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3:10 TO YUMA: Gary and I have fond memories of all those westerns we saw as kids, so we are delighted that Hollywood has recently resurrected the genre. This film is a remake of a 1957 film of the same name starring Glen Ford and Van Heflin. This new version stars Russell Crowe and Christian Bale. It tells the story of a charming but brutal killer named Ben Wade (Ford/Crowe) and the rancher (Heflin/Bale) who volunteers to deliver him to the 3:10 train to Yuma where a territorial prison awaits. Peter Fonda, almost unrecognizable in a white beard, is a Pinkerton train guard who has been chasing Wade for years. The NY Times critic thought that Crowe, Bale, and Fonda were the main reasons to see the film, and he called it a "serviceable addition to the current western revival." I think "serviceable addition" is a good way to describe 3:10 to Yuma. We didn’t love it, but we did like it quite a bit. We thought Crowe’s performance was a standout. Bale, is, as usual, excellent, but Crowe had the best lines and delivered them beautifully. Gretchen Moll plays Bale’s wife and Logan Lerman is very good as Bale’s 16-year-old son—a boy who wants to support his father, but who can’t help but be fascinated by the legendary gunman. We think the film deserves a B+, but then, we are partial to westerns. GRADE B+

21: 21 refers to a card game commonly known as Blackjack. The film, 21, hopes to exploit the commonly held dream of beating Vegas at it’s own game. It is loosely based on a best selling non-fiction book (Bringing Down the House )advertised as "the inside story of six MIT students who took Vegas for millions." It is a fascinating story, but sadly a mediocre movie. Barbara and I were hoping for a film that would not seem like being dealt a "stiff" that turns into a "bust." Sorry, I just couldn’t resist that. Kevin Spacey, Jim Sturgess, Kate Bosworth, and Laurence Fishburne are the biggest names in the ensemble cast, but they can’t save a screenplay that asks us to believe that a brilliant group of MIT students led by their brilliant professor do things that are so stupid that they are insulting. The film splits its time between trying to appeal to serious blackjack players and pandering to those who prefer a love story. In our opinion it fails in both. GRADE C-

27 DRESSES: There are some universal untruths known to everyone: "The check is in the mail" for example. Here’s one that every bride says to every bridesmaid: "You can shorten the dress and wear it again." Has anyone ever done that? Jane (Katherine Hiegl) has heard that 27 times, and she’s never worn one of the dresses twice, even though she has kept every one of them. This romantic comedy follows the generic formula: girl meets boy, at first they don’t get along, but eventually they get together. Nothing new here, but Hiegl and James Marsden are charming actors and it’s fun to watch them reach the inevitable conclusion. Jane loves weddings and has worked as an unofficial planner for her many friends, but when she has to help her sister plan a wedding to the man she, herself, is in love with, she falls out of love with other people’s weddings. Marsden is Kevin, a journalist who yearns to escape the wedding desk and write feature stories. He hopes his story about Jane, the perennial bridesmaid, will further his career. Marsden has had two nice parts in films this year. He was perfect as Prince Edward in Enchanted, and he also played Corny Collins in Hairspray. Hiegl is a lovely woman who is both a good actress and a skilled comedienne, and that’s a terrific combination. She was especially appealing in the recent Knocked Up, and though the critics are lukewarm about this film, I think it will be popular at the box office. Gary and I thought it was a pleasant afternoon’s entertainment and agree on a grade of B. GRADE B.

TADPOLE: We thought this movie was a total delight! Oscar (Aaron Stanford) has the mind of a 40-year-old in the body of a 15-year-old. He speaks fluent French and quotes from Voltaire. He's not interested in the girls at his prep school because they don't have any "experience." Besides, he has a monster crush on Eve (Sigourney Weaver), his stepmother. Back home at the family's apartment on the Upper West Side for Thanksgiving, he resolves to confess his love. Before he can do that, however, he happens to sleep with Eve's best friend, Diane (Bebe Neuwirth), and this leads to some very funny scenes as Oscar tries to keep Diane from mentioning the incident. John Ritter is Oscar's well meaning but out-of-the-loop father. Neuwirth has some funny scenes and she nails every one. Stanford, in his first movie role shows tremendous promise, and Weaver and Ritter are also excellent at bringing this witty script to life. Roger Ebert didn't like this one because he couldn't stop thinking that the plot would have been unthinkable if the genders had been reversed. He's right, but I think he needs to lighten up. We thought it was a very amusing film and agree with the critic who called it "a cheeky comedy knockout." Shot on digital camera, it made me want to revisit New York. Even with garbage bags on the street, the City looks terrific! GRADE A-

TAKE THE LEAD: Pierre Dulaine is the dance instructor who is responsible for the successful introduction of ballroom dancing to the New York school system. This movie purports to tell how the whole thing got started. When Dulaine (Antonio Banderas) sees a young man attacking a car with a golf club, he decides to volunteer at the local high school. The principal (Alfre Woodard) gives him the task of supervising the inner-city school’s worst students—those who spend each afternoon in detention. Naturally, they resist the idea of ballroom dancing. But, predictably, he wins them over. There was a wonderful documentary about this called Mad Hot Ballroom, which showed 5th grade students preparing for the city-wide ballroom dancing competition. It is the better film. Banderas is quite charming as a man who believes that ballroom dancing teaches much more than dance steps: It teaches good manners, respect and trust. However, Take The Lead is too full of cliches to earn a high grade from us. For example, the group of students he works with cover every possible ethnic group. Not very realistic. Plus, the student dancers look too much like professionals at the final competition. We did like seeing Rob Brown again. At 16, Brown appeared in his first film, Finding Forester, and when we saw him, we predicted that he would have a career in films. He was also in 2005’s Coach Carter. He is graduating from college this year, so perhaps we will be seeing a lot more of him. Take The Lead is reasonably entertaining, but the documentary is terrific. GRADE C+

