Erin Brockovich

MUST-SEE: (Steven Soderbergh) Well, this is an oldie - yes... but if you know me at all, you know I have a long list of stuff I should have seen years ago. In my defense, this movie came out when I was too young to see Rated R movies, this one apparently too provocative (i.e. the way EB dresses).

But, alas, many years later... It came on television one rainy afternoon (and, let's be real - this one is always on television), and I settled in for what turned out to be a riveting and unforgettable story. That story is of the real-life Erin Brockovich - a single mom working for a local lawyer to pay off her legal fees from an accident case. Wearing mini skirts and low-cut tops, Brockovich struts through the corporate world, raising highbrows higher than her heels, but somehow making a reputation for herself that stretched beyond those hemlines. Given a menial task by her boss, she uncovers a multi-million dollar case against P&G. Apparently, their plants leaked fatal chemicals into the city's water system, exposing hundreds of families to life threatening diseases that would be carried through generations.

A true David versus Goliath fight, Brockovich claims a right-hand seat to steer the case for the benefit of the people, inspiring her own colleagues to fight for humanity. Its a story of love and loss and keeping your head up... as well as sacrifice and compromise. Brockovich puts it all on the line (family, love, reputation, her job) to reach a hand out to the people of this unfortunate town, proving that you can mix love and business.

I know most of the world has seen this flick, but for the minority out there - I encourage you to put it on your list. It's inspiring and fascinating, both a tremendous performance from Julia Roberts and a well-adapted screenplay. I wish movies were still this unique!

The Changeling

MUST-SEE: (Clint Eastwood) Readers forgive me, I saw this film months ago and let it slip under the rug of priorities last fall. But that slip should not be taken as a sign that this film was anything short of brilliance. Clint Eastwood directs a story by J. Michael Straczynski that illustrates a mother's love for her son and a corrupt government's self-dug grave. Angelina Jolie plays Christine Collins, a single, working mother who loses her son and given a replacement to glorify the LAPD's apt problem solving skills. What the greater public doesn't realize is that she is also given a scolding to adopt the new child as her previous, because he is obviously not the same boy. As the audience, you are left thinking, WHAT?! Outlandish. Tragic. Impossible. But, the reality hits hard that our government acted this way, and our women were treated this way. Cocky, boisterous personalities are revealed for their insecurities and short-comings. Foolishness is shed in a new light. Even though it's been almost a year since I have seen this flick, I remember being touched by this exact sense: that something so horrid could have been passed (or attempted to pass) as normalcy. This truly frightening story that was one woman's reality. It's every parent's nightmare, but it's also a universal threat of what we (as a people) almost were, but thanks to one outspoken pastor (played by John Malkovich), we aren't. Eastwood flawlessly illustrates the worst of human nature and the best of our country's morale, and holds your heart in the palm of his hand while doing so. Don't miss this one. Jolie is a gem--well-deserved of her nod. Malkovich is powerful. And the story is true. (Enter, chills).

Gran Torino

WORTH-IT: (Clint Eastwood) It's hard to truly review a movie you saw while on a night-flight to Europe, because let's be honest, what wouldn't keep your interest when there is literally nothing else to do but watch the lucky ones sleep. But I think, think, that this movie would have been satisfying either way. First off, Clint Eastwood continually delivers fascinating plot and character development with his films and Gran Torino soundly acquiesces. We're faced with a new widower, Walt, living in a part of town recently overcome with Asian immigrants and violent gangs. A tough guy (duh, it's CE himself), he won't move away, won't make friends, and won't stop blaming the world for his unhappiness. Unfortunately, the world is out to prove its worth. The Lor family lives next door, a big family with several generations under one roof. Inevitably bonded by the intolerance of the gangs' violence, Walt and the Lors cross paths more than once, and more than Walt would like or welcomes. To us, the viewer, its clearly an act of gratitude and kinship on the Lors part, but to Walt, it's annoying, unnecessary and an infringement on his privacy and routine. But, ROUtines are made to be broken, and over the course of a two hour film, we see Walt's familiarity all switched up, a friendship between race ensue and an overall sense of morale and family succeed violence and hatred. At times it's painful to listen to Eastwood's raspy monotone (just talk normally, dude!), but I can't deny it shapes the movie's motif well. This plot summary is one of suspense and endearment, deliberate comedy and soft emotion. I can't spoil the resolution by going farther, but I can say that it's one for the books. Crossing lines in appropriate ways, this story reveals racism and prejudices in ways universally understandable. And, it does so with characters we've almost met before, seen before, and maybe empathize with. I wouldn't say this is a potential favorite movie, but simply a phenomenal story, well-told and accurately sensitized. If anything, it's a smack in the face for the extension of bad behavior. Expect violence, cursing and hate (hello it's about gangs and racism) but get through it and you'll witness a truly evocative telling of America's best and worst reputations.

