Check Out the Trailer

In reading other reviews of this film, it seems that many were looking for something more visceral than what the film delivered. I find this ridiculous when the fascinating thing about the story is that its mysteries are rooted in its characters and not trumped up drama. The film ends in a satisfying way that stays true to the characters and doesn’t rely on typical thriller histrionics.

In little over 80 minutes, the film develops three solid characters. Gabriel Noone (Robin Williams, GOOD MORNING VIETNAM) is a radio performer who reads tales on air gleaned from his life. He’s miserable due to the recent break up of his relationship with the younger Jess (Bobby Cannavale, THE STATION AGENT), who wants to embrace life more fully after a recent reprieve from his AIDS. Then publisher Ashe (Joe Morton, TERMINATOR 2) brings a manuscript to Gabriel to read. It’s a harrowing true tale of abuse written by 14-year-old Pete Logand (Rory Culkin, YOU CAN COUNT ON ME). Gabriel is so moved by the boy’s tale that he calls him and begins a close phone relationship with Pete and his blind adoptive mother Donna (Toni Collette, THE SIXTH SENSE). Then one day Jess hears Pete’s voice and questions whether Pete and Donna are not one in the same. As his housekeeper Anna (Sandra Oh, SIDEWAYS) helps him look for proof of Pete’s existence, Gabriel tries to hold on to hope that he hasn’t been duped. An eventual visit to see Pete in person begins to reveal the ramifications of Donna’s own problems.

Read the rest of this entry »

Check Out the Trailer

Despite some narrative flaws, the core characters are so well written and performed that the film takes on an honest emotional pull. Michael (Zach Braff, TV’s SCRUBS) is a 29-year-old successful professional who is about to have a baby with his long-term girlfriend Jenna (Jacinda Barrett, LADDER 49). He’s still friends will the same three guys he was friends with in pre-school. Chris (Casey Affleck, OCEAN’S ELEVEN) is already married with a kid. However, having a child has only made his wife Lisa (Lauren Lee Smith, TV’s THE L WORD) angrier with him. Izzy (Michael Weston, GARDEN STATE) was recently dumped by his high school sweetheart Arianna (Marley Shelton, AMERICAN DREAMZ). Kenny (Eric Christian Olsen, CELLULAR) is a bartender, who is content with sleeping with a different girl each night.

Each of the four friends is in different stage of life as they approach 30. Michael is afraid to get married, because Jenna’s mother and father — Anna (Blythe Danner, MEET THE PARENTS) and Stephen (Tom Wilkinson, IN THE BEDROOM) — are the only couple he knows that has stayed together. He also fears that his life is all laid out for him; there are no longer any surprises. This opens the door to being tempted by the pretty college student Kim (Rachel Bilson, TV’s THE O.C.).

Read the rest of this entry »

Check Out the Trailer

Here is a rare example where style saves the content from failing. Despite a typical story, music that doesn’t pop as much as it should and some awkward moments, the film is still entertaining, mainly do to a fun whimsical style and the charm of its cast.

Mixing Prohibition-era jazz with hip-hop, this musical follows piano player Percival (Andre Benjamin, FOUR BROTHERS) as he begrudgingly works at the family mortuary with his father (Ben Vereen, ALL THAT JAZZ) and spends his nights playing the ivory at a speakeasy called the Church where his best friend, Rooster (Antwan A. Patton, ATL) works. After cold gangster Trumpy (Terrence Howard, HUSTLE & FLOW) murders Church owner Ace (Faizon Love, ELF) and gangster boss Spats (Ving Rhames, BABY BOY), Rooster inherits the speakeasy, but also inherits its debts, which Trumpy immediately wants to collect. While Rooster deals with Trumpy and his disgruntled wife Zora (Malinda Williams, TV’s SOUL FOOD), Percival starts a relationship with the pretty, but insecure, singer Angel Davenport (Paula Patton, DEJA VU). The all-star cast also includes Cicely Tyson, Macy Gray, Patti LaBelle and Bill Nunn.

