Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance

Year: 2009

Country: USA

Rating:

Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Zooey Deschanel, Geoffrey Arend, Chloe Moretz, Matthew Gray Gubler

Director: Marc Webb

My Review: Imagine my surprise - Summer is the name of one of the characters. With that revelation, this film makes much more sense. It's a chick flick for guys. An examination (by the main character) of his failed romance. Reflecting back on a 500 day relationship. He examines his motives, the experience, the relationship. Jumping back and forth through the editing hoop, the viewer is exposed to an increasingly morphing point of view as Tom (the main character) tries to understand the repercussions of this particular relationship. Fantastic direction, editing and acting. While the movie is quite heavy on the dialogue, the characters are not. It's an inner monologue, a self examination, an excellent romantic drama with comedic touches. The soundtrack was awesome. 4 out of 5.

Summary: After it looks as if she's left his life for good this time, Tom Hansen reflects back on the just over one year that he knew Summer Finn. Despite being physically average in almost every respect, Summer had always attracted the attention of men, Tom included. For Tom, it was love at first sight when she walked into the greeting card company where he worked, she the new administrative assistant. Soon, Tom knew that Summer was the woman with whom he wanted to spend the rest of his life. Although Summer did not believe in relationships or boyfriends - in her assertion, real life will always ultimately get in the way - Tom and Summer became more than just friends. Through the trials and tribulations of Tom and Summer's so-called relationship, Tom could always count on the advice of his two best friends, McKenzie and Paul. However, it is Tom's adolescent sister, Rachel, who is his voice of reason. After all is said and done, Tom is the one who ultimately has to make the choice to listen or not.

Genre: Drama, Thriller

Year: 2006

Country: Japan

Rating:

Starring: Hiroto Kato, Shô Nishino, Takashi Oda, Keita Ôno, Aoi Sola

Director: Masashi Yamamoto

My Review: A Japanese movie with an edgy, provocative feel. The characters obsess, stalk and fantasize about their neighbors, co-workers, and strangers. After he moves into a new apartment, the geeky magazine reporter (Ryo) is surprised to find that the apartment's paper-thin walls reveal the intimate details of his neighbor's life. Ryo soon finds himself engrossed in the details of the gorgeous gal known as Satsuki. Love, obsession and passion soon engulf the drama, and we're drawn into the details of this odd drama. A very candid look at the personal lives of characters confined to super small Japanese apartments. Sexy, tense, creepy and dramatic. The nudity (including some full frontal) was a bit surprising, but thankfully it wasn't like the full frontal in 'Observer and Report'. Well done film, lacking a bit of polish in the production. 3 out of 5.

Summary: When Ryo, a young magazine reporter, moves into a new apartment he is greeted by the passionate sounds of his astonishingly beautiful neighbor Satsuki. Realizing the wall dividing their apartments is paper thin, the captivated journalist begins to eavesdrop on every detail of the girl next door's life: her conversations, her bubble baths... her breathless cries. While Ryo's fantasies escalate into something bordering on love and obsession, Satsuki becomes increasingly hysterical over the bizarre and dirty phone calls terrorizing her every night. When their lives finally converge delusions and reality blur forcing the unthinkable to happen.

Genre: Drama, Sci-Fi

Year: 2007

Country: USA

Rating:

Starring: David Lee Smith, Tony Todd, John Billingsley, Ellen Crawford, Annika Peterson

Director: Richard Schenkman

My Review: A self contained drama. Set in an isolated desert locale, this movie features a fairly large cast confined to a small cabin. Saying goodbye to their co-worker, a group of college professors find themselves confused, astonished, and intrigued by the farewell speech of John Oldman. While he wanted to make the farewell a quiet and simple affair, his guests cajole him into an explanation. Why would he want to pick-up and move, without giving any solid explanation? Well, the explanation he offers is rather hard to swallow. John, the mild-mannered professor, is 14,000 years old. He disappears every fifteen years or so, just about the same time that his closest friends start to notice that he isn't showing any signs of aging. His co-workers are not convinced, they think it's a joke, and they're not happy. As the movie progresses, John's friends insist that he come clean, and give them the real reason he's leaving. John persists in his 'tale', doing his best to convince his friends that he really is a centuries-old 'Caveman'. Fantastic dialog, drama and acting. 4 out of 5.