The Brothers Bloom

MUST-SEE: (Rian Johnson) This movie is incredible. It has everything: hilarity,cunning, unpredictability, suspense, wit. Absolutely nothing in this film disappoints. Mark Ruffalo is stand-out as the older of the Bloom brothers--I would say his best performance ever. From hustling teeny-boppers, orphaned for their bad behavior, they grew to be the best con men in the world, millionaires riding on the earnings of those less savvy to keep up. The problem is with Adrien Brody's "Bloom," the younger brother with somewhat of a heart you might say, who wants out of the business... but not before one last con of course, one where they swindle an innocent heiress into a wild goose-jaunt across the globe. Rachel Weisz plays this Penelope Stamp, a girl locked in her own home at a young age, sheltered from the world but curious beyond sanity. She is the mark, per say, for the con, but the group (including a fiery performance by Babel's Rinko Kikuchi) finds themselves never knowing who actually is running the show. The story is a wild ride of self-discovery and imagination, but also about letting loose, trying on different hats, and overall, enjoying life as it happens. Bloom fights to escape a written life by his brother, but discovers that it's impossible to avoid love and kinship whether on purpose or not. I can't say rave more about this film. I was expertly entertained and left wanting everyone I know to see it. It's The Prestige meets Oceans Eleven and never lets you catch your breath to think what the magic ingredient is that makes it so good. Tackling every angle for any kind of audience, you'll leave with a dose of honest love, harsh life lessons, and a curiosity sparked for travel and adventure. Added to the spectacle is a muted color palette, resembling that of an old fable, Grimm's-like and fantastic. Enjoy what Johnson has created--letting yourself go on an adventure where truth is irrelevant in the face of success and good times.

Frozen River

MUST-SEE: (Courtney Hunt) Now here is a film of true originality. Indians shipping aliens over the Canadian border with the help of a single mom looking for easy money to buy her boys a double-wide for Christmas. (??) Well, the bottom-line is that this movie is fantastic. So rarely is a truly raw light shed on American families that this story is almost painful to watch, harder to accept and leaves a deep tread on the heart for the struggles many people don't even have a clue about. (Me, one of them). Melissa Leo plays a single-mom, whose husband ran off with her money, three days before Christmas. She can't catch a break at work, and toys for her youngest are the last chance she has to avoid disappointment from her oldest. He (Charlie McDermott) questions her backbone, but out of empathy takes matters into his own hands, giving Leo's character stress and regret for a son having to grow up too fast. As "fate" (we'll call it) would have it, Lila Littlewolf (Misty Upham) steals her car. So, at her wits end, a (although illegal) subtle way to earn money arrives. Although at first, her morals stand strong, Hunt reveals that even the strongest person has their breaking point. She makes the money and can't avoid the simplicity thereafter. From your chair, you watch the inevitable downfall take place, holding your breath she makes it across the icy border, finding yourself completely on her side of the law, in 100% sympathy. It is an intense ride into the other side of right and wrong, taking motivation as justification instead of black and white legality. Leo rocks. I didn't even feel like I was watching a film--it was like real people showing you what their real life is all about. And then she was nominated for an Oscar. Enough said.

