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This film moves at the slow pace of its central character Seibei Iguchi (Hiroyuki Sanada, THE LAST SAMURAI), whose co-workers refer to him as Twilight, because he never goes out with them and comes to work unwashed and with torn clothing. He is a sad widower who is raising two daughters and taking care of his senile mother. As the title suggests, this is not a modern tale, but it still echoes the loneliness of modern workaholic Japan.

Seibei’s daughter Ito (Erina Hashiguchi, film debut) narrates the film. She tells us that her father has learned that his friend’s sister Tomoe (Rie Miyazawa, BASARA - THE PRINCESS GOH) is divorcing her abusive husband. They were friends as children and seem to have had a crush on each other. Why Seibei doesn’t act on his feelings is typical, but has a profound twist that the people who know him wouldn’t expect. What no one really knows is that Seibei has trained as a samurai. Though he is the lowest rank, he is still quite skilled. In the end, Seibei is blackmailed into confronting renegade samurai Yogo (Min Tanaka), who has already killed one samurai who was sent after him.
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Based on the same titled book by Elizabeth Wurtzel, this picture was filmed in 2000 and languished on the shelves at Miramax until the company dumped it on cable in March. The delay has been credited to a number of reasons from the unlikable nature of the central character to writer Elizabeth Wurtzel’s offensive comments about 9/11 to the fact that Wurtzel stated she felt the movie was “horrible.”

The film is certainly not horrible. Wurtzel is played by Christina Ricci (THE OPPOSITE OF SEX). The story chronicles Wurtzel’s acceptance into Harvard, her success as a music reviewer and journalist, her decent into drugs and her personal destruction at the hands of severe depression/ bi-polar disease. Noah (Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM) is her first fling, who introduces her to drugs. Her roommate Ruby (Michelle Williams, THE STATION AGENT) admires her, but soon cannot handle her mood swings. Wurtzel later starts a relationship with the conservative, but caring Rafe (Jason Biggs, AMERICAN PIE).

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Jack Starks (Adrien Brody, THE PIANIST) is a Gulf war vet who survived a shot to the head. Once home, he inadvertently was wrapped up in the murder of a police officer and sent to a mental institution. There Dr. Thomas Becker (Kris Kristofferson, BLADE) uses drugs and locking patients in morgue drawers to simulate the womb. This is what he calls therapy.

In the morgue drawer, Jack gains the power to travel in time and ends up in the future after he has died. He meets an adult Jackie Price (Keira Knightley, PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN), who was a little girl who he helped the day the police officer was killed. With the help of Jackie and eventually Dr. Lorenson (Jennifer Jason Leigh, THE MACHINIST), Jack tries to discover how he died. Another key character is fellow inmate Rudy Mackenzie (Daniel Craig, ENDURING LOVE).

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Lots of Hollywood stars try action flicks and fail. Bruce Willis may be the king of them, because it comes so natural for him. Here, Willis (DIE HARD) plays Jeff Talley, a former SWAT officer from L.A., who moves away from the big, nasty city to get way from crime. But that’s never how it works out in films like this one.

Walter Smith (Kevin Pollak, INDIAN SUMMER) is a rich man involved in what seems like a shady deal. One night, three young teens follow him and his family home from the store with the intention to steal his SUV. But when the cops show up, the situation spirals out of control. The gang of teens includes the angry, impetuous leader Dennis (Jonathan Tucker, THE VIRGIN SUICIDES), Dennis’ tag-along, little brother Kevin (Marshall Allman, LITTLE BLACK BOOK) and the twisted Mars (Ben Foster, NORTHFORK). They knock out Walter and tie up his kids — rebellious teen Jennifer (Michelle Horn, TV’s STRONG MEDICINE) and smart 9-year-old Tommy (Jimmy Bennett, THE POLAR EXPRESS). This hostage situation throws a wrinkle into Walter’s shady deal and forces the masked villains to kidnap Talley’s family and force him to get their precious computer disk from the house.

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This twisty and twisted thriller has a supernatural bent… or does it? Psychiatrist David Callaway (Robert DeNiro, RAGING BULL) moves with his young daughter Emily (Dakota Fanning, 2005’s WAR OF THE WORLDS) to the country after she witnesses her mother Alison (Amy Irving, TRAFFIC) commit suicide. Emily has become very sullen and David consults with his colleague Katherine (Famke Janssen, X-MEN) about what to do. Emily has a mean reaction to a neighbor Elizabeth (Elisabeth Shue, LEAVING LAS VEGAS) when it seems David is getting romantically involved with her.

