Von Sydow is Jacob who is expected to arrive solo to reconnect with Melanie but when he shows up with Christopher (Byrne) there’s an awkwardness. This is eventually explained as we watch the events in the colourfully serene and pastoral modern setting frequently juxtaposed against harsh black and white flashbacks of the concentration camp. Emotional Arithmetic is an unusual title for this film but in the end everything adds up.

The Ants
Young @ Heart

Baby Mama ironically refers to the immaturity of Angie Ostrowiski who is hired to be a surrogate mother while barely able to take care of herself. Angie is played by Amy Poehler and her fellow Saturday Night Live Weekend Update co-anchor Tina Fey stars in the movie as Kate Holbrook. At the expense of her uterus, Kate has clawed her way up the touchy feely ladder of a Philadelphia organic food company run by Barry (an over the top whole earth Steve Martin). After achieving it all her biological clock goes off but conceiving proves inconceivable so she turns to Sigourney Weaver as the matronly but super fertile Chaffee Bicknell who provides high cost and allegedly rigorously pre-screened surrogates. Angie and Kate end up rooming together where a friendship of their opposite personalities goes through a rocky gestation period. In the interim Kate meets Rob played by Greg Kinnear and Angie hidden agenda becomes known. For a while now Baby Mama has been running a pretty funny trailer but the good news is that there are a lot more belly laughs begotten from where that came and a wicked soundtrack to boot.

Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay takes up almost immediately where Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle left off. John Cho and Kal Penn are reunited as our Korean/Indian stoner duo off to Amsterdam the land of de facto legal marijuana in search of no-hassle highs but most importantly Harold’s true love. On the plane Kumar’s smokeless bong is mistaken for a different type of incendiary so our tokin’ tokens without due process get fast tracked to Gt’mo. Their stay is only a short one and they literally escape on the back of a breakout terrorist. They float to Miami with some Cuban illegals and spend the rest of the movie crossing the Deep South to Texas because Kumar’s ex is in the lone star state and her fiancée is the only person who can clear their names. With a buffoon head of Homeland Security in pursuit, en route there are hilarious encounters with well bred inbreeding hillbillies, the KKK, Kumar’s personal hero Doogie Howser and they even pass around a fattie with Dub’ya himself.  Sure unreal coincidence abounds but who expects reality from these two. In the meantime our rainbow anti heroes do a number lampooning the reality of racial profiling. The humour works for anyone 18 (or wishing they were 18) so if you liked the original then Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay will probably be a pretty good escape for you too.

Then She Found Me stars academy award winner Helen Hunt as April a devoutly Jewish 39 year old NYC teacher with a hyperactive biological clock. She shuns the idea of adoption having been adopted herself but times are getting desperate for her and her nebbish husband Ben (Matthew Broderick). April’s stress level is compounded by her mother’s death and Ben’s decision to divorce. Just as things are at their lowest April’s real mother tracks her down. Mom is Bernice Graves, a role tailor made for Bette Midler who stars as a small “o” Oprah TV personality with honesty issues. As the two warily get used to one another April is beguiled by Frank, a new man in her life played by the ever charming Colin Firth. Just as everyone starts getting comfortable however April finds out that he’s finally pregnant but it’s not Frank’s baby. Of interest is Salman Rushdie oddly cast as April’s doctor. Not only did Hunt help adapt the screenplay from a novel but also directed herself in Then She Found Me which is quite a find since we’re often told that it’s difficult to find strong and interesting roles for women, especially older women.

The Visitor is written and directed by Thomas McCarthy who ironically also has a bit part in Baby Mama. With wry wit he shuffles the largely unknown cast through this heart warming story. Richard Jenkins of Six Feet Under snags a plum role here for a mature actor as Walter Vale, a detached Connecticut professor reluctantly sent to New York to deliver a paper he’s co-authored at a globalization seminar. As he drives his Volvo station wagon that suggests a former extended family into the city, little does he realize his ivy league sensibilities are about to run smack dab into some of the painful effects of globalization. He finds his pied a Terre rented out to a scammed young Muslin couple but when they offer to leave he takes pity on them and offers to let them stay for a couple of days. Zainab is a jewellery designed from Senegal and Tarek is a Syrian jazz musician who starts teaching Walter how to play African drums as a bond develops among the three. An innocent mistake on the subway gets Tarek arrested and to Walter’s horror it appears that his guests are in the country illegally. What follows is an uncomfortable display of corporate incarceration and rigid xenophobia in the post 9-11 world. Tarek’s mother from Michigan shows up with terrifying memories of imprisonment without due process that she left behind in Syria. She brings a spark back into Walter’s life but will the immigration lawyer that he hires to defend her son be able to save him from deportation? Regardless, the experience that he finds himself thrust into puts feeling back into his dark life.

Also out this weekend:
Deception
Tashan

Made of Honor, borrowing heavily from My Best Friends Wedding, stars Patrick Dempsey as Tom a lifelong womanizer whose best friend from college is Hannah played by Michelle Monaghan. The two are clearly made for each other yet unbelievably after 10 years the idea of a relationship never came up. When Hannah goes to Scotland for a vacation it finally dawns on Tom that she’s the one but on her return instead of telling her he shakes hands with her new fiancée Colin played by Kevin McKidd. The rest of the film is a mildly amusing quest to win her heart before the escalated wedding day. There’s no real secret as to how the story will end, the only question? Is the journey worth it? Maybe not – you have to ask yourself when all is said and done did Hannah really end up with the best guy? Sure Dr McDreamy will pull in a big crowd but Made of Honor could more honestly be called Made of Clichés with the use of a tired recipe we’ve already seen over and over again. 

Fugitive Pieces is the lifelong journey of Jakob Beer who as a boy witnesses his families assassination by the Nazi’s but he is saved by a Greek archaeologist named Athos (Rade Serbedzija).As it turns out Jakob ends up inadvertently saving Athos as the two take refuge on a tiny Greek island where not totally unscathed they wait out the war. After VE day Athos is offered a teaching job in Canada where Jakob matures into a handsome writer with a litany of issues brought on by the trauma of his youth. With help from friends and neighbours, the therapeutic effects of writing and a great deal of time happiness comes within his grasp. Stephen Dillane rises to the task of playing Jakob from his 20’s to his 50’s but real kudos go to Robbie Kay who plays the winsome and shattered 11 year old Jakob. How do you find a fresh angle on WW II holocaust atrocities? Well although this may not be totally new, Fugitive Pieces does. From the novel by Anne Michael it’s a very poetic Canadian film that doesn’t have that Canadian look at all but looks like a well made European film.

Taxi to the Dark Side is this years Oscar winner for best documentary. Through images more graphic and disturbing than those shown on TV of Abu Graib the story focuses on those soldiers who faced justice for taking horrifying shots of prisoner degradation and mock torture. Through their on camera testimony particularly with regard to the brutal treatment of an innocent taxi driver accused of being a terrorist and who never came out alive we get the story that most people suspected – the soldiers convicted took the fall for the upper chain of command. Here that chain goes all the way to secretary of defence Donald Rumsfeld and perhaps beyond. As the guy calling the shots he passed on tacit approval for the use of torture just as he was denying that it was being applied - and cynically went on to say the same about Guantanamo Bay. The most infuriating eye opener is that to the embarrassment of you and me, research into sensory deprivation at Canada’s McGill University proves to be the most effective method of torture. The saddest fact emphasized in Sadly Taxi to the Dark Side is that information gleaned from many of the methods used is completely unreliable.

Also out this weekend:
The Unforeseen

Iron Man is not the story of a guy who presses his own laundry. It does involve a billionaire genius in a metal suit with the iron irony being that not much of it could possibly be iron but probably some other ultra bullet proof alloy. Iron just wouldn’t survive the ordinance he faces in this getup (with even more irony) against sophisticated munitions also of his invention. The suit comes to light when Tony Stark played with perfect cocky hedonistic charm by Robert Downey Jr. is taken prisoner in Afghanistan by a group of high end gun runners. He’s there to hype the US army on the “Jericho missile” his newest doomsday creation but his convoy is attacked. This he barely survives only to be forced by his captors to reproduce the weapon for them. While pretending to assemble a Jericho missile he’s actually putting together his new brainchild, the armour that he uses to escape their clutches. The experience proves cathartic as he does a 180 reversal of his former hawkish self. He takes his company out of the blow up biz and channels his energy into perfecting the capabilities of his suit with the platonic help of Pepper Potts a woman with an impossible name and equally impossible stiletto heels played with subtle intelligence by Gwyneth Paltrow. His new lease on life doesn’t sit well with business partner Obadiah Stane played with dubious motives by an unrecognizable Jeff Bridges. Meantime the fragments of the destroyed original suit salvaged from the Afghan desert come back to haunt Stark and set the stage for a final mortal combat. The many plusses (Terence Howard being one) outweigh the few minuses of Iron Man which opens the summer blockbuster season with a bang - and the unrequited sparks between Stark and Potts set the stage for the inevitable sequel.

Speed Racer is the given name for one of the characters in this screen adaptation of a Japanese anime TV series that originated in 1967. Ostensibly he is the star but with Paulie Litt deliberately overacting as younger brother Spritle, he’s constantly upstaged in what looks like an over ambitious attempt to assure a PG rating. Into the Wild star Emile Hirsch plays Speed and Christina Ricci convincingly plays a much younger woman, his childhood sweetheart Trixie. Together they try to win the road race that claimed the life of Speed’s idolized older brother. Speed comes from a long line of racing enthusiasts that include his father played by John Goodman (noticeably absent from the silver screen of late) whose married to Susan Sarandon looking radiant and here taking one of her respites from beefier roles. Speed gets in a jam because of his decision to snub a lucrative endorsement deal from Roger Allam playing the industrialist Royalton to oily perfection and winning the perilous race is his only way out. It also sets him up to strike a blow against tyranny and corporate corruption, not to mention clean up the world of Grand Prix racing. Outside of the big name US stars and mandatory Asian cast most of the actors are British so be prepared for close-ups of some very bad teeth. The CGI is a relentless barrage of glorious pastels but Speed Racer could stand to cross the finish line about 20 minutes faster.
 

Redbelt for the uninitiated (that includes me) denotes the highest degree of proficiency in Jiu Jitsu – higher than a black belt, so high in fact that there is only one owner. This fact is a minor issue in this latest action film based on mixed martial arts, but the high end cast brings us a story with more substance than the usual parade of twenty-something hard bodies with a lot of pent up testosterone. Chiwetol Ejiofor has the Daniel Day Lewis like ability to transform himself into something completely different with each new role. Here he’s Mike Terry, a Zen-esque master of Brazilian grappling who runs a failing club with the help of his wife who we find out comes from shady roots. When Emily Mortimer as Laura Black a lawyer with issues and hooked on prescription drugs takes refuge in his studio during a deluge things start to get stormy for Mike and officer Roberts of the LAPD who is one of Mike’s top students. Mike gets a break when he lands a job in the film biz as a fight consultant thanks to a grateful TV star (Tim Allen) and his ethically challenged manager (Joe Mantegna). The relationship though short lived is long enough to set the wheels in motion for the suicide of Roberts and Mike reluctantly signing for an under card fight he doesn’t want. The situation further defiles his principals when it becomes apparent that the fix is in. Redbelt is from David Mamet so there is thoughtful dialogue for this cast of seasoned actors to jump all over but the movie falls shy of the action quotient that fans of mixed martial arts might crave.

The Babysitters is about a group of senior high girls who set up a babysitting service with benefits - and we’re not talking extended medical and dental. Katherine Waterston is terrific as Shirley who instigates the scheme that originates with the inappropriate relationship started with Michael, who ends up paying a very large tip after an extended drive hope post babysitting job for him and his wife played by Cynthia Nixon. Michael is played by John Leguizamo who when he looked 17 starred as The Pest - the same type of hormonal geek that Shirley and her libidinous classmates now feel make for slim pickings in the high school dating pool. When Michael lets the cat out of the bag all of the neighbourhood dads want to hire Shirley and she soon has to recruit her friends who seem only too happy to take up the slack and pay Shirley a percentage. However with all the money involved eventually Shirley is forced to get ugly in order to stamp out freelancing. Middle aged men with teenage girls is pretty creepy stuff that you know can not end well, but The Babysitters is still a well made film that wraps up with a perfect twist.

Standard Operating Procedure is the stamp of acceptability placed by a forensic cop investigating the photos of objectionable prisoner abuse by US military grunts at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. It’s the ones earmarked “violation” that were used as evidence against a handful of low ranking GI’s who were the only people charged after the ensuing fallout. The irony is their allegation that the photos were taken as proof of the terrible conditions that they were ordered to oversee yet if none had been taken, none of them would have gone to jail. Most horrifying in the pictures was the waifish female gaoler apparently taking enjoyment at the suffering that she appears to be inflicting yet her talking head testimony suggests that events were staged and appears to be corroborated by others on duty at the time. This story has been covered in other recent documentaries but none totally focussed on this particular prison and this film features a fascinating behind the scenes look at the forensic procedure involved to form a time line using the offending pictures. The point of view is one sided with testimony only provided by the accused. Still they tell a convincing story and it does seem strange that no one above the rank of Sgt major got busted – maybe that’s the real standard operating procedure.

Also out this weekend:
The Stone Angel
Vice
What Happens in Vegas...
A Previous Engagement

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian takes place after only a year of the second World War in Britain after the four Pevensie siblings first foray into the land of Narnia but in Narnia itself 1300 years has past and not in a good way for the former non human inhabitants. Human called Telmarines are now the tyrannical rulers and Narnians have been driven underground. King Miraz is the Telmarine ruler who muscled his way onto the thrown by murdering King Caspian IX. When Miraz has a son he plots to murder Prince Caspian who is the true heir but he escapes death only to be taken prisoner by Narnians – but not before he mistakenly summonses Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy back to Narnia. As they search for Athlan the lion who is the true leader of Narnia they and the creatures of Narnia join forces with Caspian to try to defeat the evil Miraz and his insurmountable army. The first Disney instalment (the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe) of the CS Lewis classics was an Oscar winning money maker. Although Prince Caspian features some fine performances but didn’t seem as engaging as its predecessor and with a story geared towards an older audience the mythical creatures of Narnia may not be as endearing to this movies intended audience.

My Blueberry Nights is a tour de force for smoky torch singer Norah Jones as Elizabeth The title is from an analogy about heartbreak and blueberry pie delivered by Jude Law as Jeremy, a New York greasy spoon operator. She lands at his lunch counter looking for the man two-timing her and ends up as a regular showing up at closing time for comforting conversation and pie a la mode as he too is getting over his own crushing rejection. Their hooking up seems a natural but instead she leaves town abruptly for long stays in Memphis, Atlanta and briefly in Vegas and along the way other hearts broken in different ways seem to gravitate to her as she deals with the pain in the lives of Arnie (David Strathairn) an alcoholic cop driven to drink by Sue Lynn (Rachel Weisz) his estrange child bride and Leslie (Natalie Portman) a trash talking gambler with daddy issues. Al the while she documents her travels with letters to Jeremy who is desperate to reconnect with Elizabeth but is unable to track her down. My Blueberry Nights is a stylishly directed film with some delightful surprises like cleavage on Portman and the natural acting ability of Jones in her fledgling role and like in her singing career she hits all the right notes with style. Too bad all this isn’t really enough to make the film interesting.

Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden? Is yet another documentary from Super Size Me director Morgan Spurlock. Now with a little less hair but unfortunately the same unfashionable moustache he again inserts himself as an on camera guinea pig this time trying to chase down the worlds most wanted man. With his wife’s pregnancy comes the epiphany of what a dangerous world that child will face and wonders why today seems so much more perilous. With the same abandon displayed last time while poisoning himself with junk food he heads to the hottest spots in the Middle East looking for Al Qaeda’s head honcho. A real eye opener is Saudi Arabia and Israel which may be considered allies in the region by America but are the two countries where Spurlock encounters the most virulent vitriol. With his humorous charm and not without facing some outright lethal situations Spurlock is able to draw out some pretty soulful sentiment from the uneducated poor to some high up connections with Al Qaeda. As we listen to the amiable redhead speak to locals it becomes clear that found or not the perception of the USA won’t change much no matter where in the world Osama Bin Laden is.

Son of Rambow is a British comedy about Will Proudfoot (Bill Milner) a boy being brought among a small religious sect that makes Luddites look hip. It’s the ‘80’s when home video was new and smoking bylaws were in the far distant future. Despite his cloistered upbringing it’s clear that Will has a very creative and artistic side which runs contrary to the families beliefs. He’s not allowed any modern distractions, not even watching classroom documentaries videos. Sitting in the hallway during one screening proves to be an awakening for him as he ends up shoring the space with Lee Carter (Will Poulter) a student just tossed from another classroom for being disruptive. When Lee realizes how naive Will is he exploits the situation by talking him into doing foolhardy stunts for the dream video he’s creating. Lee comes from upper middle class means but has been abandoned by his mother to be brought up by his abusive brother who forces Lee to partake in small scale illegal activities. One is pirating videos and it’s here that Will is exposed to the one man wrecking crew called John Rambo. Suddenly Will has a channel for all his creative juices. A subtext begins with the arrival of French exchange students, one of whom is an effeminate but trendy pied piper and the two stories merge with the sudden desire for the entire student body to be involved in the film. Even for a flight of fantasy a lot of the setups are far fetched but Son of Rambow will still leave you with some genuine laughs ad a warm heart.