TALK TO HER: This is a terrific film, but I have no idea how to write about it. To say that it is about two comatose women and the men who love them, makes it sounds dreadful. But it's not. It has comedy, tragedy and suspense combined in a story that is never predictable and always surprising. It won a Golden Globe award for Best Foreign Language film and received a standing ovation from an appreciative Hollywood crowd. Benigno is a naïve young male nurse who falls in love with a ballet student he watches from his apartment across the street from the ballet school. When Alicia is injured in an automobile accident and falls into a coma, Benigno becomes her caretaker. Marco is a travel writer who falls in love with Lydia, a bullfighter. When she is gored in the bullring and falls into a coma, he and Benigno become friends. That's really all I can tell you because to say more would spoil the movie for you. Geraldine Chaplin appears as the Ballet Mistress. Javier Camara is Benigno and Dario Grandinetti is Marco and both men are excellent. The director, Pedro Almodóvar is best known in the US for Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988), and All About My Mother (1999). He is a consummate filmmaker and his films are always innovative. He received a surprising nomination for Best Director at this year's Academy Awards. I give this movie an A-; Gary says B+, because he had a bit of trouble staying awake during the first half. He did, however, think the second half was a "Wow!" I'll end this review by quoting the New York Times reviewer who said, "When it's over, the realization of how much the movie means to you really sinks in; you can't get it out of your heart." GRADEA-/B+

TALK TO ME: "Actor Don Cheadle elevates every movie he's in." That’s our local critic talking and he couldn’t be more right. Cheadle’s A+ performance raises this movie from a B to an A-. Cheadle totally inhabits his role here as real-life Washington, D.C. radio disc jockey Petey Greene. Cheadle is a truly remarkable actor. No matter what the role, he is able to completely immerse himself in the character he is playing. But Cheadle must share credit for elevating this film with Chiwetel Ejiofor (Dirty, Pretty Things), who appears as Dewey Hughes, the young radio station executive who recognized in Greene the "voice of the people." When Hughes puts Green on the air in 1965—the height of the Civil Rights era—Greene’s flamboyant manner and his unprecedented "tell it like it is" style made him an instant hit with DC’s black community. The story of the friendship that grew between the two very different men is enhanced by the chemistry between the two actors. The best scenes in the film occur after Martin Luther King’s assassination when DC explodes in violence. It is sad that Greene was unable to handle his life beyond the radio station. He died in 1984 at the age of 53. Hughes went on to become a disc jockey and radio station owner and is currently a record producer living in Los Angeles. Taraji P. Henson (Hustle & Flow) adds energy and humor as Vernell Watson, Petey’s longtime girlfriend. And speaking of actors who elevate movies, Martin Sheen appears here as the owner of Petey’s DC radio station. GRADE A-

THE TAO OF STEVE: Dex (Donal Logue) is a fat, sloppy, 32-year-old man who works in a preschool but he manages to have quite a bit of sex. Thats because he follows a philosophy he calls the Tao of SteveSteve being the quintessential cool guy. When he advises a friend on how to score, he quotes one of the tenants of that philosophy: Men and women both want to have sex, but women want to have sex 15 minutes after us, so if you hold out for 20, she'll be chasing you for five In other words, eliminate your desire (because women can smell an agenda) and withdraw. This works for Dex until he meets Syd (Greer Goodman) and truly falls for her. She is visiting Santa Fe to design a set for the local Operas production of Don Giovanniand when she tells Dex that Don Giovanni slept with 1,000 women because he was afraid he wouldn't be loved by one, it resonates with him. Its the story of his life. This lighthearted love story was a Sundance favorite and Logue won a best actor award. As a film festival movie Gary thinks it is worth a B, but while I thought it was pleasant, I cant go higher that C+. Perhaps the fact that I had a sore throat and didnt feel well affected my reaction. GRADE: C+/B

TAXI TO THE DARK SIDE: It was with great trepidation that Barbara and I elected to see this film. We knew it won the Oscar for Best Documentary at this year’s Academy Awards. But we also knew it dealt with the subject of torture, Abu Grabe, Guantanamo Bay, the government’s suspension of habeas corpus protection, and a few other topics we knew would be disturbing. The title is dripping with meaning. "To the dark side" refers to a post 9/11 quote by Dick Cheney, "We have to work the dark side." And "Taxi" refers to an innocent taxi driver (Dilawar) in Afghanistan who was beaten so badly that he died after five days of "interrogation." It was later proven that the informant who accused Dilawar was actually the terrorist responsible for the crime in question. But the brutal treatment of Dilawar is merely used as a segue to a detailed documentation of our government’s official and unofficial policies condoning policies forbidden by U.S. constitutional and military law as well as international agreements. They, of course, justify these policies as necessary in a post 9/11 world. To quote Roger Ebert, "If you torture a man long enough, he will tell you anything to make you stop. If you act on that ‘information,’ you are likely on a fool’s errand." Sadly, Colon Powell was on such an errand when his testimony to the United Nations helped lead us into the Iraq War. The testimony was based on untrue information obtained through torture at Guantanamo Bay. I will be surprised to hear that any of our readers have viewed this award-winning documentary. If you do, please respond. But in an effort to present another side let me quote from Yahoo Movies User Review: Grade F "This movie was made by people who really hate America, but love the terrorists." Obviously we don’t agree. GRADE B+

