Written and Directed by Harris Goldberg, Numb stars Matthew Perry as a chronically depressed man who suddenly feels the desire to cure himself after meeting the girl of his dreams. The film also co-stars film veterans Kevin Pollack and Mary Steenburgen.

Screenwriter Hudson Milbank (Perry) suffers from a rare mental disorder called acute depersonalization, a disorder essentially leaving him disconnected, devoid of any feelings or emotions. He is obsessed with the grotesque level of sadness he feels on a daily basis and wastefully goes thru the motions. Humerously, he gets thru the average day watching lesbian excercise classes and the Golf channel while downing pill after pill in an attempt to cure himself. Doctor after Doctor seems at a loss to help him and merely throws a new prescription at him, in an attempt to help. Finally, on pure chance, Hudson meets the girl of his dreams, Sarah (Lynn Collins), and tries harder to cure his condition and win her over.

A dark comedy to be sure, Numb still does have some light humor within it and does a respectable job of showcasing Matthew Perry’s trademark wit and dry humor that made him so popular on Friends and in The Whole Nine Yards, however Perry never quite does reach the level of greatness he achieved in those past roles. In this role he never quite seems to “go for it” as an actor, the script often calls for him to be alone and brooding with some emotion or another behind the surface, and Perry’s lack of ability to convey that second layer, that deepness within the character is disappointing and often frustrating.

However, Perry’s chemistry with Lynn Collins is very good, and she brings a great, much needed upness to the film. She is impossibly adorable in the role, as her character attempts to both understand what Hudson is going threw and help him move past it. Her speech about what she thinks love should be is incredibly sweet and moving. As a result, I found myself rooting for them as a couple, more so than Hudson himself. I wanted him to move past his condition so they would suceed, and Sarah would be happy more so than Hudson, and perhaps thats a failing in the movie or perhaps my failing in identifying with him. Either way, it didn’t work the way it should’ve and that brought my opinion of the movie down considerably.

Overall, it is a okay (but nowhere near great) film that is extremely serious with some light humor and some cute moments sprinkled in. I think its main problem may’ve been its attempt at balancing the humerous moments with the serious, dry portrayal of Hudson’s condition. The viewer can sometimes be at a loss as to wiether or not its okay to laugh with Hudson or laugh at him or laugh at all. The direction just gets so serious most of the movie that the intended thoughts and emotions don’t quite come across very well, and to me, when you can’t clearly express where you want the audience to go emotionally, then you’ve lost them.

Based off the novel by Steven Gould, Jumper is directed by Doug Liman and adapted for the screen by David Goyer, Jim Uhls and Simon Kinberg. It tells the tale of a young man who discovers he has the ability to teleport anywhere in the world with only a thought, and the ancient society that has hunted those like him for centuries.

David Rice (Hayden Christiansen) discovers at a young age that he has some sort of genetic anamoly which allows him to teleport anywhere in the world. Irresponsibly, he uses his abilities to rob banks and live the high life style in a New York penthouse, which attracts the attention of a secret society, called Paladins, which have been hunting down Jumpers for centuries. He returns to his hometown in Michigan, and unwittingly drags his childhood crush, Millie (Rachel Bilson), into the mix and is approached by another Jumper, calling himself Griffin (Jamie Bell), who has been waging his own war against the Paladins for years.

Often told by frustratingly bad narration by Christiansen, Jumper is another example of movie that just aimed way too low. The premise is sound, and should’ve made for a much grander and more excting movie than it actually is. The special effects are nifty, but even those get used to an excessive degree as the movie rolls on and the “jumps” become much more frequent. Perhaps the movie’s main failing is the numerous loose ends and unexplained plot twists. Also, the movie’s central plot, Sam Jackson hunting Hayden Christiansen down, begins so quickly in the movie, that the film ultimately becomes your standard “run and hide” movie until it becomes the even more cliche “time to save the girl” movie in the end.

The three young stars all seem over there heads in the movie. Jaime Bell was awful and outacted by everyone in 2005’s King Kong and he just comes off as a mumbling bafoon in this movie. Rachel Bilson did a remarkably good job in The Last Kiss, but just seemed to play the sexy damsel in distress in this one, and had no character depth what-so-ever. Then there’s Hayden Christensen, who many people ceaselessly attacked for his performance as Anakin Skywalker in the Star Wars prequels. As a Star Wars fan, I actually liked what he did in those films, but he comes off as dry and confused in this movie.

Sam Jackson is about the only redeemable thing in the movie, even if he does look ridiculous with the white hair, but regardless adds much needed depth to an otherwise poorly acted film. But alas, not even the great Sam Jackson can save an otherwise dull sci-fi wannabee, that obviously banked on its young hearttrobs and dazzling effects being able to mask a poorly crafted, poorly written and poorly executed flop. In short…it didn’t.

Written by Barry Levy and Directed by Pete Travis, Vantage Point centers around an assasination attempt on the President of the United States of America. The high speed political thriller is told and re-told from several different perspectives of those involved and those in the crowd.

In Spain, the President of the United States (William Hurt) is shot before making a speech to promote a peace summit. The paniced crowd runs in all directions, and just as secret service agents, reporters and everyone else are all starting to try and make sense of things, a large explosion goes off, killing many civilians and injuring numerous more. That is the stage for this ensemble thriller, edited with urgency and moving at a mile a minute to slowly reveal the truth behind who did it, why and the attempted cover-up.

Most movies these days have the burden of stretching maybe an hour’s worth of quality story into a full length movie. This is usually accomplished by stretching out an action scene, such as a chase thru crowded streets or a high speed car chase, or adding what I like to call “fluff plot”, where a movie needlessly develops a minor character more than necessary and then kills them off shortly later. Basically, in these cases, the film is banking on gripping the audience by hopefully making them feel attached to certain smaller characters in the movie and then killing them to add a sense of urgency or drama, a feeling that anyone could die at any moment.

In Vantage Point, Director Pete Travis uses the full arsenal, attempting to literally take 20 minutes of story and see how far he can stretch it, retelling the same 20 minutes several times, sometimes to quite annoying lengths. The first time or so, its quite captivating to see the assasination attempt and what occurs afterward and then get the “cliffhanger” ending to that segement and then jump to the next point of view. About a half-hour into the movie, however, it gets really old. Finally, for about the last 35 minutes or so, the movie does break this mold, opens up a bit and concludes the film cohesively, jumping from character to character as the story wraps up, but before that it is an aggrivating political thriller, which attempts to add every concievable twist it can. Wiether this is because the film was just poorly written, or maybe they couldn’t decide where to go and so they did it all, or maybe its just an excuse to stretch the movie out, which is my best guess, but whatever it was, it didn’t work very well.

Filled with many recognizable actors, including Dennis Quaid, Forrest Whitaker, Sigourney Weaver, Matthew Fox, Zoe Saldana and Bruce McGill, Vantage Point does sport a remarkably well casted ensemble, however the constant gimics and last second twists to stretch the story is what ultimately hurts the movie. It seems like it would’ve made a great episode of “24″ or another such show, but as movie, it just doesn’t have enough to it to make it very satisfying.

Written and Directed by Andrew Stanton (Finding Nemo, Toy Story 2), Wall-E is the sixth animated film released by Pixar and Walt Disney Studios.

Over 700 years into the future, Earth has been abandoned by Humanity after the planet has become uninhabitable after Humans have polluted the planet so much with toxic gases and garbage. While Humanity waits it out onboard luxury spacecrafts they’ve left the job of cleaning up the Earth to robots, and now only one such robot remains, an adorable little guy named Wall-E (which stands for Waste-Allocated-Load-Lifter-Earth class) , who has developed one minor glitch in his isolation on Earth; he’s developed a personality. While spending his days fulfilling his duties as a trash remover and compactor, Wall-E also finds little trinkets left behind by Humans that spark his curiosity. In particular, Wall-E seems to have developed a taste for old romance films and seems to long for companionship. Then, one day Humans sends a robot to scan the soil of the Earth for evidence of plant-life, which would signal the ability for Humans to return home to Earth. Wall-E is immediately captivated with EVE (which stands for Extraterrestrial-Vegetation-Evaluator), and attempts to win her over, but when Wall-E shows her the plant sample he recently found, EVE goes into auto-mode and is returned to her ship. Wall-E, believing she is danger, follows her on an intergalactic adventure and wackyness ensues. 

Filled with delightful moments, humor and spectacular visuals, Wall-E is just as exciting and entertaining as the previous five gems that Pixar has released. The amazing level of detail in the film is what will stand out the most while watching it, especially in the gloomy opening of the movie, which establishes the apocalyptic atmosphere of Earth and that of Wall-E’s daily activities trying to clean things up. He has litterally been at this for hundreds of years, and has stacked compacted trash cubes so high that he has equaled the height of the remaining skyscrapers. We see clues as to what happened, that a global corporation named Buy and Large more or less took over everything and helped spiral humanity into a sea of needless spending, waste and enivtably to rendering the planet useless. You can’t help but feel sad and depressed at what you’re seeing, because let’s face it, it’s a real possibility with the way things are going in the world today.  

Accompanying Wall-E on his daily routine is a humerous cockroache, who more than once is hilariously almost run over by Wall-E. It’s a humerous nod to the old jokes about nuclear war and about the end of time, that the only things left on the planet are cockroache’s and the Twinkie snack-cakes Wall-E feeds him early on. That’s not the only wink and nod to pop-culture or classic Sci-Fi films however, the film is litterally filled with references and homages to the great films of yesteryear. Look closely (and often not that closely at all) and you’ll see references to “The Matrix”, “2001: A Space Odyssey”, “E.T.”, “Silent Running” and a few others as well. Homages aside, Wall-E is a tremendous treat and wonderful film to just sit back and experience. There is a child-like innocence to Wall-E and his curiosity is what makes him so compelling and (let’s face it) human. Perhaps the greatest statement that could be made about the film is the fact that 70% of it has no dialogue, just the stellar and outstanding sound effects by “Star Wars” sound editor Ben Burtt, who lent his genius to create the lovable R2-D2 and many others in those films. Burtt’s amazing sound effects, coupled with an amazing musical score and great details, serve to pull the audience in for an amazing ride, and we go along willingly and are caught up in the spectacle, even if an occassional scene seems a tad slow. 

