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In the tradition of films like NORMA RAE and ERIN BROCKOVICH, this film follows one courageous woman as she stands up to injustice. Josey Aimes (Charlize Theron, MONSTER) has just left her abusive husband. She has taken her two kids Karen (Elle Peterson, film debut) and Sammy (Thomas Curtis, THE CHUMSCRUBBER) and moved back in with her parents — Hank (Richard Jenkins, FLIRTING WITH DISASTER) and Alice (Sissy Spacek, THREE WOMEN). She works at a low-paying job at a hair salon until her old friend Glory (Frances McDormand, FARGO) suggests that she get a job up at the mine where she works.

With the prospect of making enough to get a house for her kids, she takes the job, despite the anger of her mine veteran father, who refuses to speak to her there after. For the meantime, Josey and her kids move in with Glory and her husband Kyle (Sean Bean, FLIGHTPLAN), who try to set her up with local sports hero turned lawyer Bill White (Woody Harrelson, NATURAL BORN KILLERS). From day one, Josey experiences mild to overt sexual harassment from many of the male workers, especially Bobby Sharp (Jeremy Renner, DAHMER), who was Josey’s boyfriend in high school and is rumored to be the father of Sammy.

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This is the kind of film that puts the class in classic horror. Tense and creepy; the film develops its scares in the mind.

Irena Dubrovna (Simone Simon, THE DEVIL AND DANIEL WEBSTER) is a Serbian immigrant, who has moved to the U.S., working as a sketch artist. At the zoo, she meets the kind Ollie Reed (Kent Smith, THE CURSE OF THE CAT PEOPLE). Irena is reluctant to commit to Ollie, because she fears that her village was cursed by the Satan worshiping cat people and if she succumbs to Ollie’s embrace she will turn into a cat and kill him.

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This hyperlink film where various characters’ lives intersect is composed of nine vignettes about nine different women. For all intents and purposes, it’s a feature film comprised of nine short stories. Some are more powerful than others, but as a whole the film is extremely well written and strangely compelling. The film proves that one well written scene can develop characters more fully than entire films do.

We begin with Sandra (Elpidia Carrillo, BREAD AND ROSES), an inmate in prison, who desperately tries to do her time so she can be reunited with her daughter. Next, pregnant Diana (Robin Wright Penn, FORREST GUMP) runs into an old flame named Damian (Jason Isaacs, HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS) in the supermarket. Both are now married, but seeing each other stirs up many old feelings. Next, distraught Holly (Lisa Gay Hamilton, JACKIE BROWN) comes home to confront her abusive father. Then, Sonia (Holly Hunter, THE PIANO) brings her boyfriend Martin (Stephen Dillane, THE HOURS) to see her friends’ new apartment and the evening disintegrates into a row over secrets revealed.

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Unusual in the canon of Sam Peckinpah’s work; this flawed masterpiece is part Western, part comedy, part tragedy and part parable. As Peckinpah’s follow-up to his revolutionary THE WILD BUNCH, some people will be caught off guard by this slap-sticky mix that features little of Peckinpah’s trademark violence.

The film starts with the simple Cable Hogue (Jason Robards, ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST) being robbed and left for dead in the desert. He travels for days and eventual finds a spring. To his luck, the water lies in an arid region along a well-traveled trail between two towns. He decides to set up a stop over called Cable Springs.

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The only reason to see this frothy romantic comedy is if you’re a fan of Reese Witherspoon and/or Mark Ruffalo. Even if you’re a fan you still might not like it, but it’s a reason.

At the start, we meet Elizabeth Masterson (Witherspoon, WALK THE LINE), a young, workaholic doctor who has zero social life. On the way home one evening, she is involved in a car accident. Cut to three months later — depressed David Abbott (Ruffalo, YOU CAN COUNT ON ME) sublets Elizabeth’s apartment. Soon enough David begins seeing Elizabeth, who won’t believe that she is dead. In seeking advice on what to do about his apparition problem, David meets psychic bookstore worker Darryl (Jon Heder, NAPOLEON DYNAMITE), who believes Elizabeth is a spirit, but isn’t dead. Because Elizabeth can’t remember much about her life, her and David set out to discover who she is and what happened to her.