Summary: An impromptu goodbye party for Professor John Oldman becomes a mysterious interrogation after the retiring scholar reveals to his colleagues he is an immortal who has walked the earth for 14,000 years.

Genre: Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller

Year: 2009

Country: USA, Germany

Rating:

Starring: Dennis Quaid, Ben Foster, Cam Gigandet, Antje Traue, Cung Le

Director: Christian Alvart

My Review: Two crew members awaken from hyper-sleep aboard the Elysium; a 60,000 passenger sleeper-ship. Designed to carry mankind's last living remnants to a new star system, the ship is on its way to Tanis an Earth like planet targeted for colonization. These two crew members suffer from amnesia, but they quickly discover that something has gone wrong, deadly wrong. Madness and mutants run rampant among the corridors of the Elysium. As the ships secrets are slowly revealed the two survivors struggle to overcome the deadly obstacles which threaten the survival of the entire species. Great camera work, cgi, and sets. I didn't care for the 'mutants' and the direction held the actors too rigidly to the script. This sci-fi thriller was a great piece of eye-candy, but the plot left very little room for believability. 3 out of 5.

Summary: Two crew members are stranded on a spacecraft and quickly - and horrifically - realize they are not alone. Two astronauts awaken in a hyper-sleep chamber aboard a seemingly abandoned spacecraft. It's pitch black, they are disoriented, and the only sound is a low rumble and creak from the belly of the ship. They can't remember anything: Who are they? What is their mission? With Lt. Payton staying behind to guide him via radio transmitter, Cpl. Bower ventures deep into the ship and begins to uncover a terrifying reality. Slowly the spacecraft's shocking, deadly secrets are revealed...and the astronauts find their own survival is more important than they could ever have imagined.

Genre: Comedy, Drama

Year: 2006

Country: Canada, Belgium, France

Rating:

Starring: Olivier Gourmet, Paul Ahmarani, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Claudia Tagbo, Gabriel Arcand

Director: Philippe Falardeau

My Review: A curious French drama, filled with comedic flourishes. Clever writing and engrossing characters drive this drama. The story sucks you in, and the pacing was just right. A middle-aged Belgian inventor discovers that he's adopted and embarks upon a quest to Quebec in order to discover his heritage. Along the way, he encounters the son of an inventor. Driving about the countryside in a hybrid prototype, an accident launches both men along a fateful trajectory that ties together all the questions tormenting the characters. 3 out of 5.

Summary: Michel, the Belgian son of a paralyzed writer, husband of a Congolese refugee, and father of a future tennis champion, is an erratic inventor misunderstood by his employer. At age 41, he learns that he was born secretly in a barn in Québec, in the town of Sainte-Cécile, and given up for adoption shortly afterward. In the summer of 2000, Michel goes there and finds a sleepy village that soon makes him want to run back home. There, he meets a man who drives a car with a technologically advanced hybrid engine. On their way back to Montréal, an accident changes their lives forever, and what is uncovered will challenge the very future of the automotive industry. Welcome to "Congorama."

Genre: Documentary, Drama, Family

Year: 2003

Country: Germany

Rating:

Starring: Janchiv Ayurzana, Chimed Ohin, Amgaabazar Gonson, Zeveljamz Nyam, Ikhbayar Amgaabazar

Director: Byambasuren Davaa, Luigi Falorni

My Review: A documentary about Mongolian life. Talk about primitive. On the edge of the Gobi desert, this Mongolian family ekes out a subsistence existence in hide covered yurts, herding camels, goats and sheep. When a newborn calf is rejected by her mother, the family does all it can to help bring the two together. When all else fails, they turn to Music to mend the family feud. The setting and subjects set the pace in this movie. With very minimal editing, the director brings us a heartwarming story of springtime in the Gobi. Oscar nominated, excellent illustration of the nomadic way of life. 3 out of 5.