The overall themes and message of the movie is like a punch to the gut. Anyone who doesn’t feel a bit queasy after seeing this movie and thinking about how realistic its possible outcome is just doesn’t have an ounze of humanity within them. It’s ironic and somewhat depressing to witness the whole of the human race literally stuck in a mindless routine, caught up in the ruthless machine of blind consumerism, litterally sitting around doing nothing and expecting robots to fullfil there every need and wim. Humanity is literally a slave to its own creations, and has become a race of mindless, soulless, jaded and self-centered sloths who are barely aware of the world (or ship) around them. Yet, there are still robots who run around with a natural curiosity about them, a childlike innocence that the humans in the film lack. Indeed, its telling that we identify with Wall-E and many of the other robots more than we do the humans in the film. Which is saying something when you recall how little dialogue exists between the robots. It’s there actions, body-language and subtle communication that makes us love them. Who can help but love adorable little M-O when he obessevely runs around trying to clean up Wall-E’s tracks? 

Wall-E may not be the greatest animated film ever produced, nor even the best Pixar film, but it reminds us that sometimes going to the movies can be (and should be) nothing more than just an enjoyable and relaxed event, one that also helps us remember what it was like to see these types of movies with the eyes of our childhood. Movies shouldn’t be these items we ceaselessly evaluate and disect, sometimes we can just be entertained. Wall-E speaks to the inner child in all of us, curious and longing for more.

“Love isn’t always a lightning bolt, sometimes its a choice.” 

Written and Directed by Alex Keshishian, Love and Other Disasters is a romantic dramedy in the tradition of Bridget Jones’ Diary, Notting Hill and Love Actually. The film is set in London, and focuses on Emily Jackson (Brittany Murphy), whom her friends affectionetly call “Jacks”, who is an intern at Vogue and who attempts to help her circle of friends find true love, often with humerous results. Love is an intelligent, fresh and witty comedy that will captivate you from its original opening frames, and clever breaks from reality.

Emily Jackson works in the London offices of Vogue as an intern who spends her spare time devoted to helping her close circle of friends find true love. She lives with her best friend, Peter (Matthew Rhys), a struggling screenwriter who happens to be gay and hasn’t ever managed to be in a relationship. When he has a chance encounter in a hotel lobby with David Williams (Will Keen), and falls head over heels for him, Emily rallies the troops to help Peter get together with him. Soon, news of Peter’s crush is everywhere, much to Peter’s dismay and the group of friends attempts to hook Peter up with David at an auction. When eccentric Talullah (Catherine Tate) makes a scene forcing Emily and Peter to help her home, Peter is crushed not to get the chance to meet David. Meanwhile, at her magazine job, Emily meets Paolo (Santiago Cabrera), who she assumes is gay and attempts to hook up with Peter to help him get over his missed opportunity, not realizing Paolo is actually straight and has a crush on her.

Filled with fresh, smart and original moments in the script, Love and Other Disasters is as entertaining as an ensemble romantic dramedy gets. The film opens wonderfully with the text of a screenplay appearing on screen, almost literally saying to us “If life were a movie…”, as we meet Emily and are thrown into this circle of friends, and almost immeditately feel as if we belong and as if we’ve always been there following these characters’ lives. It is refreshing to see a film, and script with the confidence to take this approach to filmmaking, too often a film like this is dreadfully slow in the opening 1/3 of the movie, taking way too much time to set up the characters and to justify why we should be watching them. Love thrives on the fact that it doesn’t tell us everything about these characters right away, and what we do learn is either done subtly with props or emotions or done expertly within the dialogue as the film progresses. These people feel like real people and more than that, they feel like a real group of friends with a rich history.

Like all great ensembles, the film focuses more on one person, in this case Emily, but also deals greatly with the other characters as well, and where the movie feels connected is within the connection the group has to Emily and the universal theme of relationships in the movie. Talullah, for example, is a total mess. She is obsessing over both a married man she is sleeping with and another man who makes strange calls to her home. She doesn’t feel anything as its happening, but once they end she feels abandoned and escapes into drugs and alcohol. Peter is lost and trying to find both love and his own identity in the world. He puts love, sex and relationships on this pedestal and ends up learning some cold truths. Emily herself hides her own insecurites by trying to help everyone else. She is sleeping with her ex, James (Elliot Cowan), but claims she has no feelings for him. Peter points out to her that she can’t find someone if she’s spending all her time with her ex-boyfriend, and its true. She just doesn’t want to admit it, and is scared to put herself out there again, she can’t allow herself the possibility of getting hurt. These are all very realistic and identifiable problems that we can all relate to, and its what makes the characters and film so compelling to watch.

The film takes some brilliant twists along the way, building to a wonderful ending and has a delightful charm about it. The natural chemistry between all the cast is amazing. The film ultimately becomes a statement about love, how we all define it and how we all need to be open to the possibility of finding it, even if its not in the form or way we were expecting. We just need to have the courage to look for it and to go out on a limb to try and obtain it. It’s a delightful surprise message to a delightfully surprising film. A wonderful script and amazing story, Love and Other Disasters is a highly recommended film to any fan of smart, humerous dramedies with a great ensemble cast.

“Plastic. I’m talking to a plastic tree.”

Oh boy.

The sixth film by writer/director M. Night Shyamalan is undeniably different than his previous five films. For starters, it is the first film that has recieved a ‘R’ rating, and it’s also (surprisingly) a film without any attempt for his trademark twist ending. There’s no attempt to fool you or to pull something from behind an invisible curtain. In his previous films, Shyamalan had a gift for setting things up and layering the events of the movie in such a way that we were surprised by the ending. Everything was important and so every scene was crucial. That is not the case in his latest paranoid thriller, The Happening, which explains the great mystery of what’s going on very early in the film, and the movie suffers greatly as a result.

The film focuses on a high school science teacher, Elliot Moore (Mark Wahlberg), and his estrainged wife, Alma (Zooey Deschanel) as they try to protect a young girl (Ashlyn Sanchez) while on the run from a mysterious natural threat to humanity. An event starts in Central Park where people suddenly become disoriented and lose motor functions and then finally feel compelled to kill themselves in any variety of horrible ways. Theories spread about what could be causing it, the first theory being that it’s a chemical attack by terrorists. A panic ensues and in Philadelphia, Elliot and Alma join Julian (John Leguizamo) and his daughter, Jess (Sanchez) on the first available train out of the city. Shortly later, reports come in that Boston and Philadelphia have both been hit by the same threat and then the conductor of the train loses contact with the outside world and stops the train in a small Pennsylvania town, leaving Elliot, Alma and the rest of the passengers to fend for themselves. Julian leaves Jess with Elliot and Alma as he hitches a ride to go search for his wife, and the three of them go on the run as they try to figure out whats going on and how to survive it.

The Happening is a truely bizzare film. It is very reminescent of the 1950’s apocalyptic paranoid thriller’s about the end of the world or alien invaders. Most noticably, the writing doesn’t seem as polished as in his previous films. I know I am in the minority, but I enjoyed Lady in the Water and think Shyamalan took a step backwards with this film. Litterally about 1/3 of the way into the movie you’re told what’s going on, that it has something to do with the wind and another thing I won’t divulge here. So, from that point on we’re not as scared, both because of what it is and because the mystery is gone. The movie relies on scare moments and the acting of the main characters, which is extremely wierd and hard to watch at times. Mark Wahlberg plays his role with two basic expressions, worrying and thinking about worrying and does both with the same basic intense look on his face. It’s painful to see a great actor reduced to playing an unconvincing teacher with the emotional range of a wet sack.

Perhaps the moment where I started to lose faith in the film is where Elliot and Alma are walking along in a field with other survivors and Alma confesses having gone on a date with another guy she met at work. Firstly, she does it so mousey and so mumbly that it just seems wierd and ungenuine. Then Mark Wahlberg’s reaction is basically to breathe heavily for a moment and cheesily say “You lied to me?” and then continue walking without another word. I’m sorry, but especially under the stressful situation they’re in, any guy would’ve screamed at his wife at that point, or had some reaction. They both just seem so unbelievable in the movie. Don’t get me wrong, both Wahlberg and Deschanel are amazing actors on any other day, but both played there parts in this movie very cardboard like. Maybe that’s what Shyamalan wanted, maybe it was on purpose and it was for some unknown reason that escaped me, but I didn’t like it. Deschanel’s role is attempted to be explained away as her having trouble expressing herself and her emotions to others, but that doesn’t help her performance any. She has the biggest and among the most beautiful blue eyes in hollywood, but they spend most of the movie in an prolonged hightened sense of terror, often for no reason.

Then there’s the needless attempt for a ‘R’ rated horror film, probably just to advertise the movie as Shymalan’s first. Take out a few gory scenes and the film is essentially ‘PG’. However, the horror scenes are quite graphic, sometimes needlessly so and I often found myself missing the more subtle horror in his previous ‘PG-13′ films, which to me was much more terrifying because we were allowed the ability to see what we wanted and essentially scared ourselves. Here it is just all there for us to see. Blood and gore and all. The scenes depicting humans killing themselves in all sorts of different methods are quite disturbing and horrible, as they should be, but the looming big picture threat wasn’t pulled off as well, and often came off as just silly nonsense. Also, the threat occurs so early in the film, that the main characters are essentially on the run the entire film and that gets old after awhile. There’s nothing worse than a 90 minute film with 45 minutes of worthwhile storytelling to accomplish. 