The Dark Knight

MUST-SEE: (Christopher Nolan) As a Batman newcomer, my first impression is that The Dark Knight is my favorite Batman ever. So, of course that comes with a grain of salt, but it's true. Never before (in any movie really) has such an intelligently detailed plot been truly spotlighted by its brilliant performance of a cast in such a way that the tremendous special effects and digitography are almost moot. Fortunately, this film acquires just this perfection--a spectacular mix of good writing, acting, filming and editing--a movie-maker's dream, and a film-watcher's Heaven. Christian Bale reprises his role at Bruce Wayne poignantly and salty. He shows us the dark side of Batman while remaining an infinite fan favorite. Maggie Gyllenhaal (thankfully) takes over the role of Rachel Dawes, juicing up the flat female role, giving her spunk and flair. And Heath Ledger truly shines, in what is with no question his best role ever-played. Tossing any past Joker in the can, Ledger's character is deeply disturbed, yet frighteningly enlightened, his clown-esque persona a nightmare mixed with far out hallucination. He creates a recipe for madness amongst Gotham City and automatically serves as The Dark Knight's central player. Even Aaron Eckhart (playing a barely conceived Two-Face) makes his name known as the public figure, Harvey Dent. The summation is extraordinary. The picture is beyond entertaining, and quickly The Dark Knight has earned both an unforgettable reputation and the classification of a watch-it-over-and-over-again movie. A true blockbuster with absolute beyond-Hollywood credentials.

The Boy in Striped Pyjamas

WORTH-IT: (Mark Herman) Based on the novel by John Boyne, The Boy in Striped Pyjamas is an utterly heartbreaking tale of the innocence lost around the world during WWII. 8-year-old Bruno, the son of a Nazi Concentration Camp Commanding Officer, has no concern for learning the current events happening in his "fatherland." He would much rather go exploring. Even when the family relocates closer to the camp, Bruno has no idea what his father really does, or why they even moved out of the city. He's just heartbroken to leave his friends. Who will he play with? What will there be to do? A possible answer comes when he notices a strange farm with a few children just past his new backyard. Unfortunately, the "farm" and the children are off-limits. But Bruno eventually lets his adventuresome nature take over and is off exploring the forbidden woods in no time. Eventually his trail leads him to a barbed wire fence, no doubt surrounding the farm, wherein sits a boy his age, dressed in pajamas and looking bored to tears. Bruno sets out to become friends, poking fun at his peculiar name and silly pajamas, but also bringing snacks and games for the two to play together. Bruno knows little about the genocide happening before his eyes, and remains jaded to the life his new friends lives beyond the fence. Subconsciously knows to keep his new friendship a secret, although never putting together what the putrid burning smell is coming from the big chimneys outside the camp, or questioning why the farmers have to wear pajamas. Only when Bruno witnesses a violent reprimanding against one of the farmers does he realize something dreadfully wrong is going on. Pyjamas is about a family torn by right and wrong, duty and morale, family and country. Although the downfall rests in the fact that this film was done in English, Herman was able to mesh together enough deeply pent emotion that language proved certainly secondary, and that in this film the story came through, no matter what language it should have been in. Hard to accept and tragic to know, this film wrecks havoc on the soul and instills a powerful disbelief in the inhumanity that once existed.

The Incredible Hulk

WORTH-IT: (Louis Leterrier) Can't say it rivals Robert Downey Jr.'s rendition of a Marvel beast, but Ed Norton and Liv Tyler create a pretty close second to the beginning of this round of superhero flicks. First of all, Ed Norton as Bruce Banner creates an interesting approach to installing a contrast between average science nerd to uncontrollable temper beast. His reputation for phenomenal performances on screen is single-handedly what carries him through this film, because the muscles we saw him with in American History X are long gone. Downey Jr. is much better as Tony Stark than Norton comes across as Bruce, but because Norton is that good of an actor, he does it and you accept it. Liv Tyler is also an interesting choice, and her role comes across as a reprise of her Armageddon Lady in Distress character. (It's Dad, it's Boyfriend, and it's dangerous life-or-death stuff, all over again.) I love her though, so thank goodness she's mastered it. Lastly, as I watched this film, my fellow audience made an interesting comment that this movie played out more like a Comic book than a movie. I didn't even know to be looking for that, but once stated, it was hard to ignore. The Incredible Hulk was extremely visual, like an illustration. Facial expressions, intensified sound bites and flashy special effects took over the need for fancy and involved dialogue, but left the overall film somewhat flat and the audience un-invested. But, don't let the deep read take away from your enjoyment. The aforementioned special effects were explosive. The story a huge improvement from Eric Bana. The Hulk was a smash (yes, enjoy that pun) and thanks to a cameo by Downey Jr. as Tony Stark, you can't help but still be excited for the next member of Captain America's team to have a release date...