Also out this weekend:
Steel Toes

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull truly does justice to the franchise as it catches us up with the whip smart fedora fancier two decades after his last known adventure. We join Indy in 1957 authentically revisited via a variety of cold war paranoia like the red menace, A-bomb tests, Roswell and area 51. A crystal skull with other worldly properties becomes the prize for Irina Spalko a Russian doctor played by Cate Blanchett with a convincing but intermittent accent. She constantly forces Dr. Jones to help in her quest but he has a different agenda thanks to information from Shia LaBeouf as Mutt Williams channelling Marlon Brando in The Wild One. He’s the son of Marion Ravenwood a familiar paramour reprised by Karen Allen and it shouldn’t take long to figure out the relationship between Mutt and Indiana although it certainly takes the brilliant archaeologist a while. Their prime mission turns out to be returning the skull to its rightful place somewhere among ancient Mayan ruins in South America. Along the way he’s sometimes helped and sometimes betrayed by Ray Winstone playing ‘Mac’ George McHale. One might wonder with the natural aging of the principal star if the premise might not be tired as the average person of that age. Not to worry, Harrison Ford is as trim and agile as ever which is necessary since the action again is relentless – in the first 20 minutes alone Indiana fends off a platoon of Ruskies, escapes captivity on a rocket sled and survives a nuclear explosion. Those long jonesin’ for more Jones won’t be disappointed.

Postal is a filmed in Cloverdale comedy based on a violent video game. Director Ewe Boll who the critics have not been kind to of late was inspired (or uninspired to be accurate) to bring the game to the silver screen causing the critics to undoubtedly go “postal” on him again. Toronto’s Zack Ward is our unemployed trailer trash postal dude who turns to his uncle Dave for help. Dave (Dave Foley) is a charlatan new age guru going broke who plans to get solvent again by cornering the market of a much sought after toy. To do this he exploits his nephew’s desperate situation by putting him in charge of a heist to steal the entire supply from a local amusement park but as it turns out those toys also are also wanted by Osama Bin Laden and the Taliban. This sets the stage for an inordinate amount of ordinance and a stockpile of victimized innocent bystanders. I get that the over the top carnage is there to push the envelope but Postal is one envelope that needs to go directly to the dead letter office.

Also out this weekend:
The Unknown Woman

Sex and the City brings that hugely popular cable TV show to the silver screen. It’s been 5 years and just like that we’re re-united with the fab four as if no time has passed at all. Like their audience however they too are dealing with separation anxiety as Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) continues to have sex in the Big Apple with Mr Big, Charlotte York (Kristin Davis) is in New York but at a distance being annoyingly happier than ever not only having sex but also deliriously mothering her adopted Asia daughter. Samantha Jones (BC’s Kim Cattrall) is still having plenty of sex however it’s all monogamously in LA with her long time boy toy protégé. Miranda Hobbs (Cynthia Nixon) on the other hand is not having any sex now living in Brooklyn and still the workaholic lawyer with mom duties loaded on. Her frustrations are the watershed for tensions that keep the story engaging for almost two and a half hours as the lawyer in Miranda pressures Carrie to cover her assets and get married and the frustrated lover in her nixes the nuptials. With a dollop of favourite peripheral characters (for my money no one can do a bitchy queen like Mario Cantone as Anthony Marentino) and some new faces added like Jennifer Hudson the movie pretty much stands on it’s own for Sex and the City virgins but die hard fans will be delighted to be treated to the same quality writing supplemented by some exotic locations and a spot on soundtrack.

The Strangers provides a fairly meaty part for Liv Tyler who up until now has done pretty well in roles that don’t challenge her to stretch. Here she rises to the occasion but what will live after the fallout - her career or just her first name? She plays Kristen McKay who dashes the hopes of her boyfriend James Hoyt (Scott Speedman) with a cool reception to his marriage proposal staged at his father’s secluded rural rancher. The awkward tension that follows is nothing compared to the tension spawned by the arrival of a trio of sadistic masked teens. Using a cookie cutter horror formula they isolate the couple and like a grizzly pawing its prey proceed to violently victimize Kristen and James. This scenario has been done before and more effectively as recently as earlier this year in Funny Games (but I wasn’t fond of that one either). The opening credits chime that The Strangers is based on true events and that the truth about what happened in 2005 has never fully come out. Actually the truth is that you’d be hard pressed to find any documented case that matches this series of events.

The Year My Parents Went on Vacation has little to do with 12 months of visiting theme parks and KOA campgrounds. This sweet Brazilian heart warmer takes us back to 1970 when that country was going for its third World Cup just as her military rulers were cracking down on socialists. Michael Joelsas plays Mauro a boy with an angelic face but full of 10 year old mischief whose left wing parents are driven underground. They leave the boy in an ethnic district of Sao Paulo on the doorstep of his Jewish grandfather with instructions to tell anyone who asks that they are on vacation. However between their arrival and when they’d made extended babysitting arrangements the boy’s father’s father has a fatal heart attack. Thankfully there is a strong sense of community in grand dad’s predominantly Jewish occupied apartment building and the neighbours (many no strangers to hiding from dictators) rally to take care of the boy despite his sometimes rebellious nature brought on by the frustration of now double abandonment. The promise from his parents that they’ll return in time for the World Cup makes the anticipation all the more unbearable in this soccer mad country but will politics interfere to again disappoint Mauro?

Also out this weekend:
Planet B-Boy

Kung Fu Panda is something to be expected over the course of a summer movie season which is an animated blockbuster voiced by a stable of Hollywood A-listers with a question mark hanging over it – is it clever enough to captivate and entertain young and old alike? In what seems like a stretch to incorporate lots of action and perhaps ride the coat tails of China’s Olympic Games this film takes us to the land of Kung Fu and the ancient Village of Peace now in peril as the local guru has predicted the return of Tai Lung the good snow leopard gone bad. A largely Caucasian cast portrays 5 characters personifying some of the kung fu fighting styles – Mantis (Seth Rogan), Tiger (Angelina Jolie), Crane (David Cross), Monkey (Jackie Chan) and Viper (Lucy Liu) who have been training to protect the valley under the tutelage of Shifu (Dustin Hoffman) with hopes of achieving the highest honour of being named Dragon Master. Much to their consternation however a doughy panda named Po, long on enthusiasm but very short on experience is curiously chosen as the Valley’s ultimate saviour. Jack Black is perfectly cast as Po, or should that be Po is perfectly cast to be played by Jack Black who in short order must rise to the challenge of taking on such a formidable foe when he can barely rise in the morning. This isn’t the last animated feature we’ll be offered this summer, but as the first does it captivate and entertain the whole family? With its action, bright colours, philosophically written life lessons and lots of genuine laughs the answer is YES!

You Don't Mess With the Zohan is the latest offering from Adam Sandler who has the  propensity to either rock or suck – more often the latter. Co-writing here is Judd Apitow who currently can do no wrong (OK he gets a Mulligan for producing the sorta lame Drillbit Taylor). The result is an up tick for Sandler but with the Sandlerization of his work a bit of a come down for Apitow. Sandler is Zohan, an invincible Israeli anti terrorist with pubic hair to spare and then some whose always jonesin’ for hummus. He fakes his own death at the hands of his arch enemy The Phantom (John Turturro going over the top as only he can). Zohan runs off to New York to pursue his real dream of being a hair stylist. The only place he can find work however is in a shop run by Dalia (Montreal’s smokin’ hot Emmanuelle Chriqui) in her Palestinian section of town. There he learns tolerance and finds love while giving “permanent” satisfaction to his elderly customers and not just for the retro coif. Apitow adds a new level of uncomfortable nudity which seemed impossible after his last few outings but here literally uncovers new territory with veteran Lanie Kazan. Norm MacDonald as one of Sandlers regular posse is missing but Rob Schneider adds to the parade of bad accents. Mariah Carey’s acting remains as convincing as it was in Glitter (and she’s playing herself!). Fellow musician Dave Matthews provides a cameo as do Kevin Nealon, Chris Rock, George Takai and Shelly Berman. Save for the fiery climax which left me confused and feeling that my time was wasted,  You Don’t Mess With the Zohan turns out to be a passable comedy although it doesn’t quite live up to its long running trailers.
 

Silent Light is an odd yet insightful and masterfully photographed bit of cinema. With an incongruous juxtaposing we have a Mennonite community in Chihuahua Mexico where I’m startled to find they get snow in the winter these days. The cast are less actors than actual Mennonites playing their parts while speaking their own hybrid language but religion is completely out of the picture. In fact unfaithfulness in the carnal sense is central to the story that none the less puts us into the rather fascinating operation of simple farming life wrapped around a love triangle. Johan (Cornelio Wall) is the father of a large family who is conflicted because he’s in love with Marianne (Maria Pankratz) who is not his wife. He‘s actually married to Esther (Manitoba author Miriam Toews) to whom he has been honest about the affair since its start. There is an astonishing lack of malice between the two women but that doesn’t mean that human emotions don’t take their toll. Running over two hours mostly due to the ultra slow pace of the action Silent Light is nothing short of a work of art with a payoff for those with enough patience to wait for it.

Also out this weekend:
Finn's Girl
The Children of Huang Shi
Sarkar Raj

The Incredible Hulk takes up where 2003’s Hulk left off- sort of. Dr. Bruce Banner’s alienation is a different story told quickly over the opening credits. We catch up with him hiding in Brazil working on anger management and trying to come up with an antidote to his problem using the flora and fauna of the Amazon with on line assistance from an anonymous biology geek stateside. When some key words get picked up by Homeland Security monitoring the internet Banner becomes priority one for the military who consider The Hulk their property and want their secret weapon back. The only improvement is a slightly more realistic CGI green monster but for the most part we get one hissy fit after another that pits the Hulk against a futile barrage of military ordinance that steadily escalates in severity. New this time is Tim Roth as Emil Blonsky, an aging soldier who wants what the Hulk’s got and will stop at nothing to get it. Perhaps the title should actually be Hulk Light since save for another cameo by Lou Farigno, anyone who made the original memorable doesn’t reprise their role. Banner, no longer played by Eric Bana is portrayed here by Edward Norton who also co wrote the weak screenplay. Gone is Jennifer Connelly as love interest Betty Ross, replaced by Liv Tyler and John Hurt in a bad hairpiece now plays her father General Ross instead of Sam Elliott. Most noticeably absent is Director Ang Lee whose original was so much more stylish that this work from lightweight Louis Leterrier. Be that as it may get ready for round 3 as the surprise ending sets us up for a Marvel Comic Dream Team.

When Did You Last See Your Father? is the true story from author Blake Morrison played by Colin Firth which takes us from his childhood in the 50’s to the present day. From his perspective his father Arthur  played perfectly by Jim Broadbent (currently on screen in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull) was a verbose, slightly larcenous and lascivious bully but on the whole we get to see him as a man like any other who is flawed but ultimately is really a good, loving father. The grace given Blake is the terminal illness that slowly saps the life from Arthur but being at his bedside until the end quells the bile that has built up and that has been simmering for decades which allows Blake to at last really see his father. When Did You Last See Your Father? is a British drama that accurately explores the rocky relationship between sons and fathers that exist even through the most strife free adolescent years.

Young People F***ing is a Toronto filmed comedy featuring mostly Vancouver actors. Yes there are young people and the “F” verb is involved but what is really highlighted is the verbal intercourse surrounding “the act” as engaged in by five couples – actually that’s 4 couples and a threesome of two room mates and one girlfriend. The others are two on a first date, two exes who can’t let go, a married couple and a man and woman about to add benefits to their friendship. This movie was a darling at the 2007 Toronto Film Festival but not such a darling with the Harper Conservatives as it appears to be a perfect target for their controversial Bill C-10 to halt tax breaks to morally unacceptable movies. Better they should worry about not helping to make movies that are a waste of time. I’d like to see more of Cary Pope and a lot of performances were pretty good but for all of the promise in the title the film isn’t that stimulating.

Also out this weekend
The Happening

Get Smart is a somewhat incongruous screen adaptation for those who remember the wildly popular 60’s television spy spoof of the same name. Although set in the post cold war world of today, here Maxwell Smart has not yet achieved Agent status since he’s such a crack researcher for his agency CONTROL and thus too valuable to promote. However when KAOS manages to compromise every last global CONTROL agent Max is the only qualified person to send to spy on the enemy. This is also set prior to the ongoing TV romance with Agent 99 and when the two are pressed into service as a team the only thing that sizzles is 99’s rage. Steve Carell is at his subtly hilarious best as Smart who he plays as more of a smooth geek than the clueless buffoon we remember Don Adams creating. Lots of iconic favourites resurface here like the Cone of Silence, the shoe phone is taken out of mothballs and although sparingly used would you believe the “would you believe” gag? There are strong supporting roles by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Alan Arkin as Chief (nothing to be sorry about that) and Terence Stamp as the comically evil KAOS ringleader Siegfried. The animosity between 99 (Anne Hathaway) and 86 is good fodder for laughs with provisions made to mitigate the creepiness of the age difference between Carell and Hathaway when they do connect. Incongruity aside, out of 100 Get Smart may not rate a 99 but certainly an 86.

Also out this weekend:
The Love Guru
Global Metal
Mongol
Roman de Gare
The Alps

Hancock brings back the Fresh Prince with a fresh take on the super hero as he doesn’t hole up in some lair inventing impervious outerwear or suffer some kind of mutation originating here or on another planet. He’s more the super hero with human problems - and nothing so mundane as girlfriend trouble or financially making ends meet. Will Smith is Hancock who is bullet proof and can fly and even though he saves people and upholds the law is unlikeable because he’s a sociopathic, amnesiatic alcoholic. The ever affable Jason Bateman plays Ray Embrey a less than successful public relations expert. When Hancock saves his life Ray realizes that this besotted protector just has an image problem and wants to give him a makeover. Charlize Theron is Ray’s wife Mary whose standoffishness seems to telegraphs a connection to Hancock. It’s quite literally a blast when we discover the real reason that she doesn’t want her husband reinventing the Man of Bourbon. It wouldn’t be July without a Will Smith blockbuster to kick it of and as usual both are welcome.

Wanted brings us up to speed (and the speed is furious!) with a millennium old group of assassins called “The Fraternity” whose members do their jobs without question and whose roots are literally a fabrication as the originators were fabric weavers. Initially we’re introduced to the unsuspecting next generation of these kinsmen who doesn’t seem all that dangerous as he has trouble killing an hour much less a human target. James McAvoy is Wesley Gibson, an anxious office cubicle drone whose girlfriend is hooking up with his best friend while he’s at work enduring humiliation from his obese and sadistic boss. This changes when Fox (Angelina Jolie), a member of The Fraternity tracks him down to inform him that his father has been murdered and that Wesley is next. Immediately the air is thick with bullets and one wild ride later Wesley is face to face with Sloan (Morgan Freeman) who gives him the Coles Notes version of The Fraternity and says that Wesley’s high anxiety attacks are actually his inherited powers that can be channelled to turn him into a killing machine. Initially reluctant Wesley soon embraces the idea hoping to avenge his father only to find that the training sessions are abrasive to say the least and when he finally masters his craft there are always more pressing assignments than putting a hit on dad’s killer. The relentless action, eye popping effects and a story line that goes as sideways as the bullets that Wesley learns to bend like Becham make Wanted a move that won’t leave adrenalin hounds wonting.

Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed owes a lot to greater Vancouver for its production and features deadpanmeister Ben Stein’s pathetic attempt to legitimize the idea of Intelligent Design.  

Also out this weekend:
Wall-E
Flight of the Red Balloon (Juliette Binoche)
The Alps (documentary)

Kit Kittredge: An American Girl stars Little Miss Sunshine Abigail Breslin as a precocious 1930’s preteen wannabe journalist. With Toronto standing in for Cincinnati we see Kit’s middle class utopia shattered by the realities of the depression when her father’s car lot goes under and dad (Chris O'Donnell) is forced to seek work in Chicago. Kit and her golden hearted mother (Julia Ormond) are left to fend for themselves by taking in borders who start with neighbours also fallen on hard times and quickly expand to include a libidinous flapper (30 Rock’s Jane Krakowski) a mobile librarian with limited driving skills (Joan Cusack) and Stanley Tucci as a migrant magician. Mom also takes in a couple of hobos who work for food and teach Kit and the rest of the new Kittredge residents about life on the road. Their demeanour all but dismisses the prevailing hobo distrust until someone makes off with the mortgage money and all the guilty evidence point to them. As if The Little Rascals and Nancy Drew had joined forces, Kit puts her natural reporting abilities to work along with her ragamuffin crew to not only exonerate her down and out friends but also save the family home. The blonde bobbed Breslin continues to astonish with her capacity to carry a film at such a young age as she brings the character to life with such mature subtlety.