Threat and acting aside, I do like where the movie ended up, and the messages it got across. Besides the obvious one, which will be apparent when you see the movie, I quite liked another scene near the end of the movie, which was the only honest and well written scene in my opinion. Elliot and Alma are in seperate rooms talking to one another thru a pipe in the ground as the looming threat is outside. They start talking about there first date and how Elliot bought her a mood ring, and they begin recalling what each color meant when they looked it up. Finally Alma asks Elliot if he remembers which color stood for love, and he answers very honestly and tenderly, “I don’t remember.”  It echoes beautifully the estraingement between husband and wife and the distance that has grown between them. That scene has layers to it, and its probably only 2 minutes long and was a great subtle message within the overall message of the movie. It’s a shame that Shymalan appears to have been more focused on shock value with the death scenes and not on writing the usually well written and character driven films we’ve become usued to seeing in the past.

Ryan Reynolds stars as a political consultant who attempts to explain his impending divorce to his young daughter in this romantic dramedy written and directed by Adam Brooks.

Will Hayes (Reynolds) has seen his share of disappointments in his life. Both personally and in his career, but now comes the biggest disappointment yet, his impending divorce. His 11 year old daughter, Maya (Abigail Breslin), inquires about her mother and how Will met her and convinces him to tell her the story. Will agrees, but adds a twist, he will tell her a much larger story of the only 3 serious girlfriends he ever had, changing the names of the girls and some of the facts, and its up to Maya to figure out which girl became her mother. A “love mystery”, as Maya proclaims. Will begins to recount his past, and we learn about not just the 3 girls, but where his life has gone from ambitous collegiate to rundown political analyst. We see the choices Will made along the way that got him to this point.

The 3 girls are all very different from another. First is the college sweetheart, Emily (Elizabeth Banks), who stays behind in rural Wisconsin while Will moves to New York to help out on the Bill Clinton presidential campaign in 1992. While working on the campaign, Will meets April (Isla Fischer), a perky and independent minded copy-girl in the Clinton headquarters. Later, Will delivers a package from Emily to Summer (Rachel Weisz), a college student who wants to be a reporter. The three stories revolve around one another nicely, as the girls each enter and leave Will’s life. Each girl also compliments what Will is going thru in each specific time he is either involved with or has a crush on each of them. As he grows up, and the relationships fail along with his ambitions, Will becomes a different person. It’s a story anyone over the age of 25 can very much relate to, as we all know what its like going from 18 and suddenly becoming 25-26-27 years old. Rarely are we the same people, and the movie does a nice job of showing that journey with the Will character, as well as the 3 girls.

It’s also a very insightful film, showing the knowledge that comes after time when looking back at failed relationships. We never see it clearly while it’s happening, but anyone who has looked back with an Ex over a drink or lunch, will certainly understand and relate to the overall theme of the movie. As the story unfolds, we also become invested in the girls, and surely each audience member will choose which one they hope to see Will with in the end. That’s where the film has an unexpected twist. It doesn’t end how you’d expect it to end, at least I didn’t expect it. We almost forget, as we see the dramedy of Will’s relationships unfold before our eyes, that whomever he ends up with in the end, is also the same girl who is now divorcing him, and we can also overlook the fact that for Maya, the whole story is bittersweet. Yes, she’s finally learning how her parents got together, but she also knows that they’re divorcing one another.

The performances are very good from the 3 girls, as well as Breslin and Reynolds, who have a nice chemistry as cool dad and daughter. Breslin in particular does a good job of portraying the confusion an 11 year old must be feeling while her parents are seperating, but also a knowledge that her parents deserve happiness despite the seperation. Reynolds does a fine job as the leading man, but I could easily see why some people wouldn’t like him in this movie. It’s like Jim Carrey, some people liked him in more dramatic roles and some people hated it. What makes it work for me is his natural charm and his ability to convey such dry, sarcastic witty humor, and then balance that with genuinely dramatic moments in the script. He also has proven over the years that he apparently has great chemistry with every woman in Hollywood, and that trend continues in this film. Without giving away who he ends up with in the end, and who the mother is, let me just say that looking back at the film, its obvious who it’ll be just by the fantastic chemistry between Reynolds and this character. The scenes they share are by far the best in the movie, and among the funniest.

All that said, it is not an outstanding film, but it is a very good one. The film does move along at a deliberately slow pace, but overall I’d say the movie is adorably cute, and has its heart in the right place, and there’s something to say for a cute romantic comedy that doesn’t try to be anything more than it is.

The creators of Independence Day and The Day After Tomorrow bring us a prehistoric heroes journey about a man who travels long distances to save the love of his life and unite his people in uncertain times. The film is directed by Roland Emmerich, who also co-wrote the script with Harold Kloser.

Well, its good to know that in 10,000 years of human evolution, that its still always, in the end, about a girl. Director Roland Emmerich attempts to dazzle us once again with a visual effects feast, and at least in that regard (mostly) the movie is a success. Sadly, great visual effects does not a good movie make, as many films have learned before 10,000 B.C., and I suspect many will continue to learn after it. The film focuses on D’Leh (Steven Strait), who is your typical orphaned boy-becomes ambitious young man-becomes prophesized hero in these types of movies. D’Leh is the outsider of his prehistoric tribe of men, after his father seemingly abandons his people when D’Leh was very young. As a result, D’Leh is obsessed with becoming the lead hunter and earning the white spear from his friend and mentor, TicTic…not to be confused with TicTac (Cliff Curtis), and earning the right to claim his love, Evolet (Camilla Belle) for himself. Evolet, as it turns out, is from another tribe who, when she was young, were all attacked and killed and she then eventually made her way to D’Leh’s tribe. He becomes captivated with her, and she him at a disturbingly young age. Predictably, the same attackers find them and capture Evolet and many others in the tribe, sending D’Leh off on his heroes quest to save her.

The film does have fun moments, but unfortunetly they’re spread far between bad ones. The film would’ve benefitted from a few more creature scenes. Although, the Sabretooth tiger from the poster looked extremely fake and not convincing at all. Besides the giant kitty, the rest of the creatures, what little we see of them, look breathtakingly cool. The huge Mammoths are wonderfully done, even if the interaction with the actors screams green screen, but still the opening hunt scene is enjoyable and helps hold your attention for awhile. Another good scene in the film is the oversized-mutagen soaked Ostrich-Raptor things attacking them. That is a fun scene. The cinematography also helps redeem the film. The locations are very well filmed, and the film does a good job of giving you a sense that it really does take place in the vastness of prehistoric times. That’s about where the film’s good points end.

There isn’t a speck of originality in the script or film, and as a result, it relies on captivating you enough with the visuals and danger music cues to hold your attention. It is your standard hero film. The outsider loves the hot girl, who gets captured and the hero goes out with his mentor to save her and accidently unites his people along the way. Oops. That’s basically what it seems like, because he is all about the girl and the whole saving his people thing is just an afterthought. Oh, and another cliche is the goofy sidekick tagging along on the journey for no apparent reason. You can literally guess what’s going to happen each step of the way. Except something in the end, and without giving it away, it’s a moment in the final half-hour or so, when a particulary unrealistic and ridiculous big reveal occurs and any enjoyment I was having, and any captivation I felt both melted away when I saw it. I literally said “What?!?” out loud when I saw it.

Being a history major, I took some offense to the leaps they made in that final act of the film. I can buy into all the tribes magically communicating in Africa and coming together to overthrow a foreign invader, I forgive character names worse than those in the Star Wars prequels, like D’Leh and TicTic…TicTic, really?…I can forgive the really bad dreadlocky wigs everyone seems to be wearing, and I can even buy mutant ostriches and the really bad and really blue contacts Camilla Belle is forced to wear, which weren’t actually as bad as the ones Jessica Alba wore in Fantastic Four. That’s fine, but, where they go is just ridiculous and only compounds the other areas in which the film sorely lacks in either originality or spectacle.

10,000 B.C. is basically a summer popcorn movie that was so bad, the studio knew it wouldn’t make any money unless they released it in March. That’s all you really need to know. The movie is about as unstimulating as a would-be Hollywood epic can get. The plot is moved along, inbetween action scenes of course, by convenient prophecy gloobily-gook, mostly in narration. Hint: When a movie needs bad narration to help explain the prophecy its attempting to make sound real, and important and mystical, then the script probably needed some work.

Fool’s Gold is directed by Andy Tennant (Sweet Home Alabama, Hitch), and stars Matthew McConaughey (Sahara, We are Marshall) and Kate Hudson (You, me and Dupree, The Skelton Key). The film is 1 hour and 52 minutes in length, and focuses on the exploits of an estrainged couple now on a treasure hunt who see there relationship rekindled during the course of an amazing adventure in the Bahamas.

Seriously now…You have to hand it to Matthew McConaughey, few men could still be entertaining playing (more or less) the same role over and over again. Of course, few men are as charming and universally popular as McConaughey either. In Fool’s Gold, McConaughey portrays Ben Finnegan, an eccentric treasure seeker who seemingly only has intelligence for history and treasure, and routinely falls short in brilliance regarding practical matters, such as finances, relationships and everyday life. If you think this sounds a lot like McConaughey’s role in Sahara, you’re not alone, because it is essentially the same character. But we all love McConaughey, with his southern charm, his high witt and his undeniable sense of humor, and so we all go along for the ride anyways. Cause noone, and I mean noone, plays the smart-dumb guy like McConaughey. Adding to the entrigue of this film is his undeniable chemistry with co-star Kate Hudson, who he lit the screen up with in How to lose a Guy in 10 days a few years back (2003). The two are amazing to watch and bounce back and forth of one another in a remarkable fashion, making us believe they’re a real couple on this wacky adventure.

