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Mixing the difficulties unique to Vietnam vets with the adjustment problems of all returning soldiers, Hal Ashby’s touching drama contrasts the pro-war and the anti-war sentiments by presenting two soldiers connected by their love for the same woman. Ashby isn’t a director that is common to the average filmgoer, but during the 1970s he made some of the decade’s best, including this film, HAROLD AND MAUDE, THE LAST DETAIL, BOUND FOR GLORY and BEING THERE. Without flash, he patiently develops his core characters, allowing emotions to build and accumulate into poignant and powerful reactions. This is one of those films that goes along at a steady pace then reaches a moment where it grabs you by the throat and propels you to another level.

Capt. Bob Hyde (Bruce Dern, FAMILY PLOT) has finally received his mission in Vietnam. With his departure, his wife Sally (Jane Fonda, KLUTE) is on her own for the first time. Inspired by her husband’s best friend’s girlfriend Vi (Penelope Milford, HEATHERS), she volunteers at the VA hospital, where she meets Luke Martin (Jon Voight, MIDNIGHT COWBOY), a paraplegic vet who was once the captain of Sally’s high school football team. Confined to the hospital, using canes to propel his wheeled bed around the narrow halls, Luke’s disposition is less than pleasant. Vi’s brother Bill (Robert Carradine, REVENGE OF THE NERDS) is in the hospital for mental reasons; the horrors of war have left him emotionally incapable with dealing with life. Other soldiers complain that they’ve just been forgotten; not given the basic information they need to handle life as a disabled person. Sally feels for the plight of the soldiers and truly wants to help, but the “real” world doesn’t want to think about the wounded men unless it’s one of their relatives. As Luke slowly comes out of his depression, Sally and he strike up a friendship that soon turns romantic. So what will happen when Bob returns home after the war doesn’t turn out like he imagined?

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Winner of seven Oscars, William Wyler’s touching and honest drama about returning soldiers is as relevant today as it was when it was released more than 60 years ago. While there are no stories of war objectors spitting on returning vets from WWII, the Great Generation’s fighters didn’t have it easy either. This intimate tale chronicles the adjustments three very different men have to make in their civilian lives because of their experiences at war. They cover the economic spectrum, which makes adjusting to their normal lives more difficult or easier in interesting and ironic ways depending on the situation. Brought to life by a first-rate cast, there is a reason this film placed #37 on the AFI’s Top 100 American Films list twice; it’s a timeless classic.

Based on MacKinlay Kantor’s novel, which was adapted by Robert E. Sherwood, winner of Best Screenplay, the story begins as three soldiers, strangers at the time, board a transport plane to get back home to Boone City. Fred Derry (Dana Andrews, LAURA) was a captain pilot during the war, but back home he worked as a soda jerk. A lower rank than Fred, Al Stephenson (Fredric March, 1931’s DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE) is an older man with a family, who as a civilian lives in a swank apartment and works at the bank. Homer Parrish (Harold Russell, PAYBACK) is a sailor, who after losing both hands now uses hooks. He worries that his girl Wilma (Cathy O’Donnell, BEN-HUR) will think differently of him when she sees him.

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Peter Bogdanovich’s THE LAST PICTURE SHOW is a quiet reflective film with flares of wonderful irony and humor. Its style is a dead-on throwback to the 1950s drama, but presents a 1970s freedom to its material. As a sad meditation on the crumbling American small tows, the story can be bleak, but it never loses all hope… or does it? Like great art, the film is open to interpretation.

Based on the Larry McMurtry novel, this coming of age tale is set in the tiny Texas town of Anarene. Sonny Crawford (Timothy Bottoms, THE PAPER CHASE) and Duane Jackson (Jeff Bridges, THE FABULOUS BAKER BOYS) are best friends. They play for their town’s lousy high school football team, for which they constantly receive ridiculed for from the townsfolk. Sonny is jealous of Duane because his friend is dating Jacy Farrow (Cybill Shepherd, TV’s MOONIGHTING), the prettiest girl in town, while he’s stuck with the trashy tease Charlene (Sharon Taggart, TEXASVILLE). Jacy’s mom Lois (Ellen Burstyn, REQUIEM FOR A DREAM) warns her that her roughneck boyfriend is a one-way ticket to getting stuck in their flat and boring town. Jacy professes her love for Duane, but isn’t shy to play the field just to stir up some excitement in her life. Eventually, Sonny starts an affair of his own with 40-something Ruth (Cloris Leachman, SPANGLISH), the sad wife of his coach. The heart of the town is Sam the Lion (Ben Johnson, THE WILD BUNCH), a kind man who runs three key businesses— the pool hall, the café, and the picture house.

