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Kevin Smith had me with the title. I’ve enjoyed most of Smith’s work, especially his work within his Askewniverse world of Jay and Silent Bob. This film is his second outside of that world and it has similarities to his first, JERSEY GIRL. While ZACK AND MIRI contains the raunchiness that we’ve come to expect from Smith, it has the soft side that he showed in JERSEY GIRL. Smith provides pretty much what we expect from him, as well as that title.

Zack (Seth Rogen, KNOCKED UP) and Miri (Elizabeth Banks, W.) have been friends since the first grade. Now they’re 28 working low-paying jobs and in debt up to their eyeballs. After an embarrassing trip to their 10-year high school reunion, their utilities are shut off. This is when Zack gets the brilliant idea for them to make an underground porno. Zack convinces his co-worker Delaney (Craig Robinson, PINEAPPLE EXPRESS) to be his producer, which means his flatscreen money will go to sets and costumes. They recruit Deacon (Jeff Anderson, CLERKS) to shoot the film, because he has experience shooting the away hockey games in high school. Their auditions bring in a ragtag bunch. Lester (Jason Mewes, CLERKS) has a special talent making him perfectly suited for the role. Stacy (current porn star Katie Morgan) and Bubbles (former porn star Traci Lords) are eager strippers. Barry (Ricky Mabe, TV’s BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE) is a bad wannabe actor, but he’s willing and better than the others. But the real question is how will sex change Zack and Miri’s platonic relationship?

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This week sees three wonderful films charged with hot political topics hit DVD. One subtly deals with the issue of illegal immigration and human trafficking. One doc deals with the environment, as well as the shortsightedness of the auto industry. One is a harsh metaphor for the global political environment. Two deal with lasting scandals within the Bush presidency. This Weekend’s Film Festival might make you angry, will certainly make you think, and remind you how powerful cinema can be.

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The critical reception for Spike Lee’s WWII war film was poor to say the least. While it isn’t one of Lee’s better films, it isn’t a bad film. A disappointment at worst. But when you’re dealing with one of the best directors of his era, a disappointment is harder to get over, because you just know that it could have been brilliant, because some moments show that promise. Like the work of all great artists, it’s hard to completely dismiss even their failures, because within them there are moments that are better than 99% of the “play it safe” material that hits theaters on a weekly basis.

A crime story set in 1983 bookend the main story. An older black postal worker pulls a gun and shoots a patron. Then we flashback to WWII. A foursome of Buffalo Soldiers gets trapped behind enemy lines in Italy. 2nd Staff Sergeant Aubrey Stamps (Derek Luke, ANTOINE FISHER) steps up to act as their cool and collected leader. Sergeant Bishop Cummings (Michael Ealy, BARBERSHOP) seems most interested in bedding the pretty village woman Renata (Valentina Cervi, TV’s WAR AND PEACE). Corporal Hector Negron (Laz Alonso, JARHEAD) is the conflicted Puerto Rican communications officer. Private First Class Sam Train (Omar Benson Miller, 8 MILE) is a Lennie Small-like man who becomes inseparable from the young Italian boy Angelo (Matteo Sciabordi) after saving the boy’s life. As the soldiers hold out in the village, they partner with the Italian partisan leader Peppi “The Great Butterfly” Grotta (Pierfrancesco Favino, THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: PRINCE CASPIAN).

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It’s hard to avoid hype of the level that surrounded this film. Depending on your point of view you can easily be persuaded to one extreme or the other. Teenage female fans gushed over the film upon its debut. Older 20-something fans of the book said the film just isn’t the same as the novel, which I have not read. The 20-something boyfriends of the older book fans said it was like watching an episode of DAWSON’S CREEK (a reference I know will go over the heads of the film’s intended audience). But that’s just it; this film wasn’t made for him or me. So I tried to balance my thoughts going in between what the rabid teenage girl wants and what I want from a good film. In doing so, TWILIGHT delivered pretty much exactly what I expected — a decent episode of 90210 (a reference both teens and 20-somethings will both get).

Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart, ZATHURA) moves to the small cloudy town of Forks, Washington to live with her father (Billy Burke, LADDER 49), the town’s police chief. She makes some new friends at school, but really wants to know the reclusive Cullens, the adopted children of town doctor Carlisle Cullen (Peter Facinelli, THE BIG KAHUNA). The brood is a strange bunch — many of the boy and girls are together, they never show up on sunny days, they’re all uniquely good looking. She’s paired in science class with the most mysterious Cullen, Edward (Robert Pattinson, HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE). His reaction to her is odd to say the least, and for weeks it seems he is avoiding her. Then one day in the parking lot, he comes out of nowhere to stop a truck with one hand from crushing Bella. She is hooked, and she wants answers. Before too long, she realizes he’s a vampire, and he’s amazed that she doesn’t care. As they get closer, the taboo of a vampire dating a human draws the unwanted attention of some mean vamps, especially the savage James (Cam Gigandet, THE O.C.).

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Up rises to the top of the buzz list.

So if you missed the Super Bowl last weekend then you missed a bunch of trailers for the big summer movies. In addition to some of the big Super Bowl spots there were a host of other interesting films to pop up in the trailer sphere in the past couple weeks. Seven of the 10 films on the buzz list this week are first looks. So sit back and enjoy a look at some highly anticipated summer flicks, as well as some off-the-radar art house films that have surely piqued my interest. Please tell me what you think.

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As the legend goes, writer Neil Gaiman sent a copy of the CORALINE book to director Henry Selick before it was even published. Gaiman felt THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS director’s style fit the material perfectly. And he was right. Animation production company LAIKA ventures into its first feature film with a film that at least equals Selick’s work on the holiday perennial NIGHTMARE.

Coraline Jones (Dakota Fanning, THE SECRET LIVES OF BEES) is upset with her family’s move to a new apartment in the woods. Her mother (Teri Hatcher, TV’s DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES) and father (John Hodgman, TV’s THE DAILY SHOW) have little time to entertain her. The apartment, which is actually a large mansion divided up into separate units, features a collection of odd tenants. Miss Spink (Jennifer Saunders, TV’s ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS) and Miss Forcible (Dawn French, TV’s THE VICAR OF DIBLEY) are two aging burlesque performers, who have a habit of sowing angel wings to put on their stuffed Scotties. Mr. Bobinsky (Ian McShane, TV’s DEADWOOD) is a Russian retired circus performer who trains mice to march in a band… at least that’s what he claims. Out adventuring, Coraline meets Wybie Lovat (Robert Bailey Jr., THE HAPPENING), the grandson of the apartment’s reclusive owner, who won’t let him even enter the building. When Coraline discovers a small door in the wall, she unlocks a portal to an Other World, where her Other Mother and Other Father are too good to be true. Right from the start we know something is off — all the people in his world have buttons for eyes.

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Fans of the X-MEN and HEROES will find nothing strikingly original about Paul McGuigan’s sci-fi flick PUSH, however they’ll probably enjoy it just the same. Written by David Bourla, the actioner creates a world were telekinetics, psychics and telepathics are referred to as Movers, Watchers and Pushers. Many are on the run from a U.S. government agency simply called the Division that wants to use them as weapons. Seems like standard stuff, but McGuigan and Bourla provide enough twists and turns with the familiar material to keep the viewer engaged.

Nick Gant (Chris Evans, FANTASTIC FOUR) is a second generation Mover. His father was murdered by the head of the Division, Henry Carver (Djimon Hounsou, IN AMERICA). Before his death, Nick’s father (Joel Gretsch, TV’s THE 4400) warned him that a young girl would give him a flower and he should follow her, because it would help save the world. That girl turns out to be Watcher Cassie Holmes (Dakota Fanning, WAR OF THE WORLDS), who tells Nick that they need to hunt down a mysterious case and woman, whose name is Kira Hudson (Camilla Belle, 10,000 B.C.), a young female Pusher who has just escaped Division custody. She is also the first person to survive a power boaster injection, making her very important to Carver. But Nick and Cassie, and the Division aren’t the only ones that want the case. Chinese gangsters with their own Watcher are willing to kill for it, and they have sonic screamers that can shatter glass and eardrums on their side.