The “wacky adventure” occurs after Ben borrows money from a crime lord named Bigg Bunny (Kevin Hart) to try and locate an ancient treasure lost after a Spanish armada was lost at sea centuries earlier in the Bahamas. After accidently burning down his boat, Bigg has his henchmen (Malcom Jamal-Warner and Brian Hooks) attempt to kill Ben, who manages to escape and narrowly miss arriving on time for his divorce proceedings with his now ex-wife, Tess (Kate Hudson), who now owns everything Ben owns, which is basically nothing. Tess wants nothing more to do with Ben, trying to believe she doesn’t love him anymore and that he has wasted years of her life searching for treasure. We immediately feel the history between these characters, and the tension between them. It’s obvious that there relationship began based on lust and that balancing that physical attraction to one another with something more has been a struggle.

Ben then shows Tess proof that he has found the location of the treasure, but also admits to sinking the boat, which Tess paid for. After a priceless reaction from Tess, she returns to her cruise ship, where she is working as a stewartess. After drowning his sorrows with his partner, hilarious Alfonz (Ewen Bremmer), Ben learns of the cruise ship off shore, the same ship Tess is on, a fact that Ben is unaware of. Ben weasels his way onto the ship, and is reunited with Tess, who is less than thrilled to see him. The two share there theory about where to locate the lost treasure with Tess’ boss (Donald Sutherland) and his teenaged airhead daughter, Gemma (Alexis Dziena), and the odd group heads out to locate the treasure before rival Moe (Ray Winstone) can locate it first, and before Bigg notices Ben is still alive.

The film is a delightful surprise, and highly entertaining to watch. The script (written by John Clafin, Daniel Zelman and director Andy Tennant) is remarkably well written and extremely humerous throughout the entire film. The film’s plot isn’t the most original, but the directions it goes from the main plot are very exciting and original and help to keep us guessing where the film will go next. The chemistry between all the characters, most notably McConaughey and Hudson, is enduring and natural. Fool’s Gold is a great escape movie, meaning that it is just a fun, light-hearted film with a lot of great action sequences, plenty of humor, great locations and tons of sex appeal with the lead characters often walking around with little more than skimpy swimsuits on, displaying there fine tans and flawless physiques. There’s little not to like in the movie, and its a rare film that is both fun and smart, and thats something you’ll want to watch again.

“Hulk SMASH!!!”

Wow. What a difference five years and a new spiffy production studio can make, huh? Well, that and an entirely new direction, cast, writer, director, etc. In 2003, Universal and Marvel released an often slow and confusing psychological mess of a movie, Hulk, and audiences were understandably unreceptive. Now, in 2008, under the direct production of Marvel Studios, comes The Incredible Hulk, a fast-paced, humerous, intelligent, fun behemoth of a summer action blockbuster. The movie is directed by Louis Letterrier and written by Zak Penn, who is no stranger to pen-ing Marvel movie adaptations (Elektra, Fantastic Four and X-Men:The Last Stand), and his obvious love, respect and knowledge of the source material shines thru each of the dazzling 114 minutes of this picture.

Unlike its predecesor, The Incredible Hulk jumps right into things at an electric pace and doesn’t let up. If you haven’t seen the previous film, or are somehow unaware of Hulk’s origin story, don’t worry about it, the opening credits sequence is a marvelous retell of the tragic accident that sends high levels of gamma radiation into Bruce Banner (Edward Norton) and transforms him into the monstrous Hulk. Everything we need to know is set up beautifully and calculatingly in this opening scene. We recognize the deep love between Bruce and Betty Ross (Liv Tyler). We understand the fear in the eyes of her father, General “Thunderbolt” Ross (William Hurt), when the Hulk destroys the lab and injures both Ross and his daughter. We see the deception and coldness as Ross forces Banner to leave Betty’s side. As the sequence ends, we cut to Brazil, where Bruce has been on the run and hiding from the U.S. government. He has been living with this curse, and trying to find a cure for it for five years while working as a bottle-factory worker.

After an accident sends a drop of Bruce’s blood into one of the bottle’s, a man in the U.S. drinks it and gets sick with gamma poisoning, catching the attention of General Ross, who sends an elite team to Brazil to attempt to capture Banner. Joining the team is an English soldier, Emil Blonsky (Tim Roth), who is along for the ride when Banner transforms into the Hulk and throws around the capture party like rag dolls. The look of this sequence is hauntingly beautiful. Hulk is in the shadows the entire time and we really only hear whats going on, but its more than enough to convey the savageness of Hulk and the feriosity in which he strikes down his attackers. After the Hulk/Banner escapes, Blonsky volunteers for an injection of General’s Ross’ “super soldier serum” (wonderfully setting up future Marvel movies) to help level the playing field against the Hulk. Oblivious to the possible harm it could cause to Blonsky, Ross allows it and seems obsessed with capturing Banner at all costs. It seems a little like Ahab searching for the white whale. You can tell that Ross was more than just injured when Bruce first transformed, he was scared, probably for the first and only time in his life, and he wants to face down the demon that instilled that fear in him.

Meanwhile, Banner returns home and is reunited with Betty. It’s one of the most touching scenes you could ever hope to see on screen. You immediately feel the connection between them, just by the emotion on there faces and we totally buy into the love they share. Where the General only sees the monster, Betty sees only Bruce and believes in him fully, even when he has transformed in the brute figure of the Hulk. We see this clearly when General Ross, Blonsky and another attack force attack Banner again and the Hulk surfaces. Ross believes Betty will finally see Bruce as the monster he is, but she only sees the man inside, the man she loves. Her compassion is all over Liv Tyler’s face in these scenes. You see the love she has for Bruce, and we begin to see that even the Hulk recognizes Betty and protects her as Ross orders an all out attack on the Hulk, which puts Betty in danger. He shields her from the onslaught and explosion, and holds an uncounscious Betty in his arms as he meets the eyes of General Ross and growls as he carries Betty out of harms way.

The rest of the film is just as amazing and keeps building to the ultimate clash between Hulk and the Abomination, who is the result of Blonsky’s desire for power and his lust for the strength Banner has. What’s also great is the difference in the way the two creatures fight. Hulk, thruout the film has a very distinct fighting style. Basically he’s a brawler, and he’ll use anything he can get his massive hands on to help win the fight. Abomination is all brute force and he tries to overpower Hulk. And we totally buy it all by this point in the film. The acting of both Edward Norton and Tim Roth and the characterization built up in the script has us invested. We don’t only see two massive CGI creatures dooking it out in the streets of New York, we see Norton and Roth…Banner and Blonsky.

That final battle, and the whole movie in general, is breathtakingly cool and got this geek’s blood pumping at just how amazing the world is where Marvel Comics finally has the ability to create a cohesive, unified movie version of the Marvel universe! This movie isn’t just the Hulk in a Hulk universe. No. The Hulk, like Iron Man earlier this summer, exists in a broad, grander Marvel universe that is finally being connected. The references are everywhere. S.H.I.E.L.D. is everywhere in this movie, as set up in Iron Man, and if you look closely, the military is using Tony Stark’s weaponry to combat the Hulk in the second battle with him. Then f—ing Tony Stark himself shows up in the movie too! And its Robert Downey, Jr. playing him! Words cannot adequetly express just how cool this is. Marvel Studios has managed the impossible. Tony Stark, from a FOX movie shows up in a UNIVERSAL Hulk movie!!! Add to that the set-up of Samuel Sterns’ (Tim Blake-Nelson) turn into a major Hulk villian for a possible sequel, the set-up of the super soldier program (and the now in production Captain America movie) and the slightest hint from Stark about forming the f—ing AVENGERS!!! I don’t know what we did to deserve this, but thank god and praise Jesus this day has come.

If I sound overly excited, its because I am. The movie is that damned good! It is a wonderful, and (if you forgive the pun) Incredible film and one that promises that the brilliance of both Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk has only tipped the ice-berg of the great things to come. The script is there, the musical score is wonderful, the fast pace of the film keeps you invested, the action and visuals are amazing and the characters, thank god, are very well written, well rounded and extremely well acted. The movie is just an amazing experience, right down to the greatest phrase in all of comics…“HULK SMASH!!!”

The second film by writer/director M. Night Shyamalan (The Sixth Sense, Signs, The Village), focusing on the mystery surrounding a middle-aged man who begins to realize he has unique abilities after he remarkably survives a disaster.

“Do you know what the scariest thing is? To not know your place in this world. To not know why you’re here. That is just an awful feeling.”

After surviving a train derailment outside of Philadelphia, David Dunn (Bruce Willis) is stunned to learn he is infact the only survivor of the disaster, and also that he has no injuries to speak of. After attending the memorial service for the other passengers, David finds a card on his windshield. The only thing written is a cryptic question, asking David how many days in his life he has been sick. He asks around at work, and to his estranged wife, Audrey (Robin Wright-Penn), and noone can remember him ever being ill. David, and his young son, Joseph (Spencer Treat Clark), visit the store shown on the mysterious card left on David’s windshield and meet up with Elijah Price (Samuel L. Jackson), who shares a fantastic theroy with David about his condition and the possible connection the two may share. Elijah suffers from a condition where his bones are extremely fragile, and he believes that if someone like him exists in the world, that surely someone must exist on the other end of the spectrum…someone like David, someone who can’t be harmed or injured.