Summary: Springtime in the Gobi Desert, South Mongolia. A family of nomadic shepherds assists the births of their camel herd. One of the camels has an excruciatingly difficult delivery but, with help from the family, out comes a rare white colt. Despite the efforts of the shepherds, the mother rejects the newborn, refusing it her milk and her motherly love. When any hope for the little one seems to have vanished, the nomads send their two young boys on a journey through the desert, to a a backwater town in search of a musician who is their only hope for saving the colt's life.

Genre: Art House & International

Year: 2008

Country:

Rating:

Starring: Demián Bichir, Rodrigo Santoro, Benicio Del Toro, Catalina Sandino Moreno, María D. Sosa

Director: Steven Soderbergh

My Review: A dramatic, two-part, bio-pic. Destined to become a legendary leader of Latin American revolution, Ernesto "Che" Guevara was an asthmatic doctor from Argentina. Che Guevara was a Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, intellectual, guerilla leader, diplomat, military theorist, and major figure in the Cuban revolution. This biography, directed by Steven Soderbergh and starring Benicio del Toro, reveals the dramatic detail of Che's revolutionary ideals and efforts. This Criterion Collection release, combines the two movies (made as two separate movies) into one package. The film is documentary in its approach, but the style is dramatic and thrilling. The first half (The Argentine) focuses on Che's participation in the Cuban revolution. It's presents an idealistic, passionate, and uncompromising leader whose revolutionary zeal is clearly responsible for his ability to command the forces under his control. The second film (Guerilla) illustrates Che's efforts to liberate the Bolivian people from a militarized, but less than oppressive regime. His health is failing, his strategy flawed, the people unmotivated, and Che's personal philosophy is begin to fail. Taken together, the film illustrates the dichotomy of this Marxist leader. The amount of research that went into this film is clearly evident. The level of detail is sublime, and the performances superb. Clinical in it's execution, the film exudes drama in the historical events, more so than the primacy of it's title. A superb film that I'd love to own. 5 out of 5.

Summary: Lauded for its documentary approach yet also experimental in nature, Steven Soderbergh's "Che" spends over four hours chronicling different phases in the revolutionary career of Che Guevara (Benicio Del Toro). In "Che: Part One", the successful Cuban campaign is covered, interspersed with glimpses of Guevara's camera-ready visit to New York in the Castro Revolution's aftermath. This section can't help but approximate the outline of a battle epic, despite Soderbergh's anti-romantic approach, and ends up being a stirring account of guerrilla action (it also has the bonus of Demian Bechir's uncanny impersonation of Fidel Castro). "Che: Part Two" jumps ahead to Che's grueling later experiences in Bolivia, where he traveled to aid the homegrown insurgents but found much less fertile ground than in Cuba. Here Guevara is--figuratively and visually--lost in the jungle, as Soderbergh reduces the characters and story to a series of factual sequences laid end-to-end. It's not "Dr. Zhivago", that's for sure, although it does last longer. By spotlighting two specific sections of Che's life, Soderbergh sidesteps the less heroic aspects of his struggle, including the executions that followed the Cuban Revolution (omissions that brought criticism from anti-Castro Cubans). But the film's approach is so intentionally flat that such criticisms are almost not worth the trouble. And while Benicio Del Toro sinks into the role of the asthmatic jungle fighter with total commitment, his Guevara is an elusive protagonist, seen from a distance except for the scenes in which he's being turned into a celebrity during his NYC interlude. In short, "Che" is a very intriguing idea for a movie, and not a terribly engaging film. "--Robert Horton"

Genre: Comedy, Romance

Year: 1934

Country: USA

Rating:

Starring: Clark Gable, Claudette Colbert, Walter Connolly, Roscoe Karns, Jameson Thomas

Director: Frank Capra

My Review: An outstanding film. I'm not usually one for sappy romance, but this one is superb. The two stars (Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert) had excellent chemistry together, and the direction was great. The film moves along with a wonderful pace, and the story is pure escapism. This romantic journey begins when Ellie Andrews defiantly jumps off her fathers Yacht. Upset with her fathers controlling efforts, she sets off to elope with her betrothed. On her way to New York city, she soon encounters an out-of-work journalist with plenty of street smarts. Peter Warne recognizes the runaway socialite and ostensibly accompanies her with the premise of selling her story when they make it back to New York. As their journey nears its end, their feelings for each other become harder to ignore, and the two can't help but fall in love. It's a joy to watch, uncomplicated by today's social conventions, and filled with classy comedic touches. This romantic comedy won five oscars in 1935. I give it a 5 out of 5.

