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Judd Apatow, who directed THE 40-YEAR-OLD VIRGIN and KNOCKED UP, has also produced a string of comedy hits like SUPERBAD and many of Will Ferrell’s movies. Now he brings us via the producer’s chair FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL, a funny and sweet romantic comedy that balances between well observed character moments and raunchy humor. Directed by first-time helmer Nicholas Stoller and written by its star Jason Segel, the film takes a simple break-up scenario and fills it with one winning joke after another.

Peter Bretter (Segel, KNOCKED UP) is a composer, working on a bad TV cop show. The star of that show is Sarah Marshall (Kristen Bell, TV’s HEROES), who has been Peter’s girlfriend for the past five years. He’s a frumpish loser who barely has the motivation to get off the couch during the day if he doesn’t have to. Sarah comes home from filming and drops the bomb that she has fallen for someone else. That someone else turns out to be rock ‘n roller lothario Aldous Snow (Russell Brand, PENELOPE). Peter falls into a funk and his stepbrother Brian (Bill Hader, TV’s SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE) encourages him to take a vacation. So Peter packs his bags and heads off to Hawai’i, where who does he run into but Sarah with her new guy. This only sinks Peter deeper into fits of sobbing until he begins to develop a friendship with the kind hotel receptionist Rachel Jansen (Mila Kunis, TV’s THAT 70′S SHOW).

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SULLIVAN’S TRAVELS (1941) (***)
(First Reviewed 9/18/01)
Considered by many as a comedy classic, I found it a bit dated. Film buffs might just want to check it out because of its place in history and others might just want to watch it for Veronica Lake. This slapstick film follows a movie director who is tired of making comedies and wants to make a social message film (which were very popular in the 1930s when this film was made). Due to his privileged life, he decides to head out into the world with 10 cents in his pocket to find trouble. However, the studio determines he’s too valuable and sends a busload of people out after him to make sure that he doesn’t get himself killed. His adventures often lead back to Hollywood and at the moment when he decides to give up is when he really learns about hardship. It is considered the film that justifies the existence of slapstick in general; making the point that laughter is all that some people have. If you like films with witty banter and people falling down a lot then this is a film for you.
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The theme of unexpected pregnancies of course is inspired by the arrival of the Oscar-nominated sensation of 2007, JUNO, on DVD. Most of the films deal with teen pregnancies, but I also wanted to through in a film that deals with the problems of having an unwanted pregnancy when you’re an adult and even married. There’s a sprinkling of comedies and dramas; one of which is devastating. Several deal with the religious implications of teens getting pregnant. This is a lineup I have been waiting eagerly to right about, so sit back, read about my picks and enjoy.

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Peter Hedges understands family dynamics. In his novel and then screenplay for WHAT’S EATING GILBERT GRAPE?, he crafted a unique family dynamic with an obese mother dependent on her children. In DAN IN REAL LIFE, which he directed, as well as co-wrote with Pierce Gardner, Hedges crafts a film more akin to his directorial debut PIECES OF APRIL, which dealt with a dysfunctional family coming together for Thanksgiving. While there is a vein of a traditional romantic comedy running through the film, Hedges’ arena in which the romantic comedy takes place contains a real, and may I say, surprisingly supportive family.

Dan (Steve Carell, TV’s THE OFFICE) is a columnist widower, trying to raise three daughters. Jane (Alison Pill, PIECES OF APRIL) is driving, which makes the cautious Dan very uneasy. Cara (Brittany Robertson, KEEPING UP WITH THE STEINS) is 14 years old and really into boys, which makes the cautious Dan very uneasy. Lilly (Marlene Lawston, FLIGHTPLAN) is his youngest, and the one that often gets overlooked in the craziness of their lives. It’s the time of year when they travel to they family vacation home to spend time with the aunts and uncles and Dan’s parents. With Dan’s relationship with his daughters rocky, his mood is less than pleasant. So when his mother sends him into town, he meets the interesting Marie (Juliette Binoche, CACHE), but they separate after a long heartfelt conversation. Unbeknownst to him, Marie turns out to be the new girlfriend of his younger brother Mitch (Dane Cook, GOOD LUCK CHUCK).

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This film knows a lot about poker… at least it seems to. As a person who knows very little about the card game, I found the explanation sequences interesting, if not confusing at times. But drowning a film in the minutia of the poker world doesn’t guarantee a good film. Director/writer Curtis Hanson (L.A. CONFIDENTIAL) and writer Eric Roth (FORREST GUMP) are two talented men who never find their characters for the story they want to tell, leaving the audience with aces high hand at best.