Elijah has spent most of his life bedridden because of his condition, and has turned to the stories within American comic-books for inspiration. He explains to David that he believes comics are the last great form of communication, much like the ancient cave paintings or inscriptions within the great pyramids, that comic books are much more than silly pictures and spandex costumes. Elijah not only believes David is his opposite, but that David was put on the Earth for a purpose, to protect the innocent like the great heroes within comic books, and he attempts to persuade David to harness his possible abilities. Eventually, David does begin to realize he does have some remarkable, if subtle abilities and starts to question his life and the true meaning behind it. Is David infact some modern day super-hero? Or is he just an extremely lucky man who walked away from a train wreck unharmed?

The most unique and bold choice by Shyamalan so far, Unbreakable is unlike any of his other films in that it doesn’t quite have the twist ending we’ve grown accustomed to. I don’t think many people were fooled by the ending, but in a way, it makes the film all the better. Knowing what will happen doesn’t take anything from the building drama and the suspense of wondering what David will ultimately do. The film is basically Act One of a traditional comic book origin story told in modern times. Act One in other comic book movies is typically the opening third of the film, but Shyamalan boldly chooses to focus the entire film on David’s journey to enlightenment and building to the moment where he makes the choice to use his powers for good, and to try and help people.

The movie is shot like a comic book as well, with shots framed like a traditional comic book panel would be and the story unfolds very deliberately and narratively like a comic book. Clear examples of this is in the color pallete of the film, which is brilliantly done, and has several scenes that feature very muddy, neutral color schemes and then use bright colors to draw our focus to something or someone. It’s an old-school trick used to great effect by Shyamalan in all of his movies, and perhaps has the best payoff in this film. The best example of this “comic book framing” style of directing used in the film is the opening scene. David is attempting to flirt with an attractive (and married) sports agent and the camera keeps alernating its placement during crucial times in the conversation. It’s remarkably well done and helps us really focus on David and grow attached to him quickly.

The acting is top notch as well. Both Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson are phenomenal in this film. Willis plays David with such restraint and such tenderness that its hard not to root for him. Jackson, meanwhile, instills such humerous brooding contempt into Elijiah that its hard not to feel sorry for him as well. It’s great how deliberate everything Elijiah does in the film is. Its so methodically thought out, and you become mesmerized, wondering what he has up his sleeve next. Both characters go thru remarkable character journeys in the film. David has opportunities to turn away from his heroes journey, and Elijiah has opportunites to right his own path. It’s the choices they make and the complexity within them that make the drama so compelling.

The script by Shymalan is also remarkably strong, as in all of his films, but this one is one of my favorites. I love the structure in the plot of the first third of the movie, in which we see glimpses of Elijiah’s past as we journey with David to the moment he meets Elijiah in his store. Also, as David progresses along on his journey in the film, we catch glimpses of his own past and the single lasting moment that ties all the characters in the movie together with such subtle brilliance. That, of course, is the much talked about car accident, referenced several times in the first two acts of the film and finally seen by us near the conclusion. (Spoiler Alert! Skip to the last paragraph if you haven’t seen the movie) David and Audrey are in college and have a near fatal car accident, infact David is thrown several yards from the car and should’ve died. It’s the first moment in David’s life where he suspects something is different about him, and he has repressed those thoughts into adulthood. He rescues Audrey from the wrecked car, and seizes the opportunity to give up his future as a football star, a topic we’ve already learned at this point, that Audrey had strong feelings about and may’ve changed the course of there relationship had David not faked an injury and quit the game. It’s this great ability and stength of Shymalan to connect everything in his films, no matter how small and ordane and make it all important.

Shymalan has made better films than Unbreakable, but few of the others had such a deliberate message behind them. The film, heroes journey aside, is ultimately about a man who realizes what’s important in his life. He made choices to give up the things he loves for his wife and child, and as grown unhappy with his life as a result. Remarkably he learns how to balance his family and his own needs, which is never easy. Elijiah explains in the film that he thinks the superpowers, and even the superheroes themselves within comic books, are only metaphors for everyday life or the troubles of the time in which they’re written. David represents our ability to right wrongs in our own life, and to not give up. We all get second chances, its up to us to make the best of them, and in Unbreakable, David Dunn shows us that anything is possible. 

Tim Story returns to direct the sequel to 2005’s Fantastic Four, a story focusing on the mysterious Silver Surfer, an alien being that appears just as strange occurances begin around the globe.

Reed Richards (Ioan Grufford) stands on top of a beautifuly decorated New York City skyscraper waiting for his bride-to-be, Susan Storm (Jessica Alba). Suddenly a specially built PDA in Reed’s pocket begins to beep, alerting him to some pending disaster and catching both Reed and Ben Grimm’s (Michael Chiklis) attention. Something is on its way to New York. A moment later, the music cues, Susan appears looking devastatingly beautiful in her wedding dress, and her brother Johnny (Chris Evans) walks her down the aile. As the preacher begins the ceremony, Reed’s PDA begins beeping in earnest once more, much to Susan’s dismay. Reed asks for the ceremony to be hurried along, but moments later NYC loses power, a news chopper covering the wedding nearly crashes into the rooftop, and a mysterious Silver entity whisks by in a heartbeat. Reed turns to Johnny, who transforms into the Human Torch and begins a dazzling aerial pursuit of the Silver Surfer.

After a nearly fatal encounter with the Surfer, Johnny’s cosmic molecules are unstable, and he can inadvertingly swap powers with any of his teammates with a single touch. To make matters worse, is Johnny’s ever growing feeling of isolation within the team and his longing for companionship like his other teammates have. Adding to the tension is Reed and Susan’s desire for a normal life away from being a superhero. So, when the team is assigned by a top ranked U.S. General (Andre Braugher) to track the Surfer’s movements and help stop him, the descention within the team, specifically Johnny, proves to be too much for them to overcome and with serious consequences. Feeling that the team is no longer trustworthy alone, the General brings in Victor Von Doom, a.k.a. Doctor Doom (Julian McMahon), recently revived by the appearance of the Surfer and the high cosmic energy within his board. Despite the team’s objections, Reed agrees to share information and work with Doom to formulate a plan to bring down the Surfer and save the world from pending destruction.

As a sequel, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer has all the ingredients to be successful. For one thing, it’s a lot shorter than the original (clocking in at around 90 minutes), mostly thanks to having the origin story out of the way. It has great action set pieces, and the visual effects have definetly improved upon the original. The characters have grown up a bit since the orginal film too. Ben is in a serious relationship. Susan isn’t quite so bossy all the time, and is more forgiving of Reed’s experiments. Reed himself is looking for a way to balance his work and the need to start a family with Susan.

Beyond having the characters grow, where the film succeeds is also mixing things up, the characters aren’t always seeing eye to eye, and the internal conflicts within the group are more the focus of much of the film, rather than the Surfer or Galactus , an alien super-being coming to destroy the planet, who the Surfer works for. That is possibly the only thing I can really say they may have done wrong, or maybe not “wrong” but not as well as some people would expect. The balance needed between the group and the super-looming threat isn’t quite there at times. While I liked the conflict within the group, it did take away from the overall plot of the film. For a large chunk of the movie, you may even forget the Surfer or Galactus exist. The chemistry between the cast is great and very natural, but the level of action could’ve been upped a bit.

I do very much like the focus being on Johnny though. He is the hot-head, the rebel and he now finds himself alone, and unhappy with the playboy lifestyle. Around him, his teammates…his family, are all settling down and being happy. All he has is the Fantastic Four, and his abilities that make him the Torch. He is confident as the Torch and thrives under the pressures of being a superhero. When the Surfer effectively takes that away from him, he looses all his confidence and questions himself and his place in the world. It forces him to be humble, and realize whats important. In a tender scene with Ben, Johnny begins to show his changed nature, as the two discuss the possible ending of the world, and Johnny asks Ben how he’d want to spend his last few minutes. Ben expresses a partial need to go down fighting, but ultimately confesses that he’d want to spend it holding his girlfriend, Alicia (Kerry Washington), in his arms. Chris Evans does a wonderful job expressing Johnny’s longing as Ben tells him this, and his response is very touching, admitting that it sounds nice to have someone. Ben raises a glass to Johnny, and tenderly assures him “well, you got me pal.”

That is what makes the movie(s) ultimately successful. Beyond its simple charm, which allows the audience to forgive the occassional bad line of dialogue or the fact the ultimate villian of the film is nothing more than a nasty storm cloud, the feeling of family and the bond these four people share is both real and heartwarming and uncommon in superhero groups. It’s what has always seperated the Fantastic Four from the X-Men or the Avengers or the Justice League. The F.F. are, first and foremost, a family and depend on one another to survive. Not only in superhero battles with super-villians, but in everyday life. They’re there for one another, no matter what and they always stand by one another in the end. It is what makes the conflicts that arise in the group so threatning, and why we know if they can survive that, and come together as a group once more, that they can surely survive a little thing like the end of the world.

Lars and the Real Girl is an off-beat comedy about a delusional young man who falls for a sex doll he ordered over the internet. The film was written by Nancy Oliver (Six-Feet Under), and directed by Craig Gillespie (Mr. Woodcock). The film is 1 hour and 46 minutes in length.

Lars Lindstrom (Ryan Gosling, The Notebook) leads a simple life and keeps to himself. Oblivious to him is also the fact that the entire community he lives in adores him. Despite this, he spends his time alone, politely avoiding even the simpliest of social gatherings, such as breakfast or dinner. He lives in the garage house adjacent to his childhood home, while his older brother, Gus (Paul Schneider, Elizabethtown), and his wife, Karin (Emily Mortimer, The Pink Panther), live in the house itself. Karin becomes seriously concerned about Lars and attempts to get him to open up, but older brother Gus doesn’t see anything wrong with Lars and ignores what’s going on. At work, a new co-worker, Margo (Kelli Garner, Normal Adolescent Behavior), has her sights set on Lars as well, and the pressures from both home and work finally get to Lars. Quietly, Lars orders a (anatomically correct) sex doll from the internet, who he names Bianca, and introduces her to his brother and sister-in-law as his real, true-life girlfriend. Caught off guard, the two decide to take him in to see a doctor (Patricia Clarkson, No Reservations) in hopes of determining wiether or not Lars has infact truely gone insane.

