Flight (A–)

Starring Denzel Washington, Bruce Greenwood, Don Cheadle, Kelly Reilly, John Goodman, and Melissa Leo.
Screenplay by John Gatins.
Directed by Robert Zemeckis.

Rated R for frequent explicit language, heavy reckless alcohol use, detailed drug abuse, and a scene of nudity.

Buy it

This is the first live-action film Zemeckis has directed since "Cast Away" in 2000. Like that film, it has a huge, edge-of-your-seat plane crash scene then becomes a two-hour character study. The trailer makes you think it's either an action-packed rage-against-the-system flick or a courtroom drama. It's neither, although it has elements of those. It's really more like "Lost Weekend" or "Clean and Sober."

The airplane is a metaphor for its pilot, William "Whip" Whitaker (Denzel Washington), a functional alcoholic who is privately crashing during a time when he is publicly flying high as a national hero. Whip coolly and inventively landed the defective airliner, saving most of the 102 souls aboard. But it's discovered that he was legally drunk when the accident occured. Can he come out of his nose-dive before he loses the one soul aboard his personal flight?

Washington's tremendous skill and intense humanity keep you invested in Whip but it's not easy. Whip - as addicts often do - gets increasingly repugnant as the story progresses and the movie dares you to keep caring about him no matter how bad he gets. Kelly Reilly (Dr. Watson's wife in the current Sherlock Holmes movies) also does a terrific, natural job here as a fellow addict/love interest who wants to get sober.

The film poses many questions about God's role in tragedy and accidents, his help in self-control, the efficacy of prayer, and predestination. Christian symbols appear throughout the film. Some of the questions are taken very seriously, some not.

It also keeps you in a very tense, emotional Catch-22 between definitely wanting Whip to be absolved for this particular crash, for which he was not responsible and in which he acted heroically, and definitely wanting to see him be held accountable for his long history of flying drunk.

Some conservative viewers may admire the film's message but may not be able to sit through its very graphic and realistic content.

Final Grade: A–

Wow. Just ... wow.

In the film October Baby, the main character develops a sudden illness that may have congenital origins, discovers she is adopted, and goes searching for her birth mother - only to find she was the survivor of a failed abortion attempt.

Shari Rigby, the actress cast in the role of the birth mother had - unbeknownst to anyone but her husband and closest friends - deeply personal connections to the film's story.

An incredibly touching encounter. Thanks, God.

Film - The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (B-)

Starring William Moseley, Anna Popplewell, Skandar Keynes, Georgie Henley, Ben Barnes, Peter Dinklage, Eddie Izzard, Liam Neeson.
Written by Stephen McFeely.
Directed by Andrew Adamson.

PG for epic battle action and violence

Having enjoyed the first Narnia film, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, I had eagerly awaited Prince Caspian. Being a huge fan of author C. S. Lewis, I had the same trepidation I'd had with the first installment over the filmmakers' faithfulness to the original material.

Well, the book had maybe one fight in it and one battle. This movie has about a hundred fights and a half dozen battles. I don't think a single solitary scene went by in which someone didn't either draw a weapon or hit someone or both. It has little or no blood in it but the body count is as great or greater than that in Braveheart. Even the swashbuckling mouse, Reepicheep, cracks jokes then kills his opponents by cutting their throats. The kids in the audience are busy chuckling during the slashing bit, though, so I suppose it's all good. A decapitation replete with rolling head in another scene, however, offers no such distractions.

I've got no trouble with all this on the face of it. It's a sword and sorcery war movie, essentially. Soldiers die in these things. But this movie is marketed primarily to children and Disney and the MPAA are blatantly gaming the ratings system by not assigning this a PG-13 - blood or no blood.

DVD - 27 Dresses (C+)

Starring Katherine Heigl (PBA), James Marsden, Malin Akerman, Edward Burns, Judy Greer, Melora Hardin (PBA).
Written by Aline Brosh McKenna.
Directed by Anne Fletcher.