THE TERMINAL: Tom Hanks creates an interesting and sympathetic character in The Terminal. We both thought he did a terrific job in bringing Viktor Navorski to life. Victor is a visitor from a fictitious country in Eastern Europe and he falls between our immigration cracks when his country's government is overthrown while he's in the air. Consequently, when he lands at the New York airport, he has no valid passport or visa. And he doesn't speak English. The Homeland Security Agent Frank Dixon (Stanley Tucci) sequesters Victor in the airport's international terminal. Victor proceeds to make a home for himself. He manages to learn some English, make some friends and find a job. He even meets a beautiful flight attendant named Amelia (Catherine Zeta-Jones). All of this is quite amusing and heartwarming in a very Frank Capra kind of way. We really enjoyed the first 3/4 of this film, but we were not captivated by the last 1/4. We thought some of the Security Agent's actions at the end of the film were not well motivated, and we didn't buy the Tian an'men Square bit with the janitor and the airplane. Overall, though, we were entertained by Spielberg's film and impressed with Hanks and all the supporting actors. GRADE B

THANK YOU FOR SMOKING: This film is a very entertaining satire that savages the tobacco industry while showing little mercy to the anti-smoking proponents. The movie remains fairly faithful to the 1994 Christopher Buckley novel of the same title. Aaron Eckhart brilliantly plays Nick Naylor, an unapologetic spokesman for the Academy of Tobacco Studies. He is smart, glib and utterly ruthless in his defense of people’s right to kill themselves, while never admitting that cigarettes might actually do that. You might think the film would be filled with a lot of smoking and coughing and wheezing, but it is far more subtle than that. I never cease to be amazed at how independent film producers can assemble powerful supporting casts on a shoestring budget. Milliam H. Macy, Rob Lowe, Robert Duval, Maria Bello, Sam Elliott and Katie Holmes are all outstanding at playing supporting roles. Both Barbara and I liked this low-budget film. GRADE B.

THERE WILL BE BLOOD: This film is an acting tour-de-force for Daniel Day Lewis. He plays a man with no redeeming characteristics yet holds you spellbound with his intensity and skill. Paul Dano, who was so good as Little Miss Sunshine’s brother, also gives an outstanding performance. Lewis is Daniel Plainview, a man for whom oil is the only thing that matters; a man who looks at people and finds nothing worth liking; a man whose competitive drive is such that it isn’t enough for him to win—he wants all others to fail. Dano plays two brothers; Paul, who tells Daniel about the oil under his family’s land, and Eli, a self-professed prophet and healer. It is an epic story of oil, power and faith. The major conflict in the film is the fight for power between Daniel and Eli. The film is directed by Paul Thomas Anderson who has made a name for himself with films that many find quite weird. He directed Boogie Nights, Magnolia and Punch Drunk Love. We didn’t care much for Boogie Nights, but we liked Punch Drunk Love, and we gave Magnolia an A/B+ grade. There is no doubt that Andersen is an accomplished filmmaker. This film, like his previous films, is visually arresting, and the story is never predictable. However, I felt like an uninvolved observer for the entire 2 hours and 38 minutes. I was never drawn into the story and, other than a few shocking scenes, felt little emotional involvement with the characters. Gary felt the same way. We agree that such a film is not "A" material or us, but because of the superior acting and skilled filmmaking, we can give this film a B+. However, it is not a film we want to see more than once. GRADE B+

THINGS WE LOST IN THE FIRE: Benicio Del Toro had been acting in films for ten years before we noticed him in Traffic (2000). Since that appearance both Barbara and I have been impressed, if not blown away, by his performances. This film is no exception. He is totally believable as a heroin addict struggling to get his life together. In the female lead is Halle Berry playing a grieving widow with two children trying to cope with an incomprehensible tragedy. After her Academy Award-winning performance in Monster’s Ball, Berry has made some mediocre films, but here she is back to her Oscar form. We have seen many films that focus of the grief that follows a loved one’s death, but rarely has the grieving felt as real and heart-breaking as it does in this film. The two young actors who play Berry’s daughter and son were especially good. This is a compelling drama about people in crisis and has been ably directed by European filmmaker Susanne Bier. I don’t think this film will receive the attention deserves at the box office, but we recommend it with a grade of A. GRADE A

THIRTEEN: It isn't easy being thirteen. Especially if you're a girl trying to find your way between childhood and womanhood. At the beginning of this movie, Tracy is everything a parent wants in a thirteen-year-old: She's a good student, she has a sweet disposition, and she still has Barbie Dolls and stuffed animals on her bed. But, in junior high those things don't make you one of the cool kids. The coolest girl in school is Evie, who is thirteen going on twenty-five and dresses like Brittany Spears would if she shopped on Melrose Avenue. Tracey decides she wants to become Evie's friend and she succeeds in attracting Evie's attention. Eventually they become best friends, but in the process Tracey changes drastically. She begins to dress like a sexpot and experiments with a variety of drugs. Watching Tracy's life fall apart is difficult but probably something any parent with a girl approaching thirteen should see. Evan Rachel Wood (TV's Once And Again) brings Tracy vividly to life. Nikki Reed is also excellent as Evie. Reed wrote the original screenplay for this film when she was thirteen and she was fourteen when she played the troublemaker, Evie. She based her screenplay loosely on her real life experience as a "good" girl who turns bad in order to be part of the "in" crowd. Catherine Hardwicke, the film's director, was dating Reed's father and when she realized that Nikki was having problems, Hardwicke suggested that Reed keep a journal, but she wrote a screenplay instead. Hardwicked collaborated on a final draft and the result is this excellent film. Holly Hunter is Tracy's loving-but-totally out-of-the-loop mother, Melanie. Jeremy Sisto (HBO's Six Feet Under) is Melanie boyfriend. GRADE B+

