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Jim Halsey (C. Thomas Howell, SOUL MAN) is a college-aged drive away driver going from Chicago to San Diego. Late one night he picks up a hitchhiker named John Ryder (Rutger Hauer, BLADE RUNNER). Soon enough he realizes that he has picked up a sick killer.

Through quick thinking, Jim gets away and this begins Ryder’s torment of Jim, taunting him and making his life a living hell. Jim finds an ally in diner waitress Nash (Jennifer Jason Leigh, THE HUDSUCKER PROXY), though the world seems against him.

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It’s hard to say out of the five actors (Clint Eastwood, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jamie Foxx, Don Cheadle and Johnny Depp) who got nominated for the Oscar, which one I’d drop, but it seems a shame that Kevin Bacon did not get nominated for what is his best performance ever. This smart and even-handed look at a pedophile is human and haunting.

Walter (Bacon, FLATLINERS) has just been released from a 12-year prison sentence for molesting girls aged 10-14. He gets a job at a lumberyard, where he meets tough and forward gal, Vickie (Kyra Sedgwick, WHAT’S COOKING?). However, lumberyard secretary Mary-Kay (Eve, BARBERSHOP) is very leery of the new guy. Walter’s brother-in-law Carlos (Benjamin Bratt, MISS CONGENIALITY) visits him, but his sister refuses to. Sgt. Lucas (Mos Def, upcoming HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY) pays Walter visits as well, talking down to him like he is the scum of the Earth.

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Though this film deals with abortion, it’s not about abortion. The film is a character study about a woman who does illegal and possibly dangerous abortions for all the right reasons.

This character is Vera Drake, played amazingly by Oscar-nominee Imelda Staunton (MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING). Director Mike Leigh (SECRETS & LIES) skillfully crafts this tale, which sets up Vera’s life and family before thrusting the drama of the story upon the audience. Stan (Phil Davis, NICHOLAS NICKLEBY) is her devoted blue-collar husband. Sid (Daniel Mays, ALL OR NOTHING) is Vera’s son, a tailor by day, wanna-be player by night. Ethel (Alex Kelly, ALL OR NOTHING) is Vera’s mousy daughter.

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First time writer/director Matthew Ryan Hoge has seen AMERICAN BEAUTY a few too many times. This film is like an entire movie following the weird neighbor Ricky from the Oscar winner. This is the film’s crucial mistake.

At the start, Leland P. Fitzgerald (Ryan Gosling, THE NOTEBOOK) stabs autistic boy Ryan Pollard (Michael Welch, STAR TREK: INSURRECTION) twenty times and laments about the sadness. Leland is an emotionally stunted young man who is consumed by emotion but cannot express it. His father — famed writer Albert T. Fitzgerald (Kevin Spacey, AMERICAN BEAUTY) — has no relationship with his son, except for his purchase of a trip every year for Leland. (Note: Do not name a famous writer character after a famous writer unless you are writing about the real famous writer.) Albert comes to town smelling a book, but doesn’t ever go to see his son.

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When James L. Brooks decides to direct a film, chances are you won’t be disappointed. Take his track record — TERMS OF ENDEARMENT, BROADCAST NEWS and AS GOOD AS IT GETS. However, when I heard mixed things about SPANGLISH, I was luke warm about seeing it. But now I know, if Brooks directs something you need to see it.

The film is narrated by Cristina Moreno (Shelbie Bruce, film debut), a Mexican immigrant whose mother Flor (Paz Vega, SEX AND LUCIA) moved them to L.A. to get a better life. Paz speaks no English, but still gets a job as the maid of the Clasky family.

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THE RECKONING is an unusually layered mystery dealing with corrupt leaders in the 1300s. Nicholas (Paul Bettany, MASTER & COMMANDER: THE FAR SIDE OF THE WORLD) is a priest on the run – for he has been caught sleeping with another man’s wife and maybe an even worse crime. He comes upon a troupe of actors led by Martin (Willem Dafoe, THE ENGLISH PATIENT), who takes him in to fill a hole in the cast after one of their member’s dies.