PG-13 for language and sexuality

Buy it

Plot description from the cover:

From the screenwriter of The Devil Wears Prada, 27 DRESSES centers on Jane (Emmy winner Katherine Heigl), an idealistic, romantic and completely selfless woman -- a perennial bridesmaid whose own happy ending is nowhere in sight. But when younger sister Tess captures the heart of Jane's boss - with whom she is secretly in love - Jane begins to reexamine her "always-a-bridesmaid..." lifestyle. Jane has always been good at taking care of others, but not so much in looking after herself. Her entire life has been about making people happy - and she has a closet full of 27 bridesmaid dresses to prove it. One memorable evening, Jane manages to shuttle between wedding receptions in Manhattan and Brooklyn, a feat witnessed by Kevin (James Marsden), a newspaper reporter who realizes that a story about this wedding junkie is his ticket off the newspaper's bridal beat. Jane finds Kevin's cynicism counter to everything she holds dear - namely weddings, and the two lock horns. Further complicating Jane's once perfectly-ordered life is the arrival of younger sister Tess (Malin Akerman). Tess immediately captures the heart of Jane's boss, George (Edward Burns). Tess enlists her always-accommodating sister to plan yet another wedding - Tess and George's - but Jane's feelings for him lead to shocking revelations - and maybe the beginning of a new life.

This is a by-the-numbers rom-com confection sprinkled with nothing but charming, good-looking, talented actors. No new ground is broken. In fact, (except for an openly vindictive moment for Heigl's character) the existing ground is paved over with a thick layer of sugary glaze and cordoned off with "Do Not Touch" signs.

But that's okay. There's no pretension of aspiration to high art or even to a cursory correlation with reality here. Just lightweight disposable entertainment. And it does that well. I'm just not sure that's worth an hour and forty-five minutes of my life.

Final score: C plus

Trailer:

DVD - The Savages (B+)

Starring Laura Linney (PBA), Philip Seymour Hoffman, Philip Bosco
Written and Directed by Tamara Jenkins

R for language, mature themes, and sexuality

Buy it

Billed as a dark comedy, 'The Savages' is certainly not standard movie fare but I think it's a film that we're richer for having around. Many have tackled end-of-life issues before but very few have done it like this. It is an unsentimental, unapologetic, slice-of-life depiction of two middle aged siblings, Linney (in an Oscar-nominated turn) and Hoffman, managing the rapid mental deterioration and death of their estranged, abusive father and the process - physiological and logistical - that entails.

It averts its gaze from none of the practical and emotional issues met by everyone whose family members live so long. From scatological problems to the appalling reality of nursing homes to the pressures of guilt, it covers the bases. It does punctuate it with moments of humor and sprinkles knowingly wry observations of sibling dynamics throughout. But there are no saccharine reconciliations or dramatic changes of heart in the last act to pull the punches. Things just happen and the people react as we all do - with integrity and responsibility in some areas and utter cowardice and flakiness in others. And with many things left unsaid.

My only real nit to pick is a slight sense of self-indulgence in the characters' professions. Everyone but the father is in the theater (or wants to be). It leads to a bit of inside humor that took me out of the movie a few times. (If you know who Bertolt Brecht is, it could open up another level of Hoffman's character to you. He briefly summarizes Brecht's epic philosophy at one point.) But it's not a huge liability.

Linney and Hoffman are, of course, impeccable but I believe Philip Bosco, who plays the largely silent role of the father, deserves praise as well. He speaks volumes with exhausted eyes and resigned yet pained stillness.

Final score: B plus

Trailer:

Film - Blue Like Jazz movie news

Jazzed About the Big Screen - CT.com

Essayist Donald Miller's best-selling book Blue Like Jazz has been adapted into a screenplay, with The Second Chance director Steve Taylor at the helm - and both men are pretty excited about it. - More >

I love Donald Miller's witty, disarmingly honest writing and Steve Taylor's satirical, iconoclastic music and film direction. This should be a terrific team-up. And a Christian movie I can be excited to tell my friends about.

DVD - Lars and the Real Girl (A-)

Starring Ryan Gosling, Emily Mortimer, Paul Schneider, Kelli Garner, and Patricia Clarkson.
Written by Nancy Oliver.
Directed by Craig Gillespie.

PG-13 for some sex-related content and some language

Buy it

This is my other favorite film of 2007. Knowing that, when I tell you this film's premise you will think I've officially gone off the deep end.

