lakeview terrace

Samuel Jackson as a single dad raising two kids evokes empathy for quite a while as you're deciding who's really crazy in this hate-your-neighbor thriller. Kerry Washington plays a woman from Oakland who moves to LA and looks at photographs on her computer as a job. nice work if you can get it.

the family that preys

this Tyler Perry is a little heavier on the melodrama and very light on the comedy, but it sure has you rooting for Sanaa Lathan to get hers after betraying her well-meaning hard-working husband (Rockmond Dunbar) and pissing off her very cute sister (Taraji P. Henson). there's nothing new here, but it's still fun to watch.

burn after reading

it's almost refreshing to see a movie that is admittedly about nothing - like a long Seinfeld episode with a little more violence and erotic frolicking than you usually find on television. it's mindless, ridiculous, and not as annoying as the previews made it look. for whatever that's worth.

snow angels

I really liked this movie for the first hour, before it became relentlessly sick and depressing. why do people insist on taking interesting human drama and turning it into horrific tragedy? at least Olivia Thirlby is super cute and Nicky Katt has a great moustache.

frozen river

this story of two women battling poverty, abandonment, and kidnapping to raise their kids is suspenseful and action-packed. it also covers racism, immigration, morality, and bingo. it's very good.

ghost town

Ricky Gervais as a misanthrope is always entertaining but the movie leaves about as much of an impression as a ghost walking through you. Tea Leoni is cute as a mummy expert and the mere presence of Aasif Mandvi kind of makes you want to giggle.

vicky cristina barcelona

there are a lot of sexy people in this movie, doing sexy and romantic things. and if that and Gaudi's architecture aren't enough to keep you happy, when they open their mouths, the beautiful creatures often utter witty, intelligent, Woody Allenish-type phrases. all of this makes an hour and a half go by pretty quickly. not to mention a return to the gorgeous volatile Penelope Cruz and a lovely appearance by Patricia Clarkson (and Ted from Six Feet Under).

itty bitty titty committee

Jamie Babbit (of the wonderful But I'm a Cheerleader and not so wonderful The Quiet) directed this movie about a girl (Melonie Diaz, much better here than in Hamlet 2) who works as a receptionist in a plastic surgeon's office who gets involved with a radical feminist action group after a fetching blonde (Nicole Vicius) vandalizes her office. it's fun watching girls pull pranks and blow things up. also spotted: Clea Duvall.

then she found me

finally, a realistic-though-still-Hollywoodish film about a thirty-nine year old woman who wants a baby. this one tackles Judaism, adoption, celebrities, divorce, childlike men, and Steve McQueen fantasies. Colin Firth is as charming as ever and Bette Midler is as toned down as she gets. Salman Rushdie as a doctor was also a nice touch.

elsa & fred

after not watching this Argentine-Spanish co-production about an elderly Argentine woman and a Spanish man falling in love for the two and a half years that it sold out every weekend in Puerto Rico, I finally saw it with subtitles at Real Art Ways in Hartford. this is a lovely cafe/cinema/art gallery, and I thoroughly enjoyed the film until I came outside and found that someone or ones had completely destroyed my bicycle. life is bittersweet.

elegy

this is a depressing, overly long adaptation of Philip Roth's The Dying Animal. although the cast is great (especially Dennis Hopper and Deborah Harry), the screenplay lacks any trace of Roth's sardonic wit and self-consciousness. Patricia Clarkson does a lovely strip tease act, but everyone else plays it way too straight.

hamlet 2

when someone dies, I go to the movies. tonight I lost an uncle-in-law and gained far too many glimpses of Steve Coogan without pants. the best part of the movie is actually the play itself. so maybe the filmmakers should have skipped all the cliched storylines and just made Hamlet 2: The Movie. only then Catherine Keener wouldn't have been in it.

traitor

I just stare up into Don Cheadle's tense, brooding eyes and start to squirm. this terrorism-thriller doesn't talk down to the audience - it's everything you could ask for in a good-but-not-great September movie. Guy Pearce and Said Taghmaoui are pretty compelling too.

august

Josh Hartnett is a cocky internet guy whose company's about to plummet and Adam Scott plays his genius, family guy brother as Brian Carver (don't worry if you don't know who he is). then nothing happens. the film marketing talks about September 11 because it happened a month later. and?

miss conception

I was hoping this Heather Graham vehicle, co-starring Mia Kirshner being just as annoying and scattered as she is on The L Word, would have some witty fertility stuff but, just as Baby Mama did, it disappoints. it's not even medically accurate. oh well.