Huck Cheever (Eric Bana, THE HULK) is a professional gambler who lives in the shadow of his famous poker-playing father L.C. (Robert Duvall, THE GODFATHER). His old man keeps telling him that he plays poker like he should live his life and he lives his life as he should play poker. Huck takes risks when gambling, but doesn’t when it comes to love. Then Billie Offer (Drew Barrymore, DONNIE DARKO) moves into town looking to become a singer. He likes her, but he uses her for her money. This doesn’t start their relationship out on a positive note. Huck is trying to earn enough cash to enter the World Series of Poker, which his father has won twice. Roy Durucher (Charles Martin Smith, THE UNTOUCHABLES), a wealthy investor, offers to front the money and split the winnings, but will Huck’s need to push his luck bringing his house of card crumbling down on him?

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This fictionalized version of the story of Chinese martial arts master Huo Yuanjia has the same wire-fu and complex fight choreography that one would expect in a modern martial arts picture. But what was unexpected was the heart. The simple story deals with classic conflicts, such as hubris, redemption and corrupt rulers. I couldn’t avoid thinking of HAMLET in the end.

As a child Huo Yuanjia wants nothing more than to train with his father in the martial arts, neglecting all his studies in every other area. After a beating by a rival, he vows never to lose again. Grown, with a young daughter, he is the best fighter around, but he’s arrogant, taking on any freeloader from the street as a student and running up huge debts. His childhood friend Nong Jinsun (Yong Dong) worries that his need to fight will destroy him. And so it happens that Master Chin, the rival who beat him as a child, returns to town, which leads to Huo Yuanjia losing everything. Now, alone, wondering the desert, Huo Yuanjia is taken in by a blind farmer named Moon (Betty Sun). After he is rejuvenated, Huo Yuanjia returns to his hometown to make amends, but now the English and Japanese rule the city, spurring Huo Yuanjia to fight for something honorable.

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From the title one might think this might be a SOUTH PARK parody, but it’s really a sobering and thoughtful look at children with autism and the difficulties they and their parents face. We see the wide range of ways the disorder affects various children; some are highly functional and others are barely verbal. Over the course of the documentary a group of autistic kids prepare for the Miracle Project musical in Los Angeles. We get to know the autistic kids as individuals, not just as a problem that needs to be fixed.

Elaine Hall is a single mom of an autistic tween named Neal, who she adopted from Russia. Nicknamed Coach E, she runs the Miracle Project. Her blonde-haired son is the most afflicted of the main children profiled. Barely able to speak his name, Neal is trapped inside a world of his own. On the flip side, the freckle-faced Wyatt is the most functional of the group, understanding his problems and struggling with his need to go to special ed classes with mentally handicapped kids and his understanding that he might not be able to make it in mainstream schools.

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Paul Thomas Anderson (r) directs Daniel Day-Lewis on the set of There Will Be Blood.

With Paul Thomas Anderson’s fifth film, THERE WILL BE BLOOD, arriving on DVD this week, it seems like a perfect time to celebrate his impressive body of work. In five outings he has delivered five great films — three of which are brilliant. Often working with the same actors, Anderson tells epic stories that touch on the complexity of family and life in general. In just over a decade, he has established himself as one of the premiere directors working today, having made more than one modern classic.

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While it teeters between a post-PULP FICTION hip crime story and the complex family dynamics that will come to signify his later work, director Paul Thomas Anderson put on display his impressive talent in his debut film, HARD EIGHT. Many of the Anderson troupe are here — Philip Baker Hall, John C. Reilly, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Robert Ridgely and Melora Walters. As a writer, Anderson makes his central character Sydney a mystery, driving the story forward. Is he a guardian angel or a devil in disguise?

As the story begins, the 60-something Sydney (Hall, BOOGIE NIGHTS) offers the down-on-his-luck John (Reilly, CHICAGO) a cup of coffee and a cigarette. John, who has been trying to win money in Vegas to bury his dead mother, even suspects Sydney’s kindness as a come on, but the old man just wants to help teach the kid how to work the system and get him a room for the night. Time passes and Sydney has become a mentor for John as they travel around the country from casino to casino. In Reno, a pretty waitress named Clementine (Gwyneth Paltrow, PROOF) catches the eye of John. Meanwhile, John’s new friend, the shifty security guard Jimmy (Samuel L. Jackson, JACKIE BROWN), might be the key to discovering what lurks in Sydney’s past.

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With Tim Burton’s marvelous (and overlooked) adaptation of SWEENEY TODD arriving on DVD this week, This Weekend’s Film Festival honors the five best musical adaptations of the 21st Century so far. Ever since MOULIN ROUGE revitalized the screen musical, we have seen at least one or two stage musicals coming to movie theaters each year. So with no further ado, let’s raise the curtain and begin our countdown of the best.

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