THIRTEEN CONVERSATIONS ABOUT ONE THING: If you are tired of big, loud, special effects Hollywood movies, and if you appreciate small, character-driven independent films with realistic dialogue and superior acting, then you will want to see this film. Jill Sprecher directed 13 Conversations which she wrote in collaboration with her sister, Karen. Their previous effort was Clockwatchers (1997). The movie introduces us to four characters: Troy, a prosecuting attorney who thinks he has the world by the tail (Matthew McConaughey), Gene, a middle aged divorced father who seems to be terminally depressed (Alan Arkin), Beatrice, a happy young woman who works for a cleaning service (Clea Duvall), and Walker, a math professor who is bored with his marriage (John Turturro). Their conversations center around happiness, but the events the characters experience demonstrates how little control we have over our lives, how a random event can irreversibly alter our reality and our level of happiness. Arkin has the most screen time and he is a marvel. McConaughey, Turturro and Amy Irving, who plays his wife, are also excellent. Clea DuVall is very impressive as a woman whose positive outlook on life undergoes a change when she is accidentally injured. The movie reminded me of Magnolia and Lantana in the minimal way the characters' lives intersect. It is, however, much calmer and less energetic than those two films. One critic thought is was "challenging, thoughtful, and, at bottom, overly cerebral." We thought it was a very good movie, and Movie Viewer Dick H., Berkeley, CA, said he thought it was the best movie he has seen in a long time. Gary says B+, but I would go as high as A-. GRADE A-/B+

THIRTEEN DAYS: It is to the director's credit that he manages to sustain the tension thoughout the film's 2 hours and 15 minutes, even though we know the outcome. He (Roger Donaldson) does it by making us identify with Kenneth O'Donnell (Kevin Coster) and experience those 13 tension-filled days in October of 1962 as he might have. Although Costner pushed the Boston accent a bit far at times, we both accepted him in the role of advisor to President Kennedy. Bruce Greenwood, who appeared as John F. Kennedy, was right on point: his accent seemed natural, his demeanor was presidential, and he moved like a man in constant back pain. I have read that he studied extensively to play Kennedy and came to admire the man greatly. Steven Culp was equally good as Robert Kennedy, and Dylan Baker looked remarkably like Robert McNamara. I was a bit puzzled by the occasional use of black and white photography. Sometimes it designated scenes that might have appeared on a TV news report and that seemed appropriate. But the reason for other black and white scenes escaped us. I suspect that some of the events surrounding the Missile Crisis have been massaged for dramatic effect. For example, it seems that O'Donnell doesn't figure significantly in any of the historical accounts of the Cuban Missile Crisis. (However, it should be noted that O'Donnell's son Kevin, the Earthlink millionaire, is an investor in the company that produced Thirteen Days.) This story had great significance for us--we remember the events and the people involved. I would be interested to know how the film plays for people who didn't live through those thirteen days in 1962. GRADE: B
(Note: A famous quote came out of the crisis: Dean Rusk is credited with the line, "We went eyeball to eyeball, and I think the other fellow just blinked." )

THE THREE BURIALS OF MELQUIADES ESTRADA: In his first feature film, director Tommy Lee Jones demonstrates consummate story-telling skills. He draws you slowly into this story of friendship, death and redemption. I don’t want to tell you anything about the plot because I think it would spoil your enjoyment of this unpredictable film. The story takes place in both southwest Texas and Mexico, and the scenery is pure desert in all it’s starkness and beauty. Jones stars as a working cowboy named Pete Perkins. His best friend is Meliquiades Estrada, played by Julio Cedillo. Barry Pepper is a border control officer and January Jones is his young, bored wife; Dwight Yoakam is a local sheriff. and Melissa Leo is a waitress in the run-down diner. Although the film begins with Melquiades’ death, Jones uses random flashbacks to acquaint us with the dead man. Though at least one critic thought the film was too slow, we were captivated by the story. The writer, Guillermo Arriaga (21 Grams) was honored at Cannes in 2005 as best writer, and Jones was named best actor. The Chicago Tribune critic called it "fascinating and unpredictable," and the Atlanta Journal Constitution thought it was "smart, challenging and moving." We have always admired Jones’s acting skills. Now we are equally impressed with his directing skills. GRADE A.