Lars is about a man who buys a "love doll" online and actually believes that she's a real woman. Got your attention? Good. Because even though that's the one-sentence description of the movie, it doesn't even begin to cover all that this movie is really about.

Lars (Oscar nominee Gosling doing a terrific job) is a nice guy and is extremely shy. He also has severe emotional problems. He finds it physically painful to be touched by others and ignores both their repeated hints that he find a girl and the subtle advances of a gangly coworker (Garner). Although he works at his anonymous computer job each day and faithfully attends church, no one is aware of just how serious his condition has become in the past few months. His pregnant sister-in-law, Karin (Mortimer, who actually drives the film), has suspicions, however, and since Lars lives in the converted garage behind their house, keeps unsuccessfully inviting him to have dinner with her and his brother, Gus (Schneider). In desperation, she finally tackles him in the driveway one night and insists he eat the salmon she's made. Later, Gus shrugs his brother's quirks off as "fine."

A shipping crate arrives one day while Lars is at work and Karin casually calls Lars at work notify him. Lars speeds home to open it and that evening announces that he has a lady friend he's met online and that he'd like to bring her to dinner that night. Ecstatic that he's not only reaching out to them but has found romance, Karin and Gus spruce the house up and anxiously await the arrival of Lars' friend. Their hopes are dashed, however, when they meet Bianca - a life-sized, fully-articulated, silicone pleasure doll. Lars explains that Bianca can't walk because she is paraplegic and can't speak English because she's a Brazilian missionary. Since Lars and Bianca are devout Christians and they don't want to give the impression of impropriety, he asks Gus and Karin if Bianca can stay in their house while she's in America.

Terrified that Lars is psychotic, Karin and Gus devise a ruse to get Lars help. They suggest a routine examination for Bianca by their small town's lone physician - who is also a psychologist. After interacting with Lars while she "diagnoses" Bianca, the doctor (Oscar nominee Clarkson in a pitch-perfect performance) suggests to the couple that Lars has not had a complete break. He is delusional, however, and there must be some reason why his mind created the delusion to protect him. She recommends strongly that they humor him until she can find out why. Although Gus has to be strong-armed at first, they eventually play along and soon the entire community follows suit in an effort to help Lars get better.

What follows is a thoughtful, charming, moving, and frequently understated Capraesque comedy that seldom goes for the cheap laugh. It gently reminds us not only of the lengths any of us may go to when we're hurting enough but also of what a family, a church, and a community can do for someone else in pain. There are a few scenes that stretch credulity even for a tale this fanciful but, generally speaking, if you're willing to buy into the premise, it can take you to a pretty nice place.

Final score: A minus

Trailer:

DVD - Juno (A-)

Starring Ellen Page, Michael Cera, Jennifer Garner (PBA), Jason Bateman, Allison Janney, and J.K. Simmons.
Written by Diablo Cody.
Directed by Jason Reitman.

PG-13 for mature thematic material, sexual content, language, and a disturbing image

Buy it

Easily one of the best films of 2007. Possibly the best. It's a very stylized but not entirely fantastic spin on some very uncomfortable and potentially taboo subjects and whips up thought-provoking and ultimately rather positive results.

I have a habit of assuming everyone has heard the basic premise of every movie I review simply because I keep abreast of upcoming releases. Sorry. Here's Juno's plot according to the back of the box:

Juno MacGuff (Ellen Page) is a cool, confident teenager who takes a nine-month detour into adulthood when she's faced with an unplanned pregnancy - and sets out to find the perfect parents to adopt her baby. With the help of her charmingly unassuming boyfriend (Michael Cera), supportive dad (J.K Simmons) and no-nonsense stepmom (Allison Janney), Juno sets her sights on an affluent couple (Jennifer Garner and Jason Bateman) longing to adopt their first child.

There's something to chew on for those in all the generations depicted here. What is maturity? When do you need to grow up? What ways do you hide from it? Why do you want children? How do you do the right thing? And who's the right person to do it with? Everyone will get a jab of self-recognition at all the various stages in life. And apart from all that it's just plain funny, engaging, and touching. I didn't often find it a bust-a-gut, knee-slapping kind of funny but my face started hurting from smiling throughout the first half of the movie.