The Promotion stars Seann William Scott who gradually continues to shuck off his American Pie Stickler persona. Still he remains synonymous with comedy and this time  plays Doug Stauber the assistant manager of a Chicago grocery chain store who seems poised to be promoted to manager of the new store under construction until a new guy transferred from a Canadian subsidiary puts his rubber stamping in jeopardy. John C. Reilly is Richard the Quebecois who curiously has no hint of an accent unlike his wife Laurie (Lili Taylor) – OK it’s an Irish accent but an accent none the less. Doug feels inadequate in the eyes of his wife Jen (Jenna Fischer from The Office) especially compared to her leering boss who is better looking and performs miracle surgery on children so he’s overly motivated to get the job. Not only that but when he thought he was a sure thing for the gig he put his life savings on a house he can’t afford on his current salary. Meanwhile for a variety of reasons Richard is equally motivated so it’s game on between the two, trying to impress the board of directors headed by Vancouver’s Gil Bellows. Uniquely endearing is that fact that there is no real bad guy here – you root for both of the job seekers but a rushed ending hinders a whole hearted promotion of The Promotion.

Priceless is a romantic comedy juxtaposed against one of the worlds most romantic backdrops, the south of France. In a luxury hotel a bartender named Jean (Gad Elmaleh) is mistaken in his tuxedo for a man of means by Irene (Audrey Tautou who has definitely shaken off any De Vinci Code deowdiness). After a passionate interlude she quickly dumps him when she literally wakes up to realize his station in life and kicks herself for dumping a real sugar daddy for Jean. However Jean is not so ready to say goodbye since the next hottest thing to Irene that he’d experienced was vichysoise. Having abandoned his job he takes a lesson from Irene by supporting himself through the kindness of rich “cougars” while he relentlessly pursues the real object of his affections. Priceless is a sweet French pastry worth more than the price of admission.

Brick Lane brings Monica Ali's acclaimed novel to life although Brick Wall might be a more appropriate title as that is what Nazeem the main character seems to constantly be up against. Her carefree preteen life in Islamic Bangladesh abruptly come to an end with her mothers depression fuelled suicide and only a few years after that she’s uprooted into an arranged marriage with a self professed educated man whose hubris, self righteousness and even playfulness is perfectly emoted by Satish Kaushik. Nazeem is played with such crushing melancholy by India’s lovely Tannishtha Chatterjee who out of necessity takes on work as a seamstress. Rather than being menial, the work turns out to be liberating and hr dreary existence really starts to fade when she become involved with a handsome countryman born in England. As their passion heats up so do race relations in Great Britain – both or which come to a head around September 11th 2001. At that point everyone starts to reassess the position that they should take.
 

Encounters at the End of the World is a documentary about Antarctica by Werner Herzog, a great director but unlikely narrator who from the outset insists that he wasn’t out to make another Penguin movie. Instead we are introduced to an odd set of creatures of the human kind who for a variety of reasons make the most desolate place on earth home. Through often stunning cinematography above and especially below the polar ice we also learn a lot about a very mysterious part of the globe.

Also out this weekend:
Caregiver
Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na
Love Story 2050

Hellboy II: The Golden Army brings back Ron Perlman as the demonic red and ripped cigar, beer and cat fancier with a bad temper. He’s still in the employ of the BPRD (Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defence) and still subordinate (but just barely) to Tom Manning (Jeffrey Tambor) as well as a new character the mist-ic mystic Johann Krauss (James Dodd). Doug Jones as the aquaman-ish Abe Sapien is still fighting crime for the BPRD as is the pyrotechnical Liz Sherman (Selma Blair) who is also now the better half of Hellboy and lately showing him what hell is really like. The crew are called out to an auction house in a shambles due to an attack by tooth faeries so named not for benevolence to incisorless pre-teens but for copious teeth and voracious appetites. It turns out they’re unleashed as part of a plan by the underworld’s Prince Nuada (Luke Goss) to resurrect the invincible Golden Army which Hellboy had thought was just a legendary bedtime story told by his surrogate father Professor Broom (John Hurt) but which was actually once commanded by Nuada’s father King Balor. Nuada’s twin sister Princess Nuala (Anna Walton) loves her brother but wants no part of the plan and is drawn to the BPRD, particularly Abe Sapien. The investigation takes our foursome of freaks from the troll market below the Brooklyn Bridge to an Irish cave for a furious showdown with The Golden Army. Creepy trademark Pan’s Labyrinth touches by Oscar nominated director Guillermo Del Toro abound and delight. Hellboy did poorly at the box office but did so well on DVD that it got another chance on the big screen where it will undoubtedly surpass the original. Obviously that’s how the producers feel judging by the clever way that they set the stage for Hellboy III.

Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D is definitely NOT a remake of the 1959 film starring Pat Boone. Here the premise makes the Jules Verne classic a road map for some modern day “Vernians” – people who believe that the 19th century novel is actually fact based. Our Heroes start out sceptical lead by Trevor Anderson (sometimes Canadian Brendan Fraser) a less than distinguished professor whose seismic research lab is about to get shaken up in a most undignified fashion. Since he’s continuing the work of his long lost brother Max this causes great distress which is compounded by the arrival of Max’s jaded son Sean (Josh Hutcherson) on a bonding mission with Uncle Trevor before suffering his own extreme humiliation of migrating with his mom to Ottawa. While giving the lad a tour of the ill fated lab they discovered that Max was right in his earth shaking conclusions and that a trip to Iceland is in order. The volcanologist that they seek is no longer alive unlike his hot as lava mountain guide daughter Hannah (Anita Briem). A sceptic herself she’s the one who introduces them to the “Vernian” concept and for a hefty fee agrees to take Trevor and Sean to their seismically active location. While seeking refuge in a cave a rock slide forces the trio into a spelunking venture all the way to the earth’s core where Jules Verne’s scary creatures are definitely not fictitious. Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D is the first full-length, live action feature shot in digital 3D largely due to the video smarts here in Vancouver as it was filmed in Iceland and Montreal and then shipped to the west coast for post production. The 3D effects aren’t so much eye popping as eye poking early on but eventually blend nicely into the fun and adventure.

Before the Rains has colonial arrogance as its theme. A spice merchant in 1930’s India gambles everything on building a road to tangy riches and puts it all in jeopardy by carrying on an affair with a married village woman. His greed causes him to double cross his staunchest ally and puts his own life and the lives of his family in peril.

Also out:
Meet Dave
Didn’t see it. Stars Eddie Murphy which can be good or bad, Elizabeth Banks which is always good but directed by the same guy who did Norbit which can never be good.
Love Songs
(Part of the French Film Festival)

Mamma Mia! Is fluffy musical summer popcorn fun that dodges its potential to be abysmal with the amazing performance of Meryl Streep. As Donna she effortlessly wears the mantle of a gracefully aging free spirit as easily as she personifies haughty sophistication in a number of other outstanding roles – but who knew she could sing so well? Her version of Winner Takes It All is a show stopper that should get some kind of nod at Oscar time. On the other side of the knockout scale we can be thankful that Pierce Brosnan as Sam is not assigned much singing at all. He’s one of her lovers from a hot Greek summer 21 years previous along with Harry (Colin Firth) and Bill (Stellan Skarsgård). Donna’s diary entries of her conquests from that summer fall into the hands of her daughter Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) who, hoping to discover the identity of her real father secretly sends all 3 invitations to her upcoming wedding. They all return to the Greek Island that Donna never left but to Sophie’s dismay the mystery remains and Donna wants the trio gone. The story is a pretty simple one like much of the pedestrian choreography and the usually captivating Julie Walters is a miscast here but the genius of Mama Mia! lies in making a coherent storyline from the libretto of a limited repertoire of hits by the Swedish super group ABBA. The other inspired stroke was casting Streep as the lead character.

Savage Grace is an uncomfortable biopic starting in 1946 and spanning the next 28 years in the social stratosphere surrounding the lives of the Baekeland family, heirs to the Bakelite plastics fortune. 1946 is the year that Tony is born to Brooks (Stephen Dillane) and his trophy wife Barbara Daly (an outstanding Julianne Moore). In later life Tony is played with detached confusion by Eddie Redmayne who narrates throughout. Barbara is a former actress who never had to endure the drama wrought by the power of old money. As a nouveau socialite she adapts well to the idle rich lifestyle but an idle mind as they say is the devils playground. An escalating distance between Barbara and Brooks leaves her too much time to dote on Tony who is already predisposed to a troubled personality. Relationships are pervasive and perverse as Barbara becomes more and more reliant on Tony until a day in 1972 which ultimately lead to a savagely graceful end for mother and son.

Gonzo: The Life and Work of Mr. Hunter S. Thompson is a revealing look at the journalistic juggernaut only touched on in the movie Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas where Johnny Depp played a Thompson-esque character. Depp appears frequently in this documentary either in snippets from that movie or reciting choice selections of Thompson’s brilliant prose. Among other famous talking heads are Jimmy Carter and George McGovern as it is revealed that they rose to positions of dominance thanks to the journalistic musings of this caustic scribe – something unimaginable with today’s complacent, imbedded media. A real treat is humorous words from Pat Buchanan, a former Nixon henchman that Thompson delighted in skewering. Hunter was a self destructive, gun totting wordsmith who as a freelancer for Rolling Stone magazine was in the thick of things through some of the most turbulent times in the USA from desegregation to Haight - Ashbury and from biker gangs to the Watergate gang.
When Thompson committed suicide in 2005 many thought he’d lost his edge but his chilling post 9-11 predictions about George Bush suggest that the Gonzo wasn’t gone-zo just yet.

The Dark Knight is possibly the darkest Batman movie, yet at the same time possibly the most humorous (in a creepy way) thanks in large part to the late Heath Ledger. Almost lost in his unending hijacking of on screen attention is the stellar work of Christian Bale who continues to be the most outstanding actor to slip into a bat cowl. The underworld in Gotham City is crumbling thanks to the exemplary work of D.A. Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) who keeps thwarting criminal activity prosecuting those charged due to the fine police work of Lt. James Gordon (the returning Gary Oldman) aided by the caped crusader - although bad impersonators of The Batman are now interfering with this war on crime. Dent’s assistant and love interest Rachel Dawes (enter Maggie Gyllenhaal, bye bye Katie Holmes) is the former paramour and confidant of The Batman’s alter ego Bruce Wayne. The Mob finds itself looking for alternatives ways to conduct their criminal business when The Joker (Ledger) enters with a simple solution – Kill the Batman. He offers to take on the job for half of their holdings, but pure psychotic evil is his real motivation. This Ledger imparts brilliantly and the quality of the work that he brings to this project at the very least may win him a posthumous Oscar and possibly James Dean status. The screenplay flows like a great crime drama while CGI effects are kept in check giving this surreal event a dose or reality and making The Dark Knight the best Batman movie ever! The summer box office looks bright for The Dark Knight.

Also out this weekend:
Space Chimps
Kismat Konnection
The Duchess of Langeais
(French Film Festival)

STEP BROTHERS is some more summertime silliness re-teaming Taladega Nights stars Will Farrell and John C. Reilly again portraying blithely vacuous characters under encore director Adam McKay. This time Farrell and Reilly are 40ish man-boys each enjoying his own hapless failure to launch. Farrell’s Brennan Huff lives with his mom Nancy (Mary Steenburgen) until she falls in love with Robert Doback (Richard Jenkins) and after they get married they move into Richard’s house. One of the connections Nancy and Richard made was having a grown son at home but it’s far less endearing for Brennan as he finds himself having to share a room with his new step-brother Dale (Reilly). At first the step-sibling rivalry is hysterically caustic but one shared defining moment turns them into best buds. Friendship aside their loser ways drive a wedge between step-mom and step-dad and it’s up to the boys to cobble their meagre talents and bring the two back together. Kudos to Farrell for co-writing a funny script and pulling it off as only he can although Judd Apitow as producer probably took Step Brothers up a flight or two.

THE WACKNESS takes us back to 1994’s New York as Rudi Giuliani embarked on turning the mean street into clean streets in the Big Apple. Josh Peck plays Luke, a confused high school senior spending his transition summer selling ganja from a modified ice cream vending unit to Central Park customers one of whom is Union played by Mary-Kate Olson (lets hope this sparks her appetite). Josh’s parents have marital problems largely due to financial problems which does little for his delicate self esteem. He barters weed for psychoanalysis from Dr. Squires (Ben Kingsley in a bad mullet – like there’s any other kind) who might not be so anxious to prescribe wanton sexual abandon if he knew that his step daughter Kristin (Famke Janssen) was the current focus of Luke’s lust and that the two were forming a hesitant relationship. Luke knows that she’s completely out of his league but his cool persistence is winning her over. During the hip hop summer of ’94 Luke manages to rise above a lot of the “wackness” that he finds himself steeped in.

JACK BROOKS: MONSTER SLAYER resurrects Robert Englund but not as Freddy Kruger. This time he’s a kindly chemistry professor but hey, this is Robert Englund so you know eventually he’s going to get ugly and dangerous. In a departure from the recent horror film trend towards gory torture this movie relies on good old fashioned gross outs peppered with dark humour. Jack Brooks (Trevor Matthews) is a twenty-something plumber taking a night school credit course although he should probably be enrolled in some kind of anger management. His teacher Professor Crowley (Englund) asks for his assistance with a plumbing problem at his new rural house that positively bristles with foreboding. Although Jack isn’t able to immediately fix the problem he does succeed in unleashing a Pandora’s Box of evil heretofore safely buried on the property. This causes Crowley to undergo a slow but monstrous change that has a less than educational influence on his students but which forces Jack to face all of his demons both mental and physical and become – Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer.

JUST BURIED stars Montrealer  Jay Baruchel as Oliver Zinc, a reluctant mortician after he surprised to inherit a small town funeral home from his estranged father. He soon finds out from the morgue’s handyman Henry (Graham Greene) that the only thing dying in town is Oliver’s newly acquired business venture. Dad also left behind a young widow whose overactive libido also transfers from father to son but Oliver is more interested in Roberta (Rose Byrne) the company embalmer. On their first besotted date they accidentally kill a pedestrian but rather than face vehicular homicide, Roberta’s quick thinking manufactures Oliver’s first paying customer. These lovebirds realize that this make work project can save the company and proceed to conjure up more business but now by quite deliberate means. This gets tricky as Roberta’s father is the Police Chief and his deputy is her boyfriend (predictably this doesn’t sit well with Oliver). Baruchel returned to his home and native land to carry this movie after playing sidemen in some Hollywood biggies like Knocked Up and Billion Dollar Baby but this one looks really low budget and very Canadian. Just Buried his its moments but in the summer blockbuster run stands a good chance of being just buried by the competition.

THE LAST MISTRESS is adapted from a controversial 1851 Novel Central to the story is Ryno de Marigny (newcomer Fu'ad Ait Aattou who is much too pretty for a guy) and Vellini his lover of 10 years portrayed by veteran Italian actress Asia Argento - clearly the more macho of the two until seen unclad which becomes more and more frequent as the film progresses. We meet Ryno in 1835’s Paris as it’s announced that he’s engaged to the chaste aristocratic Hermangarde (Roxane Mesquida). Parisian tongues stat to wag about a marriage of social climbing convenience for the hedonistic Ryno who is summoned by Hermangarde’s worldly grandmother for reassurance of his love and dedication for her granddaughter. The movie continues as a recounting of the steamy decade between Ryno and Vellini. The Last Mistress is kind of a Brokeback Mountain for heterosexuals where two lovers are hopelessly drawn to one another despite the 19th century social unacceptability of their affair and in the end are incapable of leaving each other alone.

BRIDESHEAD REVISITED brings the novel by Evelyn Waugh to the big screen - shorter but richer that the 1981 serialized TV version. Brideshead is a palatial English country estate which is a touchstone for our protagonist Charles Ryder (Matthew Goode) but for its heirs it’s a prison and if it had a warden that would be Lady Marchmain (Emma Thompson) the family matriarch. Working class Charles is introduced to this late 1920’s uber-privileged lifestyle by Sebastian Flyte (Ben Winshaw) who befriends him as an Oxford freshman. Sebastian is clearly gay while Charles is at best curious but any attraction between them is nullified when Charles is smitten by Sebastian’s sister Julia (Hayley Atwell). Mom is a staunch Catholic living in denial of Sebastian’s predisposition but realizing that Charles is a steadying factor welcomes him to the fold and even sends Charles off to Venice with the two siblings to stay with their father Lord Marchmain (Michael Gambon) who fled his wife’s sanctimonious clutches and now frolics on the Lido with his mistress. In Italy the Charles/Julia connection solidifies which triggers a lifelong depression for Sebastian as he’s so in love with Charles. Even after the passing of their mother the ghost of her arch Catholicism comes to haunt every time Brideshead is revisited.