THUMBSUCKER: Adolescence is not an easy time for anyone. Justin Cobb (Lou Taylor Pucci) is no exception. He’s bright, but underachieving; he doesn’t fit in with his classmates, can’t connect with girls, and doesn’t feel comfortable in his skin. Oh yes, and there’s that thumb sucking thing. Thumbsucker made it’s debut at the Sundance Film Festival and it is a film festival kind of movie. It focuses on Justin and his family and there are no explosions and no fiery emotional outbursts. We agree with O.A. Scott of the NY Times who said that the movie’s "refusal of large gestures and loud noises is a decided virtue. "Pucci (bearing a slight resemblance to Johnny Depp—maybe it‘s the hair over his eyes) is excellent in the role of Justin. He changes over the course of the movie, partly because he wants to change and partly because he starts, and ultimately stops, taking Ritalin. Pucci makes us believe those changes are real, and we want him to succeed because we like him. Vincent D’Onofrio, so glib in his TV role, is Justin’s inarticulate father, incapable of sharing his thoughts and feelings with his son. We are reminded of what a good actor he is. Tilda Swinton is remarkable as Justin’s mother and their relationship is central to the movie. What’s more, they look very much alike. Keanu Reeves is a sympathetic and rather strange orthodontist, and Vince Vaughn is one of Justin’s teachers. Writer/director Mike Mills shows gentle affection for this unique family, and he skillfully avoids using melodrama or cliches to tell his story. GRADE B+

From Box Office Magazine Online:
One of the more interesting and unique coming-of-agers to hit the big screen in quite some time, Thumbsucker's unpredictable script, along with solid performances all around, are the components that allow director Mike Mills' debut effort to shine brighter than so many of the numerous offerings of the genre.

TIBET: CRY OF THE SNOW LION: (2003 Release) Not many of our readers will have an opportunity to see this brilliantly made but harrowing documentary of Tibet. It was ten years in the making and focuses mostly on the Chinese Governments determination to wipe out Tibetan culture and identity. It is so much more than an intelligent documentary with breathtaking cinematography, though it is certainly that. With narration from Martin Sheen and voiceovers from Ed Harris, Tim Robbins, and Susan Sarandon, the film speaks on behalf of the Tibetan people. There are horrifying photographs and a video of a peaceful demonstration that turns into a massacre of Buddhist monks. We found the film moving and objective. I found a powerful quote from Boxoffice Magazine: "There is scarcely any need for facile Michael Moore-style editorializing here--simply contrasting the testimony of tortured Buddhist nuns with the hollow rationalizations of Chinese government stooges provides more than enough proverbial rope with which to hang what is arguably the world's most insidious and sophisticated terrorist regime." It is difficult for me to grade this powerful documentary, but we strongly recommend it. GRADE B+

A TIME FOR DRUNKEN HORSES: This is the first Iranian film shot in Kurdish, which is the mountainous area of Iran on the border of Iraq that is home to Iranian Kurds. The writer/director of the film comes from this area and made the film to honor his relatives and friends. The Kurds are a minority of twenty million living in several middle-eastern countries. In Iran they are the poorest of the poor. Many make their living as smugglers, crossing the border in spite of land mines and ambushes by the Iraqis. The events in the film take place in bitter winter weather, and the drunken horses in the title are the mules used by the smugglers. In order to keep the mules warm and walking during the bitter Iranian winter, the smugglers pike the mules' drinking water with alcohol. This small lovingly made movie tells the story of a family or orphaned brothers and sisters who truly love and care for each other. One of the boys is a crippled dwarf who needs an operation and his brother and sisters love him so much, they will do anything to get him the medical help he needs. The actors are nonprofessional and the story is told in a naturalistic style that is party fiction and partly documentary. The children are wonderful--very natural and engaging. This is a very sad story and it is certainly not everyone's idea of a good movie. It is definitely not a good date film! We only suggest you see it if you like independent foreign films with subtitles and some hand-held camera work. Compared to other Iranian films we have seen, it deserves a B. Compared to the films our readers are used to seeing, it's probably only worth a C. GRADE: B/C

TOMB RAIDER/LARA CROFT TOMB RAIDER: If you enjoy playing violent video games, you will like this movie. If the thought of watching Angelina Jolie's artificially enhanced bosom in tight spandex turns you on, you will like this movie. Roger Ebert said this film elevates "goofiness to an art form." He thought it was monumentally silly, yet wondrous to look at. Although the special effects are exciting and Jolie is rather nice to watch, the movie's appeal escaped us. Ten-year-old Nathan who went with us, thought it was a terrific movie. He wants to buy it on DVD when he saves enough money. There you have it. GRADE C-

TOPSY TURVY: I was particularly looking forward to this film because I had the fun of playing Yum-Yum at the Interlochen Music Camp in Traverse City when I was 17 years old. However, I was disappointed with the first hour of the film. Both Gary and I felt that, in spite of a few good scenes, too much time was spent on developing the situation and the characters. But once Gilbert went to the Japanese exhibit and began to conceive the idea of a comic opera with Japanese characters, the film really took off. We LOVED the last hour and a half! It was a pure delight: the rehearsals, the salary discussions, the conflicts with the costume designer and the choreographer, and the notes at the end of the dress rehearsal should charm anyone who has ever taken part in a musical stage production. Jim Broadbent was a great Gilbert, a man his mother remembers as a humorous child, but who, as an adult, seemed to take little fun from his own uproarious lyrics. Arthur Sullivan, a composer who always felt that the light fluff he and Gilbert produced was not worthy of his talents, was portrayed by Allan Corduner. Mike Leigh (Secrets & Lies) must have great affection for Gilbert and Sullivans works. I wonder if this film will appeal to people who have no background in their operettas. We decided that the first hour of the film was worth a C, but the last part was worth an A, so we settled on a grade of B+. GRADE: B+