The performances are solid all around but Page owns the picture, playing Juno's wise-cracking bravado and her fear with equal skill. Her Oscar nomination was a no-brainer. There was a nearly-successful push for a Jennifer Garner supporting actress nom at the Golden Globes and that would also have done her thoughtful, conflicted work justice.

Let me say this: If you are put off by quick, sarcastic, graphic, pop culture-sprinkled dialogue, you may have difficulties enjoying Juno. It comes mostly from the main character and there's enough that some people my age couldn't listen to two lines of it without saying either "What? Huh? What is she talking about?" or "No child of mine will talk like that heathen!" They may want to watch Matlock instead.

Final score: A minus

Trailer:

DVD - Saving Sarah Cain (B-)

Starring: Lisa Pepper, Abigail Mason, Soren Fulton, Danielle Chuchran, Tanner Maguire, Bailee Madison, Elliott Gould
Written by: Brian Bird and Cindy Kelley
Directed by: Michael Landon, Jr.

Buy it

This adaptation of Beverly Lewis' novel The Redemption of Sarah Cain is another commendable addition to the oeuvre of family telefilm producer/director Michael Landon, Jr. Taking great liberties with the plot of the novel, the picture turns the usual Witness-esque story of the 'English' trying to adapt to the life of the Amish on its head. It places the devout orphans of the protagonist's recently departed sister in the heart of a major city and explores the effect it has on their hearts and their family dynamic.

The beginning of the film is worrisome due to extremely clunky, high school drama level dialogue that sounds like it was cobbled from a book of newspaper office cliches. All the editor (played with sorely-needed light humor by Elliott Gould of M*A*S*H and Ocean's 11 fame) needed was a cigar to chomp on and he'd be straight out of a comic book.

Fortunately, things improve dramatically once columnist Sarah Cain starts interacting earnestly with her sister's children. Landon's skill at drawing convincing performances from talented kids is highlighted throughout the rest of the film and, by the end, YOU may want to adopt some of them! And leading lady Lisa Pepper (unsung star of Anthony Hopkins' indie film Slipstream) is frequently good and shows great potential for success. She's very easy on the eyes (it's part of the Hollywood equation, folks) and definitely plays well opposite children.

My favorite part may be the flashback sequence at the end. I won't spoil it for you but it's very appropriate to the character and is beautiful, ethereal, evocative, and expertly photographed and edited.

Final score: B minus

Preview - The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (A)

This needs no commentary except that it is going to ROCK!

Download hi-def at Narniaweb.

Golden Compass furor

From Christianity Today:

Golden Compasss Under Fire

Just a little over a year ago, a major motion picture hit theaters worldwide carrying a message full of hooey, heresy and borderline blasphemy. But rather than stage boycotts and cry foul, many Christians embraced the film as a "tool" for evangelism and for "engaging" popular culture; one even called it Dan Brown's "gift to the church."

So it was with The Da Vinci Code. Now here comes The Golden Compass, slated to hit theaters in December, and Christians are reacting quite differently. Instead of seeing the film as a tool, opportunity, or gift, some are already calling for a boycott because of the movie's anti-religious elements.

More>>

I feel part of the difference in reaction is that Golden Compasss is targeted primarily at children and parents may see it as an attack on their children's burgeoning spiritual development. And on their parenting efforts. Not being a parent, I suppose I'm not as alarmed. Parental and religious authority is continually questioned and maligned in our current popular entertainment. I can't really see how this is any more egregious. And peddling fear about it is potentially more harmful, in my book, than the movie/books themselves. Fear bred in ignorance will eventually bring about resentment and either cruelty or curiosity. Confronting it, respectfully acknowledging its artistic merit (if there is any), debunking its myths and misconceptions, and - most importantly - admitting where it may have a point is much more productive in the long run. Pull the teeth of the Bumble, to paraphrase Yukon Cornelius.

I would think that a wise and knowledgeable parent would explain the subtle symbolism to children of a certain age. It could be a great opportunity to teach lessons in witnessing to skeptics - and addressing the child's own honest questions about authority and control, actually. Kids will hear all of author Pullman's arguments and stereotypes eventually. Why not take this chance to explain the fallacies in them? Just as with The Da Vinci Code, I'm sure there will be balancing books and guides published to coincide with the movie's release. Parents without much knowledge of philosophy and apologetics could utilize them in preparation.

