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In 2004, Danny Boyle directed one of the most charming family films in ages called MILLIONS. Now he has another film with million in the title and it’s as equally charming. Mix Charles Dickens with the Brazilian gangster film CITY OF GOD and sprinkle a Bollywood epic all over it and you’ll get a sense of the flavor of this film.

Jamal Malik (Dev Patel, TV’s SKINS) is on the verge of winning 20 million rupees on the Indian version of WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE? However, because he is a poor boy from the streets, the arrogant host Prem Kumar (Anil Kapoor, TAAL) is convinced the young man is cheating. So a police inspector (Irfan Khan, THE NAMESAKE) uses some harsh interrogation techniques to force out a confession. When Jamal proclaims that he knew the answers, we flashback to his childhood, learning how it was written that his life experiences would lead up to this defining moment in the spotlight.

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Clint Eastwood is a busy man. In 2006, he made the companion films FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS and LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA, now he’s back this year with two new films, CHANGELING and later this year’s GRAN TORINO. He also making the best films of his career, and that’s in front and behind the camera. Now he has made a stirring drama about a missing child and the corrupt police department that was more interested in improving their tarnished image than in justice.

Christine Collins (Angelina Jolie, GIRL, INTERRUPTED) is a loving single mother, working hard as a supervisor at the telephone company. Her son Walter (Gattlin Griffith) gets in a fight at school when a kid says bad things about his mom in regards to why his father left them. She explains that his dad couldn’t handle the responsibility. One day, Christine has to work late and when she gets home, Walter is missing. The police won’t investigate until after 24 hours have past. Nearly a month after the boy went missing, Capt. J.J. Jones (Jeffrey Donovan, TV’s BURN NOTICE) declares the LAPD has found the boy. At a big train station reunion event with the Chief (Colm Feore, THE EXORCISM OF EMILY ROSE) proudly talking up the press, Jones presents the wrong boy to Christine. When she begs to differ, Jones accuses her of shirking her responsibilities and has her institutionalized.

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This police corruption tale is trying to be something that it is not. In its attempt to develop a whole cast of characters it deludes all of its characters, leaving them as nothing more than cop movie clichés. Minor characters are given their own scenes, which tell you nothing more about them than their simple stereotype. The villains can’t just be corrupt but they have to be sociopaths.

Cops have been killed at a drug house. They’re the men of Franny Tierney (Noah Emmerich, LITTLE CHILDREN), whose family has been in the NYPD for years. His top cop father Francis Sr. (Jon Voight, COMING HOME) wants his youngest son Ray (Edward Norton, THE INCREDIBLE HULK) to leave missing persons and investigate this case himself. Unbeknownst to them, their brother-in-law Jimmy Egan (Colin Farrell, ALEXANDER) is involved in shady dealings connected to the case. Now everyone is on the hunt for the murderous drug dealer Angel Tezo (Ramon Rodriguez, CARLITO’S WAY: RISE TO POWER).

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To list the many accolades of Francis Ford Coppola’s masterpiece would take up the entire review. Well established as one of the greatest movies ever made, the tale of family and crime is an epic, yet intimate portrait of the corrupting nature of power and the value of family versus business. Besides being a grand drama, the film is effortlessly entertaining, driven by iconic performances and a gripping storyline. To call the film a genre picture would be accurate, but it’s one of those wonderfully rare films that is firmly part of its genre, but finds a way to rise above it as well.

Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando, ON THE WATERFRONT) is the don of one of the top New York crime families. It’s the wedding day of his daughter Connie (Talia Shire, ROCKY). His whole family has gathered for the event, as well as some of the other heads of other families including Emilio Barzini (Richard Conte, THE GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD). Guests come to him and ask for favors, which is an old Sicilian custom that he cannot refuse. He eagerly awaits the arrival of his youngest son Michael (Al Pacino, HEAT), who is a celebrated war hero, who tells his girlfriend Kay (Diane Keaton, ANNIE HALL) that he wants nothing to do with his family’s business. But when Don Corleone rejects an offer from up-and-coming gangster Virgil “The Turk” Sollozzo (Al Lettieri) to help with the drug trade, a war breaks out between the families and Michael is drawn into the world of crime.

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When I was in college, I once got in a conversation about COOL HAND LUKE that ended in the consensus that it was among all of my friend’s father’s favorite films. We joked that maybe we had to become fathers to understand the grand appeal. Looking back now, it’s kind of funny how we didn’t see the film the exact same way our fathers did, considering we were around the age at which our fathers had been when the film came out. The late 1960s cinema was filled with anti-heroes and Luke is one of the shining icons of that movement. The film is about more than a convict standing up to his oppressive jailers; it’s about a youth culture standing up to a world that wanted to box them in.

Luke (Paul Newman, BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID) was imprisoned for knocking the tops off parking meters. He came home from the war a hero. Now in his small town, he had nothing better to do. At first, Luke buts heads with some of the veteran prisoners like Dragline (George Kennedy, TV’s DALLAS), but he soon wins the respect of his fellow inmates through his undying will to never give up. The Captain (Strother Martin, THE WILD BUNCH) runs the prison with an iron fist, laying down dozens and dozens of rules on the prisoners. The bosses want to break the men’s wills and when they push Luke too far, he does everything he can to break free.

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After debuting at this year’s Sundance Film Festival followed by a TV premiere on Showtime, this true-life crime tale comes to DVD. Based on court transcripts, this story of child abuse looks at the conditions that lead to an adult babysitter torturing the teenage girl under her care, while allowing her own children, along with neighborhood kids, to continue a serious of sadistic attacks.