They arrive at a town, run by Lord De Guise (Vincent Cassel, IRREVERISIBLE) and discover that a young boy has been recently murdered for which a deaf and dumb woman named Martha (Elvira Minguez, THE DANCER UPSTAIRS) stands to hang for the crime. Martin’s Bible-inspired plays have been doing poorly so he decides to put on the story of the murdered boy. Troupe member Tobias (Brian Cox, THE 25TH HOUR) doesn’t like the idea, because the story was not given to them by God. However, he is outvoted by the other members, including Martin’s sister Sarah (Gina McKee, ATONEMENT), who is fascinated by Nicholas’ mysterious persona. When Nicholas and Martin go to visit the accused for research, they discover a thicker mystery than they thought. As a way to cleanse his soul, Nicholas takes it upon himself to find the truth, which leads to complications that he couldn’t have expected.

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David O. Russell is a smart filmmaker, having made FLIRTING WITH DISASTER and THREE KINGS. This time around he’s a little too smart for his own good.

Albert Markovski (Jason Schwartzman, RUSHMORE) is having an existential crisis, involving three coincidental run-ins with a tall African man named Stewart Nimieri (Ger Duany, film debut). So Albert hires existential detectives Bernard and Vivian Jaffe (Dustin Hoffman, RAIN MAN & Lily Tomlin, 9 TO 5). I’ve seen the movie and don’t really know how to explain what an existential detective really is. It’s kind of a cross between a private eye, a therapist and a New Age guru. But don’t call them therapists, because that ticks them off. They spout a philosophy that everything in the universe is connected and meaningful. They try to discover why it’s meaningful.

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Steven Soderbergh (SOLARIS) usually makes smart films, but here he returns to his cool mode for the sequel to his OCEAN’S ELEVEN heist flick. The first film was fun disposable entertainment filled with stars. The sequel has the same flare.

The film begins with Terry Benedict (Andy Garcia, MAN FROM ELYSIAN FIELDS) — the casino owner who gets robbed in the first film — tracking down the original heist gang and threatening to kill them if they do not return the cash they stole plus interest. So Danny Ocean (George Clooney, INTOLERABLE CRUELTY), now married to Benedict’s ex-wife and his former wife Tess (Julia Roberts, CLOSER), regroups the gang and goes to Europe for his next heist.

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If you’ve never seen a Bollywood film before than your first one might be disconcerting. However, once you get into the mix of melodrama and song, you might find yourself having a great time. That’s exactly how I felt watching this Indian version of SENSE AND SENSIBILITY.

Due to my lack of understanding of Tamil, I will provide names and actors when I can. Sowmya (Tabu) is the practical daughter in her family, but falls for a young filmmaker. Meenakshi (Aishwarya Rai, BRIDE & PREJUDICE) is the poet of the family and dreams of grand love. She is certain that she has found it with a young businessman, but the crippled Capt. Bala (Mammootty) may be a better choice.

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This Oscar-winning best picture was a landmark film in dealing with anti-Semitism and prejudice in general. Philip Schuyler Green (Gregory Peck, TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD) and his family have been brought to New York by a large newspaper that wants Phil to do a series on anti-Semitism. At first Phil is reluctant because he doesn’t know what else to say that hasn’t been said before. One night, he has an epiphany — he will pretend to be a Jew and write the article from that perspective.

In New York, he meets wealthy socialite Kathy Lacey (Dorothy McGuire, THE GREATEST SOLD EVER TOLD) and soon the widower and the divorcee are engaged to be married. Phil sees first hand the prejudice toward Jews from doctors and rich snobs and from the perspective of his childhood friend Dave Goldman (John Garfield, THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE). He also sees it in Jews like his secretary Elaine Wells (June Havoc, 1945’s BREWSTER’S MILLIONS). But the most powerful example of casual bigotry comes from Kathy, which creates riffs in their relationship.
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