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I’d like to introduce you to the first real contender for Best Film of 2007. Brad Bird is the best American director working in animation today. Knowing that he came onto the project midway is amazing, because he has made the best American animated film since TOY STORY 2 and his own IRON GIANT. He has also pushed the boundaries of American animation into a more adult realm. It’s still a film for the whole family, but I suspect parents will get more out of it than their kids.

Remy (Patton Oswalt, TV’s THE KING OF QUEENS) is a rat with a keen sense of smell. He loves fine cooking, which puts him at odds with is moldy meat-and-potatoes father, Django (Brian Dennehy, COCOON) and simple taste brother, Emile (Peter Sohn, story artist at Pixar). When they get forced out of their home in the country, the rat clan ends up in Paris. Remy gets separated from the rest and is inspired to check the city out by a figment of his imagination in the form of his favorite chef Gusteau (Brad Garrett, TV’s EVERYONE LOVES RAYMOND). He ends up in the deceased Gusteau’s famed restaurant, which is now run by the short tyrant Skinner (Ian Holm, LORD OF THE RINGS), who is more interested in using Gusteau’s fame to sell a line of frozen foods than to run the once five-star eatery.

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Considered by some the best STAR TREK feature, this installment is a bit hokey, but serves as an excellent time capsule of its era. Taking a page from ESCAPE FROM THE PLANET OF THE APES, VOYAGE HOME finds the 23rd Century crew of the Enterprise in ’80s San Francisco. Silly humor aside, the film has a message at its core that applies to the current time, which was a hallmark of the classic TV series. It’s not all that deep, but it’s fun and entertaining.

Admiral Jim Kirk (William Shatner) has saved his once-dead friend Spock (Leonard Nimoy), who is coping with his rebirth and readjusting to his duel lineage as a logical Vulcan and emotional human. The Federation wants to try the crew for their actions in the third film, but a mysterious probe has come to Earth and will destroy the planet unless it can make contact with humpback whales. The problem is humpback whales are extinct. So Kirk devises a plan to travel back in time and bring back two whales. In the past, they team up with whale expert Dr. Gillian Taylor (Catherine Hicks, TV’s 7TH HEAVEN), who first believes the strangely dressed Kirk and Spock are crazy.

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With BLACK SNAKE MOAN hitting DVD this week, I thought I’d build the week’s This Weekend Film Festival around cult cinema starring African-Americans. I went through a big list of possible films and picked ones that I felt complemented each other in thematic and/or tonal ways. If you like this lineup some alternative titles for future viewing could include BROTHER FROM ANOTHER PLANET, BAADASSSSS!, SHAFT or CABIN IN THE SKY. All five films have a hot, steamy feel to them, which is quite fitting for this pre-July 4th weekend. Looking for eccentric characters and eclectic stories? Than I have a lineup for you.

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This mystical, satirical Western is like if Buñuel, Fellini and Mel Brooks made THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY for the arthouse and grindhouse, simultaneously. Every now and than you see a film so original that it’s more than just something that you’ve never seen before, it’s something that changes the way you think about film. This is one of those rare films. Alejandro Jodorowsky is a master filmmaker, who is like many of the great modern filmmakers, combining elements of cinema that have come before in a way that it makes something revolutionarily new and refreshing. This is post-modern cinema at its best, strangest and most spiritual.

El Topo (Jodorowsky) is a black clad rider, who tells his six-year-old naked son that the boy is now a man and he should symbolically burry his first toy and a picture of his mother in the desert. They ride into a town where the people have been slaughtered by outlaws. While avenging the deaths, he meets a woman he names Mara (Mara Lorenzio), who will urge him to make morally questionable decisions, which lead to his redemption in an underground community of deformed people where he meets a little woman (Jacqueline Luis), who changes his life.

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The quintessential “Altman” feature follows 24 major characters through five days in Nashville, leading up to a political rally/ country concert. More free flowing than any of director Robert Altman’s other hyperlink films, this feature clearly has no main character and moves along on the simplest plot theme, building wonderful character moments, which lead back to its core themes of fame and politics. The “plot” is thin, but the narrative is a complex and brilliantly constructed tapestry of intertwining narratives, surrounded by nearly an hour of music.

Haven Hamilton (Henry Gibson, MAGNOLIA) is a Nashville icon with his big hair and white, spangled jump suit. The film begins with him recording an insipid ballad about the bicentennial. Linnea Reese (Lily Tomlin, 9 TO 5) is a white gospel singer, who is married to lawyer Delbert (Ned Beatty, DELIVERENCE), who is helping organize the political rally for third party candidate Hal Phillip Walker, who is unseen throughout the film. Linnea and Delbert have two deaf sons, which Delbert cannot relate to at all. Linnea is hounded by womanizing folk rocker Tom Frank (Keith Carradine, CHOOSE ME), who is having an affair with his bandmate Mary (Cristina Raines, THE SENTINEL), who is married to his other bandmate Bill (Allan Nicholls, SLAP SHOT). Barbara Jean (Ronee Blakley, A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET) is a reigning queen of Nashville, but she is mentally and physically burnt out by the pressures of the music business and her controlling manager/husband Barnett (Allen Garfield, THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY).