Summary: Ellie Andrews has just tied the knot with society aviator King Westley when she is whisked away to her father's yacht and out of King's clutches. Ellie jumps ship and eventually winds up on a bus headed back to her husband. Reluctantly she must accept the help of out-of- work reporter Peter Warne. Actually, Warne doesn't give her any choice: either she sticks with him until he gets her back to her husband, or he'll blow the whistle on Ellie to her father. Either way, Peter gets what (he thinks!) he wants .... a really juicy newspaper story.

Genre: Sci-Fi, Horror

Year: 1953

Country: USA

Rating:

Starring: Paul Hubschmid, Paula Raymond, Cecil Kellaway, Kenneth Tobey, Donald Woods

Director: Eugène Lourié

My Review: A 50s nuclear menace matinee. The 50s were ripe with sci-fi / horror featuring atomic themes. Here is one of those cautionary tales from the age of the Atom Bomb. Based on a Ray Bradbury story, the only real reason to watch this movie is the Ray Harryhausen animation. Clay creations that represented the cutting edge of special effects. To this day, it remains one of the best reasons to watch these poorly produced, horribly acted, and marginally directed films from the 50s. In this monster movie, a nuclear blast above the arctic circle awakens a prehistoric carnivore. Rhedosaurus is awake and angry. As it makes it's way south, it leaves a trail of destruction and confusion. The scientific community struggles to believe in the monster, understand whats happening, and finally figure out a way to stop the rampaging dinosaur. In the end its the military called to task. Their efforts to blast this beast back into the stone age are successful, but who knows when another nuclear test will awaken some horrible menace to plague mankind? The editing and claymation were very well done, but the screenplay and acting were horrid. Direction was poorly executed and the sound quality terrible. Watching the Ray Harryhausen creation chomp on clay cars and smash mock-up skyscrapers was the only reason to watch this movie. The camera shots with monster and New York skyline were expertly framed. 3 of 5.

Summary: As a result of an arctic nuclear test, a carnivorous dinosaur thaws out and starts making its way down the east coast of North America. Professor Tom Nesbitt, only witness to the beast's existence, is not believed, even when he identifies it as a "rhedosaurus" to paleontologist Thurgood Elson. All doubts disappear, however, when Elson is swallowed whole during an oceanic bathysphere excursion to search for the creature. Soon thereafter the rhedosaurus emerges from the sea and lays waste to Manhattan Island until Nesbitt comes up with a plan to try to stop the seemingly indestructible beast.

Genre: Mystery, Romance, Thriller

Year: 1945

Country: USA

Rating:

Starring: Ingrid Bergman, Gregory Peck, Michael Chekhov, Leo G. Carroll, Rhonda Fleming

Director: Alfred Hitchcock

My Review: The pragmatic, practical, clinical life of Dr. Constance Peterson is thrown into total disarray when she meets Dr. Anthony Edwards, the new head of Green Manors Mental Asylum. There mutual attraction is interrupted when Dr. Edwardes is exposed as an impostor, masquerading as the new head of Green Manors. Stricken with amnesia, the impostor is convinced that he is Dr. Edwardes. On the run, Constance joins the fugitive as they struggle to unravel the mystery surrounding his odd form of amnesia. It's a outstanding mystery, directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Outstanding acting by Gregory Peck and Ingrid Bergman. 4 out of 5.

Summary: Dr. Anthony Edwardes, sent to replace Dr. Murchison as head of Green Manors mental hospital, is an impostor. When Murchinson calls the police, Edwardes leaves, followed by Dr. Constance Peterson, who has fallen in love with him and wants to treat his amnesia. She believes he is a medical doctor whose name is John. Skiing down a long slope, accompanied by Constance, John relives the memory of his brother being impaled on an iron fence with parallel bars, an accident for which he feels responsible. Police find the real Dr. Edwardes' dead body and John is accused of his murder.