Also out this weekend:
THE X FILES: I WANT TO BELIEVE
MY WINNIPEG

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor is a follow up to Brendan Fraser’s 1999 remake of the 1932 Boris Karloff classic and his subsequent 2001 sequel The Mummy Returns. Again Fraser is Rick O'Connell, now a retired gentleman in post war Oxfordshire sharing his country estate with his wife Evelyn (no longer Rachel Weitz but now Maria Bello who uses her excess leisure time to oversell a British accent). The secret service comes calling on the bored adventurers to entrust them with one final sortie – repatriate a precious artefact to China. While in Shanghai they drop into the nightclub of Evelyn’s shady, entrepreneurial buffoon brother John (reprised again by Jonathan Carnahan). They’re shocked to find their twentysomething son Alex (now Luke Ford) truant from school to lead an archaeological dig which has unearthed a terra cotta army. This turns out to be the cursed remains of the 2000 year old megalomaniac Emperor Han played by Jet Li (who PROMISED he wasn’t going to make any more action films). The package that Rick and Evelyn were tricked into returning is the key to bringing the Emperor back to life and giving him immortality. To avoid this the plot twists get cumbersome and involve Shangri-La, abominable snowmen, Lin (newcomer Isabella Leong), a beautiful and immortal ninja along with the witch Zi Juan (Michelle Yeoh) Lin’s equally ancient and equally hot mother (yes of course we see mommy take on the Mummy!) This franchise is getting gauze thin with characters that are actually bandage free but with a band-aid adhered plot. Examples of creative anaemia abound but perhaps most pointedly when Lin cheats death by saying “he missed!’ she could be speaking for the whole film.

Swing Vote solidifies Kevin Kostner as the new go-to-guy for the personification of rumpled. Here he’s known as Bud to everyone including his child. He’s a middle aged slacker and single father to Molly (the endearing Madeline Carroll who has an impressive resume for a 12 year old) in an arid small town with the unlikely name of Texaco New Mexico. The pre teen Molly is the Hollywood cliché child effectively raising the parent but her shenanigans in a razor close Presidential race leaves Bud as the only elector uncounted after a nation wide tie vote. The election slate is refreshingly dufus free - but not so with the lone remaining franchisee. In the few days before casting the winning ballot he’s caught up in a media feeding frenzy while being courted by a comedicly statesmanlike Kelsey Grammar typecast as the Republican President and his Democratic opponent played by Dennis Hopper. Each candidate has a handler who will stop at nothing to assure victory which leaves them pandering to nuances in remarks uttered by Bud as he’s lead on by the manipulative media to the point where each party leader is posturing contrary to his cherished ideals. Swing Vote has a great soundtrack that makes you feel the bumps and smell the dust of a border town back road. It’s an often smartly satirical condemnation of apathy and the US electoral system however it glosses over the fact that the leader of the free world is elected as the result of a deception making it ironic that the end result is an acceptance of what outrageously flawed the real election of 2002.

A Secret is a drama told in flashbacks and starts in the 1950’s post war Paris where 9 year old Francois, the son of a champion swimmer mom and gymnast father, feels the disenchantment in his father’s heart at the boy’s physical limitations. Francois invents an imaginary older brother with all the attributes that he lacks. His hero increasingly becomes a real presence in his life which is uneasily tolerated by his mother but mysteriously infuriates his father. Six years later he discovers that his vivid creation isn’t all a dream and that there is a dark unspoken part of the families past. With the holocaust as a backdrop there was a heated and illicit period in his parent life that caused traumatic results. Based on a truth inspired novel this story is told in a stylish reversal where the flashbacks are filmed in bright colour while the present appears in shades of grey. Interesting cinematography and fine performances have already made A Secret an award winning movie.

Also out this weekend:
The World According to Monsanto
The Last Continent

Pineapple Express is metaphor used by every west coast meteorologist in reference to the moisture laden winds that originate around the Hawaiian Islands and condense as sheets of winter rain across the lower mainland. The term is probably a flashback to Seth Rogan’s hazy days at Point Grey secondary but here he tags the name on a potent strain of marijuana allegedly cultured by the army in the 30’s but having no possible military use appears to literally have been kept underground for decades. Rogan as Dale Denton is a successful process server who dulls the tedium of his job by maintaining a constant herbal buzz. His dealer Saul Silver (James Franco easily stepping back into comedy) lets his best customer in on the newly emerged pot strain which unbeknownst to them is the object of a drug war. When Dale serves papers to a scofflaw named Ted Jones (Gary Cole) he turns out to be one of the warring gang leaders and Dale inadvertently witnesses Ted taking out one of his rivals. The joint that he drops in his hasty exit from the scene of the crime leads the bad guys to Dale through Saul and his supplier “Red” (Danny R. McBride) and the chase is on. The humour is often so over the top that it’s borderline morbid but clever one liners and comic subtleties are tossed off so quickly that Pineapple Express will probably see a lot of repeat business just to pick up parts missed the first time, not to mention further entrench Seth Rogan as a comedy god.

Amal was an audience favourite at this year's Whistler Film Festival as well as Best Feature Film at the Victoria Film Festival. It was produced in part by Astral Media the parent company of 650 CISL. Amal Kumar (Rupinder Nagra) is an unorthodox auto rickshaw driver in New Delhi. While his fellow drivers do nothing to dispel their reputation as crooks Amal is courteous and fair to a fault with all of his customers particularly Sapna (Seema Biswas) a fetching regular client who runs a shop and grows increasingly fond of her part time chauffeur. His kindness and sense of duty lead to unselfish help for a hospitalized street urchin and an impressive encounter with G.K. Jayaram (Naseeruddin Shah) a wealthy entrepreneur spending his dying days trying to find redemption as he roams the streets dressed as a derelict. Jayaram’s last wish is that Amal should inherit his fortune which touches off a city wide search for the mysterious rickshaw driver that is in turn being hampered by Jayaram’s sons who stand to lose almost everything if Amal is found within 30 days. Amal is not only a tender story flanked by a gorgeous soundtrack but also a rich depiction of the emerging middle class as India rapidly develops as a nation.

American Teen takes us through the senior year of an American high school smack dab in the middle of a red state bible belt. Focussing on four 18 year olds in Warsaw Indiana this amazing documentary actually plays out like an insightfully written drama. In a word there’s a jock, geek, prom queen and misfit - none of whom is totally likeable although some are more charming than others. The quartet are anything but friends, their personalities are as diametrically opposed as are their socio economic backgrounds so their paths rarely cross and when they do it get uncomfortable. Also seemingly scripted perfectly are the pressurizing parents from the Elvis impersonator to the scheming entrepreneur. The surprisingly candid footage is punctuated by unique animation and talking heads to recapture some very joyous triumphs but mostly the tension, jealousy, break-ups, self loathing and pain which make up the hell that is high school.

Man on Wire was the improvised and amusing description on a 1974 New York City police report describing the nature of a disturbance cause by an arrested Parisian street performer. Philippe Petit was the culprit and the wire you see was stretched between the then brand new World Trade Towers. The arrest took over an hour as Petit was in no hurry to wrap up his adventure and the police were understandably reserved about giving chase. After walking, lounging, even dancing across the expanse for some 8 passes he finally surrendered to New York’s finest and became part of history. What has not been apparent until now and what makes this documentary so engrossing is how he actually set the stunt up. That story fleshes out the film so that it plays like some nail biting heist picture. It took a lot of time and plenty of trans-Atlantic planning just to set it up so that it almost seems like the stunt itself was the easy part. On top of a good story we find that the affable Frenchman is a charming rogue and on a subtle level we are left with a far more endearing memory of the World Trade Centre than what has brought it to the top of mind in recent years.

Also out this weekend:
Baghead
Conversations With My Gardener
Fly Me to the Moon 3D
Here Is What Is
Singh is Kinng
The Silence Before Bach

Tropic Thunder is the fictitious re-enactment of a non fiction book that turns out to be fiction and in the process fiction becomes reality. Huh? Never mind, all you need to know is that the laughs are non stop through this Ben Stiller directed comedy in which he also stars. The character development is brilliant as we get to know a lot about the movie stars within a movie by the opening scenes which look like a continuation of the preceding trailers. “Four Leaf” Tayback (Nick Nolte living up to his mug shots), a Vietnam vet penned the biographical adventure Tropic Thunder being filmed in Vietnam with a cast of actors playing actors. They include Stiller as Tug Speedman an action star on the wane, Jack Black in a shocking blonde buzz cut and Robert Downey, Jr as a fair haired Aussie playing an inner city black man (he nails both parts). In a departure, as Speedman’s manager Matthew McConaughey playing Rick Peck is about the only one who doesn’t go topless and that includes Tom Cruise although in his case it’s because he’s got a bald pate. Cruise plays Les Grossman, a flabby four eyed producer with a temper as short as Cruise himself. His apoplectic tirade over mismanagement causes the dressed down director (Steve Cogan) to try extreme method acting on his cast in a drastic attempt to pull up the quality of the production. He leaves his stars alone in the jungle where like their characters they have to fend for themselves. The jungle is teeming with drug lords armed to the teeth and every bit as dangerous as the Viet Cong. When Tug is captured his band of actor brothers comes to his rescue a la Tropic Thunder the book.

Vicky Cristina Barcelona is not as you might think the name of someone so pretentious they insist on using every one of their names – it’s just one of the three way relationships that drift in and out of this fresh Woody Allen gem. Vicky (Rebecca Hall) is as anal as Cristina (Scarlett Johannson) is loose and it’s a wonder that they’re friends at all. When Vicky’s studies take her to Barcelona where she’s billeted with her rich but bored aunt Judy (Patricia Clarkson), Cristina tags along. Judy takes them to a snobby art exhibit where the two are introduced to Juan Antonio (Javier Bardem) a bohemian artist who won’t be stopped until he seduces both Vicky and Cristina. Much is made of Johannson (Woody Allen’s new Diane Keaton) co starring with Penélope Cruz even though Cruz doesn’t put in an appearance until about half way through the film. She plays Juan’s hot blooded ex wife Maria Elena who he just can’t let got of. She shows up just as things are getting cozy with Juan and Cristina which causes all of the friction that you might expect but unexpected is the relationship that blossoms while all three are under one roof. In Vicky Cristina Barcelona the actors don’t seem to improvise as much which is a bit of a departure for Woody Allen. Either that or However Javier Bardem deserves another Oscar if they are improvising because that would make him the smoothest male seducer on the face of the planet.

 Bottle Shock is the name given to the phenomenon when the character of wine is changed in transit over long distances. In 1976 the international character of wine was changed forever after a Parisian taste test that pitted French wine (the eternal standard of excellence) against the best from Napa Valley. Alan Rickman is Steven Spurrier, a British oenophile living in Paris but not financially successful at any of his wine enterprises. Looking for some self promotion and hearing rumblings of the California’s industry on the verge of blossoming he organizes a tasting competition and heads to the golden state to find contestants. He finds a hand full of unsophisticated but enthusiastic vintners who bottle some surprisingly sophisticated vino. He focuses particularly on Jim Barrett (Bill Pullman) a cowboy in grape clothing whose hubris is his blessing and his curse. He and his hippy son Bo (Chris Pine) tend to have issues and his winery business is in a shambles. We don’t know how much of the “based on true events” story on screen is actually true although there’s not much guess work as to how this linear screenplay will end yet even with that the moment is uplifting. We do know for sure that there is a bottle of Barrett’s 1976 wine in the Smithsonian and we also know for sure that Alan Rickman can make anything worth watching.

Also out this weekend:
Mirrors
Star Wars: The Clone Wars
The Rocker
Love Me No More
God Tussi Great Ho

The House Bunny is the brain child of Anna Faris who also plays Shelley a brainless Playboy bunny tossed to the wolves for the crime of reaching a certain un-Playboy-like age. She’s tragically turfed from the Playboy Mansion by Hef himself before she can fulfill her longstanding dream of making centrefold (but don’t worry, his octogenarian-ship isn’t really that nasty save for subjecting us to his ability at acting). Shelley’s pathetic and aimless wandering somehow leads her to a college campus and a group of sorority sisters with a lot of smarts but no fashion sense. Throw in a necessary call to action because of trouble from a snobby rival sorority and this scenario is ripe to plop into the Hollywood formula which has already been done successfully in movies like Accepted and unsuccessfully in movies like Van Wilder 2. This one falls somewhere in between but leaning a lot towards successful. Although Faris came up with the idea some pretty clever writers (Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith) fleshed out the screenplay while Faris delightfully fleshes out the screen. So even though some of the set ups are eye rolling clichés the movie is saved by the supporting cast that includes Kat Dennings (a newcomer to watch) Rumer Willis and the continually impressive Emma Stone not the mention the on screen charm (and charms) of Faris herself.

Hamlet 2, also known as “Kiss Me Sexy Jesus” are titles that a purist could easily take offence to. Steve Coogan is Dana Marschz a mullet loving recovering alcoholic actor with crushed dreams. After only ever landing roles in bad infomercials (are there any other kind?) he winds up as a drama teacher in Tucson Oklahoma where it seems even big stars like Elisabeth Shue end up. She lampoons herself and her “former” industry having taken a nursing job in a fertility clinic which is frequented by Dana’s wife Brie (Catherine Keener) as it seems Hollywood glory isn’t his only misconception. That is just part of their woes as they’ve had to take in the insufferable Gary (David Arquette) as a room mate just to make ends meet. Dana is also constantly raked over the coals by a pre teen critic whose reviews of student staging of box office hits are scathing and merciless. School budget cuts cause a needed infusion of drama students who unfortunately are less than enthusiastic. When the drama program falls under the axe drastic measures are called for prompting the staging of Dana’s long simmering idea to Hamlet 2 – a musical which involves the Danish prince and Jesus hooking up via a time machine and affecting the survival of all the characters who die Before the curtain rises the first amendment is upheld thanks to the always hysterical Amy Pohler. Also stereotypes are rightly skewered and Brie does get pregnant but not in a good way and by the time the curtain falls Hamlet fans finally have something to laugh about.

 The Longshots might play like a TV movie in search of a better writer if it were not based on true events. As it is maybe they were doing the best that they could with what they had which is a compelling story. Rapper Ice Cube is amassing an impressive filmography, possibly longer than his discography as he applies his clean cut edginess to Curtis Plummer a football never was in a has been Illinois quasi ghost town. His amazingly even more irresponsible older brother has abandoned his wife who presses Curtis into service of after school care of her teenage daughter Jasmine (Keke Palmer) while mom works overtime. Neither is too please with the arrangement at first but the exercise proves cathartic for both parties especially when Jasmine shows definite prowess throwing a football. With encouragement from Curtis she joins the local boys rag tag football team where she rides the pine game after game until her one shot at quarterback starts the team on the road to the Pop Warner Superbowl. Clumsy dialogue aside this biopic with a lot of excitement associated with football flicks draws you in emotionally as Curtis seems to get his life back on track and Jasmine resolves issues of self esteem and abandonment.

Frozen River stars Melissa Leo and Misty Upham but almost as importantly stars the eastern winter as a backdrop for the bleak, chilling and inhospitable future facing a trailer park single mother. Ray Eddy (Leo) is abandoned by her gamblers anonymous husband who has fallen off the wagon and taken off with the deposit on their double wide dream home. She can barely afford the popcorn and tang she uses to sustain her two boys earning part time minimum wage, but she does have a lot of moxie. Oh yeah and a revolver. While T.J. (Charlie McDermott) her teenager finds a source of income in credit card fraud, Ray discovers a way to make easy cash via an uneasy association with a first nations woman named Lila (Upham). Together they traffic human cargo across the St Lawrence River where it’s bounded on both the US and Canadian sides by the Mohawk reserve. Frozen River was originally a short film by Courtney Hunt also starring Leo who here perfectly personifies the desperation and determination of her character who soon discovers what Lila already knows, that the money is only easy at first. The danger involved actually forces the two women to make difficult but possibly unselfish choices.

Also opening this weekend:
Death Race
Boy-A
 

Traitor is a tense drama of international intrigue that spreads from North Africa and the Middle East to the USA and even Canada. Don Cheadle stars as Samir Horn a Muslim born in Sudan who grew up in Chicago with his mother after his father perished in a politically motivated Sudanese car bombing. A stint as an army covert operative left him an explosive expert but because of conflicting allegiances he’s now a black market merchant selling C-4 to any terrorist with cash. This lands him in a prison in Yemen where he meets Roy Clayton (Guy Pearce) and Max Archer (Neal McDonough), FBI agents curiously “advising” the local authorities. Samir forms an allegiance with Omar (The Kite Runner’s Saïd Taghmaoui) a middle management terrorist who breaks out of jail and takes the potentially useful Samir with him. Their rescuers are senior trouble makers living in France and plotting a 9/11 follow up involving numerous busses blowing up simultaneously at random American locations and Samir seems to be the answer to their 5 times daily prayers. It would be a betrayal to say more about Samir’s sympathies but save for Boundary Bay curiously being named as a gateway to the United States rather than the totally isolated Pt. Roberts the rest of the story is chillingly real as Samir's loyalty is tested while agents Clayton and Archer come to the realization of who and what they find themselves chasing.

