There’s an interesting debate tucked into the heart of the British comedy “Son of Rambow,” a good argument about what movies kids should see and how old they should be when they see them.

The film is a childs’-eye view of action movies, movie-making and movie magic. It’s about a would-be 12-year-old filmmaker who shows a naive, unworldly classmate “First Blood,” inspiring the more naive boy to want to star in and write “Son of Rambow,” his own guts-and-glory combat film that the boys - and soon all their classmates - do-it-yourself shoot in their corner of 1980s suburban England.

Son of Rambow
(Paramount Vantage; US theatrical: 2 May 2008; UK theatrical: 4 Apr 2008)
 Official SiteGarth Jennings, director of “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Universe” movie, wrote and directed “Rambow.” And his friend and business partner, Nick Goldsmith, produced it. Their movie is a comedy more about a love of movies and a desire to make them than about childhood. But the age-appropriate issue, “movies you’re not supposed to see,” interests them.

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Will Smith's latest Hollywood blockbuster movie took theatres by storm over the Christmas 2007 holiday and notched up box office receipts of over $250 million in North America alone. It's easy to see why too.

Years after a cure for cancer goes horribly wrong, killing most of humanity and transforming the rest into monsters, the sole survivor in New York City - military scientist Robert Neville - struggles alone to find a cure.

For all its monster thrills, I Am Legend is as much about Neville's struggle both to survive and to find the cure, with only his trusted dog, Samantha, for company. Smith's pedigree as a leading man shines through and it's his performance which ensures that, even when the picture takes a slight dive through the final third, viewers' eyes are kept pinned to the screen.

It's a shame that things fall apart as the film reaches its climax, with what came before being on the edge of your seat viewing of the highest quality. It's also worth noting that the Blu-ray includes both the Theatrical and Alternate versions - different endings - although I wasn't entirely convinced by either.

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Director
Paul Weiland 
 

Cast
Patrick Dempsey, Michelle Monaghan, Kevin McKidd, Kadeem Hardison, Chris Messina

The whole point of a romantic comedy is the comfort of the ritual the familiarity of it all, as if you're wrapping yourself in a warm, snugly blanket of knowledge that the two attractive, charming leads will surely end up with each other in the end. The outcome is never in doubt, despite the various contrived obstacles that pop up along the way.

This is especially true of Made of Honor, because it's pretty much a remake of a movie you've already seen: 1997's My Best Friend's Wedding, starring Julia Roberts and rom-com regular Dermot Mulroney. The only difference is a reversal in gender roles so daring!

This time, Patrick Dempsey plays the one who realizes he's in love with his best friend (Michelle Monaghan), and when she announces she's getting married, he vows to undermine the wedding from the inside. Because, you see, she's asked him to be her "maid of honor." The title, of course, is a pun.

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As cinema gradually evolves, it becomes increasingly clear that storytelling is becoming less of a priority.  Glossy hyper-stylized images and hackneyed, insincere emotional catharsis are the wave of the future, as are indecipherable frenetic action sequences designed to overwhelm the senses with an almost orgasmic glee.  Hollow excess and easily digested “wow” moments give a desensitized audience the homogenized escapist crap they so desperately seek; unwilling and unable to pause or reflect on anything with meaning.  It’s only logical, given the rapid take-no-prisoners, pop-a-pill-to-stifle-unwelcome-feelings culture we have become.  Everything we do is designed to escape from reality: our entertainment, dream vacations and misguided career focus are all just filler, despite the requirements of emotional development, which need downtime and personal reflection in order to find a personal purpose and reason.Then again, isn’t it that much easier to just quash away all of those feelings of confusion and inadequacy by accepting the ideologies and distorted moral codes of the majority?  It is.  And if we distract ourselves long enough while going through the motions of expectation, we may not even notice how utterly stupid and frivolous our surface driven lives are.  Then again, happiness is defined by the individual, and maybe designer sneakers and a fancy new refrigerator is all one needs to feel satisfied in this world.

Speed Racer is the latest flash-in-a-pan innovation by the brothers Wachowski.  Utterly impressive from a visual standpoint, almost begging to be seen on the big screen, Speed is a colourful, insanely stylized, aesthetic treat.  This is the deep fried chocolate bar of cinema, featuring some intense and gorgeously shot action and races that is, if the action can be made out, and if the endless exposition doesn’t act as a tranquilizer.  Clocking in at over two hours the film tests audience patience; shifting in tone too frequently and wasting time on an unnecessarily complex story that preaches the evils of powerful corporations who exploit heartfelt fun for financial gain.