After the doctor suggests going along with Lars dellusion that Bianca is real, Gus and Karin inform the rest of the community, who all surprisingly rally to help however they can. Lars creates an ellaborate backstory for Bianca, one remarkably similar to his own childhood, which causes Gus to feel guilty about leaving Lars with there anti-social father, after there mother died giving birth to Lars. As the days and weeks pass, the fictional relationship with Bianca intensifies as Lars finally begins to open up and experiences emotions he has never had before. Before long, Lars finds that Bianca is involved in all parts of the community from the schools to the hospital, as this small town does what it can to help Lars thru his dellusions. In doing so, the community and Lars only fall for Bianca harder and it becomes harder for them to accept that, eventually, Lars will let Bianca go.

The idea of the film is (admittedly) laughable, at best, but Gosling portrays Lars with such charm and with such restrained emotion that you totally buy into his love for Bianca, who looks like Adrianna Lima with Angelina Jolie’s lips and breasts. What makes the film work so well, is how it could’ve gone and didn’t. It could easily have been an outrageous and offensive comedy, rattling off sex joke after sex joke, instead Gillespie focuses on the drama of Lars and what is going on in his head. Bianca, we eventually figure out, isn’t a doll at all, but an extension of Lars and his insecurities. She is his way of working thru his issues and of asking for help, even if it is indirectly. Bianca serves to allow Lars the time and ability to move past his own inner-demons, his own self-doubts and catch a glimpse of what it means to be intimate with another human being. Gosling’s tender performance as Lars, and the depth of longing in his eyes, is what will hook you into this film. By the end of the film we find we’re kind of attached to Bianca as well, and we don’t want to see her go.

The supporting cast is also quite good in the film, especially Kelli Garner’s Margo, who has a subtle and nerdy cuteness to her and who has great chemistry with Gosling. You can feel her longing as she consistently puts herself out there and asks Lars out time and time again. In some ways, she is as insecure as Lars, and that helps her to better realize what he is going thru than others do. Perhaps my favorite scene in the film is after a co-worker has tied a noose around one of Margo’s teddy bear’s neck, and she runs to the breakroom crying. Lars, beginning to open up to people at this point, quietly unties the noose and performs CPR on the teddy bear to help cheer Margo up. Its a heartwarming and adorable scene between the two characters, and an example of the level of humanity in the script.

Remarkably touching, humerous at times and without a doubt one of the most original films released in many years. Lars and the Real Girl is a heartwarming film about a small community rallying to help one of there own, and also the journey of one man to understand both himself and his relationship to others. It’s also a thoughtful movie, and doesn’t speed things along or try to shove things down your throught, it allows you the time to get to know these people and this community. Don’t let the plot of the film (or the title) scare you away, as it is nothing like you’re expecting it to be. Trust me on that one.

In 2002, Director Sam Raimi delivered the most exciting, profitable and widely popular Comic-Book adaptation to date with Marvel Comics’ Spider-Man. After struggling Batman, and Superman franchises had long pulled up there stakes in hollywood, Marvel struck with the surprising hit Blade and followed that with the even more successful X-Men in 2000. To state that Spider-Man became a cultural phenomonom would be grossely understating things. Spidey was everywhere, and fan-boys worldwide rejoiced. The film was all the buzz in the summer of 2002, and even beat out the much-anticipated second Star Wars prequel (Attack of the Clones) at the box office, grossing $403.7 million here in the U.S. alone. It still sits in the top 10 highest grossing films here in the states at #7. It would spawn video-games, toys, two sequels (so far), and help to not only launch a small army of Marvel Comics films, but help reinvigorate an interest in comic books in general. Spider-man is the very definition of a blockbuster, and here I will take a look back into the trilogy of films, analyze them, grade them, compare them and discuss the overall story line that runs thru the three movies. 

***Disclaimer: Spoilers everywhere. You’ve been warned.***

Act 1: The Set-up

Spider-man (2002)

The film: Peter Parker is a shy, but brilliant student at Midtown High and has a not so secret crush on long time neighbor, Mary-Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst). During a class trip to a experimental laboratory, Peter is accidently bitten by a genetically engineered “super-spider” and given strange abilities overnight.

Using his new strength and abilities, and in efforts to impress MJ, Peter decides to enter a wrestling contest to try and win $3,000 to buy a car. After winning the contest, Peter is cheated out of his winnings by the bookie and then allows a robber to get away moments later to get even. Tragically, Peter soon learns that his Uncle Ben (Cliff Robertson) has been shot and car-jacked. Uncle Ben dies holding Peter’s hand and Peter then runs off in pursuit of the car-jacker. After tracking him down to an abandoned warehouse, Peter learns that the car-jacker is infact the same crook he allowed to get away earlier. Peter fights the crook, who trips and falls out a window to his death.

After mourning his uncle, Peter graduates high school and remembers his uncle’s last words to him (“With great power comes great responsibility”), using them as motivation to become Spider-man and begin fighting crime in New York City. Peter also moves in with his best friend, Harry Osborn (James Franco) and begins college. Soon he is heartbroken to learn that Harry is now dating MJ and that he has been hiding it from Peter. Harry’s father, Norman Osborn (Willem Dafoe), is also a brilliant scientist, who in desperation to save his company performs a deadly experiment and unwittingly transforms himself into the Green Goblin. Fueled by anger, the Goblin begins striking out at those who threaten Osborn and his company. Spider-man is now the only thing standing in his way, and must stand up to defend the city against the Goblin’s evil schemes.

Analysis: As a comic book fan, words can’t describe how wonderful it was (and still is) to have seen this film done so accurately and with such love for the source material. Sure, there are changes and some of them are a bit head-scratching, such as replacing the Gwen Stacy character with Mary-Jane and essentially turning the MJ character into Gwen for the first film.  Also, the look of the Goblin is kinda…well, its damn wierd. Other than that, and despite them infact, the film is a delightful and faithful translation of a character and story that many have loved for over 40 years. Tobey Maguire sells this movie. He is likable and the story revolves around him. The film moves along very quickly, and the action is amazing. Rarely has a film captured the imagination as well as this film. To see Spider-man actually swinging from building to building, and with such ease and to have it look so damn good is more than any geek had a right to dream it would look like. A truely special experience.

Did you know?: In the comics, MJ doesn’t come into the picture until Peter is in college and it is infact Gwen Stacy who first wins Peter’s heart during high school. In a now epic storyline, Gwen is captured by the Goblin and dropped from the bridge top, similar to how MJ ends up in the first film. The major difference, of course, is that Gwen dies in the comic and MJ assumes the love interest role for Peter.

The Cast: The characters are dead on from the comics. The relationships, in particular each character to Peter, is flawlessly translated. Sam Raimi has effectively and brilliantly created a full Spider-man universe for our web-slinging hero. We see all sides of Peter, and we empathize with him. We feel his pain in letting down his uncle, and the grief after he is killed. We feel his nervousness whenever he talks to MJ and root for him both as Spider-man, and as dutiful nephew to Aunt May (Rosemary Harris). The supporting cast is what ultimately makes this film special. Yes, Tobey Maguire rocks the house down as nerdy Peter Parker and witty Spidey, but without his supporting cast the film is lost.

Kirsten Dunst is amazing as MJ, and I swear when she smiles she looks like a John Romita drawing. If you read the comics, you know what I’m talking about. She portrays MJ with great balance, striking the right tones as both insecure girlfriend, struggling actress and independent young woman. Her sweetness is ultimately what made me melt watching these movies. Her chemistry with Tobey Maguire is awe-inspiring and you feel each emotion with them and can believe they’ve known one another for years. James Franco portrays angst-ridden and rebellious Harry Osborn perfectly, and you can almost find yourself rooting for him at times. He also does a great job of making you believe that, although he is kinda the cool kid with all the money, that he would be friends with Peter and looks out for him.

Rosemary Harris is the perfect Aunt May. I want an Aunt May now. Man is she adorable and kind and just a sweetie. Which is exactly how she should be and is portrayed in the comics. You feel the level of love she has for Peter and her desire to see him succeed. Willem Dafoe’s portrayal of both Osborn and the Goblin is legendary. I’m serious folks. The levels of creepiness he got to, especially with his voice and facial expressions is amazing and sent chills down my spine. He plays the complexity of a Marvel villian quite well, in that Marvel villians are rarely cut and dry villians. They usually are tragic figures who believe they’re doing the right thing. And of course I must mention the great performance by J.K. Simmons as Daily Bugle editor J.Jonah Jameson. Wow. Thats the best word I can attach to it. He is just great, and even looks like him down to every manureism. Simmons knocked it out of the park and is a great addition to the movie.

Favorite moments: Perhaps my favorite moment in the film is the kiss. That damn kiss. That awe-inspiring, beautifully cinematic and brilliantly schemed kiss. Whoever came up with that idea is a god-damned genuis. I don’t think another kiss will ever top it in a movie. Of course, what I’m talking about is the upside down alley kiss, where Spidey is hanging upside down after rescuing MJ in the pouring rain. After some flirty banter, MJ asks “So, do I get to say thank you this time?” and then proceeds to slowly fold down Spidey’s mask enough to kiss him. Its such a wonderful moment and such a geek dream come true to see something like it on screen. Aside from that I love the chase by Peter after the car-jacker and also when Peter first uses his webbing and attempts to swing. Looking down and then across the vast distance he has to travel, Peter softly mutters to himself “Tallie-hoo” and then swings across and straight into a wall. Priceless comic gold.