TOUCHING THE VOID: (2003 Release) To say this is an enthralling film about mountain climbing sounds a bit like a British understatement. I know I wont find words powerful enough to describe it. Roger Ebert pays it tribute by confessing that he did not take a single note during the entire film. He simply sat transfixed as this incredible story of human indurance unfolded. It is the true story of Joe Simpson and Simon Yates who set out to climb the west face of Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes. We know that Simpson and Yates survived, because the movie shows them looking straight on into the camera, remembering their adventure in their own words. We also see the ordeal re-enacted by two actors and experienced climbers as stunt doubles. The film is not just completely convincing, it is compelling. Siula Grande is a little over 21,000 feet high, but the summit has been reached by no one but Simpson and Yates. By way of comparison, Mount Everest is over 29,000 feet high, but has been conquered by hundreds of climbers. I am not saying Mount Everest is an easy climb. I'm just saying, don't miss this film. GRADE A

(Barb: Even though I knew Simpson survived his fall, it was nevertheless a gripping, nail-biting experience for me.)

TRAFFIC: Traffic is not a pretty picture, but neither is our country's War on Drugs. However, the movie is successful: The War is not. The $19 billion we spend each year has done little if anything to stem the flow of illegal drugs. This war is not winnable, and it hurts more people than it helps. Steven Soderberg makes this point not by preaching, but by giving us three different stories. 1. Michael Douglas is Robert Wakefield, a judge who has recently been appointed as our country's new drug czar. As he struggles to understand the drug problem, his teenaged daughter is becoming addicted to crack-cocaine. Erika Christensen shines as Wakefield's daughter, Caroline. Amy Irving, in a rare screen appearance, is her mother. 2. Benicio Del Toro is Javier Rodriguez, a Tiajuana policeman whose efforts to catch drug dealers are thwarted at every turn by a corrupt system. 3. Don Cheadle and Luis Guzman are two San Diego DEA agents working to build a case against a high powered drug dealer masquerading as a businessman/philanthropist. Catherine Zeta-Jones portrays the drug dealer's wife as a nave woman who, because of circumstances, learns to be ruthless. She is totally believable, and Miguel Ferrar is noteworthy as a witness whose days are numbered. These stories are only minimally intertwined. Soderberg shoots each story in a different color palette: Yellows and browns for the Mexico scenes (which are also in Spanish and subtitled), blues and grays for the Wakefield story, and full color for the San Diego tale. This unusual technique helps us switch from story to story easily. I thought the Mexican story was the most spellbinding, but I got caught up in all three. Benicio Del Toro is powerful as the Mexican cop. He received a Golden Globe nomination for best supporting actor. Don Cheadle is also a standout. The script was inspired by a five-part "Masterpiece Theater" series named Traffik, which ran 10 years ago and traced the movement of heroin from the poppy fields of Turkey to the streets of Europe. If we were to grade this movie on pure enjoyment, we would give it a B+, but as skilled moviemaking, it deserves an A. GRADE A

TRAINING DAY: Two of our movieviewers raved about Denzell Washington's performance as the baddest cop in Los Angeles. (See Readers' Views.) I agree that Washinton gives a bravura performance, but this is one ugly movie! And with the real life ugliness we experienced on September 11, I couldn't take the make-believe violence here. Also, I know there are bad cops in this world, but, given the 200 New York policeman who died trying to save people in the Trade Towers, I don't want to see a movie about evil cops right now. Training Day tells the story of one day in the life of a rookie narcotics officernamed Jake Hoyt, played by Ethan Hawke. Hoyt is excited when the day starts, because he is finally going to get a chance to put away drug dealers--to arrest the bad guys. He thinks he will learn a lot from his partner, a legendary Narcotics detective named Alonzo Harris (Denzell Washington). He does learn a lot. He learns how rotten a bad cop can be. Gary thought the screenwriters did a great job creating individual scenes filled with tension and dramatic interest. However, he thought the absence of any believable connecting material made for a disjointed, confused story line. The violence of the ending would have been laughable if it hadn't been so horrible. I did not like this film! Gary gives it a B-. I can go as high as a C-, but only because both Washington & Hawke were excellent. GRADE C-/B-

TRANSAMERICA: Felicity Huffman will definitely be my choice for a Best Actress Oscar because of her outstanding performance as Bree in Transamerica. How difficult it must have been to be a woman playing a man trying to be a woman; to have to lower her voice so that she could sound like a man trying to raise his voice. And to do it all with grace, humor and a gentle humanity. Huffman was brilliantly up to the challenge. Just as Bree Osborne is about to have her sexual reassignment surgery, she learns that, as Stanly, she fathered a son named Toby who has been arrested in New York. Her therapist (Elizabeth Pena) suggests that she should not have her surgery until she can come to terms with the "son" issue, so Bree travels to New York to bail Toby out of juvenile detention. Ultimately, the two take a road trip across the country. Graham Greene is Calvin Two Goats, a Native American who helps them out along the way. Several critics have suggested that the film doesn’t quite live up to its star. While that may be true, Huffman’s performance is so good that you can’t help but like the film. Kevin Zegers is excellent as Toby, and we especially enjoyed the scenes with Graham Greene. We thought writer/director, Duncan Tucker, handled the difficult subject of transexuality with compassion and a good deal of humor. GRADE A

