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To call this movie a black comedy is being kind. It’s a coal black satire of the holiday season. I hardly ever notice cursing in movies now, but this one even pricked up my ears. Maybe it’s the context of something innocent like Santa, but this film even shocked me. These are not complaints; they are the biggest compliments I can give this film.

Willie (Billy Bob Thornton, SLING BLADE) is a foul-mouthed alcoholic safe-cracker, who works with a black dwarf named Marcus (Tony Cox, FRIDAY). Every year they pose as Santa Claus and his elf at malls. On Christmas Eve, they rob the mall and live off their ill-gotten gains for the next year. This time around Willie ends up meeting a kid named Thurman (Brett Kelly, OUT COLD), who is an absolute hopeless loser. He starts to cling to Willie hoping that Santa will give him a present for Christmas. At first Willie doesn’t want to have anything to do with the kid, but ends up staying at his house.
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Directed by Robert Rodriguez (DESPERADO) and written by Quentin Tarantino (PULP FICTION), this horror crime film bubbles over with cool. It plays out in two distinct parts — the first is a kidnap story and the second is a vampire yarn. Though completely different, Rodriguez brings a unifying style to the two halves and Tarantino writes the in a dramatic way where “good guys” and “bad guys” must come together to conquer a common enemy. Oh, and it’s cool as hell… but I already mentioned that.

Seth (George Clooney, O’ BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU?) and Richard Gecko (Tarantino, DESPERADO) are escaped bank robbers trying to flee to Mexico. Bumps happen along the way mainly due to the extremely unpredictable and unstable behavior of Richard. The Gecko Brothers end up taking hostage the Fuller family, which includes ex-minister Jacob (Harvey Keitel, THE GREY ZONE), teenage daughter Kate (Juliette Lewis, CAPE FEAR) and his Chinese son Scott (Ernest Liu, THE WESTING GAME). They end up at the Titty Twister bar where the management turns out to be blood-sucking vampires.

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In the role that made her, Melanie Griffith (LOLITA) as Tess McGill has never been better. The role allows her to use the sexpot type she played prior to this film, while crafting a much fuller character.

The story follows go-getter Jersey girl McGill as she gets a job as a secretary for no-holds-barred businesswoman Katharine Parker (Sigourney Weaver, ALIEN). McGill knows a great deal about finance, but she doesn’t look or sound the part. After Katharine gets stuck in the mountains after breaking her leg skiing, Tess learns that Katharine had stolen one of her own ideas that Katharine poo-pooed earlier. Tess then assumes Katharine’s identity and takes her business idea to Jack Trainer (Harrison Ford, RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK) at a competing firm.
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This character study about a man with a severe gambling addiction continues to prove that Philip Seymour Hoffman is one of the best actors working today. Based on a true story about a bank employee who took his employer for $10.2 million, Hoffman sinks into this role completely. He never goes for effect, because like any addict his highs are muted by his addiction. It takes a bigger and bigger risk to even get him to blink.

Hoffman’s Dan Mahowny is determined that if he gambles long enough he will be able to pay back all his debts, which he has accrued from gambling. At the bank he is promoted to assistant manager in charge of loans, which he starts making out to himself. His unassuming appearance and nerdy charm allow him to cover up his deceptions. But his gambling has gotten so bad that his bookie Frank (Maury Chaykin, HOSTAGE) cuts him off, because Mahowny starts making impulsive bets just to place a bet. Even bookies have to draw a line on how much they’ll take someone for their money. Mahowny has a girlfriend named Belinda (Minnie Driver, CIRCLE OF FRIENDS), who worries and really cares about him, but when he invites her to Vegas with him she finally can’t overlook his erratic behavior.

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David Gordon Green is quickly becoming a director to watch. His only other film GEORGE WASHINGTON was one of the best films from 2000 and I eagerly await his version of the Pulitzer Prize award-winning novel CONFEDERACY OF THE DUNCES. Again he deals with young characters, this time in their late teens and 20s. ALL THE REAL GIRLS is a simple love story constructed with complex characters.

Paul (Paul Schneider, GEORGE WASHINGTON) is a notorious ladies man in his small working class North Carolina town. He starts dating Noel (Zooey Deschanel, ALMOST FAMOUS), the younger sister of his best friend Tip (Shea Whigham, TIGERLAND), who of course doesn’t like the idea when he finds out. Noel has just returned from boarding school and Paul notice how she has grown up. They’ve known each other their whole lives and they approach this next step in the relationship with thought and idealism. But unlike so many other screen romances, the two lovers have other people in their lives that make a difference. The supporting cast is not just there to serve the plot.

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Director Peter Bogdanovich (LAST PICTURE SHOW) set out to make an homage to ‘30s screwball comedies and succeeded with flare. In many ways, it stands with the best of the genre.

Howard Bannister (Ryan O’Neal, LOVE STORY) and his fiancée, Eunice Burns (Madeline Kahn, YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN) travel to San Francisco for a musicology event where Howard is up for a $20,000 grant. Zany craziness ensues from the beginning to the end due to four identical plaid bags each containing Howard’s musical rocks, secret documents, stolen jewels and Judy Maxwell’s clothes. Maxwell (Barbra Streisand, MIRROR HAS TWO FACES) provides most of the wackiness as she wills herself upon Howard, even renaming him Steve.
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The first time I saw this twisted little film I didn’t really like it. But after several viewings, I’ve been won over by LORD OF THE RINGS director Peter Jackson’s tale of two young girls in the 1950s whose imagination and sexuality become too hard to handle for their parents.

Based on a true story, Pauline Parker (Melanie Lynskey, BUT I’M A CHEERLEADER) is a cubby loner who is nagged by her over-protective, yet caring mother, Honora (Sarah Peirse, UNCONDITIONAL LOVE). Then enters the flamboyant and highly imaginative rich girl Juliet (Kate Winslet, TITANIC). Before too long the two girls create an entire kingdom of knights and maids in their heads, casting themselves as central characters. Pauline starts going by the name Gina and Juliet goes by the name Debora.
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