What a bomb. The only growth the character Rueben (Ben Stiller) experiences is that he gives up being obsessive about taking risks in life to hang out with Polly, the unstructured one, and live through weeks of excruciating episodes of irritable bowel syndrome. It’s also a kind of formulaic romance but with the characters only promising each other that they’ll – hang out (live together). If one of the criteria for romantic genre is that the main characters sacrifice something for... Read more

The industry is revving up for a big Valentine’s Day celebration through several new films, one of them WIN A DATE WITH TAD HAMILTON. It’s conventional with an innocent love triangle between West Virginians Rosalee, (Kate Boswell) and Pete (Topher Grace – That 70’s Show) characters and Tad, played by Josh Duhamel. The actors play improbable people but this little fantasy works because the actors are willing and do sacrifice for the other. The actors are too beautiful to be... Read more

In America by director Jim Sheridan, is wonderful. If I had seen it before today (Jan 4) it would have made my top three for last year. This tale of a husband and wife from Ireland and their two daughters (sublimely played by real life sisters) who have lost a son and brother, Frankie, and the wonderful gift of their neighbor, Mateo, will have you in tears. The family immigrates illegally from Ireland through Canada and settles in a NY tenament... Read more

Here is my list of favorite films of 2003, in other words, my picks for best films – out of 77 that I saw. Bend It like Beckham  #7 pick Bonhoeffer Bruce Almighty # 8 pick Cold Mountain #6 pick Dirty Pretty Things # 5 pick Finding Nemo Goodbye Lenin (Germany) In this World Last Samurai Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King #3 pick Matrix: Revolutions Mystic River Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl ... Read more

Paycheck surprised me. It is a good watch. It’s not tedious like Memento but more popular. It is classy sci-fi, testosterone thriller, blow ’em up, but asks questions about knowing the future, in particular Michael Jenning’s (Ben Afleck) past, present and future, the role of technology, and greed. It does go where other sci-fi films have gone before, but it is entertaining. One problem is that there is much gun-shooting and killing and hardly any blood, so young viewers will... Read more

I was prepared not to like Cold Mountain because I did not care for the book. It didn’t engage me. However, the film far exceeded my expectations. It’s got a haunting beauty, graphic battle scenes (not unlike other Civil War films we have seen), humor, great kindness and courage with much human weakness – and no cliche’s. Food and “meal” is a stong motif, among many others, as well as faith and religion, without being obvious. There is so much to... Read more

The Calendar Girls is based on the true story of a group of middle-aged ladies in Yorkshire, UK who create a nude calendar (not “naked”) to raise money for the leukemia ward and waiting room of the local hospital. The struggle with the difference between art and non-art (pornography); they struggle with celebrity. They struggle with their personal relationships – all with a sense of droll humor and a sense of loss and empathy for those who lose loved ones... Read more

If you saw the original, this version of Cheaper by the Dozen may not ring your chimes too much. It has some funny parts and it tries very hard. The eventual clash between the parents doesn’t seem authentic because it doesn’t take the time to develop the “family character” enough for us to care – or there are just too many to keep track of. Ashton Kutcher is very funny and his character works well as the true narcissist of... Read more

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, is a lovely story about a motherless young white girl, Lily, in South Carolina in the 1960’s. She thinks she is responsible for her mother’s death, her father is emotionally blank, mean and makes her kneel on dry grits for punishment. She finds a picture of the Black Madonna on a label that belonged to her mother. When she runs away because she has helped a black woman, Rosaleen, break out of jail,... Read more

Have you ever seen a good movie made from a really poor script and conventional plot? Honey-from-the block is not a well-written movie, but I enjoyed every minute of it. (Think thoughts of Jennifer Lopez’ story growing up in the Bronx – even to the choice of Castle Hill Avenue for a dance studio … which is not even close to Hunt’s Point or the South Bronx!) It’s Save the Last Dance, and a little Dirty Dancing rolled into one. Great moves by... Read more