Also, if we go after this thing with torches and pitchforks, won't we just be proving Pullman's point that we don't trust people to think for themselves?

I had made plans to see The Golden Compass before I knew about any of Pullman's books. It just looked really cool. I may see it yet. I've read Bertrand Russell, so this guy holds no terror for me.

Film - The Day of the Killer Tornadoes (B)

Here, in its entirety, is a short documentary film from the Civil Defense Agency that figured very prominently in my childhood. That's primarily because I lived through the Huntsville, Alabama portion of it. The quality of the film is not great (it wasn't even by 1970s standards!) and some of the re-enactments using the acutal participants are unintentionally humorous but the event it records - the 1974 Super Outbreak - was dreadfully serious. 148 tornadoes (the most ever in a single weather event) struck the Ohio and Tennessee River valleys in a single day, killing 330 people.



This next section includes the town of Xenia, Ohio, which was virtuallly erased by an F-5 tornado that day. It concludes with extensive actual footage from the Huntsville area.


The Huntsville material - and the film - concludes here:



More detailed information on the Super Outbreak is available at http://www.publicaffairs.noaa.gov/storms/

Preview - The War (A+)

If you know much about me, you know I take documentary film fairly seriously. I plan to take this one very seriously.

Director and producer Ken Burns is the gold standard for documentary filmmaking for innumerable reasons. But the greatest, I believe, is his ability to blend the overtly empathetic and endlessly analytical halves of his nature and his approach to history into a balanced whole. It's the reason I admire him (and "admire" is a word I rarely use).

Burns has taken a departure in making this 14-hour film, one that has created much anticipation. The War uses only firsthand participants as interview subjects. There are no professional talking heads, no historians providing Monday morning quarterbacking, and no celebrity generals on-screen. Burns says, "You either had to be fighting in the war or waiting for someone you loved to come home from the war to make it into this film."

Much as he followed the lives of several "regular" people in his The Civil War and sprinkled the film with quotes from their memoirs, Burns here picked four cities from four corners of the U.S. in which to find common folk and highlights the telling of the war with their perspectives. It should be fascinating to see how a handful of American GIs and their loved ones - from Mobile, AL; Luverne, MN; Westbury, CT; and Sacramento, CA - touched every aspect and theater of the war, both at home and afar.

The team behind this film distilled thousands of hours of footage into this product. Most of it has never been seen before. Some of it was kept hidden because it was considered too frightening and graphic in those times and because it didn't portray flawless American prosecution of the fighting. But it conveys a reality that does more to honor the memories of the combatants than any sanitized movie from the 1940s ever did. Virtually all the veterans in this project say that, finally, someone's "got it right."

Here is a half-hour preview/behind-the-scenes featurette from PBS.



Just the concept of the project strikes a chord in me and I've gotten a bit emotional at the thought of it.

Please make every effort to watch The War beginning Sunday, September 23 and ending Tuesday, October 2 on all PBS stations. If you can't make it that week, most markets will be running it again beginning October 3.

Here is the Alabama Public Television schedule for The War.

DVD - Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (A+)

Starring Jean Arthur, James Stewart, Claude Rains, Edward Arnold, and Thomas Mitchell
Screenplay by Sidney Buchman based on a story by Lewis Foster
Directed by Frank Capra

This is my favorite film of all time. I watch it every election eve.

It paints a surprisingly frank picture of the ugly nature of politics and begs for just one honest man to make a difference. James Stewart is flawless and absolutely irreplacable as that man - Jeff Smith. The stellar Capra stable of players from Jean Arthur to Edward Arnold to H. B. Warner are pitch perfect. But my special favorite may in fact be Claude Rains, who plays an honest man gone bad with such conflict and realism that he makes a potentially cartoon "villain" feel all the more palpably plausible. This is why "Mr. Smith" may be the ne plus ultra of idealistic films but it is not unrealistic. And I have yet to see any film sustain a half hour that matches this film's third act - the filibuster - in intensity and exaltation.