The Fall

MUST-SEE: (Tarsem Singh) In a hospital outside of Los Angeles in the 1920s, an injured and heart-broken stuntman named Roy (Lee Pace) and an innocent five-year-old Spanish field-worker named Alexandria (Cantinca Untaru) meet amidst the injured and together embark upon one of the most beautiful and fantastic love-stories ever told. Alexandria, barely speaking English and stuck with her healing arm in the air, finds Roy, curious and anxious for company, in the quiet and otherwise empty adult ward. The two make introductions before he begins a story of five bandits (including Charles Darwin) who trek across country to each's unique avengeance. It's unique, original, and strangely hypnotic, but captures Alexandria's attention immediately. Using the suspense of the story, it eventually becomes Roy's bribe to get morphine to numb the pain not only after a tragic fall left him paralyzed, but also from a broken heart. Without his true love or a career left, he yearns for death, moping about what's left of his life, intertwining his tragedy into a story of morbid heroic hope for Alexandria. And she doesn't for one day give him peace to let his own thoughts marinate, resulting in stories that dawdle on the line between fiction and reality. What was once seeming affection for the little girl (who never spoke a word of English before taking this role, equalling adorable) becomes a greedy and cold-hearted attempt to feed his pain and end his life. His storyline strangely mirrors his life, or maybe his nightmares, taking Alexandria on a roller coaster through his emotions. Only as he moves towards death, she adores him more, fighting to keep him happy and alive, ignorant to the fact that what he asks her for is what is killing him. Even when Roy sees the error of his ways (Alexandria gets injured stealing pills) he still can't drag himself out of the misery, even if only for her sake... and the struggle between the two is breathtaking, gut-wrenching, and most of all, beautiful. Beauty is actually the most prominent feature of The Fall. Whether through color, film speed, rhythm or motif, the imagination brought to life on screen is one that goes beyond what words are able to describe. It's most literally eye candy, substituting a concrete plot or timeline for a mystifying cine-scope that not only steals your focus, but also grips your heart in tune for these unknown, yet genuinely phenomenal characters.

Rendition

WORTH-IT: (Gavin Hood) CIA Analyst Douglas Freeman, played by a wimpy Jake Gyllenhal questions his newest assignment after witnessing an unorthodox interrogation by secret detention officers, outside the US. When Egyptian-native, now-US resident, Anwar El-Ibrahimi, played by Omar Metwally, goes missing seemingly in the air on a flight to America from South Africa, his wife, Reese Witherspoon searches for answers to his suspicious disappearance. What she discovers is not only a brick wall surrounding the CIA's covert operations for terrorist control, but an icy Meryl Streep who refuses to budge in favor of her American counterparts. Rendition is the story of an uncovering of hard and ugly truth of a counter-terrorist plan taking extreme measures to hold its reputation. There are too many turns to give you a bare-boned plot in this review, but I can say that the film moves through them easily. Hood seamlessly entraps his audience into a whats wrong and right and who is in the wrong and right. Until the end, no one knows the truth and that keeps this film on its feet. he might have played up the darkness too much, as well as the silence, no doubt trying to overlay the film with El-Ibrahimi's torture, but all in all the film comes across as it should: sad, hopeless, but good and truthful. No Oscar-worthiness here, but a good story, a jolt of reality, and a pleasing film.