TRANSPORTER 2: Not the kind of movie we usually see, but we were entertaining our grandson last weekend and thought he would like it. It was actually better than we expected. Jason Statham makes a terrific tough guy, and he never carries a gun. He manages to eliminate his adversaries by using his fighting skills and whatever is at hand that can possibly be turned into a weapon. Most of the stunts are total fantasy—they could never happen, but they made us laugh. Ebert calls the film, "wall to wall with absurd action." but he, too, enjoyed it. Stathem is Frank Martin, an ex-Special Forces operative living in Miami. In this film, his job is driving the son of the chief of Homeland Security to and from school. When the boy is kidnapped, Frank promises to get him back. He does, but that’s not the end of the peril. Statham makes the movie work. He was memorable in two Guy Ritchie films, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998), and Snatch (2000), and he is strong and charismatic in this one. (Bit of trivia: Statham was a member of the 1988 British Olympic Diving Team and he has also done some fashion modeling.) Nathan gives this one a B+; Gary and I say B. GRADE B

TRISTRAM SHANDY, A COCK AND BULL STORY: In retrospect it may have been a mistake to see this film the day following our Academy Awards Party. Barbara had difficulty staying awake and I was "underwhelmed." My expectations were high after reading Roger Ebert’s glowing review. The film is about the making of a movie that is adapted from the notoriously unfilmable English literature masterpiece, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentlemen,' written by Laurence Sterne. I have never read the novel and I get the impression few have, including the cast and crew filming the impossible adaptation. Ebert compares the effort to This Is Spinal Tap, which led to my high expectations. There were several humorous scenes, but too for my taste. Two of the funniest were one scene playing behind the opening credits and another playing during the closing credits. The material between these two scenes demanded more focus than Barbara could sustain and led to my mediocre grade. GRADE: C

TROY: This testosterone-fueled epic is a Hollywood version of the Trojan War loosely, I repeat, loosely, based on Homer's Iliad. Brad Pitt is Achilles, the Greek hero-warrior. His fight scenes were exciting, although some of his moves look like they came from a modern martial-arts movie. We thought Pitt was good in the role of Achilles, although some critics thought he looked more like a surfer dude than a Greek warrior. He is incredibly buffed and I thought he was quite lovely to look at. Eric Bana (The Hulk) is Hector, Troy's hero-warrior, and the battle between Achilles and Hector is one of the film's high points. You know the basic plot: Paris (Orlando Bloom), Prince of Troy, steals Helen (Diane Kruger) away from her husband, Menelaus (Brendan Gleeson) who asks his brother, Agamemnom (Brian Cox), to help him get her back. Agamemnom is just waiting for an excuse to wage war against Troy so he assembles all of Greece's city-state kings to join him. (Sound familiar?) In Homer's epic, the war lasted ten years: In the Hollywood version it lasts a couple of days, or 162 minutes of film time. In our opinion, too much time was spent on the battle scenes, which are impossible to follow, and suprisingly bloodless. Peter O'Toole is Praim, the King of Troy, and the best scene in the movie is one between Priam and Achilles. O'Toole can act circles around most of these younger actors! Julie Christie makes a cameo appearance as the mother of Achilles. We especially liked the humanity of Odysseus (Sean Bean). He had one line that was memorable: "In war, young men die and old men talk." Wolfgang Peterson directed Troy, which is the most expensive movie ever made, coming in at just under 200 Million. We fidgeted a bit during the battle scenes, but the last part of the film was better and earned the film a B rating from us. GRADE B

Note: The film did encourage us to learn more about the character's in Homer's Iliad. Here's a link to a website that gives some information on the heroes, heroines, and mythical creatures from Greek legend:

http://www.pantheon.org/areas/folklore/greek_heroic/articles.html

TSOTSI: The word "tsotsi" means "thug" in South African patios, and that’s precisely what Tsotsi is: a thug who robs and kills with an icy detachment. He and his gang live in a shanty town in Soweto where the grimy streets team with people desperately trying to survive. When one of his cohorts accuses him of having no decency, he erupts in violence. One night, working alone, Tsotsi steals a car, shooting the woman driver. Later, he discovers a baby in the back seat. That baby changes Tsotsi’s life. The movie, which won the Oscar for best foreign film, is a touching story of redemption. It is based on a novel by the acclaimed playwright Athol Fugard (Boseman and Lena, Master Harold and the Boys). The actor who plays Tsotsi (Presley Chweneyagae) is brilliant—he totally inhabits the role. You never catch him "acting." Gary read that he had done some community theater work, but this was his first movie. Credit must be given to director, Gavin Hood, for helping Chweneyagae make the transition from stage to film. Hood is a South African who paid his dues by appearing in a series of B-movies before traveling to Los Angeles to study film at U.C.L.A. Beautifully photographed and acted, this is a memorable film. GRADE B+

Tagline: In this world... redemption just comes once

TUMBLEWEEDS: This was a good movie with which to start the new Century. Its story line is similar to the recent Anywhere But Here, with Susan Sarandon, but we thought this was the better movie. The daughter in this mother daughter story is only 12 years old and most of the time she actually likes her mother. In Tumbleweeds, Janet McTeer, who won a Tony for her performance in A Dolls House on Broadway, is Mary Jo Walker. Kimberly Brown is Ava, her daughter. Mary Jo has a habit of marrying the wrong man and running away from what inevitably turns out to be a bad situation. She and Ava jump in the car and drive off to a new life. Only the next life seems remarkably like the life they just left. Running from her most recent mistake, they wind up in San Diego. Before long Janet and Ave move in with a truck driverMary Jo thinks he looks like the Marlboro Man. Jay O. Sanders plays Dan, a co-worker of Mary Jos who is without doubt the right man for her. We can only hope she will come to realize it. Dans wife died in an accident and the scene where he tells Ava about his wifes death is one of the best in the film. McTeer is totally believable. She is funny and vulnerable and her relationship with Ava is unique and charming. Brown is a lovely young girl who holds her own with McTeer. They create characters you can care about. GRADE: B+

