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It is hard to review or even watch this film without the memory of HOOP DREAMS coming to mind. Where that groundbreaking documentary blazed trails in uncovering the inner city push for children to strive for NBA stardom as the way out of poverty, this film has shades of that larger social issue, but mainly serves as a look at one coach and one great player and what happens along the way as they strive to win a state championship. My memories of HOOP DREAMS always fall back to the people and their struggles while HEART OF THE GAME just plays out like a great sports flick.

Bill Resler takes over the girls’ team at Roosevelt High School with the plan to run the full court press the whole game. He trains the players to be in better shape than their opponents. In his first season, he wins coach of the year, leading the girls to an undefeated season. At this time, Darnellia Russell was making waves across town playing ball in junior high. With pressure from her family, the tough-minded and confident African-American girl decides to travel across Seattle to attend the majority white Roosevelt in an effort to receive a better education.

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I have a fascination with carnivals and circuses. Many filmmakers have as well Fellini, Bergman both made films set in the circus. So when I first read about this long forgotten film noir gem, I was hooked by the combination of a dark seedy crime story set in the carnival world. Surprisingly what I got was more than that — a thoughtful drama on the psychic con game.

Stanton Carlisle (Tyrone Power, THE MARK OF ZORRO) is a streetwise hustler who finds a home working as the talker at a carnival. He warms the crowd for low rent psychic Zeena Krumbein (Joan Blondell, A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN), who use to be in the big time until her partner/husband Pete (Ian Keith, QUEEN CHRISTINA) became lost in the bottle. Zeena and Pete’s legendary act was based on an intricate code, which allowed one person in the crowd to hold up objects obtained from the spectators and relate covertly what they were to the blindfolded “psychic” on stage. The code is worth a fortune and Stanton works his charms on Zeena to learn it. Now with the code, Stanton teams with the beautiful carnie girl Molly (Coleen Gray, RED RIVER) to go legit on the nightclub scene. But as his career skyrockets, Stanton gets greedy and hooks up with the cool and beautiful psychiatrist Lilith Ritter (Helen Walker, CALL NORTHSIDE 777) to turn his mentalist act into a medium.

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With Rob Zombie’s remake of HALLOWEEN hitting theaters this weekend, I felt a proper theme for This Weekend’s Film Festival, in light of the many horror remakes in the past few years, would be to look at the originals that we good the first time around. In doing so, I’m not making a judgment on Mr. Zombie’s film, because I have not seen it. However, it’s hard for me to see how you can improve on John Carpenter’s HALLOWEEN, which is one of the all time best horror films. I tried to pick films that cover a wide breath of what kinds of horror is being remade and address how it’s being remade. I thought about doing a compare and contrast lineup, but rethought that idea wanting to save viewers from wanting to gouge their eyes out or wanting to gouge my eyes out for recommending them watch such gruesome and horribly remade films. Here is a weekend of chills for you that for some may require three days of watching the TV through the spaces between fingers.

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Noel Coward adapts his own stageplay into a screenplay, which was brought to the screen by director David Lean before the famed helmer went on to make classic Dickens adaptations and widescreen epics such as LAWRENCE OF ARABIA, THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI and DOCTOR ZHIVAGO. However, Lean started his career with this great light entertainment. With witty dialogue and that effortless British suave demeanor, BLITHE SPIRIT floats across the screen like a smooth waltz.

In researching his next book that features a homicidal medium, Charles Condomine (Rex Harrison, UNFAITHFULLY YOURS), along with his wife Ruth (Constance Cummings) and their friends Dr. George and Violet Bradman (Hugh Wakefield, 1934’s THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH & Joyce Carey, IN WHICH WE SERVE), hold a séance with the genuinely loony Madame Arcati (Margaret Rutherford, MURDER AHOY). After some seemingly sketchy hocus-pocus, everyone believes Arcati to be a charlatan except for Charles, who begins hearing and seeing the ghost of his dead wife Elvira (Kay Hammond). At first Ruth believes Charles is playing with her then she believes he has gone cuckoo, but a floating vase of flowers convinces her that there is now one too many wives in the Condomine household. And so does the wisecracking Elvira. In trying to solve the situation, the help of Madame Arcati and the Condomine’s shy maid Edith (Jacqueline Clarke) will be needed.

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This modern REAR WINDOW riff with high-tech gadgets is tightly written for two acts shying away from typical teen movie boo moments and illogical twists in exchange for old-fashioned thrills. Lead Shia LaBeouf (HOLES) has this entire film for himself and sets himself up to become a real star. He has an effortless charm that puts him in the ranks with Tom Hanks. Even when the movie begins to spell things out for the illiterate film viewer, we like LaBeouf’s character enough that we still care about what he cares about.

After a recent tragedy, 17-year-old Kale (LaBeouf) becomes a troubled young man, which leads to another violent outburst that lands him under house arrest. His mother Julie (Carrie-Anne Moss, THE MATRIX) cuts off his Xbox Live and iTunes, leaving him very bored confined in his house. So he starts spying on the neighbors, especially his pretty new neighbor Ashley (Sarah Roemer, THE GRUDGE 2) and the creepy Mr. Turner (David Morse, THE GREEN MILE). When signs start piling up that might link Turner to a recent murder, Kale, his best friend Ronnie (Aaron Yoo, ROCKET SCIENCE) and Julie begin to stake out the man, which becomes more and more dangerous at every turn.