El Orfanato (The Orphanage)

PHENOMENAL: (Juan Antonio Bayona) Laura is a young and fiery girl living in an orphanage with 5 other children. They are too old to be adopted and innocently pressing the patience of some of the employees. But Laura is the lucky one of her firends, and gets adopted at the age of 11. She never hears of the orphanage again, except that eventually everyone was gone and the house was left abandoned. At present, adult Laura (Belen Rueda) brings her family back to the house where her dream is re-open the house as a home for special needs children. Unfortunately, the house has others plans. Plans that reveal her little friends may have been poorly treated and their disappearance not to normal. Slowly, eerie occurances start to happen, noises in the walls, suspicious visitors to the house, and her son, claims to be friends with littel chuirldren no one else can see. For weeks Simon plays games with the children, doing scavenger hunts, playing hide-and-seek, leaving Laura avoiding the obvious, that these imaginary friends are her friends from the orphanage. The tipping point comes when her son goes missing during a masquerade party. They don't see him in the house, on the property, or even in the surrounding areas. Search crews find nothing and her husband loses hope. But, as a last resort, she hires a ghost whisperer, who uncovers a blazing tragedy from the past, facing Laura with the decision to stay in the house alone to solve the mystery the children have left for her. Her search uncovers the truth she was lucky enough to escape, and forces her to play witht he children as Simon did in hopes they will reveal his whereabouts. Produced by Guillermo del Toro, director of Pan's Labyrinth, The Orphanage follows suite with the same dark thematic and fantastic reality. Also similarly, The Orphanage places our main character in a state of mind questioning the line between fantasy and reality, ultimately leaving her to choose which state makes her happiest. The Orphanage seamlessly pulls together the story of Laura's love for her past and for her dreams, but easily opens the door for thrilling possibility. Expect to hold your breath as you watch grown-up Laura initiate a chilling game of tag with the ghosts, hoping to get answers in return for playing. Shaking, she knocks three times on the wall until finally she turns around to see 5 little children frozen in position, waiting for another knock to move forward. It is the best scene I have ever seen, and established the precedent that The Orphange is more than just a scary movie, it is a phenomenal ghost story that tests love and sanity with passion and brevity. Scenes like this appear throughout the film, never letting you get comfortable or bored, and constantly questioning what is real and what is not. The Orphanage is powerful, intelligent and overall genius. Don't miss this bone-chilling experience.

Wanted

WORTH-IT: (Timur Bekmambetov) Wow, what a film. Based on a graphic novel, you know to expect extreme visual stimulation, but Wanted goes beyond those expectations, providing a seamless storyline, effortless suspense and nonstop action, all made pretty by the Matrix-infused cinematography. From playing on trains to curving bullets, Angelina Jolie and Common train nobody, James McAvoy to become the newest member of the Fraternity, a group of highly skilled do-good assassins who get their targets from a Minority Report-like fate dispenser, in this case a code hidden in the threading of fabric at a textile mill. They capture him in a dead-end job and self-depravity to introduce him into a world where he is at the least, "The man." Their goal is to kill the man out to ruin the Fraternity, and McAvoy, whose character stems from Fraternity bloodline, is apparently the one to do it. He learns to kill, accepts the codes, and finds himself comfortable in a new life where significance is apt and violence is everywhere. I found nothing wrong with this film, the rules were believable and the story realistic for those rules. I loved the graphic novel narration take, which delivers a swift kick in the stomach humor every time McAvoy addresses you the viewer. Expect lots of (beautifully displayed) blood and explosion. Leave your sensitivity and conservativeness at home, but come with an open mind and readiness to laugh. The humor is subtle and delightful, the seriousness a perfect balance, and the story is just plain awesome. Although crediting itself with intellect throughout, it's a guy's movie for sure; but be honest, even girls think Angelina is hot. See this one. No disappointments.