Read the rest of this entry »

Check Out the Trailer

This film’s incredible fan-generated buzz and subsequent box office fizzle has taught Hollywood an important lesson — even if they number in the millions, teens on the Internet with too much free time on their hands do not guarantee you a box office smash. It seems that a good portion of the folks who built fansites around this film months before it came out, where actually too young to go see this campy R-rated horror film in theaters. Leaving only a smaller audience of drunken college students left to buy tickets. You may be wondering why I bring this up and what it all has to do with the quality of the film. The unprecedented Internet chatter surrounding this film allowed the makers to go back and add more of what fans were calling for. So just because a teenager wants to see a snake latch onto a man’s penis, do we need to give it to them?

Here’s how the story goes, Sean Jones (Nathan Phillips, WOLF CREEK) witnesses gangster Eddie Kim (Byron Lawson, ROMEO MUST DIE) murder a prosecutor while he’s out on his motorbike in Hawai’i. After FBI agent Neville Flynn (Samuel L. Jackson, PULP FICTION) saves Sean from Kim’s hitmen, the agent convinces Sean to testify in L.A. against the bad guy. In an effort to stop Sean’s testimony, Kim plants a crate full of deadly snakes on his plane, sprays them with pheromones to make them aggressive and hopes that the reptiles will either strike Sean or cause enough havoc to bring down the plane.

Read the rest of this entry »

Check Out the Trailer

This landmark film is considered by many as the first picture of the French New Wave. For director Jean-Luc Godard — a critic turned director — this film was his feature debut and marked such a revolution in content and style that it was actually band for four years in Finland.

The story is simple — two-bit car thief Michel Poiccard (Jean-Paul Belmondo, MISSISSIPPI MERMAID) is pulled over in a stolen automobile, panics and shoots the police officer. He flees to Paris where he tries to collect some cash as well as hang low until the heat cools down. He meets up with his girl Patricia Franchini (Jean Seberg, AIRPORT), an American who works part-time selling newspapers as well as a little reporting while she waits to be accepted into the Sorbonne. As police inspector Vital (Daniel Boulanger, SHOOT THE PIANO PLAYER) doggedly searches for Michel, we follow the thuggish-looking killer as he follows around the beautiful Patricia. During the course of the story, we will learn a lot about the young lovers’ relationship, which is modern and unconventional compared to the traditional screen romance.

Read the rest of this entry »

Check Out the Trailer

Pedro Almodóvar has been writing and directing films since the 1970s. He has a distinct style, mixing melodrama with humor and just a small dash of camp and fantastic realism. I began watching his work with the Oscar winner ALL ABOUT MY MOTHER. For me he’s a filmmaker that turns out high quality productions every time out, yet hasn’t blown me away. With that said though, the body of his work affects you. There is no doubt he is a master filmmaker and VOLVER is my favorite since MOTHER.

Raimunda (Penelope Cruz, VANILLA SKY) is a working class mother, who is married to the lazy Paco (Antonio de la Torre). Along with her teenage daughter Paula (Yohana Cobo) and her sister Sole (Lola Duenas, THE SEA INSIDE), she visits the grave of her mother Irene (Carmen Maura, WOMEN ON THE VERGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN) and her father, who died in a house fire. On the way home, they stop by to visit their aunt Tia (Chus Lampreave, TALK TO HER) and begin to worry when the old woman talks as if their mother is living with her. But this might not be so crazy. Their friend Agustina (Blanca Portillo, upcoming GOYA’S GHOSTS) tells them that many in the superstitious village claim to have seen the ghost of Irene. After tragedy strikes more than once, Sole actually finds her mother in the trunk of her car. As the story moves along, many family secrets will be revealed.