It's interesting to see how many amateur reviews reveal the film as a Rorschach test for viewers' political leanings. One sees it as taking a stand against the liberal Democrats in power at the time, another as raising an alarm against Republican business interests controlling corrupt politicians. That's funny, because I always thought the film was FOR something, that it was a monument to the American ideals of truth, justice, equality, and the common good - regardless of party.

One more thing: It disheartens me to hear comments about how "cheesy" this film is and how all the manners and idioms of 1939 make it unwatchable. I think these folks are incapable of appreciating any culture but their own. They would probably go to Spain and make fun of people that speak Spanish. Even though it's set in the US, this movie takes place in a different culture: Depression-era America. Back then, people knew when you were "full of hooey" and called you a "crackpot" to let you know it. That may sound funny to some today but our current slang will probably sound even worse in 70 years.

Final score: A+

DVD - Little Miss Sunshine (B+)

Starring Greg Kinnear, Toni Collette, Steve Carrell, Abigail Breslin, Paul Dano, and Alan Arkin
Written by Michael Arndt
Directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris
R for pervasive profanity, drug use, adult subject matter
Buy it

Up front: If you don't like quirky indie films, or if you believe the perfect family is even remotely attainable in this lifetime, you'll hate this.

The biggest strike against this movie is its hype. Nothing can live up to the expectations Fox Searchlight has set Little Miss Sunshine up with. It is not a crazy, non-stop laugh riot but rather a whimsical, persistent little movie that often charms its way into your heart and drops a huge lesson in your lap - before falling apart at the end.

The finale was a unusual idea (and turned the inappropriateness of the Jon Benet circuit on its head) but flirted with pervish-ness in itself. And it sort of devolved into an overlong, indulgent mess when everyone pitched in.

Still, it's a thinker. And I like thinkers.

Final score: B plus

Movie - Spider-Man 3 (C+)

Starring Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Thomas Haden Church, Topher Grace, Bryce Dallas Howard
Directed by Sam Raimi
PG-13 for intense action violence, adult themes, profanity

I had such low expectations going into this movie that it had nowhere to go but up in my book. I am a firm believer in comic book movies having only one villain - two at the most if it's handled exceptionally well. Beyond that the story always becomes a muddled mess with no character development and therefore no emotional stakes in the outcomes of the battles. The multiple villain approach helped kill the Batman franchise in the 1990s and it comes perilously close to killing this one. It has four: The Sandman, Venom, the New Goblin, and a symbiotic goo from space that makes Spidey evil.

But what really killed the Batman series was campiness - and it rears its ugly head in full force right smack in the middle of Spider-Man 3. Director Sam Raimi flirted with silliness in Spider-Man 2, when he built a Peter Parker montage around B.J. Thomas' "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head", replete with a goofy freeze-frame finish that reeked of 70s TV shows. But the rest of the film shook that bit of misjudgment off as though it were just a momentary in-joke. This time around, Raimi indulges in a protracted sequence of events over several scenes that becomes more and more incredible and painful to watch as it goes on.

In this story, Parker is gradually transformed into a mean-spirited jerk by an alien life-form that has attached itself to him and feeds off his negative emotions. As this progresses, Parker becomes more selfish, narcissistic, and sadistic. It starts off with a believably uncomfortable callousness towards his girlfriend Mary Jane and a vengeful, murderous battle with Sandman.

But it immediately veers off into the ridiculous, starting with an extreme makeover of expensive European suits and an Adolf Hitler haircut (no lie), proceeding to Parker jive-walking down the street winking at women who are openly disgusted with him - all set to funky music rejected from a blaxploitation film. This goes on for some time. Then he blows off a one-ended phone conversation with exaggerated, cliche-riddled preening (and more winking) for a gawky girl. Then he goes to a nightclub and commandeers the piano, dances on the bar with super-powered computer-generated swings and flips right out of The Mask, and the crowd goes wild. Well, the crowd in the nightclub did. The crowd in the theater said, and I quote, "Boy, that was lame," and "This is getting stupid," and "That sucked." My wife had covered her eyes. She couldn't watch it anymore.