No Country for Old Men

MUST-SEE: (Coen Brothers) Set in the dusty Southwest in 1980, this 4-time Oscar winning film about a psycho headhunter with a cattle gun for a weapon makes for one of the industry's creepiest projects and darkest yet. Starring Javier Bardem as a hired henchman to track down $2 million in drug money from un-expecting nobody, Josh Brolin's Llewellyn Moss, No Country for Old Men, based on the novel by Cormac McCarthy, is a story of corruption, obsession and fear mixed into one hard lesson of revelation and judgment. The film opens with a dramatic monologue from a loyal and veteran cop played by Tommy Lee Jones. As he drones on about his commitment to justice and to the community and the contrast his morals play against the fact that his career seems like game, we witness the arrest and escape of Anton Chigurh, a psycho with a cattle gun. He kills his arresting officer, then uses his car to pull someone over undercover. As a poor unsuspecting man climbs out of his car to face the charge, Chigurh raises the handle to his air tank, and points it at the man's forehead, at which point, he releases the air and watches the old man collapse to the ground, evidence-less and bleeding. Bardem's Anton then begins a journey of switching cars for bodies on the way to finding Moss and his drug money, and asking others to "call it" for their life, forcing them to choose heads or tails for the chance to survive. He appears to carry no conscience and no remorse, and his persona is decorated with a mop of a haircut and a coarse throaty accent. This man will haunt your dreams for days. I loved this film for its apt succession to maintain parallel between cinematography and mood. When things were fuzzy (morally and technically), the screen was consumed with dust, raw filming or darkness. The silence overwhelmed the feeling of solitude and impending paranoia. Amongst it all, blood, sweat and drug money, a beautiful story evolves. Don't take beautiful as flowery and whimsical, rather as a deep and compassionate commitment to the emotion that lies in the darkest parts of your heart. No Country for Old Men reveals the worst in people and the potential for corruption we assume everyone carries. As person after person drops dead, it seems McCarthy envisioned no happy ending for anyone, but as you watch the Coen’s illustration unfold, you see more than just a story of good versus evil, and instead, witness a breathtaking account of the possibilities you never saw coming and the person you had no idea you'd become. Definitely heed a warning that NCFOM holds back nothing and (seemingly) feels nothing. It is violent. It is tragic. And it could really happen (maybe). But don't skip out; because the Coen brothers truly bring the pages to life here, and let Hollywood succumb to genuine and unique motif.

Sweeny Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

WORTH-IT: (Tim Burton) It doesn't take much to really get excited about this film. Simply remind yourself that it's Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter slicing throats, making pies of men and doing so singing in a so-very-merry tune. The absurdity will make you laugh out loud, but the candor allows you to fully engage in a story that is as much told by its demonic melodies as it is by honest emotion. The aforementioned dynamic pair gives this film its due credibility and an impossibility factor in disappointment. What it does lack is good editing, so beware the fight to hear lyrics within the songs. Despite the sound flaw, the story carries on with Depp-coined expressions and tone, Bonham Carter personality and a round of appearances by favorites like Sasha Baron Cohen and Alan Rickman. Costume and cinematography pair for a phenomenal job in creating a monochromatic London through scruffy men and dirty women who walk Fleet Street, and production follows suit making the entire film a duotone coloring book for bits and pieces of implied emotion. Basically, Sweeny Todd offers a goody bag of artistic flair, whether its through the characters, cinematography or the personality. Enjoy Depp as a singing demon, applaud his partner for her outstanding ability to remain the most believably unbelievable character, and credit Burton and Co. for another frightful fairy tale.

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

MUST-SEE: (Andrew Dominik) Based on the novel by Ron Hansen, The Assassination of Jesse James is a beautiful and emotional film that stretches out the true character of an infamous villain and touches on the unexplainable obsession many had for him. Writer and Director Andrew Dominik gives us both sides of the moral fence, showing us the hearts of James's closest friends, and the tragedies of his worst enemies. The film is quiet and the setting serene, yet a eerie stillness surrounds James, making each moment suspenseful. For two and a half hours, Dominik illustrates Jesse's life. We see him as a family man, a comedian, a friend and a businessman. It is from the depiction of Jesse's biggest fan, Robert Ford, we begin to see the darker side to the outlaw. We see his psychosis unravel and his merciless train robberies that carry a no regrets motto destroying hundreds of lives across the states. He lived anywhere and was known everywhere, but his reputation only struck chords with authority. Dominik does a fantastic job of setting up his audience with the double entendre of Jesse's character. Even after watching, you'll wonder whose side you should be on. No detail is left untouched and no emotion left uncovered. Each character is individualized and carefully executed by successful performances all around. Equally impressive is the breathtaking cinematography and perfectly venacular script. Simply from Casey Affleck's performance of a shrinking coward, with sunken eyes and emaciated frame, only fooling himself with a sharp tongue and a quick fire, will you understand the conflict of heart many experienced in the opinion of James. Ford went from James biggest fan, to his biggest envier, to his assassin. The fame he believed would come for shooting Jesse was no comparison to the attention Jesse's body and reputation received in the aftermath. Thus, we witness the domino of tragedies Jesse created even after his death. Assassination presents us with this family of characters, asks us to watch rather than take sides, and then beautifully delivers a story of heart and mind over action that forces you to reconcile with both your own good and evil. Don't miss seeing this masterpiece. It won't disappoint, and if you can make it through its lengthy screen time, you'll wrestle James and Ford in your heart forever.