How does it work as Act 1 in a bigger story? Very well. The film is an almost flawless telling of Spider-man’s origin and sets up his entire universe with great effect. All the supporting characters are well established, and the audience is left salivating and wanting more. Obviously the film ends on somewhat of down-note and its up in the air what will happen. After rescuing MJ from the hands of the Goblin, Spidey is thrown into a life or death final battle. The Goblin is defeated and accidently killed by his own hand. New Yorkers are beginning to somewhat trust him. MJ may’ve begun to figure out Peter is infact Spider-man after sharing a kiss with him and professing her love. Peter, not wanting to let her get too close and possibly hurt, rejects her and walks away. Harry vows to hunt down Spider-Man and get vengeance for his fathers death, setting up tension between him and Peter in the second film, as Peter is forced to hide the truth from Harry.

Individual film Grade: A-

Act 2: Mix things up

Spider-man 2 (2004)

The film: Some time has passed since the events that concluded the first film, and our main characters have all moved on to there own things. Harry has taken over his fathers company, Oscorp, and has begun experimenting with an unstable energy source called Tri-lithium with renowned scientist, Dr. Otto Octavius (Alfred Molina). MJ has come into great success on Broadway, and Aunt May struggles to afford to pay the bills in the absence of Uncle Ben. Peter has all but isolated himself from his friends and Aunt May, wanting to keep his distance to both protect his secret and keep them safe. He has moved out from the apartment he shared with Harry and into a rundown 1 room apartment run by an eccentric landlord, Mr. Ditkovich (Elya Baskin). He has problems getting to his classes and to his job(s) and basically, his whole life is one big mess.

In the beginning of the film we see Peter struggling to balance his life as Spider-man with his paying job of delivering pizzas, and he is fired for being unreliable. Peter drives by large billboards of MJ advertising her play and reminding him of what he walked away from. He comes home to find a surprise birthday party by Aunt May, MJ and Harry. We immediately feel the tension between everyone and Peter. As MJ helps May set up, Harry asks for Peters help finding Spider-man, to which Peter quickly changes the subject. We also see MJ taking long looks at Peter, clearly still hung up on him, which Harry points out to him. After the tension decreases, Harry offers to introduce Peter to Dr. Octavius, a hero of Peter’s and the subject of a paper of Peter’s for school. After the party, MJ and Peter talk in the backyard and MJ asks why Peter hasn’t come to her play yet. Peter promises to come the next evening, and then is crushed to learn that MJ now has a serious boyfriend, John Jameson (Daniel Gillies), son of Daily Bugle editor, J. Jonah Jameson.

Naturally, Peter misses the play because of his duties as Spider-man, and upsets MJ further. Peter meets with Octavius and the two immediately bond over science and poetry. Octavius tells Peter of the experiment he is running for Oscorp and Peter points out the potential risk, which Octavius rejects quickly. During the experiment, something does go wrong, a meltdown occurs and Spidey barely saves the day. During the overload, the four large mechanical arms become fused to Octavius’ spine, transforming him into “Doc Ock.” He quickly comes under the persuasion of the mechancial arms and begins a crime spree to help rebuild his machine and attempt the experiment again. MJ becomes engaged to John and Peter mysteriously begins to lose his abilities as Spider-man. He decides that the pressures and the sacrifices being Spider-man are now too great and leaves the costume in an alley trash can, and gives up being a hero in order to get his personal life in order and try to win MJ back.

Analysis: How often can you honestly say that a sequel surpasses the original in every concievable way? Spider-man 2 does just that, and actually nearly grossed as much as the original. With the burden of the origin and setting up the universse and characters out of the way, Sam Raimi was able to just launch into a story that is twice as engaging and twice as action packed. The emotional storyline of Peter’s problems and the attempts to balance his personal life with that of being Spider-man is done very effectively. MJ and Peter are at odds with one another for most of the movie, and we feel that tension because of the amazing chemistry they had in the first film. We root for Peter, even when he makes mistakes (and he makes a lot of them) and we hope MJ comes around by the end. Doc Ock is breathtakingly cool on screen. The train fight scene is one of the coolest things we’ll ever see in a movie, and the final few minutes of the film is as emotional as any oscar winning drama.

Did you know?: Kirsten Dunst wore a wig for the first film, a wig which was noticably darker red hair, and in this film actually died her own hair red.

The Cast: The returning cast all steps it up to another level in this film. In particular, Rosemary Harris is wonderful as Aunt May again and adds some gentle humor and a truely touching, heartwarming speech to Peter about heroes, only giving a small hint that she may know his secret. The chemistry Tobey Maguire has with most of the cast is special, but nothing tops his chemistry with Kirsten Dunst and the ups and downs they go thru in this film are felt by us each step of the way. James Franco goes to another place entirely in this fiilm on his inevitable journey to villian in Film 3, and plays the complex emotions quite well. J.K. Simmons again provides great comic relief and plays the part of Jameson perfectly.

The newcomers, mainly Alfred Molina as Doc Ock, are all amazing and step into this universe seemlessly. Molina brings an intelligence and humility to the role and the first hour or so, in particular his scenes with both Peter and his wife (Donna Murphy) sell him as a good guy who just takes a wrong turn. We don’t want to believe he has truely gone evil, but at times he goes to places where we must believe and that is a great villian. In smaller roles, Mr. Ditkovich is humerous and his daughter, Ursula (Mageina Tovah), is adorable with her pet crush on Peter. The scene where she brings him milk and cake and is just staring at him is just adorable and melts my heart everytime.

Favorite moments: Bruce Campbell as the ticket taker at MJ’s play was priceless. Spidey riding the elevator back down to street level was hilarious. Peter mixing his costume in with his whites in the wash is just a great touch, and makes Peter more human. The main three things I love though are when Peter first gives up being Spider-man, and is dancing around and being all happy with the weight of the world off his shoulders. Playing in the background is the classic “Raindrops are falling on my head,” which is just perfect for the scene and the character. Then there is the amazing train fight sequence, which is just jaw-droppingly cool. ‘Nuff said. Finally the entire relationship between MJ and Peter, mainly the very end of the film, just melted my heart and made me happy inside. I was always a Gwen Stacy fan in the comics, but I respect and cherish the MJ thing too, and to see it come together as it did was truely great and inspiring to a long time comic book fan.

How does it work as Act 2 in a bigger story? Oh my god does it work perfectly! An ideal sequel will mix things up, put the main characters in some sort of crisis and at odds with one another and raise the stakes to the point that we, the audience, actually have doubts as to how it will turn out. This film does that and more. Harry learns that Peter is infact Spider-man and learns that his father was the Goblin and finds his father’s secret lab-room. MJ professes her love to Peter, who tries to deny his own feelings again, but then does tell MJ in the end after rescuing her from Doc Ock, who sacrifices himself in the end to help Peter. MJ also learns that Peter is Spider-man, but Peter tells her its impossible for them to be together. Moments later, Peter sits alone in his small apartment, when MJ suddenly appears in his doorway in her wedding dress, having left John at the altar, and professes her love for Peter once and for all. The two share a passionate kiss that is interrupted by sirens wailing in the background. MJ smiles and says, “Go get ‘em Tiger,” and watches as Peter/Spidey swings away to help the city. The final frames are of MJ, first smiling and then slowly realizing the life she has just chosen.

Individual Film grade: A

Act 3: The Payoff (?)

Spider-man 3 (2007)

The film: Life is now finally going well for Peter Parker. The city has accepted his alter-ego, Spider-man, and worships him as a hero. He is succesful at work, and has a serious and fulfilling relationship with the love of his life, Mary-Jane. Things are going so well infact that Peter tells Aunt May that he wants to propose to MJ, and she gives him her blessing and the same ring Uncle Ben used to propose to her many years earlier.

Then things start to go awry for our favorite web-slinger, starting with a sneak-attack from Harry, now assuming the role of the Goblin. After a long brawl, Harry is seriously injured and hospitalized. He loses his short-term memory and forgets that Peter is Spider-man, and that he was involved with his father’s death. MJ soon has her life fall apart as well, as she is fired from her broadway job and feels like she can’t turn to Peter for support. Peter barely acknowledges MJ and seems to be wrapped up in the pending ceremony honoring him for rescuing Gwen Stacy (Bryce Dallas Howard), daughter of a NYC police captain. When Peter is caught up in the spectacle and shares the same upside down kiss with Gwen that he first had with MJ, she is furious and turns to Harry for comfort.

Meanwhile, escaped convict Flint Marko (Thomas Hayden-Church) accidently falls into a top secret experiment and has his molecules transformed into sand. He then turns to a life of crime to try and get money to help his ailing daughter (Perla Haney-Jardine), and becomes the Sandman. Captain Stacy (James Cromwell) calls Peter and Aunt May in to inform them of Marko’s escape and that he may’ve been involved in Uncle Ben’s death. Peter becomes furious, and soon begins giving into his anger. About this time is when a mysterious black substance from a downed asteriod bonds itself to Peter’s costume and turns it black and grey, and gives Peter more strength and helps fuel his darker emotions. Thrown into the mix is also reporter Eddie Brock (Topher Grace), boyfriend to Gwen Stacy and rival for Peter at the Daily Bugle. All these forces begin moving towards a collision course in this “final chapter” of the Spider-man saga.