Sylvia Likens (Ellen Page, JUNO) had parents who were members of the carnival circuit. Upon moving to a new town, her parents don’t want to take her and her younger sister Jennie (Hayley McFarland) on the road again, so they leave her in the care of single mother Gertrude Baniszewski (Catherine Keener, BEING JOHN MALKOVICH), who they only recently met. With seven children of her own and the promise of $20 every week from the Likens, Gertrude doesn’t think twice about adding two more kids to her care. But when her eldest Paula (Ari Graynor, MYSTIC RIVER) gets pregnant and has a misunderstanding with Sylvia, Gertrude’s harsh punishment tactics come out.

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Based on the American crime novel by Harlan Coben, TELL NO ONE is a French thriller from actor/director Guillaume Canet (starred in the Oscar-nominated JOYEUX NOEL), which harkens back to before crime stories became relegated to the CSI and LAW & ORDER TV franchises. This innocent man yarn would make Hitchcock proud as it weaves intrigue and murder and a mysterious missing woman into a touching love story. While it provides its fair share of twists and turns, the true driving force is a simple tale of a husband who truly loves his wife.

Dr. Alex Beck (Francois Cluzet, STORY OF WOMEN) and his wife Margot (Marie-Josee Croze, THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY) have been together since they were children. One summer day, they go to their private lake where they skinny dip. Alex’s father has recently died in a hunting accident and he is in disagreement with his sister, an equestrian star named Anne (Marina Hands, THE BARBARIAN INVASIONS), about selling the farm. This spurs an argument with Margot and she leaves Alex on a floating dock as she heads back to the car. She screams and he swims back to the dock, where he is struck unconscious.

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It’s about pot. So grab some chips cuz you’re going to get the munchies watching this comedy from the Judd Apatow stable, written by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, who penned the surprising comedy SUPERBAD. Like that film, this one is essentially a buddy movie, but this one spirals into some humorous action. Indie director David Gordon Green has left his thoughtful Southern gothic style from films like GEORGE WASHINGTON and SNOW ANGELS on the shelf for his transition into mainstream movies; so don’t expect anything deep. But what you should expect is a consistently funny and crazy comedy.

Dale Denton (Seth Rogen, KNOCKED UP) serves people court subpoenas for a living and in between jobs he smoke a lot of dope. He buys from Saul Silver (James Franco, SPIDER-MAN), a longhaired dealer who has a constant smile on his face and lives in his PJs. He’s taken a shine to Dale and tries to convince him to stay and hang out every time he comes over for more weed. But Dale has other things on his mind, especially his 18-year-old high school student girlfriend Angie (Amber Heard, ALPHA DOG). Then one night on a job, Dale witnesses drug kingpin Ted Jones (Gary Cole, BREACH) and female cop Carol (Rosie Perez, DO THE RIGHT THING) murder a rival drug dealer. Completely paranoid and scared out of his wits, Dale rushes to Saul, who is sure that his supplier Red (Danny McBride, THE FIST FOOT WAY) won’t rat them out. But when killers Budlofsky (Kevin Corrigan, THE DEPARTED) and Matheson (Craig Robinson, WALK HARD) come gunning for them, they begin to doubt Red’s loyalty as a friend.

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Frank Darabont’s Oscar nominated THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION barely recouped its production budget when released in theaters in 1994. But anyone who went to see it quickly knew they were witnessing something special. Based on a Stephen King short story, the prison drama chronicles long-term prisoners and how incarceration changes them. One particular prisoner desperately hangs onto hope, while another says that in jail, hope can be a dangerous thing.

The optimistic prisoner is Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins, BULL DURHAM), a banker on the outside who was convicted of murdering his wife and her lover. He claims that he’s innocent, but no one believes him, because everyone is innocent in prison. Red (Morgan Freeman, GLORY) is a vet of the prison, having been convicted of murder at a young age when a robbery went wrong. He’s the man inside who can get you things, like cigarettes, posters of Rita Hayworth, or gem hammers. The warden, Norton (Bob Gunton, THE PERFECT STORM), discovers that having a smart banker in his control can be very beneficial when you need bribes laundered. Keeping Andy in fear equally are the rapist prisoner Bogs Diamond (Mark Rolston, RUSH HOUR) and the equally sadistic guard Capt. Hadley (Clancy Brown, TV’s CARNIVALE).

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With its big name stars and big star moments, this slick courtroom drama was good Oscar bait material for director Rob Reiner in 1992. There was no way of knowing at the time that the film would only gain weight in the future for events that couldn’t even be thought of in the early ’90s. Set at Guantanamo Bay, the crime story revolves around the death of a marine private and the possible orders that were given that might have lead to his death by the abuse of other soldiers. Aaron Sorkin’s script deals with the following of orders that are not just and a military code of conduct that has become warped. Looking back now, the film almost seems hauntingly prophetic.

Lance Cpl. Harold Dawson (Wolfgang Bodison, LITTLE BIG LEAGUE) and Private Louden Downey (James Marshall, TV’s TWIN PEAKS) have been charged with murder for the death of William Santiago (Michael DeLorenzo, ALIVE), the weakest soldier in their unit. Lt. Cdr. JoAnne Galloway (Demi Moore, ST. ELMO’S FIRE) believes the deaths were the result of a hazy ritual called Code Red, which went awry, and wants the case as a way to expose the practice. Her superiors are playing politics and decide to go with Lt. Daniel Kaffee (Tom Cruise, RISKY BUSINESS), a skilled lawyer who has never seen the inside of a courtroom because he is the master of the plea bargain. Along with researcher Lt. Sam Weinberg (Kevin Pollak, THE USUAL SUSPECTS), Kaffee and Galloway dig deeper into the case and hit nothing but stonewalls from those involved.

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