Vantage Point

ALMOST: (Pete Travis) What serves as a intriguing and intense preview completely falls short as a feature film. Vantage Point, the story of the assasination of a US President at a Peace Conference in Spain, is a fascinating idea with a poorly executed screenplay. The idea is that the as the President takes the podium, a fatal gunshot and ill-intended bombs send a message to shut down US arrogance and ignorance on the subject of foreign policy. But what seems an act of simple terrorism unfolds as a massive plan to deliver hate and twisted violence to anyone in their way. Vantage Point's hour and a half is filled with plenty of gunshots and bloodshed, but rarely any valuable dialogue or plot development. Characters intertwine, but rarely impress, exept for Dennis Quaid's Thomas Barnes, a veteran bodyguard who serves as the single dynamic character in the film. Forget the phenomenal actors in roles easily forgotten, such as president, William Hurt and bystander Forest Whitaker. Their characters continually raise the question of 'why were they in this movie?' Overall, VP is entertaining. It offers intense action and suspense from an idea that is fascinating. It's downfall is failed execution. As given away by the title, the plot is illustrated from multiple points of view. They all begin from the same moment, which becomes monotonous and boring, and they drag out the movie's intro into what should be the meat of the film. Several times, you'll wish for the story to keep going, but instead prepare to experience stalled suspense, not escalated interest. Don't bother with the arm and leg this one costs to the see on the big screen. It's special effects and empty characters can wait for DVD. Do give Quaid credit for his performance. He is honest and convincing in a role that could have been as equally dull as the rest of the movie if played by someone else.

There Will Be Blood

PHENOMENAL: (Paul Thomas Anderson) WHAT a movie this one is. There Will Be Blood is the first movie in a long long time to stimulate audience intelligence while doing its novel justice. Based on the book, Oil! by Upton Sinclair, Blood is the story of the oil strike, beginning at its roots in the late 1800s and following it through its boom in the mid 1900s and all from the viewpoint of Daniel Day Lewis's Daniel Plainview. A self-made oil man, Plainview knew business and knew how to make it successful, and set to do just that through swindle and sale in land believed to be rich with "an ocean of oil" underneath its dry surface. Like the style Sinclair is so well known for, the best way to describe this story is grotesque. (Not gross). Plainview is revealed for the immoral, dirty and cunning man that it took to take him to the top of the oil business. Anderson's directing illustrates Plainview's bout with competitors, his pursuasion of farmers to let him buy their land, and the overall dirty trail he followed to take his grasp at success. From abandoning the son he used as a marketing tool, to tormenting the town's pastor for an unpaid promise, Blood sheds (no pun there) light on the sticky situation oil drilling became. Anderson brings out the filth of the people involved, and shows the corruption that came out of the fumes of oil drilling. Blood covers a lot of time, allowing us to dig deep into the mind of Plainview and witness the rise of a man from lonely and unsuccessful mining to the most powerful oilman under the Standard Oil Company. But from this vantage point, we must watch the opposing fall that happens within. It's tragic and dark, and the darker it gets, the more we can see and the more he denies. Don't expect a happy ending here, but expect a phenomenal story of a man stricken with a disease of the mind. Prepare yourself for sadness, hard falls and ridiculous corruption. But amidst all of the despair, let yourself experience the masterpiece that is this story. There Will Be Blood slowly and painfully reveals a story, just as the raw experience was lived. Daniel Day Lewis performs a flawless portrait of Plainview. He proves his short absence was well deserved as his acting here is supreme. He captures not only the character of Sinclair's oilman, but envelops his own persona into the heart of this man, evoking raw emotion of a torn spirit and candid personality of a ragged man. I have seen rare an actor represent in such an impressive taste. Sinclair was done well here. Let yourself be awed.