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More than 20 people leap from the Golden Gate Bridge each year and this film watches them do it. There is an allure to the location that draws more people to end their lives there than any other spot on Earth. It’s a dramatic way to go. Eric Steel’s gripping documentary about the phenomenon is chilling as we watch in horror as 24 people jump from the bridge. For many this film will certainly fall into the category of a great film that they will never want to see again. For others it may be a film too disturbing to watch one time. It profoundly tries to step into the darkness that causes people to take their own lives and it’s not a comfortable place to go.

Through the course of the film, we see many people jump, we see a few people stopped, we hear from the family and friends of the dead and also hear from one very lucky survivor. The 220-foot fall takes 4 seconds; most die on impact, others drown. Roughly 1,300 people have killed themselves at the Golden Gate Bridge, only 26 jumpers have survived.

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Luckily there’s a 4-star Scrat short interspersed between the weak sitcom plot of this disappointing sequel to Blue Sky’s surprisingly good debut film, ICE AGE. The characters made the original so wonderful. The new characters in MELTDOWN make the sequel annoying. And there are too many of them. This overshadows poor Manny, Sid and Diego. Scrat fares much better because he’s out on his own.

Our loveable trio each has their own separate issues to deal with this time around. Manny (Ray Romano, TV’s EVERYONE LOVES RAYMOND) is sad over the possibility that he may be the last mammoth alive. Sid (John Leguizamo, SUMMER OF SAM) gets no respect from the kids in their new larger tribe of various prehistoric animals. Diego (Denis Leary, TV’s RESCUE ME) fears water, which is a real problem when the land of ice you live in is melting all around you. It appears that the valley where they all reside is going to flood soon, so they head off to the far end toward a rumored boat. Along the way Manny, Sid and Diego get separated from the mass of annoying characters, to end up with three other annoying characters — possums Crash (Sean William Scott, AMERICAN PIE) and Eddie (Josh Peck, MEAN CREEK) and their adopted mammoth sister Ellie (Queen Latifah, CHICAGO), who doggedly refuses to accept that she is indeed a mammoth.

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Originally titled COMMUNION upon its theatrical release, this horror thriller peaked my interest when it made Bravo’s top-50 horror list and features Brooke Shields first film performance. Horror fans may find the core premise an interesting twist on the slasher genre, but others will find the tone and pacing all wrong. Most of the ingredients are fresh, but the meal gets overheated and goes down rough.

Catherine Spages (Linda Miller, AN UNMARRIED WOMAN) has two daughters — the perfect beauty Karen (Shields) and the troublemaker Alice (Paula Sheppard). Alice torments her sister with creepy masks and mean pranks. We suspect that she is up to no good. Then on the day of her first communion, Karen is strangled by a masked killer who hides her body and sets it on fire. Catherine is devastated. Her strict sister Annie (Jane Lowry) moves in with her. The beloved Father Tom (Rudolph Willrich, THE NUMBER 23) tries to consol her. Her estranged husband Dom (Niles McMaster) comes into town. Det. Spina (Michael Hardstark) and Brennan (Tom Signorelli, THE COTTON CLUB) want to talk to Alice about the murder, but her family can’t believe that she could be involved. But Karen’s attack will not be the only victim of this killer.

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Prior to making this film, director Joseph Ruben made another film called THE STEPFATHER, which dealt with a domineering male who loams over his family. Both films share similar plot themes, positive points and problems. They start convincingly and contain strong performances, but spiral off into ridiculous slasher movies in the end. Ruben sets up well, but doesn’t deliver.

Laura (Julia Roberts, PRETTY WOMAN) meets and marries Martin Burney (Patrick Bergin, PATRIOT GAMES), who is suave, charming and wealthy. He seems like a catch. But after the honeymoon is over, he becomes controlling and ultimately abusive both mentally and physically. After three years of being trapped, Laura devises a plan to fake her own death then run away to Iowa to start her life anew. In her new life, she meets theater professor Ben Woodward (Kevin Anderson, CHARLOTTE’S WEB), who she has a problem opening up to. Laura is afraid that Martin will find out about her deception and come looking for her and she has every right to fear this happening.

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Based on the true story of the worst case of spying in U.S. history, this taut thriller relies on an intriguing central character, brought to life brilliantly by Chris Cooper (AMERICAN BEAUTY). Director Billy Ray brings the same examining eye he brought to his previous film, SHATTERED GLASS, which chronicled Stephen Glass’s deception in filing fake news reports to his newspaper in an effort to succeed. Many of the same themes are addressed in this sad tale of former FBI agent Robert Hanssen, who for decades gave up American secrets to Russia.

We begin with hot agent in training Eric O’Neill (Ryan Phillippe, CRASH) on a stakeout, where he outshines the other trainees. He’s called in by senior agent Kate Burroughs (Laura Linney, KINSEY), who wants Eric to ride the desk of Hanssen, who is being reassigned to plan out the agency’s new computer security structure and needs to be watched because he is a sexual deviant. Eric keeps an eye on the cocky Hanssen, who on the surface appears to be a staunchly religious man dedicated to his family. Hanssen pushes Eric to embrace his Catholic faith and along with his wife Bonnie (Kathleen Quinlan, APOLLO 13) tries to push Eric’s lax protestant wife Juliana (Caroline Dhavernas, HOLLYWOODLAND) into their beliefs. Hanssen is blunt and can be demeaning when Eric slips up. He isn’t shy about sharing his distain with the politics of the FBI, which have kept him from being promoted to a higher level. Eric is torn about keeping secrets from his wife and spying on a boss he has come to respect until Burroughs reveals that Hanssen is a traitor.

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