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This film is the fourth in the popular Japanese horror series and it is the best. Throughout the series, the main problem has been that there isn’t a clear central character to care about. Here we have Kyoko Harase (Noriko Sakai, narrator of POKEMON: PICHU AND PIKACHU), a horror movie actress who visits the cursed house of the previous films to do a documentary. As in the other films, the curse of Kayako (Takako Fuji) and her son Toshio (Yuya Ozeki) tracks down all that have contact with the house. However, this time they seem to be toying with Kyoko, who is pregnant.

As part of the series, this film does the best job of making us care about a character who is being hunted by the curse. However, the film still lacks any fight by the characters. They all seem like helpless fodder. The inactivity of the characters gets frustrating. If they make a fifth JU-ON, I’d like to see somebody try to figure out the curse and stop it.

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This film is DIE HARD on a boat. Before seeing this film, I had never seen a Steven Seagal film before. It didn’t really change my perception of him all that much. He looks cool while kicking butt. He is an action actor where the adjective is more important than the noun. However, I must admit I did enjoy the adrenaline ride.

Seagal (HARD TO KILL) plays badass Navy cook Casey Ryback. He butts heads with Commander Krill (Gary Busey, THE BUDDY HOLLY STORY), who plots with renegade former military officer William Stranix (Tommy Lee Jones, THE FUGATIVE) to steal his ship’s weapons then off load them to a rogue North Korean submarine that will take the nukes to the Middle East to sell them to terrorists. Like Bruce Willis in DIE HARD, Ryback finds himself in a solo battle against the crazy terrorists. However, Ryback gets a dead weight around his waist in the form of Playboy model Jordan Tate (Erika Eleniak, TV’s BAYWATCH), who was on the boat as part of a surprise party for the murdered captain.

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In no way am I saying its as emotional wrenching or as intellectually stimulating, but this film reminded me of IRREVERSIBLE. Maybe it was the tone and it definitely has the power to make you squirm.

Director Marina de Van (UNDER THE SAND) plays the lead role of Esther, a self-loathing woman, who after having an accident that severely cuts her leg becomes obsessed with self-mutilation. The film builds slowly developing Esther’s psychology. Her friend Sandrine (Lea Drucker, SHOOTING STARS) and her boyfriend Vincent (Laurent Lucas, WITH A FRIEND LIKE HARRY) become quickly concerned with her dangerous behavior.

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I’ve been a fan of the Looney Tunes as long as I can remember. I was excited to see Warner Bros. attempting to bring them back into the mainstream, but this movie is almost unwatchable. But what can you expect from a film based on a Nike TV commercial. However, you can’t help but like Michael Jordan or the Looney Tunes (most of them that is).

The plot is cookie cutter. Aliens want to kidnap the Looney Tunes and force them to perform in an outer space amusement park. Because the aliens are short, the Looney Tunes decide to challenge them to a basketball game in exchange for their freedom. But when the aliens steal the abilities of NBA players, the Looney Tunes need help and enlist Jordan.

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In general, the reviews for this film were not that good. However, Roger Ebert has been championing this film since its release, so I had to give it a shot. The film is based on a novel by Gail Carson Levine, which I have not read, however I have read that the film takes a lot of liberties with the book. First and foremost, the film really tries to be a live-action SHREK by brining pop culture and modern references into a fairy tale setting. This is where ELLA ultimately fails.

The modern winks were hit or miss throughout the film, some even groan inducing. I really think the filmmakers should have modeled the movie more after THE PRINCESS BRIDE, a masterful example of playing fantasy for laughs. Ella (Anne Hathaway, THE PRINCESS DIARIES) has been cursed with the gift of obedience. Whenever anyone tells her to do something she must obey. Once her evil step-sisters Hattie (Lucy Punch, TV’s THE 10TH KINGDOM) and Olive (Jennifer Higham, TV’s STAR) find out about the curse they set out to make Ella’s life miserable. Adding to the tension between Hattie and Ella is Hattie’s love and Ella’s dislike of the handsome prince Char (Hugh Dancy, KING ARTHUR). Ella has an activist heart and dislikes Char’s seemingly pretty boy mindlessness. However, as these types of stories go, Ella and Char are brought together. Char likes Ella because she’s not like the other girls who chase and swoon over him.