Boondock Saints

WORTH-IT: (Troy Duffy) Taking another trip back in film, I saw Boondock Saints this past weekend. Again, I stress I have missed many great films before I decided to pay attention to what value they were, Saints being one of them. This movie is the tragically optimistic story of a band of brothers raised in the church and who believe they are called to rid the world of its evil. Together, they set out to kill every last form of evil existing as they know it in Boston. Hunted by outspoken homosexual FBI detective, Willem DaFoe, the two offer no remorse and begin to actually earn good repuations as the do-gooders of a dark society, all the while inspiring the detective to re-evaluate who the bad guys really are. The entire film is colored with spewed blood, Russian accents, and flying bullets, but the underlying morale of good versus evil leaves you indifferent towards the violence, the language, or even the absurdity; instead, leaving you questioning whose side you're on. Is it ok to kill if it's evil you're killing? Isn't the world a better, safer place for it? This is the question that lingers above all of the smoke and the waste, constantly answered by the brothers, the thankful citizens, and even the law enforcement. Saints is never dull, never quiet and filled with incredible wit. Expect to stay interested, but prepare to shrug off superb amounts of fancy language. Enjoy some incredible acting and a unique storyline that makes you ask why it was this director's one bout with movie-making.

3:10 to Yuma

MUST-SEE: (James Mangold) There is not anything negative to say about this film. It is nothing short of incredible. Keeping you on the edge of your seat, 3:10 to Yuma showcases brilliant acting, illustrates flawless story telling and shows off cinematography set upon the dry and red backdrop of the wild west that dares you to overlook it. In 3:10 to Yuma, the infmaous Ben Wade (played by Russell Crowe) is captured and dragged from city to city along the way to Yuma, where he will board the 3:10 train to prison, granting his captor (played by a lisp-free Christian Bale) the $200 reward he needs to keep his family alive on a dried out homefront. Traditional emotions of despair and hard times appear in this seemingly common good guy-bad guy story, but 3:10 adds deep motifs of respect and regret, blurring the lines right down to the end, capturing your heart and your mind between gunshots. Crowe and Bale find perfect chemistry as a hate-respect relationship blossoms across the desert, prodded with Indians, outlaws and stereotypical tumbleweeds. Director Mangold meshes surafce elements with raw emotion so well that the film ends up a successful portrait of merciless Western life as educational entertainment. Whether the story takes a turn to be sad or happy, whether the good guy or the bad guy wins, the end of the line in 3:10 is that the different walks of life are what make living interesting. He teaches us that lessons learned don't just come from the good guys, and that respect isn't just for a job well done. 3:10 is about conditioned lives, love lost, and old wounds revisited. Don't be deterred by the violence in this film. It never distracts from the overarching emotional pull throughout, and simply serves as a prop to convince audiences of the Western landscape. As a bonus, look forward to incredible performances beyond our co-stars. Ben Foster, again proving he can play the creepiest villians known on screen. He is phenomenal. Bravo.

Maria Full of Grace

WORTH-IT: (Joshua Marston) Maria is the story of a gentle hearted 17-year-old trying to make it on her own to escape a pitiful job and an unfair domesticity. After years of de-throning roses proved too much to handle, she quits, only to realize jobs run scarce in her small town in Colombia. After the job is lost, she finds herself buried in despair as she is pregnant, alone, and poor. She decides to take a job as a drug mule, as which she will earn millions in pesos simply for swallowing drugs and carrying them across the border. Pain, both physical and emotional ride Maria for the duration of the film. She knows better, but she can't find better. Catalina Moreno plays this confused young woman. The emotion she drains into the character is refreshing and powerful. The audience sees a woman in peril of her own decisions, empathizing that the way up is too dark to find. Overall, the movie is a little disjointed, as dialogue is slim and the storyline never reaching deeper into anyone except maria. We are never sure who really cares about her or who she really cares for. This was never distracting though, just prevented me from ever truly giving in to the heart of the film. What carries the film is the suspense of the drug transport. How many will she have to swallow, how long can she stand the pain building in her gut, and will she survive, unlike so many before her? Kudos to Moreno's performance and to the spectacular devotion to a story rarely told from such a point of view. Maria Full of Grace is worth it, but as the Oscar ballot proved, don't expect a winner.