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February beholds two events — Black History Month and the Oscars. This Weekend’s Film Festival looks at the intersection of the two topics. Up until recently African-Americans had not faired well at the Academy Awards. In 1940, Hattie McDaniel became the first African-American to even be invited as a guest to the Academy Awards, as a very nice door prize she took home a Best Supporting Actress statuette. Another African-American wouldn’t win an Academy Award until 1963 when Sidney Poitier won for LILIES OF THE FIELD. Halle Berry became the first black woman to win Best Actress in 2002, the same year Denzel Washington won his Best Actor Oscar for TRAINING DAY. Since then 16 black men and women have been nominated for acting Oscars. Three of those nominees — Queen Latifah, Sophie Okonedo, and Jennifer Hudson — appear in THE SECRET LIVES OF BEES, which arrived on DVD this week.

This week’s lineup contains films nominated for the Academy Award or featuring black Oscar nominees. One is a great biopic on a legendary African-American leader from the leading black director, who has never been nominated for Best Director. We have a double feature of the first performances to win an actor and actress the top acting prizes. And we have an African-American parable that made Oscar history for all the wrong reasons.

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Before Spike Lee came onto this project as director, Norman Jewison and Oliver Stone flirted with the idea of making a biopic on Malcolm X. While I could see those great filmmakers making a good film on the controversial black Muslim leader, I believe they would have lacked the passion that Lee brought to what is one of his best films. A white director may have watered down Malcolm X’s segregation rhetoric, or his dismissal of white people’s help. But this is not what Lee did. Some looking at DO THE RIGHT THING believed he would make an angry film. But this is not what Lee did. Lee crafted a captivating story of how one man moved through life and learned and grew from his experiences and his mistakes. Many good films create sympathy for characters, but few come close to empathy. Lee achieves that here.

Played in an Oscar nominated performance by Denzel Washington, Malcolm X started life as Malcolm Little, the son of a preacher who urges blacks to return to Africa. When his father was murdered, his mother had little means to keep the family together. Malcolm was sent to foster care and was the only black kid in a class of whites. Though he was an A student and voted class president, his teacher persuaded him to give up his silly dream of becoming a lawyer and find a job where he can use his hands. Malcolm soon fell into crime and drugs, running numbers for the gangster West Indian Archie (Delroy Lindo, THE CIDER HOUSE RULES). When that racket went sour, he moved into robbery with his friend Shorty (Spike Lee) and his white mistress Sophia (Kate Vernon, TV’s BATTLESTAR GALACTICA). When he’s arrested, he states that he wasn’t given 8-10 years for robbery, but for sleeping with a white woman.

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In many ways OLIVER & COMPANY laid the groundwork for the resurgence of Walt Disney in the 1990s. Top animators like Glen Keane and Andreas Deja worked on the film. Howard Ashman would provide his first song for a Disney feature, later teaming with Alan Menken on classics like THE LITTLE MERMAID, BEAUTY AND THE BEAST and ALADDIN. Disney animation heads Jeffrey Katzenberg and Peter Schnieder wanted a hipper style. Computer animation was first introduced into a Disney feature. While these changes didn’t make a classic out the gate, they moved the studio into the direction they needed to go. What audiences received was a fun, well-plotted piece of entertainment, something Disney hadn’t provided in some time.

This anthropomorphic adaptation of Charles Dickens’ OLIVER TWIST puts orphaned cat Oliver (Joey Lawrence, TV’s BLOSSOM) on the hard streets of 1980s New York City. When canine thief Dodger (Billy Joel) promises to show him the ropes, it’s really a trick to nab some sausages for himself and his gang of pooches. There’s the fiery chihuahua Tito (Cheech Marin, UP IN SMOKE), the dimwitted Great Dane Einstein (Richard Mulligan, TV’s EMPTY NEST), cultured British bulldog Francis (Roscoe Lee Browne, JUMPIN’ JACK FLASH), and sassy female saluki Rita (Sheryl Lee Ralph, TV’s IT’S A LIVING). Because the gang’s owner Fagin (Dom DeLuise, THE CANNONBALL RUN) owes big bucks to gangster Sykes (Robert Loggia, BIG), they’re stealing for a living. When Oliver ends up in the care of the little rich girl Jenny (Natalie Gregory, 1985’s live-action ALICE IN WONDERLAND), Fagin sees dollar signs in a kidnap plot.

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