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Some people have found this film pretentious, but I found it fascinating. Some people found it too film school-y. I can see this with the end, but not throughout. The film was made as part of director Mark Decena’s schooling at the Sundance Institute.

Rand (John Livingston, EDTV), Winston (Bruno Campos, MIMIC 2) and Johnson (Reuben Grundy, TV’s A DIFFERENT WORLD) run a small tech company in San Francisco, working on developing an A.I. pet named Koy Koy. One night Rand and Winston meet Sarah (Sabrina Lloyd, TV’s SLIDERS) in a bar. There is an obvious instant attraction between Rand and Sarah, but Winston is more aggressive and moves in. When the investors want to test Koy Koy with kids, the guys run into Sarah again as she is the teacher at the school where Koy Koy is being tested. Rand and Sarah strike up a relationship, but their pasts hurt them from connecting 100%. Hurt by love, Rand lives in his head about “love” as a mere chemical reaction.

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Wherever you stand on the morality of pornography, it’s hard to deny it’s intriguing. And anyone who knows porn legend Ron Jeremy will be intrigued at how it is possible that a fat, hairy and fairly unattractive man who looks like he hasn’t showered in ages could be the most successful male porn actor of all time.

The film shows Jeremy as a good-natured man, who is kind and lonely. From a young age he wanted to be a performer. He stumbled into porn by accident after a picture of him appeared in PLAYGIRL, which showed off his talents – if you know what I mean. He’s been stuck in porn ever since. Known as the Clown Prince of Porn for his sense of humor, he has appeared in some mainstream films and has a side career as a stand-up comedian. However, his friend Al “Grandpa Munster” Lewis describes his stand-up act perfectly – “the worst I’ve ever seen.”

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Lars von Trier may be the most cynical and pessimistic filmmaker around. His films often feature totally innocent characters who continuously get beat up by a selfish and uncaring world. I truly loved his film BREAKING THE WAVES, but that film had other likeable characters other than the lead. I really didn’t like DANCER IN THE DARK, because I felt the obsessive innocence if Bjork’s character was forced. This film falls in between.

When I first heard about the film, I thought the style would be my biggest problem. Set in a tiny Rocky Mountain town, the film was completely filmed on a soundstage with chalk lines on the floor representing the houses. However, this part of the film was probably one of the highlights, which is divided up into a prologue and nine chapters driven by an OUR TOWN-like narration by John Hurt (HELLBOY).

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Nick Broomfield is a gutsy documentarian. It’s amazing sometimes what he gets people to do on camera. I’ve seen his other celebrity docs about serial killer Aileen Wuornos and Hollywood madam Heidi Fleiss and it seems that Broomfield is interested at how people latch onto famous people and take advantage of them.

KURT & COURTNEY created a lot of buzz in 1998, because it was pulled from the Sundance Film Festival after Courtney Love threatened to sue. Eventually, the film was released on video and bolstered the conspiracy theories that surrounded the death of Nirvana lead singer Kurt Cobain.

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This film proves that ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY’s opinion on things should be taken with a grain of salt. This film from 2002 was on its top ten list. It’s got amateur hour written all over it.

Dag (Ron Eldard, HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG) is dating Halley (Kyra Sedgwick, WHAT’S COOKING?) and their best friend is Peter (Patrick Breen, GALAXY QUEST), whose ballet dancer girlfriend is named Rebecca (Marley Shelton, PLEASANTVILLE). From the first shot, we know that Dag and Rebecca have hooked up. Then injected into the plot is an insane bartender Paula (Marisa Tomei, MY COUSIN VINNY), who is obsessed with Peter’s peanut butter commercial. In the peanut butter commercial, Peter dresses up like an eagle and it’s so bad it makes local TV ads look really good. Later we meet Andre (Taye Diggs, BROWN SUGAR) who is sleeping with Rebecca and is married to Colleen (Sarita Choudhury, KAMA SUTRA).

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