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Equal parts comedy and action, THE PRINCESS BRIDE is unique in that it skewers its genre while firmly being a great edition to the genre. The comedy is as slyly subtle as director Rob Reiner’s other great comedy THIS IS SPINAL TAP. Based on his own novel, William Goldman’s script balances the elements of fantasy, romance and comedy so deftly that each element fits perfectly together and work often equally in the same scene. With only a single Oscar nomination for Best Original Song, the Academy has a blight on its record; for this classic tale is one of the best of all time in so many genres it seems unfair to other films.

Starting with a modern framework, a grandfather (Peter Falk, TV’s COLUMBO) reads the fantasy story to his sick grandson (Fred Savage, TV’s THE WONDER YEARS). The young boy is reluctant about the story at first because he believes it will be a kissing book, but as the adventure covers kidnappings, sword play, giants, poisoning, screaming eels, deadly forests, albinos, pits of despair, magicians and much more, he begins to warm to the tale. The story begins with the beautiful Buttercup (Robin Wright Penn, FORREST GUMP) ordering around the farm boy Westley (Cary Elwes, SAW), who responds to her every request with “as you wish.” Soon the handsome duo fall in love, but Buttercup is devastated when she hears the news that Westley was murdered at the hands of the Dread Pirate Roberts.

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It is a rare thing to have two animated features in one year as good as RATATOUILLE and PERSEPOLIS. For animation fans 2007 is a great year. Not since 1999, when THE IRON GIANT and TOY STORY 2 were released, have we been this blessed. Even more adult than Pixar’s ode to the culinary arts, PERSEPOLIS is a stark black & white portrait of a young girl growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution then turning into a tale of an immigrant who feels like an alien in a land that is not hers. But where do you call home when you return to the place of your birth to find something just as alien?

Based on Marjane Satrapi’s autobiographical graphic novel, Marjane was nine-years-old when the revolution to overthrow the Shah began. Her parents and grandmother were progressive. But soon the joy of the revolution is damped when fundamentalists take control, forcing women to wear veils and imprisoning thousands. Marjane is devastated when her favorite uncle Anouche (Francois Jerosme) is thrown in prison. As bombs fall on Tehran, Marjane secretly obtains Western music, make-up and clothes. Her outspoken nature scares her mother Tadji (Catherine Deneuve, BELLE DE JOUR) and father Ebi (Simon Abkarian, CASINO ROYALE), who decide to send her to live with relatives in Vienna. But life as a foreigner and a teenager will not be easy for Marjane either. In her 20s, she returns to Iran, but the changes only make her fall into a deep depression.

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Sometimes a great film comes from the melding of the right content with the right artist, and with SWEENEY TODD this is the case. I can’t think of a better director to bring Stephen Sondheim’s classic dark musical to the screen than Tim Burton. Having never seen a stage production, I cannot comment on changes, but what is brought to the screen is magnificent. This is the kind of big entertainment that puts excites an audience’s faces, making them remember how fun going to movies can be. Some may get hung up on the copious amount of blood, but I think it’s all bloody brilliant.

After years in exile, barber Benjamin Barker returns to London as the bitter and vengeful Sweeney Todd (Johnny Depp, EDWARD SCISSORHANDS). His dark view of the city is in contrast to the wide-eyed optimism of young sailor Anthony Hope (Jamie Campbell Bower), who befriends Todd on their sea voyage together. Returning to his old flat, Todd finds the pie maker Mrs. Lovett (Helena Bonham Carter, HOWARDS END) ready to assist the blood thirsty barber in his revenge against Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman, SENSE & SENSIBILITY) and his lackey Beadle Bamford (Timothy Spall, SECRETS & LIES) for wrongly impressing him, which lead to Todd losing his wife and child, Johanna (Jayne Wisener), who is now the teenage ward of the vile judge. Along this campaign of revenge, Todd will face various obstacles including rival barber Signor Adolfo Pirelli (Sacha Baron Cohen, BORAT), who abuses his young assistant Tobias (Ed Sanders).