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As a child of the video age, there is a collection of films that have been ingrained in my memory for having watched them over and over again. LA BAMBA, the story of Ritchie Valens, is one of those films. Before I knew that I was watching something special, I responded to this musical biopic’s portrayal of the supporting characters in the life of the central star. No other film that deals with the rise of famous people deals so honestly with how fame affects those in the star’s life that stay anonymous folk.

Before Ritchie Valens rose to fame, he was migrant worker Ritchie Valenzuela (Lou Diamond Phillips, YOUNG GUNS). A young man obsessed with rock ‘n roll, he never goes anywhere without his secondhand guitar. One day his leather jacket-wearing brother Bob (Esai Morales, FAST FOOD NATION) rides into camp on his motorcycle. He’s made enough money to move his hardworking mother Connie (Rosanna DeSoto, STAND AND DELIVER) and his three younger siblings to Los Angeles. He’s so cool he sweeps Ritchie’s crush Rosie (Elizabeth Pena, LONE STAR) off her feet and onto the back of his bike on his way down the road too. In L.A., Ritchie joins a local band where he is relegated to the background, but moves himself to the front and center via his passion. Along the way, he charms the white daughter of a car dealer named Donna (Danielle von Zerneck, LIVING IN OBLIVION), a later inspiration for a song when her dad doesn’t like her hanging with a homie. Ritchie also attracts the attention of smalltime record producer Bob Keene (Joe Pantoliano, THE MATRIX), who creates Ritchie Valens, a teenager who quickly has three hit singles and tours with rock icons like Buddy Holly.

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Bob Dylan is an enigma, and that is exactly what one could call Todd Haynes’ film that contemplates the seemingly contradictory sides of the famed singer’s personality. Haynes has always been a filmmaker who takes risks from his unsettling SAFE to his pseudo-Bowie biopic VELVET GOLDMINE to his Douglas Sirk, 1950s melodrama-like FAR FROM HEAVEN. Now he contemplates the many aspects of Dylan, leaving the audience thinking (maybe even confused).

Six difference actors play six different Dylan-like characters. The various stories are woven together and a few even intersect. We begin with an 11-year-old African-American boy hitching a ride on a train calling himself Woody Guthrie (Marcus Carl Franklin, TV’s LACKAWANNA BLUES). He’s traveling the country playing ’40s blues and acting like it isn’t 1959, avoiding the social turmoil of the times. Next we meet 19-year-old poet Arthur Rimbaud (Ben Whishaw, PERFUME) cagily avoiding definition during an interview. In a documentary-like segment, we learn about the career of influential folk singer Jack Rollins (Christian Bale, BATMAN BEGINS), who hasn’t done an interview in years since be converted to Christianity. Robbie Clark (Heath Ledger, BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN) is a womanizing actor who became famous playing Jack Rollins. We see him during two periods in his life — meeting abstract artist Claire (Charlotte Gainsbourg, THE SCIENCE OF SLEEP) and then watching as their marriage falls apart as Vietnam ends. Jude Quinn (Cate Blanchett, ELIZABETH) is an arrogant star that has turned his back on folk music and plugged in. During a tour in London with The Beatles, he challenges reporter Keenan Jones (Bruce Greenwood, CAPOTE) on his lack of caring about “finger-pointing” songs. Finally, in an almost dreamlike sequence, Billy the Kid (Richard Gere, CHICAGO) wonders the countryside trying to find freedom.

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Despite having a sex doll at the center of its story, LARS AND THE REAL GIRL is a charming tale about a young man who submerges himself in a fantasy world to escape from reality. Lars Lindstrom buys a sex doll and tells everyone that it is his new girlfriend Bianca from Brazil. Nancy Oliver’s Oscar-nominated screenplay handles this premise with a great deal of tact. This isn’t AMERICAN PIE, folks; it’s more like apple pie and church and milk and cookies. And if you found some way to make any of that sexual than you’re not Lars.

Lars (Ryan Gosling, THE NOTEBOOK) has become more and more reclusive, moving into the garage of the family home. His brother Gus (Paul Schneider, ALL THE REAL GIRLS), and especially his sister-in-law Karin (Emily Mortimer, LOVELY & AMAZING) worry about him. Then one night, he introduces them to Bianca like he’d introduce any Brazilian missionary he met on the Internet to them. The next day they take Lars and Bianca to see Dr. Dagmar (Patricia Clarkson, THE STATION AGENT), who tells them that Lars is having delusions and that if they want to keep him they will have to play along with the fantasy. Under the guise of treating Bianca’s low blood pressure, Dr. Dagmar sets a weekly appointment to meet with Lars and his quiet girlfriend. Gus and Karin struggle with accepting Lars’ condition, while trying to explain it to the community at large. With Bianca around, Lars is able to easily avoid his sweet co-worker Margo (Kelli Garner, BULLY).