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This week's blogs have been pondering Harmony Korine's comeback with Mister Lonely - but are we still underrating the ex-enfant terrible's first movie Kids? For once, Britain's release schedules have proved a half-step ahead of America's, meaning it's only now that the majority of film blogs are turning their attentions to Harmony Korine's comeback vehicle Mister Lonely.

Thus lured in to the world of Michael Jackson impersonators and free-falling nuns have been, among others, The Looker, Screengrab, and a pleasantly surprised Pullquote (though anyone who's ever attended a director's Q&A will wincingly recognise the description of the one audience member at Korine's for whom, "strategically situated in the front row," the entire event was "a private audience").

Going on the evidence of the blogs, the response to the Korine of 2008 certainly seems far less hostile now that his age alone is no longer such a red rag (God knows, it's hard to be a 35-year-old enfant terrible). With the benefit of over a decade's distance since his emergence, the fact that stylistically Korine's always been onto something now seems acknowledged by all but his most wilful detractors.

And yet the film with which he made that breakthrough, Kids, still feels somehow under-appreciated to me, the combination of its teen-sex subject matter and the role of busted flush Larry Clark as director still keeping it from its rightful status.

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Okay, pile it on: I'm a crummy parent. My kids oughta be taken away from me. Yada, yada, yada. I heard it all last year when I wrote about the Gossip Girl paperbacks I found spilling out of my daughter's backpack. I didn't like the books in fact, they appall me but I figured she was reading them for the same reasons all of us read dirty books at that age: We learned from them. And yet the absolute amorality of these tales of prep school privilege gave me pause the rich girls blithely spent money, shoplifted, had sex, did drugs, and viciously torpedoed other girls, all without any comeuppance. (Where, for God's sake, were the parents?)

So is the TV show any worse? Well, for one thing, the sex, though certainly plentiful, isn't as graphic or so I thought, until I saw ads for the new season. (See page 19 of EW's April 18 issue for an example.) But the very existence of the TV show reinforces the franchise in kids' minds. The show makes the books stronger, and vice versa. I know my informal poll doesn't count for anything, but I certainly see more of the books around than I used to. And how about the fashion? This is high school? These are adolescent girls? Not in my town, and certainly not at my daughters' school. Where we live, girls aren't allowed to dress like they're employees of a strip club. (Pictured: Leighton Meester as Blair.)

I know what you're going to say: Don't let them watch it. But we're looking at colleges already, and that makes them old enough and mature enough to make their own decisions. The most I can do, as a parent, is talk to my kids about the show (and the books), and express my problems with Serena, Blair, and crew. And you know what? Since their surly adolescent phase is over, my daughters are willing to have that discussion with me. We've dissected the show twice already, and I'm sure we'll do it again. If the show had been around when I was 17, I probably would've watched it, too. As it was, I had to make do with copies of The Other Side of Midnight and The Happy Hooker.  

aka Demoniac
aka Exorcisme
aka Éventreur de Notre-Dame, L’
aka El Sadico de Notre Dame

Director/Screenplay: Jesus “Jess” Franco
Starring: Lina Romay, Jess Franco

DVD Features:
* Brand New Widescreen (1.66:1) Digital Transfer. Enhanced for Widescreen Televisions!
* Optimal Quality Dual Layer Edition
* Reversible Double Sided Cover So You Can Choose Which Artwork You Prefer!
* English Language Version
* First Ever Commentary from Director Jess Franco!
* Alternate Clothed Opening Sequence
* Liner Notes from Film Historian, Tim Lucas
* Still Gallery
* Theatrical Trailer

A defrocked priest (a completely creepy Jess Franco) is kicked out of the church for being too “harsh” and sent to a mental institution. Shortly after his release, he starts work for a sex magazine writing articles about sadistic sex which he claims to be true stories from his real life. He learns that his co-worker Anna (Lina Romay) stages sexy fake torture and black mass shows with her sexy friend Martine and others for the depraved rich upper-crust.

In his religiously fanatical mind, he sees the show and its contributors as tools of Satan and must cleanse them by killing their bodies thus releasing and “saving” their possessed souls.

An all-star trio leads this witty political comedy, but how does the DVD stack up?