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The fiction films of Terry Zwigoff have all had a dark satirical bent to them that I love. What makes the comedy so special is the honesty that lies underneath. From GHOST WORLD’s look at high school grads entering the “real world” to BAD SANTA’s skewering of Christmas greed, there is a bite to his work that stings as only hard truths can. Now with ART SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL, Zwigoff, reteaming with his GHOST WORLD screenwriter Daniel Clowes, takes a stab at art education and the larger modern art world in general.

Jerome (Max Minghella, SYRIANA) has lived in his art this whole life. He dreams of gaining fame and fortune through his paintings. But harsh realities set in when he arrives at college. His teacher Prof. Sandiford (John Malkovich, DANGEROUS LIASON) is a struggling painter himself, trying desperately to get a new show off the ground at every moment of the day. He tells Jerome that it has taken him 25 years to reach his current triangle period. Perpetual dropout Bardo (DODGEBALL) shows Jerome the collection of art school stereotypes from art chicks to hippies to butt kissers. Jerome’s view of his own future only gets dimmer when he meets former art school grad Jimmy (Jim Broadbent, IRIS), who now wallows his life away drunk in his filthy rent controlled apartment in the ghetto. The only bright spot for Jerome is Audrey (Sophia Myles, TRISTAN & ISOLDE), a beautiful daughter of a popular artist who poses nude for the aspiring artists. However, the world seems to spiral out of control as a serial murderer stalks campus and Audrey and the rest of the university fall in love with the crude paintings of pretty boy Jonah (Matt Keeslar, WAITING FOR GUFFMAN).

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The first time I say MY FAIR LADY I did not like it. Henry Higgins pretentious snobbery infuriated me. I felt that the film was as elitist as he was. The parts that I enjoyed were the ones where Eliza fought back. Later I would read Roger Ebert’s Great Movie review of the film and he made a key point that made me want to rewatch the film. The point is — Eliza chooses to better herself. She wants the finer things in life and is willing to take Henry’s abuse to achieve it. Since reading his review I have seen the 1938 adaptation of PYGAMALION, which is the George Bernard Shaw play that MY FAIR LADY is based on. And now that I have seen the musical a second time, I see the brilliance of MY FAIR LADY more fully.

Eliza Doolittle (Audrey Hepburn, BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S) is a poor flower girl with a thick cockney accent. One night as the opera lets out she runs into Prof. Henry Higgins (Rex Harrison, UNFAITHFULLY YOURS), a linguist who can determine exactly where someone was born just by their speech. He brags that he could teach Eliza proper English so she could get a job as a proper shop girl. The next day Eliza comes to Henry’s house and asks to pay for lessons. Always ready for a challenge Henry takes a bet from his fellow linguist Colonel Hugh Pickering (Wilfrid Hyde-White, THE THIRD MAN) that he can pass Eliza off as a princess at a royal ball.

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Set in the bayous of Louisiana in 1962, the film launches with a voice over about memory and murder. The whole film is the reflection of a grown up Eve on her life as a ten-year-old girl — the year she killed her father. This admission sets the tone simmering with family secrets woven together by sex and violence. Just like her confession though, nothing is simple in this family drama, because the truth lies somewhere between various points of view and is clouded by the haze of time.

Eve Batiste (Jurnee Smollett, ROLL BOUNCE) was named after a slave who saved her master’s life and then gave him 16 children. Her family has lived on a vast plantation for decades since. Her father Louis (Samuel L. Jackson, PULP FICTION) is a doctor, who makes house calls to the lonely women in town. Eve is jealous of the way her father favors her teenage sister Cisely (Megan Good, WASTE DEEP). Louis’ philandering creates a volatile storm with his beautiful wife Roz (Lynn Whitfield, THE JOSEPHINE BAKER STORY), who is good friends with her husband’s sister Mozelle Delacroix (Debbi Morgan, COACH CARTER), who has the gift to see the future, however it has never worked for her, whose three husbands have all died tragically. The way Lenny Mereaux (Roger Guenveur Smith, DO THE RIGHT THING) discovers that his wife Matty (Lisa Nicole Carson, TV’s ALLY MCBEAL) has been sleeping with Louis will change the family forever.