The rest of the movie was a B flirting with a B minus. But that sequence yanked it down to a

Final score: C+

DVD - The Devil Wears Prada (B–)

Starring Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway (PBA), Emily Blunt, Stanley Tucci, Adrian Grenier
Directed by David Frankel
PG-13 for some sensuality, adult themes, profanity
Buy it

To begin with, this film is billed as a "wicked" comedy but I found no laughs in it. Maybe two or three mild chuckles. All the telegraphed moments that were intended to be comedy were glaringly unoriginal. Virtually every demeaning thing Meryl Streep's character does to Anne Hathaway's has been done in at least two dozen movies in the past 25 years. Only the specifics have been updated. This one simply has the world's greatest actress doing them.

Hathaway was cast because she's not only talented but also gorgeous and not emaciated. She is instantly likeable. Adrian Grenier is bland window-dressing as Hathaway's love interest. Chronic upstager Stanley Tucci is an actor I often can't appreciate but his under-the-top, small doses here keep him from being a liability. Streep is ... Streep! Her deft touch and perfect subtlety keep her absurd character in the realm of possibility. My biggest complaint is that her character's unsubtle hair is distractingly reminiscent of Glenn Close's Cruella Deville in Disney's "101 Dalmatians."

The entertaining and engaging parts primarily involve life lessons from the moral ambiguity that rears it head for Hathaway's character. However its lessons are contradictory and all over the map. Much of it is trite and all of it could have been done in a decent LifeTime movie but Streep and Hathaway bring it a level difficult to find on TV. And Hathaway's Andy ends up in a pretty questionable "happy ending" that belies her independence.

The film tries it hand at subtle apologetics for the high fashion industry. Even though I didn't buy it, a few of them were food for thought. And it's neat to hear Streep wrap attitude around the word "cerulean."

Final score: B minus

DVD - Click (D and B–)

Starring Adam Sandler, Kate Beckinsale (PBA), Christopher Walken, Henry Winkler
Directed by Frank Coraci
PG-13 for crude, scatalogical, and arrested sexual humor, profanity, child profanity, and drug references
Buy it

Full disclosure: I cannot stand Adam Sandler. He is the black hole of humor. Any idea remotely resembling funny that approaches his vicinity is sucked down into neverending annhilation at the hands of fart gags, monotonous rhyming, and nicknames for male parts.

Moving on ...

A harried workaholic Michael Newman (Adam Sandler) doesn't have time for his wife (Kate Beckinsale) and children not if he's to impress his ungrateful boss and earn a well-deserved promotion. So when he meets Morty (Christopher Walken) a loopy sales clerk he gets the answer to his prayers: a magical remote that allows him to bypass life's little distractions. But as Michael gleefully mutes skips and scans past his family and his friends the remote gradually takes over his life and begins to program him.

You'll notice I've given it two grades. That's because it's like two different movies spliced together.

The first movie is like a live-action Disney flick written by the Farrelly Brothers. The acting, plot, dialogue, music, and direction - even the photography - mimic stuff pitched to a 8-year-old's level. But it's packed with a fratboy's sense of humor. Farts, bimbos, and humping dogs rejoice.

The second movie is like a protracted 'Twilight Zone' episode ... written by the Farrelly Brothers. The upside of this segment is that it actually begins to explore the metaphor that Sandler's universal remote represents. As Sandler rockets through the second half of his life, it takes an emotional and visual dark downward spiral into regret and pathos that may actually read your mail and jerk a tear or two. The downside is that there isn't enough character development in the first movie to earn the tears this second movie wants to jerk out of you. It has to rely solely on the viewer projecting him/herself onto the screen, which means only part of the audience will get it.

Though Oscar-nominated, the aging and fatsuit make-up work created by the legendary Rick Baker is excellent but not quite up to his past work. And Kate Beckinsale seems to age at half the rate of everyone else. But those are quibbles.

There is a moment that I particularly appreciate, even though it takes you out of the film. Christopher Walken's character states the first comment most people have upon seeing the trailer: How in the heck did a schlub like Sandler end up married to a raving beauty like Beckinsale?

Final score: First part, D. Second, B minus

DVD - The Second Chance (B)

Starring jeff obafemi carr, Michael W. Smith
Directed by Steve Taylor
PG-13 for language and violence
Buy it

Let me get this out of the way: I do not automatically give all Christian movies an A merely to "give them support." As the leader of my church's drama ministry I believe we are responsible to pursue and promote excellence in the arts. Poor craftsmanship implies poor effort and lacks credibility. Trust me, the makers of this film feel the same way.