Goal II: Living the Dream picks up where Goal: The Dream Begins left off in 2006. Kuno Becker again portrays Santiago Muñez the amiable Mexican underdog loaded with potential who beat the odds and landed a spot on the football team in soccer mad Newcastle England. Again we take Goal to Newcastle but not for long. Not only did he get that girl Roz (Pushing Daisies terrific Anna Friel) but now the two are planning their wedding. Life continues getting sweeter as now manager Glen Foy (Stephen Dillane) has negotiated a deal with Rudi van der Merwe (the long absent Rutger Hauer) for Santiago to make big money playing alongside the cream of the soccer pitch with Real Madrid. Also signed is Gavin Harris (Alessandro Nivola) his hedonistic mate whose playboy lifestyle not only continues to hamper his on field performance but is now a bad influence on Santiago. The neuveau riche excesses, the long distance relationship with Roz and the discovery of a painful missing piece of his puzzling past all conspire to put in peril everything dear to Santiago. The action format in this follow up remains the same but even with soccer super stars like Beckham, Renaldo and Zidane showing up in recurring cameos the emotion doesn’t match the original. Never the less Goal II Living the Dream blatantly sets up for yet another sequel and who knows where the dream goes next but maybe the producers are dreaming if they think that the story can sustain itself as a trilogy.

Elegy with Vancouver playing New York and Long Beach playing Long Island cements Ben Kingsley as the hottest folicly challenged sex symbol since Telly Savalas. Here he plays long divorced and celebrated professor David Kepesh. Other than a strained relationship with his grown son (Peter Sarsgaard) he’s comfortable in his very non committal relationship with Carolyn (Patricia Clarkson) when not seducing female students (of course never before final marks are assigned thus avoiding harassment charges) and recapping conquests with George O'Hearn (Dennis Hopper) his Pulitzer prize winning confidant. However when Consuela Castillo (Penélope Cruz) a knockout co-ed enters the Kepesh lecture hall David’s comfort level is tested. Convinced that their February/December affair is short lived he’s taken aback to find Consuela has genuine feelings for him. His fear of commitment and paranoid jealousy work in tandem to eventually drives her away. But when she re-emerges years later with a shocking announcement we see Kingsley deliver probably his most emotionally charged performance ever. With little help from the makeup department Cruz shows not only the unaware outward beauty of her character but more importantly the inner beauty that George insists is invisible in attractive women. Elegy lives up to its dictionary definition of a mournful, melancholy poem.
 

Sukiyaki Western Django is a cowboy tale wilder than the Wild West itself. The motif is western but the cast is Japanese in a story that takes place in a dusty hamlet some centuries after Japan’s legendary Battle of Dannoura in 1185. Two gangs with ancient rivalries, the Red Clan and the White Clan are at war again over gold found in this town called Yuda. Decorated Japanese film maker Takashi Miike pays homage yet all the while lampoons spaghetti western of the ‘60s with the texture of his film and the introduction of a brooding but lightning fast no name gunman who holds the promise of bringing peace to the town - but with Miike’s connection to films like Hostel, peace is a long way into the future. Another odd injection is Quentin Tarantino in the role of another equally mysterious and deadly gunslinger who speaks in English like the rest of the cast but with a thick Japanese accent so that subtitles are required. Gang members in cowboy hats and range coats flail samurai swords as effectively as they fire Winchesters, Colts and even a Gatling gun. Like the dish sukiyaki, this hodge podge of crossed movie genres and scenarios that turn on a dime from hysterically funny to gore-fests turns out to be a tasty mix that low and behold ends up with a credible story line.

Also out this weekend:
Disaster Movie
Babylon A.D.
College
Outsourced
Rock On!!
A Very Special Love

The Edge of Heaven has a litany of near misses that could have prevented tragedy if only connections had been made in this ping pong game of life between Munich and Istanbul. Intricately interwoven are the lives of Ali an expatiate Turk pensioner living in Germany who turns out to be far less benign than at first glance. Yeter is the prostitute that he hires to live with him. She thinks that Ayten her 27 year old estranged daughter is studying at home in Turkey but she’s actually on the lam in Germany due to her political rabble rousing in Istanbul. For reasons that become apparent Ali’s son Nejat makes it his mission to find Ayten and although their paths cross they never meet. Ayten gets romantically entwined with Lotte, a German woman who will stop at nothing secure Ayten’s release from a Turkish jail following her deportation. Lotte’s disapproving mother Susanne soon follows her to Istanbul where coincidentally a warm relationship develops with Najat. It’s impossible to flesh out this tale further without getting into a lot of minutia but as the story unfolds and these characters distractedly flash by one another it’s easy to see why this film won the best screenplay award at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival. Tragically two of the characters must perish before we arrive at the edge of heaven.

Also out this weekend:
Bangkok Dangerous

Burn After Reading is the latest production from last years Oscar winning Coen brothers and it looks like they’re going for gold again. A big slice of Hollywood’s A-list got to sink their acting chops into some very beefy roles.  John Malkovich is Osborne Cox, A Langley researcher for the CIA with a short fuse and a five thousand word vocabulary that diminishes to a select group involving four letters when he’s ticked off. Katie (Tilda Swinton) his MD wife has a nasty bedside manner except when bedding Harry Pfarrer (Michael Clayton co star George Clooney as far from suave as he can get). Harry is a low clearance security operative with a long list of female internet conquests although married to an author of kid’s books.  Across town at a franchise fitness centre Linda Litzke (Frances McDormand) in a full on mid life panic is also looking for love online while dreaming of a tummy tuck along with a litany of other unaffordable cosmetic surgery not covered by her HMO. Brad Pitt plays Linda’s best friend Chad Feldheimer, an asexual fitness trainer. Ted Treffon (Richard Jenkins) is Linda’s boss who would like to be more than just a friend but can’t seem to make the connection. When Osborne gets fired it sets a chain of events in motion predicated on the motivation of each of the characters. Once that happens a CIA Honcho (J.K. Simmons as usual making a small part much bigger than it is) becomes a calming presence as he makes the body count disappear. Burn After Reading would suggest cloak and dagger but what we get is marvellous disconnected clucks and stragglers who fit together seamlessly.

Righteous Kill is a gritty New York crime drama starring two big apple fixtures not to mention movie star legends Al Pacino and Robert De Niro. Even though both seem a little jowly to still be packing a badge for the NYPD instead of collecting a pension they both bring their A game to a couple of dirty cop characters. Turk (De Niro) has a hair trigger temperament but is very obliging when it comes to the kinky peccadilloes of his girlfriend Karen (Carla Gugino). He’s the junior partner to Rooster (Pacino) who has an air of less volatility and more wisdom. In the past this team has not been above tampering with evidence so that the unpunished get their just rewards. When they’re assigned the case of a serial killer it starts to look like the bad guy is actually one of New York’s finest. With a grainy video featuring Turk as the talking head owning up to the killings popping up on screen it’s easy to see why the audience followed by fellow detectives Perez (John Leguizamo) and Riley (Donnie Wahlberg) not to mention their superior Lieutenant Hingis (the long absent Brian Dennehy) suspect that Turk is the culprit. Of course with every shred of evidence pointing to Turk it seems too pat that he’s the guy. Guilty or not it’s why the culprit feels righteous in the killing that keeps you hanging in till the end.

The Women could not be more aptly named since aside from one infant there is never even an ounce of testosterone on screen - although Annette Bening’s character Sylvia Fowler appears to have a fair amount of it coursing through her veins along with a quantity of ice water. Even with the magic of hair, make-up and lighting that does give her an alluring look, there still seems to be too big of an age gap to make us believe that she and Mary Haines (Meg Ryan) were college classmates. Their post graduate friendship remains constant despite Sylvia being a fashion mag shaker in Manhattan and Mary being a work at home dress designer in Connecticut. Along the way accumulated friends include baby machine Edie Cohen (Deborah Messing) and the lesbian dabbling Alex Fisher (Jada Pinkett Smith). Through a mouthy Saks manicurist (perfect Debi Mazar) they find out that Mary’s husband is spritzing Crystal Allen (Eva Mendes) the spritzer girl in the perfume department. Time passes and Mary faces even more humiliation and abandonment from others close to her. As friends rally to the rescue sage advise is meted out by a fellow retreat patient Leah Miller (Bette Midler in a weak and unnecessary role) but the best lines come from housekeeper Maggie (Cloris Leachman) and especially Candace Bergman who quietly steals every scene she’s in. The Women isn’t going to drag in many guys on any given weekend who are ready for some football but it’s a good comedy that even lampoons its roots as a 1939 movie of the same name.

Also out this weekend:
Journey Into Amazing Caves
Ploning

Lakeview Terrace is the name of a suburban Californian cul-de-sac where Chris (Patrick Wilson) and Lisa (Kerry Washington) Mattson, a young inter racial Chicago couple become first time buyers. Abel Turner ( Samuel L. Jackson) is the guy next door who happens to be one of LAPD’s finest. To his fellow cops he’s a father figure, to the rest of the neighbourhood he’s a guardian angel but Chris and Lisa have the displeasure of getting to know the man that his children have to endure – a mean, racist manipulator. As the California fire season escalates so does the friction over the back yard fence and both seem headed out of control. Lakeview Terrace doesn’t really live up to its promise – there’s no lake, no view and no terrace but that’s the only thing about this film that isn’t predictable. However it’s salvaged via the creepy tension that builds thanks to Jackson’s menacing portrayal Abel Turner. Kudos as well to the writers who judging from the trailers could have gone the easy route and delivering yet another revenge flick but didn’t.
 

Ghost Town is a rib tickling take on the old “I see dead people” cliché. Britain’s Ricky Gervais brings his “brilliant” subtle sarcasm to the role of Bertram Pincus, a transplanted New York dentist with an uber anal personality who ironically runs into trouble during a colonoscopy. Foregoing a local and electing for a general anaesthetic the worst that can happen does happen and he dies briefly on the operating table. By the way comedy kudos to Kristen Wiig as the litigation dodging surgeon responsible for this mini mortification. This trauma leaves Bertram with the unique ability to see ghosts of the dearly departed and New York appears to have a lot of them. Most vocal and persistent is Frank Herlihy (Greg Kinnear). As the cliché goes, these spirits are unable to leave earth because they have unfinished business and they all want the reluctant dentist to help with. Frank’s reason for a delayed departure isn’t so clear other than he’s determined to sabotage the upcoming marriage of his widow Gwen (Tea Leoni). The rest of the story is textbook except for the text which is remarkably well written and half the reason this predictable story works so well. The other half is Gervais spot on delivery of that text.

Igor is an animated family treat set in the gloomy kingdom of Malaria – aptly named since there is something bad in the air that has turned the sky dark. Under perpetual heavy storm clouds nothing much grows or prospers save for an over abundance of humps on the backs of a litany of unlucky individuals. As it turns out they are much in demand because this one industry kingdom survives by attracting evil geniuses who must dream up sinister inventions to threaten the world with unless a ransom is paid to Malaria’s King Malbert (Jay Leno). Of course no mad scientist would be complete without a dozy, subservient assistant with a slight case of scoliosis named Igor. One such Igor played by John Cusak is a bit different as he aspires to himself be an evil genius but works with a less than competent master Dr. Glickenstein (John Cleese) who has no trouble doing himself in. This Igor seizes the opportunity to impress the King with his creation at the fast approaching Evil Science Fair. Thinking the entry is Glickenstein’s The King would like nothing better than for it to win as he feels about to be usurped by the clever and bombastic Dr. Schadenfreude (Eddie Izzard) lately the most consistent mass mayhem producer. Igor’s plan to create the ultimate creation – a living monster is
compromised when she decides that she’s more inclined to kind deeds and a career as an actress. Igor and a couple of his home made pals (Steve Buschemi and Sean Hayes) have to reverse her personality to win first prize while trying to keep their secret not only from the king but also Dr. Glickenstein. I’m no Igor but I have a hunch this will do well at the box office.
 

Blindness focuses on dwellers of an anonymous city (Guelph Ontario) that after casual contact with one another are stricken by an unexplainable loss of vision and all of a sudden it’s Lord of the Flies time. Mark Ruffalo plays one of the characters all of whom are deliberately nameless. He’s an optometrist who treats the first person stricken by the contagious sightlessness that plunges its victims not into total darkness but total whiteness. In no time anyone that he has had contact with is in the dark (or should I say light) and that includes the doctor but for some unexplained reason not the doctors wife (Julianne Moore). A myopic government has a jackboot solution for the spreading virus. With concentration camp logic they isolate the afflicted in some secure but long abandoned institution. As the facility becomes overcrowded democracy breaks down. When a bartended (Gael García Bernal) shows up with a gun and teams up with an accountant (Toronto’s Maury Chaykin) who is blind from birth and feeling mad with power in his suddenly advantageous position, tyranny becomes the rule of law. Our point of view always gravitates to the sphere of influence of the doctor and his wife, a small group that includes a man with an eye patch (Danny Glover) and a thief played by Canada’s always excellent Don McKeller. While some stress out because of their disability some actually come to relish their new condition. This stylish Canadian co-production goes on a little long but goes a long way to not looking Canadian as it deals with the breakdown of civility when a major crisis begets anarchy.

I Served the King of England is not the boast that the protagonist of this pre and post Nazi Czech comedy. He is Jan Díte played as a younger opportunist by Ivan Barnev and by Oldrich Kaiser in his reflective twilight years. Our hero aspires to be in that class but never seems to have the moral fibre. Jan was a long time protégé of a maitre‘d at Prague’s prestigious Hotel Paris who was a royal server and who almost received a medal from the king of Ethiopia. This literally turned out to be too tall of an order so the medal went to Jan and his bragging rights to that award prove useful later in life. Jan’s career as a waiter at several high end establishments was made possible by a rich benefactor who saw his potential and also coached Jan on his prime interest, acquiring wealth. With his quirky coin tossing he discovers early on that no matter who, people will do anything for money - but never seems to be able to turn that to his advantage. Although through reflective voiceovers Jan often laments about bad luck, as a young man he seems very fortunate with women although mostly because he had money. That luck with women seems to run out during the war when he marries his one true love and she turns out to be a raving Hitler youth. Often served with a side of fantasy especially when the idle rich are on screen I Served The King of England may come up for review at Oscar time for best foreign language film.

Girls Rock! Treats us to a week long school of rock without Jack Black but with twice the insecurities. Portland Oregon is headquarters for this seven day camp that draws young women from pre teen to late adolescence regardless of musical ability (usually minimal). In their few days together some eighty to ninety girls form bands based on music genres, learn rudimentary musicianship and write a song to be performed at weeks end in front of a crowd of about 600. The documentarians show great skill by drawing out some nasty demons behind the angelic faces and the girls who take part learn a lot about self esteem, self defence, cooperation – in short that girls rock!.

My Best Friend's Girl
Hounddog (Dakota Fanning)
Jellyfish Rated PG.
Love and Honor
Sweet Amerika

Eagle Eye is a top secret but ubiquitous monitoring system designed to keep the world safe from terrorists. Also designed to fight terrorism is the USA’s PATRIOT Act which hasn’t much to do with being patriotic and unlike most of the legislators that passed this sweeping law without really reading it, Eagle Eye has that document committed to its massive and unfailing memory. Its built in powers of logic have caused this machine to take a HAL (ie: from 2001: A Space Odyssey) course of action. This makes for a rather bad day for Jerry Shaw (Shia LaBeouf) a vagabond underachiever and single mom Rachel Holloman (Michelle Monaghan). These two strangers are forced to take risky orders from a detached female voice who gives eyewitness instructions when clearly the speaker is nowhere in sight. At first charged with terrorism and then aided by FBI agent Thomas Morgan (Billy Bob Thornton) the one thing that does not relent is the action which is non stop. Two decades ago with Shia LaBeouf starring this movie might ironically have caused inquiries about the plot being bovine shy (ie: “where’s the beef!”) Still any vehicle that discredits a dangerous law like the PATRIOT Act has to be given some props.

The Duchess is based on the lives and loves of Georgiana Spencer Duchess of Devonshire (a direct ancestor of Princess Diana) and is yet another gorgeous period piece (for those who like gorgeous period pieces) that Keira Knightly (Spencer) seems to be able to glide into effortlessly. Ralph Feinnes plays William a middle aged Duke who despite his hang dog expression and bored personality has quite a taste for the Devonshire “cream” but who still lacks an heir. With assurances of success in that department from Georgiana’s mother Lady Spencer (Charlotte Rampling in her element as the picture of proper stoicism) he takes the 17 year old as his bride. Within 2 years two children are born but with neither a son the Duke is feeling duped. Eventually a boy is sired but not before William used his manipulative power to broker an ongoing ménage a trios (although never in the same room) with the Duchess and her best friend (Privilege has its membership!) but things get heartbreakingly complicated due to the offspring of Georgiana and her lover Charles Grey (Dominic Cooper). Like her cherished descendant, the Duchess proves to be a beloved trend setter and activist as she journeys through this story that delves into the 19th century politics of aristocratic marriage.