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I haven’t loved any of Will Farrell’s film where he’s starred, but I have enjoyed everyone that I’ve seen. Ferrell is one of the funniest men working in films currently. He has great timing and delivery. That’s what makes TALLADEGA NIGHTS the most disappointing film he has made. A major part of the disappointment comes from the hints of greatest that lie everywhere, which are never carried out to their full potential rather replaced by lazy improv.

From a very young age, Ricky Bobby (Ferrell) wanted to “go fast.” When he gets his first shot on the NASCAR circuit, he makes a big impression. He, along with his best friend and teammate Cal Naughton Jr. (John C. Reilly, BOOGIE NIGHTS), quickly raises the ranks of pro racing. He gains the American Dream — fame, money, a hot wife. He becomes obsessed with being #1, due to his deadbeat father’s statement — If you ain’t first, you’re last. Then the dumb, cocky racer meets his toughest challenge — Jean Girard (Sacha Baron Cohen, BORAT), a gay, French, Formula One racer who Bobby’s team owner Larry Dennit Jr. (Greg Germann, TV’s ALLY MCBEAL) wants to make the next face of NASCAR. After a crash during his first race against Girard, Bobby fears racing again and soon loses everything in his life.

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With 18 seasons behind them on TV, The Simpsons have moved from “what is wrong with America” to an American icon. The show is now the longest running sitcom in U.S. TV history with no end in sight. Now the adventures of everyone’s favorite dysfunctional family have been transported to the big screen. The canvas of the story is bigger, but it’s still THE SIMPSONS with a colossal mess-up by Homer as the center of the story.

Homer (Dan Castellaneta, who also voices Barney, Grampa, Krusty) adopts a pig, but really doesn’t know how to care for it. With Harry Plotter (that’s the pig’s second name) grabbing his attention, Bart (Nancy Cartwright, who also voices Ralph, Nelson) wishes he had a father who actually paid attention to him, leading him to bond with uber-good-doer Ned Flanders (Harry Shearer, THIS IS SPINAL TAP). When Marge (Julie Karvner) tells Homer to get rid of the silo of pig waste in the backyard, Homer cuts corners in an effort to get free donuts and dumps the silo in Springfield Lake, which pushes the already putrid waters over the edge. This spurs EPA head Russ Cargill (Albert Brooks, DEFENDING YOUR LIFE) to convince President Arnold Schwarzenegger (Shearer) to put a dome around the town of Springfield and plan to turn it into the new Grand Canyon. So in an effort to save himself and his family from an angry mob of Springfield townfolk, Homer packs up Marge, Bart, Lisa (Yeardley Smith, AS GOOD AS IT GETS) and baby Maggie (Cartwright) and heads off to Alaska. But as things get worse in Springfield, can Marge motivate Homer to become a hero?

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Because I was out of town last week, traveling to the lovely Yosemite National Park, celebrating the impending nuptials of my good friend, This Weekend Film Festival took a brief hiatus. Because I just know you were sitting around the house, completely clueless on what to watch, I have a great lineup this week. With THE LOOKOUT arriving on DVD last week, I felt This Weekend’s Film Festival should showcase the work of rising star Joseph Gordon-Levitt. THE LOOKOUT is one of the absolutely best films of 2007. Gordon-Levitt’s starring role in the ingenious thriller BRICK made it one of the best films of last year. His work in great films like MYSTERIOUS SKIN and even weak films like HAVOC have continuously proven his status as one of the premiere actors of his generation. Who would have thought that he would grow so much from his roles on 3RD ROCK FROM THE SUN or 10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU?

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Based on a novel by Neil Gaiman, STARDUST is a humorous fairy tale in the vein of THE PRINCESS BRIDE. It might not be as witty or funny as Rob Reiner’s classic, but it is vastly entertaining and the grand romance is so charming that even if we kind of know where the story is going, it doesn’t matter, because we want to see it go there. Filled with aging witches, cross-dressing pirates, ghostly princes and blimp-powered air ships, this is one of the most fun films of the summer.

Tristan (Charlie Cox, 2004’s THE MERCHANT OF VENICE) is in love with the town beauty Victoria (Sienna Miller, FACTORY GIRL), who promises to marry him instead of the rich Humphrey (Henry Cavill, I CAPTURE THE CASTLE) if he brings her back a fallen star within a week. Tristan uses a magic candle from his mother and ends up right were the star landed. However, it turns out that the star is a woman named Yvaine (Claire Danes, ROMEO + JULIET). Tristan promises to give Yvaine his magic candle to get her back home if she travels to see Victoria with him. So this starts their journey, which is nothing but smooth.

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If Academy members don’t forget this summer release come voting time, star Don Cheadle should have himself his second Oscar nomination. As the original shock jock Petey Greene, he is the electric force that brings this biopic alive and helps raise it above the typical “true life story.” He is helped along by great supporting work from DIRTY PRETTY THINGS’ Chiwetel Ejiofor and HUSTLE & FLOW’s Taraji P. Henson.

Greene is working as a prison DJ when he meets rising radio exec Dewey Hughes (Ejiofor), who is begrudgingly visiting his brother Milo (Mike Epps, SOMETHING NEW). Upon his release from prison, Greene, with his afroed girlfriend Vernell Watson (Henson) in tow, comes to see Dewey, who is very embarrassed when his boss E.G. Sonderling (Martin Sheen, APOCALYPSE NOW) sees the flamboyant miscreant. But Petey’s protest outside the studio starts to wear Dewey down and he eventually gives Greene a chance to liven up their morning show. At first it doesn’t seem to work out, but soon Petey becomes a sensation and Dewey pushes him into stand-up then TV even if Petey doesn’t want it.

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