When I saw this was a film by Steve Taylor, I knew I had to see this movie.

When I heard singer Michael W. Smith was in the lead role, I wasn't so sure I wanted to see this movie.

Well, I was pleased with much of it, challenged as a Christian by parts of it, and disappointed with lots of it. As with his cutting edge music, Taylor pushed some buttons that definitely needed to be pushed (punched and smashed, too) about the marketing mentality within the church, the social laziness we ignore, the racial ignorance we tolerate (on both sides), and the flawless facade we try to project. As for the occasional swearing the pastor does, that's just real life. Preachers are fallible. Alert the media!

As for Smitty, all I can say is, "He obviously worked very hard on this and there were times when he was very effective." That's nicer than saying, "Don't quit your day job." And more honest, really. He didn't stink at it. But I doubt he'll ever be on Martin Scorsese's speed dial.

jeff obafemi carr (the lowercase thing is his idea) is pretty darn good, though. Hope to see him again.

The great, glaring weakness of 'Second Chance' is in the retreaded plots: Plot A: A small, faithful inner city church is financially strapped and the administrative board plans to shut it down if its fortunes don't turn around, so the congregation rallies to save it. Plot B: A rebellious, successful son is resistant about taking over the reins of a church from his kindly old father, the senior pastor who is beloved by everyone. Heard either of those plots before? Sure, in just about every story about a church that you've ever seen from 'The Preacher's Wife', 'Sister Act,' and 'The Gospel' to dozens of episodes of 'Highway to Heaven' and 'Touched by An Angel.' Is there no other story out there?

I really feel Taylor missed an opportunity by not trying for a more original story to tell, one that the average person could identify with. And hadn't seen before. But this is still a good first effort by Steve.

Final score: B

DVD - Junebug (B+)

Starring Embeth Davidtz, Alessandro Nivolo, Amy Adams (PBA), Celia Weston, Ben McKenzie
Written and Directed by Phil Morrison
R for sexual content, explicit paintings, and language
Buy it

While this film is sometimes uneven in its pacing and priorities and often quirky and crude simply for its own sake, on the whole it was well worth the investment of time and effort to watch it. It was certainly one of the better films of 2005 and, as has been stated many times here, Amy Adams' Best Supporting Actress nomination was richly deserved. In fact, she was flat-out robbed in not winning.

If you've ever spent an unexpectedly protracted time in a family member's home (where every routine is backward to yours, personal tensions are kept just out of your sight with varying degrees of success, politeness has different definitions and contexts, and even the sounds and smells are foreign) the stylistic approach of 'Junebug' will give you a nearly claustrophobic sense of deja vu.

Some of the themes presented here are well-worn: "All regional cultures have good and bad in them," "Do you really know the people closest to you?" "Dysfunction is a distorted mask worn by thwarted attempts at showing love," and "Why doesn't anyone say what they're really feeling?" But the realism with which it is occasionally portrayed in 'Junebug' hits awfully close to home.

Amy Adams walked an extremely fine line with amazing ability here. The relentlessly dogged positivity and adorability of her character was designed to be comic, admirable, tragic, and unwittingly profound but could easily have veered into an unbelievably cartoony pathos. Judging from the clips of Adams' audition, she had just the right touch mapped out from day one. I can't imagine anyone else playing her this perfectly. My test for her performance was, "Is this realistic? Have I actually met people like her?" I have.

I am an 8th generation Southerner. Some Southerners see Adams' character as a stereotype. Is she? She could be interpreted as one. If you see her as just a dumb, sweet hick, then she is a stereotype to you. But I saw a voraciously curious, idealistic, restless, compassionate young woman who felt absolutely trapped in a home that didn't reward such things and who adapted the only way she knew how - gathering obscure knowledge like manna and always holding out hope, no matter the evidence to the contrary. She was inundated with negativity from every angle, every day and you could see her mentally trying to ignore the gunk thrown on her rose-colored glasses at the beginning of each sentence she spoke. I thought it was terribly true to life.

Final score: B plus