Tell No One is the cryptic sign off attached to an email to Alex Beck (François Cluzet) a French paediatrician who would even give a thug the benefit of the doubt if his child was in need (this pays off big time later). Also attached is what appears to be grainy security camera video of his wife Margot (Marie-Josée Croze) entering an underground station. He’s shocked and incredulous because Margot was the victim of a vicious murder eight years previous. While he becomes convinced that she’s somehow miraculously alive the police believe that current events warrant re-opening the case and the good baby doctor is their prime murder suspect. The plot keeps you guessing as the mix of characters gets thicker to include Alex’s father, his father in law, his wife’s best friend and a titled politician whose son has a misguided sense of entitlement. As Alex closes in on the truth about Margot les gendarmes are closing in on him not to mention a small but cold blooded and efficient group of assassins. Tell No One is a pretty good whodunit that makes it easy to see why the Harlan Coben novel of the same name is such and international best seller.

Miracle at St. Anna has its origins in the Italian theatre of the dying days of World War 2 but culminates early in the movie in 1983 when postal worker Hector Negron (Laz Alonso) goes postal by using a German Lugar to dispatch a seemingly innocent customer in need of a stamp. The ensuing police investigation of the former Corporal’s apartment by Detective Ricci (John Turturro) leads to the discovery of not only a Purple Heart but also a priceless sculpture. This sets off an international stir although why John Leguizamo is tossed into the mix at this point is a mystery and more importantly a waste of time as the film is uncomfortably long. With the war winding down and the US Army running out of recruits the military was forced to allow blacks to take on combat roles previously thought beyond the capability of an African-American. A handful of these soldiers after being turned into cannon fodder find themselves behind enemy lines but in a position of advantage considering the coming German offensive. They include Staff Sergeant Stamps (Derek Luke taking on the role earmarked for tax troubled Wesley Snipes) and  Sergeant Cummings (Michael Ealy) and while regrouping Private Train (Omar Benson Miller) adopts a seemingly mentally challenged orphan who turns out to be the “miracle” after events at a Tuscan church called St. Anna. Taking refuge in a village they discover it harbours a group of partisans holding a German soldier who for some reason has been marked for death by Adolph Hitler himself. Adapted from James McBride’s 2003 novel of the same name, this is the latest project from Spike Lee so making a racial point is expected bit it’s not made with a lot of impact and gets distracted by plot twists that go nowhere. The real miracle will be if it makes a big impact at the box office.

Nights in Rodanthe (with Richard Gere and Diane Lane)
Choke (starring Sam Rockwell and Anjelica Huston)
The Lucky Ones (with Tim Robbins and Rachel McAdams)
Hashar: A Love Story
Shoot on Sight

Flash of Genius is that defining moment of inspiration that occurs in someone’s life that leads to a significant step forward for mankind. The burden of proof of this can be oppressive. Take the lengthy case of Dennis Kearns (Greg Kinnear who has just about attained the loveable everyman status of Tom Hanks and Jimmy Stewart). Anyone who has driven in the rain lately owes him a debt of gratitude for coming up with the variable speed windshield wiper. They might not know that Ford stole the idea from him which lead to the rest of the car manufacturing world picking his pocket too. The ensuing legal battle was not pretty as it consumed Kearns so much so that he lost his family, his home, his job and briefly his sanity. The ending is no surprise for anyone who can goggle and the dreams of a techno-geek seem like pretty dry stuff. Still nothing stirs up the dramatic juices like a pithy courtroom scene and there’s an adherent charm to a David and Goliath story where a feisty little guy risks everything to single handedly do battle with slimy corporate lawyers. It’s also a story that should be told if for no other reason than as a warning against the clothes and hairstyles of the ‘70’s – definitely NOT a flash of genius.

Appaloosa takes us back to the post civil war Wild West where former soldiers Virgil Cole (Ed Harris) and Everett Hitch (Viggo Mortensen) are now soldiers of fortune looking for towns in need of law and order for a hefty price. They find exactly what they want in the dusty hamlet of Appaloosa where the sparse population is recently down by one sheriff and two deputies who never came back after heading out to arrest the murderin’ Randall Bragg (Jeremy Irons with a variable Daniel Day Lewis American accent). The city fathers have no choice but to agree to grant the extraordinary powers demanded by Cole and Hitch as Bragg’s men are whuppin’ and whompin’ ‘round town with great abandon. They soon bring outer peace to Appaloosa but the inner peace of the new marshal gets very disturbed by the arrival of the piano player Allison French (Renée Zellweger). It’s not long before she and Cole  are an item planning a love nest but as time goes on Allison’s virtue comes into question while the virtuous Virgil is continually thwarted with his efforts to have the surprisingly well connected Bragg swinging from the business end of a rope. For fans of the western genre Appaloosa does justice to frontier justice and even has the hero riding off into the sunset.

Religulous is a documentary that puts organized religion under satirical scrutiny. Who could imagine that the irreverent topical comedian Bill Maher would be the driving force both in front and behind the camera? Teamed up with Borat director Larry Charles, before making the sober point that we’ll never see salvation until we turn our backs on the Salvationists, there’s a lot of laughs as Maher literally plays devils advocate. With Maher as the talking head the two globe trot sparring with religious figures who display various degrees of zeal but who all trace their roots back to Abraham. Surprisingly the most liberal thinkers are two Vatican priests but among those crucified on their own cross examination  are a Mexican second coming of Christ, a Holocaust denying Rabbi, a Dutch Marijuana priest, a Muslin extremist rapper and Jesus from a Florida Bible theme park. With Clarence Darrow skill Maher uses the new and old testaments as well as the Koran to logically question what so many believe to be God’s own truth. The film is as enlightening as it is entertaining but with the audience that it is likely to attract he’s probably going to end up preaching to the converted.

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist suggest music as a backdrop. While this couple have common musical tastes, at play is the list of activities they engage in one New York night while trying to locate the venue of a secret performance by the popular but reclusive band called “Where’s Fluffy?” Nick has been dumped by Tris (Alexis Dziena) his long-time girlfriend of 6 months which is something that he refuses to accept and continues to leave her rambling and pathetically funny voice mails as well as sending her  thoughtfully made mix CD’s which end up in the trash. These are often salvaged by Norah who is fascinated by the mysterious music maker. These two are not really friend but Norah tolerates Tris despite having to endure her constant slagging because Tris is friend with Norah’s best friend Caroline (Ari Graynor who may have the funniest character in the movie) On the night of the Fluffy gig Nick’s gay band mates drag him out of his Tris-fed funk to their club engagement where he hooks up with Norah – each doing the other a favour to avoid being humiliated in front of their respective exes. As the night wears on Nick and Norah gravitate and repulse over and over as they try to decide on each other or to rekindle their past relationships. Kat Dennings as Norah continues to add to her filmology of characters that she’s made interesting and Michael Cera who has “the aimless teen” down to a fine science, applies it again here to the character of Nick so fans who can’t get enough will again be treated to the milquetoast they crave.

How to Lose Friends & Alienate People is based on Toby Young's memoir of the same name and features British comic actor Simon Pegg again making inroads with an American audience. This time he transplants himself in the USA courtesy of an offer he can’t refuse. He can’t refuse because one of his employees has left and he owns the office fax machine. Figg plays Sidney Young a hard hitting journalist with lots of integrity but an abrasive personality. His irreverent magazine is failing badly so when a New York call comes in from a hirsute suit (the ageless Jeff Bridges as magazine mogul Clayton Harding) he’s off to the Big Apple. Even by New York standards he proves to be rude as he tries to decipher the code of scaling the literary corporate ladder. Kirsten Dunst is Alison Olsen who finds Sidney as repulsive as everyone else but is forced to quasi mentor him at Sharps magazine. It’s not until he surrenders his moral compass and agrees to play ball with the manipulative agent to the stars Eleanor Johnson (Gillian Anderson) that things start to turn around for him. He also starts to make some headway with Sophie Maes (Megan Fox) the girl of his dreams. Figg has a talent for being believable whether playing a slob or being straight laced and he’s a past master of physical comedy which serves him pretty well here. Although this film is entertaining his other films are better so maybe coming to America will win him new friends and motivate people to have a second look at Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz.

Also out this weekend:
Beverly Hills Chihuahua
Blindness
Drona
Kidnap
Wild Ocean 3D

Body of Lies unites two powerhouse performers Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe (emphasis on “house” here as Crowe put on about 50 pounds for the role). Crowe is Ed Hoffman a Langley CIA honcho who firmly believes in the U.S. Middle East mission and can vacillate all day on the need to win. DiCaprio plays Roger Ferris, Hoffman’s legs in the hot zones who spends most of the film healing new wounds from his latest mission inadvertently sabotaged by his boss because he trusts no one. Hoffman orchestrates these disasters from the stateside comfort of a big screen war room where satellite technology allows him a bird’s eye view of the caper going on half a world away and quarterbacks the action via cell phone hands free although surprisingly without the aid of blue tooth technology. Their biggest problem is that the bad guys are going even older school i.e. communicating without electronics making it impossible to track their activity. When a new chief fanatic starts randomly bombing western cities world wide help from the Jordanian locals is required and Jordan’s top cop warily lends Ferris a hand with one proviso – NO lies. As usual trouble arises when Hoffman makes a liar out of Ferris whose sympathies are being tested by his attraction to a beautiful Iranian medic. Ace performances and Ridley Scott’s direction of an intricate timely story from the 2007 novel of the same name about a no win situation make Body of Lies a winner.

City of Ember is a subterranean village which was engineered as a place for human salvation by a previous and obviously advanced civilization that met some unexplained cataclysm. Their planned means to recolonize the world got lost over the decades and the city is falling into disrepair. Most people are blithely going about their lifelong jobs assigned at puberty and hoping for the best. Doon Harrow (Harry Treadaway) is a young man assigned to work with Sul (a rarely seen Martin Landau) his perfect trade unionist attitude pipe fitter boss but the non conformist Doon is determined to right the decaying generator that is the lifeblood of the community. Another curious soul is Lina Mayfleet (Saoirse Ronan) who as a descendant of a previous town mayor stumbles upon the plan for re-gentrification but can not immediately decipher the damaged instructions. Bill Murray plays the current unsavoury town father Mayor Cole whose pot belly belies the current food shortage. Lina’s connection to Doon goes back further than their current friendship as her late father has a connection with Doon’s father Loris (Tim Robbins) who has a talent for building contraptions with no apparent use. This cute family film takes us on a wholesome adventure as Doon and Lina join forces to try to save their fellow citizens before their neighbourhood truly is a city of embers.

RocknRolla would suggest a lot of hard edged power chords but mostly we’re dealing with deception, payoffs, bribes and money laundering as London mobsters try to muscle their way into a veneer of legitimacy. The only musician we meet is a chart topper with a golden arm and a talent for coming back from the dead. We meet Johnny Quid (Toby Kebbell) after he’s resurrected himself to steal a painting from Lenny Cole (Tom Wilkinson with an uber receding hairline) an old school gangster who just happens to be his step father. Unfortunately the artwork is on loan as a good faith gesture from Uri (Karel Roden), a Russian nouveau racketeer that Lenny is doing business with. Uri is taking investment advice from Stella (Thandie Newton) a luscious chain smoking dollar diva who in turn is taking a cut of millions in rubbles for setting up the high jacking of Uri’s money mules. To do this she hires a trio of thugs headed by a man known only as One Two (Gerard Butler) who as it turns out owes a great deal of money to Lenny. Tossed into the intricate mix is Jeremy Piven as Johnny Quid’s record producer. This underground merry-go-round story circles with the same speed and ingenuity of other Guy Ritchie projects like Snatch or Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and again the former Mr Madonna is finally back in top form directing this rocking and rolling film.

 The Express is an apt nickname that is never really spoken in this biopic but eventually becomes a newspaper visual as the best way to headline the college gridiron feats via the feet of 60’s Heisman Trophy winner Ernie Davis (affable Rob Brown). This elevating story of a poor kid with a prominent stutter who exploited his speedy talent is truly inspirational but it might not have happened without the help of U of Syracuse coach Ben Schwartswalder (Dennis Quaid) not to mention his closely knit family especially his even handed grandfather who for several years was the only parent Ernie knew as a boy. The story is juxtaposed perfectly over the obligatory but crunchingly realistic football plays. Kudos to Omar Benson Miller as Jack Buckley his fellow team mate currently on screen in Miracle at St Anna who again plays a charming and funny giant. Being the MVP-est of all college football payers is accolade enough but when you’re the first black athlete to take the honour it’s historic so it seems odd that Ernie Davis is not a household name yet OJ is. Why eventually comes to light but maybe the bigger story is how far racial attitudes have changed in less than 50 years from a time when often more challenging than the pounding on the field was the physical threat from the fans in the stands..

Also out this weekend:
Quarantine (no press screenings)
An American Carol

Passchendaele is a village in Belgium that in WW1 became synonymous with the phrase cannon fodder. It was also one of the places that Canadian military bravery helped morph this vast country of only 6 million people at the time from colony status into a nation. Canadian actor Paul Gross known for wearing his maple leaf on his sleeve has been working long and hard to get this project on screen and literally did everything to bring it about by producing, writing and directing himself in the starring role. He plays Michael Dunne a shell shocked sergeant back home in Calgary dealing with post traumatic stress long after his physical wounds heal. Holding his hand is nurse Sarah Mann (Caroline Dhavernas) who we find out is probably Canada’s first junkie. We also find out that her father and Sgt Dunne fought together at Vimy Ridge but not in a good way. Most of the film shows the sergeant and the nurse getting cozy despite their baggage juxtaposed against the stunning tranquility of early 20th century foothills majesty. However when Sarah’s brother David (Joe Dinicol) is pressured to do his duty for God and King, Michael tags along even though the enemy isn’t the most dangerous thing he might face in the European mud. The hellish climactic battle on the deluged pockmarked fields of Passchendaele stand up against any desperate firefight ever filmed until an unbelievably corny Christ metaphor gets tossed in. Thanks to partial funding from Astral Media this is the most expensive Canadian film ever made and aside from one or two eye rolling moments the story works and stands up as a fitting tribute to a nobler time.

Battle in Seattle has the streets of Vancouver doubling as Starbucksville and takes a look behind the troubled scenes of the 1999 protest of the World Trade Organization meeting in the Emerald City. Ray Liotta gets his stride back playing Seattle Mayor Jim Tobin who is all for first amendment rights but feels he has outsmarted planned protests to interfere with the global corporate confab. Unfortunately he underestimated the networking on the streets which proved that the WTO wasn’t the only group in town with organization. When the disruption of the city proved too successful his worship started getting pressure from the Clinton White House and reluctantly the constitution went out the window. As batons started swinging and protest signs were hardly visible due to teargas and pepper spray. The story gets personal with a police officer named Dale (Woody Harrelson) and his pregnant wife Ella (Charlize Theron) who inadvertently ends up on opposite sides of the police brutality. This resulting tragedy puts Dale ends at extreme odds with protest ringleader Jay (Martin Henderson) and Lou his love interest (Michelle Rodriguez). Kudos to Outkast’s Andre Benjamin as Django for providing some lighter moments to an intense face-off. The movie effectively makes the point that there are a lot of people worldwide who have issues with the unregulated power of the WTO and that although Seattle was the last place their voice could be effectively heard an impression was made – but will that impression ever have a significant impact.
 

Morning Light is the name of a speedy sailing ship with the raison d’etre of streaking from California to Hawaii in a race called TRANSPAC. The ship belongs to Roy E. Disney who nowadays is a live ringer for his Uncle Walt Disney’s reanimated cryogenically frozen head. In his lifetime he’s done the race 19 times and won it in 1999. Now he’s out to be the benefactor for a handful of kids hovering around the 20 year old mark. From many only 15 are chosen and of those only 11 will be tapped to train and compete in the perilous 2500 mile race across a Pacific no mans land. More than an after school special but not quite a reality show, aboard Morning Light we see the team gel and mature over a 6 month training period and through some truly amazing cinematography spend 10 days on the high seas with them as they impressively hold their own and triumph against professional sailors.

Sex Drive is a teen road picture with a too cute name that could not be funnier even though the premise goes back over 20 years to The Sure Thing. Josh Zuckerman plays Ian with all the raging hormones of a high school grad that go unsatisfied because of his shyness. This may be because his real passion for his best friend Felicia (Langley’s Amanda Crew) is a lost cause although it’s obvious to anyone watching except for Ian and Felicia that she feels the same about him. The peripheral characters around these two are the real source of the side splitting comedy especially Ian’s perpetually taunting grease ball brother Rex (an outstanding James Marsden) who feels that Ian will be infected with gayness unless he soon knows the touch of a woman. Little does Rex know that Ian has a good thing going with Ms Tasty (30 Rocks Katrina Bowden), an internet hottie who unfortunately is a 9 hour drive away in Knoxville. When she cyber promises to make a man out of him he commandeers Rex’ cherry GTO Judge and turbo charges to Tennessee along with his two best friends Felicia and Lance (Clark Duke) a smooth but extremely unlikely Don Juan. Along the way there’s more fun with Seth Green as an Amish farmer with a penchant for sarcasm which he laments is lost on his people. Although the most horse power he drives is one, he’s a whiz mechanic who always seems to be there when this trio’s hot wheels cool down – the service charge: being subjected to his sarcastic banter. Sex Drive features mostly heretofore minor actors who should break out due to their fine work on this film which is often raunchy, always funny and definitely worth the trip.
 