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This Danish short film (if you consider 39 minutes short) received an Oscar nomination in 2007. The melodrama tackles the tragic issue of young people suffering from severe forms of cancer. Staying on the same ward, Stephanie (Julie Olgaard, AFTER THE WEDDING), Sara (Laura Christensen, THE KINGDOM) and Mette (Neel Ronholt, AFTER THE WEDDING) have developed a close bond. It’s Christmas and the trio look forward to celebrating New Year’s together. Stephanie is cynical and pessimistic, a deadly combination. She’s having a hard time emotionally with her condition and gets defensive when asked about her parents. Mette is a Christian, which helps her cope. Bedridden, she desperately needs people around her at all times. She doesn’t like taking her morphine pills so she has amassed a nice collection in her nightstand drawer. Sara is very close with her father, whose quiet sad eyes can’t hide his emotions. Due to the tumor on her spine, Sara must have surgery on New Year’s Eve.

Director/writer Christian E. Christiansen handles the bleak material with a bit of humor and a bit of heart. Though the material is melodramatic, Christiansen never pushes for effect. He honestly deals with the emotions of his characters without pandering to theatrics. His three lead actresses give natural and often moving performances. Christensen is especially good in the least flashy role as the middle ground between Mette’s optimism and Stephanie’s pessimism. Olgaard’s emotional breakdown on night is filled with pain and longing. Toward the end, there are a few moments when the film feels like it’s going to dive head first into sentimentality, but pulls up just in time to reveal its real message about death. It’s not a revolutionary statement, but during the course of experiencing these young women’s story we come to believe in its simple truth.

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Based on an Elmore Leonard story, this Oscar-nominated British short tells a solemn story of redemption. Ruben Vega (Francesco Quinn, TV’s INTO THE WEST) is a horse thief who has come to rethink his thieving and whoring ways. When he discovers a pretty woman named Sarah (Charlotte Asprey, TV’s ELIZABETH I) living alone in a shack in the desert, he becomes captivated with her story. Eleven years prior, she was kidnapped by Indians, tattooed on her chin and forced to live like a squaw. When her husband finally finds her, he is ashamed of her condition and hides her away from polite society. Ruben makes it his mission to bring Sarah out of her isolation and take back her life.

The film has a meandering tone that isn’t uncommon to the Western genre, but robs the film narrative thrust. From the direction to the acting, the short goes for a simmering dramatic effect, which at times feels more theatrical than cinematic. The actors move like their striking a pose, not conjuring a performance. Moreover, despite its slow pacing, the story seems to make emotional leaps that ring false. I can’t comment on whether sections where cut from the original story, but director Daniel Barber and screenwriter Joe Shrapnel never make us believe in the relationship between Ruben and Sarah. She goes from guarded and removed to trusting and vulnerable too quickly.

Barber, with cinematographer Ben Davis and production designer Johnny Green, paints a cinematic landscape that is beautiful. This look, the pacing and the muted performances all come together to create a nice somber tone, which is right for the material, but also distances us from the characters. As a result, the movie techniques get in the way of the story. All this said the film isn’t a complete failure by any means. With all its problems, it held my interest, especially from its wonderful photography. Barber plays one note well for 35 minutes, but it leaves us wanting to hear the rest of the song.

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Director Steven Soderbergh tries to capture the look and feel of dramas from the Golden Age of cinema. In this CASABLANCA like picture, star George Clooney further makes his claim as the heir to classic Hollywood actors, this time channeling Humphrey Bogart without making us forget his similarities to Cary Grant. Cate Blanchett, who won an Oscar for playing Hollywood royalty Katharine Hepburn, fits smoothly into the 1940s mode in a Marlene Dietrich like turn. While THE GOOD GERMAN plays like a film from the past, the story dips into sex and language that is a staple of modern cinema. This mix of the old and the new almost makes the film worth seeing on its own.

American officer Jake Geismer (Clooney, INTOLERABLE CRUELTY) returns to Germany at the last moments of World War II as the country is being divided up between the Americans and the Russians. His driver Tully (Tobey Maguire, THE ICE STORM) is a slimy soldier looking to make a profit out of the chaos. Tully is trying to find a way to sneak his prostitute girlfriend Lena Brandt (Blanchett, ELIZABETH) out of the country. Turns out, she was the former girl of Jake when he was stationed in Germany before the war. For mysterious reasons, she has become a target of both the Russians and the Americans.

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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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