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Director Sam Mendes (AMERICAN BEAUTY) makes a film about the first Gulf War, which was maligned by some critics for not having a message. However, I think the film just didn’t have the message that they wanted or were looking for. The film isn’t a comment on the current Iraq War, but a comment on all wars, especially when it comes to the marines.

Based on the non-fiction book by Anthony Swofford, Jake Gyllenhaal (BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN) plays Swofford, who signs up for the marines out of near obligation to his family, which is full of marines. The film presents the idea that once you’re a marine you’re always a marine. From training to combat, the experience will affect everything that person does for the rest of their lives. Swofford doesn’t really want to be there — but, as he says, he was stupid enough to sign the contract.
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Actor/ director Harold Ramis (GROUNDHOG DAY) takes on this dark comedy that mixes film noir crime with black humor.

Charlie Arglist (John Cusack, SAY ANYTHING…) is a mob lawyer who has been skimming money for years with the help of mobster Vic Cavanaugh (Billy Bob Thornton, BAD SANTA). It’s Christmas Eve and they have taken the millions and are ready to leave Wichita behind. Charlie visits a strip club where the beautiful owner Renata (Connie Nielsen, GLADIATOR) taunts Charlie with her sexuality. She says if he wasn’t such a nice guy maybe they could be together.

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This film reminded me of AMERICAN HISTORY X in many ways because the films share the same problems and will probably gain fans for the same reasons. HAVOC is filled with smart provocative ideas, but lacks compelling believable characters. The film feels like it’s an adaptation of a sociological paper and not a story about real people.

Allison (Anne Hathaway, THE PRINCESS DIARIES) is a bored rich girl living in Ocean Country, California. She is a member of a pseudo-gang of rich hip-hop wannabes called the PLC. She is dating Toby (Mike Vogel, upcoming POSEIDON), a spoiled, rich kid who thinks he knows what being tough is really like, but he has no clue. Allison’s best friend is Emily (Bijou Phillips, BULLY), a tag-along who wants to be just like Allison. As for a family life, Allison’s father Stuart (Michael Biehn, ABYSS) is always working and her mother Joanna (Laura San Giacomo, SEX, LIES AND VIDEOTAPE) is in and out of rehab for drugs and suicide attempts.

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Kyle (Jodie Foster, PANIC ROOM) is an airplane engine engineer who is distraught over the recent death of her husband. She and her daughter Julia (Marlene Lawston, film debut) are taking the maiden voyage of a new double-decker plane Kyle worked on. Kyle and Julia go to sleep and when Kyle wakes up her daughter is missing.

After searching the entire plane, she enlists flight attendants Stephanie (Kate Beahan, CHOPPER) and Fiona (Erika Christensen, TRAFFIC) to help her search again, but Julia does not turn up. Then the flight attendants inform Kyle that her daughter does not appear on their passenger logs and that no one ever remembers seeing her on the plane, including air marshal Carson (Peter Sarsgaard, GARDEN STATE). Kyle demands to see Captain Rich (Sean Bean, THE ISLAND), who placates the distraught Kyle by having the entire plane searched. Tensions build and it is unsure whether Kyle is insane or telling the truth about her missing daughter.

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The sports movie genre is a tried and true realm of filmmaking that can be either inspirational or insipidly sentimental. Recent sport film successes like CINDERELLA MAN, SEABISCUIT and REMEMBER THE TITANS have been about something more than sports. That’s what makes this film something special.

Burt Munro (Anthony Hopkins, MAGIC) is the archetype of old codger. He lives in a small town in New Zealand and has dreamt since he was a boy to one day travel to the U.S. and compete in Speed Week at Utah’s Bonneville Salt Flats. His neighbors think he’s crazy, but he doesn’t mind. He lives his life his way and doesn’t apologize for it. He is content… somewhat. He is desperate to show his stuff and the big stage at least once.
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