Analysis: Way too many Villians, way too many new characters and way, way WAY too many subplots. They just tried to do way too much in this movie. This film seems like it was written by twelve people, and none of them could agree, so they just did it all. How they took the marvelous first two films and got to this is anyones guess. Parts of the movie are okay, and the end battle is extremely entertaining, but there is a good hour or so of this movie that is just painful to watch. Why have Peter Parker do a Saturday Night-Fever impression on the streets of NYC sporting a bad Jared Leto look? WHY?!? Also, Harry’s lost puppy routine becomes old after a few minutes and stretches on for way too long. Most of the big reveal moments are just horribly written, and poorly thought-out. Mainly the reveal to Harry about his father’s death by the butler. Are you kidding me??!?!! Visually a spectacular film, the Sandman portions are great, but ultimately the film suffers the same fate as the Batman movies did in the 1990’s…too many villians. A disappointing end to a great trilogy. Now I just hope the rumors of Black Cat in Spider-man 4 are true…maybe forget this one ever existed. Anyone with me?

Did you know? Kirsten Dunst is a natural blonde and dies her red to portray MJ, while Bryce Dallas Howard is a natural red-head dying her hair blonde. Go figure that one out.

The Cast: Honestly they all seem lost most of this movie, it goes in some wierd directions. Even the great chemistry between Tobey Maguire and the other returning actors seems gone in this installment. Even in important and emotional scenes, such as MJ breaking up with Peter, come off as goofy and silly the way they were done in this film. Rosemary Harris does her best with her few scenes, but manages to only creep the audience out with mental images of her in a bathing suit, ruining an otherwise poignant scene between her and Peter. The newcomers are mostly equally lost, if not more so. Topher Grace is horribly cheesy and uninteresting as Eddie Brock, and don’t even get me started on the Venom look. Thomas Hayden-Church does quite well with some of his scenes, but in others seems lost in the whole green-screen process. James Cromwell is a veteran actor, and an extremley good one at that and even he seemed bored with his precious few scenes. Bryce Dallas Howard was wasted in this movie. She is the only gem in the newbie bunch, and does a great job playing perky Gwen Stacy. She is simply adorable in the role. Now, where the plot chooses to use her is another story…hence the waste.

Favorite moments: Hmmm, hard to choose a few favorites when most of this movie was a wash, as far as I’m concerned. I did like the end battle, at least the visuals of it, even if it did seem like Spidey had wandered into The Mummy. Also loved the skyscraper rescue of Gwen, and Spidey squirming his way thru debree and glass to save her. Sandman’s origin scene is hauntingly beautiful, and the visuals are among the greatest ever created on screen in that scene. The look of the black costume is great, but nowhere close to the coolness of the one in the comics, which was disappointing. Mainly it seemed like they didn’t trust the mainstream audience to buy into a completly different suit, so they just darkened the existing one instead.

How does it work as Act 3, and the concluding chapter in a larger story? It’s hit and miss, mostly miss. Again, this film was largely disappointing to me, and finding any silver lining is hard. It does resolve the Harry-Peter-Spidey-Goblin story arc nicely, and does complete Peter’s journey to being a hero. The first film was about him becoming a hero, the second about reconsiling with that choice and this last film was about balancing that choice with the rest of his life and not taking shortcuts. In that, it did an okay job. Take out 1/3 of this movie and its okay, and mainly its the middle chunk that is horrible. Mostly it introduced a lot of characters, and had to devote a lot of time to stretch out those plot lines and merge them into the pea-soup that was the plot of this movie. I thought they missed a great opportunity with Gwen, and hope she is back in future films. They did a horrible job with Venom, and I was glad to see him die in the end. Sandman became largely pointless in the film, and his overall journey would’ve been better served as the central villian of a film, and not as a one-act villian sharing the movie with two others. As for Peter and MJ, its up in the air and kind of depressing where it leaves them. It does leave the window open for future films to either get them back together or introduce new love interests for them both.

Individual film grade: C

Over-all Trilogy grade: A-

Written and Directed by James C. Strouse, Grace is Gone tells the story of a father (John Cusack) who learns that his wife was killed in action in Iraq, and being unable to express his pain or find the right words, decides to take his two young daughters on a road trip before telling them.

Stanley Phillips (Cusack) is a soft-spoken father who is home raising his two young daughters while his wife is serving in Iraq. They live in a small Minnesota town and Stanley manages a Home Store during the day while his girls are at school. His oldest daughter, 12 year old Heidi (Shelan O’Keefe), sneaks around trying to watch news broadcasts of the war against Stanley’s wishes while he isn’t home, and is struggling to stay awake in school. Stanley is somewhat estranged from his daughters, and doesn’t always know how to talk to them. So, when he is informed his wife was killed in action, Stanley decides to take the girls on a road trip to “Enchanted Gardens” in Florida before telling them of there mother’s death.

On the road trip, Stanley brings the girls to his childhood home, where we meet his brother, John (Alessandro Nivola). John and Stanley disagree on the war and the way the government is running things, and its here where we first see Stanley start to snap. We also learn that Stanley met Grace in the Army, and why he was discharged in these scenes with the brother. After John gets a phone call about Grace’s death, he questions Stanley’s reasons for not telling the girls the truth. Heidi also begins to suspect something is wrong, and tries to pry information throughout the film. Myself, I had the impression that Heidi suspected the truth from the beginning, and its a true testiment to the superior acting performance given by O’Keefe.

Younger sister, 8 year old Dawn (Gracie Bednarczyk), is bouncy and cheerful, and is seemingly oblivious to whats going on and is concentrating on getting to the theme park. Perhaps the most adorable thing in the film is that Dawn sets her watch at the same time as her mother everyday, that way they both know the other is thinking of them at that moment. So, when we the audience know Grace is dead, and see young Dawn continuing this ritual to think about her mother, our hearts simply fill with pain for her. However, the relationship between Stanley and Heidi is what carries the film, and is an intelligent move in the script. Heidi is old enough to begin questioning things and has curiosities that simple parenting answers can no longer satisfy. Heidi questions Stanley often, and he comes to realize that while Grace has been away, that he has alienated himself from his daughters and hasn’t paid attention to there needs. So, in going thru this drama, Stanley begins to learn how to be a better father.

The film is tremendously slow, but not very long (1 hour and 24 minutes). It also spends a lot of time inside the family car, as the movie is essentially a road trip movie, which can get boring at times, but its also where a few key scenes of dialogue occur. Despite this, the film is very good, and very touching to see this side of the tragedy so many families are dealing with on a daily basis as this war continues. Cusack is simply amazing in this film. He has moments that simply melt your heart, such as calling the family answering machine just to hear his wife’s voice again. The emotions he allows himself to portray are powerful and the chemistry he has with young Shelan O’Keefe is tremendous. She also is very good in the film, portraying a young girl realizing that the world isn’t always black and white as she thought it was, and for the first time begins to step outside of the box. Both in her actions and her thinking. The younger girl, Gracie Bednarczyk, is simply adorable. She has few moments when she is required to give any emotion besides giddy young girl, but when it gets to the moment that Stanley has to finally tell them, she and O’Keefe both do a great job of selling there sadness.

You know what you’re getting when you sit down to watch this kind of movie (sad drama), but don’t let that scare you away. It is a touching, powerful drama that is highly recommended.

Love. Pleasure. Sadness. Joy. They are the basic essential human emotions that inspire us daily. Jieho Lee directs this riveting and emotional journey featuring an all-star cast, including; Kevin Bacon (Mystic River, The Woodsmen), Brendan Fraser (The Mummy, Bedazzled), Forrest Whitaker (The Last King of Scotland, Vantage Point), Andy Garcia (Ocean’s Eleven), and Sarah-Michelle Gellar (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Scooby-Doo).

Four basic emotions and four seperate plot-lines revolve around one another and tie together to complete a fascinating and engaging film.

A banker (Forrest Whitaker) lives his life by the rules. He works hard, he does his job well and yet he feels like life has passed him by and that happiness eludes him. After overhearing his co-workers discuss a rigged horse-race, he decides to follow them to an underground, mob-controlled casino, and place a large bet on the horse expected to win. When something goes wrong and the horse doesn’t win, he is given two weeks to repay the money to the casino. A mob thug (Brendan Fraser) goes thru life with the curse of knowing the future. Instead of using this talent for good, he aides a heartless mobster (Andy Garcia), and lives his life without hope or joy. His visions begin to fail him, however, after first glimpsing a pop-star (Sarah-Michelle Gellar) and he becomes obsessed with helping her escape from the contract his mobster boss holds over her. The pop-star lives a shallow life of fame and riches and is haunted by the death of her father when she was young. She soon is forced to face the reality of what happens when she loses everything. Finally, a brilliant doctor (Kevin Bacon) races to save the life of a woman (Julie Delpy) he still loves, but who is married to his best friend.

A remarkable ensemble film with an amazing script (Director Jieho Lee and Bob DeRosa). Each of the recognizable actors performs at the top of there game. In particular, Andy Garcia plays a truely evil and dispicable character and captures the villiany of that character extremely well and makes the audience hate him. His character is the glue that connects the four plot-lines and he is like a satanic puppet-master pulling everyones strings behind the curtain, believing himself to be the hero and everyone else the bad guys. Brendan Fraser also gives a suprisingly emotional and complex performance. His character also runs thru several of the plot-lines and is really the emotional backboard of much of the film. He gives a raw gentleness to his character, but also a strength and intelligence that makes him fascinating to watch. Forrest Whitaker gives a powerful performance as always, and Sarah-Michelle Gellar displays some dramatic acting chops most people who didn’t watch her on Buffy for 7 seasons may find surprising.

The Air I Breathe is a wonderful and original film experience. Any fan of ensemble dramas and good emotional plot-lines would enjoy this film. The film also co-stars Emile Hirsch (Into the Wild, Speed Racer) and Kelly Hu (The Scorpian King, X-Men 2).