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The title to the movie is key to understanding partly the motivations of the lead character Vera (Neve Campbell, THE COMPANY), a cultured rich girl who lives in a fantastic loft apartment in New York City. Her boyfriend Ford (Frank Weller, BUSINESS OF STRANGERS) is a hustler, who always talks about his next big deal, which is really a figment of his imagination. Ford meets the Italian media mogul Count Tommaso (Dominic Chianese, DOG DAY AFTERNOON), who is smitten with Vera and wants to set up a liaison with her for $100,000.

Vera is a very sexual person, but may be looking for something more than what Ford or even the Count can give her. The fact that she doesn’t need the money makes her acceptance to meet the Count intriguing.

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I am quite a fan of John Sayles work. This time around Sayles constructs a political satire, which sets its eyes on the Bush administration.

Though its not direct, one can easily tell that the character of Dickie Pilager (Chris Cooper, ADAPTATION) is meant to represent George W. Bush. Pilager is running for the governor of Colorado. He’s a simple man who often has a hard time finding the right words to say when in front of the press. His father, Judson (Michael Murphy, TANNER ‘88), is a famed senator from the state and a leader of their party. Both politicians are funded heavily by mega-corporation head Wes Benteen (Kris Kristofferson, ALICE DOESN’T LIVE HERE ANYMORE).

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This film is a remake of a Japanese film that I have not seen as of yet. However, I have a feeling the setting will make a big difference in my take on the original.

The American version moves the film from Japan to Chicago. John Clark (Richard Gere, CHICAGO) is an insurance salesman who doesn’t really demand much from life, but seems to be lacking something. He loves his hard-working wife Beverly (Susan Sarandon, ATLANTIC CITY) and his children Jenna (Tamara Hope, THE DEEP END) and Evan (Stark Sands, CATCH THAT KID). However, one night on the train ride home, John glimpses Paulina (Jennifer Lopez, ANGEL EYES) in the window of Miss Mitzi’s dance school, looking as sad as he feels.

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The best biopics are the ones that explore the person’s personality and RAY is at its best when it does just that. The film chronicles the rise to stardom of soul music inventor Ray Charles up until he goes into rehab to kick a heroine habit. The accomplishments of the man are amazing from combining gospel and R&B to gaining the right to own the masters of his songs to helping break down Jim Crow laws in the South.

The legendary singer is brought to startling life by Jamie Foxx (COLLATERAL). The actor deserves all the praise he has been getting for a performance that borders on channeling. He by far deserves the Oscar. But adding to the films distinguished performances are the many women in Charles’ life. Sharon Warren, in her film debut, brings raw emotion to the role of Charles’ mother, Aretha Robinson. Kerry Washington (SAVE THE LAST DANCE) brings emotional complexity to the role of Charles’ wife, Della Bea. Regina King (JERRY MAGUIRE) has never been better as Charles’ Raylette back-up singer and drug-addicted lover, Margie Hendricks.

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This film is the best film I’ve ever seen about high school football. Actually it’s the best film I’ve seen about football period. It’s also a close second to HOOSIERS for the best high school sports movie as well. That’s a lot of praise for a film in a genre that has a very strict plot structure. But what makes Peter Berg’s film so good is how it uses the conventions of the genre to build tension and then u surprise us, making us re-think the nature of competition in general.

Billy Bob Thornton (BAD SANTA) plays Gary Gaines, head coach of the Permian High School Panthers football team in Texas. Based on a true story, the film chronicles how football is all that some small towns in the South live for. The film focuses on Gaines as well as three of the team’s key players – quarterback Mike Winchell (Lucas Black, SLING BLADE), running back Don Billingsley (Garrett Hedlund, TROY) and running back Boobie Miles (Derek Luke, ANTWONE FISHER).

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Director Rainer Werner Fassbinder is one of the most revered German directors. This is the first of his films that I have seen. We meet Veronika Voss (Rosel Zech, AIMEE & JAGUAR), an aging Nazi era actress. One night she has a run in with sportswriter Robert Krohn (Hilmar Thate), who becomes instantly infatuated with her despite having a girlfriend named Henriette (Cornelia Froboess).

Krohn quickly learns that Veronika is not mentally stable and is under the care of Dr. Marianne Katz (Annemarie Duringer, TV’s BERLIN ALEXANDERPLATZ). As Krohn gets to know Veronika more, he discovers the dark secrets behind the fall of the actress. The film works as a character study, a mystery and a metaphor all at the same time.

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This is one of the best and most honest films I’ve seen on how infidelity affects the cheated on. Erica (Jill Clayburgh, SILVER STREAK) and Martin (Michael Murphy, SALVADOR) seem to have a fairly stable marriage until one day he drops the news that he is having an affair with a younger woman. Erica is shocked and goes through a range of emotions trying to deal with the situation.

At first she leans on her friends – Sue (Patricia Quinn, CLEAN AND SOBER), Elaine (Kelly Bishop, DIRTY DANCING) and Jeannette (Linda Miller, TURNER & HOOCH). Eventually, she starts seeing a psychiatrist named Tanya (Penelope Russianoff, real psychiatrist in only film performance). The main crux of the film is the honest emotional range that Erica goes through as she builds her confidence back up and attempts dating.

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Telly Paretta (Julianne Moore, FAR FROM HEAVEN) is holding onto the memory of her son who died in a plane crash. Or did he? Or better yet, did her son ever exist? That’s about as much of the plot as I will reveal because the film plays like it has deep secrets, which as an audience we can figure out a) by having seen 100 films like this one or b) having seen the film’s trailer which pretty much reveals all of its secrets.

Telly’s husband Jim (Anthony Edwards, TV’s E.R.) and her therapist Dr. Jack Munce (Gary Sinise, FORREST GUMP) are very worried about her mental health. She is convinced that she is sane and the rest of the world is crazy. She tries to convince this to anyone who will listen, including ex-hockey player Ash Correll (Dominic West, MONA LISA SMILE) and cop Anne Pope (Alfre Woodard, MUMFORD).

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Director Norman Jewison has never been shy when dealing with issues of race on the big screen as he did in IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT and THE HURRICANE. The only thing that lessens A SOLDIER’S STORY a little is that IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT come before.

Set on a Southern base during WWII, the film chronicles the investigation surrounding the death of a black sergeant named Waters (Adolph Caesar, THE COLOR PURPLE). Capt. Davenport (Howard E. Rollins Jr., TV’s IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT) is assigned by Washington to handle the case. However, the situation is tense because of the area’s racial climate and the fact that Davenport is the first black officer that many people there have ever seen. Capt. Taylor (Dennis Lipscomb, UNDER SIEGE), white, who oversees the black troops, is very reluctant to allow Davenport much freedom for fears of starting a race riot.

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This film is a treat for cinephiles, but may be confusing to the average movier-goer. Because I know who Lars von Trier is and I know a little bit of the background going into the film, I enjoyed it quite a bit. However, I kept thinking to myself during the entire film that if I hadn’t heard anything about this film going into it would I have liked it as much.

So the film presents a fundamental concept of film criticism – one should judge the film that is presented on the scene not by what one brings to the film. However, any honest critic will say that every opinion is filtered through who that person is and knows, therefore, complete objectivity is impossible. Therefore, as a cinephile who knows that von Trier is the director who created the Dogme 95 style of filmmaking, which strives to break down all artificiality using found locations and natural light, I whole-heartedly recommend this film to people like me or the curious at heart.

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