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Quick to remind us of its friendship message, this adaptation of E.B. White’s children’s classic comes to life with a wonderful voice cast and great visual effects. It’s sentimental OUR TOWN-like narration from Sam Shepard brings the material to the brink of being too maudlin, but the film’s good heart and good intentions save it from being a sap fest. There could be a subtler rendition of this story, but Gary Winick’s version keeps true to the heart of the book and does it in a first rate way.

Wilbur (Dominic Scott Kay, THE WILD) is the runt of a litter of piglets. Fern (Dakota Fanning, WAR OF THE WORLDS) saves Wilbur from the chopping block and adopts him as her pet. When he gets too big to be a house pet, Fern takes Wilbur to stay in the barn at her uncle’s house. The menagerie of animals in the barn begrudgingly co-exists and warns Wilbur that spring pigs don’t ever see a winter. Wilbur then befriends the outcast spider Charlotte (Julia Roberts, PRETTY WOMAN), who with the bribed help of hungry Templeton the rat (Steve Buscemi, FARGO), begins to write words about Wilbur in her web, which causes a sensation.

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One of the car flicks mentioned in GRINDHOUSE, it’s not as deep as TWO LANE BLACKTOP or as thrilling as VANISHING POINT, but it’s funnier than both of them combined. With the antagonistic banter between the male and female leads and cops ending up in rivers or crashing into telephone poles, I was often reminded of SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT. However, DIRTY MARY CRAZY LARRY isn’t a silly slapstick affair, but a character driven tale that also happens to be humorous.

Larry (Peter Fonda, EASY RIDER) runs out on his one-night stand Mary (Susan George, STRAW DOGS) to join his partner Deke (Adam Roarke, THE STUNT MAN) in robbing a grocery store. The robbery goes fairly smooth with no one getting hurt… but then Mary gets in the way. She notices Larry’s car and makes it so he has to take her along with him, which at first doesn’t make Deke very happy at all. Hot on their trail comes Capt. Everett Franklin (Vic Morrow, TWILIGHT ZONE: THE MOVIE), a non-conventional police officer who doggedly goes after the thieves as he butts heads with the politicized members of the police force.

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This humorous horror outing has moments of wit, but often mistakes curse words with subversive satire. As horror the film is more creepy rather than scary. As a comedy, it’s more of a gross out chuckler than a dark satirical howler. Some of the grosser moments are neither scary, creepy nor funny… just plain sickening.

Bill Pardy (Nathan Fillion, SERENITY) is a small town police chief, who still has a flame for his childhood sweetheart Starla Grant (Elizabeth Banks, THE 40-YEAR-OLD VIRGIN), who is married to the older Grant Grant (Michael Rooker, HENRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER), the richest man in town. When Starla shuns Grant’s sexual advances, he heads out to a bar where he meets a woman. Their foray into the forest results in Grant being possessed by an alien entity that wants to devour all living things on Earth.

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David Lean is best known for his epics like LAWRENCE OF ARABIA, THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI and DR. ZHIVAGO, however he started his career with several adaptations of Noel Coward followed by Charles Dickens. In BRIEF ENCOUNTER, we see the strong character development, which exemplifies his larger canvassed films. This film is an intimate portrait of an affair, which never feels like it was originally a play. Lean combines setting and mood perfectly to paint a heartbreaking tale of love and loss.

In a wonderful use of non-linear storytelling, the film opens with the end of the affair between Laura Jesson (Celia Johnson, IN WHICH WE SERVE) and Dr. Alec Harvey (Trevor Howard, THE THIRD MAN). The couple is disrupted by a chatty lady as they talk quietly in the café. We sense something is wrong. On the way home, Ceclia flashbacks to a few weeks prior, to when she first met Alec in that same train station café. Celia is bored with the routine of her life and finds Alec exciting. Both are married and their relationship starts off innocent until they fall in love.

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A rollercoaster ride in both a good way and a bad way, the third installment in the Spidey film franchise brings viewers to the highs of some well-developed conflict and the lows of forced melodrama and silly spoofy jokes. Though there are only a few bad parts and one awful part, many of the good pieces don’t fit together completely, forced together by contrivances. I wouldn’t say it’s a mess, but it’s an untidy entertainment that satisfies on its own merits, but disappoints in comparison to the far superior second installment.

Peter Parker (Toby Maguire, ICE STORM) is flying high — he’s about to ask Mary Jane (Kirsten Dunst, MARIE ATOINETTE) to marry him, he’s doing well in school and Spider-Man is the champion of the city. It seems to be the same for Mary Jane — she’s starring in a new Broadway musical and is madly in love. But things start to break apart between them on various fronts. Peter’s best friend Harry Osborn (James Franco, TV’s JAMES DEAN) attacks him, seeking revenge for his father’s death in the first film, and is injured. Mary Jane becomes hurt by Peter’s fame and inattentiveness, especially when his pretty lab partner Gwen Stacy (Bryce Dallas Howard, THE VILLAGE) comes into the picture. Peter develops a rivalry with fellow photographer Eddie Brock (Topher Grace, TV’s THAT 70S SHOW), who is dating Gwen. And then Peter and his Aunt May (Rosemary Harris, 1999’s SUNSHINE) learn that the real killer Flint Marko (Thomas Haden Church, SIDEWAYS) has escaped from prison and has been accidentally transformed into the Sandman, a creature who can expand into a giant sand beast. However, this thief has noble goals for his actions, trying to save his sick daughter. Oh, yeah, and then this alien black goo falls on Peter, increasing his aggression and cockiness and later turns Brock into the evil Venom.

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