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With seven Golden Globe nominations leading the pack of films, this grand adaptation of Ian McEwan’s novel is on the road to Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Best Actress and possibly Best Actor. Surprisingly, this romance is more intellectual than emotional, and often quite funny. The core theme is regret and how we react to it. Like the central idea of CACHE, what responsibility does an adult have for their wrong doings as a child, when those wrong doings have ruined the lives of others?

Thirteen-year-old Briony Tallis (Saoirse Ronan) comes from wealth and fashions herself a great writer. She looks up to her beautiful, older sister Cecilia (Keira Knightley, PRIDE & PREJUDICE) and has a crush on the gardener Robbie Turner (James McAvoy, THE KING OF SCOTLAND). Cecilia’s father paid for Robbie’s education, but though they were good friends as children, Cecilia barely spoke to Robbie while they attended the same school. On the day of her brother’s return home, Briony sees something between her sister and Robbie at a fountain that she doesn’t understand, and will play a devastatingly key role in a series of events that will forever change all three of their lives.

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Set in 1938, WATER chronicles the plight of widows in India, where they are forced to live exiled from the general public, begging for their existence. Some of them only children when they’re husbands die are doomed to a life on the outskirts of society with no real chance of bettering their situation. While their lives may seem grim, this hopeful film from director Deepa Mehta wishes for a better life and finds joy in simply living. For the filmmaker who endured years of government shut downs and death threats from Hindu extremists for making this film, its nomination for Best Foreign Language Film at last year’s Oscars is a glorious recognition of her determination and sacrifice.

At the age of eight, Chuyia (Sarala) is a widow sent to live in a home with other widows, which is only one of three options for her — the other two being throw herself on her husband’s funeral pyre or marry his younger brother. At the melancholy ashram, the young girl’s boundless energy disrupts the structured lives of the widows. She quickly befriends the beautiful 20-something Kalyani (Lisa Ray, BOLLYWOOD/HOLLYWOOD), who was widowed at about the same age as Chuyia. The rotund Madhumati (Manorama, DEVI) rules over the women, taking the best food and pimping Kalyani out to men of a higher caste. Shakuntala (Seema Biswas, BANDIT QUEEN) is a sad, devout Hindu, who runs the day-to-day operations of the ashram. Patiraji aka Auntie (Dr. Vidula Javalgekar) is a kind old woman who longs for sweets she had at her wedding. One day Kalyani meets Narayana (John Abraham), a handsome young lawyer, who wants to change the conditions for widows in his country inspired by the teachings of the ever-growingly popular leader Gandhi.

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With the fifth installment of the HARRY POTTER series hitting DVD this week, it seems like as good as any time to have a Hogwarts marathon. You know you were going to do it anyway, but I’ll give you some things to think about when you do it. If you hadn’t intended to fill your weekend with the boy who lived then you need to consider sitting back and letting me lead you through what is turning out to be the most consistently well done franchise in movie history. If you don’t believe that statement then read on and let me convince (and entertain) you.

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Here is a fun and enjoyable holiday present for movie fans. Directed by Jason Reitman (THANK YOU FOR SMOKING) and Hollywood screenwriter de jour Diablo Cody, this film delivers a miracle — a comedy with equal doses of edge and heart. Unlike so many wannabe hip indie comedies, this pop culture infused production creates characters that we can believe in — they don’t just feel like slick constructions of a screenwriter. It’s the multilayered characters — brought to life by a special cast — that makes this one of the premiere films of 2007.

Juno MacGuff (Ellen Page, HARD CANDY) discovers a one-night hook up with her longtime friend Paulie Bleeker (Michael Cera, SUPERBAD) has resulted in a pregnancy. After an unsettling trip to the clinic, she decides to have the baby and give it up for adoption. Her father Mac (J.K. Simmons, SPIDER-MAN) and stepmother Bren (Allison Janney, THE HOURS) are supportive, but would have rather had an expulsion from school than this news. Juno finds a nice looking yuppie couple named Vanessa and Mark Loring (Jennifer Garner, TV’s ALIAS, & Jason Bateman, TV’s ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT) in the Pick-N-Save advertising for a baby. Over the course of the pregnancy, Juno will have to deal with many issues that are “way above her maturity level.”

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