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Much maligned by many critics and even movie-goers, I feel this film is still a ton more enjoyable, smart and engaging than 99% of the romantic comedies that are thrust upon the public on a yearly basis. 10 WAYS TO LOSE A MAN anybody? It’s not as good as the original, it goes to the embarrassing Bridget well a few too many times, it recycles jokes and rips off plot points from other movies, but in the end the characters that made the first film great are expanded upon and just as likeable.

The plot picks up four weeks after the first film and follows the budding relationship between Bridget (Renee Zellweger, COLD MOUNTAIN) and Mark Darcy (Colin Firth, GIRL WITH THE PEARL EARRING). The film has an observant eye for little details that bring a richness to the characters. Bridget may be an exaggeration of female insecurities, but it is rooted in truth. There’s an argument between Bridget and Mark right after a party that is one of the more honestly written relationship scenes I’ve scene in awhile.

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George Cukor was a director who was labeled in Hollywood as a “woman’s director,” which as you may guess wasn’t viewed with great esteem. This film may be his quintessential “women’s” film, especially with a title like THE WOMEN. The campy dramedy has a fine time with the pampered and privileged lives of its catty characters.

Mrs. Stephen Haines i.e. Mary (Norma Shearer, 1938’s MARIE ANTOINETTE) is a pleasant woman and a fine mother to her daughter little Mary (Virginia Weidler, A PHILADELPHIA STORY). She’s loaded, but not conceded as her friends Mrs. Howard Fowler i.e. Sylvia (Rosalind Russell, PICNIC) and Mrs. Phelps Potter i.e. Edith (Phyllis Povah, PAT AND MIKE). Sylvia is devilishly bubbling about the newest gossip she has heard from her manicurist — Mary’s husband is having an affair with Crystal Allen (Joan Crawford, WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE?), a manipulative gold digger who works at a perfume counter.

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This isn’t grand cinema here we’re talking about, but it works nonetheless, mainly because of Goldie Hawn.

Hawn plays Molly McGrath, a high school track coach who dreams of following in the footsteps of her father and coach football. When the JV coach position at her school becomes available, she goes for it. However, she has to get past the chauvinistic varsity head coach Dan Darwell (Bruce McGill, CINDERELLA MAN), who ends up getting Molly the head varsity coach job at the inner city Central High School, where no one wants to coach. He hopes that she’ll quit, which will lead to no one ever hiring her as a coach again.

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Starring folk stars James Taylor and Beach Boy Dennis Wilson, this post-EASY RIDER road movie actually stands up better than the counter-culture cult classic. Director Monte Hellman creates an existential trip into the shallow end of both the establishment and the counter culture of the early 1970s.

Known only as the driver (Taylor) and the mechanic (Wilson), the duo travel the U.S. in search of chumps who will challenge their supped up Chevy to a race. Along the way they pick up a pretty hitchhiker known only as the girl (Laurie Bird, ANNIE HALL). While traveling East, they keep passing a Korean War vet in a G.T.O. (Warren Oates, BRING ME THE HEAD OF ALFREDO GARCIA), who challenges them to a race across country for the pink slip to each other’s car. The cocky young men take the bet in a second, knowing that they will easily win.

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What raises this film above what would now be relegated to a “disease of the week” film on Lifetime is the Oscar-winning performance of Joanne Woodward (RACHEL, RACHEL). Eve White (Woodward) is having blackouts. After one where she finds boxes of dresses she doesn’t remember buying, her and her husband Ralph (David Wayne, THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN) go to see psychiatrist Dr. Luther (Lee J. Cobb, ON THE WATERFRONT). What the doctor discovers is that Eve is suffering from multiple personality disorder.

When she blacks out, the meek Eve is being suppressed by the flamboyant playgirl Eve Black. As Dr. Luther treats Eve, her relationship with her husband becomes more and more strained. Dr. Luther tries to find out the core to why Eve’s personality split and until her third personality comes out he doesn’t know what to do, because both Eves are ill equipped to be the prime personality.