Read the rest of this entry »

Check Out the Trailer

Is this the best period piece thriller about magicians of 2006? That is up for debate, because of the other period piece thriller about magicians released in 2006 — THE PRESTIGE. Both are equally entertaining, however PRESTIGE is darker and delves into fantasy while ILLUSIONIST is a romance and has a more emotionally engaging through line. Both films have twists that any observant film watcher will have figured out way before the end. It is a credit to both films that they still work nonetheless. I actually believe that the twist gets less in the way of the story in THE ILLUSIONIST.

As a teen, magician Eisenheim (Edward Norton, THE PEOPLE VS. LARRY FLINT) fell in love with the rich girl Sophie (Jessica Biel, BLADE TRINITY), who was forbidden to see him. After this, he disappeared and later reemerged in turn-of-the-century Vienna as a master illusionist. One night Crown Prince Leopold (Rufus Sewell, DARK CITY) attends his performance and volunteers his lady friend to participate in the final act. Eisenheim is shocked when it’s his long lost love Sophie. Soon their romance is rekindled, but chief inspector Uhl (Paul Giamatti, SIDEWAYS) is watching Sophie’s every move. The news of the romance won’t make the crown prince happy at all.

Read the rest of this entry »

Check Out the Trailer

NOTES ON A SCANDAL is FATAL ATTRACTION for the art house crowd. Yet, I wouldn’t want one to believe that the film is a typical stalker thriller or a boring artsy fartsy affair. It’s a compelling character study that’s literate and witty as well as tense.

Barbara Covett (Judi Dench, MRS. BROWN) is a veteran high school teacher, who has developed a pretty cynical outlook on what she can accomplish as an educator. She lives alone with her cats and writes volumes in her diary, observing the world from a distance with droll, dark humor. Then Sheba Hart (Cate Blanchett, THE AVIATOR) joins the school as the new Art teacher. Barbara quickly becomes infatuated with the beautiful free-spirited woman. But when Barbara discovers that Sheba is having an affair with her 15-year-old student Steven Connolly (Andrew Simpson, SONG FOR A RAGGY BOY), she doesn’t turn Sheba in, instead uses the information to get closer to the woman. Barbara wants Sheba all for herself.

Read the rest of this entry »

Check Out the Trailer

Based on W. Somerset Maugham’s classic novel, the film is a first-rate melodrama, which sets a tortured romance against an exotic backdrop filled with turmoil. Director John Curran (WE DON’T LIVE HERE ANYMORE) brings the story to life with great production design and stellar lead performances.

Kitty (Naomi Watts, KING KONG) is the daughter of a wealthy family, who is getting a bit old to be living off her mother and father. Due to the pressures of her family, she hastily agrees to marry stiff civil servant Walter Fane (Edward Norton, THE 25TH HOUR), who works as a scientist for the British government in Shanghai. Kitty quickly becomes bored with life in China where parties and games come far and few.

Read the rest of this entry »

Check Out the Trailer

Chan-wook Park is a director who makes violent morality plays, which combine pitch black humor with intelligent commentary on the human condition along with startling twists and turns. His films push the boundaries of cinema. His work may not be for everyone, but those more adventurous will find originality in scores in his pictures.

Geum-ja Lee (Yeong-ae Lee, JOINT SECURITY AREA) has just been released after serving 13 years in prison for the kidnapping and murder of a young boy. For that time, she has been developing a complex plan of vengeance, recruiting many of her fellow inmates to help her. She skillfully presents herself as a kind-hearted woman, but that’s just a front. She is looking for revenge. Part of the joy of the film is its surprises so I will not reveal too much more outside the fact that nothing is as it seems. The other important characters include: substitute teacher Mr. Baek (Min-sik Choi, OLDBOY), young adopted girl Jenny (Yea-young Kwon, film debut), police detective Choi (Il-woo Nam), baker Mr. Chang (Oh Dal-su, OLDBOY), teenage bakery worker Geun-shik (Kim Si-hu) and fellow inmate Park Yi-jeong (Lee Seung-shin, OLDBOY).

Read the rest of this entry »