Also out this weekend:
W.
The Secret Life Of Bees
Max Payne

Pride and Glory is a generational cop film that degenerates quickly. It does feature fine performances from the top down – the top being the family patriarch Francis Tierney (John Voight) a career cop whose two sons Francis Jr (Noah Emmerich) and Ray (Edward Norton) also serve as two of New York’s finest. His daughter Megan (Lake Bell) is not on the force but her husband Jimmy (Colin Farrell) is. In short order we find out that Jimmy is on the take while Francis Jr’s is distracted from his command position because his brave wife Abby (Jennifer Ehle) is a terminal cancer patient. When 3 NYPD officers show up dead in a crack house Francis Sr presses the reluctant Ray to abandon stress leave to head up the investigation. Early on we find out that the brutally sadistic Jimmy had a part to play in the three blue uniforms down and when the incredulous Ray makes the connection with his brother in law he’s under a lot of pressure to honour blood ties. Fans of gritty cop movies may find this glorious but cynics of formulaic films may not feel that Price and Glory is anything to be proud of.

Rachel Getting Married isn’t so much about Rachel (Rosemarie DeWitt) although her upcoming nuptials do focus on her psychologically fragile sister Kym (an Oscar bound Anne Hathaway although impossible to ugly up no matter how hard they try). She’s checked herself out of rehab for the weekend to attend Rachel’s fall wedding at the family’s upper middle class Connecticut home now run by her step mother and doting father. She spends the next 3 days blithely upstaging her sister’s big day. This drama queen stirs up plenty of drama as sibling rivalry and the bond of sisterhood duke it out with equal measure. Through all this we find that Kym’s drug problem is at the heart of a family tragedy the residual guilt of which causes a physical slug fest between Kym and her birth mother Abby (the too long absent Deborah Winger). This film has the look and feel of a wedding video which like all wedding videos tends to go on for too long and focus too extensively on extraneous minutia. On the other hand Rachel Getting Married does leave you feeling like you just took part in a really cool wedding.

Closing the Ring is the name of a brilliant book by Winston Churchill chronicling a critical time in the Second World War. This film of the same name is also about the Second World War but has nothing to do with Winston Churchill and is far from brilliant. Misha Barton who flamed out on the TV series The OC has resurfaced sharing a character with Shirley MacLaine - who is very good but no matter what she believes this role will not reincarnate her career. They both play Ethel Ann at the summer and winter of her life and when we meet her she still lives in Michigan a stones throw from her lifelong friend Jack. Christopher Plummer (who never looked so bored in a role) also shares that role of Jack with another former teenage angst TV star, Everwood’s Gregory Smith. Back in the 40’s he was one of three suitors for Ethel Ann but not the one she fell in love with. We catch up to everyone in the 1990’s with the passing of one of that trio who married Ethel Ann but we find out he was not the one that she was in love with. About this time seemingly unrelated events in sectarian divided Ireland involving a scrap metal collector (Pete Postlethwaite), a fresh faced kid and his granny plus a long ago engraved ring conspire to tell us the whole sad story. Often as corny as a GI ration of bully beef this Notebook wannabe takes a very long time to show that it’s not really even noteworthy.

Also out this weekend:
Saw V
High School Musical 3: Senior Year
I.O.U.S.A
Heroes
Roadside Romeo

Happy-Go-Lucky is a British film that was a bit of a darling at these years VIFF. It introduces us to the blithe and terminally perky Pauline Cross a woman of thirty that is known to all as Poppy. She doesn’t take much seriously except for her job as a primary school teacher to which she is perfectly suited and very good. There’s also a certain freshness about her as she’s always up for a challenge and will face it head on with much gusto - so when her bicycle gets stolen she doesn’t get mad she gets a learner’s permit. This leads to several amusing exchanges with Scott (Eddie Marsan) a bible thumping, racist driving instructor with a short car and an even shorter fuse. There’s also ongoing and engaging girl talk with her copasetic flat mate of many years. Just when you thought she couldn’t be happier she hooks up with a guy who happens to be perfect but by this time you know Poppy so well it’s confusing as to why there aren’t a dozen similar guys buzzing around constantly so attractive is her personality. Without much in the way of drama Happy-Go-Lucky still has to make the star Sally Hawkins happy to have lucked into such a part and the producers must be feeling the same about her.

Changeling is the folklore term for a good child replaced by faeries with a strange child. In 1923 this was no faerie tale for Christine Collins a single Las Angeles mom in a time of zero social safety nets who works hard to make a comfortable life for her and her eight year old son Walter (Gattlin Griffith). One day while working overtime Walter goes missing and after 10 days of agony word comes that the boy has been found. The joyful reunion is deflated when Christine realizes that the boy claiming to be Walter is not her son. However the fledgling and corrupt LAPD headed by Chief James E. Davis (Canada’s Colm Feore) refuse to believe her. Things don’t turn around until she comes to the attention of Rev. Gustav Briegleb (John Malkovich who is so good he can even make his hairpiece seem real) an evangelist with his own radio show and plenty of fire and brimstone for the local constabulary. Usually the state is the voice of reason against church dogma but here it’s an ironic reversal as the establishment uses inquisition like logic as twisted proof of their case and it’s the church that does the scrutinizing. A subdued looking Angelina Jolie is great portraying Christine, a woman victimized by startlingly draconian authorities but seems to be shooting for an Oscar –she’s in almost every scene and weeping openly in most of them. Just as the sizzle starts to fizzle things heat up again with a diabolical character Gordon Northcott (Jason Butler Harner) whose capture by authentic looking Mounties in Vancouver (with a nifty 1920’s skyline) vindicates Christine. Director Clint Eastwood does a beautiful job of recreating an era bit it’s strange that he didn’t substitute a shorter offering which might have made Changeling good.

What Just Happened? Is the latest in a long line of films featuring Hollywood lampooning itself. Somewhat reminiscent of cable TV’s Extras which takes a satirical view of celluloid show business from the bottom up, this perspective is from a top down.
We are taken through a week of mayhem with Ben (Robert De Niro whose perfectly fitting hat this time is comedy). He has to massage a situation between Jeremy Brunell (Michael Wincott) a neurotic director and Lou Tarnow (Catherine Keener) a cut throat studio head who wants to gut Jeremy’s latest Sean Penn masterpiece that has tested through the basement. Meantime Ben is gearing up for his next project and getting no help from Dick Bell (John Turturro) the agent for the picture’s star - a bearded, bloated and bad tempered Bruce Willis who is marvellously belligerent about losing neither the fringe or the fat.. On top of this Ben has the pressure of separating from his second wife Kelly (Robin Wright Penn) who he still loves even though he discovers she’s having an affair with a married associate. We meet Ben expounding on how important who you stand beside is as he gets ready for a Vanity Fare cover photo of tinsel town producers. As the film wraps up we find out if Ben is front and centre or moved to the periphery because of what just happened.

Also out this weekend:
 Heaven On Earth
The Haunting of Molly Hartley
Patti Smith: Dream of Life
Fashion
Golmaal Returns
The Other End of the Line
Before I Forget

Zack and Miri Make a Porno is pretty funny for a movie that gives so much away in the title. We’ve seen this story countless times before about long time friends who probably should be romantically linked but just never hooked up but here we have a fresh although occasionally gross take on how one such couple finally gets together. Elizabeth Banks is more loveable than ever because of the game way she takes on the role of Miri who has been Zack’s (Seth Rogan) best friend since high school. As platonic roommates they constantly have to struggle with money on their minimum wage salaries. A high school reunion on a frigid Philadelphia Thanksgiving weekend provides the inspiration for going into the naughty film business to make ends meet (so to speak). You would think this would be a slam dunk with Point Grey grad and Hollywood wunderkind-of-hilarity Seth Rogan directed by Kevin “Silent Bob” Smith who brings back a lot of his slacker Clerks buddies like Brian O'Halloran and Jason Mewes not to mention Tracy Lords taking a risk after working so hard for years to become a legitimate actor after her past in the real porno world. Like any porno the hope is that the action has enough staying power until the end but alas this movie climaxes too soon and about the time film starts rolling the laughs start to peter out. The attraction to pornography isn’t the story line and there’s really nothing pornographic about the antics of Zack and Miri.

Let The Right One In is a Swedish vampire film that is also a sweet-ish vampire film. Oskar (Kåre Hedebrant) is a bullied twelve year old living in a frozen, dreary Stockholm suburb close enough to the Arctic Circle that the limited daylight of winter is a great environment for fanciers of nouveau haemoglobin. Sure this idea came up in 30 Days of Night but this is far less ham handed. The apartment next to his has new tenants - a stand-offish middle aged man and a girl of 12 (more or less) named Eli (Lina Leandersson). Eli gives Oskar the courage to face his fears but when bodies start piling up in a community this small they tend to really get noticed. It’s not long before Oskar figures out why Eli is immune to the cold and can’t stomach eating candy. The two young actors in their fledging screen roles could not be more endearing but besides the tender story is the impressive special effects for such a low budget film. Let the Right One In is a reference to the fact that a vampire has to be invited inside but there is also a reverse irony here when it comes to matters of the heart.

Role Models is yet another formulaic but ultimately watchable comedy with a message. Danny Donahue (Paul Rudd) is in a dead end job shilling energy drinks to school kids as an antidote to drugs. He shares this job with Wheeler (Seann William Scott) who quite to the contrary finds the gig a dream vocation. When Danny gets rejected by his upwardly mobile girlfriend Beth (Elizabeth Banks who is turning out to be this fall’s Hollywood “it” girl) he has a meltdown that leaves Danny and Wheeler facing prison time. Instead of 30 days they elect to do 150 hours of community service which turns out to be the less desirable option as their assignment is as Big Brothers to a couple of screwed up kids  Augie Farks (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) a nerdy Dungeons and Dragons junkie and Ronnie Shields (Bobb'e J. Thompson) a pint sized attitude with a rapid fire potty mouth. Thompson is a standout as an 11 year old with a lot of chops and at such a young age has a much larger filmography than Mintz-Plasse who has only one very memorable role as McLovin in Superbad on his résumé but with their help and a background in the American Pie franchise plus Knocked Up Rudd and Scott can act as role models on how to make the Hollywood comedy formula work.

I've Loved You For So Long is much loved in Vancouver as it was voted most popular film at this years Vancouver international Film Festival. Kristin Scott Thomas is superbly subtle as Juliette Fontaine a withdrawn woman just reunited after 15 years with her saintly sister Lea (Elsa Zylberstein). As the layers of Juliete’s shell are slowly peeled away we discover the reason for the separation, why Lea and her husband, a fertile couple chose to adopt two children and why her husband bears so much hostility towards Juilette, a woman he’s never known. The estrangement was due to a vile act by Juliette unforgivable by anyone she ever knew not to mention the audience. The artistry of I've Loved You For So Long is how the audience as one with the characters gradually come to forgive Juliette.

Also out this weekend:
Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa
Real Time
Soul Men

Quantum of Solace as any Ian Fleming aficionado would recognize is the title from 1060’s anthology For Your Eyes Only. That’s about all that is recognizable from the original in this script polished up by Canada’s Paul Haggis. Quantum conjures up a theory of physics regarding energy but Quantum here turns out to be a clandestine organization fronted by Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric) that MI6 can only theorize about since they appear to be invisible. What they do is destabilize governments so that greedy hands can corner the market on the world’s most precious commodity. Enter James Bond to shed light on these shady interlopers. He’s been searching for solace since his love life went sour and he enters the fray literally with guns blazing only hours after his heartthrob Vesper Lynd is dispatched in Casino Royale. Though not nearly so glib, traditional Bond fans won’t be disappointed as the action is non stop through endless romantic locations (filmed in six countries) and the gadgets continue to be the coolest although Bond himself tends not to be the end user. Characters with impossible names come up like field operative Strawberry Fields (Gemma Arterton) and his licence to kill still has the lady-killer clause as he seduces her but interestingly does not get busy with his reluctant partner Camille (Olga Kurylenko) also looking for revenge. Recurring are Judi Dench as M, Felix Leiter (Jeffrey Wright) and Giancarlo Giannini back to clear the name of René Mathis. For my money Daniel Craig continues to breathe new life into this long running franchise portraying the most believable 007 yet as his depression goes a long way to explain a nihilistic personality always intrinsic with the character James Bond.

Synecdoche, New York looks like but should not be confused with Schenectady NY where this story is set. If indeed you are not confused you will be by the end of this movie. Phillip Seymour Hoffman is Caden Cotard a little theatre director initially married to Adele Lack (Catherine Keener) literally a small time painter who dumps him to find fame and fortune in Germany. He alternately takes comfort in the arms of box office babe Hazel (Samantha Morton) and Claire Keen (Michelle Williams) one of the leads in his production of Death of A Salesman. Caden’s gets a big break with a very generous grant which he uses to stage a grandiose production that puts the title into perspective.  Synecdoche is a figure of speech relating to things acting on behalf of something else. As his project bloats over the years different actors stand in for bio-ed real people and then they themselves become part of the story. Years tumble into one another and Caden’s health diminishes but leaps of faith by the audience expand. Synecdoche, New York has some amusing philosophical “aha” moments but in the end bewilderment trumps the avant garde and even with supporting roles from heavyweights like Jennifer Jason Leigh, Hope Davis, Emily Watson, and Dianne Wiest  we end up with a story just like Hoffman’s character- a big fat mess. But man that’s acting!

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas isn’t really wearing PJ’s. He’s Shmuel (Jack Scanlon) an eight year old in a World War 2 concentration camp uniform who we don’t meet until well into this movie based on John Boyne’s bestselling novel. Bruno (Asa Butterfield) is the films true protagonist. His father (a very un-Harry Potter-like David Thewlisis) is an SS officer enjoying the perks that go along with a military promotion. Unfortunately for his family the new job means moving from Berlin to the countryside where their new mansion backs onto the work camp that he’s been put in charge of. His mother (Vera Farmiga) has a vague idea of life in the camp but the children don’t although Brunos older sister Gretel (Amber Beattie) is catching on fast – maybe just a little too fast. Although Bruno is forbidden from venturing past the back of the house his pre teen boredom and incorrigible curiosity take him to the barbed wire edge of papa’s workplace where he encounters Shmuel who becomes his only friend in the rural seclusion. His exposure to the house slave leaves him to draw conclusions that are diametrically opposed to the indoctrination lessons that his sister takes to heart from his history tutor. When his mother literally gets wind of the truth about the final solution being conducted at the camp she tears the family away from her husband but the twist that separates this from being another mien kampf mea culpa is the karma inadvertently inflicted upon the father by the boy in the striped pajamas.

 Also out this weekend:
Ping Pong Playa
JCVD

Twilight has little to do with that time just after dusk but who would have thought that we would get two fantastic teen vampire/mortal love stories in rapid succession and both based on enormously popular books. On the heels of Let the Right One In, Twilight reverses the roles and has a creature of the night boy with the girl now the potential dinner/date. Impressive Kristen Stewart who also gets to flex her vocal and song writing skills on the soundtrack plays Bella Swan who shuttles between Phoenix Arizona and the hamlet of Forks Washington to alternate between her divorced parents. Although Forks has not been on the agenda for a while it’s now taking on a more permanent status so Bella has to enrol in the local high school. Also on the attendance role is a standoffish family of teen brothers and sisters whose only family resemblance is their pale complexion. Edward Cullen (Britain’s Robert Pattinson) is the one who catches her eye and she his although he’s tense at first. The attraction seems to be that he can’t read her mind like he can everyone else’s. Perhaps this is his one shot at normalcy ie: good luck to any guy who knows what a woman is really thinking. As the two get cozy an uncharacteristic and un-gory background of the family comes to light – most fascinating is the take on iconic legends like what happens to a vampire when he comes into the light. Pattinson is no stranger to successful adaptations of serialized best sellers (he’s Cedric Diggory from the Harry Potter series) which is good because the sequel is obviously set up to continue on with the rest of the story based on this trilogy of books.

Bolt (John Travolta) is an animated pooch with an affable mug but a lightning tattoo to prove he means business. No ordinary dog, with his laser vision, battering ram skull and best of all super bark he’s able to fight the evil Green Eyed Man with the help of Penny (Disney darling Miley Cyrus) his turbo charged razor scooter ridin’ human. The trouble is he can’t really do all these things but he believes that he can because the genetically altered super dog he plays on TV has all those attributes. He’s constantly left sequestered in his dressing room trailer - the better to stay in character - but some hilarious cat taunting leaves him in a New York bound packing crate. In the Big Apple he encounters the street wise feline extortionist Mittens (wry veteran Susie Essman).Bolt is convinced that the Green Eyed Man is keeping penny hostage and is certain that he’s in league with Mittens so he forces her to lead him back across the country in order to save his co-star. Along the way they hook up with Rhino (Marvellously frenetic Mark Walton), a star struck hamster encased in a plastic ball who joins them enroute to their inevitable reunion with Penny. Disney has been doing this sort of thing so well for so long that it’s no surprise that this is another charmer even up against the current legion of pretenders making cartoon ka-ching. Bolt is going to leave a lot of families entertained during its run at the box office but more importantly over and over after the DVD release.