Tom Hanks: Rep. Charlie Wilson
Julia Roberts: Joanne Herring
Philip Seymour Hoffman: Gust Avrakotos
Amy Adams: Bonnie Bach
Ned Beatty: Rep. Doc Long
Emily Blunt: Jane Liddle
Christopher Denham: Mike Vickers
P.J. Byrne: Jim Van Wagenen
Directed By: Mike Nichols
Written By: Aaron Sorkin
Theatrical Release Date: December 21, 2007
DVD Release Date: April 22, 2008
Running Time: 1 hour and 37 minutes
R for strong language, nudity/sexual content and some drug use.

The Film

For almost a full year prior to the release of Charlie Wilson’s War, I had researched the project and realized how incredible the star caliber would be. Being a fan of Tom Hanks for a long time, and having adored each and every turn Philip Seymour Hoffman has been a part of, I became worried that my anticipation of the film would ultimately disappoint me. Upon its arrival in the crowded month of December, I found it to be entertaining enough, but I was not astounded as I expected to be. Following a second viewing, I was struck by how perfectly concise and engaging Charlie Wilson’s War was. The impressive cast unified with a stellar crew and crafted a motion picture that is sure to age well.

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'Horton Hears a Who' is a anime adventure based on the Dr Seuss book, stretched unbecomingly to feature-length and expanded way beyond Dr Seuss rhymes.

The narrative begins by following the trajectory of a speck floating through the jungle of Nool. The speck is so tiny, it’s almost a wisp of nothingness. Yet it contains a whole world of life within.
 
Horton, (Jim Carrey) the eccentric elephant hears a voice calling from the speck lodged in a clover. Horton starts communicating with the Mayor (Steve Carell) of the Who’s residents of the speck.

Horton faces disbelief when he declares that there’s life on the speck and the rest of the movie focuses on how Horton and the Mayor finally convince the animals of Nool that there indeed exists a world beyond anything they could ever imagine.

The opening sequence is fabulous and inspiring. It’s all highly innovative and creatively satisfying, but the narrative does not flow with the ease required for under-13 consumption.

The characters do not follow type and the narrative is too dense. Too many sketchy characters abound, making the visuals quite complicated.

The slapstick is quite unbecoming gags about eating rainbows and pooping butterflies are very unlike Dr Seuss. Screenwriters Ken Dario and Cinco Paul have taken quite a few liberties with the original material while creating this fascinating though laborious world within a world.

HOPE AND A LITTLE SUGAR
CAST: Anupam Kher, Mahima Choudhary, Amit Sial, Suhasini Mulay, Vikram Chatwal, Ranjit Chowdhury
DIRECTOR: Tanuja Chandra
Hope and a Little Sugar, out in India this Friday two years after it was made, proves that its director is not just a rip-off artist. After a string of flicks lifted from Hollywood (Dushman, Sangharsh), and a truly ghastly last effort (Zindaggi Rocks), Tanuja Chandra finally finds her voice in a film unlike anything she’s done before: it’s largely in English, it’s set in New York, and it feels true.
Like a typical New Yorker, Ali (Amit Sial), a photographer-in-the-making, delivers packages to hack a living. Saloni (Mahima) runs a confectionery shop (that’s where the film gets its name, geddit?), and lives happily with husband Harry (Vikram) and loving in-laws Colonel and Mrs Oberoi (Anupam and Sushasini). They connect, not just as fellow Indians-in-a-foreign land, but as people who share the same culture, and love for samosas and chicken tikkas. And then 9/11 happens.
The falling-out between the old Sikh soldier and the young Muslim photographer is predictable, but powerful. Given Chandra’s penchant for heavy-handedness, this could have become loud, but death and the aftermath are handled with grace. The fledgling feelings between a grieving wife and her admirer are out in the open too soon, though, and the director nearly goes back to her bad old ways by using in a pat manner the flashbacks of the Bombay communal riots which left Ali permanently scarred.
Theatre person Amit Sial does an adequate job of his debut feature role, with a couple of nice flashes. But it is Anupam Kher, as the blimpy old fauji who bores everyone to death about his anecdotes of the ‘71 war, now battling shock and bereavement, who holds the film together. Mahima’s easy performance leaves you wondering how, and why, the actress spiraled so soon into C-grade parts. And it’s always nice to see Ranjit Chowdhury, even if it’s in a walk-on part.
This is more like it, Ms Chandra.

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