Stardust (2007)

No -- it's not the next "Princess Bride" despite reviews galore excitedly pushing the comparison, but it is a lot of fun.

It's also kind of long and far more involved plotwise than it needs to be. I felt as though I needed a cheat sheet to keep up with all of the magical items that do magical things.

Still, it's nice to get an all-out fantasy adventure, a genre I very much enjoy.

B

School for Scoundrels (2006)

Nice-guy loser enrolls in a secret class that teaches the wallflowers of the world become dominant takers. Mildly amusing, but the ending goes a little off the rails.

And note to DVD tagline writers: just because Billy Bob Thornton & John Heder are your stars, it doesn't make it alright to pretend the movie is (and I quote) "Napoleon Dynamite meets Bad Santa!"

C+

Eastern Promises (2007)

Nowhere near as good as I was expecting/hoping. There's a supreme lack of tension and the story was, simply, not that interesting.

Russian mobsters do bad things? You're kidding.

Cronenberg & Mortensen: you are no Scorsese & De Niro -- let each other go.

D

I Am Legend (2007)

Empty New York is creepy and cool. Lone human Will Smith is very good. The dog is awesome.

The story? Felt like a skeleton of a tale that never gets satisfyingly filled in. And the "infected"? Ugh -- why not just shave some actual sinewy people and give 'em dead-looking contacts or something? Would've been a hell of a lot more scary than the video-game looking baddies that were all-too-obviously incapable of hurting the hero since they don't exist in the same world as he does.

I also had pretty big problems with the camera work. Shots were often framed in such a way as to make it very difficult to get my bearings or even understand what I was seeing. In one of the climactic scenes, Smith steps into a doorway and we see a close-up of a dripping shard of glass. I had no idea if it was sticking all the way through a body or if it was still in the window frame. Pissed me off.

On the whole, the movie's more annoying than thrilling. I was constantly thinking of things that could have looked better, been edited better, or been written better.

C

Enchanted (2007)

Animated beauty is sent to the real world by her betrothed's evil stepmother and, while there, changes a family finds herself changed as well.

It's definitely an enjoyable fish-out-of-water story with game participants in Amy Adams and James Marsden as the animated couple whose nuptials have been postponed -- but "George of the Jungle" did it better a decade ago and without a creepy-looking CG chipmunk.

Still, not much can match the charm of the Central Park sing-along scene. Isn't it delightful?

B

Once (2007)

One of my favorite things in the world is to be transported by music. I love that it's so apparent onscreen that the filmmakers and actors here share my passion. So many scenes effortlessly portray the way in which music can take you somewhere else -- make you someone different -- in just a few measures.

Beautiful music and a beautifully simple story.

A-

No Country for Old Men (2007)

Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) is a man of few words -- heck, pretty much everyone in this movie is. Moss happens upon a drug deal gone bad in the middle of the desert: almost everyone's dead and there's a case fat with cash just waiting for a nice guy like him to scoop up.

The first half of this film is beautifully crafted. It's quiet and tense and you understand the decisions that are being made because they're the same decisions you'd make. But then the editing gets weird. Things happen off-screen in such a way that I wasn't even sure they HAD happened...and once one of the central characters gets removed from the plot, there's barely any reason to care about the story any more.

I understand the praise, but the flaws are so huge that it's not even close to being a masterpiece.

B

My Best Friend (2007)

Antique dealer with limited social skills bets his business partner that she'll meet his best friend within one month or she'll win a prized vase from him.

Although I really enjoyed the man's journey: his slow understanding that those he's considered friends are simply cordial acquaintances and that becoming a friend isn't as simple as he assumed, I couldn't get past the cruelty involved in the bet. See, I don't think there were pure intentions in the bet -- it was meanly made and hurt not only the lead, but the poor guy who was truly growing to like him.

I also felt that the whole "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" plot line was distracting and unrealistic.

B-

The Navigator (1924)

Along with Harold Lloyd, Buster Keaton is another silent film actor whom I think is funnier and more gifted a physical comedian than Charlie Chaplin.

Here Keaton's a boorish rich kid who winds up adrift at sea on a big ship with the girl of his dreams. There are quite a few bits that made me laugh aloud -- and it was short enough not to have me tapping my watch.

B+

Miracle on 34th Street (1947)

Eighth...or 18th...time I've seen this.

Jaded Macy's manager is raising her daughter to shun fantasy -- and runs into a bit of trouble when the Santa Claus she hires for the store is a little too convincing. Just a wonderful mix of sweetness and how the magic of belief can melt even the most cynical hearts.

Every single time I watch this, I tear up when Kris Kringle is talking to the little Dutch girl. Has there ever been a more convincing bit of love captured on screen than the one conveyed by the mother's expression as she watches her daughter's face transform from worry to joy? My eyes are leaking just thinking about it.

A

Sicko (2007)

Yes, it's Michael Moore and you do have to kind of sift through his commentary -- but this stuff speaks for itself.

Did more to make me ashamed of my country than any war movie or Bush press conference ever has. It's disgusting that this "land of opportunity" willfully puts profit ahead of the health of its citizens.

I'd happily move tomorrow.

A

Bleak House (2005)

Extremely well-done miniseries. Well-acted and great-looking.

I did hate that everything was so intertwined as to often feel convenient -- and I know the adaptation isn't to blame for that as it's straight from Dickens, but still. Sometimes it was a little much.

And while I agree that the heroine of the story (Esther) was a marvelous human, the idea that her visage could be compared to that of an angel was pretty crazy. She was, by no means, a looker (even before she got smallpox) and she bore no resemblance whatsoever to her mother (played by Gillian Anderson). That she would ever be mistaken for her is laughable.

B+

The Namesake (2007)

It felt like a book, and I'm not altogether sure that's a compliment this time. It was kind of long and slow through several portions.

I did get to know the characters fairly well, but I still felt as though I was being held at arm's length. For example, it was only after the children were adults that I got a sense of their childhood (through conversation and verbalized memories). I was missing the information as to whether they'd been happy or sullen -- if their childhood was American or Bengali. I didn't even know that the father was a professor until near the end of the film.

Still, a good movie. It just seemed as though I was unnecessarily in the dark. I was glad that they didn't settle for the simple "marry a Bengali for guaranteed happiness" moral that I thought they were heading for.

B-

Superbad (2007)

The movie was golden until the cops came on the scene. At that point, we veered from laugh-out-loud funny into Police Academy not-funny.

The dick drawing story, the home econonomics cooking class, and even the initial reaction to the McLovin ID were all sweetly and raunchily funny, but still in a recognizable and somewhat believable way. Once the law gets into the mix it just gets lazy and obvious and when it did manage to be funny, it felt more like a happy accident than by design.

For the record: period on the pant leg = funny. No, I'm not proud.

B

Employees' Entrance (1933)

Seedy little movie about a workaholic store manager who terrorizes his employees and also happens to be a womanizer.

Young newlyweds working at the store happen across his path and they allow themselves to be nearly destroyed by him.

Ick.

D-

First Snow (2007)

Go-getter of a traveling salesman looking to kill time while his car is getting repaired in a nothing-to-do town decides to get his fortune told...and then his life is turned upside down.

Does he do it himself due to the power of suggestion? Does the fortune teller truly have a gift? Answers don't come easy in this movie. It's full of tension and every bit of it is earned. I was really surprised by how effective this film was -- liked it quite a bit.

B+