21 GRAMS: This is a gritty tragic story told in an episodic non-linear style. In spite of the fact that the scenes jump back and forth in time, it is easy to follow the story of Paul Rivers (Sean Penn), a mathematics teacher who needs a heart transplant, Christina Peck (Naomi Watts) whose husband and two daughters were killed in a hit-and-run accident, and Jack Jordan (Benicio Del Toro) the hit-and-run driver. The three actors are flawless in their portrayals, but it is Del Toro's depiction of a man tormented by guilt that I will remember the longest. The film is shot in a grainy realistic style that fits the action perfectly. The scenes may seem haphazard in their arrangement, but director Alejandro Iñárritu must have given great thought to the order in which he revealed the people and their story. The problem I had with the film was that the structure of 21 Grams intrigued me so much that I couldn't ignore it and concentrate on the story. That tended to lessen the film's emotional impact. Gary felt that same way. He wondered if the story would have been as compelling had it been told in a linear structure. He thought that a traditional structure might have made the story seem more melodramatic. Still, the acting is uniformly excellent and the people will be hard to forget. It definitely won't leave you with a warm feeling, but it is worth seeing. GRADE B+

TWENTY-EIGHT DAYS: Sandra Bullock made a big splash in the movie, Speed, but her subsequent films were all disappointments to us. In every one she seemed to play "cute," but not much else. In 28 Days she has a chance to stretch her acting muscles, and she does quite well. We enjoyed her performance as Gwen, an alcoholic young woman whose antics result in her being sentenced to 28 days in a drug rehabilitation center. Bullock was believable as someone who uses her quick wit to avoid facing her disease. Dominic West is good in an unsympathetic part as her boyfriend, Jasper, and Viggo Mortensen is Eddie Boone, a man she meets in rehab. We thought Betty Thomas's direction was well paced and quite creative: we especially liked the way she handled the flashback scenes. Elizabeth Perkins is Lily, Gwen's older sister. They have an emotional scene together that was very well done. Steve Buscemi plays is straight as a drug rehab counselor. While some of the film is predictable, it avoids many of the rehab cliches we've seen in other films. It was written by Suzannah Grant who also wrote the screenplay for Erin Brokovich. Gary gives it a B+, but I settled for a B. GRADE: B/B+

TWENTY-EIGHT DAYS LATER: Let me say at the outset that science fiction is one of our least favorite genres. That being said, this is an exciting movie with an intriguing beginning and a disappointing ending. The film opens with some animal activists setting lab animals free from their cages in a London laboratory, even though the scientist in charge tells them that the animals are infected with a deadly virus. It is called a "rage" virus, and turns the infected in to savage zombie-like creatures. Jim (Cillian Murphy) is a bicycle messenger who has been in an accident and in a comma for over four weeks. When he spontaneously awakes, he finds that he is alone--really alone. There seems to be no one in the hospital and no one in the entire city of London. The scene of him walking across the Westminster Bridge and through the silent and empty streets of London is eerie and stunning. Jim eventually meets a couple of survivors and comes up against some of the infected who are determined to have him join their ranks. (Kind of reminded me of The Night Of The Living Dead.) The rest of the movie details his efforts to stay alive and unaffected. The ending degenerates into a savage shoot-out, and we didn't care much for all the carnage. Gary just can't give this one more than a C, but I would have to say B- because I was drawn into most of the action. GRADE B-/C

TWO FAMILY HOUSE: It is 1956 on Staten Island when we meet Buddy Visalo (Michael Rispoli). Buddy always thought he could have been a famous singer, like Julius LaRosa, but instead he married Estalle and went to work in a factory. For the I I years of their marriage, Buddy has tried to make something of himself. After failing in several businesses, he uses an inheritance to buy a dilapidated house, hoping to turn the downstairs into a tavern called "Buddy's Place." He will provide the "live" entertainment, and Estelle and he will live in the upstairs apartment. Things do not go smoothly in this touching story about love and tolerance that is simply and beautifully told. Rispoli is wonderful! I loved this film enough to give it an A. Gary votes for a B+. GRADE: B+/A

TWO WEEKS NOTICE: You know the plot of this movie. It's the same plot that has been used in dozens, no, hundreds of romantic comedies: Boy meets girl in a cute way; boy and girl don't like each other; boy and girl are forced to work together, or live together, or drive across country together, etc.; after a while, boy and girl realize they love each other; boy and girl kiss, filmed by the obligatory revolving camera. We don't watch these films for the plot, but for the actors, and we like the film when we find the characters appealing, when there are enough funny lines, and when we really want the two of them to get together. Sandra Bullock is appealing as Lucy Kelson, a lawyer who tirelessly fights developers who want to rape the landscape. And Hugh Grant is at his best as George Wade, one of those developers. Most of the funny lines are his, and most of the physical humor is Bullock's. There are some funny lines and some funny bits, but I hoped for something different from the formula plot and was disappointed because there was nothing different. I can't go higher than a B-. Gary enjoyed it a bit more than I did. He says B+. GRADE B+/B-