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Even STAR TREK fans say not all the films in the series are good. Most will say stick with the even numbered ones and you’ll do fine. I’ve seen the first film and wasn’t impressed. I enjoyed II and IV and absolutely hated V. So where does VI fall? With in mind that I have not seen IV in a while, I’d say it’s equal to the even numbered installments that I have seen.

The Klingon Empire is crumbling and their planet only has enough ozone to sustain life for roughly 50 years. The Starfleet Federation has agreed to peace talks with the Klingons. Capt. Spock (Leonard Nimoy) has enlisted Capt. James T. Kirk (William Shatner) to take the crew of the Enterprise to meet the Klingon ambassador Sarek (Mark Lenard, THE GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD) and transport him and his delegation to the meetings with the Federation. Kirk has some hostility toward the Klingons as fans of the series know. While the Enterprise is escorting the Klingons, an unexpected incident occurs, which leads Kirk and Dr. Bones McCoy (DeForest Kelly) to be tried for murder.

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My history with STAR TREK is spotty. I am a fan of the original TV series, which I’ve probably seen all the episodes. Not knowing this for a fact probably doesn’t make me a Trekkie or a Trekker or whatever. I’ve never seen one episode of any of the spin-off series. I’ve seen five of the six films starring solely the original cast, but that was long ago and I don’t remember them all that well. I’ve seen none of the NEXT GENERATION films. So now that you know my history with the series, you’ll know where I’m coming from in reviewing what many consider the best STAR TREK film.

Where the first STAR TREK feature was an attempt to ride the coattails of STAR WARS by making a space opera, the second film brings the franchise back to the characters. Capt. Kirk (William Shatner) has taken an administrative post as admiral. Spock is now captaining the Enterprise space vessel, which is being used for training missions. One of the students is a female Vulcan named Saavik (Kirstie Alley, TV’s CHEERS), who like Kirk does not like to lose.

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Again you may be wondering why I’d even bother with this film. I know the producer and director of the film and just had to see what they made in the early part of their careers with B-movie master Roger Corman. It’s not as bad as the title suggests. Structurally it’s interesting by leaving out all the details until later in the film. The beginning makes some interesting editing choices. However, in the end, the film is just a poor rehash of HALLOWEEN.

Beth (Angela O’Neill, ALIEN NATION) is a college student who goes to a sorority house to stay with friends after her aunt/caregiver dies. From the moment she steps into the house, she begins having dreams of blood and a man with a knife (John C. Russell). As a low-low-low-budget venture, it is obligated to include the obligatory breast shots, dumb superficial women and lame sex scenes before the killer arrives and stabs everyone to death.

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Winner of the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, this subtle look at the demoralizing effects of poverty is subtle and well-crafted.

Rosetta (Emile Dequenne, THE BRIDGE OF SAN LUIS REY) is a young woman, who becomes distraught when she is fired from her new job. She lives in a trailer and supports her alcoholic mother (Anne Yernaux). Over the course of the film, she develops a friendship with a young man named Riquet (Fabrizio Rongione, 2006’s THE CHILD), who works at a waffle stand. The film chronicles the hardships of Rosetta’s life and the extents that poverty drives her.

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Considered the final film in director John Ford’s “cavalry trilogy,” which also includes FORT APACHE and SHE WORE A YELLOW RIBBON, the film was only done by the director as part of a deal that would allow him to make his classic, THE QUIET MAN.

Lt. Col. Kirby Yorke (John Wayne, THE SEARCHERS) has been fighting Indians on the Plains for 15 years — a long way away from his family. He learns that his son Jeff (Claude Jarman Jr., THE YEARLING) has flunked out of officer school and now has enlisted. Well sure enough, he is assigned to Kirby’s unit. Kirby tries to keep their relationship as business, but this becomes even more difficult when his estranged wife Kathleen (Maureen O’Hara, MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET) shows up. Jeff makes friends with fellow troopers Travis Tyree (Ben Johnson, THE WILD BUNCH) and Sandy Boone (Harry Carey Jr., SILVER LODE). It’s up to gruff Irish sergeant major Timothy Quincannon (Victor McLaglen, THE QUIET MAN) to whip the troopers into shape.

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