Things start to get creepier when Emily starts talking about her new imaginary friend Charlie. And Charlie sure doesn’t like David. Other characters thrown into the mix to muddy the water include strange Sheriff Hafferty (Dylan Baker, HAPPINESS), creepy next-door neighbors Laura (Melissa Leo, 21 GRAMS) and Steven (Robert John Burke, COP LAND) and sketchy realtor Mr. Haskins (David Chandler, THE GREY ZONE). With so many shady people living in one small town, you’d think you’d want to move back to the city.

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After hearing pundits and politicians on both sides of the Iraq war, this documentary is a refreshing slice-of-life look from the soldiers point-of-view.

Husband and wife team of Michael Tucker and Petra Epperlein stayed with the troupes of 2/3 Field Artillery, a group known as the “Gunners,” who were staying in the bombed out palace of Sadaam Hussein’s son, Uday. The film takes a casual approach to the soldiers’ mission, which can change from policing to raiding to humanitarian duties at any time. The filmmakers spent time with the soldiers in 2003 and 2004 and during that time eight of the unit were killed.

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Wes Craven has made some of the best horror films of all time. This is not one of them.

Re-teaming with SCREAM writer Kevin Williamson, this supposedly tongue-in-cheek werewolf movie is predictable, cliché and cheesy. Craven does the best with what he has and the flick is never boring, but the script is clunky. Ellie (Christina Ricci, SLEEPY HOLLOW) works on THE CRAIG KILBORN SHOW and takes care of her teenage brother Jimmy (Jesse Eisenberg, ROGER DODGER). Their parents are dead and Ellie has been having trouble with her boyfriend Jake (Joshua Jackson, TV’s DAWSON’S CREEK). She feels her life is cursed, which is the theme of the film even though it’s not dealt with in any really interesting way. (Having to work with a smarmy jerk like Kilborn is really being cursed I guess.)

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The film is a good set-up for future adventures, but that’s this film’s major problem. John Constantine (Keanu Reeves, THE MATRIX) is a lost soul who struggles with his mission in life — making amends for past sins and winning his way back into heaven by battling demons on Earth. He’s desperate to do so, because he’s dying of lung cancer and hell would be extra hellish for him, because of all the demons he has vanquished on Earth.

The halfling angel Gabriel (Tilda Swinton, DEEP END) pretty much rules heaven out for Constantine because he has always been out for himself. Constantine is helped by his anxious sidekick Chas (Shia LaBeouf, SHALL WE DANCE?), magical weapons expert Beeman (Max Baker, LIFE OR SOMETHING LIKE IT) and nervous, alcoholic priest Hennessy (Pruitt Taylor Vince, NURSE BETTY). Trying to keep the balance between good and evil is former witch doctor turned bar owner Papa Midnite (Djimon Hounsou, IN AMERICA), who serves psychics like Constantine as well as halfling demons like cocky and suave Balthazar (Gavin Rossdale, LITTLE BLACK BOOK). Cop Angela Dodson (Rachel Weisz, THE MUMMY) contacts Constantine to help her discover whether her twin sister Isabel actually committed suicide or was really murdered.

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Based on a true story, the film chronicles high school basketball coach Ken Carter’s attempts to put the student back into student athlete at his alma mater. Samuel L. Jackson (PULP FICTION) plays the controversial coach, who forfeited two games in an otherwise perfect season when his players’ grades were not up to the agreement they signed to play ball for him.

The central story is Carter’s pursuit to make men out of his team of boys. The film looks into the lives of several of the key players. Kenyon Stone (Rob Brown, FINDING FORRESTER) does not struggle with grades, but has to deal with the pregnancy of his girlfriend Kyra (Ashanti, BE COOL). Timo Cruz (Rick Gonzalez, BIKER BOYZ) is a tough kid, who is wrapped up in the drug dealing business of his cousin Renny (Vincent Laresca, THE AVIATOR). Junior Battle (Nana Gbewonyo, film debut) is struggling in school, but performs great on the court. Worm (Antwon Tanner, NEVER DIE ALONE) is the joker on the team and Jason Lyle (Channing Tatum, WAR OF THE WORLDS) is one of the few white guys in his school. We also get to see Carter’s intelligent son Damien (Robert Ri’chard, 2005’s HOUSE OF WAX).

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This movie will blow you away. If you’re expecting INDEPENDENCE DAY, you’re wrong. Steven Spielberg has made his best film since SAVING PRIVATE RYAN.

This modern take on the classic H.G. Wells tale puts a modern family in the chaos of the alien invasion from the book. The film is scary like no other alien invasion movie has ever been and it is the best disaster movie I’ve ever seen when it comes to capturing the reality of the situation.

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