Slumdog Millionaire concisely states the outcome of a deprived lifetime that painfully prepares a young man from Mumbai for one critical moment in his life. Jamal Malik (British newcomer Dev Patel) who grew up in a tin roof shanty town built on a garbage dump was orphaned at a tender age and his only family is his slightly older brother Salim and Latika a girl also orphaned at the same time. Though much of their lives (set against an infectious soundtrack of an indigenous music hybrid) is spent apart, Jamal’s passion for Latika is indestructible. However when he concludes that she is untraceable he applies to be a contestant on the hugely popular Indian version of Who Wants To Be a Millionaire in hopes that Latika (stunning Freida Pinto) will see him. Despite his lack of education his life experiences with human traffickers, grifting tourists, sectarian violence and blood retribution coincidentally provide him with all of the right answers to the handful of questions that rapidly put him 10 million rupees to the good and make him a national star. The police however believe he is cheating and try to torture him into revealing his system. There’s plenty more tension added by the sleazy game show host, a local gangster and some pretty hostile sibling rivalry. Through all this Jamal never waivers in his belief that Latika is his destiny. My belief is that the destiny of Slumdog Millionaire is to turn up on the 2008 top 10 list of every film critic.
 

Growing Op if nothing else gives the uninitiated a ring side seat to a rarely highlighted Moncton, New Brunswick where this low budget Canadian film is was shot. Most recognizable is a not well aging Rosanna Arquette playing Diana Dawson, a stoner dropout school teacher along with series TV vet Wallace Langham as her ganja genus genius husband Bryce. The real focus of the film is their home schooled son Quinn (Steven Yaffee) studying Aristotle with his entrepreneurial Goth sister Hope (Katie Boland). Quinn is desperate for contact with his peers while disdainfully cultivating primo pot for dad and when Crystal Connors (Rachel Blanchard) the ultimate girl next door moves in across the street he shocks his parents by enrolling in public high school. Ironically the majority of his fellow students would like nothing better that to stay home all day with an unlimited supply of marijuana but here Quinn quickly discovers that the grass isn’t necessarily greener on the other side and winning the heart of Crystal is no cake walk. There is a cute coming of age angle here but the conclusion unlike dad’s sensimilla crème brule is no knockout.

Also out this weekend:
Triage: Dr. James Orbinski's Humanitarian Dilemma

Four Christmases goes a long way to legitimizing my unwritten axiom – beware of movies with an all star cast. But what a cast – Robert Duval, Cissy Spacek, Mary Steenburgen, Kristin Chenoweth, John Voight, Jon Favreau and country stars Tim McGraw and Dwight Yokum all trying desperately to make a comedy out of a script that isn’t funny. Kudos to Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn who despite personal creative differences managed to pull off something akin to on-screen chemistry. Too bad that isn’t enough. They play Kate and Brad, a San Francisco power couple committed to non-commitment who annually ditch Christmas with the family in favour of a sizzling time on a hot latitude. When their flight gets fogged in they are forced to attend four family gatherings – the result of each being the children of divorced parents. At every gathering secrets best left a mystery are revealed to Brad and Kate about each other which tug at their solid relationship. Sounds promising on paper but lame setups to lamer gags make Four Christmases the longest 82 minutes you’ll ever sit through and despite the quartet of stories set in the season of giving leaves us with nothing resembling a gift.

 Milk is a Gus Van Sant biopic about Harvey Milk, a San Franciscan who was the first openly gay man ever elected to public office in the USA. That today this would be no phenomenon at all speaks volumes as to the progress made since the ‘70’s. As a neophyte campaigner the power of his demographic once organized started to become clear although it took several tries before winning a seat as a city supervisor. It wasn’t until he faced off against the Anita Bryant’s of the world however that he realized putting that power to work wasn’t just a local political plank but a national fight for survival. Heavyweights like Canadian Victor Garber play supporting characters along with Emile Hirsch and James Franco as two of Milk’s boy toys and Josh Brolin in a seemingly minor but ultimately pivotal role. Told with the aid of some fascinating archival footage of the City by the Bay and some poetic camera angles Sean Penn is brilliant as Milk who was gunned down along with the mayor of San Francisco just after his biggest triumph in defeating proposition 6 that would ban gays teaching in California public schools. Surprisingly his assassin was a lot closer than any of the crank anonymous homophobes who made a multitude of worrisome death threats.

Also out:
Transporter 3

Nobel Son stars the loveable Alan Rickman playing a very unlikeable character. He’s Professor Eli Michaelson PhD soon to be Nobel laureate of chemistry, an accolade that makes him even more insufferable. Mary Steenburgen is Sarah a crackerjack lawyer and Eli’s long suffering wife. The family dynamic is explored through their son Barkley (Bryan Greenberg) the apple of his mother’s eye but as an anthropology student studying cannibalism a bitter disappointment to his father. We meet Barkley while he’s being mysteriously stalked while trying to bed (on a budget) a nutty beat poet and artist who goes by the name of City Hall (Eliza Dushku). Barkley’s stalker is Thaddeus James (Shawn Hatosy) who turns into his sadistic kidnapper in order to extort the Nobel Prize money from a reluctant Eli. It eventually turns out that most of these characters have an intimate connection that gradually unfolds thanks to the diligent police work of detective Max Mariner (Bill Pullman) who by the way has a thing going on with Sarah. Once the ransom is paid via a nifty Austin mini shopping mall switcheroo, a brainy game of whose-on-top? ensues to see who gets to spend the cash. The sometimes grizzly Nobel Son isn’t so much an intellectual treat but a clever caper film just the same.

Saving Luna is a gorgeous and tenderly poetic documentary five years in the making about an affectionate semi-famous orca orphaned in Nootka Sound earlier this decade.
Husband and wife journalists Michael Parfit and Suzanne Chisholm ended up devoting three years documenting the amazing story of Orca L 69 nick named Luna. He was abandoned by his pod in his infancy and his instinctive craving for companionship lead to a phenomenal interaction with humans in the waters off Gold River on Vancouver Island. Over time Luna became a political football among the Department of Fisheries, sports fishermen, First Nations People and a handful of loving locals. Another lesser anomaly is how the documentarians abandoned objectivity to become part of the story. The stunning backdrop looks like a travelogue for Tourism BC to illustrate to other humans how this is the best place on earth to be but leaves us wondering if it’s the best place for a lonely killer whale to be.

Also out this weekend
The Light Before Christmas
Punisher: War Zone
Restless
Touch of Spice

Frost/Nixon is the untold story behind those historic late 70’s face to face interviews between deposed president Richard Nixon and British entertainer David Frost as the unlikely interviewer. He landed the interview by appealing to Nixon’s soft spot – his wallet. What was supposed to be a mea culpa for tricky Dickie almost turned out to be a second coming as it soon became apparent that despite Frost’s cocky confidence he was in over his head in a financial way and further than Sarah Palin in a preparedness way. In the Nixon camp Kevin Bacon does a yeoman’s job as Jack Brennan but Diane Sawyer is probably just as glad that her portrayal as a Nixon advisor is relegated to a silent on camera role. Backup for Frost has Oliver Platt as executive editor Bob Zelnick and Sam Rockwell as James Reston, Jr. the passionate academic who saves the day. Michael Sheen as Frost is terrific. Most of the time if you close your eyes you’d swear it’s the real guy talking but he goes even further by pulling you right in to the angst that Frost felt when he was so close to catastrophic failure. Frank Langella’s take on Richard Milhous Nixon is masterful with the rounded shoulders, jowly hang dog speech pattern and fake smile that so perfectly complement the widow’s peak fronting a shock of slick helmet hair. Although the real interviews never put Nixon back on track this role may do just that for Langella who should get some chatter during the upcoming awards season.

Nothing Like the Holidays is really nothing like most stories based on tense family moments around the old Yule log. For starters other than mom and dad wanting a divorce there’s a lot of love in this Chicago family of 5 with ties to Puerto Rico. Mom (Elizabeth Peña) suspect’s dad (Afred Molina) of having an affair which he doesn’t deny and at dinner just prior to Christmas Eve announces her plan to split. This has quite an effect on the three siblings Jesse (Freddy Rodríguez) an Iraq war vet not damaged as much physically as mentally, Roxanna (Vanessa Ferlito) an aspiring actor not doing nearly as well in Hollywood as perceived at home and Mauricio (John Leguizamo) a New York financier whose wife Sarah (Debra Messing) being Jewish and being in no hurry at 36 to have kids is a constant source of family uneasiness. Returning home means that Jesse and Roxanna have to deal with unresolved matters of the heart not to mention putting up with avuncular cousin Johnny (Luis Guzmán) who steals every scene he’s in. There are some seasonal heart warmings that are genuine here along with sincere smiles through honest moments of humour as Nothing Like the Holidays does not succumb to the temptation of manufacturing cheap laughs through cheesy setups.

A Christmas Tale is a French take on the dysfunctional family Christmas get together but it is nothing like the gingerbread cutter formula we’re used to with this kind of story. It doesn’t repeatedly go for a punch line and what laughs do come up are pretty dark. Even the most sympathetic member of the family isn’t all that likeable. That would be Junon (Catherine Deneuve) the GILF matriarch of this clashing clan who is diagnosed with a rare disease that requires a risky bone marrow transplant. It turns out the best match is her son Henri (Mathieu Amalric currently on screen in Quantum of Solace) who happens to be the family pariah. The resulting Christmas feast reveals the skeletons stacked up in the hall closet and festering due to a family tragedy many years prior. This isn’t really light Christmas fare – it will leave you feeling like you had seconds of everything,

The Day the Earth Stood Still
Delgo
Flow: For Love of Water
Blue Gold: World Water Wars
Repo: The Genetic Opera
Who Is KK Downey?

The Tale of Despereaux takes us to a mythical kingdom where soup is king until the king outlaws soup. That’s because his queen dies tragically in a soup related incident precipitated by a rat named Roscuro ( Dustin Hoffman) who then makes his escape to the subterranean world of Rat Town where the evil Mayor (Frank Langella) is bent on manipulating Roscuro into conforming to the rat stereotype by shedding his love of sunlight and fine food. Close by is the subterranean mouse world is another nonconformist to his cowering and scurrying species, the lop eared Despereaux (Matthew Broderick) who prefers reading books rather than eating them. Although this give Despereaux Don Quixote like delusions, together these unorthodox rodents join forces to get the kingdom out of its unexplained spate of inclement weather and bring about an end to soup prohibition. The advances in computer generated imaging are evident here as the animation is stunning but even though adapted from a decorated children’s book and with a half hearted attempt at a message of forgiveness, nothing boosts the quality of the faulty story line. This is not particularly entertaining for adults and probably a little scary for some kids. One hard of hearing character with downs syndrome features being duped into an act of terrorism is borderline uncomfortable. Despereaux seems desperate to be another Ratatouille but it’s just not as tasty.

Yes Man stars Jim Carrey as Carl Allen an LA loans officer who can not let go of the hot wife who dumped him and is so damaged that he throws up an iron clad shell around himself so that even his best friends who are constantly throwing him a lifeline are routinely ignored. A chance encounter with an old acquaintance leads him to an encounter with life coaching guru Terrence Bundley (a very charismatic Terence Stamp) who forces Carl into a covenant to eliminate his best friend – the word NO – by saying “yes” to everything. This he does with great reluctance but finds that as promised good things come of it, the best of which is meeting sweet and quirky Allison (a free spirited Zooey Deschanel). It also become apparent that by saying “no” unpleasantness will follow. The upstart of this is that he says “yes” to some creepy yet hysterical stuff but Allison can’t decide if he’s in love or maintaining the covenant. As a winner in the hot and cold filmography of Jim Carrey, Yes Man gets a yes.

Also out this weekend:
Seven Pounds
The Secret of the Grain
Doubt
Filth and Wisdom

Gran Torino was a Ford product with muscle and attitude from a bygone era and in 1973 one was assembled in Detroit by auto worker Walt Kowalski (Clint Eastwood), a war vet with muscle and attitude from a bygone era. Walt bought the car off the line and it remains his pride and joy today as it sits in the garage/workshop behind his tidy house in a motor city suburb currently in transition. To say the least Walt is not a fan of the rainbow effect of the ethnic diversity going on around him as he spews racist diatribes with a lack of filters that would make Archie Bunker cringe. Walt has reached a point in his life where everything he’s worked for seems to be all for naught. His children and grandchildren are a complete disappointment and his wife has just died but not before assigning an annoying fresh faced priest Father Janovich (Christopher Carley) the task of saving his soul – a duty that the padre takes seriously. The one bright light in his life comes slowly and from an unlikely source, Sue Lor (Ahney Her) the sparkey teenage girl next door who is the first generation American of an immigrant Hmong family from Thailand. All this plays out with pathos and a lot of laughs until Thao Vang Lor (Bee Vang) an Asian gang initiate tries to steal the Gran Torino. At that point Walt’s leftover arsenal from Korea comes out of mothballs. Eastwood directs himself as Walt, a septuagenarian Dirty Harry who is a real guilty treat to watch.

Valkyrie is the name of an instantly recognizable piece by Wagner. Wagner was one of the few artists sanctioned by the Third Reich so it’s no surprise to have it as a code name for a military plan of action for the protection of the fuhrer should anyone want to launch a coup against Adolph Hitler. During he reign of terror there were over a dozen attempts to assassinate him, the last involved using Valkyrie – not to defend Hitler but to take him down. This could only be accomplished with some revisions of the Valkyrie mandate – no easy task since it involved the personal OK of the Reich Chancellor. The job was successfully done by Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg (Tom Cruise) a disenchanted soldier whose decorated war injuries landed him a cushy position with direct contact to Hitler. Once the Valkyrie changes were signed off a coup was launched that was perfect in every way save for one – nobody bothered to check the weather forecast. We all know what bunker Hitler met his fate in so the results of this adventure are easy to surmise. Still it makes for a ride as edgy and thrilling as that Wagnerian opus.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is an epic fantasy loosely adapted from the 1922 short story of the same name written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Benjamin Button (Brad Pitt) is born in New Orleans at the end of the First World War with all the characteristics of an octogenarian. His mother dies in childbirth and his industrialist father abandons him on the steps of a seniors care facility where he’s adopted by a kindly black woman called Queenie (Taraji P. Henson). Due to a grieving master watchmaker’s mysterious timepiece that runs counter clockwise, Benjamin proceeds through life aging backwards so being surrounded by a colourful bunch of warehoused old people proves to be a comfortable place to grow up (or down in this case). As a budding teen he meets the 7 year old Daisy (Elle Fanning - real life sister to Dakota with a striking family resemblance) who realizes his unique nature and despite his ancient appearance quickly falls in love with his kind heart.  Their lives intersect at various times while she peruses a bohemian career as a dancer and he experiences the world as a tugboat deck hand. The story starts to unfold as Caroline (Julia Ormond) a middle aged woman is reading aloud from Benjamin’s diary to her deathbed mother Daisy (an unrecognizable Cate Blanchett) while hurricane Katrina is bearing down on the Big Easy. The CGI used to make Pitt and Blanchett gravitate towards a median age is truly remarkable and even at two hours and twenty five minutes the story which feels like The Notebook meets Forest Gump is engaging enough that time doesn’t seem to have moved forward all that much.

The Reader was a fifteen year old West German boy named Michael who in 1955 took up reading aloud at the bedside of Hannah, a woman 18 years his senior. Hannah was no invalid but Michael cared for her dutifully, probably in large part because there was sex involved after each oration. The affair lasted one summer before Hannah launched into her usual mysterious vagabond routine and disappeared. He never sees her again until 11 yeas later when as a law student his class is assigned to sit in the court room for the trial of six SS war criminals. To his shock Hannah is one of the accused charged with systematically murdering hundreds of Auschwitz prisoners. As the trial progresses it becomes clear that Hannah would rather die than admit total illiteracy – an admission that could acquit her. Michael is the only other person who know and must live with the consequences of what he does with that knowledge. David Koss plays young Michael, a role taken over by Ralph Fiennes as Michael in his forties and fifties. Kate Winslet is an amazing Hannah not only as a scarred woman in her mid thirties and forties but also as a broken matron in her sixties. She makes you realize why the movie had to be an easy choice for a Golden Globe nomination with more honours probably on the way.

Also out Christmas Day:
Bedtime Stories
Adam Sandler and Courteney Cox
.Marley & Me
Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson
The Spirit
Samuel L. Jackson, and Scarlett Johansson